Miyajima Island Research Articles

Vegetation on the embankment slope two years after revegetation in consideration of local biodiversity of Miyajima Island

Vegetation on the embankment slope two years after revegetation in consideration of local biodiversity of Miyajima Island

Creating a Sensory Stimulation Garden for Older Persons to Cultivate Happiness: A Hiroshima Experience

<h3>Research Objectives</h3> To design an age-friendly sensory stimulation garden (SSG) to cultivate happiness in older persons. <h3>Design</h3> 12 nursing home residents were selected to provide video feedback after a 30 minute, twice weekly exposure to six sections of the newly created SSG. A 60 second facial video and audio recording were taken at day 1, week 3 and week 6. The video recordings were translated from Japanese to English by a dedicated assistant and transcribed. <h3>Setting</h3> We designed and built an SSG at an unused rooftop of Nozomi-No-Sato Nursing Home.With the sensory elements of hard and soft landscaping, colours and textures, this garden encouraged users to touch, smell, and actively experience the garden with all their senses. <h3>Participants</h3> 12 nursing home residents with an average age of 90.2 years were chosen subjects. Residents with moderate to severe dementia and bed ridden condition were not selected. <h3>Interventions</h3> The study subjects were given exposure to the SSG for 30 minutes, twice weekly for six weeks. <h3>Main Outcome Measures</h3> A 60 second facial video and audio recording were taken at day 1, week 3 and week 6. The recordings were translated from Japanese to English by a dedicated assistant and transcribed. <h3>Results</h3> Subjects' reactions that were recorded during the garden exposure included negative and positive ones.The negative feedback was irritation from sun exposure. The positive ones included excitement about just being out in the garden, recall of past experiences at Miyajima Island and gardening experiences before staying in the nursing home. At the times they were scheduled to be in the garden, they all expressed willingness and eagerness to do so. Some had made suggestions on what they would like to plant next season. Six subjects wanted to participate in harvesting the products of the garden. <h3>Conclusions</h3> SSG exposure in older persons in nursing home fostered feeling of happiness. A study with a larger sample size is planned after COVID-19 restrictions are eased. <h3>Author(s) Disclosures</h3> All authors have no disclosures.

16S rRNA Gene Amplicon Sequence Data from Feces of Wild Deer (Cervus nippon) in Japan.

We report 16S rRNA amplicon sequence data from feces of 109 wild deer in Japan. The dominant bacterial taxa in fecal microbiota of wild deer hunted between village and mountainous areas and those living on Miyajima Island and in Nara Park were similar but differed in abundance.

Analysing food-derived interactions between tourists and sika deer (Cervus nippon) at Miyajima Island in Hiroshima, Japan: implications for the physical health of deer in an anthropogenic environment

ABSTRACTSika deer (Cervus nippon) on Miyajima Island in Hiroshima, Japan, are accustomed to a human environment and close tourist-deer interactions occur. In 2008, city officials banned deer feeding in response to an increasing number of human-deer conflicts. Nevertheless, this regulation remains ineffective. In this study, food-derived interactions between tourists and deer were analyzed, and a faecal analysis was conducted to examine the effects of potentially beneficial bacteria on the digestive system of deer. Over 64 hours of observation, a total of 397 tourist-deer interactions were recorded. Most interactions involved tourists’ food purchases from street stalls (49.6%). The initiator of each interaction was recorded for 267 events (67.3%), and it was found that deer initiated nearly twice as many interactions as tourists (tourists: 93 events; deer: 174 events). However, feeding occurred in only 11.5% of deer-initiated interactions, while feeding occurred in 50.5% of tourist-initiated interactions. The analysis of gastrointestinal bacterial community compositions showed that deer in the tourism district possessed a lower portion of the order Lactobacellales than deer in the non-tourism district. This was presumably due to different food sources, indicating that the human-influenced environment, of which feeding is one element, could affect the physical health of the deer.

宮島におけるエコツーリズムの試み(「エコツーリズムを考える : 自然保護と地域経済の両立をめぐる諸問題」 : 2001年度秋季学術大会シンポジウム)

宮島におけるエコツーリズムの試み(「エコツーリズムを考える : 自然保護と地域経済の両立をめぐる諸問題」 : 2001年度秋季学術大会シンポジウム)

Variation and social influence of bowing behavior by sika deer (Cervus nippon)

Nara Park, Nara Prefecture, Japan is a sightseeing destination in which people have the unique custom of feeding specialized cookies to the park’s free-ranging sika deer, Cervus nippon. Sika deer in Nara Park display a behavior akin to bowing to their human feeders. To characterize this bowing behavior and determine whether it is unique, we conducted feeding experiments with deer cookies on deer populations in Nara Park and Miyajima Island, Hiroshima Prefecture, where cookies are not available. Sika deer in Nara Park bowed more frequently than those on Miyajima Island. Within Nara Park, sika deer in busy areas bowed more frequently than those in quiet areas. These findings imply that bowing behavior has been acquired through encounters with humans. In Nara Park, adult deer showed the greatest number of bows, followed by yearlings and finally fawns. When bowing, up–down movement was relatively more common than slant movement in adults than in yearlings. These findings suggest that sika deer in Nara Park develop bowing behavior with age. Bowing behavior also differed among sexes and postures: more in females than males, and more in standing individuals than those sitting. Young individuals bowed more frequently after demonstrations of bowing behavior by adults than before, suggesting a social influence on this behavior.

Coexistence of two congeneric tree species of Lauraceae in a secondary warm‐temperate forest on Miyajima Island, south‐western Japan

AbstractWe analyzed the spatial distributions of two congeneric tree species, Neolistea aciculata and Neolistea sericea (Lauraceae), in a warm‐temperate forest on Miyajima Island, south‐western Japan. Both species were mainly found in valley sites on the island. Hence, these species shared the same topographic habitat niche. However, we found a clear difference between the spatial distributions of the two species in relation to the light environment. Neolistea aciculata was predominantly found in stands with low light, such as beneath the canopy of dense evergreen broadleaved forest. In contrast, N. sericea was predominantly associated with ample light, such as in secondary Pinus densiflora forest. In stands with moderate light conditions, both species were found. This habitat niche segregation in relation to light conditions presumably allows the coexistence of these two species in the predominantly successional forest on Miyajima Island.

Successive mapping of secondary pine forests affected by pine wilt disease and subsequent forest management in Miyajima Island, SW Japan

Successive mapping of secondary pine forests affected by pine wilt disease and subsequent forest management in Miyajima Island, SW Japan

Leaf-shape variation of Paederia foetida in Japan: reexamination of the small, narrow leaf form from Miyajima Island

Variations in Paederia foetida L. leaf shape were examined to evaluate the taxonomic validity of the small, narrow leaf form of P. foetida f. microphylla Honda from Miyajima Island, Honshu, Japan. There is considerable variation in P. foetida individuals in terms of leaf size and leaf index (leaf length:leaf width ratio). On Miyajima Island, some individuals have narrow leaves with a high leaf index value, a phenotype represented by the type specimen of P. foetida f. microphylla, and some do not. Given that the leaf size of individuals from Miyajima Island is smaller than that of individuals from other localities in Japan, and that the small leaf phenotype is stable even under cultivation, P. foetida f. microphylla is classified as the form having the smallest leaf size. Anatomical examination of leaf blades revealed that the large variation in leaf size was attributable to variation in the number of leaf cells but not to differences in cell size or cell shape. Based on these results, we discuss the endemism of P. foetida f. microphylla.

Distylium racemosum mixed forests in Miyajima Island, Hiroshima Prefecture, SW Japan

Distylium racemosum mixed forests in Miyajima Island, Hiroshima Prefecture, SW Japan

ON STRONG WINDS BY TYPHOON 9119 IN SOUTH-WEST DISTRICT OF HIROSHIMA PREFECTURE

The papa describes the strong winds caused by the typhoon 9119 in Miyajima island and Misuzugaoka residential area as a hardly explicable example with the neutral temperature condition The State of the strong wind region far form the center of the typhoon, the salt disaster in Hiroshima City and the concentrated down blows behind ground heights are attributable to the gradual downdrail of cool and dry air from the tropopause and the unstably stratified stream successively fanned on the sea surface.

Effects of deer browsing on the early stage of pyrogenic succession on Miyajima Island, southwestern Japan

AbstractThe early stage of forest regeneration on Miyajima Island, southewstern Japan, was studied for three years after a fire in 1984, with respect to the effects of deer browsing. The regeneration patterns of woody species, in terms of the biomass increment and browsing damage to plants, were classified into the following three groups: non‐ or rarely browsed species with little increment of biomass, heavily browsed with little increment, and heavily browsed with large increment. The aboveground biomass increased from 0.4 kg to 2.7 kg per 100 m2 during three years, and was less than half of the biomass obtained in other burnt pine forests on the adjacent deer‐free islands. About 28% of the plant biomass was consumed by deer. The effects of browsing on forest regeneration were heavier at lower than that at the higher altitudes. On this island, deer browsing seems to have an important effect on vegetational succession in the burnt areas.

Naturally Occurring Japanese Cedar (Cryptomeria japonica) Pollenosis in Japanese Monkeys (Macaca fuscata) Inhabiting Miyajima Island

Pollenosis is a IgE-mediated allergic disease which has the symptoms of snivel, sneezing, eye mucus, and/or tear resulting from mucous membrane inflammation of nostrils and/or eye. In Japan, Japanese cedar (Cryptomeria japonica) pollenosis is a typical one occurring in spring, and recently the number of its patients is remarkably increasing.We found the pollenosis in adult-female Japanese monkeys (Macaca fuscata) inhabiting Miyajima Island under free-ranging conditions, who are derived from different female lineages one another. Their sera contained higher level of specific IgE antibody against Japanese cedar pollen than those of normal monkeys. The sera also induced a skin allergic reaction to the pollen upon Prausnitz-Kustner Test using normal healthy monkeys as a recipient. Thus, the current paper is the first report concerning naturally occurring pollenosis in wild non-human primates.

A demographic analysis of mortality caused by the pine wood nematode (Bursaphelenchus xylophilus) and pine sawyer beetles (Monochamus alternatus) in pine forests in the Seto Inland Sea-side, Japan.

Demographic characteristics were examined in 51 study sites in naturally occurring pine populations in the Seto Inland Sea-side. The pine forests consisted on average of 51.4% Japanese red pine,Pinus densiflora, 28.9% Japanese black pine,Pinus thunbergii, and 19.7% hybrids of the two species, and occurred along an elevatinal gradient from denser, younger secondary forest regrowing after disturbance, to more mature stands at higher elevations. The proportion of dead trees did not vary much among taxa (range 24-31%). Mortality was caused primarily by the introduced pine wood nematodeBursaphelenchus xylophilus, and secondarily by its vector, the Japanese pine sawyer beetleMonochamus alternatus. While the nematode attacked individuals of all three pine taxa with equal frequency (3-8% mortality), the beetle caused the greatest proportional mortality inP. thunbergii (35%), less inP. densiflora (20%), and the least in hybrids (18%). Mortality caused by both the nematode and beetle was significantly correlated with the mean tree age, height and diameter of the dead trees.The majority (70.2%) of individuals in populations on Miyajima Island that had lived 60 or more years and survived without severe damage by nematodes and beetles were hybrids, although the proportion of hybrids in the seedlings (found only in seven out of the fifty-one study sites) was quite low (1.9%). Thus it seems that hybrids could be more long-lived and better adapted than their parental species to resist both the nematode and the beetle. IfB. xylophilus andM. alternatus populations continue to increase at their current levels they may have a drastic effect on the gene pools ofP. densiflora andP. thunbergii and on the structure and composition of Japanese pine forests.

Bryophytes of Miyajima Island, southwestern Japan

Bryophytes of Miyajima Island, southwestern Japan