We examined vegetation changes in 2014 and 2019 in the back swamps of the coastal area of Sendai City, Miyagi Prefecture, Japan that were disturbed in the tsunami and ground subsidence caused by the 2011 off the Pacific coast of Tohoku Earthquake. We established a total of 131 quadrats and conducted vegetation surveys at the same site in July-August 2014 and August-September 2019 and analyzed them using two way indicator species analysis (TWINSPAN) classification and detrended correspondence analysis (DCA) ordination. We examined the relationship between plant community types and ground height using a vegetation map of drone imagery taken in 2019. In many quadrats, wetland plant communities changed to inland plant communities in 2014 and 2019. In addition, even among plant communities of the same habitat type, such as wetland and inland, the dominant species tended to change from Juncus krameri to Typha domingensis and from Miscanthus sinensis to Pinus spp. These vegetation changes were likely caused by a combination of soil drying due to the uplift of the ground and the passage of time following the disturbance caused by the earthquake. Namely, it is considered that the vegetation succession such as the distribution of species with larger individual size and the expansion of the leaf group is progressing. Wetland plant communities were distributed on low ground of 40 cm or less and occupied about 20 % of the study site area in 2019, and these habitats were generally on a downward trend.

To clarify the autonomous vegetation recovery and the extent of human impact after the severe disturbance caused by the Great East Japan Earthquake/Tsunami in March 2011, we investigated the vegetation, 10 growing seasons after the tsunami disturbance, along a coastal sand-dune ecotone of Sendai Bay, Japan. Vegetation surveys were carried out in August and September 2020 at 91 quadrats covering over the three-types of ecotone zones, (i.e., coastal herbaceous vegetation zone on backshore and sand dune, small Pinus thunbergia zone on sand dune and Pinus spp. plantation dominated zone on backswamp and beach ridge), each of which has consisted of various patches of natural sites (e.g., dry or wet bare sand habitats by deposition or peeling processes of tsunami) and artificial sites (e.g., embankment composed by hilly soils, temporally roads with rocks and sea walls built of concrete). Results of the NMDS ordination using the Jaccard similarity index calculated by the presence/absence of species showed that (1) communities established autonomously on natural sites were different among three types of ecotone zones, and that (2) especially in Pinus spp. plantation dominated zone, diversity of community was enhanced in wet bare sand site and remnant forest site, owing to invasion of submerged plants and survive of perennial herbs and woody plants as undergrowth. On the contrary, (3) similar community characterized by many exotic plant species appeared on the embankment regardless of ecotone zones, while a treatment covering by on-site sand promoted emergence of several coastal plant species. This study indicated that the conservation of natural habitats diversified along a coastal sand-dune ecotone and the vegetation rehabilitation technique such as a treatment covering by on-site sand on the embankments are effective in restoration of coastal vegetation and inhibition of exotic plant invasion.

The Northern Goshawk (Accipiter gentilis), is listed as a near threatened (NT) species on the red lists by the Ministry of Environment of Japan, and its conservation is important as a flagship species of Satoyama landscape. It has been proposed that red pine (Pinus densiflora) artificial forests be managed over the long term by regeneration as a habitat for goshawks, but there are few practical examples in Japan. In this study, the authors examined a long-term regeneration plan while maintaining an environment in which goshawks can nest, using the "Tottori Prefectural Daisen Goshawk Forest", in the 49th to 75th grade, as a case study site. Also, pine wood under the brand name "Daisen-Matsu" has traditionally been produced in this area, but in recent years it has declined. First, based on ortho mosaic images, a vegetation map was created. Next, the arrangement of the cutting zone by the square reserve model simplified by discarding the reality, the long-term operation plans which always secured nestable forest were examined. As a result, nestable forest reserves of 1 block group (about 16ha) could be secured 60 or 70 years later, and it was considered possible to formulate a long-term regeneration plan by the re-foresing group of small area clearcutting. Then, implementation plans based on the local shape and area were examined. The examination pattern was a total of 8 patterns based on the combination of land ownership, buffer zone width, and actual vegetation. As a result, seven groups of reforeting groups were set, and the optimal solution was the largest update reforest planning area, and the examination pattern 1 that the area of the continuous forest can be maintained for a longer period. Through this study, the specific examination procedure for drafting a long-term regeneration plan for red pine artificial forests aiming at balancing forestry with the habitat conservation of Northern Goshawk was clarified. Also, this regeneration plan was partially implemented, and pine wood was shipped, contributing to the maintenance of Daisen matsu's brand materials.

One of the causes of biodiversity loss is underuse in Satoyama. It is not easy to reassign the value of utilization and the significance of conservation to natural resources that have lost their utility value due to changes in lifestyles and industrial structures. While many regions face such problem, in Kitahiroshima Town, Hiroshima Prefecture, multiple ecosystem management and utilization activities are being promoted in collaboration with local residents. The activities include restarting the mountain burning that had been stopped, circulating the wood cut out from the forest in combination with the local currency, and linking it with school education. In this paper, we have clarified how the core person of the movement coordinates the various activities in this area. In other words, we extracted the experimental rule that they have accumulated to solve problems, using the methodology of pattern language. As a result, we found 22 patterns, verbalized a part of the experience. We then examined the effectiveness of these knowledge in enhancing activities around management of regional ecosystem.

In recent years, disasters in artificially modified terrain have been regarded as an issue. On the other hand, there are cases where rare ecosystems exist in such terrain. Therefore, authors attempted to estimate the artificially modified terrain. A study area was located in Tsuguro Highland, Okayama prefecture where traditional ironworks was operated. First, modified terrain with land use was extracted by interview from local people, ortho mosaic image and CS-3D-map made from airborne LiDAR. It was possible to interpret the paddy field and the iron sand mining site by the CS-3D-map. On the other hand, they could not be interpreted by ortho image. Therefore, it was possible to extract the artificial modified terrain with high accuracy by using both ortho image and CS-3D-map. Next, the artificially modified terrain was estimated by geometrically averaging the densities of gentle slopes and steep slopes created from DTM using LiDAR. Eight patterns of thresholds for gentle and steep slopes were set, and the deviation of the modified terrain estimation values in the artificially modified landform was tested by the χ² test. As a result, the estimated values were significantly deviated in all patterns. When the threshold of the gentle slope angle was 7.709° and the steep slope angle was 42.169°, the χ² value became the maximum. The modified terrain estimation value showed high in paddy fields, roads, and pastures, and low in the unmodified terrain. The accuracy of the extracted artificial modified terrain and the artificially modified terrain estimation value was confirmed by an error matrix, and the Kappa statistic was calculated. As a result, it was judged to be "moderate match". Therefore, it was clarified that the method developed in this study can estimate areas where artificially modified terrains are distributed.

Assuming the Japanese National Forest Inventory data (NFI data) as true values, the accuracy of the Ministry of the Environment vegetation map for the whole of Japan was assessed (The 2,112 vegetation maps that had been completed as of November 2019). The NFI data were overlaid on the vegetation map to determine whether there was a match between the two. Comparisons were carried out between forest and non-forest, followed by conifer plantations and other forests. Data from the third period (2009-2013) of the NFI were used. The legend of the vegetation map was used to categorize forest and non-forest, as well as conifer plantation and other forest. Error matrix and Kappa coefficient were employed to quantify the degree of agreement between vegetation maps and NFI data. The results of this study indicated that the Kappa coefficients of the vegetation map for the NFI data as true values was 0.86 for forest and non-forest, and 0.59 for conifer plantations and other forests, respectively. The calculation of the Kappa coefficients for each area of the plane rectangular coordinate system showed areas of relatively high and low accuracy. This paper has successfully enabled the accuracy assessment of vegetation maps to be carried out at a national scale.

A mesh-system based method for flora survey of municipal areas was examined with special reference to the selection of survey meshes and the survey procedure. The relationship between the numbers of survey meshes and the identified species, and the effects of selecting survey meshes based on topography classification were verified. The survey was conducted in 54 third local meshes in Yurihonjo City, Akita Prefecture, Japan, and each mesh was surveyed for a total of 6 h in two seasons, spring and fall. About 1/3 of the total 1,030 identified species were low-frequency species, and about 1/4 were common species. The number of identified species showed a clear tendency to plateau against the numbers of survey meshes. However, the number of topography-specific species found in one topography area did not show any tendency for plateauing. This may be because many common species appeared early in the survey, but afterwards, the newly confirmed species were mainly low-frequency species, such as topography-specific species. Therefore, focusing only on the number of species is not sufficient for obtaining an overview of the regional flora. Furthermore, it is particularly important to know how to confirm the presence of low-frequency species. As for the topography classification, it is clarified that it was better to survey all topographical divisions. According to these results, it seemed efficient to conduct a comprehensive primary survey to ascertain a certain number of species, mainly common species, and then analyze the data and conduct a targeted secondary survey by selecting a topographic mesh with a large number of confirmed species and low-frequency occurrences. Further supplementary surveys are required for special sites such as wetlands and rocky angles so that the characteristics of the local flora can be documented more accurately.

Sustainable biodiversity conservation strategy is one of the largest challenges in this turbulent century. Although several conservation projects for Felidae species have achieved a measure of success, they only focus on current threats, such as intensive land use, and do not consider future land use changes. Because land use always changes based on complicated eco-social dynamics, predicting new potential drivers on Felidae’s population is essential for maintaining these species. To conserve sustainable population of the Felidae’s population, we clarified changes of driving factors, particularly focused on changes of the amount of abandoned plantation areas which were considered as future biodiversity threats, on Tsushima leopard cat (Prionailurus bengalensis euptilurus), based on fecal location data collected during three sampling periods (2002-2004, 2010-2012 and 2018-2019) in Tsushima main island, Japan. We found that the amount of abandoned plantation area was the only factor that influenced (positive) Tsushima leopard cat distribution throughout the study periods. Consistently, influential factors on the usage frequency of this species varied with sampling periods; any factor which we prepared was not related to usage frequency of Tsushima leopard cat in 2002-2004, whereas elevation (positive) and degree of slope (positive) in 2010-2012, and elevation (positive) in 2018-2019 were influenced usage frequency of the species. Our results suggest that increasing abandoned land may suitable habitat for the Tsushima leopard cat. However, given that the influential factors on usage frequency of Tsushima leopard cats were changed every study period, other unquantified factors including serious plant exploitation of Tsushima sika deer (Cervus nippon centralis) may degrade their habitat qualities.

We conducted a population survey of the larvae of terrestrial firefly Luciola parvula in a riparian forest in the southern part of Nagasaki City. The statistical analysis using GLMM and model selection based on a AICc showed that the coverage of understory vegetation and litter thickness have a positive effect on the larval population. The result highlighted the importance of forest edge habitat for the larvae. In the dark forest floor, which is occluded by the forest canopy, leaf litter generally accumulates however understory vegetation does not grow. At a forest edge facing south, such as the survey site of this study, the sun shines into the forest floor even though it is occluded by the canopy, and the understory vegetation grows luxuriantly. In conclusion, habitat conservation focusing on understory vegetation coverage and litter accumulation would be the effective conservation measurements for the species.

In satoyama parks, new zoning methods are needed that can accommodate requests to use the forest and indicate appropriate activity sites. We proposed a new zoning concept for Satoyama parks using Multi-Functional Landscape Planning (MFLP) and phytosociological vegetation maps. The 109.4 ha of forest in Takaragaike Park (Sakyo-ku, Kyoto) (hereafter referred to as "Takaragaike Forest") was selected for the study, and requests for the Takaragaike Forest were extracted from the results of the "The annual study session of Takaragaike" which has been held since 2013. A phytosociological vegetation map created by low altitude remote sensing (LARS) using an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) was used as the spatial unit for dividing the space into zones. Using the phytosociological vegetation map as the spatial unit and the constancy table, we were able to select zones suitable for realizing the requests. In addition, by adding existing data on vegetation, such as fallen trees and alien species, we were able to respond to requests that could not be evaluated based on the constancy table. The method of selecting zones suitable for activities based on the phytosociological vegetation map and the constancy table is clear and easy to understand, and can be fully used for decision making by various entities. The zoning method proposed in this study using MFLP and phytosociological vegetation map will be a new zoning method for Satoyama parks.

The publisher would like to draw the reader's attention to errors in this article.