Phylogeographic History of Plants and Animals Coexisting with Humans in Asia

This book offers a comprehensive understanding of the natural history of the Japanese Archipelago (Yaponesia), employing cutting-edge genomic research to provide insights into the prehistory in this region. It provides an in-depth exploration of the genetic makeup of domesticated plants and animals in the Japanese Archipelago, including their relationships with neighboring regions in Asia. The book is unique in its comprehensive approach, weaving together the latest genomic research, historical records, and linguistic analysis to provide a detailed understanding of the past.

The book covers the development of Japanese society and culture from the Jomon era to the present day. It discusses the animal and plant diversity of the country, including their distribution, evolution, and interaction with human society and culture. The linguistic distributions of related terms are also explored.

Using the latest genomic research, the book offers a fresh perspective on the past and present of the Japanese Archipelago, providing a comprehensive understanding of the natural and cultural history of the Japanese Archipelago. It is a valuable resource for professionals and academics in genomics, archaeology, and linguistics, as well as general readers interested in Japanese history, culture, and the environment.

Chapter 1. Overview of the book.- Chapter 2. Human impacts on the evolution of rats and mice in East Asia.- Chapter 3. Phylogeography of the brown bear (Ursus arctos) and bear-human relationships in the Far East, including Hokkaido Island, Japan.- Chapter 4. The Japanese wolf and dogs.- Chapter 5. Origin and relationships among native Japanese horse breeds.- Chapter 6. Molecular phylogeographic analyses provide a new perspective on the evolutionary origin and history of Japanese native chickens.- Chapter 7. Evaluating the interesting journey of taro plant varieties to Japan using phylogenetic analysis.- Chapter 8. History of propagation and genetic structures in three Japanese millets: proso millet, foxtail millet, and barnyard millet.- Chapter 9. Genomic studies on the origin, hybridization and dispersal of Asian rice.- Chapter 10. Wheat: Recent Advances in Genomics to Explore the History of Domestication and Polyploidization.- Chapter 11. Geographical distribution of animal and crop terms in Asian and African languages.

Naoki Osada is an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Information Science and Technology, Hokkaido University, Japan. His research spans a wide range of topics in molecular evolution and population genetics, with a recent focus on the evolution of humans and human-related organisms from prehistorical to historical timescales.

Masahiko Kumagai is a Senior Researcher at the Research Center for Advanced Analysis, National Agriculture and Food Research Organization, Japan. His research interests include the history and genome evolution of crops such as rice, ancient genomics, the relationship between crops and humans, and the development of platforms for sharing large-scale genomic data.

Hitoshi Suzuki is an Emeritus Professor at Hokkaido University. His research interests include molecular phylogenetics and phylogeography of small mammals, especially rodents. He has served as editor-in-chief of Mammal Study and on the editorial boards of Zoological Science and Mammal Research.

Mitsuaki Endo is a Professor at the School of Economics, Aoyama Gakuin University, Japan. His research interests include Chinese historical phonology and dialectology; Asian geolinguistics; and the exploration of human history through linguistics, archaeology, and genetics.