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Recent cases of invasive alien mites and ticks in Japan: why is a regulatory framework needed?

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Abstract

Japan’s economy depends on the importation of natural resources, and as a result, Japan is subjected to a high risk of biological invasion. Although Japan has quarantine systems to protect ecosystems, agriculture, forestry, fisheries, and human health against alien species, economic globalization has resulted in an ever-increasing risk of invasion. Mite invasion is no exception. Alien species that impact natural ecosystems are regulated in Japan by the Invasive Alien Species Act. However, the law focuses only on visibly recognizable species, so that species too small to see, such as viruses, bacteria, fungi, and mites, are beyond the scope of this law. The Plant Protection Law has limited the introduction of alien pests, including mites, that are harmful to agricultural crops. Recently, the liberalization of global trade policies have increased pressure to loosen regulations on various pests, including spider mites. Infectious diseases and their causative species are quarantined under the Rabies Prevention Law, the Domestic Animal Infectious Diseases Control Law, and the Human Infectious Diseases Control Law, but these laws do not cover wildlife diseases. The most serious problem is that wild reptiles, which can be carriers of ticks and tick-borne diseases, can be freely introduced to Japan. These loopholes in Japan’s regulatory system have resulted in mite and tick invasions, which affect not only wildlife communities and human society but also endemism and biological diversity of natural mite populations.

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Acknowledgments

We are deeply grateful to Dr. Yumi Une of Azabu University for her help to collect reptile and tick samples. We appreciate Dr. DeMar Taylor of Tsukuba University for his critical comments and reviewing English grammar of this paper. Thanks also to Drs. Maria Navajas of Institute National de la Recherche Agronomique, Tetsuo Gotoh of Ibaraki University and Norihide Hinomoto of National Institute of Agrobiological Sciences for providing information and references of genetic variation of spider mite. The studies described here on the assessment of the risk of introductions of alien mites and ticks were supported partly by the Global Environment Research Fund (F-3 & D-0801 directed by K. Goka and funded by Ministry of the Environment, Japan) and by the Research Project for Utilizing Advanced Technologies in Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries (No. 1701 directed by K. Goka and funded by Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Japan).

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  1. National Institute for Environmental Studies, 16-2 Onogawa, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, 305-8506, Japan

    Koichi Goka

  2. Forestry and Forest Products Research Institute, Matsunosato, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, 305-8687, Japan

    Kimiko Okabe

  3. United Graduate School of Agricultural Science and Veterinary Science, Gifu University, Gifu, 501-1193, Japan

    Ai Takano

  4. Department of Bacteriology-I, National Institute of Infectious Diseases, Tokyo, 162-8640, Japan

    Ai Takano

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  1. Koichi Goka
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Correspondence to Koichi Goka.

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Goka, K., Okabe, K. & Takano, A. Recent cases of invasive alien mites and ticks in Japan: why is a regulatory framework needed?. Exp Appl Acarol 59, 245–261 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10493-012-9609-y

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