Abstract
To determine an appropriate management scheme for Satoyama, we established a “mowed site” and a“control site” in 2010 in the Kanto region of Japan, where 30~40 years have passed since the last coppicing event and Pleioblastus chino dominates the forest floor. In each site, we set four plots, characterized by specific microtopographical features (i.e., valley, north-facing slope, south-facing slope, and ridge) and examined environmental conditions, including the fraction of absorbed photosynthetically active radiation (fAPAR), soil moisture, and soil temperature, and species compositions (species diversity and coverage) on the forest floor during 2013~2014. In the mowed site, fAPAR was significantly lower and the species diversity was significantly higher compared with the control site. However, the number of herbaceous plants was only slightly affected by the density of P. chino and was not affected by differences in fAPAR. In addition, plant coverage was highly dependent on microtopographical features, and was higher in the valley. Our results indicate that the mowing of P. chino in abandoned secondary forests generally increases plant species diversity on the forest floor; however, the effect differs significantly according to microtopographical features and the life history traits of plants.
