Examination of endemism and population differentiation of designated endangered plants of Hokkaido based on comparison with Russian Far East allies, and conservation recommendations

2019 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 16K18596
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Biodiversity/Systematics
• Research Institution: Hokkaido University
• Principal Investigator: NAKAMURA Koh 北海道大学, 北方生物圏フィールド科学センター, 助教 (70532927)
• Project Period (FY): 2016-04-01 – 2020-03-31
• Keywords: 絶滅危惧植物 / 固有種 / 遺伝的多様性 / 生息域外保全 / 国際共同研究 / 極東ロシア / 韓国 / 中国

Outline of Final Research Achievements

In Japan, Hokkaido is among the four regions that include areas (e.g., mountains, islets) with the highest density of endangered plant species; thereby conservation of Hokkaido plants is vital to save plant diversity in Japan. Hokkaido is located in border region and in neighboring countries, i.e., Russian Far East, northeastern China, and Korea, some of Hokkaido “endemic” plants are treated as non-endemic, northeast Asian species in their taxonomic systems. This study examined endemism of endangered plants in Hokkaido and evaluated their conservation priority from a global perspective. Among Hokkaido’s rare plants, some are broadly distributed in northeast Asian and the study examined their genetic population differentiation among foreign as well as domestic populations covering the whole species range and identified genetic management units for in-situ conservation and ex-situ conservation in botanic gardens.

Free Research Field

絶滅危惧植物の保全

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

従来の保全研究・計画は国境という非生物学的な枠組みで活動が制限されてきた．本研究は，北海道のような国境地域では，優先的な保全対象種の選定とその遺伝的多様性の効果的な保全において，隣国との比較研究が不可欠であることを示している．これは，他の国境地域の保全研究・計画にも重要な示唆を与えるものである．さらに，本研究による保全優先度の評価と効果的な遺伝的多様性の保全策は，社会における保全のための予算・人的リソースの最適配分と保全活動の効率化に資すると期待される．