Fig. 1

The numbers and acronyms of 22 geographical localities of Taiwan (GLTs). The solid curve represents the profile of the island. Taiwan was divided into four latitude zones, northern zone (N), central zone (C), southern zone (S), and southern tip (ST). The N, C and S latitude zones were divided into eastern (E) and western (W) slopes of central mountain system. Seven geographical areas were obtained, they were NE, NW, CE, CW, SE, SW and ST. The seven geographical areas were then divided into several geographical localities according to elevation. The GLTs were numbered from north to south and from low to high elevations