Dr Hui Xiao

Hui obtained her PhD degree in ecological modelling and works at the interface of statistics, economics, and ecosystem conservation, with a particular focus on conservation decision-making. Her PhD aims to develop novel approaches combining network theory, optimisation, and decision science to model complex ecosystem dynamics for optimal ecosystem management. Her work takes into account species-ecosystem function-ecosystem services relationships to address the long-lasting debate between conservation for biodiversity vs conservation for ecosystem services. Using both simulations and empirical case studies, her research shows that biodiversity-ecosystem services trade-offs depends on the ecosystem network structure and specific ecological features (i.e., trophic levels of the species providing the ecosystem services/functions). She also investigates uncertainty, the value of information, and the risk preference of the managers in optimal conservation decision making.

Publications

Xiao, H., McDonald-Madden, E., Sabbadin, R., Peyrard, N., Dee, L. E., & Chadès, I. (2019). The value of understanding feedbacks from ecosystem functions to species for managing ecosystems. Nature Communications, 10(1), 1-10.

Xiao, H., Dee, L. E., Chadès, I., Peyrard, N., Sabbadin, R., Stringer, M., & McDonald‐Madden, E. (2018). Win‐wins for biodiversity and ecosystem service conservation depend on the trophic levels of the species providing services. Journal of Applied Ecology, 55(5), 2160-2170.

Thesis

Xiao, H. (2019). Optimising ecosystem management for biodiversity and ecosystem services using network theory.