Genetic Assessment of Freshwater Biodiversity in The Alps in Relation to The Spatiotemporal Habitat Heterogeneity of Floodplain

2014 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 24254003
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (A)
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Section: 海外学術
• Research Field: Civil and environmental engineering
• Research Institution: Tohoku University
• Principal Investigator: OMURA Tatsuo 東北大学, 未来科学技術共同研究センター, 教授 (30111248)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): YOSHIMURA Chihiro 東京工業大学, 理工学研究科, 准教授 (10402091) ; TAKEMON Yasuhiro 京都大学, 防災研究所, 准教授 (50222104) ; KAZAMA So 東北大学, 工学研究科, 教授 (50272018) ; NISHIMURA Osamu 東北大学, 工学研究科, 教授 (80208214) ; WATANABE Kozo 愛媛大学, 理工学研究科, 准教授 (80634435)
• Project Period (FY): 2012-04-01 – 2015-03-31
• Keywords: 生物多様性 / ＤＮＡ / 洪水氾濫原 / 生息場 / 河川 / 進化 / イタリアアルプス / 種分類

Outline of Final Research Achievements

The purpose of this project is to indicate the target image of biodiversity and its formation mechanism for suitable river restoration in the European Alps through an intensive investigations of reference semi-natural basins remained in northeast Italy. We clarified the true species richness of stream invertebrate communities in the basins by addressing the potential problem of poor morphological taxonomy (e.g., many undescribed species) applying an new technique of DNA sequence based taxonomy. We found the ecological importance of spatial environmental heterogeneity among habitats and microhabitats (e.g. large woody debris) in sustaining the high biodiversity in the natural river system. In addition, satellite and mountain camera image analyses for tracing the temporal change of river geomorphology at reach scale allow us to understand significant role of large and frequent flood disturbances in sustaining the high species diversity in the natural floodplain system.

Free Research Field

環境水質工学