Abstract
In 2009, the Law of Natural Parks of Japan was amended to include the statement that “natural parks should aim at conserving biodiversity” as a purpose of the law. Natural parks are now expected to save and promote biodiversity. Therefore, the formation of an area plan for conserving biodiversity is essential for each natural park. The aim of this study was to create a “Vegetation Database (VDB)” using GIS that would contain information about conserving and restoring biodiversity in the Okudaisen district in Daisen-Oki National Park, south-western Honshu, Japan. The VDB consists of a digital vector map and its property information. Basically, boundary lines of polygons were drawn using a small “forest compartment” drawn onto a “forest plan map” and property information about each forest compartment was introduced from a “forest database” obtained from the Forestry Agency and the Tottori prefectural government. Forest compartments that had different land cover/actual vegetation types within the compartment were divided into smaller patches designated “vegetation patches” as the smallest unit of the VDB. The VDB has the following assets: 1) The VDB is drawn in a 1/5000 scale and contains detailed information about the land cover and plant community; therefore, it is useful for vegetation management; 2) The VDB has previous land cover information from 1958, 1974, 1996, and 2012, so it is useful for reviewing plant community succession and land cover changes. Previous changes can be used to estimate future succession; and 3) The VDB contains information about land ownership and national park planning. This information is useful for managing natural park areas.
