12th Pacific Science Inter-Congress, 8-12 July 2013
University of the South Pacific, Laucala Bay Campus, Suva, Fiji
Impact of climate change on alpine vegetation in Taiwan
1C.
H. Chou, 1T. J. Huang, 2J. C. Chen and 2C. T. Chen
1Research
Center for Biodiversity and Graduate Institute of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology,
China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan 404,
choumasa@mail.cmu.edu.tw; tjhuang@mail.cmu.edu.tw
2Department of Forestry, National Pingtung University of Science and Technology, Pingtung,
Taiwan, 912, zzzjohn@mail.npust.edu.tw, cct@gisfore.npust.edu.tw
Taiwan possesses rich floristic diversity due to her varied geography, topography and
habitats. During the past century the loss of biodiversity was high due mostly to
anthropogenic activities. The change of vegetation in alpine area above 2000 m in elevation is
not so obvious; however, through extended botanical research involving past and present
inventories of the central mountain, particularly, the Hehuanshan area of Taiwan, we are able
to examine the floristic composition of four elevation zones. We selected four study sites,
namely Shinjenkan (SJK) at 2250-2585 m, Shohmenshan (SMS) at 3000 m, Hehuan East Peak
(HEP) at 3401 m, and Hehuan Major Peak (HMP) at 3408 m and determined their α, β, and γ
diversities along with their Simpson’s diversity. Our results clearly showed that the species
richness (α diversity) was significantly high at 0.85, drastically decreased to 0.17 at 3145 m,
and continued to decrease to 0.10 at both sites at 3401 m and 3408 m. By comparing plant
distribution data collected over a century for Hehuanshan, Alishan and Yushan area, we were
able to predict that plants would migrate mostly from a lower to a higher elevation when the
global temperature increases. In the Hehuanshan area, 22 species would move towards
higher elevations; in the Alishan area, six species would migrate downward and four species
would migrate upward; in Yushan, 16 species would migrate upward and two species move
downward. Among them, at least six plant species will become extinct. In addition, by using
geographic information system (GIS) remote sensing and CCS-a2 simulation model, the
coniferous vegetation, such as Abies kawakamii and Tsuga chinensis var. formosana would
migrate upward to higher-elevation. It is concluded that the alpine vegetation will
redistribute and many plant species will move towards a higher elevation.
Key Words: climate change, alpine vegetation, Abies kawakamii, Tsuga chinensis var.
formosana