Meng Yao, Ph.D.
Molecular ecology and biodiversity group
Associate Professor, College of Life Sciences, Peking University
tel：
E-mail：yaom@pku.edu.cn
1. Environmental DNA-based biopersity patterns and community ecology
2. Molecular dietary analysis and food web reconstruction
3. Population genetics of wild animals
Dr. Meng Yao completed her PhD at the University of Michigan and is now a Research Associate Professor at Peking University. Her research interests include biopersity dynamics, community coexistence, food-web interactions, and conservation under global change. She applies aquatic, airborne, and soil environmental (eDNA) to the detection of biopersity and fecal eDNA metabarcoding to reconstruct feeding habits and niche relationships among mammalian carnivores. Her recent works include resolving urbanization impacts on freshwater biopersity (Zhang et al., 2022 Sci Adv), molecular food webs of highly complex mammalian communities (Shao et al., 2021 Curr Biol; Lu et al., 2023 Curr Biol), multi-group biopersity distribution and community assembly in Tibetan Plateau water systems (Lu et al., 2023 Env Res; Lu et al., 2024 iScience; Zhang et al., 2024 iScience), and development of novel eDNA techniques for effective biomonitoring (Chen et al., 2022 Env Sci Technol; Chen et al., 2024 Env Int; Yan et al., 2024 Env Int).
Chen X, Li S, Zhao J, Yao M. (2024) Passive eDNA sampling facilitates biopersity monitoring and rare species detection. Environment International, 187:108706.
Yan Z, Luo Y, Chen X, Yang L, Yao M. (2024) Angling and trolling for eDNA: A novel and effective approach for passive eDNA capture in natural waters. Environment International, 194:109175.
Zhang S, Zhan A, Zhao J, Yao M. (2024) Metropolitan pressures: significant biopersity declines and strong filtering of functional traits in fish assemblages. Science of the Total Environment, 944:173885.
Lu Q, Liu Y, Zhao J, Yao M. (2024) Successive accumulation of biotic assemblages at a fine spatial scale along glacier-fed waters. iScience, 27: 109476.
Zhang S-Y, Qi Y, Zhao J, Liu Y, Yao M. (2024) Distinct multitrophic biopersity composition and community organization in a freshwater lake and a hypersaline lake on the Tibetan Plateau. iScience, 27: 110124.
Lu S, Zeng H, Xiong F, Yao M, He S (2024) Advances in environmental DNA monitoring: standardization, automation, and emerging technologies in aquatic ecosystems. Science China-Life Sciences, 67: 1368-1384.
Lu Q, Cheng C, Xiao L, Li J, Li X, Zhao X, Lu Z, Zhao J, Yao M. (2023) Food webs reveal coexistence mechanisms and community organization in carnivores. Current Biology, 33: 647–659.
Zhang S, Bi Y, Zhao J, Yao M. (2023) To the north: eDNA tracing of the seasonal and spatial dynamics of fish assemblages along the world’s largest water persion project. Journal of Environmental Management, 331: 117217.
Lu Q, Zhang S-Y, Du J, Liu Q, Dong C, Zhao J, Wang Y, Yao M. (2023) Multi-group biopersity distributions and drivers of metacommunity organization along a glacial–fluvial–limnic pathway on the Tibetan Plateau. Environmental Research, 220:115236.
Zhang S, Zhao J, Yao M. (2023) Urban landscape-level biopersity assessments of aquatic and terrestrial vertebrates by environmental DNA metabarcoding. Journal of Environmental Management, 340:117971.
Zhang S, Zheng Y, Zhan A, Dong C, Zhao J, Yao M. (2022) Environmental DNA captures native and non-native fish community variations across the lentic and lotic systems of a megacity. Science Advances, 8: eabk0097.
Chen X, Kong Y, Zhang S, Zhao J, Li S, Yao M. (2022) Comparative evaluation of common materials as passive samplers of environmental DNA. Environmental Science & Technology, 56: 10798-10807.
Yao M, Zhang S, Lu Q, Chen X, Zhang S-Y, Kong Y, Zhao J. (2022) Fishing for fish environmental DNA (eDNA): ecological applications, methodological considerations, surveying designs, and ways forward. Molecular Ecology, 31: 5132-5164.
Zhang S, Lin M, Liu J, Chen J, Liu D, Zhao J, Yao M. (2022) A centenary tale: Population genetic insights into the introduction history of the oriental fire-bellied toad (Bombina orientalis) in Beijing. BMC Ecology and Evolution, 22: 117.
Shao X, Lu Q, Xiong M, Bu H, Liu M, Wang D, Zhao J, Li S, Yao M. (2021) Prey partitioning and livestock consumption in the world’s richest large carnivore assemblage. Current Biology, 31: 4887-4897.
Shao X, Lu Q, Liu M, Xiong M, Bu H, Wang D, Liu S, Zhao J, Li S, Yao M. (2021) Generalist carnivores can be effective biopersity samplers of terrestrial vertebrates. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, 19: 557-563.
Zheng Y, Zhang S, Lu Q, Zhang S-Y, Wang L, Hong M, Nguyen T, Zhao J, Yao M. (2021) Population genetic patterns of a mangrove-associated frog reveal its colonization history and habitat connectivity. Diversity and Distributions, 27: 1584-1600.
Lu Q, Xiao L, Cheng C, Lu Z, Zhao J, Yao M. (2021) Snow leopard dietary preferences and livestock predation revealed by fecal DNA metabarcoding: no evidence for apparent competition between wild and domestic prey. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, 9: 783546.
Zhang S, Zhao J, Yao M. (2020) A comprehensive and comparative evaluation of primers for metabarcoding eDNA from fish. Methods in Ecology and Evolution, 11: 1609-1625.
Zhang S, Lu Q, Wang Y, Wang X, Zhao J, Yao M. (2020) Assessment of fish communities using environmental DNA: Effect of spatial sampling design in lentic systems of different sizes. Molecular Ecology Resources, 20: 242-255.
Werhahn G, Liu Y, Yao M, et al. (2020) Himalayan wolf distribution and admixture based on multiple genetic markers. Journal of Biogeography, 47: 1272-1285.
Lei Cao, Zhen Wang, Xiaoyu Chen, Yuan Luo, Siyu Zhang, Yueqiao Kong, Kai Liu, Ziling Yan, Ruiyun Lin, Lingyi Yang, Siyuan Wang, Shuwen Zheng, Shuaibo Jing
