Abstract
Paddy fields are very important wetland biotopes in Japan. In this study, we analyzed rural landscape feature, paddy fields locational patterns and its changes, using the national grid database in Japan. The database includes land use types of each 100 m grid in 1976 and 1991, Paddy fields connectivity of each municipality was estimated by JOIN analysis of the grid data. Paddy fields locational patterns were classified into 6 types in 1976, 1991 each. As the result, it was clarified that distribution of paddy fields locational patterns was strongly affected by topographic feature of municipalities, and that changes of patterns showed processes of paddy fields fragmentation caused by urbanization, improvements of fields from wet to dry, and abandon of field management. Therefore, for conservation of paddy fields biotopes, each municipality must select suitable policies for their own landscape feature and changing patterns of paddy fields connectivity.
