Bunyeth Chan

Visiting Research Fellow
Email: bunyethchan@gmail.com; bunyeth.chan@outlook.com
PhD University of Paul Sabatier-Toulouse III, France | MSc Royal University of Phnom Penh, Cambodia | BSc Royal University of Phnom Penh, Cambodia

Background and current projects

I graduated with a BSc in Geography and an MSc in Biodiversity Conservation from the Royal University of Phnom Penh, Cambodia. I obtained PhD in Ecology, Diversity and Evolution from the University of Toulouse-Paul Sabatier, France. My research focused on fish community ecology, spatial distribution of fish in the Tonle Sap Lake and lower Mekong Basin, fish migration within the Tonle Sap system, a consequence of the fisheries policies reforms on the Tonle Sap fisheries, environmental DNA, fish otolith, Mekong megafishes conservation, and fish larval drift in the Cambodian Mekong River.

I continued my research as a Postdoctoral Researcher for the USAID-supported project, called “Wonders of the Mekong”, based in the Inland Fisheries Research Development Institute (IFReDI) of the Fisheries Administration (FiA) and the Faculty of Fisheries and Aquaculture, Royal University of Agriculture, from February 2020 to January 2023. In the project, my research focused on (i) fish distribution in the Tonle Sap Lake, (ii) the effects of fisheries policy reforms on Tonle Sap fisheries, (iii) the fish community in fish refuge ponds, and (iv) developing a Lower Mekong River Basin fish monitoring protocol.

Currently, I am a lecturer at Svay Rieng University, Cambodia, and am also a Postdoc Research Fellow at the Freshwater and Invasion Biology Lab, NUS. My project emphasizes the future of the Mekong megafishes, mapping rare threatened megafishes in the Cambodian Mekong River and bycatch of the critically endangered Mekong giant catfish in the Mekong.

Research interests

  • Mekong megafish conservation and policy
  • Species distribution, habitat modeling, and migratory patterns
  • Functional Diversity
  • Environmental DNA (eDNA)
  • Non-native fishes

Selected publications

  • Chan, B., Hogan, Z.S, Grant, M.I., Chhuoy, S., Chhut, C., Heng, K., Brosse, S. (2024). Rediscovery and future approach to conservation of the rare and elusive giant salmon carp Aaptosyax grypus, a Critically Endangered megafish in the Mekong. Biological Conservation. 289, 110814
  • Chan, B., Sor, R., Ngor, P.B., Baehr, C. & Lek, S. (2019) Modelling spatial and temporal dynamics of two small mud carp species in the Tonle Sap flood-pulse ecosystem. Ecological Modelling. 392, 82-91.
  • Chan, B., Ngor, P.B., Hogan, S. Z., So, N., Brosse, S. & Lek, S. (2020). Temporal dynamics of fish assemblages as a reflection of policy from fishing concession to co-management in one of the world’s largest Tropical flood pulse fisheries. Water: 12, 2974.
  • Chan, B., Brosse, S., Ngor, P.B. & Lek, S. (2020). Influence of local habitat and regional climatic factors on the distribution of fish species in the Tonle Sap Lake. Water. 12,786
  • Soem, S., Hogan, Z.S, Chan, B., Chhuoy, S., Uy, S., Pin, K., Touch, B., Chandra, S., & Ngor, P.B. (2023). From Staple Food to Scarce Resource: The Population Status of an Endangered Striped Catfish Pangasianodon hypothalamus in the Mekong River, Cambodia. Sustainability. 15, 9103. https://doi.org/10.3390/su15119103
  • Ngor, P.B., Uy, S., Sor, R., Chan, B., Holways, J., Null, S.E., So, N., Grenouillet, G., Chandra, S., Hogan, Z.S, & Lek, S. (2023) Predicting Fish Species Richness and Abundance in the Lower Mekong Basin. Frontier in Ecology and Evolution. 11,