Dr. Weixing Zhu

Department of Biological Science

State University of New York – Binghamton Binghamton, NY 13902-6000  

Office phone: (607) 777-3218, Fax: 777-6521, E-mail: wxzhu@binghamton.edu

Research Interests

Nitrogen biogeochemistry in temperate forests.  Nitrogen cycling is the best understood biogeochemical process in ecology and temperate forests is one of the most familiar ecosystems, however we still lack many mechanistic understandings in this fundamental process in temperate forests and such lack of understandings limit our abilities to interpreter natural pattern of N cycling, to predict N cycling in human modified and created systems, and to prevent a series of environmental consequences related to N cycling. My lab is currently focusing on the mechanisms involved in N retention in temperate forests. Why some forests retain atmospheric deposited N while others don’t? What factors affect year to year variations of N export from a forest ecosystem? Does plant species composition affect ecosystem N retention and if so, through what kinds of mechanisms? What are the major forms of N losses? These questions have fundamental academic interests as well as practical applications. For example, if N from atmospheric deposition is mainly retained as soil organic N, that will create not only a nitrogen sink but also a carbon sink. On the other hand, if most N is lost through denitrification in the form of N₂O, then that contributes positively to global warming.

Urban ecology and the alterations of ecosystem processes.  Urbanization is the most dramatic changes human beings have ever brought to the earth, fundamentally alters ecosystem structures, functions, species compositions and interactions. Urbanization is the necessity of civilization, understand ecological changes accompanying urbanization is thus essential. I have been involved in studying both “ecology in the city” and “ecology of the city”. Study ecosystem processes in urban remnant “natural” patches and human created patches allows us to understand the human impacts of urbanization, and ecosystem alleviation of human pollutions. Study city “as a whole” allows us to understand the constraints on urban development and the effect of urbanization to neighboring ecosystems from a landscape perspective.

Landscape configuration and nutrient cycling at watershed scale.  One of the current directions of my lab is to understanding nutrient cycling in a watershed with mixed land use, and address non-point source pollution issue. Many factors, including sizes of different land use patches, their relative positions, and different biogeochemical processes in different patches, affect nutrient retention and output at watershed level. My personal interests lay on riparian ecosystem, an area sits in between terrestrial upland and aquatics with dynamic biogeochemical processes, large seasonal variations, and unique species compositions.

Plant – soil interactions and soil microbial ecology.  My interests in microbial ecology are mainly due to its importance in explaining biogeochemical patterns. I am particularly interested in microbes responsible for mycorrhizal symbiosis, nitrification, methane production and consumption, and lignin decomposition.

Selected Publications

Zhu, W., J. Wu, and L. Zhang. 2002. Urban Ecology: an ecological field facing new challenges. In J. Wu and X. Han (eds.) Lectures in Modern Ecology (II): from basic sciences to environmental issues. Science Press, Beijing, China, (in Chinese).

Zhu, W.-X., and J. G. Ehrenfeld. 2000. Nitrogen retention and release in Atlantic white cedar wetlands. Journal of Environmental Quality 29: 612-620.

Zhu, W.-X., and J.G. Ehrenfeld. 1999. Nitrogen mineralization and nitrification in suburban and undeveloped Atlantic white cedar wetlands. Journal of Environmental Quality 28:523-529.

Zhu, W.-X., and M. M. Carreiro. 1999. Chemoautotrophic nitrification in acid forest soils along an urban-to-rural transect. Soil Biology & Biochemistry 31:1091-1100.

Zhu, W., and Joan G. Ehrenfeld. 1996. The effects of mycorrhizal roots on litter decomposition, soil biota, and nutrients in a spodosolic soil. Plant and Soil 179:109-118.

     Visit more members