naoto yamabata

Abstract Although knowledge of the functions of the gut microbiome has increased greatly over the past few decades, our understanding of the mechanisms governing its ecology and evolution remains obscure. While host genetic distance is a strong predictor of the gut microbiome in large‐scale studies and captive settings, its influence has not always been evident at finer taxonomic scales, especially when considering among the recently diverged animals in natural settings. Comparing the gut microbiome of 19 populations of Japanese macaques Macaca fuscata across the Japanese archipelago, we assessed the relative roles of host genetic distance, geographic distance and dietary factors in influencing the macaque gut microbiome. Our results suggested that the macaques may maintain a core gut microbiome, while each population may have acquired some microbes from its specific habitat/diet. Diet‐related factors such as season, forest, and reliance on anthropogenic foods played a stronger role in shaping the macaque gut microbiome. Among closely related mammalian hosts, host genetics may have limited effects on the gut microbiome since the hosts generally have smaller physiological differences. This study contributes to our understanding of the relative roles of host phylogeography and dietary factors in shaping the gut microbiome of closely related mammalian hosts.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the status and problems of employment support activities for people with disabilities engaged in agriculture. Factor analysis revealed that the supporters provide “direct guidance,” “network construction,” “work environment improvement,” and “mediation.” In addition, factor scores were used to classify supporters into four types, of which supporters who actively engaged in all activities received no reward. Supporters who did nothing also had little knowledge or experience about people with disabilities.

Owing to crop damage by wild boars (Sus scrofa) and sika deer (Cervus nippon), the motivation to engage in agriculture is decreasing, resulting in an increasing amount of abandoned farmland. Proactive measures by villagers, such as installing protective fencing and capturing nuisance animals, are important to ameliorate this situation, as they can effectively reduce damage and improve the attitude and motivation to engage in agriculture and damage prevention. However, no previous studies have addressed this issue quantitatively or qualitatively. Therefore, this study aimed to demonstrate the effectiveness of these measures through a social experiment. To capture nuisance animals, villagers received instructions regarding the tasks and resolution methods based on the concept of action research. Thereafter, the number of captured nuisance animals increased from zero to 40. Consequently, crop damage decreased significantly from approximately JPY 4.5 million to JPY 70,000. Furthermore, text mining of the results of the interviews with village officials showed marked improvement in their attitude toward damage control, capture of animals, and agriculture. Therefore, it can be concluded that appropriate educational outreach can improve damage prevention and increase the capture of nuisance animals, thus reducing the damage by wild boars and deer, leading to corresponding improvements in residents’ attitudes.