吹上砂丘地における海岸林枯損被害後の植生遷移と土壌の発達および浸透能

抄録

  From the late-1980s until 1994, the coastal forest situated in the Fukiage sand dune, Kagoshima, Japan suffered catastrophic damage from pine wilt disease and wind damage, causing many of the trees to die. We studied the succession of vegetation, soil development and the water infiltration rate following severe damage of the coastal forest on the Fukiage sand dune. We placed two 250-m transects perpendicular to the shoreline from the top of the fore-dune to the inland area and conducted field investigations. The two transects were placed in contrasting areas of coastal forests; one in an area that had been severely damaged by pine wilt disease and wind damage, the other in an area that was almost undamaged. The number of trees and tree species, breast height cross-sectional area, Fisher-Williams index of diversity, forest soil thickness, and water infiltration rate all increased with distance from the top of the fore-dune. However, the pH and dry density of the forest soil surface layer decreased with distance from the top of the fore-dune. The severe environmental conditions in this coastal sand dune caused the coastal forest to become poorly developed. Specifically, the trees in this area had been severely damaged by pine wilt disease and wind damage causing it to be poorly developed when compared with an area of coastal forest that was almost undamaged and existed as climax forest.