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 ( 2015 - 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
  19. Chan, W.-P. , I-C. Chen, R. K. Colwell, W.-C. Liu, C.-y. Huang, S.-F. Shen*, 2016, “Seasonal and daily climate variation have opposite effects on species elevational range size”, SCIENCE, 351(6280), 1427-1439. (SCIE) (IF: 37.205; SCIE ranking: 3.1%) Link
  20. Safran RJ, Scordato ES, Wilkins MR, Hubbard JK, Jenkins BR, Albrecht T, Flaxman SM, Karaardic H, Vortman Y, Lotem A, Nosil P, Pap P, Shen S, Chan SF, Parchman TL, Kane NC, 2016, “Genome-wide differentiation in closely related populations: the roles of selection and geographic isolation.”, Molecular ecology, 25(16), 3865-3883. (SCIE) (IF: 6.086; SCIE ranking: 13.4%,12.5%,5.9%) Link
  21. Liu, M., Q.-D. Zhong, S.-H. Li, S. Fang, C.-E. Pu, H.-W. Yuan*, S.-F. Shen*, 2015, “The genetic relatedness in groups of joint-nesting Taiwan yuhinas: low genetic relatedness with preferences for male kin”, PLoS One, 10(6): e0127341. (SCIE) (IF: 2.766; SCIE ranking: 23.4%) Link
專書(論文集)之一章 ( 2015 - 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.
  2. Shen, S.-F.*, H.-W. Yuan, and M. Liu., 2016, “Taiwan yuhinas: unrelated joint-nesters cooperate in unfavorable environments.”, editor(s): W.D. Koenig and J. Dickinson, Cooperative Breeding: Studies of Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior., pp. (in press), Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.