1. “Resilient Changbin: Climate Change and the Sustainability of Changhua's Coastal Environment and Industries” Project

The project offers the courses “Coastal Biological Resources” and “Sustainable Development and Practices of Coastal Biological Resources.” Combining theoretical instruction with hands-on practice, the courses cover topics including coastal biodiversity, environmentally friendly aquaculture technologies, water and sediment quality assessment, fisheating culture, and the promotion of low-carbon aquaculture. The project also collaborates with local communities to promote marine conservation and sustainable fisheries.

The project has deeply engaged in coastal ecological conservation, putting focus on marine and wetland sustainability. We established a water quality monitoring team to assist aquaculture farmers with water quality management, increasing the clam survival rate to more than 70%. The project also promoted the reuse of discarded shells to improve sediment grain size and oxygen permeability in intertidal habitats. As a result, the number of benthic species increased from 14 to 37, while biological carbon sequestration reached 3.86 times that of the control group, significantly enhancing biodiversity and the carbon sequestration benefits of the ecosystem. In addition, we trained 91 intertidal citizen scientists to participate in environmental monitoring and ecological conservation efforts.

Relevant program information is shown in Figure 1.

Link to Facebook page for project activities: https://www.facebook.com/NCUEUSR[cite: 62, 95]

2. Department of Biology 2025 Local Marine Stewardship and Conservation Project: Changhua Coastal Meretrix Lusoria Habitat Survey, Conservation, and Restoration Project.

Under the Ministry of Education Fourth-Phase USR Project, "Resilient Changbin: Climate Change and the Sustainability of Changhua's Coastal Environment and Industries," NCUE Center for General Education worked with Caohu Junior High School, Hanbao Elementary School, Fangyuan Elementary School, and Houliao Elementary School to promote marine education, intertidal observation, clam identification, water-quality monitoring, blue carbon, environmentally friendly aquaculture, and argi-food as well as fisheries-food education. Being dedicated to marine education, Caohu Junior High School integrates marine issues into alternative curriculums, special education, and aesthetic creation. The school not only received the Ministry of Education’s Marine Education Contribution Award in 2021 and 2025, but also won the Excellence Award in the junior-high category of the Marine Education Innovative Teaching Quality Team Selection.

In collaboration with the Changhua Marine Food Research Production Cooperative and local communities, NCUE conducted clam-habitat surveys, sediment improvement, and Marine Citizen Scientists training at Xinbao Wetland. In 2025, we had completed four clam-habitat surveys and conducted an investigative volunteer training accumulated a total of 50 participant-times; on top of that, we had also held five Junior Marine Citizen Scientist activities reached 146 participants and three outdoor ecological survey and field-operation activities reached 73 participants. The activities included water-quality and dissolved-oxygen testing, sediment analysis, bivalve identification, benthic-fauna surveys, intertidal biodiversity observation, and an oyster-shell sediment-improvement trial. Through a “Hands Together” way, Caohu Junior High School students led Hanbao Elementary School pupils in intertidal surveys, building a cooperation model that brings together the University, junior high schools, elementary schools, and communities, which helps to preserve the wetland with local industries. Photographs are shown in Figure 2.