Date : 23th December 2019
Time : 08:00 pm – 09:00 pm
Venue : HQ Auditorium, Malaysian Nature Society, Jalan Kelantan, Bukit Persekutuan, Kuala Lumpur
Yuichi Yamaura is a researcher who is interested in bird conservation in forests. He has studied birds for 20 years since he was a student. He obtained a PhD from University of Tokyo and currently work with Shikoku Research Center, Forestry and Forestry Products Research Institute as a senior researcher.
Japan’s important feature of forests and forestry is that 40% of the forests is conifer plantations rather than natural forests. These plantations had been established after WWII. Dr Yuichi’s doctoral study showed that these plantations can be habitat for birds when they support developed understory, standing dead trees, and native canopy trees (Yamaura et al., 2008). Recently, these plantations are getting mature and being harvested. In this context, they are now applying the concept of ‘retention forestry’ to conifer plantations. That is, in their ongoing project, when harvesting conifer plantations, they have intentionally retained some native non-planted broad-leaved trees (Yamaura et al., 2018). Their field survey has showed that retention can contribute to conservation of forest birds, including Narcissus Flycatcher (Ficedula narcissina) as a migratory species (Fig. 1). This is a common forest species throughout Japan, males have vivid color and clear songs. But the conservation of migratory species needs conservation efforts beyond breeding grounds. Indeed, the analysis of nation-scale long-term data suggested migratory birds in Japan declined possibly due to the land-use change in Southeast Asia as major non-breeding grounds (Yamaura et al., 2009). This is an important result and reason why he is now interested in the environment in Southeast Asia. They have therefore recently published a paper of migratory routes of Stonechat (Saxicola stejnegeri) as a grassland species (Fig. 2) that finally went to mainland Southeast Asia (Yamaura et al., 2017).
Environment and biodiversity in Southeast Asia is our global public goods. Although it is isolated from Japan, if their team can show the migratory routes of breeding birds, Japanese people may well appreciate values of environment and biodiversity in Southeast Asia. To test this hypothesis, their team is now tracking migratory routes of Narcissus Flycatcher (just finished!), which suggests that the bird main non-breeding grounds are Borneo. It stayed in Borneo during December to April. Consequently, Dr Yuichi’s team would like to visit Borneo, see local forests and forestry, and watch Narcissus Flycatcher. In this talk, he will share about these stories and why they are coming to Borneo.
Key publication:
Yamaura, Y., Akashi, N., Unno, A., Tsushima, T., Nagasaka, A., Nagasaka, Y., Ozaki, K., 2018. Retention Experiment for Plantation Forestry in Sorachi, Hokkaido (REFRESH): a large-scale experiment for retaining broad-leaved trees in conifer plantations. Bull. Forestry For. Prod. Res. Inst. 17, 91-109.
Yamaura, Y., Amano, T., Koizumi, T., Mitsuda, Y., Taki, H., Okabe, K., 2009. Does land-use change affect biodiversity dynamics at a macroecological scale? A case study of birds over the past 20 years in Japan. Anim. Conserv. 12, 110-119.
Yamaura, Y., Katoh, K., Takahashi, T., 2008. Effects of stand, landscape, and spatial variables on bird communities in larch plantations and deciduous forests in central Japan. Can. J. For. Res. 38, 1223-1243.
Yamaura, Y., Schmaljohann, H., Lisovski, S., Senzaki, M., Kawamura, K., Fujimaki, Y., Nakamura, F., 2017. Tracking the Stejneger’s stonechat Saxicola stejnegeri along the East Asian–Australian Flyway from Japan via China to Southeast Asia. J. Avian Biol. 48, 197-202.