Dr. Chih-Lin Wei

Bio

I received a Bachelor degree (1999) in Zoology from the National Chung-Hsing University, where I worked with Dr. Pan-Wen Hsueh to study the community structure of the rocky shore fauna of the Orchid Island, southeast off the coast of Taiwan.  After college, I served in the Taiwanese Military Police Force as a platoon leader and then worked in the Biodiversity Research Museum, Academia Sinica (Taiwan) as a research assistant and in the Oceanography Department, Texas A&M University (TAMU) as a technician.  I received a Master (2006) and Ph.D. (2011) degree in Oceanography from TAMU under the supervision of Dr. Gilbert T. Rowe.  In my MS researches, I examined bathymetric zonation of the deep-sea benthos in the North Atlantic and in the Gulf of Mexico. These works suggested that the deep-sea faunal zonation can occur independent of the bathymetric gradient, presumably, related to the spatial variation of detrital flux from the surface photosynthetic production. During my Ph. D study, I expanded my interests to deep-sea demersal fishes, which I used historical data to examine their temporal and large-scale distribution pattern.  I also had opportunity to participate in the Census of Marine Life (CoML) to reconstruct the global distribution of benthic biomass based on its relationships with satellite ocean color and global relief data.

Research Interests

I am currently a postdoctoral fellow (PDF) funded by Canadian Health Oceans Network (CHONe) under the supervision of Dr. Peter Lawton (St. Andrews Biological Station, Fisheries and Oceans Canada) and Dr. Paul Snelgrove (Ocean Science Center, Memorial University of Newfoundland, Canada).

My PDF work involves developing predictive tools to understand the distribution, abundance, and biodiversity of the marine benthos.   I am especially interested in applying remote sensed techniques and physical/chemical proxies to model and predict the distribution of marine species or community.  My other interests include developing strategies to measure spatial turnover of marine species and access anthropogenic impacts and distribution of marine debris in the deep-sea environments.

Selected Publications

1. Wei, C-L., Rowe, G.T., Haedrich, R.L., Boland, G.S. (2012) Long-term observations of epibenthic fish zonation in the deep northern Gulf of Mexico. PLoS One 7(10): e46707. [Link].
2. Wei, C-L., Rowe, G.T., Briones, E.E., Nunnally, C., Soliman, Y., Ellis, N. (2012) Standing stocks and body size of deep-sea macrofauna: Predicting the baseline for 2010 BP oil spill in the northern Gulf of Mexico. Deep Sea Research Part I: Oceanographic Research Papers 69:82-99. [Link]
3. Pitcher, C.R., Lawton, P., Ellis, N., Smith, S., Incze, L., Wei, C-L., Greenlaw, M., Wolff, N., Sameoto, J., Snelgrove, P.V.R. (2012) Exploring the role of environmental variables in shaping patterns of seabed biodiversity composition in regional-scale ecosystems. Journal of Applied Ecology 49 (3), 670-679. [Link]
4. Wei, C-L., Rowe, G.T., Nunnally, C., Wicksten, M.K. (2012) Anthropogenic "litter" and macrophyte detritus in the deep northern Gulf of Mexico. Marine Pollution Bulletin 64: 966-973. [Link]
5. Wei, C-L. (2011) Standing stocks and faunal zonation of deep-sea benthos: patterns and predictions across scales. PH. D. Dissertation, Texas A&M University, 311 pp. [Link]
6. Wei C-L, Rowe GT, Escobar-Briones E, Boetius A, Soltwedel T, Caley MJ, Soliman Y, Huettmann F, Qu F, Yu Z, Pitcher CR, Haedrich RL, Wicksten MK, Rex MA, Baguley JG, Sharma J, Danovaro R, MacDonald IR, Nunnally CC, Deming JW, Montagna P, Lévesque M, Weslawski JM, Wlodarska-Kowalczuk M, Ingole BS, Bett BJ, Billett DSM, Yool A, Bluhm BA, Iken K, Narayanaswamy BE (2010) Global Patterns and Predictions of Seafloor Biomass Using Random Forests. PLoS One 5:e15323 [Link] [Hightlights on Discovery News] [Hightlights on National Oceanography Center] [National Geography Map]
7. Wei C-L, Rowe GT, Hubbard GF, Scheltema AH, Wilson GDF, Petrescu I, Foster J, Wicksten MK, Chen M, Davenport R, Soliman Y, Wang Y (2010) Feature Article: Bathymetric zonation of deep-sea macrofauna in relation to export of surface phytoplankton production. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 399:1-14 [Link] [Highlights on Deep-Sea News
8. Wei C-L, Rowe GT (2009) Faunal zonation of large epibenthic invertebrates off North Carolina revisited. Deep Sea Research Part II: Topical Studies in Oceanography 56:1830-1833 [Link]
9. Rowe GT, Wei C-L, Nunnally C, Haedrich R, Montagna P, Baguley JG, Bernhard JM, Wicksten M, Ammons A, Briones EE, Soliman Y, Deming JW (2008) Comparative biomass structure and estimated carbon flow in food webs in the deep Gulf of Mexico. Deep Sea Research Part II: Topical Studies in Oceanography 55:2699-2711 [Link]
10. Wei C-L, Rowe GT (2006) The bathymetric zonation and community structure of deep-sea macrobenthos in the northern Gulf of Mexico ICES Annual Science Conference, Maastricht, The Netherlands
11. Wei C-L (2006) The bathymetric zonation and community structure of deep-sea macrobenthos in the northern Gulf of Mexico. M. S. Thesis, Texas A&M University [Link]