Community composition and diversity of land snails along an elevation gradient in the World Natural Heritage Site, Yakushima Island
Understanding alpine communities that form along elevation gradients is not only a major topic in community ecology but also provides biological conservation insights into recent environmental changes in alpine ecosystems. In this study, we investigated the community composition and diversity of lan...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Elsevier
2024-04-01
|
| Series: | Global Ecology and Conservation |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2351989423003815 |
| _version_ | 1797272502471229440 |
|---|---|
| author | Osamu Kagawa Yasuto Ishii Koji Fujimoto Kazuki Kimura Satoshi Chiba Shun Ito |
| author_facet | Osamu Kagawa Yasuto Ishii Koji Fujimoto Kazuki Kimura Satoshi Chiba Shun Ito |
| author_sort | Osamu Kagawa |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Understanding alpine communities that form along elevation gradients is not only a major topic in community ecology but also provides biological conservation insights into recent environmental changes in alpine ecosystems. In this study, we investigated the community composition and diversity of land snails on Yakushima Island, Japan, which has steep mountainous areas and has been designated a World Natural Heritage Site. As a result of the survey, 3689 individuals of 42 species were recorded at 64 sites, and Bayesian hierarchical models were constructed using a species matrix and environmental data from remote sensing. We found that both land surface temperature, which correlated with elevation, and soil moisture index, which uncorrelated with elevation, altered community composition. Furthermore, species diversity was high at low elevations and decreased monotonically with increasing elevation. This diversity was related to the vegetation types. Thus, the results of these analyses imply that the land snail community on Yakushima Island varies along elevation. This study highlights the need to focus on changes in multiple environmental variables from a conservation perspective and the need to pay attention not only to alpine areas, but also to highly diverse low-elevation areas that are not legally designated as conservation areas. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-07T14:29:16Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-9fdca3b9ecaf41cc9c2dcc71a21b327e |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2351-9894 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-07T14:29:16Z |
| publishDate | 2024-04-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Global Ecology and Conservation |
| spelling | doaj.art-9fdca3b9ecaf41cc9c2dcc71a21b327e2024-03-06T05:27:16ZengElsevierGlobal Ecology and Conservation2351-98942024-04-0150e02746Community composition and diversity of land snails along an elevation gradient in the World Natural Heritage Site, Yakushima IslandOsamu Kagawa0Yasuto Ishii1Koji Fujimoto2Kazuki Kimura3Satoshi Chiba4Shun Ito5Graduate School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Shimoda Marine Research Center, University of Tsukuba, 5-10-1, Shimoda, Shizuoka 415-0025, Japan; Corresponding author.Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, Tohoku University, Aoba, Aramaki, Aoba-ku, Sendai, Miyagi 980-8578, JapanGraduate School of Life Science, Tohoku University, 41 Kawauchi, Aoba-ku, Sendai, Miyagi 980-0862, JapanCenter for Northeast Asian Studies, Tohoku University, 41 Kawauchi, Aoba-ku, Sendai, Miyagi 980-0862, JapanGraduate School of Life Science, Tohoku University, 41 Kawauchi, Aoba-ku, Sendai, Miyagi 980-0862, Japan; Center for Northeast Asian Studies, Tohoku University, 41 Kawauchi, Aoba-ku, Sendai, Miyagi 980-0862, JapanIzu Oshima Geopark Promotion Committee Office, 1-1-14, Motomachi, Oshima, Tokyo 100-0101, Japan; Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, Toho University, 2-2-1, Miyama, Funabashi, Chiba 274-8510, JapanUnderstanding alpine communities that form along elevation gradients is not only a major topic in community ecology but also provides biological conservation insights into recent environmental changes in alpine ecosystems. In this study, we investigated the community composition and diversity of land snails on Yakushima Island, Japan, which has steep mountainous areas and has been designated a World Natural Heritage Site. As a result of the survey, 3689 individuals of 42 species were recorded at 64 sites, and Bayesian hierarchical models were constructed using a species matrix and environmental data from remote sensing. We found that both land surface temperature, which correlated with elevation, and soil moisture index, which uncorrelated with elevation, altered community composition. Furthermore, species diversity was high at low elevations and decreased monotonically with increasing elevation. This diversity was related to the vegetation types. Thus, the results of these analyses imply that the land snail community on Yakushima Island varies along elevation. This study highlights the need to focus on changes in multiple environmental variables from a conservation perspective and the need to pay attention not only to alpine areas, but also to highly diverse low-elevation areas that are not legally designated as conservation areas.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2351989423003815Altitudinal gradientAlpine communityLand snailSpecies richnessWorld Natural Heritage site |
| spellingShingle | Osamu Kagawa Yasuto Ishii Koji Fujimoto Kazuki Kimura Satoshi Chiba Shun Ito Community composition and diversity of land snails along an elevation gradient in the World Natural Heritage Site, Yakushima Island Global Ecology and Conservation Altitudinal gradient Alpine community Land snail Species richness World Natural Heritage site |
| title | Community composition and diversity of land snails along an elevation gradient in the World Natural Heritage Site, Yakushima Island |
| title_full | Community composition and diversity of land snails along an elevation gradient in the World Natural Heritage Site, Yakushima Island |
| title_fullStr | Community composition and diversity of land snails along an elevation gradient in the World Natural Heritage Site, Yakushima Island |
| title_full_unstemmed | Community composition and diversity of land snails along an elevation gradient in the World Natural Heritage Site, Yakushima Island |
| title_short | Community composition and diversity of land snails along an elevation gradient in the World Natural Heritage Site, Yakushima Island |
| title_sort | community composition and diversity of land snails along an elevation gradient in the world natural heritage site yakushima island |
| topic | Altitudinal gradient Alpine community Land snail Species richness World Natural Heritage site |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2351989423003815 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT osamukagawa communitycompositionanddiversityoflandsnailsalonganelevationgradientintheworldnaturalheritagesiteyakushimaisland AT yasutoishii communitycompositionanddiversityoflandsnailsalonganelevationgradientintheworldnaturalheritagesiteyakushimaisland AT kojifujimoto communitycompositionanddiversityoflandsnailsalonganelevationgradientintheworldnaturalheritagesiteyakushimaisland AT kazukikimura communitycompositionanddiversityoflandsnailsalonganelevationgradientintheworldnaturalheritagesiteyakushimaisland AT satoshichiba communitycompositionanddiversityoflandsnailsalonganelevationgradientintheworldnaturalheritagesiteyakushimaisland AT shunito communitycompositionanddiversityoflandsnailsalonganelevationgradientintheworldnaturalheritagesiteyakushimaisland |