Cai Cheng
I am broadly interested in plant-soil feedbacks, plant invasions, biodiversity and global change. As a visiting PhD student in the Ecology lab, I will adopt experimental and meta-analytic approaches to explore how plant-soil feedbacks respond to increasing number of global change factors and how such effects differ between native and alien plant species.
Publications
*before joining Ecology Lab*
Cheng C, Liu ZK, Zhang Q, Tian X, Ju RT, Li B, van Kleunen M, Chase JM & Wu JH (2024) Genotype diversity enhances invasion resistance of native plants via soil biotic feedbacks. Ecology Letters 27: e14384 (DOI: 10.1111/ele.14384)
Cheng C, Liu ZX, Zhang YZ, He Q, Li B & Wu JH (2024) Leaf litter decomposition and its drivers differ between an invasive and a native plant: Management implications. Ecological Applications 34: e2739 (DOI: 10.1002/eap.2739)
Cheng C, Chen Y, Yu CY, Wu JJ, Zhu SX, Long MZ & Li XN (2023) Moss biocrusts buffer soil CO2 effluxes in a subtropical karst ecosystem. Catena 232: 107388 (DOI: 10.1016/j.catena.2023.107388)
Cheng C, Li YJ, Long MZ, Gao M, Zhang YD, Lin JY & Li XN (2022) Moss biocrusts buffer the negative effects of karst rocky desertification on soil properties and soil microbial richness. Plant and Soil 475: 153-168 (DOI: 10.1007/s11104-020-04602-4)
Cheng C, Gao M, Zhang YD, Long MZ, Wu YJ & Li XN (2021) Effects of disturbance to moss biocrusts on soil nutrients, enzyme activities, and microbial communities in degraded karst landscapes in southwest China. Soil Biology and Biochemistry 152: 108065 (DOI: 10.1016/j.soilbio.2020.108065)