My research focuses on marine biodiversity and global change, environmental DNA (eDNA)-based monitoring and assessment of marine ecosystems, marine carbon sinks, and international standardization. Centering on the response mechanisms of calcareous marine organisms such as foraminifera and corals to environmental change, I conduct studies on marine biodiversity surveys, ecosystem monitoring and assessment, arine carbon sinks, and carbon neutrality-related technical methods, and promote the transformation of research outcomes into international standards and international carbon-rule governance.

• Mar. 2004-Apr. 2004, Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research, Germany. Visiting Scholar; collaborative research on marine benthic microfauna
• Feb. 2002-Mar. 2005, Department of Organismic Biology, University of Salzburg, Austria. Ph.D. in Natural Sciences; research on the ecology of micro- and meiobenthos in marine, freshwater, soil, and polar habitats
• Oct. 1999-Aug. 2002, Department of Oceanography, Inha University, Republic of Korea. Doctoral study and research assistant; research on the taxonomy, ecology, and biomonitoring of benthic ciliates; Ph.D. in Science awarded in 2010
• Sep. 1994-Jun. 1997, College of Fisheries, Ocean University of China. M.Sc.; research on the taxonomy and ecology of marine ciliates.
• Sep. 1990-Jun. 1994, College of Fisheries, Ocean University of China. B.Sc. in Aquaculture.

Yanli Lei is a Research Professor and Doctoral Supervisor at the Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and a Professor at the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences. Her long-term research covers marine biodiversity and global change, environmental DNA-based monitoring and assessment, marine ecosystem response mechanisms, marine carbon sinks, and international standardization. She studies the responses of calcareous marine organisms, including foraminifera and corals, to environmental change, and develops methods for marine biodiversity surveys, ecosystem assessment, marine carbon sinks, and carbon neutrality-related technologies.

She currently serves as Executive Associate Editor of the SCI journal Journal of Sea Research; Manager and Convenor of ISO/TC8/WG15 “Ocean Negative Carbon Emissions and Carbon Neutrality”; Convenor of ISO/TC8/SC25/WG4 “Marine Ecosystem Monitoring and Assessment”; member of a working group of the North Pacific Marine Science Organization (PICES); Chair of the Marine Ecosystem Restoration Committee of the Yellow Sea Environmental Sustainability Initiative (YES); Director of the Shandong International Marine Standards Innovation Center; and Director of the Ocean Negative Carbon Emissions (ONCE) International Standards Research Center.

She has led or participated in more than 50 research and standardization projects supported by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), the Standardization Administration of China, the National Natural Science Foundation of China, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and the Ministry of Science and Technology. She led the development of ISO 23040:2021, China’s first international standard for marine surveys; participated in the development of ISO 22787:2023; and has promoted the establishment of international standard systems for ocean negative carbon emissions and carbon neutrality, as well as marine ecosystem monitoring and assessment.

She has published 105 research papers, including 62 SCI-indexed papers and more than 30 papers in JCR Q1 journals. She has authored one English monograph and six edited books, obtained three authorized national invention patents, and led or participated in the development of multiple international, national, and industry standards. Her achievements have been recognized by the Top Ten Advances in China’s Marine Science and Technology, the Top Ten Advances in Chinese Oceanology and Limnology, the First Prize of the Marine Science and Technology Award, and the First and Second Prizes of the Marine Science and Technology Award of the State Oceanic Administration.

• Nov. 2022-present, Core Position of CAS Distinguished Research Professor, Chinese Academy of Sciences.
• Nov. 2010-present, Professor and Doctoral Supervisor, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences.
• Nov. 2010-present, Research Professor and Doctoral Supervisor, Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences.
• Apr. 2005-Oct. 2010, Associate Research Professor, Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences.

• Marine biodiversity and global change
• Environmental DNA (eDNA) and marine ecosystem monitoring and assessment
• Environmental adaptation of foraminifera, corals, and other marine calcareous organisms
• Marine carbon sinks, ocean negative carbon emissions, and carbon neutrality
• International standards and international carbon-rule governance
• Marine environmental impact assessment and ecosystem risk assessment

• Jan. 2023-present, Manager and Convenor, ISO/TC8/WG15 Ocean Negative Carbon Emissions and Carbon Neutrality, International Organization for Standardization.
• Mar. 2026-present, Convenor, ISO/TC8/SC25/WG4 Marine Ecosystem Monitoring and Assessment (MEMA), International Organization for Standardzation.
• Nov. 2025-present, Chair, Marine Ecosystem Restoration Committee, Yellow Sea Environmental Sustainability Initiative (YES).
• Aug. 2024-present, Member, Specialized Committee on Marine Ecological Sustainability under the UN Consultative Framework of the China Association for Science and Technology.
• May. 2024-present, Working Group Member, North Pacific Marine Science Organization (PICES).
• Jul. 2021-present, Executive Associate Editor, Journal of Sea Research, Elsevier.
• Jan. 2020-present, Guest Associate Editor for special issues, Frontiers in Marine Science.
• Jun. 2018-present, Expert for verification of foraminiferal species in Chinese waters, World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS).
• Apr. 2017-present, Committee Member, ISO/TC8/SC13 Marine Technology.
• Jun. 2017-present, Member, National Technical Committee for Marine Standardization.
• Jun. 2019-present, Member, Standardization Administration of China.
• Jun. 2019-present, Executive Council Member, Subsea Survey and Development Branch, China Ocean Engineering Consulting Association.
• Jan. 2016-present, Council Member, Benthology Branch, Chinese Society for Oceanology and Limnology.
• Apr. 2015-present, Council Member, Micro-paleontology Branch, Zoological Society of China.
• Jan. 2012-present, Council Member, Protozoology Branch, Zoological Society of China.
• Jan. 2014-present, Member, Chinese Committee for Zoological Terms.
• Oct. 2023-present, Member, Shandong Provincial Professional Standardization Technical Committee.
• Oct. 2022-present, Director, Shandong International Marine Standards Innovation Center and ONCE International Standards Research Center.

• Top 10 Marine Science and Technology Advances in China in 2021 by the China Society of Oceanography and Limnology
• Top 10 Marine Science and Technology Advances in China in 2021 by the China Ocean Society
• First Prize, 2021 Marine Science and Technology Award
• Institute of Oceanography, Chinese Academy of Sciences 2021 Major Achievement Award
• Shandong Province 2021 High Level Standardization Award
• 2022 Qingdao Standardization Subsidy Award
• 2018 Qingdao Standardization Subsidy Award
• International Awards of Paul Brönnimann Foundation, Geneva, Switzerland (2014-)
• 2013 Qingdao Standardization Subsidy Award
• Second Prize, Marine Science and Technology Awards of State Oceanic Administration (2012)

• Yanli Lei and Tiegang Li, 2016. Atlas of Benthic Foraminifera from China Seas The Bohai Sea and the Yellow Sea. Springer-Verlag GmbH, Germany and Science Press, Beijing, 399 pp.
• ISO 23040:2021 Marine environment impact assessment (MEIA) — Specification for marine sediments in seabed areas — Survey of interstitial biota. ISO copyright office, Geneva, Switzerland, 1-102pp. ICS 07.080; 13.020.99; 47.020.99. (The first Author)
• ISO 22787:2023 Marine technology — Marine environment impact assessment (MEIA) — Technical specification for marine biotic survey in the international seabed area — General principles and definitions. ISO copyright office, Geneva, Switzerland, 1-22pp. ICS 13.020.30. (The participation Author)
• GB/T 34656—2017. Specification for marine sediment interstitial biota survey. National Standard of the People’s Republic of China. Standard Press of China Beijing, 2017. 106 pp. (The first Author)
• National Standard of the People’s Republic of China Specifications for marine sediment interstitial biota survey GB/T 34656—2017. Standard Press of China, Beijing, 2021. 153 pp. (The first Author)
• GB/T 42629.3-2023. International Code of Conduct for the Investigation of Submarine Areas and High Seas Environment Part 3: Marine Life Survey. (The participation Author)
• GB/T 45031—2024. Technical guidelines for monitoring and effectiveness evaluation of seagrass bed ecological restoration, Standard Press of China, Beijing, 2024. 13 pp. (Cooperation, 27/37)
• 20242536-T-418. Specifications for oceanographic survey- Part 6: Marine biological survey. (Project approved) (Cooperation, 23/28)
• 20251770-T-418. Marine Biological Resource Exploitation and Protection —— Biobanking of Marine Microorganism Resources. (Project approved) (Cooperation, 4/8)
• HY/T140-2011. Specifications for the Survey of Marine Microbenthos. Marine Professional Standard of the People’s Republic of China. China Standard Press, Beijing, 2011. 30pp. (Authors: Yanli Lei and Kuidong Xu)

• Tianzhen Wu, Alan Ningyuan Xu, Yanli Lei, Haijun Song, 2024. Ancient Hybridisation Fuelled Diversification in Acropora Corals. Molecular Ecology, 0: e17615. JCR: Q1 (SCI), Chinese Academy of Sciences: TOP Q1
• Yan Feng, Haijun Song, Hanchen Song, Yuyang Wu, Xing Li, Li Tian, Shuaishuai Dong, Yanli Lei, Matthew E. Clapham. 2024. High extinction risk in large foraminifera during past and future mass extinctions. Science Advances, 10(32): 1-8. JCR: Q1 (SCI), Chinese Academy of Sciences: TOP Q1
• Shuaishuai Dong, Yanli Lei, Tiegang Li, Yifei Cao, Kuidong Xu, Biocalcification crisis in the continental shelf under ocean acidification, Geoscience Frontiers, 2023, 14(2023): 101622. JCR: Q1 (SCI), Chinese Academy of Sciences: TOP Q1
• Zaibao Yang, Yanli Lei, Yair Rosenthal, Tiegang Li, Zhimin Jian, Late Pleistocene climate induced changes in paleo-vegetation in Borneo: Possible implications to human divergence, Quaternary Science Reviews, 2021, 267(2021): 107109. JCR: Q1 (SCI), Chinese Academy of Sciences: TOP Q1
• Yanli Lei, Chengchun Li, Tiegang Li, Zhimin Jian, The effect of temperature and food concentration on ingestion rates of Quinqueloculina seminula on the diatom Nitzschia closterium, Journal of Foraminiferal Research, 2019, 49(1): 3-10. JCR: Q2 (SCI)
• Yanli Lei, Tiegang Li, Zhimin Jian, Rajiv Nigam, Taxonomy and Distribution of Benthic Foraminifera in intertidal zone of the Yellow Sea, PR China: Correlations with Sediment Temperature and Salinity, Marine Micropaleontology, 2017, 133: 1-20. JCR: Q1 (SCI)
• Yanli Lei, Tiegang Li, Rajiv Nigam, Maria Holzmann, Man Lyu, Environmental significance of morphological variations in the foraminifer Ammonia aomoriensis (Asano, 1951) and its molecular identification: A study from the Yellow Sea and East China Sea, PR China, Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 2017, 483: 49-57. JCR: Q1 (SCI), Chinese Academy of Sciences: Q1
• Yan Li Lei, Tie Gang Li, Hongsheng Bi, Wen Lin Cui, Wen Peng Song, Ji Ye Li, Cheng Chun Li, Responses of benthic foraminifera to the 2011 oil spill in the Bohai Sea, PR China, Marine Pollution Bulletin, 2015, 96: 245-260. JCR: Q1 (SCI)
• Yan-Li Lei, Karen Stumm, Stephen A. Wickham, Ulrike-G. Berninger, Distributions and Biomass of Benthic Ciliates, Foraminifera and Amoeboid Protists in Marine, Brackish and Freshwater Sediments, Journal of Eukaryotic Microbiology, 2014, 61: 493-508. JCR: Q2 (SCI)
• Yanli Lei, Karen Stumm, Nils Volkenborn, Stephen A. Wickham, Ulrike-G. Berninger, 2010. Impact of Arenicola marina (Polychaeta) on the microbial assemblages and meiobenthos in a marine intertidal flat. Marine Biology, 157(6): 1271-1282. JCR: Q1 (SCI)

1. Push type quantitative stratified sampler, utility model, 2012, second author, patent number: ZL. 201220424708.6
2. Rocker screw quantitative stratified sampler, utility model, 2012, first author, patent No.: ZL. 201220422505.3
3. Rocker screw quantitative stratified sampler and its use method, invention, 2012, second author, patent number: 201210305268.7
4. Push type quantitative stratified sampler and its use method, invention, 2012, first author, patent number: 201210305266.8

Foraminiferal taxonomy, phylogeny and diversity; Foraminiferal molecular biology; foraminiferal experimental ecology, Global change

Guided students

Yingying He, master, 070703-Marine Biology

Jiadong Wang, master, 070703-Marine Biology

Lu Wang, master, 070703-Marine Biology

Man Lyu, master, 085238-Bioengineering

ShuaishuaiDong, doctor, 070703-Marine Biology

Man Lyu, doctor, 070703-Marine Biology

Haotian Li, doctor, 070703-Marine Biology

Junfeng Shi, doctor, 070703-Marine Biology

Meng Li, doctor, 070703-Marine Biology

Qingxia Li, doctor, 070703-Marine Biology

Yangyang Shen, master, 070703-Marine Biology

Wenlong Fa, master, 085238-Bioengineering

Yifei Cao, doctor, 070703-Marine Biology

Jiaxin Chen, master, 070703-Marine Biology

Jiawen Liu, master, 086000-Biology and Medicine

Tianzhen Wu, doctor, 070703-Marine Biology

Yinuo Li, master, 070703-Marine Biology

Yuting Jiao, master, 086000-Biology and Medicine

Now guiding students

Wenlong Fa, Doctoral students, 070703-Marine Biology

Hongyi Tan, Master's degree students, 070703-Marine Biology