Abstract
The goal of this study was to examine the succession of exotic grasses employed as cover plants on cut slopes resulting from the construction of check dams on Mt. Sakurajima (Hattani-Sawa district) in Kagoshima Prefecture, southwestern Japan. The results were as follows: the cut slope vegetation was classified into five groups, namely [1] Festuca rubra-Dactylis glomerata community, [2] D. glomerata community and Miscanthus sinensis community consisted of [3] small-, [4] medium- and [5] large-sized types in the coverage level; where F. rubra and D. glomerata are exotic grasses as cover plants, and M. sinensis is a native herbaceous species of this area. These communities had shifted roughly in the order of [1], [2], [3], [4] and [5] in vegetation succession on cut slopes within eight years (exotic grasses had completely vanished within four years) after revegetation, which would be much faster than general succession on cut slopes in other areas.
