DIWPA: DIVERSITAS in the Western Pacific and Asia

July, 2017

DIWPA News LetterNo.

Ofﬁce:CenterforEcologicalResearch,KyotoUniversity,Otsu,Japan

Message from the Chairperson

1. Colleagues of CER, PRI and FSERC are going tovisit to NIE in the middle of September and discussn the last DIWPA Newsletter, I the plan and management for the second joint
introduced the Memorandum of symposium held in Japan.
Understanding (MoU) for Academic 2. The symposium is going to be held in earlyand Research Cooperation between December. The venue would be determined a hall at
N a t i o n a l I n s t i t u t e o f E c o l o g y KU. At the symposium, we would like to encourage(NIE), South Korea and Center for young researchers (graduate students and post-docs)
Ecological Research (CER), Japan. In to give talks.
commemorationof the founding of 3. In addition, during our visit to NIE, we are goingShin-ichi Nakano
the MoU, we held a joint symposium to discuss our collaboration research themes byin the collaboration between NIE and CER on examination of research facilities at NIE.
December 9, 2016 at NIE. In the current fiscal year, 4.Furthermore, I intend to have another joint
we would like to hold the second joint symposium in symposium between NIE and CER, taking theJapan. CER had prepared a proposal of international opportunity for the Congress of East Asian
research project between NIE and CER, and applied Federation of Ecological Societies (EAFES) held in
it to Kyoto University (KU). Fortunately, CER has Nagoya in April 2018.
obtained the fund which makes us to invite NIE
Our collaboration is still small between acolleagues to Japan and to hold the symposium.
university and an institution. However, I hope we
KU adviced us to involve faculties and/or would make it much more international in the future
institutions in KU as many as possible in the project, through DIWPA network. So, we should makethen the fund has been provided for the collaboration successes of the above joint symposia with ecology
among CER, NIE, Primate Research Institute (PRI) and biodiversity researchers from many countries/
and Field Science Education and Research Center regions for our further projects. I hope we would(FSERC). At this stage, we have been discussing our be able to invite many speakers from our DIWPA
collaborationinthepresentfiscalyear
asfollows:
network.

I

Message from the Secretary General2017 DIWPA International Field Biology Course

See the details on page 5

W

e are making a plan of "2017International Field Biology
Course (IFBC)" at the Ogasawara(Bonin) islands, locating in thesubtropical North Pacific Ocean
about 1,000 km south of Tokyo.
This island is one of the World
Atsushi Ishida Natural Heritage sites recognized
by UNESCO. Many endemic livings exist in
the islands. For example, approximately 70% of
woody plants are endemic tree species. The main
objectives of IFBC in this year are related to theecophysiology of wood plants and the conservationof terrestrial ecosystems in the oceanic islands.
In plant ecophysiology, we will make a training
course of leaf gas exchange measurements, using
LI-6400 (Li-Cor Inc.). In the islands, we havebeen exposed to the menace of many invasive
livings, such as plants, animals and pathogenic
fungi, since human settlement of the early 1900s.
Recently, injury of woody plants caused by root rod
diseases is expanding. Furthermore, we can find th
death of many endemic trees caused by prolonged
drought, probably related to climate change. In theislands, we can look not only such forest damage
but also much effort for ecosystem conservation
by Japanese government and many NPOs. We will
be able to provide the opportunity of looking at
such conservative effort at the islands. We show theprocedure to apply for this IFBC on page 5 in thisvolume and in DIWPA homepage. Please note thatthe dead line is August 31, 2017.

1

DIWPA News Letter No.37

New Site 1

Ecophysiological study of tropical canopy and emergent treesin Lambir Hills National Park, Borneo Island
Yuta Inoue1, Tanaka Kenzo1 and Tomoaki Ichie2
1

Forestry and Forest Products Research Institute(Japan)2
Faculty of Agriculture, University of Kochi(Japan)Lambir Hills National Park (LHNP), established in
1975, is one of the representative research sites
for tropical rain forest of Southeast Asia and locatedabout 30 km south of Miri, Sarawak, Malaysia (Fig. 1,
4°12N,14°0’E, 6,94 ha). The vegetation is mainlyclassified as typical lowland mixed dipterocarp forestand characterized by possibly the species richest forest
in the Old World which has about 2,500 tree species
and hold 1,100 tree species in an area of only 52 ha(Fig. 2, Ashton 2005). Canopy layer reaches 40 m
above ground and emergent trees above canopy layer
sometimes reach 70 m tall. Both layers are dominated Fig. 2. Lambir Hills National Park, the species richest forest
by Dipterocarpaceae with some other families, such as
Anacardiaceae, Burseraceae, Euphorbiaceae, Fabaceae world (Ashton 2005). Although many tropical forests
and Moraceae. The climate is wet and warm conditions have already degraded rapidly in Southeast Asia, theyear round. The annual average temperature and LHNP is research site which maintains intact lowland
precipitation are approximately 26ºC and 2,700 mm, dipterocarp forest with relatively easy access from therespectively and monthly precipitation is normally over city in Sarawak, Malaysia. Insect fauna in the LHNP
100 mm. The soils in the LHNP are largely composed is also very rich, while species richness in vertebrateof sandstone and shale which has formed in Neogene animal, especially large mammal, is smaller than othersediments (Lee et al. 2002) and mostly classified tropical regions due to the small size of the forest andred-yellow podzols which have developed typically illegal hunting.
lowland mixed dipterocarp forests. Stable climatic
Long-term research into tropical rain forest has
conditions with rich rainfall and variations on edaphic been conducted for several decades mainly in the 3and topological conditions create the highest tree permanent plots in LHNP ( forest demographic plo
diversity in the LHNP among the tropical forest in the 52 ha, canopy observation plot: 8 ha, and crane plot: 4ha).Inthe52haplot,allofabout350,trees≥1cm
diameter at 1.3 m height have been mapped, tagged andidentified and tree diameters measured to the nearest
1 mm every 5 years since 1991 (Condit 1998). On theother hand, several canopy access systems have been
constructed in the 8 ha and 4 ha plots (Fig. 3). The
system consists of tree tower and walk-way whichallow 300 m horizontal access in the canopy layer
in the 8 ha plot and also an 85-m-tall canopy cranewith a 75-m-long rotating jib which provide threedimensional access to the vertically stratifie
the 4 ha plot. Improvements in the canopy access allow
detailed field research in various viewpoints intree ecophysiology, micrometeorology, biodiversity

Fig. 1. The location of Lambir Hills National Park

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DIWPA News Letter No.37

New Site 1

Fig.3.CanopyaccesssystemsinLHNPa:treetowerb:walkwayc:canopycraneand plant-animal interaction. In particular, the ongoing tropical dry forests where trees showed decreasing leaf
monitoring of plant phenology for more than 20 years photosynthetic ability above a certain level of height.
has been making a quantitative assessment of super Moreover, different systems in leaf water use between
annual reproductive phenomenon called general canopy tree species were also found, namely roughly
flowering, a phenomenon unique to dipterocarp
forests
dividedinto water-waste type and water-conservativein this region. During general flowering, which
occurstype
through their transpiration regulation by stomata
once in several years, most dipterocarp species and (Hiromi et al. 2012). There is a possibility that species
plants of other families massively flowerin
sequentiallywater-waste type with high transpiration activity andfor several months, but they seldom reproduce in other less stomatal regulation even under drought condition
years (Sakai et al. 1999, 2006). In recent years the may have high risks in future climate change, which an
researchers have been broadening their scope of study increase in the severity and the frequency of drought, or
related with general flowering, such as pollination of El Niño, is predicted by models of global warming.
systems, seed dispersal, climate cue, and resource In fact, some dipterocarp canopy species in waterallocation for reproduction, by using the canopy access waste type tended to have high mortality comparedsystems in LHNP (Kenzo et al. 2003, Ichie et al. 2005, with species in water-conservative type during El Niño
Roubik et al. 2005, Ichie and Nakagawa 2013).
related severe drought in 1997-1998 (Hiromi et al.
Information of ecophysiological traits in diverse tree 2012).
species has been accumulated in the LHNP by using
What impact do the canopy trees have on predicted
canopy access system. For example, we found that drought in the future tropical rain forest? To understandtree species in the tropical rainforest adapt to spatial leaf ecophysiological responses and thus drought
differences in the environmental conditions experienced
at the mature height of each tree species, such as lightintensity and vapor pressure difference, by having
differing leaf structure (Kenzo et al. 2006, 2007),shapes and densities of leaf stomata and trichomes(Ichie et al. 2016) and vessel diameter (Inoue et al.
2015), because these differences closely relate with
their physiological functions and adaptive strategies. In
addition, we also found that leaf photosynthetic ability
in diverse tree species increased linearly with treeheight even in over 40 m above ground regardless withlight condition (Kenzo et al. 2006, 2015). This linear
increment differed with tree species in temperate and Fig. 4. Rainfall exclusion equipment

3

DIWPA News Letter No.37

New Site 1tree species in a Malaysian lowland tropical rain forest.
tolerance of tropical rain forest trees to soil drying, an
JournalofPlantResearch129:65-3.
artificial rainfall exclusion experiment was
conducted
Ichie
T.,
Kenzo
T., Kitahashi Y., Koike T. and Nakashizukain dominant canopy species, Dryobalanops aromatica
T. 2005. How does Dryobalanops aromatica supply
in Dipterocarpaceae, in the LHNP. We constructedcarbohydrate resources for reproduction in a masting year?.
rainfall exclusion equipment like an umbrella around
Trees-StructureandFunction19:703-.
treatment trees (Fig. 4). Artificial dry soil condition Ichie T. and Nakagawa M. 2013. Dynamics of mineral nutrient
caused drought stress in treatment trees (e.g. decreasingstorage for mast reproduction in the tropical emergent tree
Dryobalanops aromatica.EcologicalResearch28:15-.
predawn and midday leaf water potentials), but D.
InoueY., Ichie T., Kenzo T., Yoneyama A., Kumagai T., andaromatica rapidly acclimated the drought stress by
Nakashizuka T. 2017. Effects of rainfall exclusion on leaf
leaf osmotic adjustment. In addition, trees experienced
gas exchange traits and osmotic adjustment in mature canopy
drought kept their leaf photosynthesis during morning,trees of Dryobalanops aromatica (Dipterocarpaceae) in athough it was decreased around noon by half value
Malaysian tropical rain forest. Tree Physiology, in press.
compared with control (non-drought) trees (Fig. 5).
DOI:10.93/treephys/tpx053.
Overall, this species show less stomatal regulation of Inoue Y., Kenzo T., Tanaka-Oda A., Yoneyama A. and Ichie T.
2015. Leaf water use in heterobaric and homobaric leafedwater consumption to maintain leaf photosynthetic
canopy tree species in a Malaysian tropical rain forest.
activity even under drought conditions and this trend
Photosynthetica53:17-86.
may become high risks if climatic conditions change Kenzo T., Ichie T., Ninomiya I. and Koike T. 2003. Photosynthetic
to dryer and more frequent strong drought occur in theactivity in seed wings of Dipterocarpaceae in a masting
future. Further studies for many other species provide
year: Does wing photosynthesis contribute to reproductPhotosynthetica42:51-7.
good understanding for tree responses to severe drought
KenzoT., Ichie T., Watanabe Y. and Hiromi T. 2007. Ecologicalin tropical rain forest.

distribution of homobaric and heterobaric leaves in tree
species of Malaysian lowland tropical rainforest. American
JournalofBotany94:76-5.
Kenzo T., Ichie T., Watanabe Y., Yoneda R., Ninomiya I.
and Koike T. 2006. Changes in photosynthesis and leaf
characteristics with tree height in five dipterocarp
atropicalrainforest.TreePhysiology26:85-73.
Kenzo T., Inoue Y., Yoshimura M., Yamashita M., TanakaOda A. and Ichie T. 2015. Height-related changes in leaf
photosynthetic traits in diverse Bornean tropical rain forest
trees.Oecologia17:9-20.
Kumagai T., Ichie T., Yoshimura M., Yamashita M., Kenzo T.,
Saitoh T.M., Ohashi M., Suzuki M., Koike T. and Komatsu
H. 2006. Modelling CO2 exchange over a Bornean tropicalrain forest using measured vertical and horizontal variationsin leaf-level physiological parameters and leaf area densities.
Fig. 5. Leaf photosynthetic rate in the time of day
JournalofGeophysicalResearch1:-6.
Lee H.S., Davies S.J., LaFrankie J.V., Tan S., Yamakura T., ItohA., Ohkubo T. and Ashton P.S. 2002. Floristic and structural
References
diversity of mixed dipterocarp forest in Lambir Hills National
Ashton P. S. 2 0 5 . Lambir’s Forest: The world’s most diverse
Park, Sarawak, Malaysia. Journal of Tropical Forest Sciences
known tree assemblage?. In Pollination ecology and the rain
14:379-0.
forest (Roubik D.W., Sakai S., Hamid Karim A.A. Eds.). pp
Roubik D.W. and Hamid A.A. 2005. Pollination ecology and the191-216. Springer, New York, U.S.A..
rainforest:Sarawakstudies.Springer,NewYork,U.S.A..
ConditR.Tropical.89 1
forestcensusplots:methodsand
results
Sakai
S., Harrison R.D., Momose K., Kuraji K., Nagamasu H.,
from Barro Colorado Island, Panama and a comparison with
Yasunari T., Chong L. and Nakashizuka T. 2006. Irregularother plots. pp 211. Springer–Verlag, Berlin, Germany.
droughts trigger mass flowering in aseasonal tropical fo
HiromiT.,IchieT.,KenzoT.andNinomiyaI.201.InterspecificinAsia.AmericanJournalofBotany139. 4- :variation in leaf water use associated with drought tolerance
Sakai S., Momose K., Yumoto T., Nagamitsu T., Nagamasu H.,
in four emergent dipterocarp species of a tropical rain forest
Hamid A.A. and Nakashizuka T. 1999. Plant reproductive
inBorneo.JournalofForestResearch17:369-.
phenology over four years including an episode of general
Ichie T., Inoue Y., Takahashi N., Kamiya K. and Kenzo T. 2016.
oweringflinalowlanddipterocarpforest,Sarawak,Malaysi
Ecological distribution of leaf stomata and trichomes among
AmericanJournalofBotany86:14-3.

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DIWPA News Letter No.37

Announcement

2017 DIWPA International Field Biology Course
at the Ogasawara islands in JapanDI W PA i s a n i n t e r n a t i o n a l n e t w o r k f o r t h e plant eco-physiology at the beautiful island in thep r o m o t i o n o f c o o p e r a t i v e s t u d i e s a n d Pacific Ocean. In especially, we will make a plan
information exchange on biodiversity in the Western for research in photosynthesis and water relation
Pacific and Asia which aims to connect existing of woody plants. The islands have rich endemic
networks of people working on biodiversity and species, but many alien species have invaded andthey Pacific.
are expanding in the islands. In the islands,
researchprojectsinAsiaandtheWestern
One of the main functions of DIWPA is “capacity local and Japanese governments, researchers, andbuilding of scientists in particular young scientists local people co-work to prevent alien species fromfrom developing countries”. In the autumn of 2017, further invasion and expansion and to decrease their
the International Field Biology Course (IFBC) numbers in the islands. You will be able to look such
will take place in the Ogasawara islands, a World effort for conservation, as well. The details are as
Natural Heritage site, in Japan. We introduced the follows. Motivated students, who belong to DIWPA
islands on DIWPA News Letter No. 29, 30 and 32. or whose supervisors are the DIWPA members, are
In this year, we will organize IFBC in the field of highly welcome for applying.

Details
1. Date : November 7 (Tue) – November 15 (Wed) (9 days), 2017
There is no airport in the islands. We can thus use only a ship in the passage between Tokyo and the islands. However, when a big
typhoon comes, the schedule of ship is frequently shifted. Therefore, you need to stay for 9 days including several days before andafter of the ship schedule in Tokyo area.
2. Accommodation & Station: Chichi-jima island (Research station of Tokyo Metropolitan University)
3. Site:TheislandsarelocatedinPacificOcean,km
0 , 1 southofTokyo.Theclimateissubtropical.TheareaofChichi-jimaislandis 24 km2. See DIWPA News Letter No. 29, 30 and 32 in more details.
4. Financial Support: DIWPA provides stipends to limited numbers of participants to cover part of their expenses for accommodation
andtravel.Thenumberoftheparticipantsdependsonthefinanc
ialsituationofDIWPA.
5. Application: The participants of this course should be talented graduate students who belong to DIWPA or whose supervisor is the
DIWPA member. Applicants should prepare the following documents.
1) CV (write the contact e-mail address of you)A) 2 statementabouttheirinterestsinthefieldofecology
3) Recommendation letter written by the supervisor
6. Applicationsubmissionanddeadline:SubmitapplicationsPAto
obce
DIW
bye-mailby
DIWPAObce:diwpa@ecology.kyoto-u.ac.jp

August 31, 2017.

7. Others:Itwilltakehours
62
inonewaybetweenTokyoandChichi-jimaislandbyship.Thereisarestaurantintheship,butyou
need to pay some money when you use it. Some researchers and students will use the accommodation together. A shower room
and a kitchen atc. are thus shared by the accommodation members. We are unable to guarantee 100% for sure to correspond his/her food restrictions or other matters for the religious reasons, though we would positively work on these matters as much as we
could.

Only successful candidate(s) will receive the details by the mid of September, 2017 WJBe-mail.

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DIWPA News Letter No.37

New Site 2
Dynamic scale of landscape and biodiversity in the Japanese Alps:case researches of the Ikawa Forest Station
Tatsuyuki Seino
Ikawa Forest Station, Mountain Science Center, University of Tsukuba(Japan)Ikawa Forest Station, Mountain
Science Center, University ofTsukuba is located in Shizuoka
Prefecture, Central Japan (35°2 N,
138°2’E). This area is characterized
as a steep slope on fragile substrate
due to a cross-point between the
M e d i a n Te c t o n i c L i n e a n d t h e
Itoigawa-Shizuoka Tectonic Line sothat landsides are frequent occurred.
The annual precipitation of the
Ikawa Forest Station from April to
November is over approx. 2,000mm excepted from snowfall from
December to March. Rainfall in Fig 1. Landslides in the Ikawa Forest, a perspective
summer (from June to August) issometimes recorded heavy amount by
Japanese rainy season and typhoon.
On the contrast, snow depth isapprox. 30 cm, and water under thesoil surface does over again freezing
and melting. This causes cracks onrock in the forest, then triggered tocue of landside. These geographicaland climatic conditions of thissite enhance species diversity oforganisms and various topographies.
Here we introduce core-research
topics of the Ikawa Forest Station,
Mountain Science Center, Universityof Tsukuba focused on analysis of
the mechanism of landslide and Fig. 2. Landslide in the Ikawa Forest, hollowed out deeply
descriptionsofthefaunalandfloristic
richness related to environmental conditions from large amount of rocky debris so that this disturbancewatershed management and forest conservation point increases the risk of deforest and man-made disaster.
How do we try the natural disaster reduction? We areof views.
Scale of the landslide around the Ikawa Forest aiming to research the mechanism and dynamics ofStation is relatively large and frequent. Figs. 1 and landslide focused on sediment yield and path flow
2 show the landslides at the Ikawa Forest. Impact of the groundwater in terms of soil erosion. It seems thatslope erosion is deep in forest floor, and destroyed the topography of the mountains does not change,
area is wide as whole watershed. Landslide causes however the data clearly shows that it is actually quite

6

DIWPA News Letter No.37

New Site 2

Fig. 3. A perspective of the Ikawa Forest

moving. The results of these studies are valuable
information for forest management in the Ikawa
Forest Station.
Remarkble characters of the Ikawa Forest Station
are steep and bare slope by frequent landslide suchas avobe mentioned, and rich in flora and fauna thatsustains a wide altitude range up to altitude of 1,0002,400 m (Fig. 3). A synergy between sustainable
forest utilization and conservation is hot topic,
becoming a social concern nationwide. How do werelate to the wildlife? One is the conservation of rare
wildlife and the other is the controlling of population
size which is regarded as harm from the standpoint Fig. 4. Bark peeling by Asian black bear, dameged at Hinokicyder plantationof human activities. Recently, damage by sika-deer isbecoming a serious problem in forestry and widelife
conservation. In addition, the harm of bark peelingby Asian black bear is also becoming serious (Fig. 4).
We are conducting a survey aiming at understading
and recording the situation quantitatively using
camera traps and clues to ideas for reducing damege Ikawa Forest Station
http:/www.nourin.tsukuba.ac.jp/~forest/index_e.ht
by aniumals.

7

CALL FOR NEW MEMBER OF DIWPA
We are now calling for membership of DIWPA. Membership fee is no charge. When you become amember, you can;
1. Receive the DIWPA News Letter
You can receive the News Letter by post or e-mail. News Letter contains various information of
biodiversityresearchinAsiaPacificarea,especiallyreportsoneveryprojectandactivitiesofAP-BON(Asia–Pacific Biodiversity Observation Network) as well as J-BON (Japan Biodiversity Observation
Network), IPBES (Intergovernmental Science and Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem)and new big project which is “Observation, Evaluation and Prediction of Biodiversity in Asia” by theEnvironment Research and Technology Development Fund. All you can get above information is
ONLYinDIWPANewsLetterexceptthatAP-BONprovidestheminitsownwebsite.
2.ApplyfortheFieldBiologyCourse
You can apply for the Field Biology Course sponsored by DIWPA. The chosen candidate would
participate the Field Biology Course which is organized by Kyoto University. There are few
international initiatives which conduct educational activities such as DIWPA even though some of theinitiatives carry out biodiversity research.
3. Run your articles regarding your biodiversity activities in DIWPA News Letter
DIWPA introduces our member’s various activities in DIWPA News Letter. Your activities would spreadthroughout the world, and you may receive more information about biodiversity conservation as wellas the supports.
4.Buildupacircleoffriendswithinbiodiversityresearch
Ask DIWPA when you want some information of foreign countries regarding your biodiversity
research. DIWPA can introduce people who have information you want. More than 400 members in
4 countries belong to DIWPA network.
IfyouwouldliketojoinDIWPA,pleasecontactto"DIWPA@ecology.kyoto-u.ac.jp".

DIWPA OFFICE
Chairperson
Secretary
GeneralSecretary
F o r a f r e es u b s c r i p t
tiot
onh inse w s l e totre r,
addresschange,pleasee- mailtothe
DIWPA
OFFICE
diwpa@ecology.kyoto-u.ac.jp
We a r er e a dt
y od e l i vaenre l e c t r oc noip yc t oyou. Thankyou foryourcooperation
inpromoting
paperless.
Also,we alwayswelcomeyourarticles,
newsorany
information
relatedtobiodiversity
forDIWPA
News
Letter.
Pleasesendthemtous.

Shin-Nakano
ichi
Atsushi
IshidaShigeoYachi
Sakai
Yoshikuni
Hodoki
Assistant
Secretary
Akiko
Seki

CenterforEcologicalResearch
Kyoto University,3-905chome,-2

Hirano,JAPANOtsu,31 2-0 5
Tel & Fax: 832-9457 18+
E-mail: diwpa@ecology.kyoto-u.ac.jp
http:diwpa.
/
ecology.kyoto-u.ac.
/ jpSh