ABSTRACT
Groundwater, the world's largest freshwater resource, faces significant challenges due to the overexploitation and depletion of aquifers in the 21st century. Small island groundwater aquifers are particularly valuable, and a scientific understanding of the behavior of subsurface water systems is vital. A comprehensive study using radiocarbon, stable oxygen isotopes, stable hydrogen isotopes, and hardness analysis (Δ14C, δ18O, δD, Ca, Mg) of groundwater was conducted in Kikai Island, a southern island in the Amami archipelago, Japan. The geological features and small size of the island make it an ideal location for assessing groundwater recharge and discharge relationships. Groundwater dynamics were investigated using samples collected seasonally from 15 points around the island (wells, springs, and an underground dam). Δ14C results indicated that despite considerable differences in precipitation, spatial variations were more prominent than seasonal variations, suggesting the presence of a large groundwater reservoir. The stable isotopes and hardness values, commonly used to detect groundwater dynamics, did not provide clear evidence to support this trend for the study site, a low-lying small island. However, the combination of deuterium excess (d-excess) values with radiocarbon analysis has the potential to provide a better understanding of groundwater flow. This study further illustrates that a combined approach utilizing Δ14C, δ18O, δD, and hardness levels can yield invaluable insights into groundwater dynamics. Considering geomorphic and geological features, groundwater in Kikai Island was categorized into five groups, providing insights into spatial groundwater flow. Results of this study indicate that the use of 14C allows the detection of groundwater movement with a high dynamic range and increased sensitivity, deepening our understanding of the diverse carbon sources that influence the groundwater system. Insights from this study are especially important for the efficient water management in comparable small carbonate islands and for tackling issues associated to overexploitation, pollution, and water scarcity.
ABSTRACT
Individuals which have invaded urbanized environments are reported to engage in riskier behaviors, possibly influenced by the scarcity of predators in urbanized areas. Here, we studied the risk-taking behavior of birds which had invaded a new natural environment, rather than an artificial urban environment, using recently established populations of the bull-headed shrike Lanius bucephalus, which naturally colonized three subtropical islands in Japan. We compared flight initiation distance (FID), the distance at which an individual approached by a human initiates flight, between the islands and the temperate mainland. FID was longer for the insular shrikes compared with the mainland shrikes after controlling for other factors, indicating that the individuals which had invaded a new natural environment had a lower propensity for risk-taking. A possible explanation for these results is that low risk-taking behavior might be adaptive on the islands due to predation by the black rat Rattus rattus, an unfamiliar predator not found in shrike habitats on the temperate mainland. Further studies are needed to examine the nest predation rate, predator species, and nest site selection of these insular shrike populations.
