Category: Research

Insect Sampling with the OKEON Chura-mori Project・OKEON美ら森プロジェクト: 昆虫モニタリングの紹介

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Video Producer, Director and Editor: Linda Iha

Script and Starring: Dr. Masashi Yoshimura

Video Production Assistant and Translation: Aina Urano

Video Production Assistant: Masako Ogasawara

Screenshot video

(Click here or on the picture to watch the video)

OKEON Chura-mori Project: what is it? Simply put, it is an environmental monitoring project in Okinawa, Japan, funded by OIST, and conducted through the co-operation of Okinawan local society. From researching the biodiversity in Okinawa to developing social networks and improving environmental education, the goals of the project include multiple aspects. This video will introduce the insect monitoring aspect of the field sampling system.

The primary scientific goal of OKEON is to measure and monitor the terrestrial environments of Okinawa and understand how natural and anthropogenic factors affect the environment over time. One component of this is to use samples of small insects, collected from SLAM traps. On each of the 24 sites across Okinawa, there are also instruments which log weather data, camera traps and acoustic recorders.

There are many activities besides this which are fundamental to OKEON. There is collaboration with museums, high schools and universities across Okinawa. For example, students at Hentona High School collect materials from OKEON sites which can be used for their education and for research at OIST. These students are taught to do so by high school teachers who have attended a training programme at OIST related to ant research. Projects like this which create benefit for everyone involved and have a positive impact on society are very important to OKEON.

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Please see below for the Japanese version of this blogpost.

このブログの日本語バージョンはこちらです。

製作者、監督、編集者：伊波リンダ

脚本、出演：吉村正志

制作アシスタント、翻訳：浦野藍業

制作アシスタント：小笠原昌子

(動画を見るのにこちらをクリックしてください）

OKEON美ら森プロジェクトとはなんでしょうか？OKEON美ら森プロジェクトとは、沖縄科学技術大学院大学の生物多様性・複雑性研究ユニットが牽引する、社会協働型の沖縄環境モニタリングプロジェクトです。その目的は、沖縄の陸域の環境および生物多様性の理解から、実際の環境観測網構築、そして協働ネットワークまでと、多岐にわたります。この動画は本プロジェクトの、昆虫調査部分の概要を紹介します。

OKEON美ら森プロジェクトが研究面において目指すところ。それは、沖縄全域を網羅する陸域自然環境の観測網を立ち上げること。そして、自然の変化や人為的な要因が生物多様性に現在、そして未来にわたり与える影響を理解することです。プロジェクトではまずはじめに、沖縄本島全域２４ヶ所の調査区に72基の飛翔性昆虫捕獲器（SLAMトラップ）を設置。そこから集まる小さな昆虫のサンプルに注目して、環境の研究を行っています。その他にも、それら調査区には気象観測装置やカメラトラップ、音声トラップなども設置し、環境データを収集します。

上記研究面の他に、地域社会との連携が、OKEON美ら森プロジェクトの最も大切な部分のひとつです。現在は、沖縄本島にある博物館や高校、大学などと協働関係を構築しています。例えば、高校との協働では、生徒たちが採集した標本を、高校での環境研究実践と、私たちの生物多様性研究で共有します。OKEON美ら森プロジェクトでは、アリ類を使った環境研究の研修を提供。そこへ参加した先生方が、生徒たちの研究指導を行います。 そこに関わるすべての人たちに利益をもたらし、地域社会の未来に貢献すること。OKEON美ら森プロジェクトが、常に大切にしている部分です。

このウエブサイトに最新の情報やブログをアップしますので、ぜひお楽しみください！フェイスブックとツイッターも更新中。ご覧ください。

Museum Is a Time Capsule: A Step Towards the Future- An Essay by Masashi Yoshimura

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column4

Museum Is a Time Capsule: A Step Toward the Future

(Written by Masashi Yoshimura, Translated by OIST Media Section)

This summer, we have been working on the exhibition with the theme, “OKEON Churaumi Project” at the Okinawa Prefectural Museum.  Of course, it is my first experience to create a full-fledged exhibition at a museum with the help of project staff members.  It would be my pleasure if museum visitors can sense our feelings toward this project.  At the same time, we learned a lot how difficult it is to develop a museum exhibition this time.

For most visitors, a museum should be just a place where they can see exhibitions and some lectures.  On the other hand, for researchers, a museum is a place where samples can be collected and retained over a long passage of time as if in a time capsule.  A museum is a research base where we can approach the truth of evolution and biodiversity taking place on our earth.

One person can live for a hundred years at most.  The amount of time one researcher can spend on research is even shorter.  It would not be easy for a person to know what kind of living things had existed 100 years ago unless the person has a special time capsule in his/her desk drawer.  Even the names of the living creatures could be altered after 100 years.  Only samples retained in museums could come as their real figures to us living in modern time.

Compared to our busy daily lives, the changes of nature are taking place rather slowly.  Because of this slow progress, we tend to overlook the changes, which may give tremendous impacts.  To learn from the past and hand down the lessons of now to the future, our ancestors created a giant time capsule called a museum.  Okinawa-a place with rich natural environment, a place that has been and is being changed.  “What can we reserve now for future learning?”

I have been working on our project asking myself such a question day by day.

 

The original article in Japanese can be found here

Working with World Heritage Sites: A rare opportunity to enter the protected world of Sefa Utaki

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For research involving fieldwork, locations are crucial. Each location has to be considered carefully from a scientific perspective in order to collect the appropriate data. However, beyond the science, there are many other considerations. What are the characteristics of the location? Who is in charge of the land? What is it used for? Each location is uniquely located within space and time, posing individual challenges but also potentially very rewarding.

One of the sites chosen for the OKEON Chura-mori Project is the sacred site of Sefa Utaki, located on the Chinen Peninsula in the south of Okinawa’s main island.

Masashi Yoshimura, 2016

Urbanisation has posed a significant threat to biodiversity in Okinawa; if you look at an aerial view of the southern part of Okinawa’s main island, the scale at which urbanisation has occurred is readily apparent.

Around 90 per cent of Okinawa’s population live in the southern third of the island, with Naha-shi within the top 30 most densely populated cities across the whole of Japan. As a project which aims to investigate the biodiversity across the entire island, the lack of forested areas in the south posed a major problem when searching for locations to erect SLAM traps to collect insects.
map of sefa utaki google earth

August 2, 2016

As a result, any remaining forest is of critical importance from a scientific perspective. It can help us to understand how urbanisation has impacted biodiversity in the area, as well as painting a more complete picture of biodiversity across the island. The Sefa Utaki site is one such remaining forested area. It is highly sacred according to indigenous Okinawan beliefs.

For many centuries, it has been seen as a powerful spiritual site, meaning that the forest has been virtually untouched and therefore protected. This makes the site particularly interesting from a biodiversity perspective, as it has been preserved for so long within a religion which regards nature with the highest esteem. If the site had not been so well protected against urban development and other invasions, it would not hold such a historical key to the remaining biodiversity in Southern Okinawa.

IMG_2736

 

Due to the local importance of the site, as well as its’ status as a World Heritage Site, it seemed to be an unrealistic aspiration to set up a SLAM trap here.

However, one important connection that OKEON Chura-mori has with Okinawa Municipal Museum’s (沖縄市立郷土博物館) curator, Mr. Kawazoe, led to the chance to work at the Sefa site. Through Mr. Kawazoe and Mr. Higa’s introduction, we asked for the cooperation of the city administrator in charge of the site to allow OKEON to research there.

Despite having obtained official permission, extra care had to be taken at this locally historic site. Within the social system in Okinawa, locally elected ward heads are highly regarded, almost more so than city or prefectural administrators. In respect of this, OKEON project leaders met with Mr Nakama, the head of the ward where Sefa Utaki is located, to receive his approval, and accordingly the approval of the local community.

Without this acknowledgement, foreign researchers entering the local site might cause distress to local communities – despite having official permission – potentially leading to conflict. Mr Nakama also proposed that OKEON should attend the bi-annual community meeting to present the data collected at the site. Here, OKEON will present not only a broad overview of the project, and specific elements pertaining to the area, but also how much of an honour it is to work at this important site which has been protected for so long.

IMG_2836

 

Maintaining a good working relationship with the local people, through the locally elected officials is vital to ensure the longevity of the OKEON project.

Any data collected will be useful, but the particularly exciting element is the potential for it to be continued for many generations to come. Long term studies contribute greatly to understandings of changing biodiversity, but depend heavily on being able to use the exact same sites indefinitely.

IMG_2732

Luckily for us, not only as researchers but also as humans who are part of the ecosystem, some parts of nature have been protected for many generations. Sefa Utaki is one such area. The care taken to respect this site will allow the study to continue, but is also a valuable example of how nature could be treated to ensure biodiversity to flourish, against the backdrop of rapidly urbanising landscapes.

For more information about Sefa Utaki and the related Ryukyu Heritage Sites , click here, and for further information regarding the OKEON project please click here.

New ant species- in 3D!

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GoTants

We have two new papers out in PLoS ONE today describing some new species and highlighting the potential of micro-CT for ant taxonomy.

The first paper, headed by Eli and co-authored by Georg, revises one crazy spinescent Pheidole group from New Guinea, and notes interesting findings on the musculature under the spines.

We named these species Pheidole drogon and Pheidole viserion after the dragons from George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire series.

The second paper, led by Georg, revises the Pheidole knowlesi group from Fiji including complete micro-CT galleries of all castes of six species from the group. This knowlesi group is not as morphologically spectacular as cervicornis, but is of great interest to us as it pertains to our work on the taxon cycle hypothesis.

We hope these show a glimpse of what cool things can be done with micro-CT for organismal biology, biodiversity studies, and taxonomy.
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OKEON Churamori meets Yanbaru Discovery Forest

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On the first day of my internship I was invited to attend a meeting between OKEON project leaders Yoshi and Masako and representatives of the Yanbaru Discovery Forest (YDF). The Yanbaru forested area in Northern Okinawa is known for its natural beauty and endemic species. If you ask local Okinawans about wildlife and the environment, Yanbaru forest is usually mentioned before too long, perhaps due to the strong association with species such as the Yanbaru Kuina bird (やんばるクイナ）or how it is historically uninhabited tropical rainforest.

 

800px-Yambaru_Oldest_Forest_(tata_aka_T)

Photo courtesy of: tata_aka_T

The meeting took place in order to re-establish the link between the OKEON project and YDF. Within local organisations anywhere around the world, without prior introductions, it is not easy to establish connections straight away. This is especially the case in Okinawa. It takes time, with trust and understanding needed in order to gain access to key stakeholders within an organisation. Not only is it important to meet face-to-face with the relevant people, but that relationship has to then be maintained and built upon to be truly successful.
IMG_0443

Collaboration and communication is key to the success of OKEON. The overall aim of the project is to gain a deeper scientific understanding of the biodiversity and natural environment of Okinawa. However, the key to the project is not science alone, but a diverse network within the local community and other organisations which support and acknowledge the project, and eventually collaborate as well. The longevity of the project depends on this network, and the longer OKEON runs for, the more useful it will be overall in terms of monitoring the terrestrial environment of Okinawa.

 

The YDF in particular is an important organisation for OKEON to establish a relationship with. It is specifically known as an area of valuable nature, and is a conservation hotspot currently being prepared for nomination as a World Heritage site. It is therefore bound to be a place which attracts people who like nature. Visitors to Yanbaru will see information on OKEON and OIST, and perhaps become interested in OKEON, further building the network. Collaboration is a good opportunity for information about OKEON to spread, and to become well-known in the community. YDF can also benefit, as co-operation could lead to new environmental education programs in the future using data from OKEON.

 

As the meeting progressed, what seemed initially to be a meeting where Yoshi and Masako were trying to win over the YDF with the importance of OKEON, there was a gradual shift towards mutual understanding, and by the end of the meeting, a much firmer bond was established. The head of the YDF even asked Yoshi for advice about an ant infestation in one of the rooms, which Yoshi happily went to investigate with his pocket microscope. Not only had the link between the organisations been established, there was talk of future collaboration regarding conservation projects and mounting an explanation of the OKEON project along the trail of the YDF.