著者

Huygens Oscar C. Goto Mitsuaki Izumiyama Shigeyuki Hayashi Hidetake Yoshida Toshio

出版者

「野生生物と社会」学会

雑誌

Biosphere conservation : for nature, wildlife, and humans (ISSN:13446797)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.3, no.2, pp.97-106, 2001-07

被引用文献数

4

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Asiatic black bear (Ursus thibetanus) depredation levels remain high in Japan even though over 1, 000 nuisance bears are killed annually, and an additional 1, 000 bears are killed during the hunting season. Nuisance activity includes damages to trees, crops, orchards, apiaries, fish farms, and other property. Landowners experiencing bear damages request hunter assistance. Hunters then set cage traps to catch and kill nuisance bears, and legally sell the parts, especially the gall bladders, of the bears they killed. We promoted non-lethal methods to reduce Asiatic black bear depredation in Nagano Prefecture from 1995 to 2000. Hunters were the most reluctant to adopt non-lethal methods to reduce depredation ; landowners were somewhat reluctant ; and municipal officials were the least reluctant. Hunter financial and emotional rewards for killing bears were large. Landowners were not actively involved in the protection of their property because they lacked know-how and resources, and because hunters offered an easy alternative. Reducing long term depredation may require the prefectural government to : (1) lead an aggressive and sustained campaign to teach landowners how to avoid conflicts with bears and to reinforce the fact that the systematic killing of nuisance bears has failed to reduce long term depredation in the past ; (2) encourage and finance widespread use of preventive methods such as the removal of bear attractants, the planting of crops that are not attractive to bears in areas at risk, electric fences, and the protection and restoration of broadleaf forests rich in bear foods ; and (3) change or remove the financial incentives linking the killing of bears to the protection of property. Furthermore, a national bear gall bladder tagging system would allow the monitoring of the legal national trade in bear parts and would help monitor annual bear kills.

著者

Bainah Sari Dewi Norio Tokita Masaaki Koganezawa Kengo Furubayashi

出版者

Association of Wildlife and Human Society

雑誌

Biosphere conservation : for nature, wildlife, and humans (ISSN:13446797)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.9, no.2, pp.19-28, 2009 (Released:2017-09-08)

参考文献数

37

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To investigate the effects of digestion by the Asiatic black bear Ursus thibetanus on seed germination, we conducted germination tests in the laboratory using Japanese bird cherry Prunus grayana (Rosaceae) seeds. We collected seeds from three different bird cherry trees (subsequently referred to as 'mother trees') between August 2006 and February 2007, and treated the seeds using four different methods: digested, extracted, juiced, and intact seeds. The single-factor ANOVA method was used for statistical analysis. In our study, seeds digested by bears showed higher rates of germination (89.0±11.0SD) than extracted seeds (66.7±8.9SD), while juiced seeds showed a lower rate of germination (10.2±4.5SD) and intact seeds did not germinate at all (0%). Our research also showed that the seeds taken from the three different mother trees did not differ significantly in their germination rates. The pulp juice and endocarp hinder the germination of the seeds of P. grayana. The difference between the germination rate of seeds that had passed through the alimentary canal of a bear and those that had their pulp removed manually was not clear; however, it seems likely that germination was improved by some mechanical or chemical aspect of passing through a bear's digestive tract.

著者

Huygens Oscar C. Hayashi Hidetake

出版者

「野生生物と社会」学会

雑誌

Biosphere conservation : for nature, wildlife, and humans (ISSN:13446797)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.3, no.2, pp.115-129, 2001-07

被引用文献数

2

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The government of Nagano Prefecture, central Japan, financed research in 1992 and 1993 to document Asiatic black bear (Ursus thibetanus) ecology, density, and population parameters throughout the prefecture. The prefectural government published the methods and results of this research in 1994, followed by an Asiatic black bear management proposal in 1995. However, most of the research methods used were not adapted to the credible documentation of bear ecology, density, and population parameters. Consequently, most of the results obtained and the management proposal are of dubious value. In Nagano Prefecture, municipal governments are entrusted with the management of the bears within their jurisdictions, limiting input from the prefectural government. Nevertheless, the Nagano prefectural government should not finance flawed bear research nor propose a bear management plan based on such research. A responsible bear management plan should be based on scientifically obtained data. We use existing literature to point out flaws in the research methodology used in the prefecture and to suggest alternative methods. We wish this commentary to be constructive and hope it will encourage sounder bear research in the prefecture and throughout Japan in the future.

著者

Huygens Oscar C. Goto Mitsuaki Hoshino Toshio Koyama Masaru Tokita Eiji Hayashi Hidetake Yoshida Toshio

出版者

「野生生物と社会」学会

雑誌

Biosphere conservation : for nature, wildlife, and humans (ISSN:13446797)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.4, no.1, pp.37-41, 2001-12

被引用文献数

2

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Regular monitoring of bear (Ursus spp.) populations is important to ensure that conservation policies are appropriate. Although population estimates may be less ambiguous than population trend estimates, they are more difficult and expensive to obtain. Bait station surveys are commonly used in North America to monitor bear population trends. We tested sardine bait stations as a monitoring tool for Asiatic black bear (U. thibetanus) populations in Nagano Prefecture, central Japan, in summer and fall 1999 and in spring 2000. We established 341 sardine bait stations in five study areas. Eighteen (X^^-=5.45%; range=0-10.8%) bait stations were visited by bears and 21 (X^^-=6.36%; range=0-17.8%) were visited by non-target animals, and 11 were discarded due to data collection concerns. In the only area we tested during three seasons (Northern Japanese Alps), we obtained the highest (8.3%) visitation rates in summer, the lowest (4.5%) in spring, and intermediate rates (5.6%) in fall. These visitation rates are too low to be a reliable indicator of bear abundance.

著者

Yokohata Yasushi Ikeda Yukio Yokota Masatsugu Ishizaki Hideharu

出版者

「野生生物と社会」学会

雑誌

Biosphere conservation : for nature, wildlife, and humans (ISSN:13446797)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.5, no.1, pp.39-46, 2003-03

被引用文献数

1

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The ecosystem of Uotsuri-jima, one of the islands in the Senkaku Archipelago, off southwestern Japan, has probably been devastated by a dramatic increase in goats (Capra aegarus) since their deliberate introduction in 1978. Because the Senkaku Islands are claimed as national territory by China, Taiwan, and Japan, scientific researchers have been unable to land on Uotsuri-jima, nor have there been opportunities to eradicate the goats there. The effects of the goats on the vegetation of the island were assessed therefore using remote-sensing techniques : aerial photographs, Landsat satellite images, and an IKONOS satellite image. The results showed that bare patches have emerged in several areas, and that particular floral communities on the raised coral reefs may have already been lost. Since the flora of the sub-canopy layers are not visible beneath the dense forest canopy that covers most of the island, using current remote-sensing methods, very little is known about the extent of damage to the flora of these layers. Land-based surveys are thus urgently required to assess the condition of the flora and to control the introduced goats.

著者

Khan Aleem Ahmed Khalid Umeed Rajput Rafiq Ahmed

出版者

「野生生物と社会」学会

雑誌

Biosphere conservation : for nature, wildlife, and humans (ISSN:13446797)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.2, no.2, pp.83-90, 2000-02

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The Himalayan brown bear (Ursus arctos isabellinus), Tibetan wolf (Canis lupus chanco) and snow leopard (Uncia uncia) are medium and large carnivores living in Deosai Plains, Northern Areas, Pakistan. Formerly, Himalayan brown bears could be comparatively, easily watched by visitors at a close distance in the natural habitat. During the three study years of 1993-95, however, it was revealed that the bear population had decreased in number from quite common in the past to only 24. Thus, the Deosai bear population has clearly been endangered. In order to conserve the animals within the habitat, a Rapid Rural Appraisal (RRA) with a participatory approach was conducted in 10 strategic villages around Deosai Plains. The results revealed the symbiotic relationship of the bears with locals. People realized the importance of wildlife and promised to be further involved in conservation of fauna, especially the brown bears.