Rationale and Scope |
Inventory of existing collections.--Museum collections of
Kuril plants and animals are almost nonexistent outside the Russian Republic.
A survey of collections throughout Japan turned up some higher plants
maintained in the Faculty of Agriculture, Hokkaido University, and less
than a dozen fishes in the Faculty of Fisheries, Hokkaido University;
other than this, and a portion of the material collected by us in 1994,
virtually nothing exists in Japan: material collected prior to World
War II, as well as that resulting from a 1942 expedition to the
northern Kuril Islands by the Zoological Department of Research,
Institute for Natural Resources (see Kuronuma, 1943), was destroyed by
fire in 1945 (Amaoka, pers. comm., 20 August 1993). Since the close of
the War, nothing has come to Japanese institutions.
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![]() Institute of Biology and Soil Sciences, Russian Academy of Sciences, Far East Branch, Vladivostok.
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![]() Study sites.--In this request, we propose to survey the 17 major islands of the Kuril Archipelago (defined as all those with freshwater, streams as well as lakes, with areas greater than 50 square kilometers): in the southern group these include (5 islands) Kunashir, Iturup, Urup, Shikotan, and the largest of the Habomai group, Zelionyi; in the central group (4), Simushir, Ketoi, Rasshua, and Matua; and in the northern group (8), Shiashkotan, Ekarma, Kharimkotan, Onekotan, Makanrushi, Paramushir, Shumshu, and Alaid (in preparing this proposal, detailed physical descriptions of all the islands of the Archipelago were compiled, including area, elevation, geological age, size and location of mountains, streams, rivers, and lakes, etc., but space limitations prevent inclusion of this material here). We also propose to spend one field season surveying the little known flora and fauna of the southern tip of Kamchatka, an important source biota for the Kuril Islands; the Japanese fauna and flora to the immediate south is well known. Taxonomic breadth.--In this proposal, focus is on freshwater and terrestrial plants and animals, these being (1) much less understood taxonomically than marine organisms (which typically have much broader geographic distributions), (2) far more vulnerable to adverse human impact and exploitation, and (3) more likely to provide the basis for significant future research (e.g., inter-island biogeography). Within this selected assemblage, we propose that vascular plants, insects, spiders, freshwater and terrestrial mollusks, fishes, and terrestrial vertebrates be sampled. Criteria for inclusion of various taxa include (1) those groups likely to display high levels of local endemism among subtaxa, (2) groups especially vulnerable to human impact, and (3) those taxa within the interest and expertise of personnel at the collaborating institutions.
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![]() ![]() ![]() Dianthus superbus, Caryophyllaceae (Kunashir); Papilio sp., Goryachiye Kluychi hotsprings (Kunashir).
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![]() ![]() ![]() Female Trochosa terricola, Lycosidae, with egg sac (Chirpoi); Bradybaena sp., Bradybaenidae (Iturup).
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![]() ![]() ![]() Salvelinus leucomaenis, Salmonidae (Kunashir); Rana chensinensis, Ranidae (Kunashir).
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![]() ![]() ![]() Rissa tridactyla, Laridae (Ketoi); Alopex lagopus, Canidae (Ushishir).
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![]() Cooperating organizations and agencies.--The work will be shared almost exclusively by personnel from three organizations: (1) the University of Washington Burke Museum, Seattle; (2) institutes of the Far East Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences at Vladivostok (primarily the Institute of Biology and Soil Sciences and Institute of Marine Biology); and (3) various departments of Hokkaido University, Japan.
Project participants and responsibilities.--The project will be directed and administered by the principal investigator, Theodore W. Pietsch, through the University of Washington Burke Museum, Seattle; Pietsch will take overall responsibility for pre-expedition planning, overseeing all aspects of the field work, supervising post-expedition curation and dissemination of specimens, and coordinating the production of reports and publications. The responsible individual in Russia will be Viktor Bogatov, Deputy Chief Academic Secretary and Chief of Scientific Investigations, Russian Academy of Sciences Far East Branch, Vladivostok. The responsible individual in Japan will be Kunio Amaoka, Faculty of Fisheries, Hokkaido University, Hakodate, Japan. Each of these three primary participants will direct and be responsible for the work carried out by personnel of his respective country.
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![]() Prof. Theodore W. Pietsch and graduate student Andres Lopez (both UW).
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Training.--A high percentage of the personnel associated with the field aspect of the project will be graduate students involved in various research projects in each of the eight major taxa under consideration. All will be given the opportunity to interact with, and receive training from, experts from all three participating nations. Each will take a full and active role in all major aspects of the work: collecting, identification, curation, and data collection and analysis. They will also share authorship and be full participants in the preparation of reports and publications. The provision to provide support for Russian and Japanese students to visit and work with collections at the Burke Museum, University of Washington, will be a further benefit to those whose future mandate will more directly lie with the long-term conservation and preservation of the Kuril Island biotas. It is further envisioned (with financial assistance other than that requested here) that post-doctoral positions might be offered to particularly well-qualified Russian and Japanese students to allow for more long-term study at the University of Washington. |
Urgency.--While most of the islands now support nearly virgin assemblages of plants and animals, the current political situation poses a serious environmental threat, especially to the southern Kuril Islands, whose rightful ownership is the focus of long-standing debate between Russia and Japan, and whose biota is considerably more diverse than the central and northern members of the chain. Russian policy at present is to populate and otherwise exploit the islands as quickly and as extensively as possible to make a transfer of title to Japan more difficult. In fact, Russian President Boris Yeltsin, hoping to stimulate the economy and attract foreign investments, has recently declared the Kurils a "Free Economic Zone," providing tax advantages to businesses, and offering land at reduced rates and 99-year leases; priority has been given to exploitation of "biological resources" (e.g., deforestation; M. K. Glubokovsky, pers. comm., 26 July 1993). The Japanese, on the other hand, have developed elaborate contingency plans to occupy the islands if and when ownership is achieved. Potential environmental pressures are and will be considerably greater on the more diverse, more productive, and climatically milder southern Kurils. Thus, it is imperative that we act now to explore, document, and protect the unique and delicate floras and faunas of these islands before they are lost forever. |