DIWPA: DIVERSITAS in the Western Pacific and Asia

DIWPA News Letter
Office: Center for Ecological Research, Kyoto University, Otsu, Japan

Messagefrom DIWPA ChairShin-ichi NakanoAugust2019

No.

41

mutual understanding and establishinglong-term cooperation between the twoinstitutions for ecology and biodiversity inAsia (Fig. 2).

As I have previously reported in DIWPAInternational Cooperation Team members

News Letter No. 40, International Field

NIE Joint Research Lab” at CER from 17 toIFBC 2019 is a one-day workshop for basicof National Institute of Ecology ( NIE ) ,South Korea, visited CER to establish “CER-

19 May 2019 (Fig. 1) . We have held somesymposiums and sessions since concluding

the Memorandum of Understanding for
Academic and Research Cooperation forour new partnership in December 2016.
South Korea and Japan are close in terms ofgeographical distance, climate, history andculture. Ecologists in those two counties

have been going hand-in-hand in hope of thedevelopment of sciences. We will collaborate

to recognize the importance of academic andresearch development as well as to enhance

Biology Course (IFBC ) in 2019 would beheld in Indonesia this summer (Fig. 3) .

methods in stream ecology. We are goingto visit to the upstream of Citarum River

which has a pristine ecosystem, and toconduct measurement of some physicalvariables, collection of biological samples,

identification of biological organisms and soon. In addition, the participants of IFBC will

receive a certificate. If you are interested
in it, please visit the website: https://www.
troplimno2019.or.id/2019/05/11/if bcworkshop/.

Fig. 1. The tape-cut ceremony for CER-NIE Joint Research Lab.

Fig. 3.
The flyer of 2019 International Field
Biology Course (IFBC)
Fig. 2. NIE colleagues visited the research vessel “Hasu” in Lake Biwa.

DIWPA News Letter No.41

1Message

Message

t ime w it h g reats u c c e s s . D I W PAAtsushi Ishida

will be able to holdCenter for Ecological Research (CER) in Kyoto

again. We will invite

from the Secretary GeneralUniversity organized a symposium related
to Macro Ecology and Ecology on 21 and 22February 2019 at Kyoto University. For thissymposium, DIWPA invited a researcher,Dr. Chu The Cuong, in Vietnam Academy ofScience and Technology (Figs. 1 and 2). Heis a specialist of unmanned aerial vehicles(UAVs) technology for coastal and marine

ecology. He introduces the symposium andhis activity on page 3 in this newsletter.

This symposium had 158 Japanese and 65
foreigner participants over 20 countries.

Because many researchers with broad areas
in macro biology and ecology participatedthe symposium, we could share many

newly information and had very excitingt his s y mposiumin November 2019a few researchers forthe next symposium.

If you, your friends
or your students areinterested in the symposium, please informthem to see the back of this newsletter. We
are looking forward to your application.

For DIWPA Newsletter, we always invite

your papers related to the urgent topics ofbiodiversity, ecosystem services, sustainable
society, and its translational research.
We hope that the DIWPA activity as theplatform of biodiversity and its conservation
increases further.

Fig. 1. “Symposium of Integrative Biology 2019: Biodiversity in Asia” at Kyoto University

2DIWPA News Letter No.41

Fig. 2. Dr. Chu The Cuong
from Vietnam

ReportSymposium of Integrative Biology 2019:Biodiversity in Asia
Chu The Cuong

Institute of Marine Environment and Resources, Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology (Vietnum)

In recent years, the UAVs ( UnmannedAerial Vehicle) offers an effective andinexpensive tool to acquire aerial imagery,turtle biolog y, the original intention
was using the unmanned aerial vehicles( UAVs ) to st udy sea t ur tles, throughgiving a potential quick and cost-effective

prac t ical sur veys I have learnt t hat

This technolog y has been applied toareas and very suitable for developing

method to monitor of ecological processesand become a trend in many countries.
assess the landscape, environment andecological researches such as: assessingchanges in biodiversity, studying wildlife

this tool can be also applied in study ofcoastal ecosystems, especially in remotecountries like Vietnam. My study named:“Unmanned aerial vehicles ( UAVs )for surveying marine ecosystems inbehaviors in the field, mapping river

Vietnam: a case of seagrass beds inVietnam, the research on this application

Platinium) equipped with a consumer-ecosystem and evaluating ecosystems.
However, in the developing countries likePhu Quoc island and My Tuong area”.
By using a lightweight UAV (DJI Mavic Pro

is still limited.

grade RGB digital camera (Sensor 1/2.3”

Biology 2019: Biodiversity in Asia" andFocus from 0.5 m to ∞, Electronic Shutter

Fortunately, I have been selected toattend the "Symposium of Integrative
the valuable workshop: “The applicationof drone mapping techniques to t he(CMOS), Effective pixels:12.35 M, Lens FOV

78.8° 26 mm, f/2.2, Distortion < 1.5%,Speed 8s -1/8000 s, Image size 4000×3000pxl) and Drone Deploy application to takeenvironmental science”, which held onphotos at 75m attitude. The high spatial

International Network for DIVERSISAS inisland (Kien Giang province) and My TuongFebruary 21-22, 2019 at Kyoto University,

Japan, with the financial support from theWestern Pacific and Asia (DIWPA) . Thisresolution (3 cm pixel-1) orthomosaic mapsof the seagrass meadows in Phu Quoc(Ninh Thuan province) have been produced

was a great opportunity for myself toby using Drone Deploy solution: upload

I also introduce my study in DIWPA News

2D orthophoto mosaic as GeoTIFF filelearn the UAV’s techniques and presented

the initiative result of our research. Now,Letter No. 41.

A lt hou g h my b ac k g r ou nd i s se aimages to their website and got results
after 4 hours. Export the result includes:(and/or JPEG ) ( WGS84/UTMzone 48N ) ,Google KML file and TFW file, each map
DIWPA News Letter No.41

3

Reportcover 30 to 90 ha, resolutions 3 cm/pix(Figs. 1 and 2).

Only 5 classes have been used in this study:

eCognition Developer 9 for Object-basedand constructions.

Image processing and classification

pr oc e du r e s: We u se d t he sof t w a r e

image analysis (OBIA) to discriminate coverclasses (Fig. 3). Rule sets were developed

based on the segmentation process of images

into homogenous segments (multiresolution

segmentation algorithm followed by aspectral difference segmentation algorithm).

seagrass <50%, seagrass > 50% living

coverage percentage, sand, rocks and corals
Our results, with assistance from fieldsurvey data, it was very difficult to classify
species seagrass by aerial images (short
seagrass leaves type Cymodocea serrulata,

Thallassia hemprichii and long seagrassleaves type Enhalus acoroides) . However,

The subsequent object-based classificationthese imageries could be useful to identify

image features (mean RGB values, mean

than 2.5 m) and clear water. In Phu Quoc

(nearest neighbor algorithm) was realized

by selecting thresholds of class specificbrightness, st andard dev iation RGB,position, and shape). These thresholds ofthese features were automatic registered4

areas for each class, basing on field surveys).

area, distribution and coverage of seagrassmeadows in the shallow zone (depth lessisland, 6 species of seagrass: Enhalus

acoroides, Halodule uninervis, Halodulepinifolia, Cymodocea serulata, Cymodocea

by selecting manually class specific samples

rotundata, Thalassia hemprichii, Cymodoceae

via an on-screen interpretation (40 training

rotundata, Thalassia hemprichii and Enhalus

Fig. 1. Seagrass meadow in Phu Quoc

Fig. 2. Seagrass meadow in My TuongDIWPA News Letter No.41

ReportFig. 3. An example of Object-based image analysis processacoroides have been found, with total area

is 952 ha and living coverage percentage

5-50%: 343.1ha (36%), > 51%: 444.3 ha(47%) and sand 164 ha (17%). In My Tuongarea, 5 species: Enhalus acoroides, Thalassia
hemprichii, Cymodoceae rotundata, Haloduleuninervis, H. Pinifolia, total area is 326 haand living coverage percentage: 5-50%: 163

ha (45%), > 51%: 82 ha (25%), sand: 108 ha(30%).

Even though successful applied theUAVs to monitor seagrass meadows, but
this tool needs to be developed, such as
using multispectral, hyperspectral cameras,

longer battery life, can fly in the stronger
wind or bad weather.

Mail Us!
We welcome your articles,
news or any information related tobiodiversity.
Please send them todiwpa@ ecology.kyoto-u.ac.jp

DIWPA News Letter No.41

5

New Site

The Yahagi River and Toyota Yahagi River InstituteToko Suzaki and Toshiya Yamamoto
Toyota Yahagi River Institute (Japan)

6The Yahagi River is one of Japan’s class A rivers
that flows from Mt. Ohkawa-iriyama (1,908m above sea level) in Nagano Prefecture andthrough three prefectures (Nagano, Gifu andAichi ) in central Japan before flowing intoMikawa Bay. The length of the main stream is118 km (the 39th longest class A river out of 109
domestic class A rivers) and the drainage area is1830 km2 (the 35th biggest area) (Fig. 1).
A rich natural environment surrounds thebasin area and various living creatures, including
natural “ayu” (sweet fish) inhabit. However
several problems have arisen due to the fact thatthe river water is highly utilized by the sevendams located in the main stream between 34 km
to 80 km from the mouth of the river.
The Toyota Yahagi River Institute wasfounded in 1994 as a third-sector entity
comprising of the Yahagi River Fishermen’s
Cooperative, Shidare Irrigation Creek Land
Dist r ic t ( now re-named as Toyot a landImprovement District) and Toyota city, under theslogan of “one research institute for each river”.
In 2003, the institute was incorporated into theadministrative organization of Toyota City.
The three major activities of the institute are:1）Biological and humanistic research of thedrainage basin
2）Disclosure of research results and Informationof the basin.
3）P roviding support and collaborating withvarious organizations involved in theconservation of the basin’s environment.
DIWPA News Letter No.41

Fig. 1. The Yahagi River

Through these three activities, we aim torestore clean and abundant water to the YahagiRiver resulting in supporting high biodiversity of
the region, and to enrich people’s life.

”Ayu”: the key fish and restoration
study of the habitat“Ayu” is an amphidromous fish with a 1-year
lifespan. It is one of the most abundant fish insummer and possesses two unique ecologicalcharacteristics : first, it is an herbivorous species
feeding on epilithic algae during both young andadult stages; second, it has a feeding territory
with an area of approximately 1 m2. The territoryis usually established in lotic part of rivers withcobbles.
The Yahagi River is locally famous for“ayu” angling, however the catch has declined
remarkably in the past 30 years. Although thenumber of ayu fishes that migrate upstream in

New Site
recent years has been stable, the annual catchesremain stagnant. We are conducting our research
to resolve this issue.
The flow of the river is heavily regulatedby dams. The riverbed in the middle reach isstable and severely armored due to decreases inthe sediment flow. On an armored riffle, moss
becomes dominant in some areas. In 2017, wehave started the riverbed-restoring-experimentby placing new and algae-free cobbles under thehypothesis that ayu fishes avoid the armoredriver bottoms and prefer the newly placed
cobbles where relatively fresh epilithic algae,
main food organisms of ayu fishes, are available(Fig. 2). The experiments showed that ayu fishes
prefer to feed on the newly-placed-cobbles
and tend to make the feeding territory there.
However the trends are likely to be temporal and
we are monitoring the persistence continuously.

Fig. 2. The study site of riverbed restoration

Riparian environment improvement by
the collaboration with local inhabitants
The pitch differences between bottom of a riverand river bank have increased by a decrease inriver flow quantity with the increase of water
use in the Yahagi River. In addition, the use ofplants at riverside had decreased with a changeof lifestyle in the rapid economic growth period,
1960s. Consequently, bamboo forests that had
planted for the revetment have densely spreadand various livings in the forests decreaseddrastically.
The environmental manipulation by the riveradministrator alone is not enough. 18 "riverfront
conservation and management groups" formedby local inhabitants have fallen the bamboos,
mowed the grasses and picked up garbage
voluntarily at the riverside. Their activities havedramatically improved the riparian landscapeand the familiar to water (Fig. 3) . However
there are some issues such as aging of groupmembers or shortage of successors, and decline
in the habitat quality by excessive mowing ofgrasses. How do we continue and develop theenvironment conservation by the collaboration
with local inhabitants to solve these issues? Wehave investigated biotic resources and supported
to make more pleasure activities using themeffectively. As an example, we have investigatedgrassland management technique to increase
the plant population and flowering for the honeyand pollen source and supported apiculturesof the Japanese bee at the activity place. Inaddition, we offer the information of the naturalcharacteristics and resources at the activity place
to the groups and support the members to draw
the goal image in the future including the mannerof resource utilization.

Fig. 3. The landscape before and after the environmental
manipulation

DIWPA News Letter No.41

7DIWPA scholarship for“Symposium of Integrative Biology II :World Tour”
DIWPA invites applications for a scholarship to attend “Symposium of Integrative Biology II: World Tour”
which will be held on November 11-12, 2019 at Kyoto University, Japan. Kyoto University is proud of its diverseand large pool of ecologists and environmental scientists. Some studies behavior of mammals, others studies
diversity of plants, and still others study ecological function of microbial organisms. Here we aim to integrate
such biological knowledge to tackle further understanding of the nature, and share its efforts with diverse groupof biologists around the world.
This year, we will also have an additional workshop on field science in Ashiu Forest Research Station, wherepristine natural forest is preserved for research and education. One of the main functions of DIWPA is “capacitybuilding of scientists in particular young scientists from developing countries”. We look forward to yourapplications.

DIVERSITAS in the Western Pacific and Asia (DIWPA) is an international network for the promotion ofcooperative studies and information exchange on biodiversity in the Western Pacific and Asia. The term of"Western Pacific and Asia" is used in this proposal to intend to cover East Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia,Melanesia, Micronesia, Australia and New Zealand. DIWPA aims to connect existing networks of people working
on biodiversity and research projects in Asia and the Western Pacific. For more information, please visit ourURL: http://diwpa.ecology.kyoto-u.ac.jp/index.html

Details ( Please see http://www.ecology.kyoto-u.ac.jp/hyakka-world/ for more detail information.)

1. Date  : November 11-12, 2019
2. Place : Memorial Hall of Centennial Clock Tower, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan
Ashiu Forest Research Station, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan
3. Application :	Applicants should be a member of DIWPA at the time of application. If you would like to join DIWPA, please contact to DIWPA@ecology.kyoto-u.ac.jp before August 20, 2019. Applicants should prepare the following documents.
1 ) CV2 ) A statement of their interests in the field of ecology (1 page)3 ) A recommendation letter
4. Application submission and deadline :Submit an application to DIWPA office by e-mail before September 1, 2019.
5. Financial support :	Kyoto University provides a scholarship to cover his/her expenses for accommodations and travel.

D I W PA O FFI CE
Chairperson
Shin-ichi Nakano
Secretary General
Atsushi Ishida
Secretary	Keisuke Koba		
Shoko Sakai		Yoshikuni Hodoki
Assistant Secretary Akiko Seki

Hiroshi Kudo
Shigeo Yachi
Hiromi Uno

Center for Ecological Research
Kyoto University509-3, 2-chome, Hirano, Otsu 520-2113, JAPANTel & Fax : +81-77-549-8238
E-mail : diwpa@ecology.kyoto-u.ac.jp

http://diwpa.ecology.kyoto-u.ac.jp/

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