In September 2020 I took up a new full professor position at the Nanjing Forestry University (NJFU) but previous to this I worked at the State Key Laboratory of Systematics and Evolutionary Botany ...
IUCN SSC Conifer Specialist Group

Overview and description
Description:
Group leadership
Dr Yong YANG
In September 2020 I took up a new full professor position at the Nanjing Forestry University (NJFU) but previous to this I worked at the State Key Laboratory of Systematics and Evolutionary Botany, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences. I was appointed as Chair of the Conifer Specialist Group shortly after I transferred to NJFU. My major research interests are taxonomy and conservation of seed plants, especially gymnosperms and the angiosperm family Lauraceae. I was granted with seven NSFC projects, and have made a number of new discoveries with these supports. I have described six new genera and twenty new species including living and fossil plants. In addition, I was involved in a few country-scale projects including the updated catalogue of plant species in China and the red list assessment of Chinese higher plants. I also worked with my Chinese colleagues on a new catalogue of living gymnosperms which includes scientific names and synonyms, distribution maps, endangered status, and altitudinal ranges. Many of these woody plants have extremely small populations, and are flagship species for conservation practices. I will continue my research efforts on taxonomy of gymnosperms and pay more attention to their conservation biology.
More about the Specialist Group
The IUCN SSC Conifer Specialist Group is a member of the International Union for Conservation’s Species Survival Commission (IUCN/SSC) and comprises 32 member volunteers from around the world. The collective expertise of the Group feeds into the IUCN Red List for threatened species to produce up-to-date assessments that can be used to guide and inform conservation policies and decisions. The specialist group is currently undertaking its third round of assessments ...

Specialist Group work
The Conifer Specialist Group helps promote the long-term survival of the world’s conifers through rigorous conservation assessments, which help to guide conservation planning and conservation action.
CSG on the IUCN Red List
To inform conservation efforts, CSG assesses species for the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.
Annual Report
Learn about CSG’s work and results in 2023.
Previous reports:
2022 CSG Annual Report
2021 CSG Annual Report
2020 CSG Annual Report
2019 CSG Annual Report
2018 CSG Annual Report
2016-2017 CSG Annual Report