Hundreds of invasive species are taking over Kaohsiung's Shoushan National Nature Park. Volunteers are pitching in to fight back against the spread.
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00:00 These princess vines look beautiful, with their aerial roots swaying and glistening in the sunlight.
00:05 But this plant is not native to Taiwan, and it's spreading rapidly.
00:10 A recent report says the princess vine is just one of some 380 invasive species
00:25 found in Kaohsiung's Sousan National Nature Park.
00:28 That's a huge amount compared to the 500 native species there.
00:31 And these foreign plants were brought in by people.
00:34 These invasive species have spread rapidly over the past few years,
00:48 so the park has called for volunteers to help halt that spread.
00:51 If we don't start controlling the number of invasive species,
00:54 it could become a serious problem in the future.
00:57 It could spread to the entire forest.
01:00 It's not just plants being crowded out by the newcomers.
01:05 Many native insect species rely on indigenous flora to survive.
01:09 So if the native plants go, so do the bugs.
01:12 Conservationists are calling on people to stop planting foreign species,
01:16 to leave room for native species to thrive.
01:19 Leon Lien and Eric Gao for Taiwan Plus.
01:22 [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH]