Our research themes span empirical & theoretical studies on behaviour and ecological networks.
In particular, we attempt to tackle the synergies across them.
The lab hasn't been established for long.
Please give us a few years to accumulate more interesting themes to be summarised here :)
Empirical Behaviour Research
We are interested in almost all sorts of animal behaviour, particularly in those that can influence the interaction among organisms and among species. The understanding of such topic can help us scale up the effects of behaviour to explore how it can determine the structure and dynamics of larger-scale biological organisations, e.g., food webs and meta-communities.
We worked/are working on
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Habitat usage, foraging, interference, thermal performance, and personality-driven behaviour of geckos
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Foraging and reproductive behaviour of Hymenoptera pollinators
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The aggressiveness of Taiwan blue magpie in urban areas
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Predation risk-driven diet decision of insect foragers
and we are looking forward to expanding our exploration.
Theoretical Behaviour Research
We adapt theories from the field of Behavioural Ecology and use modelling and computation methods to study the consequences of certain behavioural strategies. As empirical behavioural experiment can be rather detail but only valid at organismal level, while larger-scale ecological data are often only available at rougher resolutions and in a screenshot-like manner, the theoretical approach can effectively bridge the two ends, providing potential mechanistic understanding therein.
We worked/are working on
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Foraging strategy (e.g., sit-and-wait, active foraging) and dimensionality
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The influence of predation risk on consumers' diet choice
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Marginal value theorem (and central place foraging) of fishing vessels
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Reproductive decision of ground-nested solitary bees using a game theoretic framework.
and we are looking forward to expanding our exploration.
Empirical Network Research
Our expertise includes the study of ecological networks of various kinds. With different kinds of empirical data (e.g., classical species occurrence monitoring, eDNA, species distribution modelling), there are corresponding ways to reconstruct, quantify, and analyse the structure and spatial patterns of ecological networks such as food webs. Such understanding is crucial for our advance in Community Ecology and Ecosystem Ecology.
We worked/are working on
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Spatial patterns of blue and green food webs at regional/continental scales
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Spatio-temporal patterns of biodiversity and food-web structure in riverine systems and paddy rice meta-community systems using eDNA
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Structure and temporal variation of pollination networks in mid-scaled landscapes
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Dynamics of plankton food webs and influences of microplastics in freshwater microcosms
and we are looking forward to expanding our exploration.
Theoretical Network Research
We are familiar with applying many classical food-web models to generate synthetic food webs under different parameter constraints. Additionally, in parallel to our study on animal behaviour, we are particularly curious about such behaviour's influences on ecological networks. We thus expand relevant theoretical exploration to cover the structural and dynamical consequences of networks as dynamical systems.
We worked/are working on
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The effect of optimal foraging effectively on species persistence in food webs
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The effect of predation risk and optimal foraging on the structure of food webs
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Combining food-web models and hydrological models to predict food webs in a riverine meta-community
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Species dispersal and establishment under urbanisation and changing road networks
and we are looking forward to expanding our exploration.