A joint annual meeting of the Asian Society of Ichthyologists (ASI) was held in Taipei on 16-21 May 2016 at Taipei Nangung Exhibition Centre. The ASI was established in 2014 in Penang, Malaysia. The objectives of our Society are promoting the development and advancement of ichthyological research for Asian ichthyologists and others from around the World. This conference was the third annual meeting of the ASI since the society was established. The two previous ones and its joint conference (Asian Fish Biodiversity Conference) have been held in Guilin, China and Penang, Malaysia, respectively with great success. In this conference in Taiwan, the ASI provided a platform for the participants to present their latest findings, and exchange their scientific experiences with other researchers from different countries in the field of ichthyology of the region including taxonomy, phylogenetics, evolution, ecology, behavior, physiology, conservation, fisheries management, and others.
During the conference, Prof. Dr. Weiwei Xian and Associate Prof. Dr. Hui Zhang produced a poster with the title : Ichthyoplankton assemblage in the Yangtze Estuary shaped by environmental factors during twelve years. This study investigated the response of the ichthyoplankton community to environmental changes in the Yangtze Estuary using canonical correspondence analysis. Ichthyoplankton community and environmental data were recorded during autumns in 1998, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2007 and 2009. Among the ichthyoplankton, the dominant larval and juvenile families were the Engraulidae, Gobiidae and Salangidae, and the most common eggs were from Trichiurus lepturus. The ichthyoplankton was identified via canonical correspondence analysis to three assemblages: an estuary assemblage dominated by Chaeturichthys stigmatias, a coastal assemblage dominated by Engraulis japonicus and Stolephorus commersonii, and an offshore assemblage dominated by Trichiurus lepturus. Regarding environmental factors in the Yangtze Estuary, suspended matter and surface seawater salinity were the main factors influencing the distributions of the different assemblages, while sediment from the Yangtze River during the rainy season and chlorophyll a were the principle drivers of the annual variances in the distribution of ichthyoplankton assemblages. The aims in the present study are to provide detailed characterizations of the ichthyoplankton assemblage in autumns, examine the long-term dynamics of autumn ichthyoplankton assemblages, and evaluate the influence of environmental factors on the spatial distribution and inter-annual variations of ichthyoplankton assemblages associated with the Yangtze Estuary.
The members of the conference were very interested in our study and we communicated widely with the scientists from Japan, Taiwan and etc. We would benefit from this conference.