Honorary Professor Lianhai Wu

Biography 

Professor Lianhai Wu is interested in the areas of the interaction of plants with their physical environment, climate change, carbon sequestration, nutrient and water use efficiencies, mitigation of nitrogen pollution and systems modelling. He has published over 130 peer-reviewed papers and developed a process-based model – SPACSYS. Lianhai retired from Rothamsted Research in 2023.

University responsibilities

  • Honorary Professor Agriculture, Food and the Environment

Professional appointments

  • 2023 Visiting Professor, Agriculture, Food and the Environment, Royal Agricultural University
  • 2023 Emeritus Scientist, Rothamsted Research
  • 2019 – 2023 Visiting Professor, College of Resources and Environment, China Agricultural University
  • 2009 – 2022 Senior Scientist, Rothamsted Research
  • 2009 – 2014 Adjunct Professor, College of Resources and Environment, China Agricultural University
  • 2002 – 2009 Research Scientist, Scottish Rural Agricultural College

 

Research
  • Sustainable agriculture
  • Ecosystem services
  • Process-based modelling
  • Decision-supporting tools

Publications
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  • Palmer, A., Weideman, C., Hawkins, H.-J., Rajah, P., Marandure, T., Mapiye, C., Wu, L., Gwate, O., Bennett, J. (2023) An evaluation of three evapotranspiration models to determine water fluxes over hillslopes encroached by invasive alien plants in Eastern Cape Province, South Africa. Water SA 49, 211–219. https://doi.org/10.17159/wsa/2023.v49.i3.3964.
  • Bennett J, Marandure T, Heidi-Hawkins, Mapiye C, Palmer A, Lemke S, Wu L. (2023). A conceptual framework for understanding ecosystem people-environmental trade-offs and synergies between people and environment, in communal rangeland systems in South Africa. Ecological Services 61, 101533. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoser.2023.101533.
  • Liang S, Sun N, Shuhui Wang, Gilles Colinet, Longdoz B, Meersmans J, Wu L, Xu M. (2023). Manure amendment acts as a recommended fertilization for improving carbon sequestration efficiency in soils of typical drylands of China. Frontiers in Environmental Science 11:1173509. https://doi.org/10.3389/fenvs.2023.1173509
  • Zhao X, Wang S, Wen T, Xu J, Huang B, Yan S, Gao G, Zhao Y, Li H, Qiao J, Yang J, Wu L, Wang H, Liu T, Mu X. (2023). On correlation between canopy vegetation and growth indexes of maize varieties with different nitrogen efficiencies. Open Life Sciences 18, 20220566. https://doi.org/10.1515/biol-2022-0566.
  • Liu C, Shan Y, Wang Q, Harris P, Liu Y, Wu L. (2023). Impacts of soil hydraulic conductivity and model specification for the space-time simulations of water and nitrogen cycling. Catena 226, 107058. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.catena.2023.107058.
  • Wu, L. (2023). Sequestering organic carbon in soils through land use change and agricultural practices: A review. Frontiers of Agricultural Science and Engineering. https://doi.org/10.15302/J-FASE-2022474.
  • Sandor R, Ehrhardt F, Grace P, Recous S, Smith P, Snow V, Soussana J-F, Basso B, Bhatia A, Brilli L, Doltra J, Dorich C D, Doro L, Fitton N, Grant B, Harrison M T, Skiba U, Kirschbaum M U F, Klumpp K, Laville P, Léonard J, Martin R, Massad R S, Moore A, Myrgiotis V, Pattey E, Qing Z, Rolinski S, Sharp J, Smith W, Wu L, Bellocchi G. (2023). Residual correlation and ensemble modelling to improve crop and grassland models. Environmental Modelling and Software 161, 105625. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsoft.2023.105625.
  • Turkeltaub, T., Gongadze, K., Lü, Y., Huang, M., Jia, X., Yang, H., Shao, M., Binley, A., Harris, P., Wu, L. (2022). A review of models for simulating the soil-plant interface for different climatic conditions and land uses in the Loess Plateau, China. Ecological Modelling 474, 110173. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2022.110173.
  • Misselbrook, T., Bai, Z., Cai, Z., Cao, W., Carswell, A., Cowan, N., Cui, Z., Chadwick, D., Emmett, B., Goulding, K., Jiang, R., Jones, D., Ju, X., Liu, H., Lu, Y., Ma, L., Powlson, D., Rees, R. M., Skiba, U., . . . Liu, X. (2022). Progress on improving agricultural nitrogen use efficiency: UK-China Virtual Joint Centres on Nitrogen Agronomy. Frontiers of Agricultural Science and Engineering 9(3), 475-489. https://doi.org/10.15302/J-FASE-2022459
  • Wu, L., Wu, L., Bingham, I. J., Misselbrook, T. (2022). Projected climate effects on soil workability and trafficability determine the feasibility of converting permanent grassland to arable land. Agricultural Systems 203, 103500.  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agsy.2022.103500
  • Wu, L., Harris, P., Misselbrook, T., Lee, M. (2022). Simulating grazing beef and sheep systems. Agricultural Systems 195, 103307. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agsy.2021.103307  
  • Niu, X., Jia, X., Yang, X., Wei, X., Shao, M., Wu, L. (2022). Tracing the sources and fate of NO3– in the vadose zone-groundwater system of a thousand-year cultivated region. Environmental Science & Technology 56(13), 9335–9345. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.1c06289  
  • Hassall, K. L., Coleman, K., Dixit, P., Granger, S. J., Zhang, Y., Sharp, R., Wu, L., Whitmore, A. P., Richter, G. M., Collins, A. L., Milne, A. E. (2022). Exploring the effects of land management change on productivity, carbon and nutrient balance: Application of an Ensemble Modelling Approach to the upper River Taw observatory, UK. Science of the Total Environment 824, 153824. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.153824  
  • Liu, C., Yang, H., Gongadze, K., Harris, P., Huang, M., Wu, L. (2022). Climate change impacts on crop yield of winter wheat (Triticum aestivum) and maize (Zea mays) and soil organic carbon stocks in northern China. Agriculture 12(5), 614. https://doi.org/10.3390/agriculture12050614  
  • Quan, H., Ding, D., Wu, L., Qiao, R., Dong, Q. g., Zhang, T., Feng, H., Wu, L., Siddique, K. H. M. (2022). Future climate change impacts on mulched maize production in an arid irrigation area. Agricultural Water Management 266, 107550. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agwat.2022.107550  
  • Carlesso, L., Beadle, A., Cook, S. M., Hartwell, G., Mead, A., Ritz, K., Sparkes, D., Wu, L., Murray, P. J. (2022). Impacts of field margin orientation on populations of soil-dwelling invertebrates in relation to the direction and intensity of field traffic. Soil Use and Management 38(1), 1015-1032. https://doi.org/10.1111/sum.12768
  • Wu, L., Curceac, S., Atkinson, P., Milne, A., Harris, P. (2021). A case study on the effects of data temporal resolution on the simulation of water flux extremes using a process-based model at the grassland field scale. Agricultural Water Management 255, 107049. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agwat.2021.107049  
  • Shan, Y., Huang, M., Harris, P., Wu, L. (2021). A sensitivity analysis of the SPACSYS model. Agriculture - basel 11(7), 624. https://doi.org/10.3390/agriculture11070624
  • Bell, V. A., Naden, P. S., Tipping, E., Davies, H. N., Carnell, E. J., Davies, J. A. C., Dore, A. J., Dragosits, U., Lapworth, D., Muhamme, S., Quinton, d., Stuart, M., Tomlinson, S. J., Wang, L., Whitmore, A., Wu, L. (2021). Long term simulations of macronutrients (C, N and P) in UK freshwaters. Science of the Total Environment 776, 145813. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.145813  
  • Chen, S., He, L., Cao, Y., Wang, R., Wu, L., Wang, Z., Zou, Y., Siddique, K. H. M., Xiong, W., Liu, M., Feng, H., Yu, Q., Wang, X., He, J. (2021). Comparisons among four different upscaling strategies for cultivar genetic parameters in rainfed spring wheat phenology simulations with the DSSAT-CERES-Wheat model. Agricultural Water Management 258, 107181. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agwat.2021.107181  
  • Comber, A., Harris, P., Lv, Y., Wu, L., Atkinson, P. (2021). The forgotten semantics of regression modelling in Geography. Geographical Analysis 53, 113–134. https://doi.org/10.1111/gean.12199  
  • Curceac, S., Milne, A., Atkinson, P. M., Wu, L., Harris, P. (2021). Elucidating the performance of hybrid models for predicting extreme water flow events through variography and wavelet analyses. Journal of Hydrology 598, 126442. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2021.126442  
  • Liu, C., Chen, F., Li, Z., Cocq, K. L., Liu, Y., Wu, L. (2021). Impacts of nitrogen practices on yield, grain quality, and nitrogen-use efficiency of crops and soil fertility in three paddy-upland cropping systems. Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture 101(6), 2218-2226. https://doi.org/10.1002/jsfa.10841  
  • Ren, F., Misselbrook, T. H., Sun, N., Zhang, X., Zhang, S., Jiao, J., Xu, M., Wu, L. (2021). Spatial changes and driving variables of topsoil organic carbon stocks in Chinese croplands under different fertilization strategies. Science of the Total Environment 767, 144350. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.144350  
  • Curceac, S., Atkinson, P. M., Milne, A., Wu, L., Harris, P. (2020). Adjusting for conditional bias in process model simulations of hydrological extremes: An experiment using the North Wyke Farm Platform. Frontiers in Artificial Intelligence 3(82), 565859. https://doi.org/10.3389/frai.2020.565859
  • Curceac, S., Atkinson, P. M., Milne, A., Wu, L., Harris, P. (2020). An evaluation of automated GPD threshold selection methods for hydrological extremes across different scales. Journal of Hydrology 585, 124845. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2020.124845  
  • Ge, J., Wang, S., Fan, J., Gongadze, K., Wu, L. (2020). Soil nutrients of different land-use types and topographic positions in the water-wind erosion crisscross region of China's Loess Plateau. Catena 184, 104243. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.catena.2019.104243  
  • Liu, C., Wang, L., LeCocq, K., Chang, C., Li, Z., Chen, F., Liu, Y., Wu, L. (2020). Climate change and environmental impacts on and adaptation strategies for production in wheat-rice rotations in southern China. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology 292-293, 108136. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agrformet.2020.108136  
  • Sándor, R., Ehrhardt, F., Grace, P., Recous, S., Smith, P., Snow, V., Soussana, J.-F., Basso, B., Bhatia, A., Brilli, L., Doltra, J., Dorich, C. D., Doro, L., Fitton, N., Grant, B., Harrison, M. T., Kirschbaum, M. U. F., Klumpp, K., Laville, P., . . . Bellocchi, G. (2020). Ensemble modelling of carbon fluxes in grasslands and croplands. Field Crops Research 252, 107791. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fcr.2020.107791
  • Wu, L., Misselbrook, T., Feng, L., Wu, L. (2020). Assessment of N uptake and biological N fixation responses of soybean to fertilizer N with the SPACSYS model. Sustainability 12, 5921. https://doi.org/10.3390/su12155921
  • Carlesso, L., Beadle, A., Hartwell, G., Sparkes, D., Ritz, K., Cook, S., Wu, L., Murray, P. (2019). Soil compaction effects on litter decomposition in an arable field: Implications for management of crop residues and headlands. Applied Soil Ecology 134, 31-37. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apsoil.2018.10.004
  • Carswell, A. M., Gongadze, K., Misselbrook, T. H., Wu, L. (2019). Impact of transition from permanent pasture to new swards on the nitrogen use efficiency, nitrogen and carbon budgets of beef and sheep production. Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment 283, 106572. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agee.2019.106572
  • Liang, S., Sun, N., Zhang, X., Li, Y., Xu, M., Wu, L. (2019). Modeling crop yield and nitrogen use efficiency in wheat and maize production systems under future climate change. Nutrient Cycling in Agroecosystems 115(1), 117-136. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10705-019-10013-4
  • Liu, Y., Lü, Y., Fu, B., Harris, P., Wu, L. (2019). Quantifying the spatio-temporal drivers of planned vegetation restoration on ecosystem services at a large regional scale. Science of the Total Environment 650, 1029-1040. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.09.082
  • Lü, Y., Hu, J., Fu, B., Harris, P., Wu, L., Comber, A. (2019). A framework for the regional critical zone classification of the Loess Plateau, China. National Science Review 6(1), 14-18. https://doi.org/10.1093/nsr/nwy147
  • Luo, Y., Lü, Y., Fu, B., Harris, P., Wu, L., Comber, A. (2019). When multi-functional landscapes meet critical zone science: advancing multidisciplinary research for sustainable human well-being. National Science Review 6(2), 349–358. https://doi.org/10.1093/nsr/nwy003
  • Ren, F., Sun, N., Xu, M., Zhang, X., Wu, L., Xu, M. (2019). Changes in soil microbial biomass with manure application in cropping systems: A meta-analysis. Soil and Tillage Research 194, 104291. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.still.2019.06.008
  • Ren, Y., Lü, Y., Comber, A., Fu, B., Harris, P., Wu, L. (2019). Spatially explicit simulation of land use / land cover changes: current coverage and prospects. Earth-Science Reviews 190, 398-415. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.earscirev.2019.01.001
  • Shan, Y., Huang, M., Suo, L., Zhao, X., Wu, L. (2019). Composition and variation of soil δ15N stable isotope in natural ecosystems. Catena 183, 104236. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.catena.2019.104236
  • Wang, L., Yuan, X., Liu, C., Li, Z., Chen, F., Li, S., Wu, L., Liu, Y. (2019). Soil C and N dynamics and hydrological processes in a maize-wheat rotation field subjected to different tillage and straw management practices. Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment 285, 106616. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agee.2019.106616
  • Wu, L., Blackwell, M., Dunham, S., Hernández-Allica, J., McGrath, S. P. (2019). Simulation of phosphorus chemistry, uptake and utilisation by winter wheat. Plants 8(10), 404. https://doi.org/10.3390/plants8100404
  • Wu, L., Feng, L., Li, Y., Wang, J., Wu, L. (2019). A yield-related agricultural drought index reveals spatio-temporal characteristics of droughts in southwestern China. Sustainability 11, 714. https://doi.org/10.3390/su11030714
  • Zhang, Z., Huang, M., Zhao, X., Wu, L. (2019). Adjustments of leaf traits and whole plant leaf area for balancing water supply and demand in Robinia pseudoacacia under different precipitation conditions on the Loess Plateau. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology 279, 107733. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agrformet.2019.107733
  • Zhao, C., Jia, X., Gongadze, K., Shao, M. a., Wu, L., Zhu, Y. (2019). Permanent dry soil layers phenomenon on China’s Loess Plateau. Scientific Reports 9, 3296. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-38922-y
  • Cao, R., Jia, X., Huang, L., Zhu, Y., Wu, L., Shao, M. a. (2018). Deep soil water storage varies with vegetation type and rainfall amount in the Loess Plateau of China. Scientific Reports, 8:12346. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-30850-7
  • Ehrhardt, F., Soussana, J.-F., Bellocchi, G., Grace, P., McAuliffe, R., Recous, S., Sándor, R., Smith, P., Snow, V., De Antoni Migliorati, M., Basso, B., Bhatia, A., Brilli, L., Doltra, J., Dorich, C. D., Sciences, N., Doro, L., Fitton, N., Giacomini, S., Grant, B., Harrison, M., Jones, S., Kirschbaum, M., Klumpp, K., Laville, P., Leonard, J., Liebig, M., Lieffering, M., Martin, R., Massad, R. S., Meier, E., Merbold, L., Moore, A., Myrgiotis, V., Newton, P., Pattey, E., Rolinski, S., Sharp, J., Smith, W., Wu, L., Zhang, Q. (2018). Assessing uncertainties in crop and pasture ensemble model simulations of productivity and N2O emissions. Global Change Biology 24, e603-e616. https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.13965
  • Fronzek, S., Pirttioja, N., Carter, T. R., Bindi, M., Hoffmann, H., Palosuo, T., Ruiz-Ramos, M., Tao, F., Trnka, M., Acutis, M., Asseng, S., Baranowski, P., Basso, B., Bodin, P., Buis, S., Cammarano, D., Deligios, P., Destain, M.-F., Dumont, B., . . . Rötter, R. P. (2018). Classifying multi-model wheat yield impact response surfaces showing sensitivity to temperature and precipitation change. Agricultural Systems 195, 209-224. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agsy.2017.08.004
  • Fu, W., Lü, Y., Harris, P., Comber, A., Wu, L. (2018). Peri-urbanization may vary with vegetation restoration: A large scale regional analysis. Urban Forestry & Urban Greening 29(Supplement C), 77-87. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ufug.2017.11.006
  • Jia, X., Zhu, Y., Huang, L., Wei, X., Fang, Y., Wu, L., Binley, A., Shao, M. (2018). Mineral N stock and nitrate accumulation in the 50 to 200 m profile on the Loess Plateau. Science of the Total Environment 633, 999-1006. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.03.249
  • Liang, S., Li, Y., Zhang, X., Sun, Z., Sun, N., Duan, Y., Xu, M., Wu, L. (2018). Response of crop yield and nitrogen use efficiency for wheat-maize cropping system to future climate change in northern China. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology 262, 310-321. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agrformet.2018.07.019
  • Liu, Y., Li, Y., Harris, P., Cardenas, L., Dunn, R. M., Sint, H., Murray, P., Lee, M., Wu, L. (2018). Modelling field scale spatial variation in water run-off, soil moisture, N2O emissions and herbage biomass of a grazed pasture using the SPACSYS model. Geoderma 315, 49-58. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoderma.2017.11.029
  • Liu, Y., Liu, W., Wu, L., Liu, C., Wang, L., Chen, F., Li, Z. (2018). Soil aggregate-associated organic carbon dynamics subjected to different types of land use: Evidence from 13C natural abundance. Ecological Engineering 122, 295-302. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoleng.2018.08.018
  • Muhammed, S., Coleman, K., Wu, L., Bell, V., Davies, J., Carnell, E., Dore, T., Dragosits, U., Naden, P., Glendining, M., Tipping, E., Whitmore, A. (2018). Impact of two centuries of intensive agriculture on soil carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus cycling in the UK. Science of the Total Environment 634, 1486-1504. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.03.378
  • Ren, F., Zhang, X., Liu, J., Sun, N., Sun, Z., Wu, L., Xu, M. (2018). A synthetic analysis of livestock manure substitution effects on organic carbon changes in China's arable topsoil. Catena 171, 1-10. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.catena.2018.06.036
  • Shi, W., Huang, M., Wu, L. (2018). Prediction of storm-based nutrient loss incorporating the estimated runoff and soil loss at slope scale on the Loess Plateau. Land Degradation and Development 29(9), 2899-2910. https://doi.org/10.1002/ldr.3028
  • Takahashi, T., Harris, P., Blackwell, M. S. A., Cardenas, L. M., Collins, A. L., Dungait, J. A. J., Hawkins, J. M. B., Misselbrook, T., McAuliffe, G. A., McFadzean, J. N., Murray, P. J., Orr, R. J., Rivero-Viera, J., Wu, L., Lee, M. R. F. (2018). Roles of instrumented farm-scale trials in trade-off assessments of pasture-based ruminant production systems. animal 12(8), 1766-1776. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1751731118000502
  • Zhang, X., Sun, Z., Liu, J., Ouyang, Z., Wu, L. (2018). Simulating greenhouse gas emissions and stocks of carbon and nitrogen in soil from a long-term non-till system in the North China Plain. Soil & Tillage Research 178, 32-40. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.still.2017.12.013
  • Zhang, Y., Huang, M., Hu, W., Suo, L., Duan, L., Wu, L. (2018). How shallow and how many points of measurements are sufficient to estimate the deep profile mean soil water content of a hillslope in the Loess Plateau? Geoderma 314(Supplement C), 85-94. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoderma.2017.11.013