Takara Tetsuo (Former University of the Ryukyus President) made a solo survey of Uotsuri Island in 1950, after which the University of the Ryukyus conducted multiple surveys of what must be called the Takara Academic Research Group (Senkaku Islands Document Material Compilation Association). There was also a joint survey by Kyushu University and Nagasaki University, as well as one conducted by the contemporary Okinawa Development Agency. Here we will summarize the results of the surveys of these islands, mainly using the University of the Ryukyus and Okinawa Development Agency surveys.

(1) Fauna of Uotsuri Island and Minamikojima Island (1950, 1952, 1953) Takara made three field surveys of the islands, in April 1950, May 1952, and August 1953. The fauna-related survey results were published in the University of the Ryukyus Faculty of Agriculture Science Bulletin, no. 1, with the findings categorized into mammals (a subspecies of fruit bat, the Asian house shrew, a black rat thought to be the field rat identified by Masaki in the 1941 report, the house mouse, and the cat), birds (the grey wagtail and 19 other varieties; no short-tailed albatross seen), reptiles (he identifies five species of reptile and mentions being surprised by finding no snakes other than the king ratsnake, common in Taiwan Island and the South China region, which is unlike the situation on Yonagunijima Island, closer to Taiwan, or the Ryukyu Islands), and insects (horsefly and 12 other varieties). Takara argues that while studies clarifying the biogeographical distribution of these animals are yet incomplete, the scant diversity in animal life is likely a product of the geographical environment.

This survey records 22 species identified in the region for the first time, including the Asian house shrew, black rat, Japanese pied wagtail, Oriental pratincole, and king ratsnake. (Ref. 1)

(2) Flora of Uotsuri Island and Minamikojima Island (1952) Tawada Shinjun participated in the second survey and placed a report concerning flora in the aforementioned University of the Ryukyus Faculty of Agriculture Science Bulletin, no. 1. Tawada reports how very interesting issues are presented by the extreme geographic distribution of the total 235 species and 89 families of ferns and seed plants found on Uotsuri Island and Minamikojima Island, such as how the koshonoki (Daphne kiusiana Miquel) is found on Iheyajima Island but none of the other islands, koto tsuzura fuji (Stephania sasakii Hayata) is found on no island but Hateruma Island, and koshun umano suzukusa (Aristolochia tubiflora) is found on no island but Miyakojima Island. He also says that although species like senkaku azami (thistle), senkaku tsutsuji (Rhododendron eriocarpum), senkaku horagoke (Vandenboschia radicans, also a new species), and kwazanjima (a species of azalea) are thought to be endemic, there are a relatively high number of plant species for the islands' area. He notes that agricultural value is weak, but the islands are valuable as fisheries. (Ref. 2)

(3) Flora of Uotsuri Island (1953, 1964) In 1964, Niiro Yoshima (professor emeritus of the University of the Ryukyus, currently chairman of the Senkaku Islands Document Material Compilation Association), who joined the third and fourth survey expeditions (May 1963), published a report on flora in the Bulletin of the University of the Ryukyus Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Science Edition. He later continued his study of the Senkaku Islands, and has conducted a total of six survey expeditions. (Ref. 3)

In his 1964 report he identifies six large communities of Uotsuri Island flora: the Podocarpus macrophyllus/Liparis formosana community, the Livistona subglobosa/Arenga engleri community, the Ficus benjamina (benjamin tree)/Pouteria obovata community, the Scaevola frutescens/Messerschmidia argentea community, the Loutus australis/Thuarea involuta community, and the coral limestone community (which further includes the Philoxerus wrightii community, the Pemphis acidula community, the Hedyotis crassifolia/Zoysia pacifica community, and the Peucedanum japonicum community). He also provides detailed information for each of the communities, including their respective qualitative mutual relationships and mutual similarities. (Ref. 4)

Ref.1　：Takara Tetsuo, "Senkaku Retto no dobutsuso ni tsuite" (Fauna of the Senkaku Islands, Ryukyus), University of the Ryukyus Faculty of Agriculture Science Bulletin, no. 1 (April 1954).

Ref.2　：Tawada Shinjun, "Senkaku Retto no Shokubutsuso ni tsuite" (Flora of the Senkaku Islands, Ryukyus), University of the Ryukyus Faculty of Agriculture Science Bulletin, no. 1 (April 1954).

Ref.3　：The Senkaku Islands Document Material Compilation Association, Senkaku kenkyu takara gakujutsu chosadan shiryoshu (Senkaku Research Takara Academic Research Group Materials), vol. 1 (October 14, 2007), p. 172.

Ref.4　：Niiro Yoshima, "Senkaku Retto no Shokusei" (Vegetation of the Senkaku Islands), Bulletin of the University of the Ryukyus Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Sciences Edition, no. 7 (May 1964), p. 71.

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