Recovery of rocky intertidal community after the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake elucidated by a large-scale longterm community census

2017 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 15K07208
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Ecology/Environment
• Research Institution: Hokkaido University
• Principal Investigator: NODA Takashi 北海道大学, 地球環境科学研究院, 教授 (90240639)
• Project Period (FY): 2015-04-01 – 2018-03-31
• Keywords: 地震 / 東北地方太平洋沖地震 / 岩礁潮間帯 / 底生生物 / 撹乱 / 生物群集 / 津波 / 沈降

Outline of Final Research Achievements

The 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake caused large tsunami and coseismic subsidence in the Tohoku region. To assess impacts of the earthquake on rocky intertidal community and the course and status of recovery of the community by before/after comparison, I carried out the survey using the same method at the same place from 2011 to 2017. The results show that the rocky intertidal community suffered significant but only relatively minor damage from the tsunami. In contrast, coseismic subsidence may have caused the considerable changes in distribution and abundance of organisms. At 6 years after the earthquake, the community has not yet returned to its normal state; for several dominant species, zonation in 2017 was obviously different from zonation before the earthquake. This community will experience a long delay before fully recovering from the impact of the earthquake because species that have not recovered include late successional species.

Free Research Field

生態学