Abstract
The abandonment of plantation sites after clearcutting is increasing in Japan; there is concern that if vegetation fails to recover or develops too slowly after clearcutting, there will be a decline in forest ecosystem services. An appropriate management strategy for rectifying the situation might include predicting vegetation recovery for each abandoned site and prioritizing sites for restoration. Here, we present a regional-scale study that investigated a large number of abandoned plantation clearcut sites distributed across Kyushu Island. The objective was to develop a better general understanding of early-stage vegetation recovery patterns and their determinants, which will be useful in prioritizing sites for restoration. Four vegetation classes -grassland (GL), few pioneer trees (FPT), non-pioneer trees (NPT), and pioneer trees (PT)- were detected by a vegetation survey. Sites that were (1) affected by deer browsing, (2) had relatively young tree stands at the time of clearcutting, and (3) that had been clearcut recently most often recovered to GL or FPT. Under these site conditions, efforts should be directed toward reducing deer grazing to enhance vegetation recovery during the initial stages of regrowth. Restoration effort should be allocated to sites classified as GL even 5 years after clearcutting, which includes a relatively large proportion of the study area. FPT, PT, and NPT sites should be monitored over the long term. This monitoring effort should be used to determine (1) whether tree species recovery is successful in FPT sites and (2) whether PT or NPT sites will convert successfully to evergreen broad-leaved forests (lucidophyllous forests).
