lalashan_transect

Study Extent

Elevation transect from foothill forest (850 m asl) to upper montane cloud forest (2100 m asl), set in the northern part of Taiwan.

Sampling

The elevation transect was separated into elevation bands, each 250 elevation meters wide, and at each of the elevation band, ten vegetation plots have been established; three of them were larger (20 m x 20 m) and permanently fixed, remaining seven were smaller (10 m x 10 m) and not permanently fixed. Within each plot, we recorded presence of all vascular plant species, including trees, shrubs and juveniles of woody species, and also herbs, lianas and epiphytes (visible from the ground). For the purpose of occurrence data, the same species occurring in different vegetation layers (e.g. tree + juvenile) were merged together.

Quality Control

For each recorded species (with very few notable exceptions) we collected several specimens, which were used to verify the field determination. Species nomenclature for ferns and lycophytes follows Kuo et al. (2019), for Orchidaceae follows Lin et al. (2016), and for other vascular plant species follows the nomenclature currently adopted by Taiwan Biodiversity Information Facility (http://www.taibif.tw/). For the purpose of this study, we adopted the following taxonomic approach. Cleyera japonica is represented by three varieties (var. longicarpa, which is the most common, var. taipinensis, occurring in high elevation, and var. morii, occurring in low elevation). Neolitsea aciculata includes mainly individuals of var. aciculata, but in lower elevation also var. variabillima. Plant individuals for which we were not confident with species or variety level determination were labelled as cf. if there was enough indication about which species/variety it can be, or assigned to genus level only if there was no indication. In the later analysis, we applied liberal approach and merged species determined as cf. with those determined with confidence. References: Lin, T.-P., Liu, H.-Y., Hsieh, C.-F., & Wang, K.-H. (2016). Complete list of the native orchids of Taiwan and their type information. Taiwania, 61, 78-126. https://doi.org/10.6165/tai.2016.61.78 Kuo, L.-Y., Hsu, T.-C., Chao, Y.-S., Liou, W.-T., Chang, H.-M., Chen, C.-W., Huang, Y.-M., Li, F.-W., Huang, Y.-F., Shao, W., Lu, P.-F., Chen, C.-W., Chang, Y.-H., & Chiou, W.-L. (2019). Updating Taiwanese pteridophyte checklist: a new phylogenetic classification. Taiwania, 64, 367-395. https://doi.org/10.6165/tai.2019.64.367

Method steps

1. 1. Site location and field reconnaissance 2. Delineating the plots (using tape), recording all vascular plant species, and also topographical description (elevation) and GPS coordinates. From each species collected in the plot for the first time within given elevation band, we collected voucher for future determination. 3. Back in the lab, collected vouchers were determined and stored as herbarium specimens, and field data were checked and digitized.

Taiwan (northern part)