Seedling development is an important factor in the regeneration of forests after disturbance. The objective of this study was to evaluate the amount of leaf litter related to seedling emergence and development using a 3-D laser scanner. The amount of leaf litter can affect seedling emergences by physical inhibition of their emergences, changes in the sub-surface soil, and the spread of diseases. Since it takes a lot of labor and cost to obtain the amount of seedlings and leaf litter, we wanted to improve the efficiency by using a 3D laser scanner. There was a positive correlation between the amount of seedling quantity derived from the laser data and the total seedling height measured by the field survey. There was a positive relationship between the amount of leaf litter estimated from the laser data before and after defoliation and the amount of leaf litter collected from the field survey.

To clarify the influence of development regulations in protected areas on the installation of photovoltaic power plants, we surveyed the installation status of photovoltaic power plants and land use prior to installation in Wakayama Prefecture and examined the overlap with protected areas. As a result, 1,320 photovoltaic power plants were identified in Wakayama Prefecture, and although most of them were installed on wasteland in terms of land use prior to installation, golf courses outnumbered them in terms of developed area. Also. In protected areas, 28 photovoltaic power plants were installed in Natural Parks, 176 in Wildlife Protection Areas, and 3 in Protected Forest, indicating a trend toward installation in Wildlife Protection Areas with no installation restrictions. In addition, it was found that in the forests of the protected areas, development was concentrated in broadleaf forests rather than coniferous forests.