About

Jianguo Wu is the Dean’s Distinguished Professor of Landscape Ecology and Sustainability Science at the School of Life Sciences and the School of Sustainability, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, USA. He earned his B.S. in biology from Inner Mongolia University in 1982, followed by an M.S. in 1987 and a Ph.D. in ecology in 1991 from Miami University, Oxford, Ohio, USA. He completed postdoctoral fellowships supported by the National Science Foundation at Cornell University (1991-1992) and Princeton University (1992-1993). His current research focuses on landscape ecology, urban ecology, biodiversity and ecosystem functioning, and landscape sustainability science. He has authored or edited 20 books and more than 400 journal articles and book chapters. Since 2005, he has served as Editor-in-Chief of the journal Landscape Ecology and is a member of editorial boards for several international journals on ecology and interdisciplinary research. Wu has held leadership roles including Chair of the Asian Ecology Section of the Ecological Society of America, Program Chair and Councilor-at-Large of the US Association for Landscape Ecology, and founding director positions at the Sino-US Center of Conservation, Energy and Sustainability Science and the Center for Human-Environment System Sustainability at Beijing Normal University. His major awards include the American Association for the Advancement of Science Award for International Scientific Cooperation (2006), election as AAAS Fellow (2007), Leopold Leadership Fellow (2009), Distinguished Landscape Ecologist Award from the US Association for Landscape Ecology (2010), Outstanding Scientific Achievements Award from the International Association for Landscape Ecology (2011), and election as Fellow of the Ecological Society of America (2019). He was recognized as a Web of Science Highly Cited Researcher in Environment and Ecology in 2019 and in Cross-Field in 2020.

Research topics

• Geography
• Political Science
• Ecology
• Economics
• Environmental science
• Computer Science
• Economic geography
• Economic growth
• Biology
• Environmental resource management
• Natural resource economics
• Environmental planning
• Environmental health
• Regional science
• Civil engineering
• Archaeology
• Business
• Agricultural economics
• Engineering
• Economy
• Water resource management
• Environmental protection

Selected publications

• Adhesive-free manufacturing of PAA/Na₂SiO₃ impregnated hot-pressed high-strength densified wood

  Wood Material Science and Engineering · 2026-03-18

  article
  PublisherDOI

• Eastward one‐way nocturnal migration of insects across the China–Kazakhstan border observed with radar

  Pest Management Science · 2026-02-02

  articleOpen access

  BACKGROUND: Insect migration plays a crucial role in the spread of pests and diseases, biodiversity, and ecosystem functions. However, our current understanding of migratory patterns, particularly cross-border migration, in the arid and semi-arid regions of Central Asia remains limited. To address this, a continuous 6-year study (2018-2023) was conducted using entomological radar to monitor insect swarms during the growing season in the Tacheng Prefecture, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, China. This study focused on observing the flight direction, altitude and behavioral changes of nocturnal insects, and analyzed the meteorological conditions associated with insect layering in the atmosphere. Lagrangian particle dispersion models were used to examine the migratory trajectories of the insect populations. RESULTS: Medium-sized insects (10-70 mg) showed a clear preference for migratory directions (northward in July, eastward in August and east-southeastward in September), whereas large-sized insects (70-500 mg) only showed an eastward migratory preference in August. The number of migratory insects was concentrated in areas with the highest wind velocity in July and the highest temperatures in September. Among the 30 selected nights with moderate insect outbreaks in August, the migratory trajectories of insects on 20 nights were directed eastward, concentrating in the Tacheng Region. CONCLUSION: Multiyear radar observations revealed a predominant eastward nocturnal insect migration phenomenon along the China-Kazakhstan border, with model analysis indicating that the Tacheng area is a key aggregation zone. These findings provide a scientific basis for understanding insect migration patterns in this region, and for cross-border pest monitoring, the development of an early warning system. © 2026 Society of Chemical Industry.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Comparing Multi-Criteria Analysis and Species Distribution Models for Identifying Locust Suitable Habitats in Xinjiang, China

  Biology · 2026-05-07

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Locust outbreaks are major biological disturbances in grassland ecosystems of arid and semi-arid regions. Accurate identification of locust suitable habitats is important for regional monitoring and management. However, direct comparisons between multi-criteria analysis (MCA) and species distribution models (SDMs) under a unified framework remain limited. In this study, we compared these two approaches for dominant locust species in Xinjiang, China, including Calliptamus italicus, Gomphocerus sibiricus, and Locusta migratoria manilensis. We used the same environmental variables and occurrence records for all models. The MCA methods included the analytic hierarchy process (AHP), technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS), and ordered weighted averaging (OWA). The SDMs included the generalized linear model (GLM), maximum entropy model (MaxEnt), extreme gradient boosting (XGBoost), and an ensemble model. The results showed that SDMs had higher area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) and true skill statistic (TSS) values than MCA under the internal point-based evaluation framework, although both approaches effectively identified locust-suitable habitats. The two approaches also showed high spatial agreement in moderately and highly suitable habitats, with Jaccard indices of 0.88–0.92, and consistently identified the northern slopes of the Tianshan Mountains, the Ili River Valley, and the margins of the Junggar Basin as core suitable areas. These results indicate that the two approaches are complementary for locust monitoring and management.

  PublisherDOI

• A model for building a blended learning environment based on the TPACK framework to support teaching competence in higher education

  Ingegneria Sismica · 2026-04-30

  article1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Risk assessment of transboundary locust habitat distribution and migration pathways under climate change: a case study of Kazakhstan and Xinjiang, China

  Geomatics Natural Hazards and Risk · 2026-02-07

  articleOpen access

  Cross-border migration of Calliptamus italicus (C. italicus) and Locusta migratoria migratoria (L. migratoria migratoria) threatens agricultural security along the China-Kazakhstan border, yet their migration pathways remain poorly understood. This study integrates geospatial techniques (optimized Maximum Entropy (MaxEnt) and weighted overlay analysis) with multi-source habitat variables (climate, soil, vegetation) to map current and future habitat suitability and migration pathways. Future climate projections were generated using the BCC-CSM2-MR climate model. Key findings: (1) The MaxEnt model achieved robust performance (AUC > 0.93, TSS > 0.70), with precipitation seasonality, isothermality, and elevation as dominant drivers. (2) Projections indicate climate change will expand suitable habitats for the two locust species, moderate-high suitability areas in L. migratoria migratoria and low-moderate zones in C. italicus will progressively shrink under future climates. (3) Four and six potential migration pathways were identified for L. migratoria migratoria and C. italicus, concentrated along the Irtysh/Ili Rivers, Balkhash/Alakol Lakes, and Tianshan northern slopes. (4) Future scenarios predict corridor shortening and southward shifts, with SSP585 intensifying L. migratoria migratoria habitat fragmentation. Spatial overlap occurs in Irtysh River and Alakol Lake regions, highlighting cross-border monitoring priorities. These results provide geospatial evidence for optimizing early-warning systems and transboundary pest management strategies under climate change scenarios.

  PublisherDOI

• Normalization of ecological civilization in Chinese news media

  Journal of Language and Politics · 2026-04-02

  article1st authorCorresponding

  Abstract The concept of ecological civilization (EC) has been proposed by China as a paradigm to reconcile economic growth with environmental protection. The paper investigates the discursive shifts of EC in Chinese news media from October 2007 to September 2024 through dynamic topic modeling (DTM) and corpus-assisted critical discourse analysis. Quantitative analysis identifies 16 themes undergoing recontextualization over time, manifested as transformations in the form of addition, deletion, splitting, merging, and continuation. Different concepts and discursive strategies are employed to normalize EC. This paper further elucidates the contextual and ideological dynamics underpinning the shifts. The normalization of EC is driven by China’s development models and international pressure regarding environmental pollution, and reinforced through discursive construction of the antagonism between industrial civilization and EC, as well as sociotechnical imaginaries fostering collective identification. This paper contributes to the literature by showcasing the utility of DTM in tracing discursive shifts of a new idea.

  PublisherDOI

• A viral protein disrupts rice cell wall integrity and modulates interactions with viruses and insects

  Stress Biology · 2026-02-19

  articleOpen access

  The plant cell wall provides structural support and serves as a barrier against pathogen invasion. Rice grassy stunt virus (RGSV) infection suppresses genes involved in cell wall biosynthesis, but the underlying mechanism remains unclear. To further investigate this phenomenon, we generated transgenic rice lines overexpressing the RGSV-encoded p2 protein. These transgenic lines exhibited a brittle phenotype with reduced plant height, thinner sclerenchyma cell walls, decreased cellulose and increased lignin contents. Biochemical and microscopic analyses confirmed that mechanical strength of the cell wall was significantly weakened in p2-expressing plants. Notably, immunoblotting and in situ hybridization revealed partial localization of p2 to the cell wall, suggesting potential structural association. Transcriptome analysis revealed that p2 expression significantly altered the expression of genes involved in cell wall organization, hormone signaling, and pathogen interactions, suggesting a mechanistic basis for the observed phenotypes. Additionally, p2 transgenic lines exhibited increased susceptibility to multiple viruses, but unexpectedly showed enhanced resistance to the brown planthopper (BPH, Nilaparvata lugens), a major phloem-feeding pest. These findings reveal that a single viral protein can remodel the cell wall to influence both pathogen susceptibility and insect resistance, highlighting the broader ecological impacts of virus-induced cell wall remodeling in plants.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Potential distribution changes of Xanthium italicum under environmental change scenarios

  2025-09-29

  article

  <i>Xanthium italicum</i> is a highly invasive alien species that poses significant ecological and agricultural risks in China. Accurate prediction of its future distribution under climate change is crucial for early warning and prevention. In this study, we integrate 19 bioclimatic variables with four remote sensing-derived environmental factors—Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Digital Elevation Model (DEM), slope, and aspect—into a MaxEnt modeling framework to simulate the current and future distribution of <i>Xanthium italicum</i>. Species occurrence data were used to project the potential suitable areas under three Shared Socioeconomic Pathways (SSP126, SSP245, SSP585) for the 2030s, 2050s, and 2070s. The results indicate that: (1) The enhanced MaxEnt model incorporating remote sensing variables such as NDVI and DEM outperformed the climate-only model, with these factors contributing significantly to prediction accuracy alongside bioclimatic variables; (2) Under current conditions, <i>Xanthium italicum</i> is mainly distributed in northern Xinjiang, the border area between Shanxi and Shaanxi, the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, and the Liaoning Peninsula, with a total suitable area of 43.96&times;10⁴ km²; (3) Under different future climate scenarios, the overall suitable area for <i>Xanthium italicum</i> in China is projected to increase and gradually expand outward. This study demonstrates the value of integrating remote sensing data into species distribution models and provides technical support for invasive species monitoring under climate change.

  PublisherDOI

• Heterogeneous dominant factors of heat resilience across diverse urban patterns

  Land Use Policy · 2025-06-27 · 2 citations

  article
  PublisherDOI

• Longwave-transparent low-emissivity material

  ArXiv.org · 2025-10-18

  preprintOpen access

  Low emissivity (low-e) materials are crucial for conserving thermal energy in buildings, cold chain logistics and transportation by minimizing unwanted radiative heat loss or gain. However, their metallic nature intrinsically causes severe longwave attenuation, hindering their broad applications. Here, we introduce, for the first time, an all-dielectric longwave-transparent low-emissivity material (LLM) with ultra-broadband, high transmittance spanning 9 orders of magnitude, from terahertz to kilohertz frequencies. This meter-scale LLM not only achieves energy savings of up to 41.1% over commercial white paint and 10.2% over traditional low-e materials, but also unlocks various fundamentally new capabilities including high-speed wireless communication in energy-efficient buildings, wireless energy transfer with radiative thermal insulation, as well as non-invasive terahertz security screening and radio frequency identification in cold chain logistics. Our approach represents a new photonic solution towards carbon neutrality and smart city development, paving the way for a more sustainable and interconnected future.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Recent grants

• COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: Testing Biodiversity-Ecosystem Functioning Relationships in an Ecological Stoichiometry Framework in the World's Largest Natural Grassland

  NSF · $849k · 2006–2012

• Dimensions US-China: Collaborative Research: Phylogenetic, Functional, and Genetic Diversity and Ecosystem Functions in a Fragmented Landscape

  NSF · $577k · 2014–2019

Frequent coauthors

• Xingguo Han

  Lanzhou Jiaotong University

  91 shared

• Yongfei Bai

  62 shared

• Jianhui Huang

  Chinese Academy of Sciences

  53 shared

• Chunyang He

  42 shared

• Qingmin Pan

  Jiangsu University

  38 shared

• Deyong Yu

  Beijing Normal University

  27 shared

• Zhifeng Liu

  Beijing Normal University

  27 shared

• Qun Ma

  Chinese Academy of Sciences

  26 shared

Education

• B.S.

  Inner Mongolia University

  1982

• M.S.

  Miami University

  1987

• Ph.D.

  Miami University

  1991

Awards & honors

• American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) A…
• Elected AAAS Fellow (2007)
• Leopold Leadership Fellow (2009)
• Distinguished Landscape Ecologist Award from United States A…
• Outstanding Scientific Achievements Award from International…