Forestry Tasmania Scientists Visit Taiwan Forest Research Sites

By Steve Read, Chief Scientist, & Simon Grove, Conservation Biologist, Forestry Tasmania

Conservation Biologist Dr Simon Grove and Chief Scientist Dr Steve Read recently visited Taiwan on a tour funded and hosted by the Taiwan Forest Research Institute (TFRI).


Representing both the Warra Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) site and the Australian LTER network. The purpose of the tour was to build research collaborations between Taiwan’s and Tasmanian LTER sites, following the visit of TFRI researchers to Tasmania in 2007. The other primary goal was to hold further discussions about data sharing and information management given that TFRI is a leader in information management in East Asia-Pacific LTER networks.


Taiwan sits astride the Tropic of Cancer and has high levels of rainfall throughout the year. The lowlands in the west are flat and are cultivated for agriculture, or urbanised, whereas foothill country carries secondary forest, and the major north-south mountain ranges are steep and support forest to the tree line. There is some cultivation of erosion-prone steep slopes by Aboriginal communities. The landscape contains evidence of damage by frequent typhoons and landslips, and narrow flat-bottomed valleys carry fast-flowing rivers capable of carrying vast volumes of water and sediment after intense rainfall events.

The TFRI staff were very interested in "new management" of Taiwan’s forests. They are working to restore their old-growth cypress forests (after timber harvesting in the times of Japanese and Kuomintang rule) and Fagaceae/Lauraceae forests (after historical camphor harvesting), and to manage plantations of Cryptomeria or Cunninghamia and replanted cypress forests. Harvesting, even thinning, is generally not socially acceptable, mainly due to soil and watershed protection concerns. Taiwan now imports 99.7% of its timber from overseas. Their long-term research sites focus on forest dynamics, hydrology and biodiversity.

TFRI started in 1896, with its first research site (Experimental Forest) established in 1901, and maintains a very large insect collection and herbarium stored in modern facilities. The herbarium started before 1900 and is the oldest in Taiwan. The most recent LTER site, at Fushan, was established in 1992. Steve & Simon visited the TFRI Head Office in Taipei, the Fushan Research Station (LTER and Botanic Gardens), the Shan-Ping Research Station (Botanic Gardens), the Lienhuachih Research Station, and LalaChan and Chilan forests.

Many ideas developed during the visit to Taiwan that have potential application to the Warra LTER site. There are opportunities at Warra for the development of forest educational infrastructure, sensor networks for weather and biodiversity, water and carbon flux, and formal data-management and data-analysis protocols suitable for long-term monitoring and sustainable forest management. In addition, there is potential for specific collaboration on the detection of climate change effects at ecological boundaries.

Forestry Tasmania is very grateful to Sheng-Shan Lu and Chau-Chin Lin of the Taiwan Forest Research Institute for hosting the tour, and looks forward to continuing this real and developing collaboration.


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