Dr Xing-Fu Zhu

Rm: 2.16 Fogg Building
Email: zhuxfu@gmail.com

Research interests

I am a field biologist interested in plant reproductive ecology, with emphasis on plant-pollinator interaction. I do my field work in the wonderful Shangri-La, the heart of the Hengduan Mountains, Yunnan, China. I explore questions about pollinators, flowering plants and pollination from a variety of perspectives. My past topics include the effect of alpine climate on the interaction of plant and pollinator, the evolution of plant mating systems, size-dependent gender diphase, and the evolution and the maintenance of heterostyly. With Support from XTBG, I joined the Queen Mary lab to get a better understanding on bumblebee behaviors and how their behaviors shape the evolution of flowers. Currently, I participate in social spread of a string-pulling task in bumblebee.  
 

Educational and employment background

2015.7-2016.1: Academic Visitor (Supported by XTBG), Queen Mary University of London, UK.
2011-2015: PhD in Plant Sciences, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden (XTBG), Chinese Academy of Sciences (Supervised by Qing-Jun, Li).
2010-: Research assistant, and then assistant professor, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences.
2006-2009: MSc in Ecology, Key laboratory of Arid and Grassland Ecology, School of life science, Lanzhou University, China (Supervised by Jian-Quan, Liu).
2002-2006. BSc in Biology, School of life science, Lanzhou University, China  
 
 

Publications

Zhu X-F, Jiang X-F, Li L, Zhang Z-Q , Li Q-J.2015. Asymmetrical disassortative pollination in a distylous primrose: the complementary roles of bumblebee nectar robbers and syrphid flies. Scientific reports 5: 7721.
Zhang Z-Q, Zhu X-F, Sun H, Yang Y-P, Barrett SC. 2014. Size-dependent gender modification in Lilium apertum (Liliaceae): does this species exhibit gender diphasy? Annals of Botany 14(3): 441–53.
Zhu X-F, Yang J, Li Q-J. 2013. Alpine Codonopsis convolvulacea (Campanulaceae) provides multiple rewards to its main pollinator. Plant ecology and Diversity 6: 187–193.
Zhu X-F, Wan J, Li Q-J. 2010. Nectar robbers pollinate flowers with sexual organs hidden within corollas in distylous Primula secundiflora (Primulaceae). Biology Letters. 6: 785–787.
Zhu X-F, Li Y, Wu G-L, Fang Z-D, Li Q-J and Liu J-Q. 2009. Molecular and morphological evidence for natural hybridization between Primula secundifora Franchet and P. poissoni Franchet (Primulaceae). Acta Biologica Cracoviensia Series Botanica 51: 29–36.