A research team from National Sun Yat-sen University in Kaohsiung has opened a research center in Sri Lanka to study the effect of climate change on marine resources and biosystems.
The university was last year selected by the Ministry of Science and Technology to set up the Taiwan-Sri Lanka Environmental Change Sciences and Technology Innovation Center at the University of Sri Jayewardenepura to carry out studies on marine life, the Taipei Economic and Cultural Center in India (TECCI) said.
The team, which comprises 11 professors and researchers specializing in marine life, opened the center on Monday last week, TECCI technology division head Chen Ho-hsien (陳和賢) said.
The center was established because the protection of marine life resources and marine biosystems has become increasingly important to both Taiwan and Sri Lanka amid rising concerns over climate change and ocean acidification, Chen said.
The center is to play an instrumental role in enhancing exchanges between the two nations in marine life and ocean studies, and relevant studies carried out by the center are expected to help Taiwan and Sri Lanka to cope with the challenges of climate change, he added.
After the opening ceremony, the research team led by College of Marine Sciences deputy head Hung Chin-chang (洪慶章) stayed in Sri Lanka until last Saturday to do research.
The researchers took marine life samples from wetlands, estuaries and bays near Negombo Lagoon in southwest Sri Lanka, and carried out a 36-hour observation of carbon dynamics in the lagoon to evaluate carbon dioxide pressure changes, Chen said.
They also took samples of Nypa fruticans, commonly known as the nipa palm or mangrove palm, a species of palm native to the coastlines and estuaries Southeast Asia.
Department of Biological Sciences head Chiang Yu-chung (江友中) is collaborating with the University of Ruhuna in Sri Lanka to conduct studies into the species, Chen added.
Department of Marine Biotechnology and Resources head Liaw Chih-chuang (廖志中) collected soil samples from a mangrove forest in Sri Lanka for microbiological analysis, Chen said.
Upon returning to Taiwan, Liaw is to compare the microbiome collected from the mangrove forest to Taiwanese samples with the intent of breeding micro-organisms with certain active functions.
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