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進入《TAIPEI TIMES 焦點》 Taipei restoring firefly habitats
Students from Taipei Municipal Wuchang Junior High School yesterday clear and deepen a pond in Rongxing Garden Park that is to provide a habitat for fireflies. Photo: Chien Jung-fong, Taipei Times
UNIQUE LIGHTING: A new pond at Rongxing Garden Park was the first on a list of areas around the city being improved to help bolster the capital’s firefly population
New efforts are being made to restore firefly habitats in Taipei parks, the city’s Department of Public Works said yesterday.
Mayor Ko Wen-je （柯文哲） visited Rongxing Garden Park （榮星花園公園） to review progress on a new pond to provide a habitat for the insects, as well as surveying volunteers from the Society of Wilderness who were working to deepen and clear the pond, while removing foreign vegetation and wildlife.
After surveying the site, Ko symbolically shut a new gate across a former pond-side path, which will be closed to protect the pond’s wildlife by keeping pedestrians at a distance.
The new pond is one of several firefly habitats to be revived around the capital, including sites at Daan Forest Park （大安森林公園）, Fuyang Park （富陽公園）, Zhongqiang Park （中強公園） and Muzha Cui Lake （木柵翠湖）, as the city prepares to host the 2017 International Firefly Symposium, according to the public works department
“Fireflies are an indicator species for a good environment because they are very demanding in terms of the water and air they require,” National Taipei University of Nursing and Health Sciences assistant professor Wu Chia-hsiung （吳加雄） said. He said that while fireflies normally cannot survive in urban environments, the continued presence of fireflies in some areas is unique to Taipei.
“We should bring ecology back, not ‘create’ it,” Parks and Street Lights Office Director Chang Yu-huei （張郁慧） said of the city’s plans to restore firefly habitats in parks.
She said the pond being restored at Rongxing Garden Park used to be a natural firefly habitat, originally comprising one end of the Liugongjun system of drainage canals which used to crisscross Taipei.
She said that fireflies can still be seen around the pond in April and May, but that numbers present have been sporadic due to the gradual deoxygenation and sedimentation of the still water, as well as alien wildlife being released into the pond by park visitors.
In addition to dredging the pond, removing foreign species, closing the pond-side path and installing a water pump, the department has also planted screens of vegetation to shield fireflies from bright light, she said, estimating that firefly numbers should improve within a year or two.
新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES
