Effects of topography and management history on natural forest recovery in abandoned forest after clear-cutting in Miyazaki, Japan |
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Authors: | Hiromi Yamagawa Satoshi Ito Yasushi Mitsuda Kazuro Fukuzato |
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Institution: | (1) Faculty of Agriculture, University of Miyazaki, Miyazaki, Japan;(2) Faculty of Agriculture, University of Miyazaki, 1-1 Gakuen Kibanadai Nishi, Miyazaki 889-2192, Japan;(3) Forestry and Forest Product Research Institute, Tsukuba, Japan;(4) Miyazaki Prefectural Forestry Technology Center, Miyazaki, Japan |
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Abstract: | We investigated factors limiting the recovery of natural forest in former large-scale conifer plantations abandoned after
clear-cutting in southwestern Japan. We analyzed forest recovery status (“recovered” sites covered by evergreen broad-leaved
trees, and “unrecovered” sites covered by pioneer community or nonvegetated sites) using aerial photographs and field survey.
We applied logistic regression analyses to evaluate the effects of topography, construction of harvesting roads, distance
from remnant forest, stand condition before clear-cutting, and prior land-use history on forest recovery. Human factors, i.e.,
land use and clear-cutting age, were found to affect to forest recovery more than environmental factors such as topography.
Harvesting roads had the strongest negative impact on forest recovery. Forest recovery after clear-cutting of young sugi plantations
also took longer than after clear-cutting of old sugi plantations or evergreen broad-leaved forests. Furthermore, areas formerly
utilized as meadows recovered less successfully than those that had been managed as coppices. The influences of these factors
were thought to be promoted by the advance reproduction as the regeneration sources for forest recovery. The influence of
stand age before logging suggested an effect of thinning, which might alter the abundance of advanced reproduction in the
understory. However, distance from remnant forest appeared to be less important. An influence of topography was also detected,
but this could be partly explained by the existence of advance reproduction in the understory in certain topographic positions.
Thus, our analysis suggests that regeneration sources originating from advanced reproduction in plantations play a significant
role for the recovery of natural forest after clear-cutting. |
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Keywords: | Clear-cutting Aerial photographs Forest recovery Land-use history Regeneration sources |
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