Did salvage barges tasked to reconstruct divastated Tohoku areas by 2011 GEJA disturbed biodivesities in the northeast coast of Japan?

2017 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 15K07533
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Aquatic bioproduction science
• Research Institution: Kitasato University
• Principal Investigator: Kado Ryusuke 北里大学, 海洋生命科学部, 名誉教授 (40161137)
• Co-Investigator(Renkei-kenkyūsha): NOGATA Yasuyuki 電力中央研究所, 環境研究所, 主任研究員 (10371535)
• Project Period (FY): 2015-04-01 – 2018-03-31
• Keywords: alien barnacle / Perforatus perforatus / anthropogenic activity / salvage barges / CO1 analysis / settlement season / growth / predators

Outline of Final Research Achievements

New alien barnacle, Perforatus perforatus which was found in the Pacific coast of northern Tohoku at the first time, ranged from Toyama Bay to Esashi in the Japan Sea side and Iwate coastal areas in the Pacific side in 2012. CO1 gene analysis revealed that Iwate population had no bottleneck effect and was probably brought from wide range of populations along the Japan Sea side, suggesting that salvage barges and the tug boats, which had tasks for reconstruction from the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and came from various ports in the Japan Sea side would be vectors. This species starts to settle at 15 degree C in the seawater temperature and the settlement periods lengthened year by year. The stage II nauplii can be discriminated from other barnacle nauplii. Survival of this barnacle was affected by sea urchin Strongyrocentrotus nudus and muricid gastropods Nucella freycineti and Thais clavigera, and biodiversities in this area had not been disturbed seriously at the time of 2017.

Free Research Field

coastal marine ecology