Field Survey

Field Surve

Twenty years of community dynamics in a mixed conifer : broadleaved forest under a selection system in northern Japan

Single-tree selection has been employed widely in northern Japanese mixed forests, but management-induced changes in forests are not well understood. This study examined demographic parameters of major tree species during a 20-year study of a 68 ha stand in which single-tree selection has been conducted since 1971. Results showed that growth and survival of conifers (mostly Abies sachalinensis (Fr. Schm.) Masters) was the most strongly positively affected by the treatment. Nevertheless, recruitment of conifers was not sufficiently improved, suggesting their decreased dominance over the longer term. Instead, shade-intolerant broad-leaved species (mainly Betula ermanii Cham.) will gradually increase because of their higher recruitment rates after the treatment. Shade-tolerant broad-leaved species (mainly Acer mono Maxim. and Tilia japonica (Miq.) Simonkai) appeared to experience the most distinct negative effects, especially on survival. These trends differed markedly from those reported in previous papers concerning partial harvesting systems, which predicted an increase in dominance of shade-tolerant species. The results shown here should be generalized carefully because we have investigated only one stand without repetition of the control area. Nevertheless, trends described in this large-scale, long-term study could provide a basis for simulating stand dynamics. We discussed possible reasons for the observed patterns and provided implications for sustainable management in the region

A contribution of the University Forests to a lecture HUSTEP (Hokkaido University Short-Term Exchange Program) : Development of Eco-Campus through creating name plates of tree species

Introduction: Hokkaido University has the largest experimental forest in the world belonging to one university with several advanced facilities and an ecologically well-managed campus. We have been developing lectures on field science as part of the Hokkaido University Short-Term Exchange Program (HUSTEP) through creatin nameplates of trees (including their ecology, utilization and origin of their name, ets.). The instigation for the creation of new lectures on field science (Environmental Science for Bilolgical Resources) was serious environmental changes due to rapid economic development in Northeast Asia. Under these environmental changes, conservation of biodiversity in forests is a very important issue for future generations, We will be able to solve these environmental problems only when we forge international cooperation in environmental health services. Hokkaido University, located in Northeast Asia, should be engaged in environmental science education as well as forest technology.Hokkaido University Forests have been development a lecture on "Environmental Science for Biological Resources" as a contribution to the development of HUSTEP. The goal of the lecture is to encourage HUSTEP students to study in East Asia where we have the highest biodiversity. Students will be able to recognize species rich forests and campus in Far East. We also show the students that we have been using wood resources following the traditional methods of the Ainu, the indienous people of northern Japan. However, we need a reasonable mathod for imparting the traditional methods of the Ainu as well as sustainable use of wood resources to the students. For these reasons, we have established nameplates of representative tree species, which includes information about their ecology and utilization methods for HUSTEP education, with the ultimate aim of improving education at Hokkaido University. The objective of this document is to improve the HUSTEP lectures through the introduction of the contents and locations of the tree nameplates on the campus

A University Forests lecture for HUSTEP (Hokkaido University Short-Term Exchange Program) on the ancient forest culture of Hokkaido University campus

Introduction:Hokkaido University campus has been designated a National Archelogical Site (K39 Site and K435 Site)(Yoshiwaki 1986, Kosugi 2003, 2005, 2008). Therefore, there there are many excavations related to ancient vegatation, such as seeds, pollen fossil, wooden tools and charred wood. These excavation allow us to estimate ancient forest vegetation and the wood utilization of ancient people who lived in the area of what is now Hokkaido University campus. Watanabe et al. (2005), the first author, has been identifying the buried ancient woods found at sites on Hokkaido University campus since 2003. The results, including charred wood, have been reported in archeological excavation reports. However, no one has summarized these results in relation to wood identification and pollen fossil analysis, or systematically organized the date concerning the ancient forest culture, i.e., ancient forest vegetation and wood utilization of ancient people who lived in the area of Hokkaido University. To clarify the ancient forest culture is important because it can lead to an understanding of how ancient people managed forests and we may learn from them forest managemanet techniques suitable for the current global climate changes. Hokkaido University Forests has developed a course on "Environmental Science for Biological Resources" as a part of "Hokkaido University Short Term Exchange Program", HUSTEP(Sasa and Koike 2002, Koike et al. 2006, 2007). To introduce "Ancient Forest Culture" of Hokkaido University campus, we created panels that summarize the results of the wood identification and pollen fossil analysis using the accumulated archeological data from excavations on Hokkaido University campus

Vegetation Characteristics of a Larch-dominant Site for CO2 Flux Monitoring Study at the Laoshan Experimental Station in Northeast China

Research Material