Lien-Siang Chou

Lien-Siang Chou
  • National Taiwan University

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113
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Current institution
National Taiwan University

Publications

Publications (113)
Article
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Simple Summary This study reviews the development of the cetacean stranding response program in Taiwan from 1994 to 2018, and examines 1320 stranding events involving 1698 animals across at least 27 species. The stranding rates have increased significantly over the years, with a notable rise in annual events from 16 to over 90. Seasonal variation d...
Article
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Wasp communities are often complex and speciose and often associated with plant and herbivorous hosts. Nonpollinating wasps are one example of these communities: these communities can reach 20 species on a single species of Ficus trees. Such diversity implies that the number of interactions is high, and the trophic web may be complicated to disenta...
Article
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Simple Summary The population of Indo-Pacific humpback dolphin (Sousa chinensis) endemic to the inshore and estuarine waters of western Taiwan was identified as a subspecies (Sousa chinensis ssp. taiwanensis) and designated as “Critically Endangered” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). This population is at a high risk of...
Article
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Climate change affects precipitation patterns and seasonal temperatures and disrupts the development and distribution of organisms. In the obligate mutualism between Ficus trees (Moraceae) and fig wasps (Hymenoptera: Agaonidae), the trees live mostly in the tropics and rely on short-lived pollinators, and climate change challenges this relationship...
Article
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The Indo-Pacific humpback dolphin (Sousa chinensis) has been reported to prefer estuary habitats. This study explored the environmental factors affecting a critically endangered population off the coast of Yunlin, Taiwan. We measured dolphin sighting rates and estuary characteristics affected by the watershed, including seven physical factors (wate...
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This study summarizes the postmortem investigations of 73 cetaceans stranded on the coast of Taiwan between 2001 and 2013, including 51 Delphinidae, 17 Kogiidae, 3 Ziphiidae, 1 Physeteridae, and 1 Balaenopteridae. Of these, eight (11%) were categorized into direct human-related strandings, including fisheries interaction (bycatch), vessel collision...
Article
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Many cetaceans are exposed to increasing pressure caused by anthropogenic activities in their marine environment. Anthropogenic sound has been recognized as a possible stressor for cetaceans that may have impacts on health. However, the relationship between stress, hormones, and cytokines secretion in cetaceans is complex and not fully understood....
Article
No PDF available ABSTRACT A sunspecies/population of Indo-Pacific humpback dolphins (IPHD, Sousa chinensis) lives in the shallow waters of Eastern Taiwan Strait. Their habitat is very close to the coast and suffering from the impact of human activities and marine pollution; the survival of this vulnerable group is at high risk. The long-term visual...
Article
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Similar to many vertebrate and invertebrate species, many fig wasp species are fighting other members of their species for mates. Fighting between the males of many non-pollinating fig wasp species involves injuries and fatalities. Studies have shown that large males fight for mates, whereas conspecific small males tend to adopt nonfighting, sneaky...
Article
Risso's dolphin occurs in tropical and temperate waters worldwide, and is one of the most common cetacean species in Taiwanese waters. This study attempted to reveal its distribution in water-depth ranges and variations in group size and composition (with or without mother-calf pairs). Based on sighting records from experienced whale-watching guide...
Article
Risso's dolphin (Grampus griseus) is one of the cetacean species commonly encountered off the eastern coast of Taiwan. The species appears to occur in Taiwanese waters year-round. Many biological and ecological characteristics, including group size, habitat preference, and ages at weaning and sexual maturity, are by-and-large in accord with earlier...
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The genus Ficus is unique in that it has a closed inflorescence (fig) holding all of the flowers inside its cavity, which is isolated from the outside world by a fleshy barrier: the fig wall. The fig wall is the main structure of the fig, giving its shape, but the wall has also important ecological functions such as protection of fig seeds and fig...
Article
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In theory, costs associated with fighting favor the assessment of resource value and relative fighting ability over indiscriminately attacking all opponents. This study explored how body sizes (head width and mandible length), morphs (typical and atypical), and injury severities are associated with mating strategies (fighting and sheltering) and it...
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Aim The heterogeneity of the marine environment is thought to be the origin of marine biodiversity, often delineated in marine biogeographical provinces. Cetaceans are highly mobile aquatic mammals, but even those species inhabiting seemingly boundary‐free open waters are found to exhibit degrees of population structure, often attributed to ecologi...
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This study presents two new fig wasp species, Philotrypesis taida Wong and Shiao sp. nov. and Sycorycteridea taipeiensis Wong and Shiao sp. nov., which were reared from Ficus benguetensis Merrill in Taiwan. They are the seventh and first species belonging to the genera Philotrypesis and Sycorycteridea, respectively, to be reported in Taiwan. The ho...
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Cetacean health may be potentially affected by anthropogenic sound. We have initiated investigations on the effect of low-frequency underwater sound on immunological gene transcript profiles of captive bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) using a probe-based quantitative gene expression assay. Six immunologic genes (IL-2Rα, -4, -10, -12, TNFα,...
Article
Insect pollination is the main strategy used by Angiosperm plants to transport pollen to another individual. The interaction between entomophilous plants and their pollinators is often mutualistic, with many species pairs being interdependent. In obligate pollination mutualism, the plant relies on its partner for pollination, whereas the pollen vec...
Article
Birds and figs are conspicuous members of the tropical and subtropical ecosystems. Because they are easily observed and very speciose, their relationships have been well studied in many areas, and the figs are considered a keystone resource for many bird species which are efficient fig seed dispersers. Taiwan has a relatively high endemism rate for...
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Mearns fig grows at the edge of coastal vegetation on uplifted coral reefs, its population and mutualistic-pollinators are susceptible to the influence of extreme weather. To determine the phenology of Mearns fig and the effects of various weather events under small-scale topographic differences, phenology was conducted for 3 years and 7 months. Re...
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Background: Interspecific interactions have long been assumed to play an important role in diversification. Mutualistic interactions, such as nursery pollination mutualisms, have been proposed as good candidates for diversification through co-speciation because of their intricate nature. However, little is known about how speciation and diversifica...
Article
The relationship between plants and ants is often mediated by the presence of extrafloral nectaries (EFNs) that attract ants and provide rewards for protecting plants from herbivores or parasites. Ficus trees (Moraceae) and their pollinators (Hymenoptera: Agaonidae) are parasitized by many nonpollinating fig wasp species (Hymenoptera: Chalcidoidea)...
Conference Paper
On-animal suction cups with embedded hydrophones allow examination of how signals on the forehead of echolocating odontocetes relate to the internal anatomical structure and the transmission beampattern. Risso’s dolphin (Grampus griseus) is an interesting species for this investigation due to the presence of a unique vertical groove in the middle o...
Article
Dynamics of habitat utilization of marine mammals are important for the conservation management of coastal ecosystems. Previous studies have shown that seasonal changes of humpback dolphin distribution are associated with seasonal changes of upstream rainfall. However, temporal variations of dolphin behavior at an estuarine habitat remain unclear....
Conference Paper
Continuous underwater acoustic recordings were made at two locations of the Eastern Taiwan Strait humpback dolphin habitat: Yunlin (YL, near a cargo shipping lane and with water depth 8–12 m) and Waisanding (WS, relatively pristine with water depth 1.5–4.5 m), off western Taiwan between June and December 2012. One-minute averaged sound pressure lev...
Conference Paper
Full-text available
Passive acoustic monitoring of marine organisms has been getting popular in these years. A lot of soniferous species were found underwater and the acoustic characteristics of their vocalizations have been documented. Referring these sound archives, passive acoustic monitoring network can be used as " an acoustic remote sensing " system to visualize...
Article
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Although ants are commonly found on Ficus trees, information remains lacking on the pattern and diversity of the ant community visiting these trees. We hypothesize that dynamic changes in the availability and types of food can affect the composition as well as abundance of ant communities occurring on fig trees. To investigate the impact of resourc...
Article
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Background: Timing of reproductive events has become central in ecological studies linking success in pollination and seed dispersion to optimizing the probability and periods of encounters with pollinators or dispersers. Obligate plant-insect interactions, especially Ficus–fig wasp mutualisms, offer striking examples of fine-tuned encounter optimi...
Conference Paper
The Eastern Taiwan Strait (ETS) Indo-Pacific humpback dolphin (Sousa chinensis) is a critically endangered species under the IUCN due to its extremely low population size (< 100 individuals) and isolated geographic distribution. Several environmental stressors, including anthropogenic noise, have been suggested as major threats to the decline of th...
Conference Paper
The spatio-temporal dynamics of prey resources have been considered as important factors for shaping the distribution and behavior of odontocetes. Indo-Pacific humpback dolphin (Sousa chinensis) is a costal species, which primary feeds on benthic croakers. It has been hypothesized that the distribution pattern and periodic occurrence of humpback do...
Article
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Quantitative RT-PCR is often used as a research tool directed at gene transcription. Selection of optimal housekeeping genes (HKGs) as reference genes is critical to establishing sensitive and reproducible qRT-PCR-based assays. The current study was designed to identify the appropriate reference genes in blood leukocytes of bottlenose dolphins (Tur...
Conference Paper
淺海聲景受到各地地理環境、生態群聚以及人為活動的影響而具有高度的變異性。許多海洋動物仰賴聲音訊息尋找活動方位,因此聲景可能是海洋動物棲地環境的指標之一。中華白海豚在台灣西岸的族群量少於80隻,主要使用3-15 kHz的哨聲溝通,並使用超音波的生物聲納進行回聲定位,因此聲音的感知對牠們相當重要。然而,目前仍不了解聲景是否在中華白海豚的棲地選擇中扮演重要的角色。本研究於苗栗海域利用SM2+錄音機長期收錄水下聲音,自動偵測回聲定位聲音,以了解中華白海豚的核心活動區域。長期時頻譜分析顯示,苗栗海域的聲景有明顯的日週期變化,且可在中華白海豚核心棲地與非核心棲地之間觀察到不同的頻譜特徵。核心棲地的中、高頻聲壓標準差較大,但平均值較低。顯示核心棲地的聲景特徵,以夜間的石首魚群體鳴唱,和白天較低的環境音為主...
Article
Photoresponse in nauplii, juveniles, and adult hermaphrodites of the clam shrimp Eulimnadia brauerianaIshikawa, 1895 was measured under four different artificial illuminances ranging from 19,688 to 48,286 lux. The nauplii displayed consistent positive phototaxis through all illuminances. The juveniles and adults, however, showed no response to the...
Article
Full-text available
Classification of odontocete species remains a challenging task for passive acoustic monitoring. Classifiers that have been developed use spectral features extracted from echolocation clicks and whistle contours. Most of these contour-based classifiers require complete contours to reduce measurement errors. Therefore, overlapping contours and parti...
Article
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Although Ficus-associated wasp fauna have been extensively researched in Australasia, information on these fauna in Taiwan is not well accessible to scientists worldwide. In this study, we compiled records on the Ficus flora of Taiwan and its associated wasp fauna. Initial agronomic research reports on Ficus were published in Japanese in 1917, foll...
Conference Paper
Full-text available
The shallow marine environment exhibits different soundscape characteristics compared to that from the deep ocean. In the shallow waters, biological sound plays an important role in local soundscape. Biological sounds such as fish calls and cetacean whistles are used for communication and finding mates. In addition, odontocetes also use high-freque...
Article
Full-text available
The underwater acoustic field is an important ecological element for many aquatic animals. This research examines the soundscape of a critically endangered Indo-Pacific humpback dolphin population in the shallow water environment off the west coast of Taiwan. Underwater acoustic recordings were conducted between late spring and late fall in 2012 at...
Article
Full-text available
The developments of marine observatories and automatic sound detection algorithms have facilitated the long-term monitoring of multiple species of odontocetes. Although classification remains difficult, information on tonal sound in odontocetes (i.e., toothed whales, including dolphins and porpoises) can provide insights into the species compositio...
Article
Large branchiopods adapt to stochastic temporary wetlands by means of rapid development and production of dormant eggs. Unhatched eggs build the egg bank that bridges the frequent unfavorable periods. Dormancy termination is complex not only in appropriate hatching times, but also in hatching fractions. We investigated the parameters of hatching ph...
Presentation
Full-text available
Crassicauda spp. are the genus of nematodes, and could parasitize at the skull of cetaceans, including frontal-orbitosphenoid, pterygoid, and auditory regions. 3,4 Crassicauda spp. could produce glycosaminoglycan (GAG)-degrading enzymes to hydrolyze the GAG of extracellular matrix (ECM), and then cause irreversible trabecula-like lesions in cetacea...
Conference Paper
了解海洋生物群聚的時空變化和海域環境變遷的關聯一直是重要的研究方向,但依賴目視或現場採樣的方法皆難以針對海洋生態系進行長期且連續的監測。然而,像是槍蝦、發聲魚類與鯨豚等海洋生物,會發出聲音來互相溝通、求偶、甚至增加覓食效率。因此,竊聽這些聲音便可以了解這些發聲動物的行為與分布範圍。本研究將SM2+長期錄音機與水下麥克風錨定在苗栗縣淺海的海床上收集長時間水下錄音,並以96 kHz的取樣頻率來收錄魚群鳴唱和中華白海豚的叫聲。透過計算0.5-2.5 kHz頻率範圍的聲壓値,可以有效辨識出石首魚群鳴唱的行為。此外,本研究也分別應用極大值偵測器和高頻脈衝偵測器自動搜尋長時間錄音中的白海豚哨叫聲與生物聲納。在春、夏等雨季,石首魚群體鳴唱和白海豚叫聲皆在離岸較近且緊鄰河口的測站被頻繁偵測。石首魚鳴唱約在日...
Article
Full-text available
1. The transportation of plants and insects between countries often has negative consequences, but also provides opportunities to study community processes. Fig trees are a species-rich group of largely tropical and subtropical plants, characterised by their unusual inflorescences (figs). 2. Ficus microcarpa is a native of Asia and Australasia and...
Article
Full-text available
The underwater acoustic field is an important ecological element for many aquatic animals. This research examines the soundscape of a critically endangered Indo-Pacific humpback dolphin population in the shallow water environment off the west coast of Taiwan. Underwater acoustic recordings were conducted between late spring and late fall in 2012 at...
Article
River estuaries are dynamic regions that are influenced by the interactions between freshwater and seawater as well as seasonal variations in river runoffs. Studies focusing on the distribution of Indo-Pacific humpback dolphins (Sousa chinensis) have indicated their general tendency toward estu-arine habitats. The seasonal activities of humpback do...
Article
No PDF available ABSTRACT Underwater acoustic recordings were made at two coastal shallow water locations, Yunlin (YL) and Waishanding (WS), off Taiwan between June and December 2012. The purpose of the study was to establish soundscape baselines and characterize the acoustic habitat of the critically endangered Eastern Taiwan Strait Chinese white...
Article
Information on the species diversity of cetaceans can help us to understand the community ecology of marine top predators. Passive acoustic monitoring has been widely applied in the cetacean research, however, species identification based on tonal sounds remains challenging. In order to examine the seasonal changing pattern of species diversity, we...
Article
Large branchiopods in temporary wetlands produce eggs that hatch in an asynchronous sequence to overcome stochastic hydroperiods. Long-term dynamics between egg replenishment and depletion result in habitat-specific egg bank spatial structures. Unlike earlier studies focusing mainly on the active stages, this study explores the horizontal distribut...
Article
1. Fig trees require host-specific agaonid fig wasps for pollination, but their figs also support numerous non-pollinating fig wasps (NPFW) that gall fig tissues or develop as parasitoids. 2. Ficus microcarpa L. is widely naturalised outside its native range and the most invasive fig tree species. Seed predators are widely used for the biological...
Article
Full-text available
The short-finned pilot whale (Globicephala macrorhynchus) is a mid-sized toothed whale, widely distributed throughout warm-temperate to tropical regions of the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans. There is suggestive evidence that the taxonomy within the species is unresolved: a “Southern form” in southern Japanese waters is considered distinctive...
Conference Paper
For acoustically oriented animals, sound field can either provide or mask critical information for their well-being and survival. In addition, understanding the variations of the soundscape in the Chinese white dolphin habitat is important to monitoring the relationship between human activities, calling fish, and dolphins, thus assist in coastal co...
Article
Full-text available
Most studies on tonal sounds extract contour parameters from fundamental frequencies. The presence of harmonics and the frequency distribution of multiple tonal sounds have not been well researched. To investigate the occurrence and frequency modulation of cetacean tonal sounds, the procedure of detecting the instantaneous frequency bandwidth of to...
Article
Most studies on tonal sounds extract contour parameters from fundamental frequencies. The presence of harmonics and the frequency distribution of multiple tonal sounds have not been well researched. To investigate the occurrence and frequency modulation of cetacean tonal sounds, the procedure of detecting the instantaneous frequency bandwidth of to...
Article
Full-text available
Background In the obligate plant/pollinator mutualism, pollinator abundance is conditioned by the host resource. In order to investigate the population fluctuation of pollinating wasps and the phenological processes involved, this study examined the dual dynamics of the pollinator and the syconium phenology of a seasonal fruited fig tree population...
Article
This paper offers the first study of diurnal variations in the use of an estuarine habitat by Indo-Pacific humpback dolphins. Passive acoustic data loggers were deployed in the Xin Huwei River Estuary, Western Taiwan, from July 2009 to December 2010, to collect biosonar clicks. Acoustic encounter rates of humpback dolphins on the riverside of the e...
Conference Paper
Full-text available
Passive acoustic monitoring is effective for examining the temporal variation of cetacean occurrences through continuous recording. However, the interpretation of behavior variability remains difficult. Cetacean tonal sounds are believed to play an important role in communication. Changes in tonal sound usage can be indicative of changes in cetacea...
Article
Full-text available
Due to their morphological similarities, the differentiation of pygmy (Kogia breviceps) and dwarf (K. sima) sperm whales is problematic. Here we report a quick and efficient method for distinguishing the two species based on differences in high-resolution melt (HRM) curves of amplicons from the mitochondrial DNA control region. K. sima and K. brevi...
Article
Full-text available
The prevalence of epidermal conditions in a small critically endangered population (<100 individuals) of coastal Indo-Pacific humpback dolphins (Sousa chinensis) from the waters of western Taiwan was assessed during a photo-identification study conducted between 2006 and 2010. Of 97 individuals photographically examined, at least 37% were affected...
Conference Paper
In September 2011, the MArine Cable Hosted Observatory (MACHO) was launched in the northeastern sea off Taiwan for surveillance of submarine earthquakes, tsunami, and the ocean environment. The MACHO system, administrated by the Central Weather Bureau, is the first submarine observatory for various science research projects in Taiwan. Based on the...
Article
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Premise of the study: Highly portable microsatellite primers were developed for Ficus to facilitate investigation of genetic structure of complete regional floras using a single set of markers. Methods and results: Pyrosequencing of five species of Ficus produced a library of 5723 potential primers. Potential primers found in at least two specie...
Article
Passive acoustic monitoring (PAM) had already been proved to assess the presence of many cetacean species successfully. However, the continuous recording makes the manual data analysis difficult. In the present study, an automatic detection algorithm was developed for tonal sounds produced by Indo-Pacific humpback dolphins. The algorithm included a...
Article
Food is one of the most important dimensions of resource partitioning for species coexistence. In this study, we investigated the dietary composition and foraging habits of three sympatric odontocetes in order to identify their levels of food niche overlap and ecological separation. Stomach content analysis was performed on sam-ples collected from...
Article
Full-text available
The degree of fusion between bones is a useful indicator of skeletal and sexual maturity for cetacean specimens preserved in museum collections. The aim of this study was twofold: first, to examine the degree of fusion between bony elements in skulls of Risso’s dolphins (Grampus griseus Cuvier, 1812) from Taiwanese waters; and second, to analyze th...
Article
Maintaining a sustainable egg bank through rapid maturation and the production of large clutches is an important strategy for large branchiopods surviving in ephemeral habitats, and such egg banks can only be replenished by the recruitment of hatched eggs as a function of fitness (F). The ability to reach a threshold F represents a key adaptation t...
Article
Full-text available
Risso's dolphins (Grampus griseus) are widely distributed throughout temperate to tropical pelagic waters of the world and are one of the most frequently encountered cetaceans in eastern Taiwanese coastal waters. Because their life history is poorly known, the goal of this study was to investigate the relationship between age, body length, and sexu...
Article
Prenatal investment directly determines the size at birth and fetus growth rate, which affects neonatal survival and growth and potentially affects maternal fitness. This study explored the associated prenatal life history traits of cetaceans. Using multivariate analysis and ANCOVA, baleen whales and toothed cetaceans had distinct energy patterns,...
Article
This study compared microhabitat characteristics among nesting, foraging, and singing sites of the Gray-cheeked Fulvetta Alcippe morrisonia in the Fushan Experimental Forest, northeastern Taiwan. Habitat variables, including height above ground, vegetation level, vegetation density at locations where these three types of behavior occurred, and stru...
Article
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The mammalian order Cetacea is believed to have made the challenging evolutionary transition from land to sea early in the Eocene, > 50 million years ago (Mya). With the shift in habitat, cetaceans had to evolve a range of specializations, including immune response. The major histocompatibility complex (MHC) multigene families have proven to be ide...
Article
A major life-history challenge for fairy shrimps (Anostraca) is the unpredictable environment of the ephemeral pool. The duration and predictability of pool inundations affects their life history strategy. The growth and reproduction schedule of a thamnocephalid fairy shrimp, Branchinella (Branchinellites) kugenumaensis, in an unpredictable ephemer...
Article
Weaning represents the transition of mammalian life from maternal dependence to independence in both energetics and behavior. The length at weaning (Lw) is determined by the maternal investment during gestation and lactation. It affects calf survival and impacts on the long-term persistence of species, but the measurement is not readily obtainable...
Article
Full-text available
Cranial variation in 129 pantropical spotted dolphins (Stenella attenuata) from the western and eastern tropical Pacific was investigated morphometrically. This study revealed significant sexual dimorphism in the dolphin skulls. Differences between the genders were mostly recorded in the rostrum and braincase, which are wider and more robust in mal...
Article
Life history traits (LHT), profi ling the schedule of growth and reproduction of organisms, directly determine the reproductive fitness and long-term persistence of species. Understanding the characteristic LHT of species is a crucial step in making sound conservation policies. Nonetheless, the complete LHT of many cetaceans is not readily elucidat...
Article
Full-text available
(Summary) In order to distinguish differences in foraging between generalized and specialized frugivores, we studied the foraging ecology of 3 commonly seen fruit-eating birds (Gray-cheeked Fulvetta Al- cippe morrisonia morrisonia, Black Bulbul Hypsipetes madagascariensis nigerrimus, and Black- browed Barbet Megalaima oorti nuchalis) in Fushan Expe...
Article
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In 2002, 2004 and 2006, thirty eight skull specimens preserved in Silliman University, Dumaguete, the Philippines and Sea World, Jakarta, Indonesia were investigated. Among the specimens we examined twenty four Balaenoptera omurai and five Indopacific Bryde’s whales were identified. Nine were too fragmental for the species identification based on m...
Article
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The major histocompatibility complex (MHC) is a large multigene coding for glycoproteins that play a key role in the initiation of immune responses in vertebrates. For a better understanding of the immunologic diversity in thriving marine mammal species, the sequence variation of the exon 2 region of MHC DQB locus was analyzed in 42 bottlenose dolp...
Article
Full-text available
Blastophaga taiwanensis Chen & Chou (Chalcidoidea: Agaonidae) is the pollinator of Ficus formosana Maxim. (Moraceae) at the Guandaushi Forest Station, Taiwan. It co-exists with two non-pollinating species of Sycoscapter Saunders (Chalcidoidea: Pteromalidae). This study of the ecology of two Sycoscapter species provides the first evidence of their p...
Article
5 Institute of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, National Taiwan University, Taipei 10617, Taiwan and Taiwan Cetacean Society, 3F-3, No. 184, Sec. 3, Tingzhou Road, Taipei 10091, Taiwan E-mail: chouls@ntu.edu.tw

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