Adam Wei

Professor

Earth, Environmental and Geographic Sciences
Office: SCI 309
Phone: 250.807.8750
Email: adam.wei@ubc.ca

Graduate student supervisor


Research Summary

Eco-hydrological processes in forested watersheds; forest disturbance (e.g., timber harvesting, wildfire) and cumulative hydrological impacts in large watershed; interactions of forest change, climate and water; sustainable forest management, aquatic habitat, carbon budget, and various watershed processes; and a wholistic approach on watershed ecosystem science and management.

Courses & Teaching

Forest hydrology; watershed ecosystem processes and management. Specifically: EESC 213 Introductory Forest Science and Management; EESC 313 Management of Forested Watersheds; EESC 413 Analytical Methods in Hydrology

Degrees

Post-Doctoral Fellow, Forest Ecology, University of British Columbia
GIS Land Use Planning and Watershed Assessment, CSIRO, Canberra, Australia
PhD, Forest Ecology, Northeast Forestry University, Harbin, China
MSc, Forest Ecology, Northeast Forestry University, Harbin, China

Research Interests & Projects

I have a broad interest in various aspects of sustainable management of forested watersheds, but particularly interactions between forests, water and aquatic habitat. Viewing myself as an eco-hydrologist, I am a strong advocate for an ecosystem-based approach for research and management at various spatial and temporal scales with a disturbance context in forested watersheds.

My key research interests are

  • Forest changes (deforestation or reforestation) and hydrological processes
  • Cumulative effects of forest disturbance on hydrology in large forested watersheds
  • Separating relative contributions of climate variability and forest changes to hydrology
  • In-stream wood and its relations with channel morphology, aquatic habitat, and carbon budget
  • Sustainable forest management for hydrology, forest carbon and other ecological functions
  • Watershed ecosystem science: interdisciplinary science

Selected Publications & Presentations

Google Scholar

1. Xiaohua Wei, Julia Jones, Yiping Hou, Shirong Liu, Heidi Asbjornsen, Zhiqiang Zhang, Nadeem Shah, Yanhui Wang, Mingfang Zhang, Irena Creed, Ge Sun, Antonio del Campo, Kyoichi Otsuki, Lu Zhang, 2025. Local considerations are the key to managing global forests for water, Science Bulletin, Volume 70, Issue 4, Pages 448-451, ISSN 2095-9273, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scib.2024.11.045

2. Zhang, M. and X. Wei. 2021. Deforestation, forestation and water supply. Science. 371 (6533), 990-991. DOI: 10.1126/science.abe7821

3. Wei, Xiaohua and Ge Sun 2023. Watershed Ecosystems: Processes and Management. Higher Education Publication House, China (2nd edition) (in Chinese)

4. Hou, Yiping and Wei, Xiaohua. 2024. Forest Disturbance Thresholds and Cumulative Hydrological Impacts. Water Resources Research, 60, e2024WR037339.
https://doi.org/10.1029/2024WR037339

5. Wei, X., Giles-Hansen, K., Spencer, S. A., Ge, X.W., Onuchin, A., Li, Q., Burenina, T., Ilintsev, A., Hou, Y.P. 2022. Forest harvesting and hydrology in boreal Forests: Under an increased and cumulative disturbance context. Forest Ecology and Management, 522: 120468

6. Qiu, M., Wei, X., Hou, Y.P., Spencer, S.A., Hui, J.Y. 2023. Forest cover, landscape patterns and water quality: A meta-analysis. Landscape Ecology. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10980-023-01593-2

7. Hou, Y.P., Wei, X., Zhang, M.F., Creed, I., McNulty, S., and Ferraz S. 2022. A global synthesis of hydrological sensitivities to deforestation and forestation. Forest Ecology and Management, 529: 120718

8. Giles-Hansen, K., Wei, X., 2022. Cumulative disturbance converts regional forests into a substantial carbon source. Environ. Res. Lett. 17 044049 estimation under changing vegetation and climate. Water Resources Research, 57, e2021WR029832. https://doi.org/10.1029/2021WR029832

9. Lu, F., H. Hu, W. Sun, J. Zhu, G. Liu, W. Zhou, Q. Zhang, P. Shi, X. Liu, X. Wu, L. Zhang, X. Wei, L. Dai, et al. 2018. Effects of national ecological restoration projects on carbon sequestration in China from 2001 to 2010. PNAS. Doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1700294115

10. Wei, X., Q. Li, et al. 2017. Vegetation cover – another dominant factor in determining global water resources in forested regions. Glob Change Biol. DOI:10.1111/gcb.13983

11. Zhou, G.Y., X. Wei, X.Z. Chen et al. 2015. Global pattern on the effects of climate and land cover on water yield. Nature Communications. DOI: 10.1038/ncomms691

Professional Services/Affiliations/Committees

Registered Professional Forester in British Columbia
Watershed Ecosystem Cluster Leader
IUFRO Task Force Coordinator of Forests, Soil and Water Interactions (2016-2024)
Associate Editor of Ecohydrology
Editorial Member of Ecosystem Health and Sustainability

 

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