My research focuses on the mechanisms by which plants respond and adapt to environmental stress, with emphasis on plant hydraulics, functional traits, and remote sensing approaches. With a background spanning tropical rainforest ecology, soil–plant hydrodynamics, and UAV-based stress monitoring.

https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3962-0867

RESEARCH AREA

Education

• 2021 PhD. Ecology, Wageningen University & Research, the Netherlands
  • Dissertation: The ecology of a liana community in a SW Chinese rainforest: functional traits, dynamics, and distribution
• 2016 MSc. Ecology, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden-Chinese Academy of Sciences, China

PROFESSIONAL POSITIONS

• 2024-pres. Postdoctoral fellow, Institute of Botany of the Czech Academy of Sciences
• 2022-2024 Postdoctoral fellow, University of Toronto
• 2021-2022 Parental leave
• 2017-2021 Research fellow, Wageningen University & Research

Publications

• Liu, Q., Sterck, F.J., Zhang, J., and Poorter, L. (2024). Lianas shift towards larger sizes and more acquisitive trait values in an Asian tropical rainforest. Biotropica, 56: e13289. DOI: 
  10.1111/btp.13289
• Liu, Q., Sterck, F.J., Zhang, J., and Poorter, L. (2023). Abiotic and biotic drivers of liana community change in a tropical rainforest. Forest Ecology and Management, 545, 121261. DOI: 10.1016/j.foreco.2023.121261
• Bai, X.L.#, Liu, Q.#, Cao, M., … Zhang, J.L. (2022). Spatial autocorrelation shapes liana distribution better than topography and host tree properties in a subtropical evergreen broadleaved forest in SW China. Biotropica, 54, 301-308. (#Equal contribution). DOI: 10.1111/btp.13043
• Liu, Q., Sterck, F.J., Scheire, A., Zhang, J., Konings, E., Cao, M., Sha, L., and Poorter, L. (2021). Traits, strategies, and niches of liana species in a tropical seasonal rainforest. Oecologia, 196: 499–514. DOI: 10.1007/s00442-021-04937-4
• Liu, Q., Sterck, F.J., Medina–Vega, J.A., … and Poorter, L. (2021). Soil nutrients, canopy gaps and topography affect liana distribution in a tropical seasonal rain forest in SW China. Journal of Vegetation Science, 00: e12951. DOI: 10.1111/jvs.12951
• Liu Q, Wu H.D, Tan Y.H, and Zhang J.L. (2017). Liana Diversity and its Climbing Situation on Trees in Xishuangbanna Tropical Seasonal Rainforest. Scientia Silvae Sinicae, 53(8), 1-8. DOI: 10.11707/j.1001-7488.20170801
• Bai, X.L., Yang, D., …, Liu, Q., …, Zhang, J.L. (2023). Divergences in stem and leaf traits between lianas and co-existing trees in a subtropical montane forest. Journal of Plant Ecology, rtad037. DOI: 10.1093/jpe/rtad037
• Zhang, K. Y., Yang, D. Zhang, Y. B., Liu Q., … Zhang, J.L. (2023). Vessel dimorphism and wood traits in lianas and trees among three contrasting environments. American Journal of Botany, 110(4), e16154. DOI: 10.1002/ajb2.16154
• Song, Y.J., Sterck, F.J., Zhou, X.Q., Liu, Q., Kruijt, B., and Poorter, L. (2022). Drought resilience of conifer species is driven by leaf lifespan, but not by hydraulic traits. New Phytologist, 235, 978-992. DOI: 10.1111/nph.18177
• Bai, X.L., Zhang, Y.B., Liu, Q., Wang, Y.S.D., Yang, D., and Zhang, J.L. (2020). Leaf and stem traits are linked to liana growth rate in a subtropical cloud forest. Forests, 11(10), 1120. DOI: 10.3390/f11101120
• Wu, H., Liu, Q., Tan, Y., and Zhang, J.L. (2016). Liana diversity and its relationship with host trees in the Yuanjiang dry-hot valley, Yunnan, China. Plant Science Journal, 34(4), 547-554.

CONFERENCE PARTICIPATION

• “Life after drought: breaking out of the transpiration-assimilation feedback loop”. EGU2025, Oral presentation
• “Watching from the sky: drone-based remote sensing photosynthetic traits of White spruce (Picea glauca)”. Canadian Society of Plant Biologists Eastern Regional Meeting 2023, Oral presentation
• “Uncovering the diversity in seasonal dynamics of photosynthetic phenology at the leaf-scale among different white spruce genotypes”. Canadian Society of Plant Biologists Annual General Meeting 2023, Oral presentation
• “Chlorophyll fluorescence as a tool for tracking photosynthetic phenology in spruce genotypes”. Canadian Society of Plant Biologists – Eastern Regional 2022 Meeting, Poster
• “Lianas are increasing in dominance and water use in tropical rainforest”. Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation 2021, Lightning Talk (online).
• “Community strategies and local drivers are switching the liana communities”. British Ecology Meeting 2020, Oral presentation (Online).
• “Functional traits shape liana strategies and niches”. Netherlands Annual Ecology Meeting 2020, Oral presentation.

MEMBERSHIP

• 2025 – present: European Geosciences Union
• 2022 – present: Canadian Society of Plant Biologists
• 2020 – present: British Ecological Society