Dr. Xuejuan Bai

PostDoc

Main research interests:

My research focuses on plant-soil-microbe carbon cycling and the microbial mechanisms that regulate the formation, transformation, and stabilization of soil organic carbon. I combine stable-isotope tracing (13C, 15N) with microbial biomarkers, stable-isotope probing, metagenomics, and soil carbon fractionation to link microbial ecological processes with carbon persistence.

Soil food-web regulation of soil organic carbon formation, decomposition, and stabilization, with a focus on interactions among soil fauna, microorganisms, and viruses and the roles of litter quality, microbial carbon-use efficiency, and microbial necromass.
Partitioning, transformation, and turnover of plant-derived carbon between particulate and mineral-associated organic matter.
Biodiversity and trophic cascades, focusing on the bottom-up effects of vegetation diversity on herbivores and predators and the top-down effects of predators on herbivores and plants.

Office
GUZ, 6U22
+49 707129-
bxjspam prevention@hebtu.edu.cn

Research projects

TERRA Cluster of Excellence initiative
Geodiversity fosters soil microbial functional stability via the high-speed evolution pathway GeoSpeed — Participating researcher at the University of Tübingen

Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Major Science and Technology Program
Identification of key species for biodiversity and coordinated restoration technologies and demonstration for critical habitats in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei ecological barrier region (2026-2030)— Subproject leader

National Natural Science Foundation of China
Response of soil microbial "carbon pump efficiency" and underlying mechanism to the decomposition and input of leaf litter (2024-2026) — Principal investigator

CV

Since 2026

Visiting Scholar at GBI group

at Dept. of Geosciences, Faculty of Sciences, the University of Tuebingen

Since 2024

Associate Professor

at College of Life Sciences, Hebei Normal University, China

2021-2024

Lecturer

at College of Life Sciences, Hebei Normal University, China

2019-2020

Visiting doctoral researcher

at University of Göttingen, Germany, and University of Arizona, USA

2015-2021

PhD in Soil and Water Conservation and Desertification Control

at Northwest A&F University, China

Selected publications

Bai, X., et al. Fungal-bacterial succession drives efficient mineral-associated organic carbon formation from low-quality litter in temperate forests. Journal of Ecology. Accepted.
Bai, X., Zhai, G., Wang, B., An, S., Liu, J., Xue, Z., & Dippold, M. A. (2024). Litter quality controls the contribution of microbial carbon to main microbial groups and soil organic carbon during its decomposition. Biology and Fertility of Soils, 60, 167-181.
Bai, X., Zhai, G., Yan, Z., An, S., Liu, J., Huo, L., Dippold, M. A., & Kuzyakov, Y. (2024). Effects of microbial groups on soil organic carbon accrual and mineralization during high- and low-quality litter decomposition. CATENA, 241, 108051.
Bai, X., Zhai, G., Zhai, Y., Li, H., An, S., Rafiq, A., & Liu, J. (2024). Mechanism of microbial necromass formation during decomposition of Stipa bungeana above-ground residues. CATENA, 245, 108283.
Bai, X., Huang, Y., Wang, B., et al. (2021). Belowground allocation and fate of tree assimilates in the plant-soil-microorganism system: ¹³C labeling and tracing under field conditions. Geoderma, 404, 115296.