■ What are the challenges of living on the reef? (サンゴ礁生態学班) 私たちのグループは、ハワイビーチや佐手久の海岸に行き、サンゴ礁の観察や調査、気になった生き物を採集し、研究所に持ち帰りました。調査後、自分達が描いた絵や図鑑、捕まえた実物を見て、ハワイビーチ(潮溜まり)と佐手久(入江)に棲む生き物の違いと環境の違いを議論しました。 私たちのポスターは、デジタルでの作成となったのでパソコンの使い方など苦戦する面もありましたが、最後には全員が納得のいくポスターが出来上がりました。キャンプの開講式のときは、静かでお互いに恥ずかしさが見えた子供達でしたが、キャンプが終わるころには年齢がバラバラなのにも関わらず、兄弟のように仲良く話していたり、先生や学生メンターとも楽しく会話をし、一体感が生まれました。(文責：吉田桃英（James Cook University）、山本リラ（国際基督教大学）)
A. 深海もしくは外洋に棲むウナギ目（ウナギの仲間）はフウセンウナギ科、フクロウナギ科、シギウナギ科、タンガクウナギ科などなど実は数多くのグループと種がおりますが、どれも食用に利用されないので、一般的に見かける機会はほぼない魚ばかりです。面白いことに、我々に馴染み深い蒲焼のウナギは、沿岸に棲んでいるアナゴ類よりも、これらの外洋に棲む「ウナギらしくないウナギ目の魚」の方が血筋としては近いことが近年わかりました。
2020年9月、喜界島サンゴ礁科学研究所の教育プログラムを再編し、KIKAI college を開設しました！ 通年でサンゴ礁研究と科学英語を学ぶサンゴ塾コースや、研究者によるセミナー、サマーキャンプ、島留学など、サンゴ礁科学研究所の豊富なプログラムが受講できます！ 未来の研究者の卵のみなさん！KIKAI collegeでお待ちしています！ KIKAI college ウェブサイトはこちら！
講義で白井先生と杉原先生が紹介してくれた貝の津波記録に関する論文はこちら！ 詳しく知りたい方はぜひ読んでみてください。 Murakami-Sugihara, N., Shirai, K., Hori, M., Amano, Y., Fukuda, H., Obata, H., et al. (2019). Mussel Shell Geochemical Analyses Reflect Coastal Environmental Changes Following the 2011 Tohoku Tsunami. ACS Earth and Space Chemistry, 3(7), 1346–1352.
Taking action from the small coral reef island, Kikaijima!
We have started a new project to promote sustainability and care for coral reefs and our oceans.
Japan has beautiful coral reefs that extend latitudinally from the tip of Okinawa to the southern edge of Honshu, the main island of Japan. Kikaijima, or “Kikai Island,” is one of the Amami Islands located north of Okinawa and south of Kyushu. Kikaijima is a raised coral island, the land continuously expanding with the uplifting of coral reef terraces. The climate of Kikaijima borders between tropical and temperate ocean and is classified as a humid subtropical climate. The coral reef ecosystem responds sensitively to changes in the climate. Kikaijima is a small island without river discharge and runoff to disturb the reef environment, a common source of damage to coral. A healthy coral reef ecosystem has been maintained for a long time, making Kikajima one of the best locations to detect ecological shifts as a response to change in global climate and ocean environment in the northwestern Pacific Ocean.
The KIKAI Institute has created education programs about coral reefs and the beautiful nature of Kikaijima. Many children visit our island from all over the world to learn about coral reef research. We could not meet them this year due to COVID-19. Japanese coral reef researchers belonging to our institute started an online seminar (webinar) for school students in March 2020. Since then, over 200 children have joined us to learn about the science of coral reefs, animals that use coral reefs as their homes (such as reef fish, bivalves, etc.), carbon and nutrient cycles within coral reefs, and so on. These programs will continue at least until next March. We are eagerly waiting for these future scientists to work with us!
As a new project this year, we have started making an encyclopedia of symbiotic reef corals in Kikaijima. KIKAI Institute is working with the National Institute for Environmental Studies to conduct and support this project. The coral ecologist team, Prof. Hironobu Fukami, Prof. Naoko Isomura, Dr. Takuma Fujii, and Dr. Yuko Kitano, have started a field survey to collect coral specimens and DNA samples for species identification. The process of the making the encyclopedia is open and always available in our newsletter, so everyone can join in to provide editorial and financial support. Kikajima’s high school students have also joined to help us take photos of the beautiful, white coral skeletons for the encyclopedia.
We hope that the encyclopedia will be a letter to the future oceans and the people who take care of them. The last record of the number of reef coral species in the Amami Islands was done 25 years ago. We want to make a record of modern ecosystem conditions in our encyclopedia, and want to continue to update it in the coming decades and centuries. At the end of this project we want to send our encyclopedia to school libraries as a gift of education. We hope the next generation and many generations after that will be interested in coral reefs, and will continue to observe and conserve our wonderful home– the ocean. Please join us to support this project and preserve our precious ocean far into the future.
先週の初級中級クラスの様子をお伝えします！
