2018 Volume 100 Issue 4 Pages 124-128
Because of the promotion of cyclic use or extermination of unmanaged bamboo forests, we conducted a basic study on long-term leaf fall variation and biological reactions to harvest cutting. We surveyed the variation in leaf fall and recruitment of culms at both 6 m wide strip-cutting site and one uncut site in a moso bamboo forest over 10 years. We also measured leaf area index (LAI) at both sites. During long-term observations, leaf fall was highest from May to June, demonstrating that yearly and seasonal leaf fall patterns were biannual. LAIs and leaf fall showed that leaf biomass could recover within 4 years after strip-cutting. Culm densities recovered to only 47.4％ of that of the uncut site 10 years after cutting. Thus, a 10-year rotation would be too short for use with bamboo resources, whereas a short rotation cutting of less than 4 years would be necessary for the extermination of bamboo forests.
