Traits & performance
How physiology, trophic plasticity and individual variation shape the capacity of reef organisms to persist under changing conditions.
FRELab
Functional Reef Ecology · Taiwan
From coral traits
to reef futures.
We study how the performance of reef organisms scales up to shape communities, ecosystem processes and resilience.
The Functional Reef Ecology Lab at National Taiwan University investigates coral reefs across Taiwan, from subtropical communities in the north to tropical reefs and offshore islands in the south.
Explore our research ↓Institute of Oceanography
National Taiwan University
Our perspective
Reefs are built
from the bottom up.
Taiwan sits at the meeting point of tropical and subtropical seas—a natural laboratory for understanding how reefs function at their environmental margins.
FRELab connects organismal physiology, trait variation and demography with the structure and functioning of reef communities. We combine field ecology, experiments, photogrammetry, long-term monitoring and quantitative models across Taiwan and the Western Pacific.
Research
Across scales,
toward action.
Our work moves between mechanisms and patterns, from the performance of an individual colony to the trajectories of entire reef ecosystems.
Reef communities
How biodiversity, habitat structure, interactions and energy flow combine to produce ecosystem properties across environmental gradients.
Change & conservation
How reefs respond to climate change and local pressures—and how monitoring, protected areas and restoration can support better decisions.
Trophic ecologyCoral demographyStructural complexityFish energy flowMesophotic reefsMarine protected areas
One connected framework
Traits→Performance→Communities→Ecosystems
People
A collaborative
reef ecology lab.
Our group brings together postdoctoral researchers, graduate students, research assistants and collaborators working across field ecology, ecophysiology, demography, computer vision and quantitative ecology.
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Lab head
Vianney Denis, PhD link ↗
Professor of marine ecology at the Institute of Oceanography, National Taiwan University. His research bridges the physiology of reef organisms and the ecology of reef ecosystems, with a focus on environmental gradients, functional traits and conservation.
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Lab manager
Yen-Li Liu
Yen-Li manages the laboratory’s administration and supports the day-to-day coordination of FRELab’s research activities.
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Postdoctoral researcher
Parviz Tavakoli-Kolour, PhD
Parviz studies coral ecophysiology, calcification and energetic pathways under changing temperature, light and trophic conditions.
Publications
Research,
automatically current.
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The publication list is generated automatically from Vianney Denis’s ORCID record, so newly added works appear here without manually editing the website.
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