ID: 65
Presenting Author: Chihiro Iibe
Status: pending
This study visualizes spatial gaps in Japan’s seabird monitoring and identifies social factors behind them, offering insights to improve monitoring frameworks and citizen participation.
Long-term monitoring is crucial for understanding changes in biodiversity. In Japan, seabird monitoring efforts are unevenly distributed, and few studies have evaluated the continuity of these observations. This study aims to visualize spatial gaps in seabird monitoring and identify factors that influence long-term observation continuity. Survey data from the Ministry of the Environment’s Seabird Colony Database were grouped by site and evaluated based on survey years and frequency. Monitoring continuity was classified into three categories long-term, medium-term, and short-term. Geographic Information System (GIS) analysis was applied to visualize regional patterns of monitoring continuity and identify areas with limited observation effort. The results show that long-term monitoring is concentrated in northern Japan, especially in Hokkaido and Sanriku. In contrast, Akita Prefecture, the Sea of Japan side, and parts of western Japan have sparse survey records. Among all sites, 82% were short-term, 15% medium-term, and only 3% long-term. In future work, the background and objectives of each survey will be examined to analyze the relationship between monitoring continuity and social factors. It is assumed that limited funding and the absence of local monitoring organizations may be related to short-term or missing surveys. By clarifying these factors, this study provides insights for strengthening Japan’s seabird monitoring framework, including the potential use of citizen science.
Chihiro Ibe is a first-year master’s student at Toho University, Japan. He studies seabird monitoring and its continuity in relation to offshore wind development.
Coauthor 1: Ayano Takeuchi