PUBLICATIONS

*corresponding author; †Lu Lab member or advisee lead

2026

• Hsu, Y.-H., Beery, S., Kempes, C.P., Lu, M., Saavedra, S. (2026). “The impact of strong activity disruption on building energetics.” EPJ Data Science (in press).

2025

• Zheng, A.*†, Yin, Y., Lu, M. (2025). “Carbon bias from grassy tree misclassification: revealing forest structural heterogeneity by integrating GEDI and Sentinel-2.” bioRxiv.
• Zheng, A.*† & Lu, M. (2025). “Grassy trees: the neglected hybrids for sustainability.” Trends in Ecology and Evolution 40(12), 1159–1163. Press: Scientists Identify Potential Climate Solutions in ‘Grassy Trees’.
• Ding, G., Zeng, W., Yan, T., Sun, L., Chen, W., Lu, M., Ma, Z.* (2025). “Root-mycorrhizal foraging strategies shift with forest age more than with nitrogen manipulation.” Ecological Monographs 95(4), e70039.
• Yang, Q., Buqo, M., Lu, M., Liu, Y., Kardol, P., Reich, P.B., Bardgett, R.D., et al. (2025). “Arbuscular mycorrhizal association regulates global root–seed coordination.” Nature Plants 1–10.
• Vallicrosa, H., Fleischer, K., Delgado-Baquerizo, M., Fernández-Martínez, M., Cerny, J., Tian, D., Kourmouli, A., Mayoral, C., Grados, D., Lu, M., Terrer, C. (2025). “Nitrogen deposition and climate drive plant nitrogen uptake while soil factors drive nitrogen use efficiency in terrestrial ecosystems.” Earth System Dynamics 16(4), 1183–1196.
• Huang, K.* & Lu, M.* (2025). “Nested economies of scale in global city mass.” arXiv preprint arXiv:2507.03960 (in revision at Nature Cities).
• Malhotra, A., Moore, J.A.M., Weintraub-Leff, S., Georgiou, K., Berhe, A.A., Billings, S.A., de Graaff, M.-A., Fraterrigo, J.M., Grandy, A.S., Kyker-Snowman, E., Lu, M., Meier, C., Pierson, D., Tumber-Dávila, S.J., Lajtha, K., Wieder, W.B., Jackson, R.B. (2025). “Fine root and soil carbon stocks are positively related in grasslands but not in forests.” Communications Earth & Environment 6(1), 497.
• Lu, M.*, Wang, S., Malhotra, A., Tumber-Dávila, S.J., Weintraub-Leff, S., McCormack, L., Wang, X.T., Jackson, R.B. (2025). “A continental scale analysis reveals widespread root bimodality.” Nature Communications 16, 5281. Press: Scientists Find Unexpected Deep Roots in Plants.
• Lu, M.*, Marghetis, T.*, Yang, V.C.* (2025). “A first-principles mathematical model integrates the disparate timescales of human learning.” npj Complexity 2(1), 15. Press: From practice to mastery: a unified model of human learning.
• Wu, H., Yang, Q., Chen, J., Lu, M., Ren, W., Xiong, Y., Kong, D. (2025). “Divergent leaf–root coordination between mangroves and non-mangroves.” Journal of Plant Ecology 18(2), rtaf023.
• Ma, S., Lu, M., Yang, Y., Zhi, Z., Ouyang, J., Meng, J., Zheng, H., Huang, N., Yang, Z. (2025). “Carbon-negative transition by utilizing overlooked carbon in waste landfills.” Innovation Geoscience 3(1), 15–25.

2024

• Jing, X., Classen, A., Li, D., Lin, L., Lu, M., Sanders, N.J., Wang, Y., Feng, W. (2024). “Unraveling microbial community structure-function relationships in the horizontal and vertical spatial dimensions in extreme environments.” Ecography (6), e07118.
• Ma, Z., Duan, M., Sack, L., Ma, C., Li, L., McCormack, M.L., Lu, M., Guo, D. (2024). “Coordination of flux-related leaf and root traits impacts forest community assembly.” bioRxiv (in revision at Nature Communications).
• Lu, M.*, Wang, L.*, Wang, L., Guo, Q., Fei, S. (2024). “Shifts in ecological patterns under global changes.” Landscape Ecology 39(4), 85.
• Lu, M.*, Zhou, C., Wang, C., Jackson, R.B., Kempes, C.P.* (2024). “Worldwide scaling of waste generation in urban systems.” Nature Cities (1), 126–135. Press: NYU · SFI · Phys.org · ScienMag · Wissenschaft.de · Techzle · WasteManagementReview · InsideWasteWeekly · Envirotec.
• Zhang, Y., Cao, J., Lu, M., Kardol, P., Fan, G., Kong, D. (2024). “Origin of bi-dimensionality in plant root traits.” Trends in Ecology and Evolution 39(1), 78–88. Cover Art.

2023

• Liao, J.†, Lu, M.*, Gu, H., Wang, J., Jing, X., He, J-S. (2023). “Warming-induced shifts on Tibetan Plateau: the overlooked ants and their ecological impacts.” Landscape Ecology 38(12), 3999–4008.
• Vasconcelos, V.V.*, Marquitti, F.M.D.*, Ong, T.*, McManus, L.C.*, Aguiar, M., Campos, A., Dutta, P., Jovanelly, K., Junquera, V., Kong, J., Krüger, E., Liao, W., Lu, M., Mittal, D., Pascual, M., Pinheiro, F., Rocha, J., Santos, F.P., Sloot, P., Levin, S., Terpstra, S., Su, C., Taylor, B., Tilman, A., Tekwa, E.W., Zhan, Q., Yang, L., Yitbarek, S., Watson, J. (2023). “Rate-Induced Transitions in Networked Complex Adaptive Systems: Exploring Dynamics and Management Implications Across Ecological, Social, and Socioecological Systems.” arXiv:2309.07449.

2022 and prior

• Lu, M.*, Bond, W.J., Sheffer, E., Cramer, M.D., West, A.D., Allsopp, N., February, E.C., Chimphango, S., Ma, Z., Slingsby, J.A., Hedin, L.O. (2022). “Biome boundary maintained by intense belowground resource competition in world’s thinnest-rooted plant community.” PNAS 119(9). Press: ScienceNews · UCT · Princeton · SFI.
• Lu, M.* (2020). “Plant-microbe mutualism: Evolutionary mechanisms and ecological functions.” Biodiversity Science.
• He, P., Gleason, S.M., Wright, I.J., Weng, E., Liu, L., Zhu, S., Lu, M., Luo, Q., Li, R., Wu, G., Yan, E., Song, Y., Mi, X., Hao, G., Ye, Q., Reich, P.B. (2019). “Growing-season temperature and precipitation are independent drivers of global variation in xylem hydraulic conductivity.” Global Change Biology 26(3), 1833–1841.
• Lu, M.* & Hedin, L.O. (2019). “Global plant-symbiont organization and emergence of biogeochemical cycles resolved by evolution-based trait modelling.” Nature Ecology & Evolution 3(2): 239–250. Press: Princeton · Elizabeth Sulzman Award.
• Liu, B., Li, L., Rengel, Z., Tian, J., Li, H., Lu, M. (2019). “Roots and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi are independent in nutrient foraging across subtropical tree species.” Plant and Soil 442:97–112.
• Ma, Z., Guo, D., Xu, X., Lu, M., Bardgett, R.D., Eissenstat, D.M., McCormack, M.L., Hedin, L.O. (2018). “Evolutionary history resolves global organization of root functional traits.” Nature 555: 94–97. Press: Princeton.
• Lu, M., Davidescu, M., Sukri, R.S., Daskin, J.H. (2013). “Termites facilitate root foraging by trees in a Bornean tropical forest.” Journal of Tropical Ecology 29(06): 563–566.