星耀武，生于1982年9月。博士，中国科学院西双版纳热带植物园研究员，博士生导师。2003年在莱阳农学院（现青岛农业大学）获学士学位，2003-2010年在中科院昆明植物所获硕士、博士学位。2010年至2016年在瑞士苏黎世大学和美国菲尔德自然历史博物馆做博士后研究。2021年获得“中国科学院优秀指导教师”。目前担任中国科学院热带森林生态学重点实验室主任，《Ecology and Evolution》，《Plant Diversity》、《生物多样性》及《热带亚热带植物学报》编委，系统与进化植物学专业委员会委员，云南省植物学会和生态学会理事。主要利用分子系统、古植物学和生物地理学的综合手段研究被子植物多样性的演变历史及其驱动因素。主要研究结果以第一或通讯作者发表在Science、PNAS、Systematic Biology、New Phytologist、Evolution, Global Ecology and Biogeography、Gondwana Research等刊物上。

星耀武博士近年来利用古今结合的方法、宏观与微观的研究手段，探讨了北半球植物多样性的演化历史及与环境演变的关系，取得了一系列的原创性成果。

1.    横断山植物多样性演化历史

开发了新的生物地理并基于多类群的整合分析探讨了横断山植物多样性尤其是高寒植物多样性的演化历史，结果表明横断山高寒植物起源可追溯至早渐新世，是目前全球已知起源最早的，横断山不仅是高寒物种分化的摇篮，还是青藏高原和喜马拉雅地区高寒多样性的主要来源。青藏高原-喜马拉雅-横断山地区的高寒植物多样性形成主要在中新世及之后，与该地区新近纪地形地貌和季风的演化有密切的关系。

2.    新生代古植物学研究

长期坚持新生代古植物学研究，发表多个化石新类群，基于多个化石群的古气候重建提出了中国西南新近纪季节性比现在弱，季节性的强度变化可能是导致很多植物灭绝的重要因素。建立了全球最大的新生代被子植物化石数据库，重建了新生代木本被子植物生物地理格局和欧亚大陆渐新世的古气候。提出三大主要植物区系的框架在新生代之初就已建立，且各大陆区系成分相似性受海陆和气候变化的影响。渐新世时北半球为湿润的亚热带季风性气候。副特提斯海退却是影响欧亚大陆渐新世以来的气候演变的重要驱动因子。

3.    北半球生物地理学研究

整合分子生物地理和化石证据探讨了多个类群，如壳斗目、榆科、胡桃科的多样化历史；新生代早期温暖的气候促进了常绿阔叶林的扩张，渐新世及新近纪的降温和季节性加强促进了落叶类群的分化和热带类群的南迁，从而塑造了北半球温带植物区系的形成。中中新世后降温引起的欧洲和高纬度植物多样性灭绝是导致东亚-北美间断分布形成的重要原因，北大西洋陆桥和欧洲在东亚和北美植物区系的交流中起着重要的作用。

Prof. Yaowu Xing, Principle investigator, PhD supervisor. 2003, Bsc, Laiyang Agricultural University (Qingdao Agricultural University); 2006, MSc, Kunming Institute of Botany, CAS; 2010, PhD, Kunming Institute of Botany, CAS. 2010-2016, University of Zurich, Switzerland and Field Museum of Natural History at Chicago. 2021, received Award for Outstanding Supervisor, CAS. He is the director of CAS Key Laboratory of Tropical Forest Ecology. He is acted as the editor for Ecology and Evolution, Plant Diversity, Biodiversity Science, and Journal of Tropical and Subtropical Botany, and members of Systematic and Evolutionary Botany Committee, Botanical Society of Yunnan and Ecological Society of Yunnan. He is interested in the Cenozoic diversification history of angiosperms particularly in the Northern Hemisphere. As the correspondence author or first author, his research work was published on international journals, such as Science, PNAS, Systematic Biology, New Phytologist, Evolution, Global Ecology and Biogeography, Gondwana Research and so on.

Dr. XING studies Cenozoic diversification of angiosperms particularly in the Northern Hemisphere by utilizing integrative methods including molecular phylogenetics, biogeography and paleobotany. His main research achievements include:

1.    Plant Diversification in the temperate biodiversity hotspot, Hengduan Mountains: Dr. Xing and his team developed a new joint model of biome occupation, geographic range evolution, and lineage diversification to infer how alpine biotas of the Hengduan Mountains, Himalaya and QTP were assembled through time based on multiple clades analysis. They found that extant alpine lineages in the Hengduan Mountains emerged since the early Oligocene representing the earliest alpine flora on Earth. Hengduan Mts are not only the cradle for alpine species but also the primary source colonizing the Himalaya and QTP. The rich alpine flora of the THH region has been shaped by a long and complex history of colonization, local recruitment and in situ diversification driven by mountain building and climate change especially during the Neogene.

2.    Cenozoic Paleobotany: He assists on the paleobotanical research in Southwest China. He and his team has published multiple new taxa and floras which improved our understanding of past plant diversity in this region. He proposed the hypothesis that the Eastern Asia monsoon evolution has largely shaped the biodiversity evolution in SW China. He has built the largest Cenozoic angiosperm dataset so far. He found that the three main large floras have been established as early as the beginning of the Cenozoic, and dispersal barriers and climatic changes played important roles in shaping biogeographical patterns of Cenozoic woody angiosperms. Paleoclimate reconstructions indicate that retreat of the Paratethys Sea played an important role in shaping the climate pattern of Eurasia.

3.    Biogeography history of the Northern temperate region: He and his team has studied diversification histories of multiple clades including Fagales, Ulmaceae, Juglandaceae and disentangled the formation of current flora in the Northern Hemisphere. They found that the warm and humid climate stimulated the expansion of evergreen broadleaved forests in the early Paleogene, the global cooling and intensification of seasonality promoted the diversification of deciduous taxa and southward retreat of tropical lineages which consequently shaped the formation of northern temperate flora. Extinctions in Europe and high latitudinal regions induced by rapid cooling after the middle Miocene led to the current regional disparity in species diversity. The North Atlantic land bridge and Europe played more critical roles than previously thought in linking the floras of East Asia and North America.