The Distribution of Wild Yakushima Macaque (Macaca fuscata yakui) Troops around the Coast of Yakushima Island, Japan

Yoshihiro, Shinichi; Furuichi, Takeshi; Manda, Masaharu; Ohkubo, Naotoshi; Kinoshita, Mayumi; Agetsuma, Naoki; Azuma, Shigeru; Matsubara, Hideaki; Sugiura, Hideki; Hill, David A.; Kido, Etsuko; Kubo, Ritsuko; Matsushima, Kana; Nakajima, Kensuke; Maruhashi, Tamaki; Oi, Toru; Sprague, David S.; Tanaka, Toshiaki; Tsukahara, Takahiro; Takahata, Yukio

doi:10.2354/psj.14.179

Cited by 16 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 4 publications

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“…5), although the 280 specimens were collected evenly in an attempt to fit the distribution of monkeys according to the group density reported by Yoshihiro et al (1998Yoshihiro et al ( , 1999. Y1 was distributed widely, as expected from the estimated frequency, whereas the other five haplotypes were observed only in restricted areas in the lowland forests.…”

Section: Geographically Biased Distributionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Low genetic diversity and biased distribution of mitochondrial DNA haplotypes in the Japanese macaque (Macaca fuscata yakui) on Yakushima Island

Hayaishi

Kawamoto

2006

Primates

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The Japanese macaques (Macaca fuscata yakui) on Yakushima Island are an endemic subspecies and are closely related to the population of Kyushu, one of the main islands of Japan. Using feces collected throughout Yakushima Island, we examined mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) to investigate the phylogeography of Japanese macaques. Six haplotypes were observed for a 203-bp fragment of the mtDNA control region. The nucleotide diversity (pi) was low (0.0021). The genetic divergence within the Yakushima population was lower (0.009) than that among four haplotypes of the Kyushu population (0.015), calculated using Kimura's two-parameter method. The mismatch distribution analysis of the six haplotypes of the Yakushima population suggested that the Yakushima population had experienced a sudden expansion in population size, which could be related to the bottleneck effect. The geographic distribution of the mtDNA haplotypes was not uniform. One haplotype was distributed widely, whereas the other five haplotypes were distributed only in the lowlands. The low genetic diversity and biased distribution are discussed in relation to an environmental crash caused by ancient volcanic activity near this island, which is postulated to have happened about 7,300 years ago, and the delayed recovery of highland vegetation.

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Section: Geographically Biased Distributionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Low genetic diversity and biased distribution of mitochondrial DNA haplotypes in the Japanese macaque (Macaca fuscata yakui) on Yakushima Island

Hayaishi

Kawamoto

2006

Primates

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“…The population of raiding monkeys was estimated to be roughly 1, 600-3,100 in 1991-1992 (see Table 1 of Yoshihiro et al 1998, excluding Area 7 where there was no farmland), but there are estimated to be many other monkeys that bear no influence on crops in Yakushima (e.g., Hanya et al 2004). The monkeys mainly damage oranges and other fruits, as well as sweet potatoes (data from Kamiyaku Town).…”

Section: Outbreaks Of Crop Raiding and Pest Controlmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…hd; Yoshihiro et al 1998) since 1984, the population growth rate to compensate for the controlled animals (300-600 per year) would need to be very high compared to the intensively provisioned population growth rate (10-14% per year; Oita City 1977), even though that population size might be underestimated. Muroyama (2003) reported that monkeys that depend on agricultural crops year-round have birth rates as high as those of intensively provisioned monkeys.…”

Section: Relation Between Crop Raiding and Habitat Transformationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ecological function losses caused by monotonous land use induce crop raiding by wildlife on the island of Yakushima, southern Japan

Agetsuma

Sustainability and Diversity of Forest Ecosystems

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Mass production is a logical outcome of price competition in a capitalist economy. It has resulted in the need for large‐scale logging and planting of commercial crops. However, such monotonous land use, or monoculture, has damaged various ecological functions of forests and eroded the beneficial public service provided by forests. In Japan, the most widespread monotonous land use is associated with coniferous plantations, the expansion of which was encouraged by Forest Agency policies from 1958 that were aimed at increasing wood production. By 1986, half of all forested lands had been transformed into single‐species conifer plantations. These policies may damage the ecological functions of forests: to provide stable habitats for forest wildlife. In particular, food supplies for wildlife have fluctuated greatly after several decades of logging. Some species have therefore changed their ecology and begun to explore novel environments proactively in order to adapt to such extreme fluctuations. Such species have started to use farmlands that neighbor the plantations. In this sense, crop raiding by wildlife can be regarded as a negative result of monotonous land use due to the loss of ecological functions. Therefore, habitat management to rehabilitate ecological functions and to reorganize the landscape will be required in order to resolve the problem of crop raiding by wildlife. This study examines crop raiding by Japanese deer (Cervus nippon) and monkeys (Macaca fuscata) on the island of Yakushima, which typifies crop‐raiding situations in Japan.

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“…We organized an international symposium to discuss the problems of crop damage by macaques with the local government and local farmers in 1990. From 1990 to 1993, primatologists and university students made population censuses annually in the entire coastal area of Yakushima and estimated a population of 2000-3850 macaques ranging in 127 km 2 of the coastal area (Yoshihiro et al 1998). To investigate the relationships among density of macaques, their seasonal variation in use of habitats, and the influence of forestry Field Studies on Japanese Macaques at Yakushima plantation, Hill et al (1994) started a long-term survey in 1994 at several Yakushima sites with different logging histories.…”

Section: Conservation At Yakushimamentioning

confidence: 99%

History and Present Scope of Field Studies on Macaca fuscata yakui at Yakushima Island, Japan

Yamagiwa

2008

Int J Primatol

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Field studies on Japanese macaques on Yakushima Island started in the mid-1970s, >25 yr after the emergence of Japanese primatology, in response to criticism of methods using provisioning and the desire to find the socioecological factors influencing the social life of macaques in natural habitats. We habituated macaques without provisioning mainly in the coastal warm-temperate forest and found that they lived in small troops with a high socionomic sex ratio. Observations of several troop fissions and troop takeovers by nontroop males suggest that Yakushima macaques have a different social organization from that of Japanese macaques in other habitats. For example, youngest ascendancy as the dominance relationhip among sisters, which usually occurs in provisioned troops, was absent in Yakushima macaques. We compared their ecological and social features with those of Japanese macaques at Kinkazan (cool-temperate forests) and found that abundance of high-quality foods may cause stronger intra-and intertroop competition at Yakushima. Female Yakushima macaques may more positively solicit nontroop males to associate with them during the mating season. Such a tendency may promote frequent male movement between troops and frequent troop fissions. Though ecological factors form social features of Japanese macaques, some features such as male association and movements between troops are not accounted for via socioecology. Recent field studies have focused on macaques living at higher altitudes in Yakushima and on individual survival strategies by taking diverse viewpoints and using new technologies. DNA analysis of fecal samples shows low genetic diversity and suggests the macaques' recent expansion from lowland to highland forests in Yakushima. The population censuses conducted annually indicate that the higher-altitude macaques have a larger home range but a similar group size versus their counterparts at low elevations. The unsolved issues in socioecology will pose a challenge to the younger generation of primatologists. Conservation of macaques and their habitat is one of our major activities at Yakushima. The level of Int J Primatol (Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1993. However, large-scale logging in the 1960s and 1970s caused the loss of macaque habitats and led to increased crop damage by them in the 1980s. We have proposed effective methods to protect cultivated fields from macaques as well as several plans for sustainable use of forests, such as ecotourism and a fieldwork course for university students. Local residents and researchers have created several nongovernment organizations (NGOs) to promote conservation and nature study at Yakushima. The role of local NGOs is particularly important to mitigate conflicts between people and wildlife. Though hundreds of macaques are still captured as pests annually in Yakushima, we continue the conservation measures and spread awareness of conservation in cooperation with the local NGOs.

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The Distribution of Wild Yakushima Macaque (Macaca fuscata yakui) Troops around the Coast of Yakushima Island, Japan

Cited by 16 publications

References 4 publications

Low genetic diversity and biased distribution of mitochondrial DNA haplotypes in the Japanese macaque (Macaca fuscata yakui) on Yakushima Island

Low genetic diversity and biased distribution of mitochondrial DNA haplotypes in the Japanese macaque (Macaca fuscata yakui) on Yakushima Island

Ecological function losses caused by monotonous land use induce crop raiding by wildlife on the island of Yakushima, southern Japan

History and Present Scope of Field Studies on Macaca fuscata yakui at Yakushima Island, Japan

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