Human-wildlife relationships and defaunation in Japan

Project Gist

Explore the coexistence of human and wildlife

Keywords

defaunation, seed dispersal, Japanese macaque, Yakushima, Tanegashima

Background and Purpose

We applied a varied, multidisciplinary research approach to investigate the coexistence of humans and wildlife in two neighboring islands in southern Japan: Yakushima, the internationally recognized, long-term primatological study site of Japanese macaques, and Tanegashima, where Japanese macaques went extinct immediately following World War II. We studied the ecological functions, such as seed dispersal, of Japanese macaques in the forest ecosystem, and the changes in the ecosystem when those functions are lost following their extinction. We also studied human-macaque relationships via hunting or crop-raiding on both islands in historical and contemporary contexts.

Project Achievements

In order to assess how the absence of Japanese macaques affects the regeneration of animal-dispersed plants, we compared the distribution of adult trees and seedlings of Myrica rubra in Yakushima and Tanegashima. We published a book on hunters’ activities in Yakushima in the 1950s, based on the field notebooks of a pioneering Japanese primatologist. We also conducted a sociological environmental study on crop-raiding by Japanese macaques in Yakushima by utilizing an interview-based survey on the extinction of macaques in Tanegashima. Through these studies, we have formed a foundation for future collaborative interdisciplinary studies on human-wildlife relationships.

Future Prospects

We will broaden our interdisciplinary research to include tropical regions by conducting studies on the human driven causes, and effects, of tropical forest defaunation. We will digitize the notebooks and photos of a pioneer of Japanese primatology, recorded during his fieldwork in Japan and SE Asia, and publicize his work as a digital archive.

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Principal Investigator