SPECIAL ISSUE “ Protection and Restoration of Vegetation Damaged by Deer Grazing ”

Abstract

Since the overabundance of Sika deer has potential to cause irreversible shift of ecosystem, proactive management from early stage would be desirable. To conduct proactive management under the limitation of resource in terms of funds and labors for biological conservation, it is necessary to specify the area with high priority to conserve regional flora, and incorporate it into the management plan. We used 198 phytosociological relevés derived from Chichibu-tama-kai National Park, and divided all recorded species into 4 groups by 2 criteria: decreased species in the area with high deer density and endangered species in national and local government scale. The species in Group A is decreased and endangered , Group B is decreased but not endangered , Group C is not decreased but endangered , and Group D is neither decreased nor endangered. We compared the relationship between proportion of each species groups and relative deer density indices. Proportion of Group B had rapidly decreased with relative deer density index increase, while proportion Group D had increased. Proportion of Group C showed unimodal response to relative deer density index. Proportion of Group A and B was high in the grassland and montane broadleaf forests with tall herb understory. Conservation emergency of these community types seem to be highest in the Chichibu-Tama-Kai National Park.