Postdoctoral at Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden,CAS, Thailand
Phisamai Maenpuen is a highly dedicated postdoctoral fellow at the Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences (XTBG-CAS), where she conducts innovative research in plant eco-physiology. Her work centers on understanding how tropical plants, particularly Dipterocarpaceae species, adapt to water stress and drought conditions. Through extensive field and laboratory studies, she examines key functional traits and hydraulic mechanisms, contributing significantly to the global scientific understanding of forest resilience amid climate change. Recognized for her academic excellence and international collaboration, she is emerging as a notable researcher in plant ecology and forest sciences.
Profile
ORCID
EDUCATION
Phisamai Maenpuen earned her Bachelor’s degree in Forestry from Kasetsart University, Bangkok, in 2016, where she gained a solid foundation in forest resource management and plant sciences. She then pursued an integrated MSc-PhD program in Ecology at XTBG-CAS, graduating in June 2023 under the prestigious CAS-TWAS fellowship. Guided by Professors Jiaolin Zhang and Yajun Chen, her doctoral work emphasized the eco-physiological responses of tropical forest species to drought stress. This international training not only deepened her technical knowledge but also broadened her scientific perspective through multicultural and interdisciplinary research experiences.
EXPERIENCE
Currently serving as a Postdoctoral Fellow at XTBG-CAS since July 2023, Phisamai is involved in high-impact ecological research, focusing on water relations and adaptive strategies of tropical forest trees. She has participated in major projects funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC), including studies on hydraulic strategies and climate-driven forest responses. She also contributed to a joint NSFC-TRF project exploring latitudinal forest dynamics. Her roles encompass experiment design, data analysis, mentoring of junior researchers, and academic publication, reflecting her deep commitment to research and scientific advancement.
RESEARCH INTEREST
Her research interests lie in the fields of plant functional traits, eco-physiology, and hydraulic architecture, particularly within tropical forest ecosystems. She is especially focused on the water-use efficiency and drought resilience of Dipterocarpaceae species. By exploring xylem structure, embolism resistance, and leaf habit variability, she aims to reveal how plants cope with increasingly frequent and severe drought events. Her research is critical for predicting forest responses to global climate change and informing sustainable management of tropical ecosystems.
AWARD
Phisamai Maenpuen has received multiple competitive grants that recognize her potential as an outstanding young researcher. She was awarded the NSFC Research Fund for International Young Scientists for her ongoing project on Parashorea chinensis adaptations. In 2024, she received first-tier funding from Yunnan Province’s “Caiyun Postdoctoral Program” for her innovation proposal. She is also a recipient of the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation’s general program grant and has obtained support from the Yunnan “Wisdom Plan” and the National Foreign Expert Program. These honors not only validate her research impact but also support her continued contribution to ecological science.
PUBLICATION
Phisamai Maenpuen has authored and co-authored several influential scientific publications. In 2023, she co-first authored “Remaining uncertainties in the Pneumatic method” published in New Phytologist (237(2):384–391), cited by 15 articles. That same year, she co-authored “Hydraulic properties and drought response of a tropical bamboo” in Plant Diversity (46(3):406–415), cited by 9 articles. Her 2022 paper in American Journal of Botany (109(8):1242–1250) explored LMA mismatches and was cited by 12 articles. In Tree Physiology (2022, 42(4):740–753), she analyzed drought responses in evergreen shrubs, cited by 10 articles. As co-first author again, she published in New Phytologist (2021, 229(2):805–819) on embolism vulnerability, cited by 25 articles. Her work in Ecology Letters (2021, 24:2350–2363) examined drought-induced dieback, cited by 30 articles. Her earliest noted contribution was in Tree Physiology (2019, 39:1783–1791), addressing vessel length artifacts, cited by 18 articles.
CONCLUSION
Phisamai Maenpuen is an outstanding candidate for the Best Researcher Award. Her combination of cutting-edge research, successful acquisition of international grants, and significant scientific publications reflect a high level of scholarly impact. Her focus on plant hydraulics under climate stress adds critical knowledge to ecological and environmental sciences. These accomplishments, along with her dedication to academic growth and collaboration, make her a strong representative of excellence in research.