Excited to share this new paper based on our long-term collaboration with researchers at Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology!

We show that all six large terrestrial mammal species in Japan (sika deer, wild boar, Japanese serow, Japanese macaque, Asiatic black bear, and brown bear) have been expanding their range rapidly over the past 40 years.

Our modelling identifies increased agricultural abandonment (due to the ageing and declining human populations) and reduced snowfall (due to climate change) as common drivers of the range expansion for all these six species.

While this is a major conservation success, the consequences for human societies are enormous. Their ranges are now expanding into human-dominated landscapes (low-elevation areas with more agricultural land and developed areas), causing more conflicts with humans across the country.

As Japan’s human population continues to age and decline, Japan will face the challenge of coexisting with these large terrestrial mammals. This might also indicate what will happen in the near future in other parts of the world where human “depopulation” is predicted to occur.

Read the paper here.