Vegetation and plant diversity of South Penghu National Park, Taiwan

Study Extent

The target area is located within The South Penghu Marine National Park, which is approximately 40 km to the west coast of Taiwan. It comprises four major islands, including Dong-Ji island, Si-Ji Island, Dong-Yuping Island and Si-Yuping Island, andsubsidiary islets, such as Chu-To, To-Jin, Tie-Jen, Hsian-Lu islets, etc.

Sampling

Floristic sampling: Vegetation sampling: Measurement of soil properties: We randomly selected two subplots within a vegetation relevé, and collected soil samples around 250–500 g within 10 cm in each subplot. The soil samples were mixed and air dried for a week. The air-dried soil samples were filtered with 2 mm mesh filter. Since some of the soil samples contain coral reef stones,  squashing the coral reef stones would increase the soil/sand ratio and calcium concentration, the filtering process were carefully carried out to avoid squashing the coral reef stones. After the preprocessing the soil samples, we measure the following soil properties pH:  Mix air-dried soil samples with deionized water with soil:water = 1:2.5 (w/v ratio). Use orbital shaker to shake for 30 minutes with 180 rpm, then standing for 30 minutes. Use pH meter (Orion 9107BN, Thermo, Massachusetts, USA) to measure the value Rock:soil ratio: Dry the preprocessed soil samples with oven at 250ºC, and calculate the rock > 2 mm ratio   Electrical conductivity: Mix air-dried soil samples with deionized water with soil:water = 1:10 (w/v ratio) Use orbital shaker to shake for 60 minutes with 180 rpm, then filter the soil samples with qualitative filter paper (Advantec No. 2) Measure the soil electrical conductivity (μs cm-1) with conductivity tester (EC30, YSI, Ohio, USA) Elemental analysis, the ratio of total carbon and total nitrogen of soil: use ball mixer mill (MM 400, Retsch Instrument, Haan, Germany) to grind the air-dried soil, then measure the total carbon and total nitrogen content (%) with the elemental analyzer (2400 Series II, Perkin Elmer, Massachusetts, USA) Effective potassium in soil analysis: Extract effective potassium in soil with Mehlich-3 solution (Mehlich, 1984). Then use spectrophotometric molybdenum blue method to measure the effective potassium concentration (mg/kg; Murphy and Riley 1962) in soil with spectrophotometer (V-630, Jasco, Tokyo, Japan) Soil organic matters analysis: dry the soil samples with 550ºC oven for four hours, and calculate the difference after dry (organic matter weight). Then measure the weight of oven-dried soil samples (105ºC, 24 hrs). The soil organic matters (%) is defined as the ratio of organic matter weight and oven-dried soil weight Exchangeable cations (EC) and cation exchange capacity (CEC): Use soil column leaching method to determine CEC with 1M NH4OAc solution (pH = 7.0) 80 ml, and then measure the contents of exchangeable potassium, sodium, calcium and magnesium (cmolc/kg) with atomic absorption spectrometer (SensAA-series atomic absorption spectrometer, GBC, Braeside, Australia) Use soil column leaching method to determine CEC with 1N NH4OAc, and wash out unabsorbed NH4+ solution with 95% Ethanol. Then leaching soil with 80 ml 2M KCL solution to exchange NH4+ absorbed by soil Measure the NH4+ concentration (cmolc/kg) in KCL solution using nitrade combination ISE electrode (HI 4113, Hanna, Michigan, USA) Soil texture (particle size analysis):   Mix 40g filterted soil samples with 100 ml 5% sodium hexametaphosphate, and grinded for five minutes and quantify to 1,000 ml Measure the content of sand, silt and clay with soil hydrometer (ASTM 152H, Chase, New York, USA) and referred soil texture triangle to determine the soil texture

Method steps

1. TBA

1. Plantae
   common name: plants rank: kingdom
2. Polypodiopsida
   common name: Ferns rank: class
3. Cycadopsida
   common name: Cycads rank: class
4. Magnoliopsida
   common name: Dicotyledons (Eudicots) rank: class
5. Liliopsida
   common name: Monocotyledons (Monocots) rank: class
6. Alismatales
   rank: order
7. Apiales
   rank: order
8. Araucariales
   rank: order
9. Arecales
   rank: order
10. Asparagales
    rank: order
11. Asterales
    rank: order
12. Boraginales
    rank: order
13. Brassicales
    rank: order
14. Caryophyllales
    rank: order
15. Commelinales
    rank: order
16. Cucurbitales
    rank: order
17. Cycadales
    rank: order
18. Ericales
    rank: order
19. Fabales
    rank: order
20. Fagales
    rank: order
21. Gentianales
    rank: order
22. Lamiales
    rank: order
23. Magnoliales
    rank: order
24. Malpighiales
    rank: order
25. Malvales
    rank: order
26. Myrtales
    rank: order
27. Oxalidales
    rank: order
28. Pandanales
    rank: order
29. Poales
    rank: order
30. Polypodiales
    rank: order
31. Ranunculales
    rank: order
32. Rosales
    rank: order
33. Sapindales
    rank: order
34. Solanales
    rank: order
35. Vitales
    rank: order
36. Zingiberales
    rank: order
37. Zygophyllales
    rank: order
38. Acanthaceae
    rank: family
39. Aizoaceae
    rank: family
40. Amaranthaceae
    rank: family
41. Amaryllidaceae
    rank: family
42. Anacardiaceae
    rank: family
43. Annonaceae
    rank: family
44. Apiaceae
    rank: family
45. Apocynaceae
    rank: family
46. Araucariaceae
    rank: family
47. Arecaceae
    rank: family
48. Asparagaceae
    rank: family
49. Asphodelaceae
    rank: family
50. Asteraceae
    rank: family
51. Basellaceae
    rank: family
52. Boraginaceae
    rank: family
53. Brassicaceae
    rank: family
54. Cactaceae
    rank: family
55. Caricaceae
    rank: family
56. Casuarinaceae
    rank: family
57. Combretaceae
    rank: family
58. Commelinaceae
    rank: family
59. Convolvulaceae
    rank: family
60. Cucurbitaceae
    rank: family
61. Cycadaceae
    rank: family
62. Cyperaceae
    rank: family
63. Euphorbiaceae
    rank: family
64. Fabaceae
    rank: family
65. Heliotropiaceae
    rank: family
66. Hydrocharitaceae
    rank: family
67. Lamiaceae
    rank: family
68. Malvaceae
    rank: family
69. Meliaceae
    rank: family
70. Menispermaceae
    rank: family
71. Moraceae
    rank: family
72. Musaceae
    rank: family
73. Myrtaceae
    rank: family
74. Nyctaginaceae
    rank: family
75. Oxalidaceae
    rank: family
76. Pandanaceae
    rank: family
77. Papaveraceae
    rank: family
78. Phyllanthaceae
    rank: family
79. Plumbaginaceae
    rank: family
80. Poaceae
    rank: family
81. Polygonaceae
    rank: family
82. Portulacaceae
    rank: family
83. Primulaceae
    rank: family
84. Pteridaceae
    rank: family
85. Rosaceae
    rank: family
86. Rubiaceae
    rank: family
87. Sapindaceae
    rank: family
88. Sapotaceae
    rank: family
89. Scrophulariaceae
    rank: family
90. Solanaceae
    rank: family
91. Tamaricaceae
    rank: family
92. Thelypteridaceae
    rank: family
93. Verbenaceae
    rank: family
94. Vitaceae
    rank: family
95. Zygophyllaceae
    rank: family

The target area is located within The South Penghu Marine National Park, which is approximately 40 km to the west coast of Taiwan. It comprises four major islands, including Dong-Ji island, Si-Ji Island, Dong-Yuping Island and Si-Yuping Island, andsubsidiary islets, such as Chu-To, To-Jin, Tie-Jen, Hsian-Lu islets, etc.