Introduction: Long-term monitoring and research in Asian university forests: towards further understanding of environmental changes and ecosystem responses

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book deals with forest ecosystems in Asia using long-term biological and ecological data. It discusses the present climate types of university forests in Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, and Malaysia, and projected changes in the classification results under future climate scenarios. The book then determines Soil Conservation Service curve number values using rainfall and runoff data measured for 6–17 years in Japan, Korea, Taiwan, and Thailand. It also determines developmental periods for bud break and leaf opening of Quercus crispula by developing a growing degree day’s model with leafing phenology data over 10 and 53 years in central and northern Japan. The book conducts a tree-ring analysis with monthly climate data over 50 years to examine the differences in climate and drought response of three introduced conifers in southern Korea.