Dr. Mao has a Ph.D degree in environmental science and organic geochemistry. She works at the Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences. 

Her research interest is soil environment in arid lands, mainly focusing on  soil salinization amendment, mechanism and evolution of soil water repellency, environmental application of biochar, environmental behaviours of soil micro/nanoplastics, biomarker traceability and application.

She is currently running several research projects, for instance, using carbon-based natural materials to amend soil water and salinization in arid and semi-arid region,  evaluation of soil and biochar hydrohobicity and assessing soil degradation with plant-derived biomarkers for grassland.

• 2012-  2016, Ph.D in Environmental Sciences and Organic Geochemistry, Utrecht University, the Netherlands

• 2009- 2011: M.Sc. in Applied Environmental Geoscience, University of Tübingen, Germany

• 2005- 2009: B.Sc. in Environmental Science,  Zhejiang University, China

• 2024- Present: Professor, Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences

• 2019-2024: Associate Professor, Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences

• 2016- 2018: Postdoctoral fellow/ Assistant researcher, Department of Environmental Sciences, Zhejiang University

• 2009- 2011: Research Assistant, Environmental Mineralogy and Chemistry Group, University of Tübingen

• 2010: Research Assistant, Department of Analytical Environmental Chemistry, The Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ), Leipzig

• 2013-2015: Teaching assistant for the Master course 'Sustainability Science: Modelling and Indicators', Faculty of Geosciences, Utrecht University

• Mao J., Li Y., Zhang J., Zhang K., Ma X., Wang G. and Fan L. Organic carbon and silt determining subcritical water repellency and field capacity of soils in arid and semi-arid region. Frontiers in Environmental Sciences, 2022, 10:1031237. 

• Mao, J., Zhang, K., Chen, B. Linking hydrophobicity of biochar to the water repellency and water holding capacity of biochar-amended soil. Environmental Pollution, 2019, 253, 779-789.

• Mao, J., Chen, B., Nierop, K.G.J., Dekker, S.C., Dekker, L.W. Understanding the mechanisms of soil water repellency from nanoscale to ecosystem scale: A review. Journal of Soils and Sediments. 2019, 19, 171-185

• Mao, J., Nierop, K. G. J., Sinninghe Damsté, J. S., Dekker, S. C. Roots induce stronger soil water repellency than leaf waxes. Geoderma, 2014, 232-234, 328-340.

• Mao, J., Nierop, K. G. J., Rietkerk, M., Dekker, S. C. Predicting soil water repellency using hydrophobic organic compounds and their vegetation origin. SOIL, 2015, 1, 411-425.

• Mao, J., Nierop, K. G. J., Rietkerk, M., Jaap S. Sinninghe Damsté, Dekker, S. C. The influence of vegetation on soil water repellency-markers and soil hydrophobicity. Science of The Total Environment, 2016, 566-567, 608-620.

• Siteur, K.^#, Mao, J.^#, Nierop, K.G.J., Dekker, S.C., Rietkerk, M., Eppinga, M.B. Soil water repellency: a potential driver of vegetation dynamics in coastal dunes. Ecosystems, 2016, 19, 1210-1224. 

• Fan, L., Okhonniyozo, M., Li, Y., Li, K., Mao, J*. Effect of nutrient addition on the productivity and species richness of grassland along with an elevational gradient in Tajikistan. Frontiers in Plant Sciences, 2021, 12, 765077

• Wang, G., Li, Y.*, Fan, L., Ma, X., Mao, J.*. The response of soil organic carbon content of grasslands in Northern Xinjiang to future climate change. Physics and Chemistry of the Earth, 2024, 134, 103576. 

• Yang, K., Jing, W., Wang, J., Zhang, K.*, Li, Y., Xia, M., Zhang, K., Mao, J*. Structure–Activity Mechanism of Sodium Ion Adsorption and Release Behaviors in Biochar. Agriculture, 2024, 14, 1246. 

• Kang, L., Jia, Y., Wu, Y., Liu, H., Zhao, D., Ju, Y., Pan, C.*, Mao, J*. Selenium Nanoparticle and Melatonin Treatments Improve Melon Seedling Growth by Regulating Carbohydrate and Polyamine. International Journal of Molecular Sciences, 2024, 25(14), 7830. 

• Wang, G., Li, Y.*, Fan, L., Ma, X., Liang, Y., Hui, T., Zhang, W., Li, W., Mao, J.* Assessment of grassland carrying capacity drivers and evaluation of pasture-livestock balance: A case study of Xinjiang, China. Global Ecology and Conservation, 2024, 55, e03203. 

• Kang, Q., Zhang, K., Dekker, S. C., Mao, J.* Microplastics in soils: A comprehensive review. Science of The Total Environment, 2025, 960, 178298. 

• Zhang, W., Wang, G., Liu, H., Li, Y., Ma, X., Fan, L., Mao, J.* Increasing contribution of microbial residue carbon to soil organic carbon accumulation in degraded grasslands. Agronomy, 2025, 15, 810. 

• Yuan Y, Liu D, Mao J*, Liu H, Wang R, Ju Y, Sun W, Jia W, Fang Y, Pan C, Ma S, Kang L.* Comprehensive analysis of the transcriptomics and metabolomics reveal the changes induced by nano-selenium and melatonin in Zizyphus jujuba Mill. cv. Huizao. Journal of The Science of Food and Agriculture. 2025, 105(8):4443-4458. 

• Mechanism and evolution of soil water repellency

• Amelioration of saline-alkaline soils in arid regions

• Pollution control and remediation of soil microplastics

• Biomarker traceability and application

• Correlation between hydrophobicity of Micro/Nanoplastics and their mobility in soill, The 6th National Academic Symposium on Environmental Microplastic Pollution and Control, Yangling, China, 04. 2025 (Oral Presentation)

• Indication of soil biomarkers on grassland degradation, The 23rd China Conference on Ecology, Shenyang, China, 10. 2024 (Oral Presentation)

• Distribution characteristics of micro/nanoplastics in agricultural soils of arid regions, The 15^th Congress of Representatives of the Soil Science Society of China and Symposium on Soil Health and Human Future, Nanjing, China, 10. 2024 (Oral Presentation)

• The factors influencing biochar hydrophobicity and its association with water repellency of biochar-added soil, the 1^st International Conference on Biochar Research and Application, Shenyang, China, 09. 2019 (Oral Presentation)

• Understanding the mechanism of soil water repellency at nanoscale,  the 256^th American Chemical Society National Meeting, Boston, U.S.A, 08. 2018 (Oral Presentation)

• A sequential extraction and hydrolysis approach to understand the chemical nature of soil water repellency, EGU General Assembly 2014, Vienna, Austria, 04. 2014 (Oral Presentation)

已指导学生

康麒麟  硕士研究生  085700-资源与环境  

张文博  硕士研究生  077601-环境科学  

现指导学生

苏洺颉  硕士研究生  085700-资源与环境  

姚文龙  硕士研究生  077601-环境科学  

杨明轩  硕士研究生  085700-资源与环境  

Section Editor: Environmental Sustainability, https://link.springer.com/journal/42398/editorial-board