T. Yasutaka, Y. Kanai, M. Kurihara, T. Kobayashi, A. Kondoh, T. Takahashi, Y. Kuroda
Radioprotection 55(3) 215-224 2020年7月 査読有り
This paper describes the involvement of the residents of the Yamakiya district of the Kawamata town, a former evacuation area after the accident of Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant (FDNPP), in the on-going research activities of the authors on the behaviour of radioactive caesium in the environment. By relying on dialogue, measuring radiation, and other collaborative practices, this involvement enabled a series of actions to be taken to resolve the challenges related to the recovery after the lifting of the evacuation order that were appreciated by the residents. The paper also discusses the effects of the interactive program led by the Yamakiya School organized by the authors in cooperation with the residents including among others lectures, voluntary works and radiological surveys on local issues. Based on the above, the authors make recommendations on the desirable form of relationship between residents and experts after an event of large-scale environmental pollution including radiological contamination. Through these activities the authors have also gradually changed their research approach.
Jing Sun, Tatsuaki Kobayashi, William H. J. Strosnider, Pan Wu
JOURNAL OF HYDROLOGY 551 245-252 2017年8月 査読有り
Karst water resources, which are extremely sensitive to mining activities, are critical for the support of human societies and ecological systems in many regions worldwide. In order to determine the sources and fate of dissolved sulfate in low-pH karst waters, hydrochemical variations of karst waters with and without acid mine drainage (AMD) impacts were investigated along with stable isotope dynamics. As expected, hydrochemical characteristics and isotopic compositions of the AMD and AMDdownstream water (ADW) were dramatically different from that of the non-AMD-impacted water (NAW). The sources of sulfur isotopes in sulfate were predominantly pyrite oxidation for the AMD and ADW, and atmospheric deposition for the NAW. Based on the general isotope-balance model, the relative proportions of sulfate oxygen derived from water and air were calculated. The mean proportion of sulfate oxygen derived from water in ADW was roughly double that of AMD. This suggests that the sulfate associated with AMD is predominantly influenced by aerobic pyrite oxidation, while that of ADW is likely affected by the dissolution of pyrite under anaerobic conditions in reservoir sediment. This observation was coincident with the noted variations of hydrochemical characteristics and was supported by principal component analysis. These results provide a better understanding of how stable isotopes of sulfate and water can be used to track mining contamination in karst aquifers, which could benefit remediation planning for these distinctive systems. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Premise of the study: Microsatellite markers can be used to evaluate population structure and genetic diversity in native populations of Indigofera pseudotinctoria (Fabaceae) and assess genetic disturbance caused by nonnative plants of the same species.
Methods and Results: We developed 14 markers for I. pseudotinctoria using next-generation sequencing and applied them to test two native populations, totaling 77 individuals, and a transplanted population, imported from a foreign country, of 17 individuals. The mean number of alleles was 3.310, observed heterozygosity was 0.242, and expected heterozygosity was 0.346. The fixation index in the transplanted population was 0.469, which was higher than in the native populations (0.154 and 0.158). In addition, the transplanted population contains one allele that is not shared by the native population.
Conclusions: Microsatellite markers can be useful for evaluating genetic diversity within and between populations and for studying population genetics in I. pseudotinctoria and related species.
Terumasa Takahashi, Yoshiaki Kanzawa, Tatsuaki Kobayashi, Darlene Zabowski, Robert Harrison
LANDSCAPE AND ECOLOGICAL ENGINEERING 11(1) 139-145 2015年1月 査読有り
In order to clarify the effects of urbanization on the chemical characteristics of forest soils, we investigated several surface soil chemical characteristics, including (1) carbon (C) concentration, (2) concentrations of exchangeable bases, (3) cation exchangeable capacity (CEC), and (4) soil pH of forests in the Tamagawa basin, Japan. We defined the road ratio as level of urbanization. Study sites were located in areas with varying levels of surrounding urbanization. Surface soil concentration of exchangeable bases (especially calcium and magnesium), percent base saturation, and pH (H2O) increased with an increasing road ratio; in other words, with increased urbanization, C and CEC were unrelated to road ratio. One reason for the observation of increasing exchangeable bases with increasing urbanization appears to be the deposition of dust. The increase in exchangeable bases concentration (and % base saturation) corresponds to increases in soil pH.
2012 IEEE INTERNATIONAL GEOSCIENCE AND REMOTE SENSING SYMPOSIUM (IGARSS) 1656-1659 2012年 査読有り
High resolution active remote sensing data are getting more accessible. ALOS PALSAR radar data can provide 10 to 30 m resolution data. With those resolutions, land use changes can be detected and monitored well. The land use map of multi-temporal data is made by radar images, but seasonal change caused by deciduousness should be separately identified from the human activities. In this study, airborne lidar is used as ground truth data to estimate canopy volume and the estimated volume is compared with the change on the backscattering coefficients of multi-temporal radar images. The process used in this study is useful to monitor the small change detection with high resolution radar data given by ALOS 2 satellite launch near the future.
2012 IEEE INTERNATIONAL GEOSCIENCE AND REMOTE SENSING SYMPOSIUM (IGARSS) 1656-1659 2012年 査読有り
High resolution active remote sensing data are getting more accessible. ALOS PALSAR radar data can provide 10 to 30 m resolution data. With those resolutions, land use changes can be detected and monitored well. The land use map of multi-temporal data is made by radar images, but seasonal change caused by deciduousness should be separately identified from the human activities. In this study, airborne lidar is used as ground truth data to estimate canopy volume and the estimated volume is compared with the change on the backscattering coefficients of multi-temporal radar images. The process used in this study is useful to monitor the small change detection with high resolution radar data given by ALOS 2 satellite launch near the future.
2011 IEEE INTERNATIONAL GEOSCIENCE AND REMOTE SENSING SYMPOSIUM (IGARSS) 2318-2321 2011年 査読有り
ALOS PALSAR uses L band which is related with volume scattering. The volume scattering is the reflection comes from the surface and the inside of canopy. Forest management activities can be monitored using PALSAR L-band for Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD). But it is still unknown how the biomass changed by the thinning (forest management) influences the backscattering coefficients. In this study, the change of stem volume (biomass) was computed and mapped using multi-temporal airborne lidar data in wide area. The stem volume using field measured tree parameters were interpolated and mapped by the airborne lidar data and the mapped biomass was used as the ground truth for radar image to see the polarization change caused by the thinning. The polarization axis of HV/HH backscattering coefficients is shifted in 9.8 degrees. This axis change is a useful indicator for the end member analysis using HV/HH polarization.
The effects of selective cutting management on the characteristics of nutrition dynamics of coppice forest ecosystem that had been indicated by soil carbon contents and soil microbial activities were investigated in Noyama-Kita-Rokudoyama Park,Tokyo.And the suitability of the selection management cycle that had been established 20 years were examined.The soil carbon contents and soil microbial activities were decreased after selective cutting and restored to the same level with before cutting within 10 years.Therefore,it was concluded that present forest management cycle (20 years) was enough for restoration of the ecosystem,and was suitable for maintenance of nutrition dynamics.
LANDSCAPE AND ECOLOGICAL ENGINEERING 4(2) 139-142 2008年11月 査読有り
Because of difficulties in estimating the carbon fixation rate, we alternatively investigated the C content of the soil in 19 urban parks in the Tokyo metropolitan area. The C content of the soil under three vegetation types was measured: grassland/ turf ("turf"); tree-planting area with plant management (with weeding and removal of fallen leaves) ("tree-planting area"); coppice or tree-planting area without plant management ("coppice"); bare land was used as control. Average C contents of turf, tree-planting area and coppice were about 82, 79 and 120 Mg-C ha(-1), respectively, and were larger than the C content of trees in an urban park, as estimated in previous studies. The results indicate that the soils of urban parks function as a C sink.