Nishinoshima: New Volcanic Island Emerging Off Coast of Japan

A new Japanese island formed by a volcanic explosion will provide a unique "natural laboratory" for exploring the starting point of evolution, according to scientists.

Nishinomiya, located 621 miles south of Tokyo, emerged from the Pacific Ocean following a volcanic explosion in November 2013 and now spans around 0.95 square miles.

The island, currently a barren expanse of rock formed from cooling lava, is thought to possess the optimum conditions to transform into a developed ecosystem with plants and possibly animals.

"We biologists are very much focusing on the new island because we'll be able to observe the starting point of evolutionary processes," Dr Naoki Kachi, professor and leader of the Tokyo Metropolitan University's Ogasawara Research Committee, told AFP news agency.

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Sea bird droppings, feathers and rotting corpses are expected to be critical ingredients in creating nutrient-rich soil to fertilise seeds that will most likely be carried to the island by the wind.

Dr Kachi said: "I am most interested in the effects of birds on the plants' ecosystem – how their bodily wastes-turned-organic fertilisers enrich the vegetation and how their activities disturb it."

The emergence of Nishinoshima, located in Japan's remote Ogasawara chain of islands, echoes the case of Surtsey, a volcanic island which emerged off the coast of Iceland in 1963 and developed into a rich natural habitat.

The island, which is strictly protected by Unesco, has allowed scientists to learn more about the colonisation process of new land by plant and animal life in pristine conditions.

Similarly, Dr Kachi emphasized the importance of treating the emerging new Japanese island with respect and protect it from contamination of foreign species.

"I'd like to call on anyone who lands on the island to pay special attention to keeping it the way it is – not to take external species there," he said.