Ocean Sustainability Research

Figure 1. Distribution of Polychelidae (the family of benthic lobster-like crustaceans) and evolutionary analyses (provider: Dr. Su-Ching Chang, Department of Biological Resources)

Sustainability and Ocean

SDGs: 14. Life under Water

Targets:

14.a: Increase scientific knowledge, develop research capacity and transfer marine technology, taking into account the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission Criteria and Guidelines on the Transfer of Marine Technology, in order to improve ocean health and to enhance the contribution of marine biodiversity to the development of developing countries, in particular small island developing countries and least developed countries.

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations are one of the most important development goals in the world, covering nature conservation, business management planning, gender equality and quality education, with the hope that the ultimate vision of sustainable development will be realized through strategies to achieve each goal. As for the marine environment, the warming of the sea and rising sea levels caused by climate change not only threaten the livelihood of humans, but also have a negative impact on marine living organisms.

The warming of seawater has caused marine organisms to spread to colder waters, which has become another form of invasion and impact on the original ecological landscape of the ocean. In order to achieve the goal of marine sustainability in SDGs 14, continuous exploration and monitoring of marine biodiversity, distribution and ecological habits will help to understand the resilience of marine organisms under climate change, and to implement early conservation measures for more sensitive and vulnerable marine species and ecology, so as to reduce the impact of climate change on marine ecology. In addition, through the implementation of SDGs 4 quality education, we will continue to nurture the next generation who are pro-sea, sea-knowledgeable, and sea-loving, and establish their concepts and actions for a sustainable environment, so as to reduce the impact of human activities on the marine environment, which is also an important part of achieving sustainable marine development.

Figure 2. Field practice and visiting marine industry

Figure 3. Experiencing marine industry activities (oyster cultivation)

Dr. Chang's laboratory is dedicated to ocean-related research and education, and is committed to achieving the goals and strategies of SDGs 4 and 14, in the hope of contributing to sustainable ocean development. For SDGs 14 - Marine Sustainability, the Laboratory continues to explore marine crustacean biodiversity, not only by using molecular and morphological evidence to address unresolved taxonomic issues, but also by collecting and documenting the biogeographic distribution of crustaceans worldwide, further combining fossil records, molecular information, and plate drift theories to infer the origin and possible dispersal pathways of marine crustacean groups. The present-day distribution records of marine crustaceans will be used as the basis for continuous monitoring of their distribution dynamics in the future.

Figure 4. Lab members of Dr. Su-Ching Chang

Figure 5. Environmental education activities

With the goal of sustainable development of the oceans, Dr. Chang's Laboratory also implements marine education of SDG 4, cultivates and trains marine environmental education teaching candidates, and designs the environmental education curriculum for marine related social, production, and ecological aspects, in the hope of building public awareness and knowledge of marine environmental issues in the process of marine education, so that people can form important emotional connections with the ocean, and then take action to protect the marine environment, and ultimately realize sustainable development of the oceans.

Figure 6. Ocean Researcher I. The most important carrier of ocean research in Taiwan

Related publications:

Chang, Su-Ching and Tin-Yam Chan (2022) Multigene phylogeny of reef lobsters of the family Enoplometopidae (Decapoda: Crustacea). Invertebrate Systematics, 36:973–983. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1071/IS22008
Tomoyuki, Komai, Chan Tin-Yam, Chang Su-Ching (2021) Redescription of the colorful deep-water shrimp Lebbeus compressus Holthuis, 1947 and description of a closely allied new species from Taiwan (Decapoda: Caridea: Thoridae). Journal of Crustacean Biology, 41:1–13. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/jcbiol/ruab048

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