2023 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

Presenting conservation guidelines for plants in heath forests of the Ryukyu Archipelago based on an understanding of the current status

Research Project

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Project/Area Number	21K05644
Research Category	Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
Allocation Type	Multi-year Fund
Section	一般
Review Section	Basic Section 39060:Conservation of biological resources-related
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)
Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha)	伊東拓朗東北大学, 学術資源研究公開センター, 助教 (10827132)
Project Period (FY)	2021-04-01 – 2024-03-31
Keywords	荒野林 / 琉球列島 / 絶滅危惧植物 / 環境適応
Outline of Final Research Achievements	Heath forests is defined as one of tropical forest types that are established on acidic and oligotrophic soils, mainly in Southeast Asia. Heath forests are also scattered in the Ryukyus in Japan, where various plants that have evolved and adapted to the special environment occur. On the other hand, recent artificial development has resulted in the disappearance of many heath forests, and many plants face threat of extinction there. This study aims to understand the plants occurring in heath forests in the Ryukyu, and to provide guidelines for their conservation. As notable research results, there are taxonomically understanding in a certain threatened plant of Cassytha filiformis var. duripraticola specifically occurring heath forest, finding of new heath forest required to be conservation crane, and knowledge of environmental adaptation during the expansion from non-wilderness forests to wilderness forests.
Free Research Field	植物保全学
Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements	本研究によって、琉球列島に残された荒野林の全体把握と、各荒野林に出現する植物の把握をすることができた。これらの成果は、希少で貴重な荒野林産植物の保全を推進されるといった社会的意義を有する。植物は生物であると同時に環境でもあるため、植物の保全はその生態系の保全にも直結する。海外では、荒野林は食虫植物ウツボカズラなど特的な進化を遂げた植物などが生育する「進化の場」として多くの関連研究が実施されてるが、日本の荒野林については関連研究はこれまでほぼ無かった。また、本研究の荒野林といった特殊環境への適応進化に関する考察は進化生物学的意義がある。