谷川連峰(たにがわれんぽう)には様々な植物や動物が生息しており、互いに捕食・被食の関係にあり、食物連鎖と呼ばれる連続的な捕食サイクルを生み出している。イヌワシはこの食物連鎖の頂点に立っている。イヌワシはニホンノウサギ、ヤマドリ、ヘビなど様々な動物を獲物としているが、天敵はいない。夏は標高の高い草地や低木地で、冬場は落葉樹の森で獲物を捕らえる。イヌワシや、その獲物となる動物の縄張りは広範囲にわたるため、イヌワシの個体数はその地域の生態系の全体的な健全度をはかる指標として使うことができる。このような役割を果たす種は「アンブレラ種」と呼ばれる。
Title Animal Life of the Tanigawa Mountain Range: the Food Chain
- Nagano
- Topic(s):
- Nature/Ecology $SETTINGS_DB.genreMap.get($item)
- Medium/Media of Use:
- Interpretive Sign
- Text Length:
- ≤250 Words
- FY Prepared:
- 2020
- Associated Tourism Board:
- kankyosho shinetsushizenkankyojimusho
- Associated Address:
- 1108, Asahimachi, Nagano-shi , Nagano
English
Animal Life of the Tanigawa Mountain Range: the Food Chain
The Tanigawa Mountain Range is inhabited by a variety of plants and animals who eat and are eaten by each other, forming a continuous cycle of predation called a food chain. Golden eagles are at the top of this food chain. Their prey includes Japanese hares, copper pheasants, snakes, and other animals, but they have no natural predators themselves. They hunt in the high-altitude meadows and shrublands in the summer, and in the deciduous forests during winter. Because of the wide-ranging territories occupied by the eagles and the variety of animals they eat, the number of golden eagles can be used as a gauge for the overall health of the ecosystem. Species that function in this way are called “umbrella species.”