Associate Professor, Chih-hao Hsieh, from the Institute of Oceanography/Institute of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, together with an international research team develops a method that helps examine nonlinear climate impacts on Pacific sardines. This study, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (4/17/2013), provides a new solution to forecast [...]

Seasonal Changes in Gaseous Elemental Mercury in Relation to Monsoon Cycling over the Northern South China Sea Tseng, C. M., Liu, C. S., Lamborg, C., (2012), Atmos. Chem. Phys., 12, 7341-7350, doi:10.5194/acp-12-7341-2012. www.atmos-chem-phys.net/12/7341/2012/ The distribution of gaseous elemental mercury (GEM) was determined in the surface atmosphere of the northern South [...]

Stock assessments that include a spatial component or relate population dynamics to environmental conditions can be considered one way of implementing an ecosystem approach to fisheries. A spatially-structured population dynamics model that takes account of habitat preference is developed and then applied to Pacific blue marlin (Makaira nigricans), as they [...]

Crustaceans play an important role in marine ecosystem and worldwide fisheries. Accurate and quantitative description of growth is crucial in modelling the demographics and fisheries stock assessment. The stepwise growth as a result of the moulting process and the lack of permanent calcified structures make the traditional approaches developed for [...]

The Coral Triangle is known as marine biodiversity center according to its highestmarine biodiversity.However, the mechanism to form such a high biodiversity is still under debate. Pomacentruscoelestisis also known as neon damselfish which distributed across coral triangle has been used as a model species to reveal its phylogeographic structure and [...]

The research work in my (Wei-Jen Chen’s) lab can be summarized as the application of molecular and computational tools within a phylogenetic framework to interpret organismal diversity and to understand mechanisms of evolution (see: http://wjchen.actinops.googlepages.com/). The research accomplishments in 2012 have been focused on molecular systematics of two cypriniform fish [...]

Research topic 1 – Migratory life history of deep sea fishes We analyzed otolith microstructures and stable isotope of deep sea fishes to reveal their ontogenetic vertical (downward) migration. Otolith microstructures and δ18O showed different migratory patterns, e.g., migration timing and distances, among species. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0967063711002378 Research topic 2 –Eutrophication reduce [...]

Abstract Developing realistic, three-dimensional ruptures corresponding to a regional plate convergence is difficult to accomplish directly through band-limited ground-motion observations. A potential indirect method for this evaluation is to use a tsunami simulation to verify the rupture model reversely because the initial conditions of the associated tsunamis are caused by [...]

“Damned” Yangtze River Dam may affect the spawning migration of anchovy in the East China Sea Chen-Yi Tu and Chih-hao Hsieh Institute of Oceanography, National Taiwan University Using a coupled fish behavior–hydrodynamic model, a group of scientists of National Taiwan University suggest that the dammed Yangtze River could have negative [...]

Title: Interacting ocean waves explain powerful sea floor canyon flows Off the southwestern coast of Taiwan the Gaoping Submarine Canyon meanders in a giant backwards “S” as it stretches southwestward toward the South China Sea. In the canyon, a 200-m-deep cut into the seafloor that lies 300 m below the [...]

  Particle-reactive radionuclides are very powerful tools in studying the cycling processes of chemical elements in the ocean. Among the naturally occurring radionuclides, 234Th, 210Pb, and 210Po have been used to investigate the carbon export via particle settling through the upper water column of the South China Sea and the particle removal fluxes [...]

After completing his studies in geophysics at Taiwan’s National Central University, Char-Shine Liu discovered the next chapter of his life in a book about the early days of the Deep Sea Drilling Program (DSDP). “I read 200,000,000 Years Beneath The Sea By Peter Briggs,“ he recalls. “I became excited by [...]

The TAIGER (Taiwan Integrated GEodynamic Research) project is a large Taiwan-US cooperative research project participated also by scientists from France, Japan and Philippine. This project uses seismic techniques to image the crustal and upper mantle structures of the Taiwan mountain belt and its surrounding seas for the purposes of understanding [...]

Associate professor Chih-hao Hsieh from the Institute of Oceanography, NTU, leads his postdoc and student to develop an efficient semi-automatic zooplankton classification system. The results are published in the November issue of Marine Ecology Progress Series in 2012. This approach was successfully applied in the East China Sea ecosystem. In [...]

[Shiao JC] We develop species-specific probe and primer for rapid and high-throughput identification of tuna species. The probe and primer are designed to amplify the mitochondrial genes. This assay can be applied to fresh, alcohol preserved and canned samples. The whole procedure can be conducted within half-a-working day.

[Shiao JC] Through oceanographic surveys for several years, we find that the inshore area of the East China Sea, corresponding to the prohibited zone for trawling, had extremely high nutrient concentrations and low dissolved oxygen. The diversity index of demersal fish showed significantly negative correlations with nutrient concentrations and positive [...]

[Shiao JC] We analyzed otolith microstructures and stable isotope of deep sea fishes to reveal their ontogenetic vertical (downward) migration. Otolith microstructures and δ18O showed different migratory patterns, e.g., migration timing and distances, among species.  

  Miki et al. 2011 Recent molecular phylogenetic surveys show that parasites of phytoplankton may play an important role in the food web and ecosystem dynamics. For example, the ‘mycoloop’ exemplifies a novel trophic interaction among parasitic fungi, the chytrids, its host, diatoms, and consumer, zooplankton. Professor Miki and colleagues [...]

The vertically integrated Fbc (arrows) and Ebt2bc (colors) averaged over seven days of simulation from (a) the control run, (b) Exp1, (c) Exp2 and (d) Exp3. The blue rectangle enclosing the GPSC denotes the area for Ebt2bc and baroclinic energy integration. The blue open arrow and the number inside it [...]

Our research focuses on the relationship between marine environment and spatio-temporal patterns of large pelagic migratory species, and also develops fishery stock assessment models that incorporate the relationship and seasonal migration pattern of the population, which could improve the reliability of fishery management-related parameters. For example, spatial distributions of blue [...]

[Chang, Y.J., C.L. Sun] Crustaceans are a globally-distributed faunal group, found across all habitats in the world and the important fisheries resource for human. They are an ideal focal assemblage for assessment of the impacts of climatic change on their population dynamics. Using the pronghorn spiny lobster (Panulirus penicillatus) fishery [...]

Gas hydrate formation and associated biogeochemical processes is actively altering deep sea environments offshore SW Taiwan.  Abundant methane from organic carbon fermentation and thermogenic source fed assorted forms of microbial community at various depths in sediments as well as near the sea floor.  Methane migration could induce biogeochemical processes (Figure [...]

TSENG, CHUN-MAO My current research interests focus on marine biogeochemistry in relation with Environmental Change. The objective of research is the exchange across interfaces, such as the processes controlling air-water of CO2 and Hg. The recent study on gas-exchange flux dynamics of CO2 related to external forcing in the productive [...]