Relationships between Land Grant Processes of Government-ruled Pasturelands and Transformation Processes of Land Use after the Modernization in Shimousa Plateau, Japan

Miyamoto, Mariko; Yokohari, Makoto

doi:10.5632/jila.73.631

Cited by 3 publications

(1 citation statement)

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“…Grasslands in this region had historically been maintained as a pasture for warhorses, but since the middle of 19th century began to be changed to coppice woodlands dominated mainly by pine trees (Miyamoto & Yokohari, 2010). Due to frequent tree cutting, the coppice in these landscapes was generally sparse with short trees, allowing grassland-like vegetation to persist until the 1960s (Koyanagi, Kusumoto, Yamamoto, & Takeuchi, 2012b;Noda, Kondoh, & Nishihiro, 2019).…”

Section: Study Sitesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Plant community assembly in suburban vacant lots depends on earthmoving legacy, habitat connectivity, and current mowing frequency

Tsuzuki

Koyanagi

Miyashita

2020

Ecology and Evolution

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In suburban regions, vacant lots potentially offer significant opportunities for biodiversity conservation. Recently, in Japan, due to an economic recession, some previously developed lands have become vacant. Little is known, however, about the legacy of earlier earthmoving, which involves topsoil removal and ground leveling before residential construction, on plant community composition in such vacant lots. To understand (dis)assembly processes in vacant lots, we studied 24 grasslands in a suburban region in Japan: 12 grasslands that had experienced earthmoving and 12 that had not. We surveyed plant community composition and species richness, and clarified compositional turnover (replacement of species) and nestedness (nonrandom species loss) by distance‐based β‐diversities, which were summarized by PCoA analysis. We used piecewise structural equation modeling to examine the effects of soil properties, mowing frequency, past and present habitat connectivities on compositional changes. As a result, past earthmoving, mowing frequency, soil properties, and past habitat connectivity were found to be the drivers of compositional turnover. In particular, we found legacy effects of earthmoving: earthmoving promoted turnover from native grassland species to weeds in arable lands or roadside by altering soil properties. Mowing frequency also promoted the same turnover, implying that extensive rather than intensive mowing can modify the negative legacy effects and maintain grassland species. Decrease in present habitat connectivity marginally enhanced nonrandom loss of native grassland species (nestedness). Present habitat connectivity had a positive effect on species richness, highlighting the important roles of contemporary dispersal. Our study demonstrates that community assembly is a result of multiple processes differing in spatial and temporal scales. We suggest that extensive mowing at local scale, as well as giving a high conservation priority to grasslands with high habitat connectivity at regional scale, is the promising actions to maintain endangered native grassland species in suburban landscapes with negative legacy effects of earthmoving.

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Section: Study Sitesmentioning

confidence: 99%