Biodiversity on Broadway - Enigmatic Diversity of the Societies of Ants (Formicidae) on the Streets of New York City

Each year, a larger proportion of the Earth's surface is urbanized, and a larger proportion of the people on Earth lives in those urban areas. The everyday nature, however, that humans encounter in cities remains poorly understood. Here, we consider perhaps the most urban green habitat, street medians. We sampled ants from forty-four medians along three boulevards in New York City and examined how median properties affect the abundance and species richness of native and introduced ants found on them. Ant species richness varied among streets and increased with area but was independent of the other median attributes measured. Ant assemblages were highly nested, with three numerically dominant species present at all medians and additional species present at a subset of medians. The most common ant species were the introduced Pavement ant (Tetramorium caespitum) and the native Thief ant (Solenopsis molesta) and Cornfield ant (Lasius neoniger). The common introduced species on the medians responded differently to natural and disturbed elements of medians. Tetramorium caespitum was most abundant in small medians, with the greatest edge/area ratio, particularly if those medians had few trees, whereas Nylanderia flavipes was most abundant in the largest medians, particularly if they had more trees. Many of the species encountered in Manhattan were similar to those found in other large North American cities, such that a relatively small subset of ant species probably represent most of the encounters humans have with ants in North America

【《国際ワークショップ》報告】Islands as Conservation Laboratories : Possibilities for International Institute for Okinawan Studies at the University of the Ryukus

The Ryukyu island chain, and the University of the Ryukyus in particular, are uniquely suited to create a novel approach to islands studies in the southwest Pacific islands. The human and ecological history of the island chain has made it a hub of biodiversity and commerce for the western Pacific, a fact that is reflected in the current complement of biological diversity. The Ryukyus could serve as a laboratory in which to study many island conservation theories that have direct comparability with New York City, including the relationship between human movements historically and current biodiversity, habitat fragmentation, urbanization, centers of origin, invasive species impacts, and the impact of military exercises on biodiversity. Interestingly, the geographic distribution of the human population on Okinawa in particular mirrors that of Long Island, New York. Given that Long Island includes the eastern part of New York City (the boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens) and that the impact of urbanization decreases to the east, in a manner identical to Okinawa (but to the northeast), New York and Okinawa may be considered ecological analogues. Many comparative studies between these two islands are conceivable. Because of their geographic locations and research focus of the faculty, Columbia University and the University of the Ryukyus could possibly be important long-term collaborators. I look forward to the opportunity of being a part of this collaboration

Catalyzing red list assessments of underrepresented Taxa through partner networks and student engagement

Global biodiversity decline is continuing largely unabated. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species (hereafter, Red List) provides us with the gold standard for assessments, but taxonomic coverage, especially for invertebrates and fungi, remains very low. Many players contribute to the Red List knowledge base, especially IUCN Red List partners, IUCN-led assessment projects, and the Specialist Groups and Red List Authorities (RLA) of the IUCN Species Survival Commission. However, it is vital that we develop the next generation of contributors and bring in new, diverse voices to build capacity and to sustain the huge assessment effort required to fill data gaps. Here, we discuss a recently established partner network to build additional capacity for species assessments, by linking academia directly into the assessment processes run by Specialist Groups and RLAs. We aim to increase Red List “literacy” amongst potential future conservationists and help students to increase publication output, form professional networks, and develop writing and research skills. Professors can build Red List learning into their teaching and offer Red Listing opportunities to students as assignments or research projects that directly contribute to the Red List. We discuss the opportunities presented by the approach, especially for underrepresented species groups, and the challenges that remain