Abstract
The objective of this study was to scrutinize the vegetation dynamics on shore protection made of natural rocks in the Ashida River, Hiroshima Prefecture located in the Southwestern part of Japan. The selected shore protection was one divided into 3 plots, each measuring 5m × 10m, followed by further subdivision into sub-plots measuring 1 m × 1m. From 1994 through 1996, time course changes of total vegetation coverage, occurrence species of plants and their coverage ratios were monitored in each sub-plot. The results disclosed that vegetation coverage increased remarkably, especially along the near shore line, with the mean vegetation coverage ratio reaching about 20% in approximately 2 years. The number of plant species also increased in parallel with recovery of vegetation coverage. It was revealed that vegetation coverage and species composition varied spacially and seasonally, whereas increase in vegetation coverage ratio was attributed not to singles species but to plural species of plants.
