The phylogeography of the Holarctic Microtus oeconomus in Russian Far East, near the Beringia, was studied using mitochondrial cytochrome b (Cytb) gene sequences. In comparison with the Cytb data of the Holarctic Myodes rutilus and the Palaearctic My. rufocanus previously studied by us, those of Mi. oeconomus showed similar local differentiation patterns to those of My. rutilus and obviously differed from those of My. rufocanus. Further, the current and previous Cytb data indicated that the genetic distances of specimens between the Magadan and Kamchatka/Kuril Archipelago regions were clearly higher in Mi. oeconomus and My. rutilus and lower in My. rufocanus. On the basis of the genetic distances and the geological splitting time between Kamchatka and Kuril Archipelago as 10,000 years ago previously reported, we could estimate the divergence time between the two region populations of Holarctic arvicolids as a few ten thousand years at most. Namely, in the Russian Far East, a past geographic and/or environmental barrier seemed to have appeared and to have inhibited genetic communication between the Magadan and Kamchatka/Sakhalin/Kuril Archipelago regions in Mi. oeconomus and My. rutilus, before My. rufocanus had expanded its distribution there.

Night-roost usage and nocturnal behavior in Pipistrellus abramus were examined in the school buildings in Kagoshima Prefecture. Night-roosts were used from May to October, with their peak in August. The bats began to use night-roosts at about 80 min after sunset, and left the roosts at about 70 min before sunrise. Solitary roosts were almost exclusively occupied by males, while colonies at the night-roosts consisted of females and/or young, and attained the maximal size of 30 bats in August. The night-roosts were warmer than ambient at night, and firstly provided sites for resting between feeding bouts, promoting digestion of food or absorption of nourishment. The duration of roosting bouts at night varied from 0.5 to 7.6 hrs, and became longer in September. Adult females and males occupied different night-roosts in general. Females of P. abramus were faithful to particular night-roosts, while males did not defend night-roosts, and frequently changed their roosts. Copulation did not occur at the night-roosts.

This paper aimed to investigate human-tiger conflict during the year 2000–2004 and has reviewed a number of potential measures for resolving the conflicts as part of conserving the Sumatran tigers which can be applied in the study area. These include technical measures which deal mainly with the individual ‘problem’ animal that comes into conflict and human dimension measures which focus on raising human tolerance toward tigers and reducing the negative effects of co-existence between human and tigers. Some of the measures namely, disruptive stimuli modification, raising tolerance through education and cultural perspective approaches had been tried for a short period. The success or otherwise of these measures in the field have also contributed to the conclusions drawn and the recommendations made as a result. The data are supplemented with more information, including the insight on the effect of conflicts between inhabitant and wildlife, the perspectives of villagers regarding human-tiger conflicts and the causal factors of individual conflict incidents. The reluctance of local community to report incidents prevents conservation agencies for delivering an immediate and effective response and it stimulates the killing of Sumatran tigers that benefits both hunters and livestock owners through the sale of tiger derivatives. This study also proposed a procedure for handling human-tiger conflict that hopefully may be tested in any other area.