National Parks of Taiwan

The increase in the earth’s temperature is accelerating and the effect of global warming on species and ecosystems is an issue that many countries are attaching great import to. The impact on Arctic and Antarctic and high altitude species is arousing special concern. In the last 100 years the earth’s average temperature has risen by at least 0.6C. Subtropical and temperate zone plants are showing signs of spreading to high latitudes and high altitude areas. Quite a few alpine species have become locally extinct. As for animals, the distribution of some is moving north, amphibians are breeding earlier and tadpole growth is being affected by climate change.

Formosan Salamanders(Hynobius sonani) are amphibians, distributed mainly in Japan, northeast China and Western Siberia. Taiwan is at the southernmost end of their distribution range. Taiwan’s salamanders live in its high mountains. The Alishan salamander lives in the Alishan and Yushan high altitude areas. Yushan National Park HQ released the results of the first year of research in early December, 2009. Alishan salamander eggs were found in the Yushan Round Peak sample area. Eggs have never been found in the Alishan area before by researchers and the discovery means that it is likely that the salamander’s lives can be recorded in the area in the future. Taiwan’s salamanders breed in the low temperatures of winter or early spring, preferring to breed in the run off from melting snow. If there is no snow they don’t have a suitable place to breed. This means that the effect on salamanders of global warming will be very serious and collecting data over a long period will provide warnings about the consequences of warming and reference for conservation.

As well as the Alishan salamander, the Gentiana scabra, a plant living between 2,300 and 3,800 meters, is another species suitable for monitoring to track climate change. In recent years, the climate has been very unstable, with cold or hot spells becoming more extreme, and the biological clock of living creatures has been upset. The Taiwan Alpine Rhododendron(Rhododendron morii Hay)and Yushan Rhododendron(Rhododendron pseudochrysanthum Hayata) in the park should bloom in spring but are already in bloom. It is still not known whether this is related to warming however what is for certain is that the climate changes brought by warming have a substantial impact on living creatures.

Establishing national parks is one feasible way of countering global warming. Government planning and policy making can ensure the normal function of ecosystems and, at the same time, national parks can move in the direction of ecological engineering, returning the ecological environment back to nature and, through research and public information work, telling the public about the rich ecological resources contained within the parks;through films or media promotional work the public can be given environmental information, making national parks like an environmental generator and a zero carbon green industry that allows the circle of life of ecosystems to carry on.

Translated by：Kevin Lax
Source：Yushan National Park Headquarters