Micro-meteorological and stem sap flow measurements were repeated five times from the dry season of 2009 (2009D) to 2011D at an old secondary forest (CM), a juvenile secondary forest (CV), and a pasture (CP) in central Amazonia. The aboveground biomass (/2,500 m² ) at the CV was estimated to be 74.6 t, and that at the CM was 93.1 t. The transpiration was 8.1-17.2 t/ha/day at the CV and 10.9-24.3 t/ha/day at the CM, and the daily evaporation at the CP was calculated to be 8.2-28.7 t/ha. During the 2009D when the CP was covered with grass, the evaporation was larger than the transpiration at the forests, while in the 2010D and 2011D when the cattle had eaten the grass, the evaporation fell below the transpiration. At the bare land, temperatures increased near the ground surface and the air-filled porosity rose with the progress of evaporation. Because the rainfall infiltrated into the soil during rainy season, remaining there well into the dry season, trees with deep roots at the CM did not wither even when the transpiration exceeded the rainfall. The soil CO₂ flux between the depths of 10 cm and 80 cm was CP>CM in the dry season, and CP<CM in the rainy season, showing that the changes from forest to grass and grass to naked land increased the emission of CO₂ in the dry season. The annual soil CO₂ flux at the CM was estimated to be 32.2-56.6 tCO₂/ha/yr. Even if the whole flux is emitted to the atmosphere, 30.4 tCO₂ is absorbed as the increments of aboveground biomass. Likewise, 41.2-57.3 tCO₂ was emitted at the CP, but most of the flux brought about a net increase in atmospheric CO₂. As long as the deforestation of primary forests continues, the avoidance of overgrazing and conversion to secondary forests will be important steps toward slowing the drying and warming of Amazonia.

In this paper, in accordance with the International Code of Phytosociological Nomenclature 3rd Edition (2000), 22 syntaxa that have already been published are validated. With validation, in most cases, it becomes necessary to select "Type" (typification) of new vegetation units, with no change in the original description, species composition tables, or characteristic- and differential species of each vegetation unit. The original description is to be quoted as much as possible.

To rehabilitate degraded vegetation by a mining refinement process, reforestation has been conducted on debris and slag heaps with potential natural species at Kosaka town, Akita, in the northern part of Japan. The component species for plantation were selected from Lindero membranaceae-Quercetum mongolicae grosseserratae and Pruno apetalae-Quercetum serratae. The planted trees have grown for six years, with survival rates between 60 and 90 percent, even under severe conditions such as strong acidic soil. At the same time, plantation was attempted under locust forestation introduced for greenery at the mining damage area. The trial resulted in the successful growth of indigenous trees. Forest grew better in one case where the pH value was decreased. It was clear that nutrition and water content in the soil were important in affecting tree growth throughout this project.

Some pond marshes such as closing still-water regions are interspersed along old channels in the flood plain of the middle reaches of the Sagami River in Kanagawa Prefecture. We have done a water quality test and a sigma-phytosociological sigma- and geosigma-relevé for clarifying function and effect on the aquatic environment preservation in various hydrophyte communities that occur in these pond marshes. In the water quality survey, we determined four water quality factors such as a chemical oxygen demand (COD), a dissolved oxygen amount (DO), a hydrogen-ion concentration (pH) and an electric conductivity (EC) as a pollution indicator, and five water quality factors such as a total nitrogen density (T-N), a Nitrate-nitrogen density (NO₃-N), an ammonia nitrogen density (NH₄-N), a total phosphorous concentration (T-P) and an orthophosphate phosphorous concentration (PO₄-P) as an eutrophication indicator. In addition, several seasonal change patterns of each measurement in three seasons (spring，summer and autumn) were shown. Moreover, these measurements of each water quality factor were converted into the corresponding numerical values, and changed to the load indexes classified into three grades: small (Ⅰ), medium (Ⅱ), and large (Ⅲ). Pollution and eutrophication levels of the water quality of each pond marsh were estimated based on the grades of these load indexes. Some sigma- and geosigma-relevés for the hydrophyte communities distributed in the water areas of ponds, at the micro-topographic scale, distinguished the hypo- geosigmataxon of Miscanthetum sacchariflori=Phragmtes australis community as a basic unit of vegetation complex mainly composed of the emerged plants. Also, the hypogeosigmataxon of Azolletum japonicae=Cabomba caroliniana community was classified through some sigma-relevés for the vegetation complex mixed with floating-leaved plants, free-floating plants and submerged plants occurring in the waters. As for the magnitude of the water purification ability of the main hydrophyte communities with which every vegetation complex units in each pond marsh were composed, it was able to be a grade in large (Ⅰ), medium (Ⅱ), and small (Ⅲ) based on each total cover-degree value. Moreover, the grade of the water purification ability at each vegetation complex unit as a biological indicator was compared with the load index of each water quality factor, and the effect of the water purification function assumed from the constituent elements of each vegetation complex unit distributed in each pond marsh and the validity to the aquatic environment preservation were also evaluated.

We have done the phytosociological study for analyzing the species composition of Pinus pumila thickets occurring on some fossil periglacial block slopes at Mt. Shougigashira-yama and its adjacent ridges in the Kiso mountains, and also clarified the habitat factors in which their distribution were determined. In this research, we have determined the each syntaxonomy and distribution area of P. pumila thickets, coniferous forests mixed with Abies veitchii and A. mariesii, and summer green woods dominated by Betula ermanii occurring in the alpine and subalpine belts of the study sites. Moreover, Ellenberg’s common coefficient that shows the similarity of some floristic elements between communities was evaluated by means of quantitative analysis using the constancy values. As a result of these studies, the P. pumila community was classified into the distribution of high elevation type on the southwest block slope on the windward and the distribution of low elevation type on the northeast block slope on the leeward. The environmental condition with the appropriate snow accumulation and the suitable thaw caused by the complex effects of the so-called summit phenomena the micro-climatic influences and the symmetric ridges formed by the fossil periglacial block slopes has probably prevented from the invasion of subalpine forests and approved the distribution of the two types of P. pumila communities on the mountaintop of Mt. Shougigashira-yama.