BRCAS

Biodiversity Research Center, Academia Sinica

People Faculty Dr. Sheng-Feng Shen

Dr. Sheng-Feng Shen Associate Research Fellow

Lab PI

Dr. Sheng-Feng Shen

Associate Research Fellow

Ph. D.－Cornell University, USA, 2009

[ This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. ]

Office: Interdisciplinary Research Building for Science and Technology C206

Tel: +886-2-2787-2280
Research Fields
  • Animal social behavior
  • Evolutionary game theory
  • Climate change biology

Research Directions

My research focuses on understanding the social and
ecological determinants of social evolution and the ecological consequences of sociality.

I am using an integrative approach that includes behavioral observation, experimental manipulation, and theoretical modeling, to study the fascinating phenomena of social evolution. The empirical systems I use include (1) the joint-nesting bird species, Taiwan yuhina, in which several unrelated females lay eggs in the same nest and group members provide communal parental care, (2) the grey-capped social weaver: a colonial cooperative breeders, living in extended family groups, in Kenya, and (3) the burying beetles, Nicrophorus nepalensis, a cooperative breeding social insect but cooperating with non-kin, in Taiwan.

 

Latest published paper

期刊論文 ( 2017 - 2020 )

  1. Tsai H.-Y., D.R. Rubenstein, B.-F. Chen, M. Liu, S.-F. Chan, D.-P. Chen, S.-J. Sun, T.-N. Yuan, and S.-F. Shen*, 2020, “Antagonistic effects of intraspecific cooperation and interspecific competition on thermal performance”, ELIFE, 9,e57022. (SCIE) (IF: 7.616; SCIE ranking: 4.7%) Link
  2. Tibbetts, E. A., M. Liu, E. C. Laub, S.-F. Shen, 2020, “Complex signals alter recognition accuracy and conspecific acceptance thresholds”, PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES, 375(1802). (SCIE) (IF: 5.666; SCIE ranking: 8.2%) Link
  3. Liu, M. S.-F. Chan, D. R. Rubenstein, S.-J. Sun, B.-F. Chen, and S.-F Shen*, 2020, “Ecological transitions in grouping benefits explain the paradox of environmental quality and sociality.”, AMERICAN NATURALIST, 195(5),818-832. (SCIE) (IF: 4.265; SCIE ranking: 16.9%,22.4%) Link
  4. Chen B.-F. , M. Liu , D. R. Rubenstein, S.-J. Sun , J.-N. Liu , Y.-H. Lin and S.-F. Shen*, 2020, “A Chemically-triggered Transition from Conflict to Cooperation in Burying Beetles”, ECOLOGY LETTERS, https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.13445. (SCIE) (IF: 9.137; SCIE ranking: 2.5%) Link
  5. Wang, H.-Y.*, S.-F. Shen, Y.-S. Chen, Y.-K. K, and M. Heino, 2020, “Life histories determine divergent population trends for fishes under climate warming”, NATURE COMMUNICATIONS, (accepted). (SCIE) (IF: 12.353; SCIE ranking: 4.7%)
  6. Tsai, H-Y, D.R. Rubenstein, Y.-M. Fan, T.-N. Yuan, B.-F. Chen, Y. Tang, I.-C. Chen and S.-F. Shen*, 2020, “Locally-adapted Reproductive Photoperiodism Determines Population Vulnerability to Climate Change in Burying Beetles”, NATURE COMMUNICATIONS, 11:1398. (SCIE) (IF: 12.353; SCIE ranking: 4.7%) Link
  7. Liu, M. B.-F. Chen, D. R. Rubenstein, and S.-F Shen*, 2020, “Social rank modulates how environmental quality influences cooperation and conflict within animal societies”, PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES, in press. (SCIE) (IF: 4.847; SCIE ranking: 11.3%,16.3%,10.6%)
  8. Wu, S. , C.-M. Chang, D.R. Rubenstein, C.-M. Yang, Y.-T. Huang, H.-H. Lin, L.-C. Shih, S.-W. Chen* and S.-F. Shen*., 2019, “Artificial intelligence reveals environmental constraints on colour diversity in insects”, NATURE COMMUNICATIONS, 10: 4554. (SCIE) (IF: 12.353; SCIE ranking: 4.7%) Link
  9. Cheng, Y.-R.,D. R. Rubenstein, S.-F. Shen, 2019, “Nest predation predicts infanticide in a cooperatively breeding bird”, Biology Letters, 15(8) 20190314. (SCIE) (IF: 3.345; SCIE ranking: 34.7%,18.8%,26.9%) Link
  10. Lin Y.-H, S.-F. Chan, D. R. Rubenstein , M. Liu, S.-F. Shen*, 2019, “Resolving the paradox of environmental quality and sociality: the ecological causes and consequences of cooperative breeding in two lineages of birds”, The American Naturalist, 194(2),207-216.. (SSCI) (IF: 4.265; SCIE ranking: 16.5%) Link
  11. Chan, S.-F. , W.-K. Shih, A.-Y. Chang#, S.-F. Shen* and I.-C. Chen*, 2019, “Contrasting forms of competition set elevational range limits of species”, Ecology Letters, 22(10),1668-1679. (SCIE) (IF: 9.137; SCIE ranking: 2.5%) Link
  12. Liu, M. , D. R. Rubenstein, W.-C. Liu, and S.-F. Shen*, 2019, “Adaptation in fluctuating environments: a continuum from bet-hedging to the rising-tide”, PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES, https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2019.1623. (SCIE) (IF: 4.847; SCIE ranking: 11.3%,16.3%,10.6%) Link
  13. Chan, W.-P. #, I.-C. Chen#, R. K. Colwell, W.-C. Liu, C.-Y. Huang, S.-F. Shen*, 2018, “Response to Qian et al. (2017): Daily and seasonal climate variations are both critical in the evolution of species’ elevational range size”, JOURNAL OF BIOGEOGRAPHY, 45(12), 2832-2836. (SCIE) (IF: 4.248; SCIE ranking: 17%,12.2%) Link
  14. Wilkins, M.R.*, Scordato, E.S., Semenov, G.A., Karaardiç, H., Shizuka, D., Rubtsov, A., Pap, P.L., Shen, S.-F. and Safran, R.J., 2018, “Global song divergence in barn swallows (Hirundo rustica): exploring the roles of genetic, geographical and climatic distance in sympatry and allopatry”, BIOLOGICAL JOURNAL OF THE LINNEAN SOCIETY, 123(4), 825-849. (SCIE) (IF: 2.288; SCIE ranking: 66.7%) Link
  15. Liu, M., D. R. Rubenstein, S.-A. Cheong, and S.-F. Shen*, 2018, “Multitasking and the evolution of optimal clutch size in fluctuating environment”, ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION, 8(17), 8803-8817. (SCIE) (IF: 2.44; SCIE ranking: 37.3%,56.3%) Link
  16. Shen, S.-F.*, S. T. Emlen, W. D. Koenig and D. R. Rubenstein, 2017, “The ecology of cooperative breeding behavior”, ECOLOGY LETTERS, 20(6), 708-720. (SCIE) (IF: 9.449; SCIE ranking: 2.6%) Link
  17. Wang, H.-Y.*, Y.-S. Chen, C.-C. Hsu, and S.-F. Shen, 2017, “Fishing-induced changes in adult length are mediated by skipped-spawning”, ECOLOGICAL APPLICATIONS, 27(1),274-284. (SCIE) (IF: 4.314; SCIE ranking: 16.3%,13.5%) Link
  18. Lin, C.-C. L.- A. Dugatkin, H.-W. Yuan, P.-F. Lee, and S.-F Shen*, 2017, “A sequential collective action game and its applications to cooperative parental care in a songbird”, ANIMAL BEHAVIOUR, 129, 151–159. (SCIE) (IF: 2.869; SCIE ranking: 4.9%,33.3%) Link
專書(論文集)之一章 ( 2017 - 2020 )
  1. Shen, S.-F.* and D. R. Rubenstein, 2019, “Environmental uncertainty and social behavior”, editor(s): Choe, J,, Encyclopedia of Animal Behavior, 2nd Edition, pp. 807–815, Cambridge, M.A.: Elsevier, Academic Press.