We evaluated the stress in deer that were captured using corrals, foot snare traps, grand hunt, and sharp shooting by determining the cortisol and creatine kinase levels. The means of the cortisol levels were 2.5±1.3μg/dL, 11.3±5.3μg/dL, 2.1±2.5μg/dL, and 0.4±0.1μg/dL for deer captured using corrals, foot snare traps, grand hunt, and sharp shooting, respectively. The means of the creatine kinase levels for deer captured using corrals, foot snare traps, grand hunt, and sharp shooting were 93.5±129.1×10^3U/L, 253.6±303.3×10^3U/L, 46.6±70.1×10^3U/L, and 2.6±2.0×10^3U/L, respectively. The means of the cortisol levels of the deer captured using corral, grand hunt, and sharp shooting were significantly lower than that of the deer captured using foot snare traps (p<0.01). The mean of the creatine kinase levels of deer captured using corrals was significantly higher than that of the deer captured using sharp shooting (p<0.01), but was equal to that of the deer captured using foot snare traps and grand hunt.

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The Tancho, or Japanese Crane (Grus japonensis) which inhabits Japan, has been on the brink of extinction because of intense hunting activity, and loss of habitat, since the Meiji Era. In modern Japan, the hunting targeted at the Japanese cranes is still active. The Japanese cranes are dazzling targets for hunting and are used to make valuable products. Japanese hunters at that time lacked the forethought of wildlife protection, and their intense hunting became a threat to the cranes' survival. The Japanese hunters tracked cranes not only in Japan, but also on the Korean peninsula. The Japanese cranes were important for industry and thought of as a special product of the Korean Peninsula, especially for Japanese people. Even on the Korean Peninsula, poaching was rampant after the Hunt Rule was established. These cranes were a connecting point of importance to the Japanese people. The value of the cranes caused an increase of pressure to hunt them. In addition, it can be thought that these factors, which include the development of hunting techniques, the imperialistic expansion, and the hunters' sense of ethics, overlapped to cause a sharp decrease of Japanese cranes in modern Japan and the Korean Peninsula.

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ヤマザクラPrunus jamasakuraの結実期に,果実の色彩と栄養価そして鳥類による果実の持ち去りとの関係について調べた.果実の成熟過程は,果実の色によって,緑,赤緑,赤,黒の4段階に分けた.鳥類が持ち去った果実は,主に赤い果実と黒い果実であり,鳥類は特に黒い果実を選ぶ傾向がみられた.緑と赤緑の果実は赤や黒の果実よりも小さく,糖成分(フルクトース,グルコース,スクロース)の含有量とエネルギー量が少なかった.赤い果実と黒い果実を比較すると,大きさに差はないが,糖含有量とエネルギー量に差がみられた.黒い果実は,赤い果実よりも糖含有量がおよそ4.6%,エネルギー量がおよそ0.4kJ多かった.果実の持ち去りは主にムクドリSturnus cineraceusとヒヨドリHypsipetes amaurotisによるものであり,この2種では飛来のパターンが異なっていた.ムクドリの飛来数はヤマザクラの結実期間中に変動し,ヤマザクラの樹上に赤と黒の果実が同時についている時期(二色の果実表示期間)に増えた.一方,ヒヨドリの飛来数には変動がみられなかった.これらの結果は,ヤマザクラが二色の果実表示によって鳥類の一部の種をひきつけていること,そして,熟果に糖を蓄積することでエサとしての価値を高め,飛来した鳥に熟果を持ち去らせていることを示唆するものである.

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Education and training programs for local residents and stakeholders to acquire knowledge and skills to prevent human-bear conflicts have been practiced all over the world by government, NGOs, and other organizations, however there have not been many evaluation conducted to determine the success of those programs. We evaluated the effectiveness of the community bear education seminar at Tajima region of Hyogo prefecture by measuring the change of residents' awareness and behaviors after the seminar. Survey conducted immediately after the seminar (n=335) revealed that more than 90% of respondents felt that they understood about the ecology of bears and methods to prevent bear problems. The follow-up survey conducted two months after the seminar (n=227) revealed that more than 60% of respondents engaged in damage prevention activities, and 90% of them mentioned that participating the seminar prompted their behaviors. We discussed the effectiveness of the seminar and made suggestions to improve the program's effects.

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Rana japonica is a frog that lays eggs in still water, like shallow areas in ponds, or paddy fields where water is left in early spring, and it mainly lives in the forested areas during the non-breeding season. From May through to November 2009, a non-breeding season for the frog, we sampled 255 food items from 93 adult frogs by gastric lavage in the "Toyota Nature Sanctuary" in Aichi Prefecture, Japan. In the examination, although the adult frogs preyed frequently in the lower part of the broad leaf and coniferous forests and grassland, the frogs did not seem to predate selectively. In other words, the frogs preyed on animals appearing frequently in each environment and season. However, the individual densities differed according to microhabitats and seasons. From these results, maintenance of the lower part of forests and grassland in SATOYAMA is particularly important to conserve this species. Moreover it is important that both forest and grassland exist nearby, because the seasonal change in individual densities between microhabitats suggests that frogs move between forests and grassland seasonally.

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Agricultural damage caused by wildlife have been serious problem in Tochigi Prefecture, located in central Japan. In order to develop model cases of reducing human-wildlife conflicts, the prefecture launched the Model District Program from 2010. In this program, several villages were designated as model districts, and the prefecture offered seminars and field trips regarding wildlife to residents. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of this program. We conducted interviews and a questionnaire survey to participants of the program activities. Interviews revealed the effect the program generated in the district as well as two main issues that the program is facing; 1) how sustainably the interventions can be conducted by local residents, and 2) how to let those residents who do not engage in farming participate in the activities. Collaboration with agricultural extension officers and/or Satoyama Wildlife Managers located near each district would be important to make the activities more sustainable.

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