Ming-Chih Chiu

Institute of Hydrobiology CAS

Debris dam removal serves as a conservation strategy to enhance landscape connectivity. However, we still do not know the joint effects of debris dam removal and seasonality on riverine species. Using multi-year data in a monsoonal stream, we examined the response of macroinvertebrate communities to the removal of one debris dam using a Before-Afte...

The environment and its variability exhibit spatial heterogeneity in influencing ecological processes and community dynamics across landscapes. However, the mechanisms remain unexplored. This study investigates relative significance of temporal ecological processes that shape invertebrate community dynamics across 15 rivers in the European Iberian...

Global ecosystems are facing anthropogenic threats that affect their ecological functions and biodiversity. However, we still lack an understanding of how biodiversity can mediate the responses of ecosystems or communities to human disturbance across spatial gradients. Here, we examined how existing, spatial patterns of biodiversity influence the e...

The species-area relationship (SAR) is a well-established, globally recognized ecological pattern, and research on SAR has expanded to include the phylogenetic diversity-area relationship (PDAR). However, this research has generally been limited to terrestrial systems. Using data on freshwater macroinvertebrates, the log–log form of the SAR and PDA...

BACKGROUND Climate change poses uncertainties in the effectiveness of classical biological control (CBC), and there is a lack of information on the establishment of natural enemy populations under present and future climatic conditions. The objective is to explore current traces of two alien predators (Neoseiulus californicus and Neoseiulus fallaci...

BACKGROUND Urbanization has led to the proliferation of high‐rise buildings, which have substantially influenced the distribution of dengue vectors, such as Aedes aegypti (L.). However, knowledge gaps exist regarding the individual and combined effects of architectural and spatiotemporal factors on dengue vector. This study investigated the interre...

The family Termitidae is renowned for its diverse nesting behaviors, with the evolution of epigeal and arbo-real nests hypothesized to increase desiccation stress due to greater exposure to air. However, these nests may also alleviate desiccation stress through humidity regulation. To explore the implications of acquiring epigeal and arboreal nests...

The rapid and continuous loss of biodiversity highlights the urgent need for research on functional diversity. Although the study of functional diversity has exploded in the past two decades, there is no clear guidance on how traits should be selected for index calculation, which significantly influences functional diversity results. To fill this g...

Freshwater biodiversity undergoes degradation due to climate change. Researchers have inferred the effects of climate change on neutral genetic diversity, assuming the fixed spatial distributions of alleles. However, the adaptive genetic evolution of populations that may change the spatial distribution of allele frequencies along environmental grad...

Aim Both gene flow and genetic drift can affect the genetic diversity of interacting populations. However, the influence of the complex evolutionary histories of species may be obscured by simplified assumptions about how these roles operate in nature. To examine this issue, we mechanistically explored the relative importance of environment-mediate...

Microplastic pollution is an urgent threat to the biota of aquatic ecosystems and is generally recognized as a global issue. Identifying the sources of microplastics is acknowledged as the most effective approach for mitigating microplastic pollution. However, the factors that regulate the spatiotemporal dynamics of microplastics in urban river net...

Both weather fluctuation and farming system influence the epidemiology of crop diseases. However, short-term experiments are difficult to mechanistically extrapolate into long-term ecological responses. Using a mechanistic model with Bayesian inference, long-term data spanning 10 years were used to construct relationships among weather fluctuation...

Spatial biodiversity is a key issue in biogeography for the explorations of biological origin and diversification. However, seldom studies have addressed the temporal changes in spatial patterns of biodiversity. We explored the taxonomic and functional diversities of riverine macroinvertebrates in central China, with the elevational gradient, in di...

Microplastic pollution is no longer neglected worldwide, as recent studies have unveiled its potential harm to ecosystems and, even worse, to human health. Numerous studies have documented the ubiquity of microplastics, reflecting the necessity of formulating corresponding policies to mitigate the accumulation of microplastics in natural environmen...

Polypedates braueri (Vogt)) 為臺灣原生種蛙類且廣泛分布全臺，紫絳蠅 (Caiusa violacea Séguy) 為其卵泡寄生蠅，兩者存在密切的交互關係。本研究採集全臺 37 樣點 222 卵泡， 以粒線體細胞氧化色素第一次單元 (cytochrome c oxidase subunit I, COI) 進行卵泡物種鑑定， 成功增幅 61 條樹蛙 COI 序列，確認皆為布氏樹蛙。全臺有 28 樣點 61 個卵泡被紫絳蠅寄生，寄 生率為 0~100%，平均數為 39%，中位數為 40%，眾數為 0%。地理區卵泡平均寄生率結果顯示， 東區為 22%較中區 31%、南區 38%及北區 55%為低，但四區域間並無顯著差異 (Kruskal-Wallis, chi-squ...

A suitable environmental flow is critical for the functional maintenance of riverine ecosystems. Hydropower plants alter the flow regime by decreasing or even drying up the streamflow downstream of the dams, thereby affecting ecosystem sustainability. In this study, we aimed to develop a robust environmental flow framework that can provide scientif...

Agricultural intensification is one of the major threats to global biodiversity and ecosystem services. Sustainable management of agricultural lands can reduce these impacts, but few efforts have been made in the context of paddy rice fields, especially in simplified landscapes composed of large monocultures separated by fragments of natural lands,...

Most research on the ecological responses to extreme floods examines impacts at short time scales, whereas long-term datasets combining hydrological and biological information remain rare. Using such data, we applied time-series analysis to investigate simultaneous effects of a biotic factor (density dependence), an abiotic factor (extreme floods),...

The countervailing effects of disturbances (e.g., high mortality and enhanced recovery) on population dynamics can occur through demographic processes under rapidly increasing climatic extremes. Across an extreme‐event gradient, we mechanistically demonstrated how dramatic changes in streamflow have affected the population persistence of endangered...

Pest risk assessment is typically performed by expert taxonomists using a pest's biological data. However, the biological data or expert taxonomists may be difficult to find. Here, we used species distribution modelling to predict potential invasion in which phytophagous quarantine pests survive in Taiwan; the pests (unrecorded yet in Taiwan) inclu...

The contribution of unvegetated tidal flats to global net primary production is comparable to that of some vegetated coastal habitats. However, compared to carbon flux regulating factors in vegetated habitats, those in unvegetated tidal flats are not well understood, particularly in terms of their cause-effect relationships. Maximum gross primary p...

Biological control commonly involves the commercialization and introduction of natural enemies. Phytoseiulus persimilis Athias-Henriot, a mite species widely used in the control of spider mites, was imported to Taiwan in the 1990s and was mass-reared and released into the field. However, none have been observed in comprehensive surveys of phytoseii...

The ability to prioritize habitats that have spatially varied contributions to species persistence can produce synergistic benefits for regional conservation efforts. However, conservation in spatially diverse landscape-networks requires considering dispersal asymmetry in the context of ecological connectivity and metapopulation persistence. By dev...

Background: High water demand accompanied with an unreliable piped water supply has forced urban residents to store water in containers. This situation potentially increases the number of breeding sites for mosquito vectors, such as Aedes. Method: This study aimed to test the hypothesis if piped water connection availability, tap water use, and hig...

As the main primary producer in stream ecosystems, periphyton is the fundamental of stream ecosystems and plays an essential role in maintaining stream biodiversity. The central Hengduan Mountains is one of the famous global biodiversity hotspots. However, for stream biodiversity conservations, the fundamental information about the spatial pattern...

The presence of microplastics (MPs) in the environment has generated global concerns. However, the explicit assessment of the effect of multiple anthropogenic activities on the existence of MPs in the freshwater system is scarcely reported. This study quantified anthropogenic activities and analyzed their relationship with MPs on a freshwater organ...

Aim Fractal networks, represented by branching complexity in rivers, are ubiquitous in nature. In rivers, the number of either distal (e.g. in headwater streams) or confluent (e.g. in mainstems) locations can be increased along with their branching complexity. Distal‐ or confluent‐spatial locations can result in fewer or greater corridor linkages t...

The accurate identification of biological control agents is necessary for monitoring and preventing contamination in integrated pest management (IPM); however, this is difficult for non-taxonomists to achieve in the field. Many machine learning techniques have been developed for multiple applications (e.g., identification of biological organisms)....

Different shapes of landscape boundaries can affect the habitat networks within them and consequently the spatial genetic‐patterns of a metapopulation. In this study, we used a mechanistic framework to evaluate the effects of landscape shape, through watershed elongation, on genetic divergence among populations at the metapopulation scale. Empirica...

Adaptive divergence is a key mechanism shaping the genetic variation of natural populations. A central question linking ecology with evolutionary biology is how spatial environmental heterogeneity can lead to adaptive divergence among local populations within a species. In this study, using a genome scan approach to detect candidate loci under sele...

Stochastic (e.g., via species dispersal and ecological drift) and deterministic (e.g., via environmental and biotic filtering) processes can produce diversity patterns related to changes in elevation. However, existing studies have not generally examined these processes within a compressive framework. Stream macroinvertebrates are an important and...

Climate change may influence the application efficiency of transgenic marking, such as in mark–release–recapture (MRR) experiments or sterile insect technique (SIT). Wild and transgenic fruit flies of Bactrocera dorsalis were subjected to oscillating regimes that represent current temperature conditions (mean: 28.6°C) and various future possible sc...

Aim Fractal networks, represented by branching complexity in rivers, are ubiquitous in nature. In rivers, the number of either distal (e.g., in headwater streams) or confluent (e.g., in mainstems) locations can be increased along with their branching complexity. Distal- or confluent-spatial locations can result in fewer or greater corridor linkages...

Avian reproduction and population growth are highly dependent on food availability. Consequently, studies on these variables require accurate estimates of food abundance that may vary in space and time. Dippers (Cinclus spp.) are obligate stream predators in freshwater ecosystems. Although it is well known that dippers are affected by aquatic macro...

Freshwater ecosystems are affected by a variety of anthropogenic stressors. Temporal variability of biotic communities in these ecosystems makes it difficult to accurately assess the impacts of specific stressors, which has seldom been considered in understudied regions of Asia. We studied the seasonal effects of anthropogenic stressors on stream m...

Intermittent rivers and ephemeral streams (IRES) are common worldwide and play important roles in freshwater biodiversity and biogeochemical processes. Anthropogenic threats to IRES can be broadly classified into hydrological, physical, chemical, and biological alterations that can occur specifically during dry (e.g., sediment mining) or wet phases...

We investigated the influence and relative importance of insecticides and other agricultural stressors in determining variability in invertebrate communities in small streams in intensive soy-production regions of Brazil and Paraguay. In Paraguay we sampled 17 sites on tributaries of the Pirapó River in the state of Itapúa and in Brazil we sampled...

Extreme weather events such as tropical cyclones are becoming more frequent, but efforts to understand their impact on wildlife have focused on population-level change rather than the behavioural responses of individuals. In this study, we monitored individually marked Brown Dippers Cinclus pallasii in upland Taiwanese streams in order to investiga...

Seasonal wetlands are important habitats for biodiversity of both invertebrate and vertebrate fauna. Many aquatic species have life history traits adapted to colonizing and developing in temporary aquatic habitats, and these traits influence the annual succession of the macroinvertebrate community. The chronology of taxon appearance and the variati...

Dam removal has the potential to efficiently solve the problems caused by fragmented stream habitats but may simultaneously cause negative impacts on biotic communities. To conserve the critically endangered Formosan landlocked salmon (Oncorhynchus masou formosanus), a 15-m-tall check dam was partially removed from the Chichiawan Stream at the end...

Coastal ecosystems are rich with biodiversity and ecological functions that provide valuable ecosystem services. They are also vulnerable to the impacts of climate change and anthropogenic activities. Assessing the impacts of climate change on coastal ecosystems is crucial if we are to develop and implement strategies that minimize and mitigate the...

Limited studies have addressed how future climate-change scenarios may alter the effects of pesticides on biotic assemblages or the effects of exposures to repeated pulses of pesticide mixtures. We used reported pesticide-use data as input to a hydrological fate and transport model (Soil and Water Assessment Tool) under multiple climate-change scen...

In intermittent rivers and ephemeral streams (IRES), significant anthropogenic threats result from alterations in natural flow regimes, changes in geomorphological features, and degraded water quality. These changes may favor invasion by alien species, a major ecological problem in IRES. – Anthropogenic threats in IRES often exceed the thresholds o...

The effects of grazing and climate change on primary production have been studied widely, but seldom with mechanistic models. We used a Bayesian model to examine the effects of extreme weather and the invertebrate grazer community on epilithic algal biomass dynamics over 10 years (from January 2004 to August 2013). Algal biomass and the invertebrat...

Due to climate change, extreme weather events are becoming more frequent and severe. These extreme events have been documented to affect avian predators in stream ecosystems. To better understand the mechanisms behind this effect, we used a decade-long dataset from a mountain stream in Taiwan to assess the effects of extreme flooding caused by typh...

Capsule Molecular scatology can characterize predator diets by the identification of mixed and degraded prey fragments in predator faeces.Aims We evaluated whether a non-invasive, molecular technique was useful for identifying prey in the faecal samples of the Plumbeous Water Redstart Phoenicurus fuliginosa, which feeds in the riparian ecotone and,...

1. Worldwide concern about the consequences of climate change has prompted efforts to understand and predict the responses of populations to changes in temperature. 2. A heat wave can adversely affect organisms, may affect different life stages differently, and could decrease populations. In this study, green peach aphid [ Myzus persicae (Sulzer) ]...

The function of the pea aphid's primary symbiont, Buchnera aphidicola, has been well studied. However, the factors affecting the dynamics of Buchnera density are seldom studied simultaneously. A better understanding of these factors could provide insights into its symbiosis with aphids. This study evaluated the effects of host life stage and rearin...

The home range and movements of wild birds are closely associated with their habitat selection and use, knowledge of which is critical for management and conservation programmes. From 1999 to 2002 we used radio-tracking technology to document the location and movement of 29 adult and six first-year male and 41 adult and five first-year female Manda...

Dam removal is an approach for restoring rivers. However, there are increasing concerns about the impact of removal on downstream biota. We examined the short-term responses of benthic macroinvertebrates and their avian predator (Brown Dipper, Cinclus pallasii Temminck) in reaches downstream of a check dam after it was removed from a mountain strea...

The predicted effects of global climate change include altered patterns of precipitation and more extreme weather events, leading to an increase in the severity and frequency of episodic disturbances such as floods. These changes may affect lotic prey communities, which could indirectly affect aquatic and riparian predators through trophic linkages...

To estimate the net effect of climate change on natural populations, we must take into account the positive and negative effects of temperature oscillations and climate variability. Warming because of climate change will likely exceed the physiological optima of tropical insects, which currently live very close to their thermal optima. Tropical ins...

Terrestrial subsidies are important resources for drift-feeding fishes. The contribution of these subsidies to fish diets increases with predator size or age because larger fish can feed on a wider range of prey. We assessed how the relative abundance of aquatic and terrestrial insects in the diet of the endangered Taiwan salmon Oncorhynchus masou...

1. Due to climate change, contemporary climate scenarios forecast an increase in extreme weather, which may have considerable impacts on the world's riverine ecosystems. Because the flow regime is a primary determinant of the structure and function of lotic ecosystems, changes in the weather could fundamentally alter these ecosystems through change...

Tropical invertebrates are currently living very close to their optimal temperature. Warming due to global climate change will likely exceed their physiological optima and have deleterious consequences for insects living at low latitudes. In this study, we assess the effects of various levels of summer warming predicted for the late 21st century (+...

It is believed that most areas of Taiwan can provide a viable habitat for the red imported fire ant (RIFA), Solenopsis invicta, an invasive pest ant species that was first reported in Taoyuan County, Taiwan in 2003. In 2006, the RIFA was found to have invaded some areas of Hsinchu County, which is situated south of Taoyuan County. To understand the...

Optimal foraging theory predicts that prey selection by breeding birds is governed by tradeoffs among diverse prey types with different energy gains per unit energy expended. This is particularly so in central-place foragers such as dippers (Cinclidae), which must provision nest-bound young using prey gathered along a linear habitat. In this study,...

未來氣候變遷因全球暖化，預測將帶來頻繁的極端氣候，此類極端事件包括了異常暴雨造成河川系統的非常態洪流；預估生態系反應對此未來衝擊將是生態學者所面臨的挑戰，因為其知識的貧乏將會導致日後保育及經營管理對策之困境，有鑑於此，本研究急欲了解溪流到濱岸之跨生態系衝擊的可能性。兩相鄰生態系（如溪流及濱岸生態系統）結構及功能於時空的動態，為最佳適存度之調節，此乃跨生態系食物網成員長期演化適應之結果，然而超出適應彈性的非常態干擾將會造成跨生態系之衝擊，此假說信心是建立在溪流昆蟲群聚及河烏類群（濱岸捕食者）的緊密食性連結，本研究進而依據最佳覓食理論（optimal foraging theory）去預測亞洲河烏物種（Cinclus pallasii）於育幼期間的食餌選擇，研究結果與其他河烏種類明顯相似。以現今...

1. The effects of flooding on top predators are poorly understood globally, but particularly in monsoonal streams. We therefore attempted to assess how inter-annual and intra-annual variations in flood magnitude affected an obligate riverine predator, the brown dipper (Cinclus pallasii), and its invertebrate prey, in the mountain Tachia River, Taiw...

The root aphid Tetraneura nigriabdominalis (Sasaki) (Homoptera: Pemphigidae) is a pest of many Gramineae species; however, little is known about its biology and relationships with host plants. The objectives of this study were to quantify the effects of temperature on development, longevity, fecundity, and population growth of T. nigriabdominalis a...

Effects of temperature on the development, longevity, fecundity, and population growth of the corn leaf aphid, Rhopalosiphum maidis Fitch, were determined at 6, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, and 35 ± 1°C on corn leaves, Zea mays L., in a growth chamber. At 35°C, only a few nymphs survived and completed development, but none of them succeeded in reproducing....