Campus Biodiversity Survey
To learn about and manage the ecological environment and resources on campus, NTU has carried out regular Campus Biodiversity Survey since 2009, including the survey of birds, mammals, reptiles, insects, plants, and green coverage. The goal is to understand the distribution of various species on campus, as well as the rise and fall of native species and exotic species, the information of which will become a reference for NTU’s management of biodiversity.
Since the NTU campus is located in the center of the urban area, the campus serves like a park providing habitats for the ecosystem to grow and local residents to enjoy nature. The survey also helps NTU to set up ecological signs for educational purposes. The south side of the campus is closer to a nature hill that holds many local species so the school also works with neighboring communities to preserve the ecosystem close to the campus.
NTU Campus Tree Protection Project
There is a wide variety of trees on the NTU campus, with more than 20,000 trees growing on the 40-hectare main campus. Each year, NTU makes great efforts to maintain the campus landscape by trimming trees and lawns, replacing flowers, preventing and controlling pests and diseases, and treating or removing diseased plants. As an important green space for the urban residents, NTU kicked off the “NTU Campus Tree Protection Project” in 2020, which solicited private donations to help with health inspection, pest prevention, and disease prevention of trees on campus as well as campus landscaping. Hopefully, the green assets on the NTU campus will continue to flourish. NTU also hopes that this project will invite local residents to contribute to the effect of protecting the campus ecosystem.
NTU Conserve
NTU Conseve is a student club that is interested in animal conservation. They participated in a lot of conservation effect on campus including the "Bird Window Collision Prevention Project.", "Campus Animal Aid." The student club is also very active in improving school biodiversity policies.
NTU Firefly Restoration Project
NTU kickstarted a restoration project for aquatic fireflies in 2021, with financial support from the Class of 1966 alumni and 1,200 larvae of Aquatica ficta generously donated by the Taipei Zoo. With the help of experts from NTU’s Department of Entomology, Department of Horticulture & Landscape Architecture and Experimental Farm, a clean, aquatic natural environment was prepared as a habitat for the larvae in the Crop Specimen Park near the planted areas along Zhoushan Road. At the end of August, 2021, river snails were released into the habitat as the food source for the fireflies, which would form a natural food chain. The firefly larvae were first released in December 2021 and later in February 2022. Along with lectures on the ecology of fireflies, participants of the events learned about the significance of firefly restoration in addition to biodiversity on campus. Hopefully, the restoration of fireflies will make people understand the importance of ecological sustainability. By spring 2022, the shining fireflies were seen in NTU’s night sky. And a second addition of larvae release was done in Spring 2023.
