Rebecca C.-C. HsuTaiwan Forestry Research Institute · Forest ecology
Rebecca C.-C. Hsu
Rebecca C.-C. Hsu
About
27
Publications
11,643
Reads
How we measure 'reads'
A 'read' is counted each time someone views a publication summary (such as the title, abstract, and list of authors), clicks on a figure, or views or downloads the full-text. Learn more
325
Citations
Introduction
My research revolves around the epiphytic plants in tropical wet forests, particularly focusing on the regional distribution and the community ecology. An El Niño event had intrigued me about climate change impacts on epiphytes that are considered relatively sensitive to atmospheric change. From 2014, I began to explore forest canopies of giant trees. In 2023 January, we located the tallest (84.1m) Taiwania tree (The heaven sword) at the upstream of Da'an river in Formosa Taiwan.
Additional affiliations
April 2016 - present
World Forest Institute
Position
- international fellow
Description
- I am invited to WFI, Portland for a international fellowship from April to October, 2016
August 2007 - September 2013
April 2001 - present
Publications
Publications (27)
In the wet tropics, epiphytes form a conspicuous layer in the forest canopy, support abundant coexisting biota, and are known to have a critical influence on forest hydrology and nutrient cycling. Since canopy-dwelling plants have no vascular connection to the ground or their host plants, they are likely more sensitive to environmental changes than...
Aim This study aims to assess the impact of climate change on forests and vascular epiphytes, using species distribution models (SDMs).
Location Island of Taiwan, subtropical East Asia.
Methods A hierarchical modelling approach incorporating forest migration velocity and forest type–epiphyte interactions with classical SDMs was used to model the re...
We present the first checklist of vascular epiphytes in Taiwan, based on herbarium specimens, literature records, and field observations. Epiphyte phytogeography was analyzed using Takhtajan's modified division in floristic regions. We ascertain the presence of 336 species of vascular epiphytes (24 families, 105 genera) in Taiwan. Pteridophytes con...
To identify the determining microclimatic factors affecting epiphyte distributions, we comprehensively investigated the epiphyte community of montane cloud forests in Chilan. Four sites of adjacent old-growth forests were chosen based on the degree of prevailing wind exposure. At each site, a micrometeorological station was installed about 20 m in...
We climbed and investigated canopies of two monumental trees (The Giant Camphor and LuLin) in the experimental forest of National Taiwan University that are listed in the top ten thickest trees in Taiwan. The Giant Camphor tree (Cinnamomum camphora) is the thickest broadleaf tree, and LuLin is the second thickest red cypress (Chamaecyparis formosen...
We used all 167 typhoon warnings issued by the Taiwanese Central Weather Bureau from 1958–2006 to assess the long-term effect of cyclone disturbance on vascular epiphytes. Tracks and eyes of past typhoons were plotted as circles with radii of Beaufort scale 7 and 10, and the frequency of each cohort in 1-km ² grid cells was calculated. The presence...
A novel approach by calculating spatial autocorrelation of 20 independent environmental factors was applied to project potential distributions of 8 rare orchid species (less than five occurrences). The occurrences of these orchids were overlaid on environmental layers with significantly spatial autocorrelation to identify possible areas of distribu...
The distribution of species on mountains has been related to various predictor variables, especially temperature. Thermal specialization-presumed to be more pronounced on tropical mountains than on temperate mountains-accounts for the elevational pattern of species richness and varies between organisms and geographic areas. In this study, the eleva...
The response of species to climate change is generally studied using ex situ manipulation of microclimate or by modeling species range shifts under simulated climate scenarios. In contrast, a reciprocal transplant experiment was used to investigate the in situ adaptive response of the elevationally widespread epiphytic fern Asplenium
antiquum to si...
The histological and histochemical changes in developing seeds of Cypripedium debile Rchb. f., a native slipper orchid species with horticultural potential, were investigated. The effects of timing for seed collection, culture media, and cultural conditions were also examined. The optimum germination percentage occurred when mature seeds were colle...
Twenty four rare orchid species (including 11 endemic species) were selected form the red lists of vascular plants in Taiwan for this study. Using species locality information and 26 independent environmental variables, the potential distribution of each species was generated by ecological niche-based models. Based on modelled species distributions...
Most past work on the ecophysiology of the Crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM) plant, Hoya carnosa, in the lab and in situ in Australia indicates that this epiphytic vine is better adapted to shaded, not exposed, locations,
although a recent study of this species in Taiwan presents findings that run counter to this conclusion. Thus, photosynthetic
c...
Photosynthetic gas exchange was measured in situ with either the adaxial or abaxial leaf surface illuminated on vertical, horizontal, and angled leaves of Asplenium nidus and vertical leaves of Ophioderma pendula, two epiphytic ferns in a subtropical rain forest in northeastern Taiwan. Leaves for gas exchange measurements were selected to ensure a...
Past reports of correlations between Crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM) and leaf succulence are based on multi-species comparisons.
When different individuals of the same species were compared in two epiphytic CAM vines growing in a subtropical rainforest
in northeastern Taiwan, the degree of CAM was not correlated with leaf thickness, a measure of...
Many ferns have specialized fronds that bear sporangia, whereas sterile fronds lack reproductive structures. Although a strong case can be made that the presence of the sporangia will affect the physiology of the frond, only one study could be located that investigated this phenomenon. Thus, ecophysiological (and some morphological) features of fer...
2) D e p a r t m e n t o f G e o g r a p h y, N a t i o n a l C h a n g h u a U n i v e r s i t y o f E d u c a t i o n , 1 G i n -Te R d . , C h a n g h u a 50007, Taiwan. 國立彰化師範大學地理系，50007彰化市進德路1號。 【Summary】 Chlorophyll concentrations, Crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM) acid fluctuations, and chlo-rophyll fluorescence parameters were measured in...
Taos’ knowledge of plants, animals, environments and even the taboos was accumulating through generations. By this, they adjust the relationship with other living beings and with their environments. They follow empiricism, not knowing how to explain in scientific physiological or ecological terms. But their practices represent a deeper ecological a...
根據野外觀察、標本特徵與文獻比對，本研究針對台灣的維管束附生植物進行名錄的編製。結果顯示台灣的維管束植物種類豐富，有341種，附生植物商數為8%。其中蘭科為第一大科，有124種，佔全部物種的36%，但物種數排名前十名的科以蕨類居多，台灣的附生蕨共有171種，佔50%，與世界其他植物區系的比較，台灣的附生植物組成顯現出熱帶—亞熱帶的過渡性質。本名錄特有的附生植物有77種，特有比例22.6%，略低於全體維管束植物26.2%，可能是因為附生植物優越的散播能力使然。此外，台灣鐵角蕨屬附生蕨的高度多樣性，與優勢的大型蓮座狀附生蕨類族群，顯現出舊熱帶的附生蕨類組成特質。
The first checklist of vascular epiphytes in Taiwan was compiled b...
The potential importance of CO2 derived from host tree respiration at night as a substrate for night time CO2 uptake during CAM was investigated in the subtropical and tropical epiphytic vine Hoya carnosa in a subtropical rainforest in north-eastern Taiwan. Individuals were examined within the canopies of host trees in open, exposed situations, as...
Past reports of the water relations of epiphytes, particularly bromeliads, indicate that tissue osmotic potentials in these tropical and subtropical plants are very high (close to zero) and are similar to values for aquatic plants. This is puzzling because several ecophysiological studies have revealed a high degree of drought stress tolerance in s...
Recent studies indicate that, especially in epiphytes, plant size has a strong influence on the ecophysiology of individual leaves of a plant. Extensive data sets that address this phenomenon, however, are limited to a few taxa of flowering plants. It was the purpose of this study to examine numerous physiological parameters in individuals of varyi...
A plot of 1200 m2 was selected to represent the average epiphyte abundance of a moist subtropical broadleaved forest at Fushan in north-eastern Taiwan. In this plot, all epiphytes of 18 sample trees with dbh > 5 cm were removed and weighed to estimate their biomass and nutrient content. We found that the biomass of epiphytes and their associated de...
Questions
Questions (3)
During my recent investigation in a montane cloud Rhododendron forest (1800m asl), I found this sponge like moss. Someone told me it's a species of carnivous moss. Yet I cannot find information about the plant. Could anyone provide scientific name to me? Thanks in advance.
Rebecca
Many studies indicate that the germination of orchids needs assistance from mycorrhiza. However, in-vitro germination is very common for orchids (especially epiphytic orchids) cultivation. I wonder whether orchids need a fungal partner to germinate or to grow soon after germination?
I keep receiving an invitation for reviewing a manuscript from SpringerPlus. The editorial office sent me the title and abstract which I actually can find online in a conference proceeding. The email asks me to click a link look like: http://www.springerplus.com/reviewer/2132132802130309 to inform them if I would like to accept the review request. I wonder if this is a phishing email? Do some others receive similar invitations?
