Likai Zhu

I am a senior research scientist (called Zijiang Young Scholar) in the School of Geographic Science at the East China Normal University. I got my PhD degree at the Department of Geography, University of Florida, and then did my postdoctoral research in the SILVIS Lab (http://silvis.forest.wisc.edu/) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. My research interests mainly include remote sensing of cryosphere and ecology, land remote sensing, geospatial analysis, ecological effects of cryospheric change, and land change science.

Remote Sensing of Cryosphere

Remote Sensing of Ecology

Land Remote Sensing

Geospatial Analysis

Ecological Effects of Cryospheric Change

Land Change Science

Undergraduate course: Remote Sensing of Cryosphere

Graduate course: Python and Open-source GIS

2021.1-2023.12 Determining the influences of cryospheric properties on vegetation spring phenology in China through fusing remotely sensed data from multiple sensors (grant no. 42001373). National Natural Science Foundation of China (PI)

2019.7-2022.6 Influences of landscape patterns and urban heat island on vegetation phenology in urban areas. Shandong Provincial Natural Science Foundation (PI)

2020-2022 Valid time-series analyses of satellite data to obtain statistical inference about spatiotemporal trends at global scales (grant no. NASA-AIST- 80NSSC20K0282). NASA-Advanced Information Systems Technology (AIST) program  (participated)

2019.1-2022.12 Pixel-based analyses of land multi-functionalities and their tradeoffs in the middle reaches of the Heihe River. National Natural Science Foundation (Co-PI, PI: Jijun Meng)

2013-2017 The role of taxonomic, functional, genetic, and landscape diversity in food web responses to a changing environment. USA National Science Foundation, Dimensions of Biodiversity (participated)     

2009-2012 Understanding and predicting the impact of climate variability and climate change on land use and land cover change via socio-economic institutions in Southern Africa. NASA Land-Cover/Land-Use Research Program (participated)                            

ResearchGate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Likai-Zhu/research

Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=B8UnCHMAAAAJ

[36] Wei C, Meng J*, Zhu L*, Han Z (2023) Assessing progress towards sustainable development goals for Chinese urban land use: A new cloud model approach, Journal of Environmental Management, 326, 116826. 

[35] Wu Y, Han Z, Meng J, Zhu L (2022) Circuit theory‑based ecological security pattern could promote ecological protection in the Heihe River Basin of China, Environmental Science and Pollution Research, https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-022-24005-5

[34] Zhu L*, Guo Y (2022) Remotely Sensed Winter Habitat Indices Improve the Explanation of Broad-Scale Patterns of Mammal and Bird Species Richness in China, Remote Sensing, 14: 794. (Zhu_etal_2022_RS.pdf)

[33] Gudex-Cross D, Zhu L, Keyser SR, Zuckerberg B, Pauli JN, Radeloff VC (2022) Winter conditions structure extratropical patterns of species richness of amphibians, birds, and mammals globally, Global Ecology and Biogeography, 31:1366-1380 (Gudex‐Cross_2022_GEB.pdf)

[32] Han Z, Meng J*, Zhu L* (2022) Quantifying trade-offs of land multifunctionality evaluated by set pair analysis in ecologically vulnerable areas of northwestern China: Implications for sustainable land use, Land Degradation & Development, 33:1999-2013

[31] Meng J*, Cheng H, Li F, Han Z, Wei C, Wu Y, You NW, Zhu L* (2022) Spatial-temporal trade-offs of land multi-functionality and function zoning at finer township scale in the middle reaches of the Heihe River, Land Use Policy, 115(8):106019

[30] Ives AR, Zhu L, Wang F, Zhu J, Morrow CJ, & Radeloff AR (2022) Statistical tests for non-independent partitions of large autocorrelated datasets, MethodX, 9:101660

[29] Ives AR, Zhu L, Wang F, Zhu J, Morrow CJ, & Radeloff AR (2021) Statistical inference for trends in spatial-temporal data, Remote Sensing of Environment, 266: 112678. (Ives_etal_2021_RSE.pdf)

[28] Cheng H, Zhu L, Meng J (2021) Fuzzy evaluation of the ecological security of land resources in China based on the Pressure-State-Response framework. Science of the Total Environment,804: 150053

[27] Jiang S, Meng J*, Zhu L*, Cheng H (2021) Spatial-temporal pattern of land use conflict in China and its multilevel driving mechanisms. Science of The Total Environment. 801, 149697.

[26] Gudex-Cross D, Keyser SR, Zuckerberg B, Fink D, Zhu L, Pauli JN, Radeloff VC. (2021) Winter Habitat Indices (WHIs) for the contiguous US and their relationship with winter bird diversity. Remote Sensing of Environment. 255, 112309. (Gudex-Cross_2021_RSE.pdf)

[25] Zhu L, Guo Y, Zhang C, Meng J, Ju L, Zhang Y, Tang W. (2020) Community-level assessment of livability in urban areas using remote sensing and Internet-based geospatial big data. Remote Sensing, 12, 4026. (Zhu_etal_2020_RS.pdf)

[24] You N, Meng J*, Zhu L, Jiang S, Zhu L*, Li F, Kuo L (2020) Isolating the impacts of land-use/cover change and climate change on GPP in the Heihe River Basin of China. Journal of Geophysical Research-Biogeosciences, 125, e2020JG005734

[23] Zhu L, Meng J*, & Zhu L* (2020) Applying Geodetector to disentangle the contributions of natural and anthropogenic factors to NDVI variations in the middle reaches of the Heihe River Basin. Ecological Indicators. 117, 106545.

[22] Jiang S, Meng J* & Zhu L* (2020) Spatial and temporal analyses of potential land use conflict under the constraints of water resources in the middle reaches of the Heihe River. Land Use Policy. 97, 104773.

[21] Li F, Meng J*, Zhu L* & You N (2020) Spatial pattern and temporal trend of land degradation in the Heihe River Basin of China using local net primary production scaling. Land Degradation & Development, 31:518–530.

[20] Cai A, Wang J, MacLachlan I, Zhu L (2020) Modeling the trade-offs between urban development and ecological process based on landscape multi-functionality and regional ecological networks. Journal of Environmental Planning and Management, 63(13): 2357-2379.

[19] Zhu L*, Ives AR, Zhang C, Guo Y* & Radeloff VC (2019) Climate change causes functionally colder winters for snow cover-dependent organisms, Nature Climate Change, 9: 886-893. (Zhu_etal_2019_NCC.pdf)

[18] Klarenberg G, Muñoz-Carpena R, Perz S, Baraloto C, Marsik M, Southworth J, Zhu L (2019) A spatiotemporal natural-human database to evaluate road development impacts in an Amazon trinational frontier. Scientific Data, 6: 93.

[17] Radeloff VR, Dubinin M, Coops NC, ……, Zhu L & Hobi ML (2019) The dynamic habitat indices (DHIs) from modis and global biodiversity. Remote Sensing of Environment, 222: 204-214. (Radeloff_etal_2019_RSE.pdf)

[16] Zhu L, Meng J, Li F & You N (2019) Predicting the patterns of change in spring onset and false springs in China during the twenty-first century. International journal of biometeorology, 63: 591-606.

[15] Southworth J, Bunting E, Zhu L, Ryan SJ, Herrero H, Waylen P, Muñoz-Carpena R, Campo-Bescós MA & Kaplan D (2018) Using a coupled dynamic factor – random forest analysis (DFRFA) to reveal drivers of spatiotemporal heterogeneity in the semi-arid regions of southern Africa. PLOS ONE, 13(12): e0208400

[14] You N, Meng J & Zhu L (2018) Sensitivity and resilience of ecosystems to climate variability in the Heihe River Basin. Ecological Research, 33: 161-174.

[13] Zhu L*, Radeloff VC & Ives AR (2017) Characterizing global patterns of frozen ground with and without snow cover using microwave and MODIS satellite data products. Remote Sensing of Environment, 191, 168–178. (Zhu_etal_2017_RSE.pdf)

[12] Zhu L*, Radeloff VC & Ives AR (2017) Improving the mapping of crop type patterns in the US Midwest by fusing Landsat and MODIS satellite data. International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation,58, 1–11.(Zhu_etal_2017_JAGS.pdf)

[11] Miller CR, Barton BT, Zhu L, Radeloff VC, Oliver KM, Harmon JP & Ives AR (2017) Interactive effects of night warming and light pollution on top-down control of insect pests. Proceedings of the Royal Society B, 284: 20171195

[10] Zhu L*, Southworth J & Meng J (2015) Comparison of the driving forces of spring phenology among savanna landscapes by including combined spatial and temporal heterogeneity. International Journal of Biometeorology, 59, 1373–1384.

[9] Zhu L& Meng J (2015) Determining the relative importance of climatic drivers on spring
 phenology in grassland ecosystems of semi-arid areas. International Journal of Biometeorology, 59, 235–249.

[8] Southworth J, Zhu L, Bunting E, Ryan SJ, Herrero H, Waylen PR & Hill M (2015) Changes in vegetation persistence across global savanna landscapes, 1982-2010. Journal of Land Use Science, DOI: 10.1080/1747423X.2015.1071439.

[7] Meng J, Xiang Y, Yan Q, Mao X & Zhu L (2015) Assessment and management of ecological risk in an agricultural–pastoral ecotone: case study of Ordos, Inner Mongolia, China. Natural Hazards, 79, 195–213.

[6] Zhu L*& Southworth J (2013) Disentangling the relationships between net primary production and precipitation in southern Africa savannas using satellite observations from 1982 to 2010. RemoteSensing, 5, 3803–3825.

[5] Zhu L, Meng J & Mao X (2013) Analyzing land-use change in the farming-pastoral transitional region using autologistic model and household survey. Chinese Geographical Science, 23,716–728.

[4] Campo-Bescos M, Muñoz-Carpena R, Kaplan D, Southworth J, Zhu L& Waylen PR (2013) Beyond precipitation: Physiographic thresholds dictate the relative importance of environmental drivers on savanna vegetation. PLOS ONE, 8, e72348.

[3] Campo-Bescos M, Muñoz-Carpena R, Southworth J, Zhu L, Waylen PR, & Bunting E. (2013) Combined spatial and temporal effects of environmental controls on long-term monthly NDVI in southern Africa savanna. Remote Sensing, 5, 6513–6538.

[2] Southworth J, Rigg L, Gibbes C, Waylen P, Zhu L, McCarragher S & Cassidy L (2013) Integrating dendrochronology, climate and satellite remote sensing to better understand savanna landscape dynamics in the Okavango Delta, Botswana. Land, 2, 637–655.

[1] Zhu L& Meng J (2010) Study on rainfall variations in the middle part of Inner Mongolia, China during the past 43 years. Environmental Earth Sciences, 60, 1661–1671.