The relationships between the structure of paddy levees and the plant species diversity in cultural landscapes on the west side of Lake Abstract Paddy levees form networks of narrow linear habitats and play various roles in cultural landscapes. Traditional landscapes on the west side of Lake Biwa consist of paddy field terraces and both ''stone'' and ''soil'' levees that have been maintained by paddy field management using local resources. Paddy levees in this study site are principally classified into five different types. Our study points out how differences in paddy levee structure as well as in management practices influence the plant species. Seventeen paddy levee transects were split into four habitat types based on their species components by TWINSPAN. Spatial characteristics and physical structures of paddy levees depended on natural conditions and human activities. The speciesarea curves of each levee type showed a clear distinction:
Plant species richness of twenty old-growth forest reserves in the cool-temperate zone in the Kanto region, Japan were investigated to detect the effect of forest fragmentation. The species richness of trees and forest floor plants were analyzed by multiple regression models relating to nine variables on the characteristics of landscape, local habitat and forest stand. The total species diversity did not have a significant correlation with any variables of landscape patterns. In this study, single large reserve in the 'SLOSS' discussion did not seem very effective to preserve more species. However, forest reserves in large patches tend to have relatively infrequent species. Large patches of natural forests were regarded as one of the important factors to preserve infrequent species.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.