Hello everyone,
JDR here, finally back in high-speed internet land. Just a quick report on the Ogasawara trip that FS and I went on with Yanagi-san.
Ogasawara is an amazing place; only 3000 people and many uninhabited islands. Even the inhabited islands are relatively pristine. Ogasawara is aiming to become a World Natural Heritage site, and thus the government of Tokyo is spending much money to eradicate introduced species and protect endemic species. Ogasawara has a very high amount of endemic species, and the ecosystem has many open niches, resulting in a unique ecosystem that is easily threatened by introduced species and by development.
Anyways, we found some zoanthids (!) and anemones, so we return to Okinawa very happy. A big thanks to Yanagi-san and Sasaki-san for doing all the work to make this trip possible.
cheers! JDR
