On July 2, Hirosaki University Shirakami Natural Environment Research Group announced the establishment of the "Shirakami Mountains Plant Search" site, which organizes biological information related to the World Natural Heritage Shirakami Mountains.

This site allows you to search for land plants recorded and published in and around the Shirakami Mountains. Currently, there are 1500 kinds of registered plants. Each species has information such as scientific name, distribution information, blooming season, etc. "The moss will be released by autumn. Photos will be updated at any time," said Hiroki Yamagishi, an assistant professor at the university.

Mr. Yamagishi is from Hokkaido. I became fascinated by the fascination of plants and became a graduate student aiming to become a researcher who studied wild plants. “The Shirakami Mountains is a wonderful natural environment, and many studies have been conducted so far, but there were few systems that can aggregate and utilize the data,” says Mr. Yamagishi, which also led to the creation of the site.

Mr. Yamagishi says that the charm of the Shirakami Mountains is "the ones that used to be common in the snowy areas of the Japanese archipelago are all present. It is very meaningful now. "There are not so many new discoveries, such as Fukawaratouren, which were recently announced to be a new species, but there is a possibility that the Shirakami Mountains will be added as a new production area because a plant whose distribution has not been confirmed has been found. There are many. If this site helps, "he explained.

“At present, we are still in a state like“ Tatakidai. ”In the end, we would like to aim for a“ biological picture book made by everyone ”so that the general public can easily provide information,” says Yamagishi. "First of all, if it becomes a site that will trigger interest," he said.