Basic Information

Yuan Yao

Associate Professor

Institute of Global Environmental Change

Xi'an Jiaotong University

Contact Information

Institute of Global Environmental Change, Xi’an Jiaotong University

No 28, Xianning West Road, Xi’an, 710049, Shaanxi, China

E-mail: yaoyuan@xjtu.edu.cn

Education and work experience

12/2019–now  Associate Professor, Institute of Global Environmental Change, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an, Shaanxi, China.

8/2016–11/2019  Postdoctor, Institute of Earth Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xi’an, Shaanxi, China. 

5/2018–5/2019  Postdoctor, Department of Earth, Environmental and Planetary Sciences, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island, USA. 

9/2013–6/2016  Ph.D., Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an, Shaanxi, China. 

9/2011–6/2013  M.S., Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an, Shaanxi, China. 

9/2007–7/2011  B.E., Northwest A&F University, Yangling, Shaanxi, China.

Research interests

Research fields: organic geochemistry, isotope geochemistry, paleoclimate, climate change.

My research focuses primarily on the development of organic biomarkers (including alkenones, GDGTs, and leaf wax isotopes) as paleoclimate proxies and their applications in reconstructing past climatic and environmental changes. My research methods combine organic geochemical and genomic approaches that help disentangle the complicated nature of many organic proxies.

Publications

  1. Wang, L., Yao, Y*., Huang, Y., Zhao, Y., Cheng, H., 2024. Highly efficient purification of long-chain alkenones using silver dimercaptotriazine flash chromatography. Chemical Geology 662, 122241.
  2. Yao, Y*., Wang, L., Li, X*., Cheng, H., Cai, Y., Vachula, R.S., Liang, J., Li, H., Liu, G., Zhao, J., Zhang, H., Li, Q., 2023. Unexpected cold season warming during the Little Ice Age on the northeastern Tibetan Plateau. Communications Earth & Environment 4, 182.
  3. Yao, Y*., Wang, L., Huang, Y., Liang, J., Vachula, R.S., Cai, Y., Cheng, H., 2023. Pre-industrial (1750–1850 CE) cold season warmth in northeastern China. Geophysical Research Letters 50, e2023GL103591. (Nature Index)
  4. Wang, L., Yao, Y*., Huang, Y., Cai, Y., Cheng, H., 2022. Group 1 phylogeny and alkenone distributions in a freshwater volcanic lake of northeastern China: implications for paleotemperature reconstructions. Organic Geochemistry 172, 104483. 
  5. Yao, Y*., Huang, Y*., Zhao, J., Wang, L., Cheng, H., 2022. Lipid biomarkers in Lake Wudalianchi record abrupt environmental changes from the volcanic eruption in 1776. Organic Geochemistry 164, 104349.
  6. Yao, Y., Zhao, J., Vachula, R.S., Liao, S., Li, G., Pearson, E.J., Huang, Y*., 2022. Phylogeny, alkenone profiles and ecology of Isochrysidales subclades in saline lakes: implications for paleosalinity and paleotemperature reconstructions. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 317, 472–487. (Nature Index)
  7. Yao, Y*., Huang, Y*., Zhao, J., Wang, L., Ran, Y., Liu, W., Cheng, H., 2021. Permafrost thaw induced abrupt changes in hydrology and carbon cycling in Lake Wudalianchi, northeastern China. Geology 49, 1117–1121. (Nature Index)
  8. Yao, Y*., Lan, J*., Zhao, J., Vachula, R.S., Xu, H., Cai, Y., Cheng, H., Huang, Y., 2020. Abrupt freshening since the early Little Ice Age in Lake Sayram of arid central Asia inferred from an alkenone isomer proxy. Geophysical Research Letters 47, e2020GL089257. (Nature Index)
  9. Yao, Y., Zhao, J., Vachula, R.S., Werne, J.P., Wu, J., Song, X., Huang, Y*., 2020. Correlation between the ratio of 5-methyl hexamethylated to pentamethylated branched GDGTs (HP5) and water depth reflects redox variations in stratified lakes. Organic Geochemistry 147, 104076.
  10. Yao, Y., Zhao, J., Longo, W.M., Li, G., Wang, X., Vachula, R.S., Wang, K.J., Huang, Y*., 2019. New insights into environmental controls on the occurrence and abundance of Group I alkenones and their paleoclimate applications: Evidence from volcanic lakes of northeastern China. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 527, 115792. (Nature Index)
  11. Yao, Y., Zhao, J., Bauersachs, T., Huang, Y*., 2019. Effect of water depth on the TEX86 proxy in volcanic lakes of northeastern China. Organic Geochemistry 129, 88–98.
  12. Yao, Y., Yang, H*., Liu, W*., Li, X., Chen, Y., 2015. Hydrological changes of the past 1400 years recorded in δD of sedimentary n-alkanes from Poyang Lake, southeastern China. The Holocene DOI:10.1177/0959683615576231.
  13. Yao, Y*., Liu, W., 2015. Comparison of three pretreatment methods for the analysis of distributions and hydrogen isotopic compositions of leaf wax n-fatty acids in natural samples. Rapid Communications in Mass Spectrometry 29, 593–600.
  14. Yao, Y., Liu, W*., 2014. Hydrogen isotopic composition of plant leaf wax in response to soil moisture in an arid ecosystem of the northeast Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau, China. Journal of Arid Land 6, 592–600.
  15. Yao, Y., Liu, W*., 2014. Distributions and hydrogen isotopic compositions of plant leaf wax from Orinus kokonorica along a general aridity gradient around Lake Qinghai, China. Chinese Journal of Geochemistry 33, 236–243.
  16. Liang, J., Guo, Y., Richter, N., Xie, H., Vachula, R.S., Lupien, R.L., Zhao, B., Wang, M., Yao, Y., Hou, J., Liu, J., Russell, J.M., 2022. Calibration and application of branched GDGTs to Tibetan lake sediments: the influence of temperature on the fall of the Guge Kingdom in Western Tibet, China. Paleoceanography and Paleoclimatology 37, e2021PA004393.
  17. Liao, S., Yao, Y., Wang, L., Wang, K.J., Amaral-Zettler, L., Longo, W.M., Huang, Y*., 2020. C41 methyl and C42 ethyl alkenones are biomarkers for Group II Isochrysidales. Organic Geochemistry 147, 104081.
  18. Zhao, J., Huang, Y*., Yao, Y., An, Z., Zhu, Y., Lu, H., Wang, Z., 2020. Calibrating branched GDGTs in bones to temperature and precipitation: Application to Alaska chronological sequences. Quaternary Science Reviews 240, 106371.
  19. Wang, K.J*., O’Donnell, J.A., Longo, W.M., Amaral-Zettler, L., Li, G., Yao, Y., Huang, Y*., 2019. Group I alkenones and Isochrysidales in the World’s largest maar lakes and their potential paleoclimate applications. Organic Geochemistry 138, 103924.
  20. Long, W.M*., Huang, Y*., Yao, Y., Zhao, J., Giblin, A.E., Wang, X., Zech, R., Haberzettl, T., Jardillier, L., Toney, J., Liu, Z., Krivonogov, S., Kolpakova, M., Chu, G., D’Andrea, W.J., Harada, N., Nagashima, K., Sato, M., Yonenobu, H., Yamada, K., Gotanda, K., Shinozuka, Y., 2018. Widespread occurrence of distinct alkenones from Group I haptophytes in freshwater lakes: Implications for paleotemperature and paleoenvironmental reconstructions. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 492, 239–250. (Nature Index)
  21. Zhao, J., Thomas, E.K., Yao, Y., DeAraujo, J., Huang, Y*., 2018. Major increase in winter and spring precipitation during the Little Ice Age in the westerly dominated northern Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau. Quaternary Science Reviews 199, 30–40.
  22. Liu, W*., Yang, H., Wang, H., Yao, Y., Wang, Z., Cao, Y., 2016. Influence of aquatic plants on the hydrogen isotope composition of sedimentary long-chain n-alkanes in the Lake Qinghai region, Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. Science China Earth Sciences 59, 1368–1377.
  23. Li, X*., Yang, H., Yao, Y., Chen, Y., Liu, W., 2016. Precipitation changes recorded in the sedimentary total organic carbon isotopes from Lake Poyang in the Middle and Lower Yangtze River, southern China over the last 1600 years. Quaternary International 425, 292–300.