I am a vegetation ecologist working as an Associate Professor and PI in the Vegetation Ecology Lab at National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan. I also serve as a Secretary of the International Association for Vegetation Science, Associate Editor of the Journal of Vegetation Science, and receiving editor at vegsciblog.org, the official blog of IAVS journals.

Some of the questions that fascinate me right now: What causes diversity patterns in plant communities along gradients like elevation, cloud frequency and wind intensity? What is the relative importance of primary ecological processes, like ecological drift, dispersal or selection, in maintaining species coexistence in real plant communities? How useful is the trait-based approach in vegetation ecology? Why do we feel that we should apply more and more complicated analyses to answer more and more trivial questions? I was trained as a vegetation ecologist in a temperate region of Central Europe, and now I pursue my research in the subtropical region of East Asia; this brings me loads of everyday fascination and inspiration.

An important part of my job is to train a new generation of critically thinking people who enjoy doing what they like to do. Teach them how to ask good questions, lead informed discussions, verify the new information, avoid thought shortcuts, and be critical of new information but not unnecessarily untrusty. How to find what they like, how to enjoy doing science, and how not to fall into the trap of tedious repetition. In the modern world full of disinformation, fake news, and texts generated by various AIs, these skills are extremely important, not only in academic careers but also in everyday life.

For more personal info, please read the bio on my research blog.

Curriculum Vitae (pdf version)

Scopus profile
Publons profile
Google Scholar profile
ResearchGate profile
ResearcherID profile
ORCID profile
Gravatar

Profile on NTU Scholars