Jun Zhu

About

Jun Zhu is a Professor in the Department of Statistics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and is an Affiliate Faculty member in the Department of Entomology. His educational background includes a PhD in Statistics from Iowa State University, an MSE in Mathematical Sciences from Johns Hopkins University, and a BA in Mathematics and Computer Science from Knox College. His research interests encompass spatial statistics, spatio-temporal statistics, Markov random fields, agricultural statistics, environmental statistics, statistical ecology, environmental and population health, disease mapping, and medical imaging. His main research activities involve the development of statistical methodologies for analyzing spatially referenced data and data sampled over time, which are common in biological, physical, and social sciences. Additionally, he collaborates with research scientists to apply modern statistical methods, especially spatial and spatio-temporal statistics, to studies in agricultural, biological, ecological, environmental, health, and social systems. His research program emphasizes a close connection between methodological development and scientific collaboration, where problems identified in collaborative research motivate new statistical methods, and these methods are subsequently applied in his projects.

Research topics

• Geography
• Biology
• Ecology
• Geology
• Remote sensing
• Environmental science
• Soil science
• Meteorology
• Climatology

Selected publications

• The number of tree species on Earth

  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · 2022 · 216 citations

  One of the most fundamental questions in ecology is how many species inhabit the Earth. However, due to massive logistical and financial challenges and taxonomic difficulties connected to the species concept definition, the global numbers of species, including those of important and well-studied life forms such as trees, still remain largely unknown. Here, based on global ground-sourced data, we estimate the total tree species richness at global, continental, and biome levels. Our results indica…

  DOI

• Co-limitation towards lower latitudes shapes global forest diversity gradients

  Nature Ecology & Evolution · 2022 · 118 citations

  The latitudinal diversity gradient (LDG) is one of the most recognized global patterns of species richness exhibited across a wide range of taxa. Numerous hypotheses have been proposed in the past two centuries to explain LDG, but rigorous tests of the drivers of LDGs have been limited by a lack of high-quality global species richness data. Here we produce a high-resolution (0.025° × 0.025°) map of local tree species richness using a global forest inventory database with individual tree informat…

  DOI

• Soil moisture as an essential component for delineating and forecasting agricultural rather than meteorological drought

  Remote Sensing of Environment · 2021 · 102 citations

  DOI

• Characterization of field-scale soil variation using a stepwise multi-sensor fusion approach and a cost-benefit analysis

  CATENA · 2021 · 53 citations

  DOI

• The influence of inherent soil factors and agricultural management on soil organic matter

  Ecosphere · 2023-03-01 · 15 citations

  articleOpen access

  Abstract The accumulation of soil organic matter (SOM) is vital to the agronomic and environmental functioning of agroecosystems, yet the relative influence of inherent soil properties and agricultural management practices on SOM dynamics are not often addressed in individual studies. Using a network of 218 operating farm fields across Wisconsin and southern Minnesota, USA, this research employs single variable analysis (ANOVA and regression) and regression tree analysis to assess the effects of…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Brian H. Aukema

  36 shared

• Kenneth F. Raffa

  University of Wisconsin–Madison

  31 shared

• Jakob Gulddahl Rasmussen

  Aalborg University

  27 shared

• Jesper Møller

  27 shared

• Tingjin Chu

  University of Melbourne

  18 shared

• Y. A. Chang

  16 shared

• Haonan Wang

  National University of Singapore

  14 shared

• Pei‐Sheng Lin

  National Health Research Institutes

  11 shared

Education

• Ph.D., Entomology

  University of California, Berkeley

  1993

• M.S., Entomology

  University of California, Berkeley

  1989

• B.S., Entomology

  Nanjing Agricultural University

  1985

Similar researchers at University of Wisconsin-Madison

• Cameron Currieh-99
• Anthony Ivesh-88
• Claudio Grattonh-61