Ecological Research Monographs Jotaro Urabe Tohru Nakashizuka Editors Ecological Impacts of Tsunamis on Coastal Ecosystems Lessons from the Great East Japan Earthquake Ecological Research Monographs Series editor Yoh Iwasa More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/8852 Jotaro Urabe • Tohru Nakashizuka Editors Ecological Impacts of Tsunamis on Coastal Ecosystems Lessons from the Great East Japan Earthquake Editors Jotaro Urabe Graduate School of Life Sciences Tohoku University Sendai, Japan Tohru Nakashizuka Graduate School of Life Sciences Tohoku University Sendai, Japan ISSN 2191-0707 ISSN 2191-0715 (electronic) Ecological Research Monographs ISBN 978-4-431-56446-1 ISBN 978-4-431-56448-5 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-4-431-56448-5 Library of Congress Control Number: 2016955041 © Springer Japan 2016 This work is subject to copyright All rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made Cover illustration: Left: Matsukawa-ura Lagoon in Fukushima Prefecture (photo by Takao Suzuki); right: a coastal pine forest in Iwate Prefecture (photo by Tohru Nakashizuka), damaged and destroyed, respectively, by the tsunamis caused by the Great East Japan Earthquake in March 2011 Printed on acid-free paper This Springer imprint is published by Springer Nature The registered company is Springer Japan KK The registered company address is: Chiyoda First Bldg East, 3-8-1 Nishi-Kanda, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 101-0065, Japan Preface Disturbance is a key concept in understanding various ecological issues such as biodiversity, community assemblages, ecosystem stability and resilience, and nature conservation Earthquakes and resulting tsunamis are extreme examples of such disturbance Because these events can result in rare but intensive disturbance of large areas, monitoring and examination of organismal response to these events at species, population, community and landscape levels provide invaluable opportunity to uncover the ecological significance of large-scale disturbances In our society, earthquake and tsunami disasters have the potential to cause great loss to human lives and properties Therefore, society has made extensive efforts to reduce the risks of such natural disasters However, knowledge of biological and ecological responses regarding such extreme disturbances is also essential and has led to the recent development of the Ecosystem based Disaster Risk Reduction (EcoDRR) Ecosystems routinely provide us with important ecosystem services Therefore, a harmonious balance needs to be considered between ecosystem properties and man-made infrastructure to reduce disturbance risk to ecosystems The Great East Japan Earthquake on 11 March 2011, registering 9.0 on the Moment Magnitude Scale (Mw), caused large tsunamis that struck the Pacific coastline of eastern Japan (Tohoku), creating intense high impact disturbances to various ecosystems along the coastline In advance of the disaster, the coastal ecosystems in Tohoku area had been frequently visited and studied by animal and plant ecologists, in part due to the great natural value of the area Immediately after the Great East Japan Earthquake it was difficult to access and examine coastal ecosystems in detail because infrastructures were heavily damaged in the region However, as soon as possible following the disturbance, a number of ecologists initiated studies to examine and evaluate the impacts and implications of the Great East Japan Earthquake tsunamis to these coastal ecosystems in the Tohoku area This book is a compilation v vi Preface of edited articles from these studies Most authors of these articles have previously studied the coastal ecosystems in Tohoku area prior to this earthquake and thus were highly qualified to describe the changes in the ecosystems as a result of the tsunamis This book begins by presenting an outline of the Great East Japan Earthquake disaster (Chap 1) The book is then divided into two parts; Part I reports on 14 aquatic studies (Chaps 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, and 15) and Part II is composed of eight terrestrial studies (Chaps 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, and 23) The Great East Japan Earthquake affected various aquatic ecosystems not only because of the tsunamis but also as a result of land subsidence In Chaps 2, 3, 4, and 5, responses of sessile animal populations and rocky shore communities to these disturbances are described In Chap 6, successional changes in a subtidal benthic community after the tsunami disturbances are analyzed Among the coastal ecosystems, tidal flats were probably the most vulnerable to disturbances by the tsunamis and land subsidence In the following six chapters (Chaps 7, 8, 9, 10, and 11), ecological impacts of these disturbances to the tidal flat communities are reported These studies uncover how and why the community response differed depending on the tidal flats In Chaps 12, 13, and 14, direct and indirect effects of disturbances by the earthquake on molluscan populations are described These studies serve to understand species-specific differences in vulnerability to the tsunami disturbances In addition to natural ecosystems, the earthquake and resulting tsunamis significantly damaged coastal infrastructures Accordingly, harmful substances such as fuels were released from some storages facilities in the coastal areas of Tohoku region In Chap 15, the ecological consequences of these fuel spills and the subsequent conflagration are reported The Great East Japan Earthquake also seriously affected terrestrial vegetation along the Tohoku Pacific coastal area In Chapter 16, a remote sensing study of the impacts of the tsunamis on a wide range of coastal ecosystems are reported Chapters 17 and 18 give accounts of the damages and recovery of coastal sand dune communities, in particular the role of buried seeds in the recovery process as seen in Chap 18 In Chapter 19, a comprehensive evaluation of the tsunami impacts on coastal flora is presented In addition, damages to the coastal pine forests by the tsunamis are analyzed in detail in Chap 20 The tsunamis also created wetlands behind sand dunes Chapter 21 reports on unexpected disturbance outcomes that lead to a revival of certain endangered species In Chapter 22, the effect of the tsunamis on forest vegetation and its recovery are reported And, in the final chapter (Chapter 23), the comprehensive monitoring system about the impact and recovery of ecosystems conducted by Ministry of Environment Japan, is introduced Since these are natural events, earthquakes and tsunamis will inevitably recur sometime and somewhere in the future However, such large and rare disturbances are limited, and thus so is ecological knowledge about these disturbances We believe that the studies in this book are useful not only to deepen our understanding Preface vii of these disturbances in ecology but also to seek a way for practical applications of EcoDRR to coastal ecosystems We acknowledge Drs Yoh Iwasa, Tetsukazu Yahara and Takashi Saitoh for their recommendations and encouragements for publishing this book Finally, we would like to dedicate this book to all the peoples who fell victim and suffered greatly due to the Great East Japan Earthquake and subsequent tsunamis Sendai, Japan Jotaro Urabe Tohru Nakashizuka Contents Outline of the Great East Japan Earthquake Naoaki Shimada Part I Aquatic Ecosystems Normality of Succession of an Intertidal Community After the Great East Japan Earthquake Ryusuke Kado and Nobuyoshi Nanba 11 Rocky Intertidal Zonation: Impacts and Recovery from the Great East Japan Earthquake Takashi Noda, Aiko Iwasaki, and Keiichi Fukaya 25 Quantitative Evaluation of the Impact of the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami on the Rocky Intertidal Community Aiko Iwasaki, Keiichi Fukaya, and Takashi Noda 35 Rocky Intertidal Barnacle Population Dynamics: Impacts and Recovery from the Great East Japan Earthquake Takashi Noda, Masayuki Sakaguchi, Aiko Iwasaki, and Keiichi Fukaya Ecological Impacts of the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami and the Following Succession on the Subtidal Macrobenthic Community in Onagawa Bay, Northeastern Japan, with Special Reference to the Dominant Taxon, Polychaetes Hirokazu Abe, Genki Kobayashi, and Waka Sato-Okoshi 47 59 ix x Contents Ecological Consequences of the Tsunamis Caused by the Great East Japan Earthquake and Subsequent Disturbance Events in a Shallow Brackish Lagoon in Sendai Bay, Japan Gen Kanaya, Takao Suzuki, Keiichi Kanou, Tomohiko Kondoh, Waka Sato-Okoshi, and Eisuke Kikuchi 85 Impacts of the Tsunami Disaster Caused by the Great East Japan Earthquake on the Benthic Communities and Their Recovery in Tidal Flats of Matsukawaura Lagoon, Soma, Japan 105 Takao Suzuki Colonization of the Restored and Newly Created Tidal Flats by Benthic Animals in the Sanriku Region of Northern Japan 117 Masatoshi Matsumasa and Kyoko Kinoshita 10 Effects of the Great East Japan Earthquake on Intertidal Macrobenthos in Iwate Prefecture 133 Kyoko Kinoshita and Masatoshi Matsumasa 11 Ecological Responses of Macrobenthic Communities in Tidal Flats to Disturbances by the Great East Japan Earthquake 151 Tatsuki Nishita, Wataru Makino, Takao Suzuki, and Jotaro Urabe 12 The Effects of Liquefaction, Tsunami, and Land Subsidence on Intertidal Mollusks Following the Great East Japan Earthquake 165 Kenji Okoshi 13 Ecological Impacts and Recovery of Molluskan Populations After the Tsunami Struck Around Matsushima Bay and Sendai Bay, Miyagi Prefecture, Northeastern Japan 179 Shin’ichi Sato and Tomoki Chiba 14 Genetic Structures of Laguncula pulchella Metapopulations Along the Northeast Coast of Japan After the Tsunamis Caused by the Great East Japan Earthquake 209 Hajime Ohtsuki, Takao Suzuki, Kyoko Kinoshita, Gen Kanaya, Takuto Hirama, Shin’ichi Sato, Kiyotaka Shibata, Kenji Okoshi, and Jotaro Urabe 15 Impacts of Fuel Spills Caused by the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami on the Subtidal Soft-Bottom Communities of a Semi-enclosed Bay Located on the Sanriku Coast 223 Gen Kanaya, Hideaki Maki, Fumihiro Chiba, Kazuki Miura, Shin-ichi Fukuchi, Hisao Sasaki, and Osamu Nishimura ... affected terrestrial vegetation along the Tohoku Pacific coastal area In Chapter 16, a remote sensing study of the impacts of the tsunamis on a wide range of coastal ecosystems are reported Chapters... Considerations for Conservation of It in Infrastructure Reconstruction Planning After the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami of 2011 311 Takahide Kurosawa 20 Regeneration of Damaged Coastal. .. specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and