Dr. Fangyan Cheng is the lead of the Restoration Ecology and Earth Surface Processes Group. The group studies how degraded ecosystems change, why they degrade, and how ecological restoration can be assessed and improved.

Research Interests

• Ecological restoration and degraded land dynamics
• Soil–water processes and salinity dynamics
• Remote sensing and UAV-based ecosystem monitoring
• Vegetation dynamics and land-cover change
• Biodiversity and restoration assessment
• GIS-based spatial analysis and ecological modelling

Current Research Topics

• Critical transitions and legacy effects in saline-alkali land restoration
• Remote sensing monitoring of vegetation and wetness dynamics
• UAV-based mapping of bamboo forests and restoration sites
• Soil fauna and plant community responses to habitat heterogeneity
• Spatial assessment of ecological restoration outcomes