Before coming to Memorial University, I earned my bachelor’s degree in Environmental Engineering from School of Resources and Environment at Shandong Agricultural University, and my master’s degree in Environmental Science and Engineering from School of Environmental and Municipal Engineering at Qingdao University of Technology. My master’s research focused on the influence of soil minerals on dissolved organic matter, as mineral-associated organic carbon is a key pathway for soil organic carbon storage.
I am currently pursuing a PhD in Earth Science under supervision of Dr. Sue Ziegler. Briefly, I am interested in the responses of boreal forest mineral soil carbon stores to the climate change as well as the variation of soil characteristics induced by climate. Right now I am learning about the prevailing soil processes that drive and affect the formation and turnover of organic-mineral complexes (OMC). I am currently working with existing datasets and gathering samples to generate new datasets to understand the climate, geologic, and topographic controls on key soil C attributes at depth to inform a new model for soil C stores that I hope to develop for temperate and boreal podzols.
Xiaowen Li, Yang, J., Chen, C., Vähätalo, A.V., Rise, G., Liu, C., and Y. Xiao (2024) Effects of mineral adsorption on the molecular composition of soil dissolved organic matter: Evidence from spectral analyses. Chemical Geology 669: 122352
I can be reached at xiaowenl@mun.ca