Increased frequency of heavy rainfall caused by climate change may affect nutrient transport from forests and agricultural lands into downstream rivers. However, little information is available on how the effects of land cover on nutrient concentrations in the downstream rivers change depending on hydrological conditions. To elucidate this, we investigated the effects of changes in precipitation and river discharge on the relationship between river nutrient concentrations (total nitrogen, total phosphorus, nitrate, and phosphate) and land cover in eight subbasins of the Hii River basin, western Japan. We hypothesized that coniferous forests and agricultural lands including poorly managed ones, which require thinning and fertilizer management, respectively, contribute to increases in nutrient concentrations in downstream rivers during storms. Linear mixed-effects model analyses based on 18-year observation data were used for testing the hypothesis. Results revealed that the slopes of the multiple regression analysis between nutrient concentrations and coniferous and broad-leaved forest area ratios were negative and decreased with increasing daily precipitation. This suggests that forests contributed to the dilution of river nutrient concentrations during storms regardless of whether they were coniferous or broad leaved. In contrast, the slope of regression between nutrient concentrations and agricultural area ratio revealed the opposite trend, indicating that even a small percentage of agricultural area makes a large contribution to increases in nutrient concentrations as precipitation increases. Our results imply that storm runoff in response to rainfall results in an elevated supply of nitrogen and phosphorus attached to arable soils to the river.

In order to understand the coordination of leaf phenology and functional xylem anatomy, the timing of vessel wall lignification in twigs and stems in relation to leaf appearance was studied in nine species with different porosity patterns. Cylindrical stem cores and twigs were collected from early spring through late summer from deciduous (Quercus serrata, Liquidambar styraciflua, and Acanthopanax sciadophylloides), and evergreen (Castanopsis cuspidata; Cinnamomum camphora, Ilex pedunculosa, Symplocos prunifolia, Quercus glauca and Quercus myrsinifolia) species in a temperate forest. The first-formed twig vessels lignified at the time of leaf appearance or before in all species. The timing of stem vessel lignification in relation to leaf appearance in semi-ring-porous deciduous species was overlapping with that of ring-porous deciduous species and diffuse-porous deciduous species.Evergreen species showed a great variation in the timing of stem vessel lignification, relative to leaf flushing. The main conclusions are that 1) Vessel lignification occurs much earlier in twigs than in trunks of the same trees, with hardly any overlap between the two; 2) Deciduous trees do not differ much from evergreen species, but there is a weak tendency for evergreen species to have later vessel differentiation than deciduous species; 3) The timing of vessel formation shows little relation with porosity patterns and overlaps between diffuse-porous and ring-porous species. This suggests a much greater intergradation of timing of vessel formation in species of different porosity pattern in evergreen and deciduous species than recognized in the literature.

To discuss the diversity of morphological traits and life strategies of trees, the functional relationship between leaf expansion and vessel formation must be clarified. We compared the temporal relationship among tree species with different leaf habits and vessel arrangements. Twigs, leaves, and trunk core samples were periodically acquired from 35 sample trees of nine species in a temperate forest in Japan. We quantitatively estimated leaf expansion using a nonlinear regression model and observed thin sections of twigs and trunks with a light microscope. Almost all of the first-formed vessels in twigs, which formed adjacent to the annual ring border, were lignified with a leaf area between 0% and 70% of the maximum in all species. The first-formed vessels in trunks lignified between 0% and 95% of the maximum leaf area in ring-porous deciduous Quercus serrata and ring-(radial-)porous evergreen Castanopsis cuspidate. Their lignification occurred earlier than in diffuse-porous deciduous Liquidambar styraciflua, diffuse-porous evergreen Cinnamomum camphora and Symplocos prunifolia, and radial-porous evergreen Quercus glauca and Quercus myrsinifolia. The timing varied in semi-ring-porous deciduous Acanthopanax sciadophylloides and diffuse-porous evergreen Ilex pedunculosa. The observed differences in the timing of vessel formation after leaf appearance were reflected in their differing vessel porosities and were connected to the different life strategies among tree species.

plantations that have been managed for over years have increased in number throughout Japan. However, there are no criteria or indicators for tree selection before thinning. Here, we attempted to expand the understanding of sunny crown management in Yoshino Forestry by analyzing a mature artificial Sugi stand at Sanbe Educational and Research Forest, Shimane University. We examined the correlation of sunny crown diameter and annual diameter at breast height DBH growth, and the accuracy of annual ring growth estimates. We found a correlation between sunny crown diameter and annual DBH growth; with accuracy, were able to estimate whether the annual ring width was mm using sunny crown diameter ranges. Therefore, although sunny crown and DBH size is associated with different numbers of thinning times, it is a useful indicator of tree selection for thinning in the Sanbe mature forest, and may also be a useful indicator in thick, mature Sugi plantation forests in Japan.