Illustrated checklist of fishes from the Shubuto River System, southwestern Hokkaido, Japan

A checklist of fish fauna, comprising 40 species representing 15 families and 9 orders, was compiled from field, museum, and literature surveys of the Shubuto River System, southwestern Hokkaido, Japan. This area approximates the boundary of southern/northern affinities of Japanese freshwater fishes. All primary freshwater species, are listed except for Gymnogobius castaneus and all anadromous and marine amphidromous species that are scientifically presumed to occur naturally in the area. The list contains two invasive exotic species, Cyprinus carpio and Oncorhynchus mykiss, and two Siberian primary freshwater species, Lefua nikkonis and Barbatula toni, which are thought to mark the boundary of southern and northern affinities of Japanese freshwater fishes. Rhynchocypris perenurus, another Siberian primary freshwater species with a similar presumed range, was not recorded. The voucher specimen species included Platycephalus sp. 2, which is suggested to have the northernmost extended range

Citizen science: a new approach to advance ecology, education, and conservation

Citizen science has a long history in the ecological sciences and has made substantial contributions to science, education, and society. Developments in information technology during the last few decades have created new opportunities for citizen science to engage ever larger audiences of volunteers to help address some of ecology’s most pressing issues, such as global environmental change. Using online tools, volunteers can find projects that match their interests and learn the skills and protocols required to develop questions, collect data, submit data, and help process and analyze data online. Citizen science has become increasingly important for its ability to engage large numbers of volunteers to generate observations at scales or resolutions unattainable by individual researchers. As a coupled natural and human approach, citizen science can also help researchers access local knowledge and implement conservation projects that might be impossible otherwise. In Japan, however, the value of citizen science to science and society is still underappreciated. Here we present case studies of citizen science in Japan, the United States, and the United Kingdom, and describe how citizen science is used to tackle key questions in ecology and conservation, including spatial and macro-ecology, management of threatened and invasive species, and monitoring of biodiversity. We also discuss the importance of data quality, volunteer recruitment, program evaluation, and the integration of science and human systems in citizen science projects. Finally, we outline some of the primary challenges facing citizen science and its future.Dr. Janis L. Dickinson was the keynote speaker at the international symposium at the 61th annual meeting of the Ecological Society of Japan. We appreciate the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology in Japan for providing grant to Hiromi Kobori (25282044). Tatsuya Amano is financially supported by the European Commission’s Marie Curie International Incoming Fellowship Programme (PIIF-GA-2011- 303221). The findings and conclusions in this report are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the funding agencies or the Department of the Interior or the US Government.This is the final version of the article. It was first available from Springer via http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11284-015-1314-

A scientific note on hive entrance smearing in Japanese Apis cerana induced by pre-mass attack scouting by the Asian giant hornet Vespa mandarinia

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