Spatially explicit changes of forestland in Taiwan Province from 1910 to 2010

doi:10.1007/s11442-022-1956-y

摘要/Abstract

Abstract:

Reconstructing long-term changes of forest cover (FC) can provide reliable underlying data for carbon source/sink accounting and simulation of the effects of land use on the climate and environment. Historical maps contain a wealth of forest related information and can provide first-hand data for studying the changes in FC over a long time period. Taking the reconstruction of FC in Taiwan Province from 1910-2010 as the research object, we used map extraction and mining methods to extract forest distribution information from historical forest thematic survey maps, topographic and land cover maps, and reconstructed the spatiotemporal patterns of FC in Taiwan from 1910-2010. The results show that: first, the relative bias of the FC area extracted from the historical maps of Taiwan was below 8%, meaning the FC information contained in maps is highly accurate. Second, the FC of Taiwan has generally declined in the past 100 years. From 1910-2010, the forest area declined from 2.62×10⁶ ha to 2.47×10⁶ ha, with relatively obvious forest reduction having occurred. In stages, the forest area of Taiwan decreased by 26.39×10⁴ ha from 1910 to 1950; and increased by 10.53×10⁴ ha during the period 1950-2010. Forest reduction was obvious during the Japanese occupation period, while forest increase was remarkable during the Kuomintang period. Third, during the study period, the total area of patches maintained as forests was 2.17×10⁶ ha with little change in the overall pattern, and forests were mainly distributed in the mountain regions. The loss of forest mainly occurred in the plains, with expanding forest areas mainly in the mountain regions at high elevations and on steep slopes. Fourth, land clearing for agriculture during the Japanese occupation period has been the important driver of forest reduction in Taiwan over the past century. After retreated to Taiwan, the Kuomintang government introduced effective and remarkable reforms that led to effective restoration of forest vegetation in many areas where forests had previously disappeared.

Key words: historical map, forestland change, spatiotemporal pattern, driving force, Taiwan

. [J]. 地理学报(英文版), 2022, 32(3): 441-457.

YANG Xuhong, JIN Xiaobin, YANG Yongke, SONG Jiani, ZHANG Tong, ZHOU Yinkang. Spatially explicit changes of forestland in Taiwan Province from 1910 to 2010[J]. Journal of Geographical Sciences, 2022, 32(3): 441-457.

图/表 9

参考文献 47

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Map/Abbreviation	Year		Scale	Covered area	Forest representation	Sources
Map/Abbreviation	Topicality	Period	Scale	Covered area	Forest representation	Sources
The forest investigation zone in Taiwan Province (FIZ1910)	1910	1910-1915	1:500 000	Broad part of Taiwan Province except the Central Mountain Range	Colored polygon filled with green or pink; dotted line boundaries	http://thcts.ascc.net/htwn_ch.htm the data list name is the rd 03-2, -3, -4 and -7.
The forest investigation zone in Taiwan Province (FIZ1925)	1925	1925-1930	1:300 000	Central Mountain Range	Colored polygon filled with green, orange, or red*; dotted line boundaries
Taiwan topo- graphic maps (TTM1950)	1950	1945-1950	1:250 000	The whole of Taiwan Province	Colored polygon filled with pale green; dotted line boundaries, contour line and rivers; dotted features symbol	http://www.utexas.edu/
Taiwan land use map (TLUM2010)	2010	2010	1:100 000	The whole of Taiwan Province	Forest type polygon	Liu et al., 2014