Ecologists, volunteers and more than 200 members of the public will be participating in a 24-hour "bioblitz" this weekend at Taipei's Hua-Jiang Wild Duck Nature Park.
Despite the fact that the wetland conservation area abuts Taipei's bustling Wanhua area, the park is home to a panoply of birds and other wildlife such as the green-winged teal, the little ringed plover and the black-crowned night heron.
"This is conservation in the public eye," said Liang Kwei-mei (
"Participants will help us take stock of all aspects of of ecological health in the park, from water quality to counting the number of birds," Liang added.
The workshop's Wu Hai-shih (
"The number used to be around 10,000, but there has been a decrease in recent years due to water pollution," Wu said. "We would like to educate people and improve our understanding of the situation with this event."
The bioblitz is a concept that was first popularized by American biologist E.O. Wilson.
It is a 24-hour inventory of all the plant and animal life in a given area, often with interaction between members of the public and specialists in different areas of ecology.
"We hope to make the Hua-Jiang bioblitz an annual event so that we can compare the results from year to year," Liang said.
"The biodiversity in Taiwan is a treasure," said Demerie Faitler, an American who has been familiar with Taiwan for 20 years. "The variety of altitudes and different microclimates all over the island means that there is amazing variation in species here."
The biodiversity carnival, to take place on Sunday at the park, will feature various awareness-raising games and activities seeking to educate the public on the wildlife in their immediate surroundings.
Taiwan is to receive the first batch of Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 jets from the US late this month, a defense official said yesterday, after a year-long delay due to a logjam in US arms deliveries. Completing the NT$247.2 billion (US$7.69 billion) arms deal for 66 jets would make Taiwan the third nation in the world to receive factory-fresh advanced fighter jets of the same make and model, following Bahrain and Slovakia, the official said on condition of anonymity. F-16 Block 70/72 are newly manufactured F-16 jets built by Lockheed Martin to the standards of the F-16V upgrade package. Republic of China
Taiwan-Japan Travel Passes are available for use on public transit networks in the two countries, Taoyuan Metro Corp said yesterday, adding that discounts of up to 7 percent are available. Taoyuan Metro, the Taipei MRT and Japan’s Keisei Electric Railway teamed up to develop the pass. Taoyuan Metro operates the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport MRT Line, while Keisei Electric Railway offers express services between Tokyo’s Narita Airport, and the Keisei Ueno and Nippori stations in the Japanese capital, as well as between Narita and Haneda airports. The basic package comprises one one-way ticket on the Taoyuan MRT Line and one Skyliner ticket on
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it