Verification for major migration route of plants from China Continental to the central Ryukyus through old Yangtze River

2018 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 16K14798
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Biodiversity/Systematics
• Research Institution: National Museum of Nature and Science, Tokyo
• Principal Investigator: Kokubugata Goro 独立行政法人国立科学博物館, 植物研究部, 研究主幹 (40300686)
• Research Collaborator: Yokota Masatsugu ; Nakamura Koh ; Fu Cheng-xin ; Chung Kuo-fang
• Project Period (FY): 2016-04-01 – 2019-03-31
• Keywords: 中琉球 / 中国大陸 / 古揚子江 / 隔離分布 / 湿潤環境

Outline of Final Research Achievements

The molecular phylogenetic analyses revealed that certain pants taxa occurring at moist environments in the central Ryukyus (Amami and Okinawa Island Groups), such as Tashiroea okinawensis and Deutzia naseana var. naseana, had the most closely related taxa in China. These plants taxa unable to cross over sea because of lacking ability of long seed dispersal, and thus, route with moist environment on land is necessary for explain establishment of the disjunctive distribution patterns such as the Old Yangtze River. Therefore, it is concluded that a hypothesis of “the Old Yangtze River has been a major migration route for terrestrial plants from China Continental to the central Ryukyus” had high possibility.

Free Research Field

系統分類学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

これまで形態データから示唆されていた陸生植物における中国大陸－中琉球の隔離分布が本研究の分子データ用いた解析によって支持され、植物の新たな日本列島への主要進入経路が示唆された。本研究の成果は国際植物科学会議XIX（2018年、中国）で代表者が主催したシンポジウムの主要テーマとなり、今後、国際共同研究として更に発展させることになった。また本研究の成果を活用し、巡回展「琉球の植物」を沖縄県で開催した。