Evaluation of socio-ecological production landscape of the riverside area by a spatio-temporal analysis

Abstract

In this study, the amount of nature formed outside a river embankment due to people use, and the background around its formation is explained; additionally, the mosaic nature of that environment around the rivers in the Kanto region is also evaluated. Using a Geographic Information System to categorize the past and present vegetation type, this study examined the changes in the types of vegetation for each 100 m mesh. To evaluate the mosaic nature of the landscape, the riverside area was divided every one km according to the distance marker of each river, overseeing the extent of the nature formed by people use in that area. As a result, it was found that 45.1% of the natural environment formed due to people use existed outside the embankment in the target area. It is suggested that land-use in nature formed due to people use have changed because of the decrease of people's maintenance and flood. Furthermore, the nature formed by people use is mosaic represents 52.7% of the total region. This shows that the riverside area also has a Socio-Ecological Production Landscapes based on the nature formed by people use similar to Satoyama, which is associated with traditional human lifestyles.