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Tea is a vital agricultural product in Taiwan. Due to global warming, the increasing extreme weather events have disrupted tea garden conditions and caused economic losses in agriculture. To address these challenges, a comprehensive tea garden risk assessment model, a Bayesian network (BN), was developed by considering various factors, including meteorological data, disaster events, tea garden environment (location, altitude, tea tree age, and soil characteristics), farming practices, and farmer interviews, and constructed risk assessment indicators for tea gardens based on the climate change risk analysis concept from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Fifth Assessment Report (IPCC AR5). The results demonstrated an accuracy of over 92% in both validating and testing the model for tea tree damage and yield reduction. Sensitivity analysis revealed that tea tree damage and yield reduction were mutually influential, with weather, fertilization, and irrigation also impacting tea garden risk. Risk analysis under climate change scenarios from various global climate models (GCMs) indicated that droughts may pose the highest risk with up to 41% and 40% of serious tea tree growth damage and tea yield reduction, respectively, followed by cold events that most tea gardens may have less than 20% chances of serious impacts on tea tree growth and tea yield reduction. The impacts of heavy rains get the least concern because all five tea gardens may not be affected in terms of tea tree growth and tea yield with large chances of 67 to 85%. Comparing farming methods, natural farming showed lower disaster risk than conventional and organic approaches. The tea plantation risk assessment model can serve as a valuable resource for analyzing and offering recommendations for tea garden disaster management and is used to assess the impact of meteorological disasters on tea plantations in the future., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.)

Poleward range expansion of marine organisms is commonly attributed to anthropogenic ocean warming. However, the extent to which a single species can migrate poleward remains unclear. In this study, we used molecular data to examine the current distribution of the Pocillopora damicornis species complex in Taiwan waters and applied niche modeling to predict its potential range through the end of the 21st Century. The P. damicornis species complex is widespread across shallow, tropical and subtropical waters of the Indo-Pacific regions. Our results revealed that populations from subtropical nonreefal coral communities are P. damicornis, whose native geographical ranges are approximately between 23°N and 35°N. In contrast, those from tropical reefs are P. acuta. Our analysis of 50 environmental data layers demonstrated that the concentrations of CaCO 3 polymorphs had the greatest contributions to the distributions of the two species. Future projections under intermediate shared socioeconomic pathways (SSP) 2-4.5 and very high (SSP5-8.5) scenarios of greenhouse gas emissions showed that while sea surface temperature (SST) isotherms would shift northwards, saturation isolines of two CaCO 3 polymorphs, calcite (Ωcal) and aragonite (Ωarag), would shift southwards by 2100. Subsequent predictions of future suitable habitats under those conditions indicated that distinct delimitation of geographical ranges for the two species would persist, and neither would extend beyond its native geographical zones, indicating that tropical Taiwan waters are the northern limit for P. acuta. In contrast, subtropical waters are the southern limit for P. damicornis. We concluded that the decline in CaCO 3 saturation would make high latitudes less inhabitable, which could be one of the boundary elements that limit poleward range expansion driven by rising SSTs and preserve the latitudinal diversity gradient (LDG) on Earth. Consequently, poleward migration of tropical reef corals to cope with warming oceans should be reevaluated., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Analyzing the environmental factors affecting benthic communities in coastal areas is crucial for uncovering key factors that require conservation action. Here, we collected benthic and environmental (physical-chemical-historical and land-based) data for 433 transects in Taiwan. Using a k-means approach, five communities dominated by crustose coralline algae, turfs, stony corals, digitate, or bushy octocorals were first delineated. Conditional random forest models then identified physical, chemical, and land-based factors (e.g., light intensity, nitrite, and population density) relevant to community delineation and occurrence. Historical factors, including typhoons and temperature anomalies, had only little effect. The prevalent turf community correlated positively with chemical and land-based drivers, which suggests that anthropogenic impacts are causing a benthic homogenization. This mechanism may mask the effects of climate disturbances and regional differentiation of benthic assemblages. Consequently, management of nutrient enrichment and terrestrial runoff is urgently needed to improve community resilience in Taiwan amidst increasing challenges of climate change., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests: Vianney Denis reports financial support was provided by National Science and Technology Council. Yuting Vicky Lin reports financial support was provided by Ocean Affairs Council of Taiwan. Yuting Vicky Lin reports financial support was provided by Marine National Park of Taiwan. Pierre-Alexandre Château reports financial support was provided by National Science and Technology Council. Chih-Lin Wei reports financial support was provided by National Science and Technology Council. Vianney Denis reports administrative support and travel were provided by Dongsha Atoll Research Station. Vianney Denis reports administrative support and travel were provided by Academia Sinica Green Island Marine Station. If there are other authors, they declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Over the past two decades, the Taiwan government promulgated some regulatory measures and promotional actions on energy efficiency promotion and renewable energy development. In March 2022, the "Taiwan's Pathway to Net-Zero Emissions in 2050" was announced to respond to the Paris Agreement. In order to achieve the goal, the Climate Change Response Act (CCRA) was passed on February 15, 2023, requiring the de-carbonization measures and adaptation strategies. The main aim of this paper was to analyze the changes in GHG emissions and renewable energy supply by using the updated data from the official statistics in connection with the trends of environmental and energy sustainability since 2000. The findings showed that total installed capacity of renewable power (especially in solar power and wind power) showed an amazing increase over the past decade, leading to the inclined GHG emissions and thus supporting the environmental and energy sustainability toward a low-carbon society. Furthermore, this paper summarized the development history and main differences concerning the carbon neutrality policy and legislation in Japan and South Korea. For achieving the staged targets of GHG emissions by 2030 and 2050, this paper finally addressed the technological approaches for achieving carbon neutrality by 2050 in Taiwan, focusing on the transformation of energy and industry, and the policy implications by all levels of government., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

Purpose: This study aims to evaluate the current situation of education for sustainable development, climate change education and environmental education in a nationwide context. Methodologically, this study calls for more research to go beyond case studies and take a similar approach to examine university curricula and facilitate cross-country comparisons. Design/methodology/approach: This paper examines the status of climate and sustainability curricula in Taiwan's higher education system. Using the course catalog for the 2020–2021 academic year, the authors constructed a unique data set that includes 1,827 courses at 29 major universities in Taiwan. In each institution, the authors search for course titles that include "climate," "sustainable/sustainability" and "environment/environmental" as keywords and code the courses according to their disciplines. Findings: The finding highlights the variations across institutional types and subject matters. Public universities have an average of 4.94 related courses per 1,000 students, whereas private universities have only 3.13. In general, the relevant courses are more concentrated in the STEM and bioscience fields. The curricula, however, are seriously constrained by the disciplinary structure and foster few transdisciplinary perspectives. Originality/value: The authors seek to go beyond case studies and offer one of the most comprehensive curricula samples at the national level. Taiwan adds an important data point, as the current literature focuses heavily on the USA and Europe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The implementation of Community-engaged research (CenR) has faced many challenges in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, especially when researchers are based in another part of the country or the world. This paper presents a researcher's initiative for implementing CenR in partnership with local universities, particularly engaging local students to become part of the communities and bridge the gap between researchers and communities. The project aims to engage local communities working in tourism services in assessing their adaptive capacity (AC) to climate change in the Vietnamese Mekong Delta (VMD). Notably, this study was conducted with the researchers being located in Taiwan while the research area was situated in the VMD. Methods used include field trips, in-depth interviews (IDIs), focus group discussions (FGDs), local workshops, and people participation geographic information system (PPGIS). Two groups of students at Kien Giang University (KGU) and Dong Thap University (DTU) (Vietnam) were involved. The article provides the process of engaging with local students, from searching and selecting them, to obtaining consents, engaging and building trust, training and guiding them in field trips, engaging with local communities, collecting and analyzing data, and developing future projects in those communities. The study offers a novel approach that can be extrapolated in the context of global system crises such as climate change, disasters, or emergency situations in remote areas that often experience limited connectivity with the outside world. By encouraging the creativity of students and researchers, this study promotes the continuity of research efforts even in times of uncertainty and crisis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The global rise in energy consumption makes managing energy demands a priority. Here, the potential of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in controlling energy consumption is still debated. Within this context, the main objective of the current study is to measure the impact of ICT, its potential benefit, and environmental factors on household electricity demand in Taiwan. A panel of data from 20 cities in Taiwan was collected during the period 2004–2018. We adopted PMG estimation and applied the DH-causality test for analysis. The estimation results show that ICT, carbon emissions, and climate change will drive household electricity demand in Taiwan in the long term. However, ICT has a higher potential to reduce electricity demand in the short-term period. In addition, the results of the causality test reveal a two-way interrelationship between ICT and electricity demand. Our study also found that climate change indirectly affects the use of electricity through household appliances. We also presented several policy implications at the end of this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to present the Taiwan’s policies and actions relating to climate change. Despite the exclusion from the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), Taiwan has voluntarily ratified global climate conventions and has implemented a number of legislative, technical and organizational measures to reduce the emissions of greenhouse gasses and reach net zero carbon emissions by 2050. Tackling both climate change and minimizing its effects is a priority for Taiwan. In order to achieve the sustainable development goals Taiwan treats renewable energy as a critical solution in combating climate change and ensuring energy security by adding diversity to an overall electricity mix. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Forecasting of PM2.5 concentration is a global concern. Evidence has shown that the ambient PM2.5 concentrations are harmful to human health, climate change, plant species mortality, etc. PM2.5 concentrations are caused by natural and anthropogenic activities, and it is challenging to predict them due to many uncertain factors. Current research has focused on developing a new model while overlooking the fact that every single model for PM2.5 prediction has its own strengths and weaknesses. This paper proposes an ensemble framework which combines four diverse learning models for PM2.5 forecasting in Puli, Taiwan. It explores the synergy between parametric and non-parametric learning, and short-term and long-term learning. The feature set covers periodic, meteorological, and autoregression variables which are selected by a spiral validation process. The experimental dataset, spanning from 1 January 2008 to 31 December 2019, from Puli Township in central Taiwan, is used in this study. The experimental results show the proposed multi-model framework can synergize the advantages of the embedded models and obtain an improved forecasting result. Further, the benefit obtained by blending short-term learning with long-term learning is validated, in surpassing the performance obtained by using just single type of learning. Our multi-model framework compares favorably with deep-learning models on Puli dataset. It also shows high adaptivity, such that our multi-model framework is comparable to the leading methods for PM2.5 forecasting in Delhi, India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A synthesis of the complex relationships, including synergies and trade-offs, between urban development projects and climate change mitigation and adaptation objectives can ensure that all these relationships are taken into consideration. We used a systems approach and applied an impact matrix and chain effect analysis methods to projects in the highly urbanized Taipei metropolitan region to identify the influences and effects between urban development projects and climate change objectives. Three types of urban plans and projects were analyzed: flood control, transportation, and urban planning. The magnitudes of the influences and effects between these projects and plans were derived through interviews with experts familiar with Taipei's urban development. This pilot study found no synergy in the response to climate change mitigation and adaptation for the urban development projects analyzed. The current standalone policies and plans related to urbanization in Taipei have resulted in trade-offs for flood control and public transit projects because they contribute positively toward one climate objective but negatively impact another. A high-level policymaking mechanism that ensures coordination and collaboration between different sectors is needed to supervise sectoral policies. Prior to the approval and implementation of a plan, policymakers should request the assessment of synergies and trade-offs between plans and projects to ensure a synergistic effect to climate change issues. This study confirms that the strategy from individual sector in a metropolitan region will result in trade-off between climate change issues is a global problem. This paper also strengthens the concept that the assessment of synergy/trade-offs between policy and plans should be conducted using systemic approach., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

The implementation of Community-engaged research (CenR) has faced many challenges in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, especially when researchers are based in another part of the country or the world. This paper presents a researcher's initiative for implementing CenR in partnership with local universities, particularly engaging local students to become part of the communities and bridge the gap between researchers and communities. The project aims to engage local communities working in tourism services in assessing their adaptive capacity (AC) to climate change in the Vietnamese Mekong Delta (VMD). Notably, this study was conducted with the researchers being located in Taiwan while the research area was situated in the VMD. Methods used include field trips, in-depth interviews (IDIs), focus group discussions (FGDs), local workshops, and people participation geographic information system (PPGIS). Two groups of students at Kien Giang University (KGU) and Dong Thap University (DTU) (Vietnam) were involved. The article provides the process of engaging with local students, from searching and selecting them, to obtaining consents, engaging and building trust, training and guiding them in field trips, engaging with local communities, collecting and analyzing data, and developing future projects in those communities. The study offers a novel approach that can be extrapolated in the context of global system crises such as climate change, disasters, or emergency situations in remote areas that often experience limited connectivity with the outside world. By encouraging the creativity of students and researchers, this study promotes the continuity of research efforts even in times of uncertainty and crisis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Taiwan government has been following the green energy policy for decades to cope with drastic climate change due to global warming and tremendous urbanization. Forming a database to assist Taiwanese policy makers in using the concept of energy efficiency and environmental comfort in urban planning and architectural design is required. This paper depicts how the field and CFD studies for an industrial region located in rural and monsoon wind prevailed district of the mid-western coast Taiwan were conducted, and how the data are used to construct building layout principles for regions having similar climate conditions. For the purpose of analyzing field data and forming database, measured atmospheric and microclimate parameters, such as the physiological equivalent temperature (PET), were first converted into empirical relations. Then, these empirical equations were used as the input and validating values for the CFD simulation model based on the FLUNENT software. Five field-observed wind profiles were used as the inlet conditions, and the computed results of the five-street canyon aspect ratio, and of four-building arrangements, are analyzed to construct the building layout principles. The study results show that the principles for a monsoon wind prevailed region should better be the following: (1) the street canyon aspect ratio is 0.1 and not over 0.3; (2) the building layout is a single open arrangement, avoiding a staggered setting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Extreme temperature events have been observed to appear more frequently and with greater intensity in Taiwan in recent decades due to climate change, following the global trend. Projections of temperature extremes across different climate zones and their impacts on related mortality and adaptation have not been well studied., Methods: We projected site-specific future temperature extremes by statistical downscaling of 8 global climate models followed by Bayesian model averaging from 2021 to 2060 across Taiwan under the representative concentration pathway (RCP) scenarios RCP2.6, RCP4.5, and RCP8.5. We then calculated the attributable mortality (AM) in 6 municipalities and in the eastern area by multiplying the city/county- and degree-specific relative risk of mortality according to the future population projections. We estimated the degree of adaptation to heat by slope reduction of the projected AM to be comparable with that in 2018., Results: The annual number of hot days with mean temperatures over 30 °C was predicted to have a substantial 2- to 5-fold increase throughout the residential areas of Taiwan by the end of 2060 under RCP8.5, whereas the decrease in cold days was less substantial. The decrease in cold-related mortality below 15 °C was projected to outweigh heat-related mortality for the next two decades, and then heat-related mortality was predicted to drastically increase and cross over cold-related mortality, surpassing it from 2045 to 2055. Adjusting for future population size, the percentage increase in heat-related deaths per 100,000 people could increase by more than 10-fold under the worst scenario (RCP8.5), especially for those over 65 years old. The heat-related impacts will be most severe in southern Taiwan, which has a tropical climate. There is a very high demand for heat-adaptation prior to 2050 under all RCP scenarios., Conclusions: Spatiotemporal variations in AM in cities in different climate zones are projected in Taiwan and are expected to have a net negative effect in the near future before shifting to a net positive effect from 2045 to 2055. However, there is an overall positive and increasing trend of net effect for elderly individuals under all the emission scenarios. Active adaptation plans need to be well developed to face future challenges due to climate change, especially for the elderly population in central and southern Taiwan., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

In response to the impacts of extreme precipitation on human or natural systems under climate change, the development of climate risk assessment approach is a crucial task. In this paper, a novel risk assessing approach based on a climate risk assessment framework with copula-based approaches is proposed. Firstly, extreme precipitation indices (EPIs) and their marginal distributions are estimated for historical and future periods. Next, the joint probability distributions of extreme precipitation are constructed by copula methods and tested by goodness-of-fit indices. The future joint probabilities and joint return periods (JRPs) of the EPIs are then evaluated. Finally, change rates of JRPs for future periods are estimated to assess climate risk with the quantitative data of exposure and vulnerability of a protected target. An actual application in Taiwan Island is successfully conducted for climate risk assessment with the impacts of extreme precipitation. The results indicate that most of regions in Taiwan Island might have higher potential climate risk under different scenarios in the future. The future joint probabilities of precipitation extremes might cause the high risk of landslide and flood disasters in the mountainous area, and of inundation in the plain area. In sum, the proposed climate risk assessing approach is expected to be useful for assisting decision makers to draft adaptation strategies and face high risk of the possible occurrence of natural disasters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Changes in climate and global warming trends impact the ecological balance as well as human health. The recent development of geospatial information technologies such as Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and remote sensing provides useful tools to assess the impacts of climate changes on human health over large areas. This article aimed to conduct a literature review related to the application of geospatial information technologies in order to assess climate-change-related health risks in Taiwan, with primary outcomes of interest including physiological and mental health and infectious diseases. Three environmental factors, including temperature, precipitation, and air pollution, and their impacts on human health were considered. Comments were raised for future studies in Taiwan on this subject area. Among the hundred papers reviewed, 28 were related to the target topic, and air pollution and fine particle studies were the focus of most of these 28 papers. Studies related to extreme temperature indicted growing concern with this issue. However, limited research was found related to precipitation and environmental greenness. Therefore, future studies should pay greater attention to these two environmental issues. We hope that the findings of this literature review will encourage more researchers to investigate this subject. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Changes in climate and global warming trends impact the ecological balance as well as human health. The recent development of geospatial information technologies such as Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and remote sensing provides useful tools to assess the impacts of climate changes on human health over large areas. This article aimed to conduct a literature review related to the application of geospatial information technologies in order to assess climate-change-related health risks in Taiwan, with primary outcomes of interest including physiological and mental health and infectious diseases. Three environmental factors, including temperature, precipitation, and air pollution, and their impacts on human health were considered. Comments were raised for future studies in Taiwan on this subject area. Among the hundred papers reviewed, 28 were related to the target topic, and air pollution and fine particle studies were the focus of most of these 28 papers. Studies related to extreme temperature indicted growing concern with this issue. However, limited research was found related to precipitation and environmental greenness. Therefore, future studies should pay greater attention to these two environmental issues. We hope that the findings of this literature review will encourage more researchers to investigate this subject.

Taiwan, a country in the subtropics, heavily depends on imported energy with over 99% of its energy imported. In this regard, scrap tires for use as an energy source has thus became attractive in the past two decades. The objective of this article is to present a comprehensive analysis of tire-to-energy in Taiwan. This article gives a concise summary of the current status of scrap tire production and its recycling in recent years. It was found that a major scrap tire market in Taiwan (about three-quarters) is used as fuel in the cement, power, and paper and pulp utilities. Under the authorization of the Energy Management Law, the central competent authority has promulgated the regulations to encourage energy-intensive industries to participate in the cogeneration system through excess electricity purchase and financial incentives. Using the method recommended by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the total energy potential and the environmental benefit of mitigating CO2emissions in place of coal were preliminarily calculated to be around 1,920 TJ and 4.1 × 107kg, respectively, based on the certified volume of scrap tire and its energy use proportion in 2009. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The Hsinchu Science Park (HSP) in Taiwan plays a vital role in the chain of semiconductor production, but water scarcity has been challenging semiconductor manufacturing. The Baoshan Reservoir (BS) and the Baoshan Second Reservoir (BSR) are two major sources of water supply to the HSP. However, the impacts of climate change on the water supply have not been analyzed. In this study, a hydrological model (i.e., SWAT) and an operation model of the BR and the BSR were coupled to assess the climate change impacts on the inflow, outflow, and water storage volume (WSV) of the reservoirs. The simulations were based on the weather data for the RCP2.6, RCP4.5, RCP6.0, and RCP8.5 scenarios of AR5 for the Periods of 2021–2040, 2041–2060, 2061–2060, and 2081–2100 derived from up to 33 GCMs/EMSs. It is found that more intensified global warming would generally result in more apparent rainfall seasonality that is wetter in the wet season and dryer in the dry season and more magnified seasonality in river flow. During the hotspot period of water shortage in the HSP from February to May, future water scarcity is expected to worsen. Among the 16 combinations of scenarios and Periods, 13 indicate lower WSV in the future compared to the Baseline. The annual mean number of ten-day periods with WSV lower than the operation rule curve ranges from 4.84 to 6.95 ten-day periods, higher than the Baseline of 4.81 ten-day periods. Overall, RCP6.0 has the most significant impact on the study area, with the highest annual economic loss occurring during the 2041-2060 period, reaching USD 1 billion (~2.37% of the 2023 annual production value) for the HSP. This study also provides a three-month cumulative rainfall threshold as an operational warning indicator for the HSP. Our assessment results indicate that future water supply to the HSP should be a serious concern for stabilizing the manufacturing processes and hence the global semiconductor component supply. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study differentiates the risk perception and influencing factors of climate change along the dimensions of global severity and personal threat. Using the 2013 Taiwan Social Change Survey (TSGS) data (N = 2001) as a representative sample of adults from Taiwan, we investigated the influencing factors of the risk perceptions of climate change in these two dimensions (global severity and personal threat). Logistic regression models were used to examine the correlations of individual factors (gender, age, education, climate-related disaster experience and risk awareness, marital status, employment status, household income, and perceived social status) and societal factors (religion, organizational embeddedness, and political affiliations) with the above two dimensions. The results demonstrate that climate-related disaster experience has no significant impact on either the perception of global severity or the perception of personal impact. However, climate-related risk awareness (regarding typhoons, in particular) is positively associated with both dimensions of the perceived risks of climate change. With higher education, individuals are more concerned about global severity than personal threat. Regarding societal factors, the supporters of political parties have higher risk perceptions of climate change than people who have no party affiliation. Religious believers have higher risk perceptions of personal threat than non-religious people. This paper ends with a discussion about the effectiveness of efforts to enhance risk perception of climate change with regard to global severity and personal threat., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest.

This paper reports the variation in rainfall characteristics associated with debris flows in the Chenyulan watershed, central Taiwan, between 1963 and 2009. The maximum hourly rainfall Im, the maximum 24 h rainfall Rd, and the rainfall index RI (defined as the product RdIm) were analysed for each rainfall event that triggered a debris flow within the watershed. The corresponding number of debris flows initiated by each rainfall event (N) was also investigated via image analysis and/or field investigation. The relationship between N and RI was analysed. Higher RI of a rainfall event would trigger a larger number of debris flows. This paper also discusses the effects of the Chi-Chi earthquake (CCE) on this relationship and on debris flow initiation. The results showed that the critical RI for debris flow initiation had significant variations and was significantly lower in the years immediately following the CCE of 1999, but appeared to revert to the pre-earthquake condition about five years later. Under the same extreme rainfall event of RI = 365 cm² h-1, the value of N in the CCE-affected period could be six times larger than that in the non-CCE-affected periods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The annual mean rainfall erosivity (R) indicates the potential soil loss caused by the precipitation and runoff and is used to predict the soil loss from agricultural hillslopes. R is calculated from rainfall stations with continuously recording rainfall databases. However, many short-term real-time rainfall databases that also relate to the rainfall intensity are not readily available around Taiwan, with the hourly rainfall data being predominantly available. The annual mean rainfall erosivity calculated by the 10-min rainfall data accumulation converted to the 30-min rainfall data (R10_30) can be estimated using the annual mean rainfall erosivity calculated by the 10-min rainfall data accumulation convert to the hourly rainfall data (R10_60) that are calculated from the kinetic energy calculated by the 10-min rainfall data accumulation converted to the hourly rainfall data (E60j). The maximum 60-min rainfall intensity calculated by the 10-min rainfall data accumulation converted to the hourly rainfall data (I60j) has been established in rainfall stations throughout southern Taiwan. The 10-min rainfall data set consists of 15 221 storm events from 2002 to 2017 monitored by 51 rainfall stations located in the tropical regions in Taiwan. According to the results of this study, the average conversion factors of the kinetic energy (1.04), rainfall erosivity (1.47), and annual mean rainfall erosivity (1.30) could be estimated based on the 10-min rainfall data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, with the impact of global climate change and specific commitments, such as the European Climate Law, to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 55% from 1990 levels by 2030, renewable energy has become an indispensable application in achieving carbon emission reduction goals. Taiwan has also been actively promoting the development of renewable energy, with a target to reach 20 GW of solar power generation by 2025. With a large amount of renewable energy integrated into the grid, its intermittent and unpredictable nature poses significant challenges to grid stability and power dispatch, particularly evident in the formation of the duck curve during the second-peak load period. Balancing power supply and demand is a critical issue, especially after the sun sets. To address this problem, the Taiwan Power Company has proposed the construction of solar energy storage systems (ESSs), and this study is focused on the development of a solar ESS controller using a programmable logic controller platform along with power sensors. The controller is designed to measure the real-time power generation of solar photovoltaic systems and to develop a control strategy for the ESS. It enables the solar photovoltaic system to charge the ESS during the day and discharge it during the second-peak load period. This approach not only helps mitigate the challenges of second-peak load power dispatch but also enhances the utilization of power lines effectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research delves into the crucial role of groundwater in underpinning ecosystems and human resilience amidst drastic and unpredictable climate change, particularly as water resources face increasing sustainability concerns due to population surges and climate change. Utilizing a combined approach of SWAT-MODFLOW models, we estimate the streamflow discharge and groundwater recharge in the Choushui River Alluvial Fan, Taiwan. These models allow evaluation of the distribution and proportion of recharge areas as well as the accuracy and the potential influence of future climate change scenarios on groundwater recharge. The findings show a strong correlation between the simulation and actual observations, evidenced by the Nash–Sutcliffe model efficiency coefficients (NSE) of 0.920 and 0.846 for calibration and validation in the Choushui River, and 0.549 and 0.548 for the Pei-Kang River, respectively. The model demonstrates a reliable representation of the watershed response, supported by robust statistical performance. The analysis reveals the variable impacts of climate change on groundwater recharge, dependent on the chosen scenario and period. Some scenarios indicate that the maximum observed increase in groundwater recharge is 66.36% under the RCP2.6 scenario in the long-term period (2061–2080), while the minimum observed increase is 29.67% under the RCP4.5 scenario in the initial time frame; however, all demonstrate a decrease ranging from 23.05% to 41.92% across different RCPs in the impact of climate change over time, suggesting a potential long-term decrease in the impact of climate change on groundwater recharge. This study provides indispensable insights into the spatial hotspots in the top fan and the potential range of impact rates of climate change on groundwater recharge, underscoring the importance of continuous research and the thorough evaluation of multiple scenarios. Moreover, we establish a primary framework for using a top-ranked MIROC5 projection of general circulation models (GCMs) to delineate an essential premise that facilitates the advanced exploration of alternative scenario augmentations, bolstering the comprehensive investigation of climate change impacts on groundwater recharge. It is proposed that these findings serve as a guidepost for sustainable water resource management and policy-making in the face of climate change and escalating water demand. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change causes precipitation to be increasingly unstable both spatially and temporally and, thus, is a major factor contributing the risk of a water deficit in Taiwan. Because many planned water shortage mitigation projects lack extensive risk evaluation of this problem, this risk might strongly affect the stability of regional water supply. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to consider climate change in a systematic quantitative risk analysis of water shortage mitigation projects. Accordingly, this paper proposes a process for integrating the method for downscaling global climate models, generalized watershed loading functions rainfall-runoff model, system dynamics approach, and Monte Carlo simulation to evaluate water projects practicably and quantitatively. The proposed methodology was verified using a practical case study of Northern Taiwan and can be used to make decisions regarding project implementation priorities and alternatives. While every alternative of 11 proposed projects can reduce at least 9 % of the shortage risks for both Taoyuan and Banchia-Hsintien regions, five alternatives can reduce the risk to less than 1 % for the Banchia-Hsintien region. And simulation results indicate that expanding water plant is the first priority for the study area. Furthermore, the proposed concepts and procedures are applicable to other areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Taiwan suffers from losses of economic property and human lives caused by flooding almost every year. Flooding is an inevitable, reoccurring, and the most damaging disaster in Taiwan since Taiwan is located in the most active tropic cyclone formation region of the Western Pacific. Flooding problem is further worse in land subsidence areas along southwestern coast of Taiwan due to groundwater overdraft. Increasing number of people is threatened with floods owing to climate change since it would induce sea level rise and intensify extreme rainfall. Assessments of flooding vulnerability depend not only on flooding severity, possible damage of assets exposed to floods should also be simultaneously considered. This paper aims at exploring how climate change might impact the flooding vulnerability of lowland areas in Taiwan. A flooding vulnerability evaluation scheme is proposed in this study which incorporates flooding severity (the maximum inundation depth determined by a two-dimensional model) and potential economic losses for various land uses. Effects of climate change on flooding vulnerability focus on alterations of rainfall depth for various recurrence intervals. The flood-prone Yunlin coastal area, located in southwestern Taiwan, is chosen to illustrate the proposed methodology. The results reveal that reducing flooding vulnerability can be achieved by either reducing flooding severity (implementation of flood-mitigation measures) or decreasing assets exposed to floods (suspension of land uses for flood-detention purpose). Performance of currently implemented flood-mitigation measures is insufficient to reduce flooding vulnerability when facing with climate change. However, the scenario suggested in this study to sustain room for floods efficiently reduces flooding vulnerability in both without- and with climate change situations. The suggestions provided in this study could support decision processes and help easing flooding problems of lowland management in Taiwan under climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main purpose of this study was to investigate how climate change affects blood vessel-related heart disease and hypertension and to estimate the associated economic damage. In this paper, both the panel data model and the contingent valuation method (CVM) approaches are applied. The empirical results indicate that the number of death from cardiovascular diseases would be increased by 0.226% as the variation in temperature increases by 1%. More importantly, the number of death from cardiovascular diseases would be increased by 1.2% to 4.1% under alternative IPCC climate change scenarios. The results from the CVM approach show that each person would be willing to pay US$51 to US$97 per year in order to avoid the increase in the mortality rate of cardiovascular diseases caused by climate change.

Taiwan's climate change projections have always presented a challenge due to Taiwan's size and unique meteorological and geographical characteristics. The Taiwan Climate Change Projection Information and Adaptation Knowledge Platform (TCCIP), funded by the Ministry of Science and Technology, Taiwan, is a decade-long climate research project with the most predominant climate data provider and national adaptation policymaking in the country. This paper outlines the evolution of the project. It describes the project's major achievements, including climate projection arising from participation in the WCRP Coupled Model Inter-comparison Project (CMIP), dynamically and statistically downscaled data with resolutions up to 5 km grid, impact assessments of various themes, such as flooding, as well as the support of national policies through approaches including risk maps, climate data, and knowledge brokering. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper establishes a comprehensive assessment model to measure the regional impact of climate change on Taiwan's water resources. Working from future rainfall data simulated by Japan's high-resolution GCM model JMA/MRI TL959L60 in a SRES-A1B scenario, we first apply climate change to an assessment model of renewable water resources to estimate the volume of renewable water resources on a regional basis. We then conduct a water resources system simulation based on estimates of future water needs, regional reservoir effective capacity and renewable water resource volume. This paper uses three water resource assessment indicators: the annual water utilization ratio indicator, the water shortage indicator and the extreme event occurrence indicator. Through fuzzy comprehensive assessment, we divide the evaluation set into five levels: very good (L1), good (L2), fair (L3), poor (L4) and very poor (L5). Results indicate that, given the effects of future climate change (2080 - 2099) and the increase in water demand, future water resources conditions in northern and eastern Taiwan will not be significantly different from historical levels (1979 - 1998) and will maintain a "good" level (L2), while the conditions in southern Taiwan will visibly deteriorate from its historical "fair" level (L3) to "poor" (L4); and the future conditions for central Taiwan will be "poor" (L4). The initiation of adaptation options for water management in southern and central Taiwan would be needed by increasing reservoir capacity and reducing overall water use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Heavily (about 99%) depending on imported energy, Taiwan, a country in the subtropics, has limited natural resources. In this regard, biomass energy from (MSW) municipal solid waste incineration plants thus became attractive during the 1990s. The objective of this paper is to present a comprehensive analysis of MSW-to-energy in Taiwan. This paper gave a concise summary of current status of domestic energy consumption & power generation, MSW generation & MSW incineration treatment, and electricity generation from MSW incineration plants since 2000. Based on the electricity generation in 2008 (i.e., 2967 GWh), the environmental benefit of mitigating CO2 emissions and the economic benefit of selling electricity were preliminarily calculated to be around 1.9 × 106 tons and US$ 1.5 × 108, respectively. However, since the heat content of incinerated MSW and the methodologies were used on the recommendation of the (IPCC) Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the net emissions of CO2 equivalent from methane (CH4) & nitrous oxide (N2O) have been estimated to be at around 76,000 and 88,000 tons/year compared to coal and oil, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Under the current wave of international responses to the growing threat of climate change, Taiwan cannot afford to step back from its goal of advancing its renewable energy, strengthening its energy self sufficiency and energy security. This paper will first analyze the high level dependency structure of Taiwan''s energy demands; then we will explore Taiwan current situation in terms of renewable energy development; furthermore from an overview of the course of changes and development in Taiwan''s energy policy, highlight the commitment to and aims of Taiwan''s Renewable Energy Development, made by the government at the Annual National Energy Conference. Fourth, we shall analyse technological R&D, incentives, taxes, market reforms and other related policy tools. Fifth, in light of public announcements and budgets set in recent years for Taiwan''s renewable energy research plan, highlight main strategies being given impetus by the government. Sixth, the author will discuss the implications of recent significant legal reforms to the development of renewable energy in Taiwan and from the correlating aspects of industrial structures and energy consumption, take the first steps in emphasizing the urgent need for adjustments to be made to Taiwan''s industrial structure. Finally, this paper will conclude by examining current policies, legislation and strategies which are in place to promote this area in Taiwan and discuss the potential competitiveness and future scenarios which the development of Renewable Energy could mean for Taiwan. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

High‐resolution Taiwan Climate Change Projection Information and Adaptation Knowledge Platform (TCCIP) gridded precipitation data are used to characterize days in the Mei‐yu season with the most extreme precipitation (EP). These "EP days" are grouped into weather types based on the presence of features such as tropical cyclones (TCs) and atmospheric rivers (ARs), then analyzed from the perspective of weather type frequency and synoptic changes. During the 1979–2019 period, EP days associated with ARs were associated with significant increasing trends in season‐total precipitation. These AR‐related precipitation increases are due to four events in 2005, 2006, 2012, and 2017 which had long duration and unusually intense precipitation, and which were anomalous even within the longer 1960–2019 time period. Meanwhile, TC‐related EP days contribute less precipitation than they did in the 1980s due to decreased frequency of TCs on EP days and in the Mei‐yu season climatology. Over the 1979–2019 period, the AR‐related and TC‐related trends combine to produce EP increases in western Taiwan and decreases in eastern Taiwan. Mei‐yu season southwesterly integrated vapor transport (IVT), wind speed, and specific humidity have all increased in association with these extreme events. Low‐level winds appear to the primary factor influencing the IVT increase, with increased moisture also contributing. The wind trends are consistent with climatological pressure increases south of Taiwan and decreases over the East Asian landmass, which facilitate a strengthened circulation in a corridor extending from the southern China coastline over Taiwan during this season. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This focus review summarizes climate politics in Taiwan at the global, the national, and the local level. The article begins with an introduction to Taiwan's emission profile, major actors, and recent policy development. At the global level, Taiwan's unique international status has limited its responses to climate change as mostly gesture policies, but recently corporate climate actions bloomed due to pressures from the supply chains. At the national level, Taiwan's developmental state legacy has locked the country in a "high‐carbon regime" and struggled with the debate on nuclear power. Finally, at the local level, Taiwan seeks to facilitate climate actions with the principle of energy democracy, yet public participation still falls short and local land use conflicts will present enormous challenges. The article ends with a discussion on current knowledge gaps and invites future research to put Taiwan into comparative perspectives. This article is categorized under:Policy and Governance > National Climate Change Policy [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urban heat island (UHI) and global warming effects will raise the ambient temperature of cities and increase building energy consumption. This paper discusses the residential cooling energy variations imposed by urban warming in the present and future. Data from a dynamically downscaled hourly meteorological model with a grid resolution of 5 km and for time slices 1979–2003, 2015–2039, and 2075–2099 were used for dynamic building energy simulation against a typical residential apartment in the central Taiwan region. The meteorological grids were classified as 4 city grids, 25 town grids, and 31 countryside grids based on their urban morphology attributes. The values from 20 countryside grids with lower average ambient temperatures during cooling seasons were selected as reference. The spatial and temporal distributions of the impact of indoor overheating risk and annual cooling energy consumption by UHI and global warming effects were quantified against the reference value. Furthermore, because the energy penalty can be used to rapidly estimate the urban warming impact on total cooling energy consumption of a given city, the linear correlation of the energy penalty and the magnitude of the UHI effect was also established and discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Indigenous resilience is an increasingly popular topic in research on how the world's indigenous peoples cope with and adapt to global climate change. Currently, a scientific gap exists in the understanding of the factors shaping Indigenous resilience. This study aimed to address this gap by focusing on two Indigenous Tayal communities in northern Taiwan and how they have coped with and built resilience in the face of climate change and climate-related disasters. This study employed both quantitative (n = 101) and qualitative methods (n = 10) to determine the factors that shape the livelihood adaptation pathways and resilience capacities (i.e., absorptive, adaptive, and transformative) of Indigenous and local smallholder farmers. This study demonstrated that the adaptation pathways of individual households must be placed in the broader context of economic, social, and historical processes. Cultural practices, traditional ecological knowledge systems, place attachment, and perceptions, as well as socioeconomic factors and convictions regarding the need to combat climate change and conserve nature, have shaped households' resilience capacities. The evidence of a relationship between ethnicity and livelihood resilience was far from conclusive, and both Indigenous and non-indigenous households living in the same locality must be included when assessing Indigenous resilience to climate change. This study contributes to better understanding the agency of Indigenous households in their response to climate change and negative impacts of climate-related events. Such an understanding is necessary because sufficient insight into Indigenous and endogenous forms of climate change adaptation is lacking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While sustainable mobility and decarbonization of transportation sector are among the most comprehensive solutions to the problem of climate change, electric vehicles (EV) are becoming increasingly popular as the future mode of transport. In this study, the integration of a solar carport canopy to a potential EV charging station is analyzed using various operating conditions. A detailed analysis has been provided for the carport located in southern Taiwan, Kaohsiung city, where electricity generation, emission impacts, and financial analysis of the solar EV charging station are discussed. The results of a case study showed a potential of 140 MWh/year of solar energy yield, which could provide solar electricity of more than 3000 vehicles per month with 1-h parking time, generating 94% lower total carbon dioxide emission than the electricity produced from traditional grid methods. Taken into account the impact of carbon tax implementation on driver economics, the results demonstrated the viability of such photovoltaic (PV)-based charging stations, particularly for possible higher carbon tax scenarios in the future. The presented results can be implemented on a larger scale, offering guidelines and tools for constructing solar-powered EV charging station infrastructure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study shows that North Pacific subtropical mode water (STMW) characterized by low potential vorticity can approach and impinge on the Kuroshio mainstream east of Taiwan. The results of the analyses of observations and output from eddy‐resolving models show that the STMW appears with the frequency of 32.1% and 19.9% in the Kuroshio east of Taiwan. A case study with the output of the ocean general circulation model for the earth simulator during October 2015–March 2016 indicates that mode water moves southwestward toward the Kuroshio in accordance with a vertically lens‐shaped subsurface anticyclonic eddy (SAE). After the shoreward edge of the SAE impinges on the offshore edge of the Kuroshio, the northward velocity, especially subsurface velocity, of the Kuroshio increases significantly in the subsurface layer and the Kuroshio central position (KCP) extends eastward. While the SAE moves and dissipates, the offshore edge of the Kuroshio moves inshore, and then transport decreases. Both the northward velocity and the KCP changes result in the Kuroshio transport change during the impingement of SAE in the case. Statistic analysis further demonstrate that eddies those can trap moving STMW are dominated by SAEs. When SAEs encounter the Kuroshio, their subsurface northward velocity increases by 67.8% and the KCP moves eastward, and thus the northward transport of the Kuroshio increases by 43.4%. Plain Language Summary: The Kuroshio mainstream is a strong western boundary current of the North Pacific subtropical gyre that plays an important role in regulating climate changes in the Pacific Ocean. The Kuroshio flow passes east of Taiwan Island, where there is a high probability of the occurrence of eddies. We find that North Pacific subtropical mode water, which is characterized as a low potential vorticity water, can move to the east of Taiwan Island. We further confirm that this mode water is trapped by subsurface anticyclonic eddies (SAEs) in most cases, according to an eddy‐resolving ocean hindcast simulation, forced by observed atmospheric fields in the period 1993–2017. The subsurface northward velocity increases and the Kuroshio central position moves eastward when the shoreward edge of a SAE impinges on the offshore edge of the Kuroshio, and thus increases northward transportation of the Kuroshio. Under the effect of the SAE, the Kuroshio velocity intensifies, especially in the subsurface layer. While the SAE moves toward the western boundary and dissipates, the offshore edge of the Kuroshio moves inshore, and then transportation decreases. Key Points: Subtropical mode water can move to and impinge on the Kuroshio Current east of TaiwanThe mode water impinging on the Kuroshio Current is generally accompanied by subsurface anticyclonic eddies (SAEs)Collision of SAEs leads to the Kuroshio subsurface northward velocity change dramatically east of Taiwan [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change and global warming lead to changes in the sea level and shoreline, which pose a huge threat to island regions. Therefore, it is important to effectively detect the shoreline changes. Taiwan is a typical island, located at the junction of the East China Sea and the South China Sea in the Pacific Northwest, and is deeply affected by shoreline changes. In this research, Taiwan was selected as the study area. In this research, an efficient shoreline detection method was proposed based on the semantic segmentation U-Net model using the Sentinel-1 synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data of Taiwan island. In addition, the batch normalization (BN) module was added to the convolution layers in the U-Net architecture to further improve the generalization ability of U-Net and accelerate the training process. A self-built shoreline dataset was introduced to train the U-Net model and test its detection efficiency. The dataset consists of a total of 4029 SAR images covering all coastal areas of Taiwan. The training samples of the dataset were annotated by morphological processing and manual inspection. The segmentation results of U-Net were then processed by edge detection and morphological postprocessing to extract the shoreline. The experimental results showed that the proposed method could achieve a satisfactory detection performance compared with the related methods using the data provided by the Ministry of the Interior of Taiwan from 2016 to 2019 for different coastal landforms in Taiwan. Within a 5-pixel difference between the detected shoreline and the ground truth data, the F1-Meaure of the proposed method exceeded 80%. In addition, the potential of this method in shoreline change detection was validated with a sandbar located on the southwestern coast of Taiwan. Finally, the entire shoreline of Taiwan has been described by the proposed approach and the detected shoreline length was close to the actual length. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Under the UNFCCC, governments have adopted a universal climate change agreement, the Paris Agreement, near the end of 2015 covering nearly all countries from 2020, and will endeavor to find ways to scale up efforts before 2020 beyond the existing pledges to curb emissions, so that the world can stay below the agreed maximum 2 °C temperature rise. In view of long-term planning strategy, many countries have adopted the year 2050 goals, and science strongly indicates that any further delay in appropriate global mitigation efforts will increase the pressure towards our low-carbon future. This paper discussed the multiple challenges and searches for the optimal pathways in promoting the transformation of future renewable energy systems in Taiwan, especially its practical implementation aspects. While developing Taiwan׳s climate legislation and strategies, in addition to having the participation of both the public and private sectors in order to act aggressively to overcome policy obstacles, active dialogues with the stakeholders and the general public were also promoted which helped to improve public awareness and build up consensus. The end result is the promulgation of the 2015 Greenhouse Gas Reduction and Management Act which stipulates Taiwan׳s short and long term climate goals and development of corresponding measures, and the formulation of Taiwan׳s Nationally Determined Contribution which serves to foster a facilitative environment and create tremendous business opportunities for the booming green industry in Taiwan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, due to the increase in greenhouse gas emissions causing global warming, but also lead to the world's climate change. Carbon reduction and sustainable development has become an important topic around the world. Resource recycling can reduce the exploitation of natural virgin materials. The building projects have been promote every year and the urban renewal plan cause the demolition of existing buildings demolition. The average life span of buildings is 23.31 years. Most Construction waste was belong to resources that can be utilized to renewable resources. Such as waste concrete block, steel, wood, glass, etc., can now through the construction site to reduce, or transport to recycling factory to become resource. The recycling process can reduce using natural materials and reduce engender the construction waste. In recent years, 2 million tons of construction waste are generated each year in Taiwan. The Taiwan Environmental Protection Administration (TEPA) initiated the online system in 1997 to better manage tracking. After three years of testing, the Industrial Waste Control Center (IWCC) was officially established in 2000. It offers functions like online integration, mobilization, and analysis tools. The construction site was monitored from 2005. The Construction waste must be transported to the treatment facilities. The reporting system has been improved to not only trace the waste flow, but also to monitor the actual amount of waste generated. This paper mainly described Taiwan construction waste management (CWM) practices and reuse status. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the first high-resolution Holocene stalagmite record of Taiwan from Jianfei Cave (22°50.873 N; 120°21.255 E) in Dagangshan Mountain, South Taiwan. The 13.6-cm long stalagmite (DGS-1) has been dated by AMS 14 C dating, spanning from AD 700 to AD 1933. The δ 18 O, δ 13 C and XRF scanned elemental profiles reveal interannual variations in climate and environmental conditions, with light δ 18 O and δ 13 C excursions reflecting wet climate and better vegetation coverage under stronger East Asia Summer Monsoon (EASM). Dark layers in DGS-1 containing high Fe, Mn and Sr contents were formed during dry episodes. Five periods with different climate regimes and vegetation conditions can be identified in the DGS-1 record: Period I (AD 700–1200) and Period V (AD 1810–1933) had warm and wet climates with good vegetation coverage. A drying trend probably corresponding to the switch from El Niño-like to La Niña-like oceanic condition occurred during Period II (AD 1200–1400). Cold but relatively wet climates with good vegetation coverage were prevailed during Period III (AD 1400–1610), whereas cold and dry climates with poor vegetation coverage were dominated during Period IV (AD 1610–1810). Based on the rainfall record of Tainan since AD 1897 and the stalagmite record, we found that stronger total solar irradiation (TSI) resulting in strong EASM produces heavy rainfall in South Taiwan on interannual-to-decadal scales; and vice versa. The 117-yr instrumental rainfall record of Tainan showed that rainfall in Tainan decreased during April-to-June and strongly increased during July-to-September in many La Niña years (positive SOI and negative Niño 3.4). This may be because weaker Meiyu rainfall but stronger tropical Equatorial Pacific cyclones (or typhoon) under La Niña condition. Thus, it is better to use seasonal rainfall for detecting relationship between Tainan rainfall and ENSO. On decadal-to-centennial scales, strong El Niño-like state and warm Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) phase are in favor of wet conditions in South Taiwan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fossil fuels have been heavily exploited since the Industrial Revolution. The resulting carbon emissions are widely regarded as being the main cause of global warming and climate change. Key mitigation technologies for reducing carbon emissions include carbon capture and storage (CCS) and renewables. According to recent analysis of the International Energy Agency, renewables and CCS will contribute more than 50% of the cumulative emissions reductions by 2050. This paper presents a new mathematical programming model for multi-footprint energy sector planning with CCS and renewables deployment. The model is generic and considers a variety of carbon capture (CC) options for the retrofit of individual thermal power generation units. For comprehensive planning, the Integrated Environmental Control Model is employed in this work to assess the performance and costs of different types of power generation units before and after CC retrofits. A case study of Taiwan's energy sector is presented to demonstrate the use of the proposed model for complex decision-making and cost trade-offs in the deployment of CC technologies and additional low-carbon energy sources. Different scenarios are analysed, and the results are compared to identify the optimal strategy for the energy mix to satisfy the electricity demand and the various planning constraints. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change has caused severe impacts on ecosystems and biodiversity globally, especially to vulnerable mountain ecosystems; the summits bear the brunt of such effects. Therefore, six summits in Taiwan were monitored based on a standardized multi-summit approach. We used both statistical downscaling of climate data and vegetation cover data to calculate climate niches to assess the impacts of climate change. Two indicators, thermophilic and moist-philic, were applied to evaluate the overall response of vegetation dynamics. The results revealed that potential evapotranspiration increased significantly and led to a declining tendency in monthly water balance from 2014 to 2019. The general pattern of species richness was a decline. The difference in plant cover among the three surveys showed an inconsistent pattern, although some dominant species expanded, such as the dwarf bamboo Yushania niitakayamensis. The thermophilic indicator showed that species composition had changed so that there were more thermophilic species at the three lowest summits. The moist-philization indicator showed a decline of humid-preferred species in the latest monitoring period. Although total precipitation did not decrease, our results suggest that the variability in precipitation with increased temperature and potential evapotranspiration altered alpine vegetation composition and could endanger vulnerable species in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many insects have been studied over wide geographical areas to determine whether they follow Bergmann's Rule, which predicts that animal clades or populations should have smaller body sizes in warmer climates. While this ecogeographic rule is well supported in mammals and birds, insect latitudinal sizes can show Bergmann, converse Bergmann, or no size clines at all. Museum collections are typical sources of data for insect clines, and long-term collections should reflect rising global temperatures and shifting climates, possibly producing temporal size clines along with any geographical clines. We hypothesize that insects with Bergmann clines geographically will show Bergmann-like clines temporally as well, and that the converse and inverse of this rule are also true. By looking at museum samples going back a century, we tested whether Anomala expansa expansa (Bates, 1866), a species of Scarabaeidae beetle common in lowland Taiwan, was experiencing long-term changes in body size in response to rising temperatures. We found that overall, the size of these beetles increased over time. Within Taipei populations, this increase was correlated with rising average yearly temperatures. The impact of this pest species' rising size with time will need to be monitored, and temporal size clines in other pests need to be investigated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: Reef fishes are commonly recognized as sentinels of the ongoing tropicalization in biogeographic transition zones between temperate and tropical areas. Despite the reliance of these marine ectotherms on the benthos, the importance of benthic habitat has rarely been considered as a factor constraining fish distribution. Therefore, our study aims at examining the consequences of both temperature and benthic variations on the fish fauna and diagnosing potential sentinels of these environmental changes. Location: Taiwan, West Pacific. Taxon: Teleostei (184 species). Methods: We examined how the partitioning of habitats can influence the specialization of fish fauna along a latitudinal gradient. We diagnosed 'specialist' and 'generalist' fishes in this partitioning. For each specialist, we further evaluated whether its distribution is constrained by temperature, benthic habitat or both factors combined. The change in sea surface temperature over the last three decades was also monitored. Results: Fish fauna showed the highest specialization when tropical and subtropical partitions of habitat were considered. Fifty‐one tropical specialists, 7 subtropical specialists and 21 possible generalists were identified. Among specialists, 13 species were associated with temperature, 19 with habitat and 26 with both factors. Steady warming occurred across latitudes, but was accentuated in the winter of subtropical habitat. Main Conclusions: Our results suggested that the distribution of some specialist fishes was constrained only by temperature while the distribution of some others also depended on the availability of benthic habitats. Consequently, under global warming, the distribution of some specialists might shift in a manner that follows the movement of isotherms, while the distribution of others might also be conditioned by the poleward shifts of benthos. A temporal mismatch between the emergence of suitable thermal environments and the arrival of some specialists may exist. Therefore, the tropicalization of high‐latitude areas may be characterized by different waves of colonization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Seagrass beds serve as important carbon sinks, and it is thought that increasing the quantity and quality of such sinks could help to slow the rate of global climate change. Therefore, it will be important to (1) gain a better understanding of seagrass bed metabolism and (2) document how these high-productivity ecosystems are impacted by climate change-associated factors, such as ocean acidification (OA) and ocean warming (OW). A mesocosm-based approach was taken herein in which a tropical, Western Pacific seagrass species Thalassia hemprichii was cultured under either control or OA-simulating conditions; the temperature was gradually increased from 25 to 31 °C for both CO2 enrichment treatments, and it was hypothesized that this species would respond positively to OA and elevated temperature. After 12 weeks of exposure, OA (~1200 ppm) led to (1) increases in underground biomass and root C:N ratios and (2) decreases in root nitrogen content. Rising temperatures (25 to 31 °C) increased the maximum quantum yield of photosystem II (Fv:Fm), productivity, leaf growth rate, decomposition rate, and carbon sequestration, but decreased the rate of shoot density increase and the carbon content of the leaves; this indicates that warming alone does not increase the short-term carbon sink capacity of this seagrass species. Under high CO2 and the highest temperature employed (31 °C), this seagrass demonstrated its highest productivity, Fv:Fm, leaf growth rate, and carbon sequestration. Collectively, then, it appears that high CO2 levels offset the negative effects of high temperature on this seagrass species. Whether this pattern is maintained at temperatures that actually induce marked seagrass stress (likely beginning at 33–34 °C in Southern Taiwan) should be the focus of future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]