Qiuyan Yu | Ecosystems | Best Researcher Award

Dr. Qiuyan Yu | Ecosystems | Best Researcher Award

Senior Scientist | New Mexico State University | United States

Dr. Qiuyan Yu is a distinguished environmental and ecological researcher affiliated with New Mexico State University, United States. With an academic portfolio comprising 26 publications and over 870 citations, Dr. Yu has made significant contributions to the fields of forest ecology, remote sensing, and environmental change analysis. Her research integrates geospatial technologies, ecological modeling, and landscape analysis to understand how environmental factors and human activities influence terrestrial ecosystems, particularly forests and agricultural landscapes. Notably, her recent works—such as “Interactions between the environment and plant functional type control global forest top-of-canopy height” (2026) and “Urban Expansion and the Loss of Agricultural Lands and Forest Cover in Limbe, Cameroon” (2025)—demonstrate her expertise in assessing the ecological consequences of urbanization and climate variability on land cover dynamics. With an h-index of 14, Dr. Yu’s scholarship reflects both depth and global relevance, emphasizing sustainable environmental management and conservation. Collaborating with a broad network of 68 co-authors across interdisciplinary domains, she advances scientific understanding of ecosystem resilience and biodiversity conservation in the context of rapid environmental transformation. Her work not only enhances predictive models of vegetation dynamics but also provides valuable insights for policy formulation, land-use planning, and sustainable development. Through her continued research and collaboration, Dr. Qiuyan Yu remains a leading figure in environmental science, contributing meaningfully to addressing global ecological challenges.

Profiles: Scopus |Google Scholar

Featured Publications

1. Zhao, A., Yu, Q., Feng, L., Zhang, A., & Pei, T. (2020). Evaluating the cumulative and time-lag effects of drought on grassland vegetation: A case study in the Chinese Loess Plateau. Journal of Environmental Management, 261, 110214. 
Cited by: 203

2. Acheampong, M., Yu, Q., Enomah, L. D., Anchang, J., & Eduful, M. (2018). Land use/cover change in Ghana’s oil city: Assessing the impact of neoliberal economic policies and implications for sustainable development goal number one–A remote sensing perspective. Land Use Policy, 73, 373–384. 
Cited by: 125

3. Pu, R., Landry, S., & Yu, Q. (2018). Assessing the potential of multi-seasonal high resolution Pléiades satellite imagery for mapping urban tree species. International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation, 71, 144–158.
Cited by: 117

4. Yu, Q., Ji, W., Pu, R., Landry, S., Acheampong, M., O’Neil-Dunne, J., Ren, Z., et al. (2020). A preliminary exploration of the cooling effect of tree shade in urban landscapes. International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation, 92, 102161.
Cited by: 85

5 Sun, Z., Luo, J., Yang, J., Yu, Q., Zhang, L., Xue, K., & Lu, L. (2020). Nation-scale mapping of coastal aquaculture ponds with Sentinel-1 SAR data using Google Earth Engine. Remote Sensing, 12(18), 3086.
Cited by: 85

Dr. Qiuyan Yu’s research advances global understanding of vegetation dynamics, land-use change, and climate–ecosystem interactions. Her work provides critical insights for sustainable environmental management, guiding policies that balance ecological resilience with human development in a changing world.