Nation-wide agrarian depopulation threatens semi-natural grassland species in Japan: Sub-national application of the Red List Index

Koyanagi, Tomoyo F.; Furukawa, Takuya

doi:10.1016/j.biocon.2013.07.012

Cited by 45 publications

(25 citation statements)

References 51 publications

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“…Kleijn, Rundlöf, Scheper, Smith, & Tscharntke, 2011;Simons, Weisser, & Gossner, 2016;Uchida & Ushimaru, 2014, 2015. In Japan for example, numerous threatened species have experienced abundance declines due to land-use changes in seminatural ecosystems, such as meadows and the field margins of agricultural lands (Koyanagi & Furukawa, 2013;Uchida, Hiraiwa, & Ushimaru, 2016;Uematsu, Koga, Mitsuhashi, & Ushimaru, 2010).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Non‐random loss of phylogenetically distinct rare species degrades phylogenetic diversity in semi‐natural grasslands

Uchida

Hiraiwa

Cadotte

2019

Journal of Applied Ecology

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1. Although biodiversity loss is a critically important topic, our understanding of how both land abandonment and land-use intensification in semi-natural grasslands alters the community diversity and assembly mechanisms is very limited. Largescale economic drivers of land-use change might inadvertently result in the loss of vulnerable species and reduce ecosystem service provisioning.2. In this study, we assessed non-random community change by examining patterns of low-abundance species loss, and community assembly in semi-natural grasslands due to land abandonment and intensification in southwest Japan. We analysed relationships between evolutionary distinctiveness and abundance for each species. In addition, we used metrics of species and phylogenetic diversity and phylogenetic structure to assess patterns of non-random biodiversity loss due to both abandoned and intensified land-use.3. We demonstrated that low-abundance species were more evolutionarily distinct compared to high-abundance (i.e. dominant) species. Furthermore, land-use intensification resulted in further declines in low-abundance species, whereas land abandonment resulted in declines in all species, regardless of their initial abundance.4. We found that both forms of land-use change (abandonment and intensification) resulted in non-random patterns of community change, with traditional land-use maintaining the highest biodiversity and land-use change coinciding with decreased species and phylogenetic diversity measures. Intensified land-use caused phylogenetic community structure to be more closely related than expected by chance, whereas the metrics of how distant species are from one another on average based on phylogenetic tree (i.e. mean pairwise phylogenetic distance) did not change from land abandonment. Synthesis and applications.We show that the loss of phylogenetic diversity, and especially of low-abundance species with high value of phylogenetic distinctiveness, resulted in non-random community disassembly. Our results argue that in order to maintain biodiversity in these semi-natural grasslands, traditional management practices should be encouraged over intensification and simple abandonment. Government agencies should adopt policies or provide incentives that encourage the maintenance of traditional practices in rural Japan, and elsewhere where the combination of land consolidation and abandonment are important conservation issues.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Non‐random loss of phylogenetically distinct rare species degrades phylogenetic diversity in semi‐natural grasslands

Uchida

Hiraiwa

Cadotte

2019

Journal of Applied Ecology

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“…Although this species was very common in the region a few decades ago, it has experienced rapid population declines due to changes in land-use in semi-natural grasslands throughout Japan (Environment Agency of Japan, 2000; Uematsu et al, 2010). Vincetoxicum pycnostelma is a representative example of many native herbaceous plants that reproduce from summer to autumn but that have rapidly declined in semi-natural grasslands (Koyanagi and Furukawa, 2013). Assessing the effects of mowing timing is also essential for planning the conservation of endangered semi-natural grassland herbs as well as entire plant communities.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Timing of mowing influences genetic diversity and reproductive success in endangered semi-natural grassland plants

Nakahama

Uchida

Ushimaru

et al. 2016

Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment

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Recent global land-use changes have led to reductions in many herbaceous plant species in semi-natural grassland landscapes. Changes in management frequency and intensity are known to cause declines in plant populations. However, little is known about the impact of changes in the timing of management practices on the genetic diversity as well as the reproductive success of rare semi-natural grassland species. We determined the suitable management (mowing) timing for Vincetoxicum pycnostelma Kitag. (Apocynaceae; Asclepiadoideae), an endangered summer-and autumn-blooming semi-natural grassland herb. We examined 15 V. pycnostelma populations to assess the effects of mowing timing on the genetic diversity of each population using nine microsatellite markers and on pollination and reproductive success. Pollination success was not affected by flowering timing. Mowing during the mid-to late flowering and fruiting periods of V. pycnostelma (July-September) had a significant negative effect on the number of inflorescences and total fruits produced, whereas mowing before flowering and growing periods (April-May and November-March) had positive effects on the number of inflorescences and fruits, respectively. Furthermore, mowing during the mid-to late flowering and fruiting periods also caused a significant decrease in genetic diversity. Our results demonstrated that mowing events during the mid-to late flowering and fruiting periods caused significant declines in the genetic diversity and/or reproductive success of V. pycnostelma. By contrast, mowing before flowering periods significantly enhanced reproductive success. To conserve semi-natural grassland herb diversity, mowing should be avoided during seasons when the flowering and fruiting periods of many endangered species overlap.

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“…Second, the result could be due to a decline in populations of wild flowering plants. In Japan, over the last few decades, there has been a gradual decline in populations of many wild plant species, particularly those dependent on grasslands and secondary forests (Koyanagi & Furukawa, ). Indeed, some of the plant species we studied have dramatically decreased in their distribution and abundance in recent decades, including D. superbus var.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The inequalities of the extinction of experience: The role of personal characteristics and species traits in the distribution of people–plant interactions in Japan

Soga

Tsuchiya

Evans

et al. 2019

Ecological Research

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There is concern about the increasing loss of people's direct interactions with fauna and flora. This extinction of experience has many potential far‐reaching implications for both biodiversity and humans, including the decrease of public support for conservation issues and a reduction in the health benefits that humans experience when interacting with nature. However, knowledge of how experiences with biodiversity are distributed among different sectors of society and the key drivers of this distribution remains poor. Here, we report on the results of a nation‐wide online survey in Japan in which we explored the extent, distribution, and drivers of participant's direct experiences with wild flowering plants. Participants were asked to provide information on their sociodemographics, orientation toward nature, childhood residential environment, and whether they had experienced each of 21 wild flowering plant species. The reported number of wild flowering plant species that participants had experienced varied greatly. Older and female participants and those with childhoods in rural areas and with a greater orientation toward nature experienced a significantly higher number of interactions with flowering plant species. Plant species that prefer roadside environments (compared to grassland/farmland and forest‐dependent species) and are not on the Red List were likely to be experienced by participants. This novel study provides unique information about the interactions of people and the wildlife around them. Such information is crucial for the development of policies and strategies targeted to reduce the ongoing extinction of experience and its negative consequences.

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Nation-wide agrarian depopulation threatens semi-natural grassland species in Japan: Sub-national application of the Red List Index

Cited by 45 publications

References 51 publications

Non‐random loss of phylogenetically distinct rare species degrades phylogenetic diversity in semi‐natural grasslands

Non‐random loss of phylogenetically distinct rare species degrades phylogenetic diversity in semi‐natural grasslands

Timing of mowing influences genetic diversity and reproductive success in endangered semi-natural grassland plants

The inequalities of the extinction of experience: The role of personal characteristics and species traits in the distribution of people–plant interactions in Japan

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