I am interested in behaviour, ecology and evolution of Amphibians and Reptiles. Recenlty, I mainly use lizard as model system to answer questions around animal social interaction, communication, local adaptation and evolution.The streamline of my research generally starts with social interaction, then I would focus on methods of animals maintaining their social dominance, such as aggression and signals. I would use playback and genetic methods to figure out the function and fitness consequence of different signal element. After understanding the social behaviours of many related species, I would gradually consider the evolution of social behaviours by comparative methods based on phylogenetic methods.

Ph.D. 2007- 2010, Chengdu Institute of Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chengdu

Thesis title: Territory and Home Range Study on Agamid Toad-headed Lizard Phrynocephalus Vangalii

         Supervisor: Professor Yuezhao Wang

M.Sc. 2005-2007, Chengdu Institute of Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chengdu.

          Thesis title: Seasonal Migration of High Elevation Brown Frog Rana kukunoris.

          Supervisor: Professor Yuezhao Wang

B.Sc. 2001-2005, Northeast Forestry University, Harbin.

1)      2011.01-2013.01: Post-doctor at Chengdu Institute of Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Co-operate professor: Jinzhong Fu.

2)      2013.05-: Associate professor at Chengdu Institute of Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences. 

1. Qiu X, MJ Whiting, W Du, Z Wu, S Luo, B Yue, J Fu, Y Qi*. 2022. Colour variation in the crocodile lizard (Shinisaurus crocodilurus) and its relationship to individual quality. Biology, 11: 1314；

2. Whiting MJ, D Noble, Y Qi^*. 2022. A potential deimatic display in a lizard. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 136: 455-465；

3. Qi Y ^†, T Zhang^†, X Tang, Z Yao, X Qiu, Y Wu, J Fu, W Yang^*. 2022. A multi-level assessment of plasticity in response to high-altitude environment for agama lizards. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, 10:845072；

4. Zhu X, X Qiu, X Tang^*, Y Qi^*. 2021. Tail display is regulated by anaerobic metabolism activity in an Asian agamid lizard. Integrative Zoology,16 (5):729-740；

5. Wu Y, MJ Whiting, J Fu, Y Qi*. 2019. Driving forces behind female-female aggression and its fitness consequence in an Asian agamid lizard. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, 73: 38;

6. Qi Y*, DWA Noble, J Fu, JM Whiting. 2018. Testing domain general learning in an Australian lizard. Animal Cognition, 21:595-602;

7. Wu Y, JA Ramos, X Qiu, RA Peters and Y Qi*. 2017. Female-female aggression functions in mate defence in an Asian agamid lizard. Animal Behaviour, 135:215-222;

8. Peters RA, JA Ramos, J Hernandez, Y Wu and Y Qi *. 2016. Social context affects tail displays by Phrynocephalus vlangalii lizards from China. Scientific Reports, 6:31573;

9. Qi Y, DWA Noble, Y Wu and MJ Whiting*. 2014. Sex and performance -based escape behaviour in an Asian agamid lizard, Phrynocephalus vlangalii. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, 68: 2035-2042;

10. Qi Y, B Lu, H Gao, P Hu and J Fu. 2014*. Hybridization and mitochondrial genome introgression between Rana chensinensis and R. kukunoris. Molecular Ecology, 2014(23):5575-5588.

Since 2012, I have taken part in:

1)      Yin Qi, Jinzhong Fu. Genetic evidence for male biased dispersal in toad-headed lizard Phrynocephalus vlangalii and its indication of signal dependent dispersal tactics (Asian Herpetological conference in Chengdu 2012.6.1-3).

2)      Yin Qi, Jinzhong Fu, Daniel Noble, Martin Whiting. The evolution of complex visual display signals (The 9th China National Animal Ecological Conferences in Wuhan 2013.11.21-25).

3)      Yin Qi, Jinzhong Fu, Danile Noble, Martin Whiting. The evolution of complex visual display signals (The 2013 China National Herpetological Conference in Harbin 2013.12.26-28).

4)      Yin Qi, Jinzhong Fu. Hybridization and mitochondrial genome introgression between Rana chensinensis and R. kukunoris (The 10^th China National Animal Ecological Conferences in Guilin 2014.11.13-16).

5)      Yin Qi, Weizhao Yang, Na Li, Yayong Wu, Jinzhong Fu. The adaptation to high elevation pressure in Genus Phrynocephalus (The 17th China Zoological Conference in Guangzhou 2014.11.17-20).

6)      Yin Qi, Yayong Wu. Links between social communication and motion signal structure in toad-headed lizard Phrynocephalus vlangalii (The 16th China Ecological Society Conference in Chengdu 2015.9.16-18).

7)      Yin Qi. Influence of animal social communication on motion signal structure in toad-headed lizard Phrynocephalus vlangalii (The 10th Sichuan Zoological Conference in Leshan, Sichuan 2015.9-18-20).

8)      Yayong Wu, Yin Qi. Advancement of animal motion signal study (The 5th China Animal Behavioral Conference in Beijing 2015.10.11-15).

9)      Yin Qi Jinzhong Fu. Hybridization and mitochondrial genome introgression between Rana chensinensis and R. kukunoris (The 8^th World Herpetologial Congress in Hangzhou 2016.5.15-20).

10)   Yin Qi. Social contexts affect the tail display in toad-headed lizard Phrynocephalus vlangalii (2017 Annual Conference of Animal Behavior Society of China, Chengdu, Sichuan, 2017.8.10-13).

11)   Yin Qi. Evolution of motion signals in genus Phrynocephalus (2017 China Herpetological Society Conference in Kunming 2017.8.26-28).

Up to now, I have built cooperations with Dr. Jinzhong Fu, Dr.Martin Whiting, Dr. Richard Peters, Dr.Daniel Nobel and Dr.Barry Sinervo. I will do my best to establish more relationships in lizard behaviorial ecology and evolutionary field.

Dr.Jinzhong Fu

Jinzhong is an associate professor at the University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada.His academic interests include Applications of Molecular Systematics; Species and Speciation; Landscape and Conservation Genetics; Evolutionary Relationships of Amphibians and Reptiles; Phylogenetic Theory and Methodology. He is now working as a visiting professor in Chengdu Institute of Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and I am one of his research assistant in CIB. His broad eyesight and scientific logic have greatly modified my research career.

Dr.Martin Whiting

Martin is an associate professor at Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia. His research focuses on animal communication, sexual selection, life histories and cognition, using lizards,frogs and snakes as model systems. He is crazy about field work and has visited many places in the world, including USA, Africa, Hawai’i, Australia and China. In 2011, I invited Martin to China and worked at my Zoige field station for three weeks, then I visited Martin’s lab for three months in the same year. Since then, we have maintained a very intimate cooperation relationship, I choosed lizard behavior as my research area largely because of him and his Ph.D student Daniel Noble.

Dr.Richard Peters

Richard is the leader of Animal Behaviour Group at La Trobe University (Australia).He interests in many facets of behaviour and on a range of study organisms. His primary research interests, however, focuses on the structure, function and evolution of animal signals. In 2014, I invited Richard to China and worked with me at Zoige field station for three weeks. We have worked out the methods of digitizing the tail displays and tried animation playback in the field. In 2016, I visited Ricahrd’s lab for three months in Melbourne and worked out more on animation playback and also started a plan for lizard robot making, which will make our signal reserach very novel.

 Dr.Daniel Noble

Daniel is an Ph.D student of Martin Whiting, and now works as postdoc at the University of New South Wales, Australia. He is particularly interested in sexual signals, the information that they convey and how these signals influence the reproductive success of individuals through mate choice and intrasexual competition. His research is highly integrative and draws on tools from physiology and molecular biology to answer questions in this research area. He also combines observational and experimental work, both in the wild and in the lab. I know him because he is Jinzhong’s master student in Canada, and I invited Daniel to China in 2011 with Martin. He has given me lots of help in experiment design and data analysis using R.

​Dr.Barry Sinervo

Barry is Full Professor, University of California, Santa Cruz,  who conducts research on Behavioral Ecology, Game Theory and the Biotic Impacts of Climate Change.  Early in his career he discovered the first biological example of the rock-paper-scissors game, played out in nature by the side-blotched lizard. He is currently researching contemporary extinctions of reptiles and amphibians and changes in plant communities driven by climate change, at sites distributed on five continents, leading a multinational research team of scientists developing physiological models of the biotic impacts of climate change on diverse biological systems, and measuring the biotic impacts of climate from equatorial sites to polar regions. 

已指导学生

朱鑫鑫  硕士研究生  085238-生物工程  

胡乔涵  硕士研究生  071002-动物学  

林勤智  硕士研究生  071002-动物学  

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石秀东  硕士研究生  085238-生物工程  

现指导学生

石琳  硕士研究生  071002-动物学  

刘剑  硕士研究生  071002-动物学  

陶骏  硕士研究生  071002-动物学  

曹玉宁  硕士研究生  071002-动物学