Research

Why do some seemingly viable life forms not exist? I use topological data analysis to identify “gaps” in trait space and ask what processes create and maintain these gaps. By studying what is missing as well as what is present, I aim to uncover the ecological and evolutionary forces that shape the boundaries of biodiversity.

• Macroevolutionary constraints of bird morphology: We identified a viable body form missing from a large group of songbirds, explained by niche preemption from early-arriving lineages (Chia et al. 2026).
• I am extending this framework to bird feather color space, and potentially other taxa and trait systems.

Functional traits are the interface between organisms and their environments. I study how traits reflect ecological functions and selective pressures, with the aim of understanding the mechanisms that shape biodiversity.

• Ecological function of enclosed nests in global birds: We tested whether domes and cavity nests primarily serve to reduce predation risk or regulate microclimate across global bird species (Chia et al. 2023; Chia et al. in revision).
• Community assembly of moths along climate gradients: We used shifts in body size composition along an elevational gradient to understand the roles of environmental filtering and niche partitioning in shaping insect assemblages (Chia et al. 2024).

I am interested in applying data-driven approaches to sustainability challenges. My projects, both academic and non-academic, have included:

• Food system efficiency: optimizing crop distributions for water savings and yield (ongoing); reducing food waste from foodservice providers by predicting consumption patterns
• Energy use and urban cooling: analyzing demographic effects on household electricity use; evaluating roof coatings as a strategy for urban cooling
• Sustainable agriculture: working with organic tea farmers on strategies to reduce weeding labor and predict harvest timing using microclimate monitoring

I participated in two projects investigating corss-species patterns of animal movements, supporting data analysis and visualization.

• Altitudinal migration of birds: Using eBird data to characterize seasonal elevational movement of resident birds in Taiwan, we found that the majority of species tend to shift elevation across seasons, likely driven by thermal tolerance and food availability (Tsai et al. 2021).
• Route navigation of carnivores: Analyzing GPS tracking data of 1,000+ individuals across 34 species, we found distinct patterns between canids and felids in their spatial strategies in navigating home range (Fagan et al. 2025).

Although fieldwork is not a primary part of my current research, supporting field projects has been some of my most cherished experiences. I hope to incorporate field data collection into future work and contribute firsthand observations to the research community.

Soundscape monitoring

Managed ~10 long-term forest sites in Taiwan, maintaining acoustic equipment and collecting climate data during my research assistantship at the Tuanmu Lab.

Moth surveys and experiments

Joined a month-long fieldwork in Malaysia, assisting with moth light trapping and thermal tolerance experiments along an elevational gradient (led by Shipher Wu).

Bat surveys

Assisted with surveys of wind turbine related bat mortality in Taiwan, including carcass search, mist netting, sound recording, and carcass removal experiments (led by Ying-Yi Ho).