ABSTRACT Eucalyptus plantations at higher elevations in Sri Lanka are being confronted by a conflict between their industrial need maintenance and ecological need conservation. Increasing carbon sequestration can offer income through carbon markets to minimize profit reductions. Changing the main species and extending the rotation length (ERL) can increase carbon sequestration; thus, this study aimed

ABSTRACT A field experiment was conducted involving deer exclosures and planting of Quercus acutissima, a deciduous oak, to reveal forest recovery patterns and factors following clear-cutting at overcrowded conifer plantation sites. Sites were selected in a warm temperate region in western Japan, which is dominated by deciduous broad-leaved secondary forests and extensive conifer plantations. Thirteen

ABSTRACT In this study, we compared the medium and long-term effects of logging on tropical rain forest ecosystems in Suriname using reduced impact logging (RIL), CELOS Management System (CMS), and conventional logging (CL) with forest without logging (NAT). In 18 forest plots with different times since logging ended and 9 unlogged forest plots, assessments were conducted on indicators of forest structure

ABSTRACT Nest tree availability is a critical reproductive requirement for woodpeckers. To inform off-reserve management strategies for Okinawa woodpecker (OW) Dendrocopos noguchii (Syn. Sapheopipo noguchii) nest trees, we assessed the characteristics of 213 nest trees as well as the detailed forest age of the nest sites by using aerial photographs and the local forest registers. The woodpecker used

(2021). Correction. Journal of Forest Research. Ahead of Print.

(2021). Ecological management of insular forests: conservation of endangered species and native ecosystems in Ryukyu Archipelago. Journal of Forest Research. Ahead of Print.

ABSTRACT This study examined the combined impacts of reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD+) activities in Houaykhing village cluster (ca. 31,000 ha) in northern Lao People’s Democratic Republic in 2011–2018. We quantitatively evaluated the effectiveness of REDD+ activities in this area by comparing the estimated reductions in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions for Houaykhing

ABSTRACT Ecosystem service assessment has become an emerging lobbying tool in recent years, relatively, less studies use non-economic methods to explore the society’s demand for ecosystem services from the perspective of human values, attitudes and beliefs. With Taiwan household registration records, this study conducted a survey involving mailing out questionnaires to ordinary households as sampling

ABSTRACT To better understand the long-term response of boreal forests to increasing environmental changes, we applied the u-w method to detect growth changes triggered by environmental factors. Three species (Picea mariana, Picea glauca, and Populus tremuloides) of various sizes and ages were sampled in a boreal forest in northern Canada. Several stem disks were collected from the base to the crown

ABSTRACT Amphibians are among the most threatened taxa in the world. Anthropogenic habitat alteration is possibly the most important driver of their population decline and can occur through many different factors. To develop effective conservation measures when multiple factors are involved, we need to know the relative impact of each factor. I aimed to reveal breeding site choice by two endangered

ABSTRACT Teak (Tectona grandis) is among the most valuable tropical hardwoods, but silvicultural guidelines are needed to improve the growth and quality of trees in teak plantations, particularly those owned by smallholders in Asia. We analyzed the diameter growth of individual trees to determine the effects of density control in the early stages of growth in a teak plantation in northern Thailand

ABSTRACT For the conservation of mangrove forests, management plans should be prepared after evaluating the decreases of mangrove forests explicitly. Although information regarding stand development in mangrove forests is indispensable, there is a lack of it. We reasoned that gathering three-dimensional point cloud data using stabilized cameras and photogrammetry (developed together with unmanned aerial

ABSTRACT Fine roots (FRs; <2 mm in diameter) might act as substantial pools of underground carbon and nutrients in the forest ecosystem. Since nutrient availability directly impacts plant growth, any changes in soil fertilization and subsequent changes in nutrients would alter the production of FRs. Here, we investigated the impact of fertilization with nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) [control, N (200

ABSTRACT The diversity and population structure of woody species at Maun Educational Park (MEP) was investigated from June to July 2018. A total of 23, 18 and 30 quadrats of 20 × 20 m size were laid down at 50 m intervals along a transect line at riparian, seasonal floodplain and upland habitat, respectively. The Shannon diversity index and evenness were 1.87 and 1.54 in the riparian habitat, 2.01

ABSTRACT Garcinia subelliptica Merr. (called “fukugi” in Japanese) is a dioecious tree species, which has traditionally been planted as windbreak forests in the coast of Ryukyu islands. Although effective afforestation and maintenance of G. subelliptica would greatly be assisted by early sex diagnosis and selection at the seedling stage, the genome and the sex-determination system of G. subelliptica

ABSTRACT The forest of Meiji-Jingu shrine was afforested 100 years ago with the aim of creating a sublime forest one century later. In this study, we conducted a visual landscape assessment to explore whether the forest had reached sublime forest status. Specifically, the spatial condition of the forest associated with sublimity and landscape types that made visitors feel sublime were assessed using

ABSTRACT Urban parks that provide the context for relationships between people and nature could be good cases for studies and analysis of visual perception in the everyday landscape. The main goal of the research is to evaluate the people’s attention to the primary factors and landscape elements in urban parks. Accordingly, out of 59 regional and trans-regional parks in Tehran, ten major parks were

ABSTRACT Natural forests were increasingly replaced by plantations globally. While plantations support less biodiversity compared to natural forests, they can serve as an important habitat for forest-dependent species. Understanding the key drivers of the habitat function of plantations is necessary to reconcile both forestry and biodiversity. Planted tree species is one of the important factors determining

ABSTRACT Roadkill poses a significant threat to many wildlife species. To implement habitat management and conservation measures in protected areas, it is important to identify the factors related to roadkill at the landscape scale. The purpose of this study was to clarify the landscape factors involved in roadkill of the endangered Ryukyu long-furred (Diplothrix legata) rat in Yambaru, the northern

ABSTRACT Monochamus alternatus alternatus Hope is distributed in China and Taiwan and transmits the pinewood nematode, the causative agent of pine wilt disease. Unlike univoltine and semivoltine Monochamus alternatus endai Makihara native to Japan, M. a. alternatus has two generations a year (bivoltinism). Some polyphagous insect herbivores exhibit that the incidence of diapause is affected by the

ABSTRACT Radiocesium (137Cs) contamination caused by the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant accident has posed a serious problem, especially for forest ecosystems. Phytoremediation is an effective decontamination method with less disturbance to the ecosystems than tree felling and soil removal. Eleutherococcus sciadophylloides is one of the 137Cs-accumulating tree species in Japan. However, the

ABSTRACT To investigate the effect of expanded property rights and, in particular, village democracy under China’s Collective Forest Tenure Reform (CFTR) on household forestry income, we employ quantile regression, drawing on the survey data from 658 rural households in three provinces belonging to China’s southern collective forest regions. The results indicate that: (1) both the expansion of household

ABSTRACT To explore how and to what extent repeated thinning at different intensities affects the recovery of species diversity, we investigated the recruitment patterns of hardwoods (height ≥1.5 m) from 2003 to 2017 after first (2003) and second (2008) thinnings in 67% (Intensive), 33% (Weak), and 0% (Control) thinning treatments in a Cryptomeria japonica plantation in northern Japan. With intensive

ABSTRACT We explored the dynamics of dwarf bamboo populations in a beech forest 11 years before and 30 years after clear-cutting. Repeated weeding or herbicide application (sodium chlorate) was used experimentally to reduce or eliminate dwarf bamboo prior to clear-cutting. At the beginning of the study, the understory comprised dense populations of two Sasa species, the dominant S. palmata and the

ABSTRACT Despite their potential usefulness as a natural resource, wild edible bamboos tend to be ignored or neglected by foresters, and we know little about how environmental factors determine the productivity of edible culms. Here, to examine determinants for the productivity of edible culms of Sasa kurilensis, 60 survey plots were established in a northern Japanese forest, and annual field surveys

ABSTRACT Windswept Sasa grasslands are stable communities but may have the potential to change into other vegetation such as forests through germination of the soil seed bank. I investigated the compositions of the vegetation and soil seed banks in two windswept Sasa grasslands in the Tanzawa Mountains, eastern Japan: Ryugababa (RGB) and Fudonomine (FDM). Tall tree and sub-tall tree seedlings were

ABSTRACT Needle blight, caused by Passalora sequoiae (Mycosphaerellaceae, Ascomycota), is an economically significant disease that commonly affects Japanese cedar (Cryptomeria japonica) in Japan. With the increasing production of cedar saplings as part of reforestation efforts, there is concern that needle blight will become more prevalent in nursery fields. However, when visually inspected, this disease

ABSTRACT Epiphytic orchids, which account for 68% of vascular epiphytes, contribute substantially to plant species diversity in forest canopies. Many orchid species are naturally rare and have limited geographical distributions. All orchids rely on mycorrhizal fungi for nutrient acquisition during seed germination and seedling establishment, and many species retain these associations throughout their

ABSTRACT Dispersal flight is an essential component of the life history of bark and ambrosia beetles. Previous studies have shown considerable variation in flight distance between individual beetles; however, different factors drive this variation between species. Furthermore, when the ecological role of dispersal flight differs between sexes (i.e., males locate hosts and females follow), influencing

ABSTRACT Amendment by biochar made by thermal degradation of biomass is expected to enhance carbon sequestration through stimulating carbon assimilation by plants. We clarified the effect of biochar amendment on the photosynthesis of trees in forest ecosystems. Biochar was applied to young oak trees (Quercus serrata) in temperate deciduous forest at rates of 0, 5, 10 and 20 Mg ha−1 in four plots (C0

ABSTRACT Degradation of old-growth forests is an important issue for global biodiversity conservation. Robust indicator species greatly facilitate the identification of old-growth forests requiring protection. Understanding why particular species are associated with priority forests is necessary for assessing the reliability of indicator species. Here, we surveyed the vegetation of 69 sites in Yambaru

ABSTRACT Japanese oak wilt is caused by the pathogen, which is introduced into oaks by the ambrosia beetle Platypus quercivorus of which male initiates to bore. In the field, the entrance holes of beetles have been observed primarily in bark crevices. We hypothesized that male P. quercivorus initially distinguish the bark surface structure and then determine the hole boring site. To test this hypothesis

ABSTRACT Mercury (Hg) is a pollutant that can affect human and ecosystem health. The transport and fate of Hg in the environment are dynamic and complex, but our understanding remains unclear for Japanese forest ecosystems. Here, we report the first country-wide survey of Hg concentrations in litter and surface mineral soil layers in 42 forest stands across Japan. The median concentrations of Hg in

ABSTRACT BES1/BZR1s are plant-specific transcription factors and play crucial roles in plant growth, development and response to environmental stress. The Ammopiptanthus nanus (A. nanus) is a relict-xerophyte shrub and tolerates various of abiotic stimuli. However, few genes are identified from A. nanus. To date, the information and function of the AnBES1/BZR1s remains unknown. In the present study

ABSTRACT An ambrosia beetle, Platypus quercivorus, is the vector of Japanese oak wilt, one of the most serious forest diseases in Japan. P. quercivorus is widely distributed in the main islands of Honshu, Kyushu and Shikoku, but there have been no records of P. quercivorus in Hokkaido, the northernmost main island in Japan. Because the mass mortality of oak trees caused by Japanese oak wilt is spreading

ABSTRACT Differences in dominant tree species affect ecosystem carbon budgets in forests, but their independent impacts have not been fully recognized. We aimed to clarify the interannual variation in net primary production (NPP) in three different forest types and the effects of dominant tree species on this. We calculated NPP excluding belowground litter fall using a biometric-based approach for

ABSTRACT We studied the latitudinal and altitudinal variations in composition and species richness of trees in 24 plots across temperate to subtropical regions from southern Kyushu to the northern Ryukyu Archipelago, Japan. Cluster analysis based on presence/absence of species in 0.25-ha segments of the plots identified three forest zones reflecting climate and geohistory: cool-temperate mixed conifer-broadleaf

ABSTRACT To investigate the effect of expanded property rights and, in particular, village democracy under China’s Collective Forest Tenure Reform (CFTR) on household forestry income, we employ quantile regression, drawing on the survey data from 658 rural households in three provinces belonging to China’s southern collective forest regions. The results indicate that: (1) both the expansion of household

ABSTRACT Tricholoma matsutake is an ectomycorrhizal fungus found in Pinaceae forests in Japan. It produces the “matsutake” mushroom, which has been consumed as an important part of Japanese cuisine since ancient times. Domestic matsutake are among the most valuable special forest products; however, their production in Japan has decreased over the past several decades. In the present study, to facilitate

ABSTRACT Teratosphaeria stem canker is one of the most important diseases to have emerged on non-native plantation-grown Eucalyptus trees cultivated globally. The study assessed the pathogenicity of two Teratosphaeria species associated with Teratosphaeria stem canker and the susceptibility of Eucalyptus grandis and six commonly grown Eucalyptus hybrids to these fungal species in Uganda. The inoculation

ABSTRACT To clarify the mechanisms underlying the maintenance of genetic diversity in long-lived forest tree populations, it is important to understand the influence of temporal variation in regeneration sites and its effect on population structure (i.e., nonrandom distribution of trees in spatial location and size) and the spatial genetic structure. Features of population structure in four different

ABSTRACT Stem surface area (S) plays an important role in the eco-physiological processes of trees or forests such as stem respiration, self-thinning mortality, and rainfall interception. As the direct measurement of S is time-consuming and labor-intensive, models for predicting S from commonly measured tree attributes have been developed for coniferous trees grown in plantations. However, there have

ABSTRACT Montezuma cypress (Taxodium. mucronatum) is an ecological, cultural and economically valuable riparian tree species. Two experiments evaluating the effectiveness of various seed treatments were conducted to identify germination best practices and to evaluate the dynamics of the germination process. Seeds were collected on two occasions, one year apart, from the only remaining natural T. mucronatum

ABSTRACT Star magnolia, Magnolia stellata, is an endemic rare subcanopy tree species in the Pacific Ocean side of central Japan and an important component of Satoyama coppice forests in the area. This species is now faced with possible extinction due to the abandonment of Satoyama forests. To understand sprouting regeneration patterns of this species, to assist in its conservation, we defined four

ABSTRACT Regional forest planning does not often progress as desired because it involves multiple decision-makers who tend to manage their own forest stands individually. This study aimed to propose a licnear programming model to maximize the integrated net present value (NPV) of forest ecosystem services at a regional scale with multiple decision-makers. The model uses a matrix comprising forest state

ABSTRACT Belowground ectomycorrhizal (ECM) fungal communities are affected by the dominant tree species of aboveground vegetation. We investigated ECM-fungal communities in the boundary between secondary broad-leaved forests dominated by ECM trees and cypress plantations consisting of arbuscular trees. ECM root tips were collected from soil cores and seedlings at a small scale within 20 m of the boundary

ABSTRACT Fine root is a significant component in carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) dynamics in temperate forests. Winter processes affect plant growth and nutrient concentration, however, the effect of reduced snowpack on fine root remains unclear. Here, we conducted snow removal manipulation and investigated the fine root biomass and necromass, dynamics (production, mortality and disappearance) and the

ABSTRACT Pedunculate oak (Quercus robur L.) seeds are very vulnerable with longevity amounting to only 2–3 years of storage. The study presents three mechanical treatment methods for acorns, a crucial process in seed storage. Four acorn samples were examined: untreated acorns, acorns scarified by cutting off part of the seed on the cup side using pruning shears, crushed acorns, and acorns with a hole

ABSTRACT Sasa kurilensis is a popular wild edible bamboo in Japan. Productivity (density) of edible culms can be enhanced by human harvesting, but we know little about how long the enhanced productivity is sustained after repeated annual harvesting. Here, demography and productivity of this edible bamboo were examined in field experiments conducted following experimental harvesting of edible bamboo

ABSTRACT Some prey species use hiding tactics and thus select areas that provide greater visual obstruction for predator avoidance, and vegetative characteristics that provide greater obstruction should be selected. To investigate vegetative characteristics selected by adult male white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus), we compared vegetation between heavily used and unused areas within home ranges

ABSTRACT In intensively managed plantations, it is important to select the ideal planting density and clone to optimize on productivity. In a 9-year Populus tomentosa plantation in North China Plain, we examined the growth and wood volume (stem and stand) of four superior P. tomentosa clones (1316, BT17, S86, and B331) at seven different planting densities to establish if there are an optimal planting

ABSTRACT Bark stripping damages of conifer trees by Asiatic black bears (Ursus thibetanus) are confirmed in most areas inhibited by them in Japan. In this study, we conducted a field survey in Shirakawa Village, Gifu Prefecture, Japan, from 2008 to 2016 to investigate the seasonal and annual variation of bark-stripping of Japanese cedar (Cryptomeria japonica) by Asiatic black bears in relation to mast

ABSTRACT Over the past few decades, many Japanese forest owners and communities have suffered from the outcomes of anticommons (parcelization) phenomenon. Since the Edo Era (17th through 19th centuries), many Japanese commons forests have been subdivided and placed under private ownership. Individual owners of the subdivided small forests (carved out from former commons forests) have lost interest

(2020). Recent topics of our publication in 2020. Journal of Forest Research: Vol. 25, No. 4, pp. 203-203.

Using the Soil Conservation Service (SCS) curve number (CN) procedure for estimating runoff volume on an ungauged forest watershed remains controversial because little guidance has been provided for defining appropriate CN values. In this study, alternative methods for assigning CN values (CNs) were assessed to determine whether these methods provide acceptable estimates of runoff on forested watersheds

Exotic species plantations are increasing for timber production and other economic benefits. However, evaluation of species adaptation to local climates requires long-term research and the information is still limited. This study was conducted to understand the growth response of three exotic tree species, Abies firma, Cryptomeria japonica, and Chamaecyparis obtusa, to regional moisture conditions

Insects in the tropics usually have continuous generations throughout the year. We reanalyzed published data of wood-boring beetles, belonging to three taxonomic groups (Bostrichidae; Curculionidae: Scolytinae, Platypodinae), that were captured by ethanol-baited traps continuously set for three years and collected every two weeks in the lowland montane forest in northern Thailand. Because trap captures

Quantifying individual tree growth of economically high-value timber species is important for the simulation and development of forest management options. Long-term permanent plot data provides crucial information of forest stand dynamics that can be used to predict individual tree growth. In this study, we developed individual tree basal area growth models of three high-value timber species: monarch

In this study, we evaluate the relationships between the standing stock, field-measured LAI, and NDVI from remotely sensed images and in situ measurements at plantation forests in the subtropics–tropics region of southern Taiwan. The purpose is to facilitate assessing the biomass of reforestation sites in large areas applying the possible stock-LAI-NDVI relationships analyzed in this study. 15–16 years

ABSTRACT The permanent forest estate (PFE) is a tool for maintaining forest areas in perpetuity. The PFE can have several different land-use zones based on different purposes. Here, we evaluated the effectiveness of the PFE in reducing deforestation using country-scale datasets of forest cover change between 2006 and 2017 in Myanmar. We also evaluated the effectiveness of PFE land-use zones such as