Abstract
We investigated the long-term succession in plant communities on cut slopes in Kyoto Prefecture, which had been sprayed with plant cultivative base mixed with forest topsoil. We evaluated the process of restoration by surveying the slope vegetation annually for 4 years, and subsequently after 12 years. After 4 years the plant community had changed from one dominated by annual plants to one dominated by Sasa palmata and Miscanthus sinensis. After 12 years, a community dominated by Rhus javanica and Pinus densiflora had formed. During the survey period, the number of tree species increase from 9 to 25, the quotient of similarity (QS) increased from 0.27 to 0.54, and the vegetation came to resemble that of the surrounding area. An increase in the degree of succession (DS) (from 267 to 2716) indicated that succession had proceeded to produce a community dominated by trees. In the first 4 years, however, there were increases in the number of emergent species (S) and diversity index (H'), but thereafter, there were no changes. These results suggest that S and H'are effective for evaluating vegetation restoration during the first 4 years, but thereafter, it is adequate to evaluate restoration using QS or DS.
