Xue Feng

xue.feng@duke.edu
+1 (919) 660-5541
2421 CIEMAS

Google Scholar
Research Interests

I’m interested in studying how people cope and thrive in places where water availability is scarce or unpredictable both in terms of its amount and of its seasonal and interannual distributions. I’m also interested in looking at how natural strategies (e.g., drought avoidance, deciduousness) differ from and complement human management efforts to better buffer ecosystems against unforeseen extreme events like prolonged droughts. Understanding the connections between climate and hydrology to plant and ecosystem responses will provide more benchmarks for evaluating sustainable management efforts in seasonally dry regions.

I construct theoretical models and supplement them with field data and simulations. Field sites are maintained in both the Duke Forest and in northeast Brazil.

Education

Ph.D. in Civil and Environmental Engineering, expected 2015, Duke University, Durham, NC

B.S. in Mechanical Engineering, June 2010, Stanford University, Stanford, CA

Publications
  1. Pascale, S., Lucarini V., Feng, X., Porporato, A., and S. ul Hasson (2014). Projected changes of rainfall seasonality and dry spells in a high concentration pathway 21st century scenario (in review). 
  2. Feng, X., Porporato, A., and I. Rodriguez-Iturbe (2014). Stochastic soil water balance under seasonal climates. Proceedings of the Royal Society A, doi: 10.1098/rspa.2014.0623
  3. Mau, Y., Feng, X., and A. Porporato (2014). Multiplicative jump processes and applications to leaching of salt and contaminants in the soil. Physical Review E, 90, 052128, doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.90.052128
  4. Vico, G., Thompson, S. E., Manzoni, S., Molini, A., Albertson, J. D., Almeida-Cortez, J. S., Fay, P. A., Feng, X., Guswa, A. J., Liu, H., Wilson, T. G., and A. Porporato. (2014). Climate, ecophysiological, and phenological controls on plant ecohydrological strategies in seasonally dry ecosystems. Ecohydrology, doi: 10.1002/eco.1533
  5. Pascale, S., Lucarini, V., Feng, X., Porporato, A., and S. ul Hasson (2014). Analysis of rainfall seasonality from observations and climate models. Climate Dynamics, doi: 10.1007/s00382-014-2278-2.
  6. Rohr, T., Manzoni, S., Feng, X., Menezes, R.S.C., and A. Porporato (2013). Effect of rainfall seasonality on carbon storage in tropical dry ecosystems. Journal of Geophysical Research Biogeosciences, 118, doi:10.1002/jgrg.20091.
  7. Feng, X., Porporato, A., and I. Rodriguez-Iturbe (2013). Changes in rainfall seasonality in the tropics. Nature Climate Change, 3(9), 811-815, doi: 10.1038/nclimate1907.  Coverage: Pratt News, Nature Climate Change New and Views, Climate Wire. 
  8. Feng, X., Vico, G., and A. Porporato (2012). On the effects of seasonality on soil water balance and plant growth. Water Resources Research, 48, W05543, doi: 10.1029/2011WR011263.
  9. Konings A., Feng X., Molini A., Manzoni S., Vico G., and A. Porporato (2012). Thermodynamics of an idealized hydrologic cycle. Water Resources Research, 48, W05527, doi: 10.1029/2011WR011264.
Conference Abstracts
  1. Porporato, A., Bonetti, S. and X. Feng (2014). Environmental controls and space-time biodiversity patterns in the Amazon. Abstract PP14A-07, American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting, San Francisco, CA, Dec. 15-19.
  2. Souza, R. M. S., Feng, X., Vico, G., Lima, R., Souza, E., Antonino, A., Montenegro, S. and A. Porporato (2014). Soil storage and plant controls on carbon and water fluxes in seasonally dry ecosystems. Abstract H51E-0667, American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting, San Francisco, CA, Dec. 15-19.
  3. Pascale, S., Lucarini, V., Feng, X., Porporato, A., and S. Hasson (2014). Analysis of observed and modeled rainfall seasonality with new indicators based on information entropy (Invited), Abstract EGU2014-7311, European Geophysical Union General Assembly, Vienna, Austria, April 27 – May 2.
  4. Feng, X. and A. Porporato (2013) Theoretical considerations on the role of hydrologic variability on the maintenance of biodiversity. Abstract B53A-0428, American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting, San Francisco, CA, Dec. 9-13.
  5. Rohr, T., Manzoni, S., Feng, X., Menezes, R., and A. Porporato (2013). Effects of shifting seasonal rainfall patterns on net primary productivity and carbon storage in tropical seasonally dry ecosystems. Abstract B53A-0419, American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting, San Francisco, CA, Dec. 9-13.
  6. Pascale, S., Lucarini, V., Feng, X, and A. Porporato (2013). Analysis of precipitation seasonality in two gridded datasets and comparison with coupled climate model simulations. Abstract GC43D-1079, American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting, San Francisco, CA, Dec. 9-13.
  7. Porporato, A. and X. Feng (2013). The impact of multiscale rainfall forcing on biogeochemistry and biodiversity analyzed within the framework of Budyko’s hydrologic partitioning (Invited),Abstract H11A-1153, American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting. San Francisco, CA, Dec. 9-13. 
  8. Feng, X., Porporato, A., and I. Rodriguez-Iturbe. Changes in rainfall seasonality in the tropics, American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting. Abstract H52A-05, oral presentation at American Geophysical Union 2012 Fall Meeting, San Francisco, CA. 3-7 Dec.
  9. Porporato, A., Feng, X., and I. Rodriguez-Iturbe. Characterizing temporal climate variability in seasonal ecosystems (Invited), American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting. Abstract H14D-05, oral presentation at American Geophysical Union 2011 Fall Meeting, San Francisco, CA. 5-9 Dec.
  10. Feng, X., Vico, G., and A. Porporato (2011). The role of seasonality on soil water balance and plant growth, poster presentation at “Ecohydrology and Sustainability in Seasonally Dry Ecosystems” International Workshop. Duke University,13-14 June.
  11. Feng, X., Vico, G., and A. Porporato (2010). Ecohydrology and biogeochemistry of seasonally-dry ecosystems. Abstract B22E-06, oral presentation at American Geophysical Union 2010 Fall Meeting, San Francisco, CA. 13-17 Dec.