Citizen science and the spread of Aulacaspis yasumatsui Takagi on Amami Oshima, Japan

Resumen

The Amami Islands of Japan’s Ryukyu archipelago are a point of natural origin of Cycas revoluta, and the plant has long enjoyed a prominent role in regional cultural and ethnoecological systems. Since 2021, however, Amami Oshima has witnessed an invasion of Aulacaspis yasumatsui Takagi, or cycad aulacaspis scale (CAS), an armored scale insect capable of rapidly decimating cycad populations. In the face of limited and largely unsuccessful containment and documentation efforts on the part of prefectural authorities, some residents of communities on Amami Oshima took it upon themselves to document the spread of CAS on the island, with the aim of promoting the conservation of this unique biocultural patrimony. With no specialized training and Little support, these citizen scientists followed a methodology used previously to track the spread of CAS in insular habitats (for example, on Guam). This contribution reports on their efforts, as well as those of the authors in translating and collating their data to produce a georeferenced map of CAS spread on Amami Oshima over the past four years. Its goal is to highlight the benefits of collaboration between academics and citizen scientists in threat documentation and heritage conservation.

Citation: Englehardt, J.D., Carrasco, M.D., Takanashi, H., Deloso, B.E., Kondo, A. & Medina Rodríguez, J. 2025. Citizen science and the spread of Aulacaspis yasumatsui Takagi on Amami Oshima, Japan. Revista Jard. Bot. Nac. Univ. Habana 46(Número especial 1): 111.

Trabajo presentado en el XIII Congreso Latinoamericano de Botánica. Sesión Biodiversidad y Conservación.