My research focuses on the assembly, diversity, and dynamics of ecological communities across spatio-temporal scales. I am especially intrigued by the interplay of processes across ecological and biogeographic gradients, including evolutionary processes that create variation in biodiversity across biogeographic regions, environmental and spatial mechanisms of community assembly across landscapes, and mechanisms that shape local community diversity and dynamics. Through my studies, I strive to gain mechanistic insights into the relative importance of ecological processes that structure local communities within the broader context of biogeographic and evolutionary processes that shape regional biotas. My current field projects focus on local tropical and subtropical forests in Indo-China Peninsula and Yunann Province. 

1.Yang, J., Swenson, N.G., Zhang, G., Ci, X., Cao, M., Sha, L., Li, J., Slik, J.W.F., Lin, L. (2015) Local-scale partitioning of tree functional and phylogenetic beta diversity in a tropical forest, Scientific Reports, 5. 

2.Yang, J., Zhang, G., Ci, X., Lu, M., Li, J., Cao, M., Lin, L. (2014) Functional traits of tree species co-vary with environmental niches in two large forest dynamics plots, Journal of Plant Ecology, 7(2): 115-125. 

3.Yang, J., Zhang, G., Ci, X., Swenson, N.G., Sha, L., Baskin, C.C., Li, J., Cao, M., Slik, J.W.F., Lin, L. (2014) Functional and phylogenetic assembly in a Chinese tropical tree community across size class, spatial scales and habitats, Functional Ecology, 28: 520-529. 

4.Yang, J., Swenson, N.G., Cao, M., Chuyong, G.B., Ewango, C.E.N., Howe, R., Kenfack, D., Thomas, D., Wolf, A., Lin, L. (2013) A phylogenetic perspective on the individual species-area relationship in temperate and tropical tree communities, PLoS One, 8: e63192. 

5.Megan K. Bartlett, Zhang Ya, Yang Jie, NissaKreidler, Sun Shanwen, Lin uxiang, Hu Yuehua, Cao Kunfang and Lawren Sack, L. 2015. Drought tolerance as a driver of tropical forest assembly: resolving spatial signatures for multiple processes. Ecology, Ecology, 97(2): 503-514. 

6.Wu, J., Swenson, N.G., Brown, C., Zhang, C., Yang, J., Ci, X., Li, J., Sha, L., Cao, M. and Lin, L.2016. How does habitat filtering affect the detection of conspecific and phylogenetic density dependence? Ecology, 97(5): 1182-1193. 

7.Li, R, Kraft, N.J.B., Yang, J., Wang, Y.H. 2015. A phylogenetically informed delineation of floristic regions within a biodiversity hotspot in Yunnan, China. Scientific Reports, 9396. 

8.Lasky, J.R., Yang, J., Zhang, G., Cao, M., Tang, Y., Keitt, T.H. (2014) The role of functional traits and individual variation in the co-occurrence of Ficus species, Ecology, 95(4): 978-990. 

9.Li, R., Yang, J., Yang, J., Dao, Z. (2012) Isolation and characterization of 21 microsatellite loci in Cardiocrinumgiganteum var. yunnanense (Liliaceae), an important economic plant in China. International Journal of Molecular Sciences, 13: 1437-1443. 

10.Li, R., Yang, J., Dao, Z. (2012) Meconopsisxiangchengensis (Papaveraceae), a new species from Sichuan, China. Novon, 22: 180-182. 

1.国家自然科学基金面上基金项目.基于多维功能性状空间探讨树种多样性的梯度分异及其形成机制. 项目编号: 31670442. 2017/01-2020/12. 80万. 项目主持. 

2.中国科学院东南亚生物多样性研究中心青年人才培育计划项目.基于性状生态位探讨热带纬度梯度树种多样性分异格局及其形成机制. 2017/01-2018/12. 20万. 项目主持. 

3.中国科学院青年创新促进会.群落系统发育与功能性状. 项目编号: 2016352.  2016/01-2019/12. 40万. 项目主持. 

4.国家自然科学基金青年基金项目. 系统发育和功能性状beta多样性: 环境过滤与扩散限制在热带森林树种共存中的相对作用. 2015/01–2017/12. 22万元. 项目主持.