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Keeping tabs on nature

By Chiu Yu-tzu
STAFF REPORTER
Monday, Mar 10, 2003, Page 2

Real-time video cameras record the rich biodiversity of the Fushan Research Station in a project linking Taiwan's ecological data with the wider world. PHOTO: CHIANG YING-YING

When most countries confront difficulties surrounding the loss of biodiversity, global environmental changes, invasions of alien species and bioterrorism, they often find it useful to compare their own problems with those of other nations.

In Taiwan, the situation is no different.

The recent completion of the first ecology-grid system at the Taiwan Forestry Research Institute's (TFRI) Fushan Research Station (福山分所) in Ilan County, makes it possible for Taiwan to contribute its ecological data to the international community. With this latest move, Taiwan can help ensure the future of its biodiversity and at the same time contribute to the increasing global debate on ecological issues.

By working with the National Center for High-performance Computing (NCHC) under the National Science Council (NSC), results of research and observations carried out by ecologists at the 1,100-hectare research site can be made available to counterparts overseas by way of the eco-grid system.

A little grebe makes its nest in the Fushan research site. PHOTO: CHIANG YING-YING

Wei Yau-huei (魏耀揮), director general of NSC's department of life sciences, said that the establishment of the eco-grid system has made Taiwan a pioneer in both long-term ecological research and high-tech development.

The NSC-sponsored Taiwan Ecological Research Network (TERN) was established in 1992. The network includes council scientists who cooperate with universities and the TFRI. So far, the network has established five research sites -- northern Fushan, Yuanyang Lake, central Guan-daushi, Tatachia and Nanjen Mountain on Taiwan's southern tip.

A litsea cubeba persoon, known in Chinese as ``mountain pepper'' is an example of Fushan's rich biodiversity. PHOTO: CHIANG YING-YING

"The cooperation between TERN and NCHC in establishing the eco-grid system demonstrates that Taiwan is willing to shoulder its responsibility for preserving biodiverstiy," TFRI director-general Yang Jeng-chuan (楊政川) said on Saturday at a press conference held in Fushan.

According to NCHC officials, increased network bandwidth, more powerful computers and the popularization of the Internet have driven an increasing demand for more high-tech solutions in sectors ranging from commercial enterprise to academic institutions and research organizations.

According to NCHC director Joe Juang (莊哲男), in Taiwan, grid technology has diverse practical applications, such as ecological research, healthcare services, disaster prevention and digital learning.

Grid computing, however, requires powerful, reliable, high performance systems and sophisticated software.

Connected to the Pacific Rim Applications & Grid Middleware Assembly (PRAGMA), a unique collaboration among Asian Pacific countries and supported by the US National Science Foundation, Taiwan's eco-grid system has become part of the first attempt to bring long-term ecological research to the international community.

Other webmasters involved include Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER), the San Diego Supercomputer Center, US High Performance Wireless Research and Education Network and Japan National Agricultural Research Organization.

"The eco-grid system at Fushan enables researchers in Taiwan to do comparative studies between Fushan and other parts of the world," said Peter Arzberger, director of National Biomedical Computation Resource at University of California in San Diego.

For the grid to work, and to truly understand and then create a sustainable environment, a global approach will be needed, Arzberger said.

Illustrating other data-sharing systems, including the EU-Data Grid in Europe and TeraGrid in the US, Arzberger said that the promotion of such projects rely on well-established partnerships between research, industry, government and educators at local, national and global levels.

Lin Fang-pang (林芳邦), head of NCHC's Grid Computing Division, said that several high-resolution hidden cameras had been installed at Fushan Research Station to collect real-time ecological data.

"Ecologists can efficiently analyze activities of animals and plants by reading image data transmitted from cameras on the field to indoor computers without making long and difficult journeys to research sites," Lin said.

In the last three months, Lin said, the system has successfully shot the activities of wild boars, macaques, Formosan Reeves munt-jacs (台灣山羌) and other wild animals. The NCHC plans to replace the existing system with wireless communication facilities to collect data and expand monitored areas into places researchers cannot reach, Lin said.

Officials said the eco-grid system can carry out data-analysis tasks on the long-term monitoring of soil erosion and channel sedimentation, and the dynamics of animal communities of all shapes and sizes.

The eco-grid system is also due to be established at TERN's other research sites.

NCHC director Juang said Fushan was chosen to test drive the eco-grid system because of its biodiversity. More than one-third of Taiwan's plant and animal species are represented at Fushan.

Called by locals "the accessible paradise," Fushan is famous for its abundant natural beauty.

"Here you can see naughty macaques riding on meek muntjacs, or waterfowls flying over the lake" said Huang Shu-mei (黃淑梅), 49, who has spent more than a decade with her husband at the station educating visitors.

Leading a pack of reporters around the research site last week, Huang said limiting visitors to 400 a day has led to the preservation of the fragile ecological systems at Fushan. Accordingly, visitors have to book reservations 30 days in advance and the site remains closed for one or two months each year to give the animals some peace and quiet during breeding season.

Walking by a lake, Huang lowered her voice to point out a little grebe (小鷿鵜), which was brooding eggs in its nest by the shore. The next day, a newborn nestling could be seen under its mother's wings.

Researchers said they often enjoy chewing the fruits of the acronychia pedunculata (降真香) plant picked up from the ground.

The fruit is also a favorite of monkeys and other animals at Fushan.

With an average annual rainfall of 3,800mm, Fushan's humid environment allows a number of native plants to thrive, such as Lagerstroemia subcostata koehne (九芎) and white magau (白色山胡椒), and many kinds of rhododendron.

To boost their collection of plants and preserve endangered species, researchers also transplant foreign species to Fushan.

Researchers said each plant at the station has a card designating its origin, history other information.

Taking Wulai rhododendron (烏來杜鵑) as an example, Lin Kuo-chuan (林國銓), a scientist at the division of silviculture of the TFRI, said its habitats along Peishih River (北勢溪) had been inundated by water due to the establishment of the Feitsui Reservoir in Taipei County in 1987.

"The species only may exist here now because no records suggest that it has been seen in the field in the last decade," Lin said.

King Hen-biau (金恆鑣), a TFRI scientist who helped to found the TERN, said results of long-tern studies aimed at understanding ecological systems in Taiwan could provide crucial information for policy-makers to design sound policies on eco-system management.

Despite ecologists' hard work in linking research results with the international community, King said poor conservation education in Taiwan is compromising the result. Illegal hunting at Fushan is just one example, he said.

According to Chiou Wen-liang (邱文良), who chairs the TFRI's Fushan Research Station, a few weeks ago, the remains of six muntjacs were discovered at Fushan.

Chiou said hunters sneaked into the site to kill the inquisitive animals, which are relatively unafraid of humans.

Illegal hunting remains a long-term problem at Fushan, Chiou said, and animals are innocently sacrificed for to feed a voracious appetite for meat in Taiwan.

Chiou said that to promote ecological conservation, workshops had been held in townships nearby but their effectiveness has been limited.

"Illegal hunting leads not only to loss of life but also to the loss of data on long-term ecological research," Chiou said.

TFRI director-general Yang criticized the government for its failure to control illegal hunting.

"To give consideration to both ecological conservation and Aboriginal cultural preservation, the government should designate hunting seasons in certain mountainous areas based on breeding activities," Yang said.

Officials at the NCHC are now considering adding surveillance instruments into the wireless eco-grid system at Fushan.

Due to funding and manpower constraints, however, that realization depends on the cooperation of the high-tech industry. Currently, the hidden cameras installed at Fushan are borrowed from high-tech firms.
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