A crowdsourcing approach to collecting photo-based insect and plant observation records

Scientific field observation by members of the public is known as citizen science and has become popular all across the world. Citizen science is advantageous for collecting large amounts of scientific data and can be seen as a crowdsourcing approach to data collection. Information and communications technology is enhancing the availability of citizen science. Mobile devices, such as mobile phones, that have a digital camera with a global positioning system (GPS) are necessities for contemporary life and can be utilised as powerful observation tools in citizen science. A web-based system has been developed as a data collection tool for citizen science. Participants submit an e-mail with a photo taken by their mobile phones. The photos contain location information, which can be easily and automatically embedded if the mobile phone is equipped with GPS. Collaboration has been undertaken with regional event managers, such as museum curators and held citizen science events in each region and for various target taxonomic groups. All photos were stored in the data server and the organisms were taxonomically identified by citizen scientists, regional managers and the authors. In total, 154 species and 843 data records were collected in this project conducted from 2011 to 2016

De novo vertebral artery dissecting aneurysm after internal trapping of the contralateral vertebral artery

We present the case of a de novo vertebral artery dissecting aneurysm (VADA) after endovascular trapping of a ruptured VADA on the contralateral side. The first ruptured VADA involved the posterior inferior cerebellar artery, which was successfully treated by endovascular internal trapping using a stent. A follow-up study at 3 months revealed a de novo VADA on the contralateral side. The second VADA was successfully embolized using coils while normal arterial flow in the vertebral artery was preserved using a stent. Increased hemodynamic stress may cause the development of a de novo VADA on the contralateral side

The discovery of a new locality for Aldrovanda vesiculosa (Droseraceae), a critically endangered free-floating plant in Japan

Aldrovanda vesiculosa L. is a globally endangered aquatic plant, with only two reintroduced populations known in Japan. In October 2022, we found a population of this species with nearly 10,000 individuals in an agricultural pond in Ishikawa Prefecture. This paper describes the estimated population size, habitat conditions, and the results of a genetic comparison with other populations by comparing its nrDNA (internal transcribed spacer;) and cpDNA (trnL intron and trnL–trnF spacer) sequences. All the DNA sequences from voucher specimens and GenBank data, including the population discovered in the present study, were identical. Based on the evidence, we presume that this A. vesiculosa population is a wild one

Changes in land cover and grassland area over the past 120 years in a rapidly urbanised area in Japan

In wet temperate regions, human activity has played an important role in shaping the size and distribution of grasslands. We examined change in land cover type and grassland area in a 9.2 × 22.3 km area of northern Chiba Prefecture, based on historical maps and documents for four time periods (1880s, 1950s, 1980s and 2000s). In the 1880s, conifer forests occupied the largest area (43.1%) amongst land cover types and grasslands accounted for 4.2% of the total area. However, literature available from the 1880s suggests that the understorey of conifer forests may have served as additional habitat for grasses. Thus, the habitat of grassland species is suggested to have covered up to 54% of the study area during this time period. By the 1950s, much of the grassland present in the 1880s had been changed to agricultural fields and paddies and grassland area had reduced to 2.9%. Residential development prior to and during the 1980s led to the conversion of forests and agricultural fields to grassland, increasing the grassland area to 11.6% of the study area. Finally, in the 2000s, grasslands had declined to 6.0% of the study area, likely due to conversion to residential areas. Despite these changes over time, 1.5% of the study area has remained as native forest or grassland for over 120 years. The spatial data presented herein are useful for conservation planning and studying the effect of historical land use change on biodiversity