Marine biodiversity research in the Ryukyu Islands, Japan: current status and trends

Abstract

Marine biodiversity and derived ecosystem services are critical to the healthy functioning of marine ecosystems, and to human economic and societal well-being. Thus, an understanding of marine biodiversity in different ecosystems is necessary for their conservation and management. Coral reefs in particular are noted for their high levels of biodiversity, and among the world's coral reefs, the subtropical Ryukyu Islands (RYS; also known as the Nansei Islands) in Japan have been shown to harbor very high levels of marine biodiversity. This study provides an overview of the state of marine biodiversity research in the RYS. First, we examined the amount of English language scientific literature in the Web of Science (WoS; 1995-2017) on six selected representative taxa spanning protists to vertebrates across six geographic sub-regions in the RYS. Our results show clear taxonomic and sub-region bias, with research on Pisces, Cnidaria, and Crustacea to be much more common than on Dinoflagellata, Echinodermata, and Mollusca. Such research was more commonly conducted in sub-regions with larger human populations (Okinawa, Yaeyama). Additional analyses with the Ocean Biogeographic Information System (OBIS) records show that within sub-regions, records are concentrated in areas directly around marine research stations and institutes (if present), further showing geographical bias within sub-regions. While not surprising, the results indicate a need to address 'understudied' taxa in 'understudied sub-regions' (Tokara, Miyako, Yakutane, Amami Oshima), particularly sub-regions away from marine research stations. Second, we compared the numbers of English language scientific papers on eight ecological topics for the RYS with numbers from selected major coral reef regions of the world; the Caribbean (CAR), Great Barrier Reef (GBR), and the Red Sea (RES). As expected, the numbers for all topics in the RYS were well below numbers from all other regions, yet within this disparity, research in the RYS on 'marine protected areas' and 'herbivory' was an order of magnitude lower than numbers in other regions. Additionally, while manuscript numbers on the RYS have increased from 1995 to 2016, the rate of increase (4.0 times) was seen to be lower than those in the CAR, RES, and GBR (4.6-8.4 times). Coral reefs in the RYS feature high levels of both endemism and anthropogenic threats, and subsequently they contain a concentration of some of the world's most critically endangered marine species. To protect these threatened species and coral reef ecosystems, more data are needed to fill the research gaps identified in this study.

Keywords: Coral reefs; Ecology; Nansei Islands; Ocean BiogeographicInformation System; Web of Science.

Figure 1. Map of the Ryukyu Islands (RYS) with sub-regions examined in this study, and relevant geographic features and research institutions (red stars).

Airplane icons next to island names indicate presence of airport.

Figure 2. Total number of publications in the Web of Science, and breakdown of these publications by marine taxa.

(A) Total number of publications in the Web of Science (1995–2017) for six different marine taxa (Pisces, Crustacea, Echinodermata, Cnidaria, Porifera, Dinoflagellata) for each sub-region in the RYS as well as for undetermined locations and overall total, and (B) the breakdown of these publications by marine taxa. Reference map of the RYS included on the left side of (A).

Figure 3. (A) Numbers of ecological publications per year, and (B) the total number of publications for the Ryukyus (RYS; blue), Red Sea (RES, orange), Great Barrier Reef (GBR, grey), and Caribbean (CAR, yellow) from 1995 to 2016 in the Web of Science.

Figure 4. Number of ecological publications per year for four regions from 1995 to 2016 in the Web of Science; the Ryukyus (RYS; blue), Red Sea (RES, orange), Great Barrier Reef (GBR, grey), and Caribbean (CAR, yellow) by topic.

(A) Apex predators, (B) herbivory, (C) connectivity, (D) marine protected areas, (E) coral bleaching, (F) Porifera, (G) coral reproduction, and (H) reef-associated bacteria.