Diatom assemblages in the sediments from two outcrops (Sites A and B) in the Nigawa green tract of
land, Nishinomiya, were analyzed to clarify changes in sedimentary environments. These sites (120–
130 m a.s.l.) exposing the clay/silt beds are situated below the nearby outcrop (149–153 m a.s.l.) with
the sediments identified as the marine clay layer Ma1 of the Osaka Group, indicating the beds possibly
correlative to any one of three marine clay layers (Ma-1, Ma0 or Ma0.5). We also performed the
diatom analyses of the samples from these marine clay layers of the GS-K3 core at Higashinada, Kobe.
Stratigraphic comparison between the two outcrops and three layers based on their species composition
suggested that the sediments at Sites A and B can be correlated with the Ma-1 and Ma0, respectively.
Thus, we derived the late Early Pleistocene environmental change in the northwestern area of the
Osaka sedimentary basin. During the Ma-1 deposition at 1.24 Ma corresponding to Marine Isotope
Stage (MIS) 37, this area was lacustrine environments. During the Ma0 deposition (MIS 35, 1.17 Ma),
the environment was inner bay conditions, although the marine influence was weaker than the Ma1
deposition (MIS 31, 1.07 Ma).
We surveyed the brachyuran fauna around the Aioi bay in the Seto Inland Sea, Hyogo Prefecture,
Japan. A total of 57 species of 18 families were identified from 10 sites on shingle and sand beaches,
tidal flats, and oyster rafts. Color photographs, localities, collected dates and numbers of specimens
were described for all identified species. The specimens were deposited at the Museum of Nature and
Human Activities, Hyogo. Twenty-three of the 57 species were referred to the Threatened Species in the
Red Data Book Hyogo. Nanopilumnus rouxi (Balss, 1935) (Pilumnidae), Clistocoeloma villosum (A.
Milne-Edwards, 1869) (Sesarmidae), and Ilyograpsus nodulosus (Sakai, 1983) (Macrophthalmidae) are
newly recorded from Hyogo prefecture.
Bodies of Moso bamboo (Phyllostachys pubescens) from two to three year-old was pulverized into 5
mm or smaller-sized chips that were stored for one month under anaerobic conditions and used as feed
mixtures for egg-laying Boris Brown chickins. Smooth fermentation was processed because of a high
concentration of lactic acid bacteria in leaves of the Moso bamboo chips with rare butyric and propionic
acid. Long-term feeding of bamboo silage to the tested group of egg-laying hens showed that an egg
production rate remained higher than that of another reference group given an usual food with no
significant difference in egg weight. A higher preference of the bamboo feed was confirmed even during
the summer season when an egg production rate declines. There was no discrepancy of eggs between
the reference and tested groups in factors like the eggshell strength, and as the results, it is clarified that
a 5 % addition of bamboo chips to a hens food can increase the egg productivity maintaining an enough
quality as goods.
The history of man-monkey relationships is considered in terms of habitat destruction and hunting
pressure by humans from the early Jomon period to the present. It seems that Japanese monkeys,
Macaca fuscata, were not a very conspicuous species in the Jomon period when humans lived by
subsistence hunting and gathering without agriculture. Humans have continued to alter their forest
environment, changing the habitat most suitable for arboreal monkeys to sparsely foliated bushes
and grasslands through burning, cultivation and daily exploitation for fuelwood, etc. Japanese raised
no domestic animals for meat, fundamentally depending on wild animals for protein. As the human
population increased, the forests were devastated widely and monkey populations became obliged to
depend on steep rocky cliffs in the deep mountains for protection. This condition suddenly changed
after the Fuel-Revolution, which occurred in 1960 to 1970. The managed forests were abandoned
and the natural flora recovered. Wolves, Canis lupus, the predator of monkeys, became extinct in the
early 20th Century. Accordingly, the distribution of wild mammals, including monkeys, has rapidly
expanded with an increase in population size. As a result crop-raiding has increased drastically as well
as their removal. Comprehensive management is needed.
Japanese marten (Martes melampus) is widely distributed in forested areas on the Japanese islands
of Honshu, Shikoku, and Kyushu, but not in plains and urban areas. They have been reported to inhabit
the Yuzuruha Mountains in the southern part of Awaji Island, Hyogo Prefecture, but there have been no
reports of their inhabiting the northern part of the island. We newly show by a camera trap survey that
Japanese marten inhabits the northern part of Awaji Island, where its relative abundance index is similar
to that in the southern part.