For successful reintroduction of storks, winter-flooded rice cultivation has been introduced widely in paddy fields in the Toyooka Basin of the Hyogo prefecture, Japan. We studied the overwintering status of aquatic animal communities in winter-flooded paddies (WFP). The number of taxa of aquatic animals in winter-flooded paddies did not differ from that of conventional water management paddies (CWMP), fallow-field biotopes (FFB), and canal-type biotopes (CTB). Aquatic animals were more abundant in CWMP than in WEP. In addition, community structures of Odonata, Hemiptera, and Coleoptera were roughly divided into CWMP and WFP, and FFB and CTB, respectively. Our results show that winter-flooded rice cultivation is not very effective for the overwintering of aquatic animals, compared with conventional paddies and fallow-field biotopes. Therefore, it may be necessary to develop various types of overwintering environments at the regional scale in paddy fields for conservation of the aquatic animal communities. |