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Freshwater: Yao Yin, Ph.D.

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Yao Yin serves as Lead for the Great Rivers Partnership's Asia Strategy. © Mark Godffrey

Yao Yin, Ph.D.

Research Ecologist, USGS Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center; Lead on Asia Strategy, Great Rivers Partnership

Brief Biography

“Knowledge exchange is key to advancing our work on rivers globally. I grew up on the Yangtze and have lived on the Mississippi now for more than 20 years. I’ve seen the ways we can help each other.”

Yao Yin, a research ecologist, modestly describes himself as a 'foot soldier' for U.S. Geological Survey’s Long Term Resource Monitoring Program (LTRMP). As part of the program, he provides technical support and oversees the monitoring of aquatic vegetation on the Upper Mississippi River. This specialty offered his first link to The Nature Conservancy’s Great Rivers Partnership (GRP).

Overseeing the Asia strategy for the GRP, Yao currently helps arrange and participate in science exchanges between the United States and China. An area of focus for this knowledge-share has been the decline of Asian carp in China and the rise of the species in the U.S. Protocol developed by the LTRMP is now being applied on the Yangtze River to learn more about fish populations, water quality and other measurable data. Yao is also helping build an international network of thought leaders on great rivers to encourage similar exchanges.

Having spent his childhood on a tributary of the Yangtze and living and working on the Mississippi River for more than 20 years, river issues are personal for Yao. For instance, when the Three Gorges dam was built, his childhood home was engulfed by the reservoir that rose behind it. Yao explains that while he can understand the reasons why China built the dam, it has presented significant challenges. Fortunately, he says, there is growing support by the people and government of China to manage the Yangtze River sustainably.

Prior to working for USGS and the Conservancy, Yao served as a research assistant professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of Tennessee. He also acted as an aquatic botanist for the Missouri Department of Conservation. Yao has been widely published and served terms as the former president and vice president of the Mississippi River Research Consortium. He earned an undergraduate degree from Lanzhou University in China, and a Ph.D. from the University of Tennessee—both in botany.