UC Research Profile - University of Canterbury

Mr Hao Ran Lai

Contact

Department: School of Biological Sciences

Email: haoran.lai@canterbury.ac.nz

Direct Dial: +64 3 3691238

Office:

Languages: English, Chinese (Cantonese), Chinese (Mandarin), Malay

My research goal is to make ecology more predictive: learn from poor predictions and strive for more accurate ones.

About

Research / Creative works

Projects

Methods & Equipment

Fields of Research

community ecology
functional traits
demography
model transferability
biostatistics
species interactions
species distribution modelling
secondary succession
plant ecology
forest ecology
coevolution
metacommunity

Researcher Summary

Why are species found in some places but not elsewhere? How do physiological and morphological traits determine species distribution? Can we build predictive models that are not only useful locally, but are also transferable to other places to generalise our state of knowledge, as well as broadening the utility of ecological tools?

Subject Area: Disciplines

Biology: Ecology, Evolution and Behaviour: Biodiversity/Conservation ; Biosecurity/Biosafety ; Ecology ; Terrestrial Ecology

Resources

Research/Scholarly/Creative Works

Journal Articles

Hall JS., Plisinski JS., Mladinich SK., van Breugel M., Lai HR., Asner GP., Walker K. and Thompson JR. (2022) Deforestation scenarios show the importance of secondary forest for meeting Panama’s carbon goals. Landscape Ecology 37(3): 673-694. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10980-021-01379-4.

Lai HR., Chong KY., Yee ATK., Mayfield MM. and Stouffer DB. (2022) Non-additive biotic interactions improve predictions of tropical tree growth and impact community size structure. Ecology 103(2) http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ecy.3588.

Falster D., Gallagher R., Wenk EH., Wright IJ., Indiarto D., Andrew SC., Baxter C., Lawson J., Allen S. and Fuchs A. (2021) AusTraits, a curated plant trait database for the Australian flora. Scientific Data 8(1) http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41597-021-01006-6.

Lai HR., Craven D., Hall JS., Hui FKC. and van Breugel M. (2021) Successional syndromes of saplings in tropical secondary forests emerge from environment-dependent trait–demography relationships. Ecology Letters 24(9): 1776-1787. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/ele.13784.

Lai HR., Tan GSY., Neo L., Kee CY., Yee ATK., Tan HTW. and Chong KY. (2021) Decoupled responses of native and exotic tree diversities to distance from old-growth forest and soil phosphorus in novel secondary forests. Applied Vegetation Science 24(1) http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/avsc.12548.

Lai HR., Chong KY., Yee ATK., Tan HTW. and van Breugel M. (2020) Functional traits that moderate tropical tree recruitment during post-windstorm secondary succession. Journal of Ecology 108(4): 1322-1333. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1365-2745.13347.

Lai HR., Hall JS., Batterman SA., Turner BL. and van Breugel M. (2018) Nitrogen fixer abundance has no effect on biomass recovery during tropical secondary forest succession. Journal of Ecology 106(4): 1415-1427. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1365-2745.12979.

Lai HR., Hall JS., Turner BL. and van Breugel M. (2017) Liana effects on biomass dynamics strengthen during secondary forest succession. Ecology 98(4): 1062-1070. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ecy.1734.

Lai HR., Mayfield MM., Gay-des-combes JM., Spiegelberger T. and Dwyer JM. (2015) Distinct invasion strategies operating within a natural annual plant system. Ecology Letters 18(4): 336-346. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/ele.12414.

Research Projects

Understanding when and why predictions succeed or fail for species distributions

Future Research

inverse modelling
transferable models
indigenous knowledge
data informed management

Key Methodologies

Bayesian inference
Multilevel and hierarchical modelling
R programming
Forest inventory
functional trait measurement