Si-Chong ChenChinese Academy of Sciences | CAS · Wuhan Botanical Garden [Wuhan Institute of Botany]
Si-Chong Chen
PhD
I am looking for postdocs and lab staff in macroecology, biogeography, and eco-informatics.
长期招聘宏观生态学研究的博士后和工作人员
About
53
Publications
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Introduction
I work on the macroecological patterns in seed dispersal, seed predation, seed storage behaviours and relevant disciplines. My research aims to contribute to our understanding of seed ecology in three key ways: 1) by narrowing the gaps between data, intuitive ideas and theories; 2) by enhancing the integration of replicated studies at a macro-ecological scale; and 3) by extending understanding from a local scale and a small number of species to a global scale spanning many biomes and taxonomic groups.
Additional affiliations
July 2016 - September 2018
December 2018 - present
October 2008 - February 2009
Education
August 2012 - June 2016
August 2009 - June 2012
September 2005 - June 2009
Publications
Publications (53)
AimIt has been widely assumed that large seeds generally require large animals to ingest and disperse them. However, this relationship has only been quantified in single animal groups (e.g. birds) and in a few communities. Our goal was to provide the first broad-scale study of the relationship between animal body mass and ingested seed size.Locatio...
Fruit type has a major impact on seed dispersal, seed predation and energy allocation, but our understanding of large-scale patterns in fruit type variation is weak. We used a dataset of 4008 Australian species to provide the first continental-scale tests of a series of hypotheses about the factors that might affect fruit type. We found a significa...
Aim
Biotic interactions have traditionally been predicted to be stronger towards the tropics. However, all previous studies about the latitudinal gradient in seed predation were either based on single species or compiled data from studies that used different methods in different ecosystems. Our goal was to provide the first broad‐scale quantificati...
Aim
Previous studies have shown that seed predation is not more intense towards the tropics. One possible explanation for this finding is that seeds might be better defended at lower latitudes. Our goal was to provide the first broad‐scale, quantitative analysis of the latitudinal gradient in physical investment in tissues surrounding seed reserve....
Despite the importance of seed dispersal in a plant's life cycle, global patterns in seed dispersal distance have seldom been studied. This paper presents the first geographically and taxonomically broad quantification of the latitudinal gradient in seed dispersal distance. Although there is substantial variation in the seed dispersal distances of...
Background
The evolutionary success of flowering plants is associated with the vast diversity of their reproductive structures. Despite recent progress in understanding angiosperm-wide trends of floral structure and evolution, a synthetic view of the diversity in seed form and function across angiosperms is lacking.
Scope
Here we present a roadmap...
The baobab trees (genus Adansonia) have attracted tremendous attention because of their striking shape and distinctive relationships with fauna¹. These spectacular trees have also influenced human culture, inspiring innumerable arts, folklore and traditions. Here we sequenced genomes of all eight extant baobab species and argue that Madagascar shou...
Physical defence investment in seeds varies greatly among plant species and is associated with many potential factors. Exploring the factors explaining the interspecific variation in physical defence has long attracted particular attention in both ecology and evolution studies. However, the relative importance of the factors has not yet been quanti...
Scientists are becoming increasingly aware that disparities in opportunities for conducting and publishing research among scientists living under different socio-economic contexts have created pervasive biases and long-lasting impacts on our views of the natural world. These disparities are challenging the establishment of a global research agenda...
Information on seed persistence and seedling emergence from the soil seed bank is critical for understanding species coexistence and predicting community dynamics. However, quantifying seed persistence in the soil is challenging; thus, its association with other life‐history traits is poorly known on a broad scale.
Using germination phenology for 3...
AimSeed traits and climatic covariates are hypothesised to be potential drivers determining the large-scale patterns of plant diversity; seed dormancy strategies function to escape unfavourable seasons. The associations of dormancy with seed mass and dispersal mode might facilitate for better understanding of plant biogeography in relation to trait...
We invite the community of plant scientists to join SeedArc by
contributing primary data on seed germination from all over the
world, regardless of the type of experiment conducted and
the number of species tested. We offer data ownership and co-authorship rules that aim to support collaboration and attribution under an open science scheme. By cont...
Southwestern China has the largest geological phosphorus-rich mountain in the world, which is seriously degraded by mining activities. Understanding the trajectory of soil microbial recovery and identifying the driving factors behind such restoration, as well as conducting corresponding predictive simulations, can be instrumental in facilitating ec...
Seed science is a vital field of research that contributes to many areas of knowledge in fundamental ecology and evolution, as well as in applied areas of food production, and the conservation and restoration of native plants. A large amount of novel information, technologies and processes in seed science research are being produced and developed b...
Aim
Many plant species reproduce clonally. However, ecologists still have much to learn about the factors that shape large‐scale patterns in plant clonal growth and reproduction, especially in the southern hemisphere. We addressed this knowledge gap by quantifying relationships between reproductive mode and a suite of plant characteristics and envi...
Background & Aims:
We reviewed progress on insect biodiversity research over the past 30 years and further analyzed the trends, focusing on varied study sys tems (e.g. forest, grassland and agriculture etc.) and important functional insect groups, such as pollinators, herbivores and predators.
Progresses: Declines of insect abundance and diversity...
Climate warming is changing plant sexual reproduction, having consequences for species distribution and community dynamics. However, the magnitude and direction of plant reproductive efforts (e.g., number of flowers) and success (e.g., number and mass of fruits or seeds) in response to warming have not been well-characterized. Here we generated a g...
More than half of the net primary production in terrestrial ecosystems returns to the soil through leaf litter fall and decomposition. In terrestrial ecosystems, litter constitutes a mixture of mainly senescent foliage from multiple species. Yet, the effect of litter mixing on litter decomposition rate remains ambiguous. Quantification of the soil...
• Altitudinal diversity of terrestrial plants has been widely studied, whereas little is known for the patterns of aquatic plants. Here, we used a standardised field dataset to quantify the altitudinal patterns in the diversity and structure of aquatic plant assemblages, as well as the relationships between diversity indices and environmental varia...
Plant functional traits often show strong latitudinal trends. To explain these trends, studies have often focused on environmental variables, correlations with other traits that themselves show latitudinal trends, and phylogenetic conservatism. However, few studies have systematically disentangled the relative contributions of these factors. Using...
We introduce the AusTraits database - a compilation of values of plant traits for taxa in the Australian flora (hereafter AusTraits). AusTraits synthesises data on 448 traits across 28,640 taxa from field campaigns, published literature, taxonomic monographs, and individual taxon descriptions. Traits vary in scope from physiological measures of per...
A literature synthesis concluded that small mammals have the greatest impact on post‐dispersal removal of intermediate‐sized seeds (Dylewski et al. 2020). However, this study failed to consider the duration of seed exposure to predators. Re‐analyses of the corrected dataset revealed only a weak effect of seed mass on seed removal.
Habitat fragmentation entails major effects on many ecological processes. Theory offers two contradicting hypotheses for the expected effects of fragmentation on seed dispersal strategy. On the one hand, fragmentation may select for increased dispersal by purging poor dispersers that are incapable of moving between patches (spatial sorting). On the...
We introduce the AusTraits database - a compilation of measurements of plant traits for taxa in the Australian flora (hereafter AusTraits). AusTraits synthesises data on 375 traits across 29230 taxa from field campaigns, published literature, taxonomic monographs, and individual taxa descriptions. Traits vary in scope from physiological measures of...
Deficient dispersal ability due to habitat fragmentation adversely impact demographic connectivity and gene flow among population in a metapopulation, and therefore potentially leads to local extinction. A rich body of theoretical work provides distinct predictions regarding the distribution of dispersal abilities in relation to fragmentation gradi...
Seed movement and delayed germination have long been thought to represent alternative risk‐spreading strategies, but current evidence covers limited scales and yields mixed results. Here we present the first global‐scale test of a negative correlation between dispersal and dormancy. The result demonstrates a strong and consistent pattern that speci...
Seed coat and seed reserve show substantial mass variation, play different roles in plant life strategies and are shaped by different selective forces. However, remarkably little is known about the macroevolution of the relative allocation in seed components and its influence on important ecophysiological processes.
Using phylogenetic comparative m...
Aim
Leaf pubescence has several important roles, including regulating heat balance, reducing damage from UV radiation, minimizing water loss and reducing herbivory. Each of these functions could affect a plant's ability to tolerate the biotic and abiotic stresses encountered in different parts of the world. However, we know remarkably little about...
Premise:
Intraspecific variation in diaspore characteristics could affect various aspects of plant performance at the population, individual plant, and seed levels. We quantified variation in dispersal traits in a wind-dispersed annual, Geropogon hybridus (Asteraceae), focusing on continuous morphological traits of dispersive diaspores and their r...
Plant traits—the morphological, anatomical, physiological, biochemical and phenological characteristics of plants—determine how plants respond to environmental factors, affect other trophic levels, and influence ecosystem properties and their benefits and detriments to people. Plant trait data thus represent the basis for a vast area of research sp...
Biodiversity is rapidly decreasing worldwide. Its great importance has been attached to conservation through in-situ and ex-situ management. Animal-mediated seed dispersal is an important ecological process, linking the threatened plants and animal partners in ex-situ habitats, and in turn affecting tree conservation. However, how bird traits affec...
Questions
Despite our increased understanding of how climate change influences plant phenology, it remains poorly understood whether diversity loss could alter phenology as well. Here we investigated the following: (a) do changes in plant diversity affect leaf‐out and flowering dates for woody species; (b) which group of variables are more importan...
The combination of two dispersal syndromes (diplochory) brings additional benefits to seeds, yet the relative costs and benefits of the two phases are poorly understood. Our goal is to provide the first quantification to test the long‐standing assumption that there are trade‐offs between the two phases in ballistic–ant diplochory.
Dispersal investm...
Premise of the study:
Numerous studies have treated the mass of a whole seed as an integrated unit, although the components seed kernel and seed coat play different roles and are subject to different evolutionary selection pressures. In this study, we provided the first global-scale quantification of the relative biomass investments in seed coats...
Despite the influence of cavities on the survival and distribution of cavity-dependent fauna, the variation in the density and characteristics of tree cavities across different habitat types in tropical forests is unknown. In this study, we surveyed 26â312 living trees from 376 species and compared cavity density and characteristics (height, size...
Mount Kenya is of ecological importance in tropical east Africa due to the dramatic gradient in vegetation types that can be observed from low to high elevation zones. However, species richness and phylogenetic diversity of this mountain have not been well studied. Here, we surveyed distribution patterns for a total of 1,335 seed plants of this mou...
Cavity trees play a crucial role in maintaining biodiversity in forest ecosystems as they host numerous birds, mammals, and other cavity-dependent organisms. However, studies on the abundance and distribution of cavity trees in tropical forests are much less common than those in temperate forests. Also, how tree characteristics and topographic vari...
The phenology of rubber trees (Hevea brasiliensis) could be influenced by meteorological factors and exhibits significant changes under different geoclimates. In the sub-optimal environment in Xishuangbanna, rubber trees undergo lengthy periods of defoliation and refoliation. The timing of refoliation from budburst to leaf aging could be affected b...
We provide a large-scale quantification of the relationship between latitude and the proportion of species with clonal reproduction. Parasite pressure is thought to be higher at low latitudes, while abiotic stress is thought to be higher at high latitudes. We therefore predicted that there would be a higher proportion of clonal species at high lati...
Many large animals are rare or under threat, so the discovery that they ingest and disperse both large and small seeds has widespread ecological consequences.
The invasive clonal plant Wedelia trilobata contains higher levels of ent-kaurane diterpenes, which are precursors of gibberellins (GAs), and higher rates of clonal growth than its native congener W. chinensis in invaded habitats. We hypothesized that the higher levels of endogenous GAs facilitate greater ramet growth in W. trilobata compared with...
Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) encodes two envelope glycoproteins, E1 and E2. Our previous work selected a specific aptamer ZE2, which could bind to E2 with high affinity, with a great potential for developing new molecular probes as an early diagnostic reagents or therapeutic drugs targeting HCV. In this study, the binding sites between E2 and aptamer ZE...
The effects of invasive plants on the species diversity of plant communities are
controversial, showing either a positive or negative linear relationship. Based on
community data collected from forty 5 m65 m plots invaded by Sphagneticola
trilobata in eight cities across Hainan Island, China, we found S. trilobata decreased
plant community diversit...
Polyploidization is a major source of diversification among plants, particularly during cladogenesis, but most evidence involves herbaceous temperate species. The prevalence of polyploidy among woody taxa is largely unknown, especially among tropical groups. In this study, we examined genome size variation globally and at several taxonomic levels w...
To construct replication-defective HFV-IL24 virus vector and to investigate its inhibitive effect on cancer cells after infected or transfected by this vector.
pDeltaphi-IL24 was constructed and was co-transfected with helper-plasmids into HEK 293T cells. Recombinant HFV-IL24 vector was extracted to infect HeLa cells and the inhibitive effect of IL...
Questions
Questions (3)
Say I would like to use species as the random-effects term in the model. I have 800 species in total. Among them, 600 species have only one record, 100 have 2-4 records, and 100 have 5-15 records (to be more specific with the example, let's say 70 have 5-10 records, and the rest 30 have 11-15 records). Therefore, in this case, the number of levels of a grouping factor for the random effects is close to the number of observations -- would it generate a statistic problem because there is only one observation in most levels?
Is there a point that I "should" or "shouldn't" treat species as the random-effects term in this case?
This style of data is quite common in data sets compiled from literature, i.e. the majority of species are studied just once while a small portion of species have been studied over and over in different papers. Also, this data style is possible when you want to treat genus as the random effects, for example this paper -- see the 2nd paragraph on page 325 ( https://doi.org/10.1017/S0960258518000090).
Let's think about an extreme case that data record is used as the random-effects term and there is only one record in each level. Then, R will print a note: "Number of levels of a grouping factor for the random effects is equal to n, the number of observations". In this case, it is NOT a nested design, and there is no group. GLMM gives the same result as GLM in this extreme case. Is my understanding correct?
Many thanks!
Are these just two interchangable words? Or is there something else such as the amount of aborted seeds between them?
I tend to vote for the later one, as in my understanding:
seed fecundity = seed production + aborted seeds
And seed production is the total amount of mature seeds in a defined time span (e.g. a year), either for individual plants (e.g. a tree) or for a defined area (e.g. per square meters).
Do these understandings sound in the correct direction?
Thank you!
I am measuring terminal velocity of Composite seeds in a closed chamber (assumed to be steady air).
The falling seeds have some slight lateral movement, generating a slight velocity in the horizontal direction. However, of course, the vertical velocity is highly associated and very similar to the overall velocity. Therefore, when measuring the terminal velocity of a seed, should I use the overall velocity (combining both vertical and lateral movement) or just the velocity in the vertical direction?
I have not found any paper clearly mentions the direction of velocity or discusses this point. Any recommendation?
In my opinion, the lateral movement of falling seeds in a closed chamber is caused by seed spinning or air fluctuation in the chamber, or both. If the reason is the former one (seed spinning), I might think using overall velocity would be more reasonable since it describes the overall behaviours of a falling seed. However, there seems to be few ways to separate these two effects. Any comments on this unexpected lateral movement?
Many thanks!
