Abstract
Since the 1950s, secondary (substitution) forests known as Satoyama woods have been abandoned due to changes in human lifestyle. The aim of this study is to investigate the relationships between human activity and substitution forests to better understand the traditional management required to prevent succession to evergreen forest. One objective is to identify the tree species, their number of trunks (NT), and the basal area (BA) (collectively, the stand density) in the woods today, half a century after people abandoned the substitution forests. Another goal is to compare, over a 6-year period, the figures for total NT, BA, and the number of living, dead or fallen trunks between an abandoned substitution forest (a control plot) and a mown plot. NT decreased from 700 to 600 trunks/ha on the control, and from 600 to 400 trunks/ha on the mown plot, at ground level over 6 years. The total BA increased annually on the control plot but decreased from 48 to 38 m2/ha on the mown plot over 6 years. Many hydrophytes (Alnus japonica, etc.), Quercus serrata, and other trees species were found dead on the mown plots. All Quercus myrsinaefolia (evergreen trees) were still alive by the sixth year. These results demonstrate that the vegetation in these forests succeeded to Quercetum myrsinaefoliae, Tyoische Subass., which is therefore shown to be the potential vegetation of succession over this timescale. If it is desired to maintain the traditional vegetation type, the results of this study suggest that it is necessary to manage the substitution forest to prevent succession to evergreen forest, which could be achieved by cutting Pleioblastus chino, climbing plants, and shade plants (evergreen trees).
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
References
Azuma W, Iwasaki A, Ohsugi Y, Ishii H (2014) Stand structure of an abandoned deciduous broadleaf secondary forest adjacent to lucidophyllous forest and agricultural fields. J Jpn For Soc 96:75–82
Dokiya Y, Ogura N (2001) Nature and study of Tama hill. Keyaki, Tokyo (in Japanese)
Flora-Kanagawa Association edit (2001) Flora of Kanagawa. The Kanagawa Prefectural Museum of Natural History, Kanagawa (in Japanese)
Hosogi D, Kuno H, Ari K, Fukada K (2001) Effects of alteration of management to forest floor vegetation and environment of secondary coppice forests in urban area, Tokyo I. Relation between the forest vegetation management method and growth of upper layer trees or forest floor vegetation. J Jpn Soc Reveg Technol 27:14–19 (in Japanese with English summary)
Iida S, Nakashizuka T (1995) Forest fragmentation and its effect on species diversity in sub-urban coppice forests in Japan. For Ecol Man 73:197–210
Kanagawa Prefectural Museum of Natural History (2006) Red Data Book, KANAGAWA, WEB version. http://conservation.jp/tanzawa/rdb/rdblists/detail?spc=1602. Accessed 18 March 2017
Kobayashi T, Saito A, Hori Y (1999) Species diversity of the understory dominated by dwarf-bamboo Pleioblastus chino Makino in a secondary forest with different numbers of years after the last mowing. J Jpn Soc Reveg Technol 24:201–207 (in Japanese with English summary)
Kurata S (1975) Record of tree folk culture. Chikyusha, Tokyo (in Japanese)
Miyawaki A, Tohma H, Fujiwara K (1981a) Map of potential natural vegetation of Kawasaki city. The Yokohama Phytosociological Society, Kanagawa (in Japanese with English summary)
Miyawaki A, Tohma H, Minowa R (1981b) Actual vegetation map of Kawasaki city. The Yokohama Phytosociological Society, Kanagawa
Morimoto Y (2011) What is Satoyama? Points for discussion on its future direction. Landsc Ecol Eng 7:163–171
Nakajima H, Suzuki K, Kameyama Y (2016) Changes in forest floor vegetation after the mowing of Pleioblastus chino: a case study from an abandoned coppice forest in the Kanto region of Japan. Jpn J Conserv Ecol 21:51–60 (in Japanese with English summary)
Nomoto K (2008) Ecology and folk culture. Kodansha, Tokyo (in Japanese)
Okubo S, Kamiyama A, Kitagawa Y, Yamada S, Palijon A, Takeuchi K (2005) Management and micro-scale landform determine the ground flora of secondary woodlands and their verges in the Tama Hills of Tokyo, Japan. Biodivers Conserv 14:2137–2157
Okutomi K, Tsuji S, Kodaira T (1976) Secondary forest vegetation of southern Kanto, Central Japan. Bull Exper For Tokyo Univ Agri Technol 13:55–66
Sasaki K (1972) Japanese swidden. Kokon Shoin, Tokyo (in Japanese)
Shibata K (1957) A cyclopedia of useful plants and plant products. Hokuryukan, Tokyo (in Japanese)
Shigematsu T (1987) Vegetation management for Landscape in forest floor. In: Takahashi R, Kameyama A (eds) Toward a green landscape: vegetation management. Soft Science, Tokyo, pp 161–180 (in Japanese)
Smith RM, Thompson K, Hodgson JG, Warren PH, Gaston KJ (2006) Urban domestic gardens (IX): composition and richness of the vascular plant flora, and implication for native biodiversity. Biol Conserv 129:312–322
Stéphanie D, Felix E, Lenore F (2007) Effects of surrounding urbanization on non-native flora in small forest patches. Landsc Ecol 22:589–599
Sugimoto J (1965) New keys of Japanese trees (Revised). Rokugatsucha, Osaka (in Japanese)
Yanagiya S, Yasugahira S, Kimura T (1966) Some studies on the Kunugi (Quercus acutissima CARR. Forest in the Tohoku District). Bull For For Prod Res Inst 188:1–58 (in Japanese with English summary)
Yokohari M, Bolthouse J (2011) Keep it alive, don’t freeze it: a conceptual perspective on the conservation of continuously evolving satoyama landscapes. Landsc Ecol Eng 7:207–216
Acknowledgements
This study was supported by the Tokyu Foundation for Better Environment 2013 and by JSPS KAKENHI grant number 25450513. The authors thank the undergraduate students at the Laboratory of Landscape Botany and Arboriculture (formerly the Laboratory of Landscape Ecology) in the Department of Landscape Architecture at Tokyo University of Agriculture, and those at the Makino botanical club, all of whom performed field research in 2012. Some of the results presented in this paper are derived from the report entitled “Tama Hill Green Consortium in Kawasaki,” which is the output of a collaboration between the Greenery Development Department, Construction and Greenery Development Bureau, Kawasaki City office in Kanagawa Prefecture and Tokyo University of Agriculture in 2010.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Electronic supplementary material
Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.
11355_2017_336_MOESM1_ESM.pdf
Supplementary material 1. Appendix 1: Species, number of trunks, and trunk circumferences (from highest to lowest) of seedlings, young, climbing, dead, and shade plants cut down on mown plots at the onset of forest management in 2010 (PDF 47 kb)
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Nakajima, H., Kojima, H., Tachikawa, K. et al. Ecological and growth characteristics of trees after resumption of management in abandoned substitution forest in Japan. Landscape Ecol Eng 14, 175–185 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11355-017-0336-8
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11355-017-0336-8