Grassland and fire history since the late-glacial in northern part of Aso Caldera, central Kyusyu, Japan, inferred from phytolith and charcoal records

Kawano, Tatsuichiro; Sasaki, Naoko; Hayashi, T.; Takahara, Hikaru

doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2010.12.008

Cited by 27 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 24 publications

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“…Formation of black soil in Japan is considered as related to the long history of semi‐natural grassland vegetation that has been maintained through periodic burning by humans (Kawano et al. ; Miyabuchi et al. ).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Traditional burning and mowing practices support high grassland plant diversity by providing intermediate levels of vegetation height and soil pH

Nagata

Ushimaru

2016

Applied Vegetation Science

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Both authors equally contributed to this work. AbstractQuestion: Which types of management practice promote plant species richness in semi-natural grasslands? Which environmental factors might be involved in this management effect? How do different plant life-form groups respond to these variables?Location: Kaida Plateau, Nagano Prefecture, Japan.Methods: In the study area, hay meadows were traditionally maintained through both burning and mowing every second year. Recently, however, meadows that have either been abandoned or maintained only by annual burning or annual mowing have increased. We compared plant species richness, vegetation height and soil pH and water content between traditional meadows and those abandoned or maintained only by burning or mowing. We also examined relationships between these variables and the species richness of plant life-form groups.Results: The mean total and rare plant richness (36 and eight speciesÁm À2 , respectively) in traditionally managed meadows were higher than in meadows of other management types (<26 and ≤5 speciesÁm À2 , respectively). Vegetation height (20-290 cm) and soil pH (4.2-6.2) varied among study plots. Burning and mowing frequencies negatively influenced vegetation height and positively influenced soil pH and/or water content. Traditional management practice provided intermediate vegetation heights (90 cm) and soil pH (5.3). Total species richness showed a unimodal relationship with vegetation height (peaking at 125 cm), and rare species richness was highest at intermediate levels of vegetation height (86 cm) and soil pH (5.2). Conclusions: This study demonstrates that intermediate levels of vegetationheight and soil pH have been maintained through traditional practices combining both infrequent burning and mowing. These practices are essential for conserving common and rare plant diversity in the study area with oligotrophic soil conditions.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Traditional burning and mowing practices support high grassland plant diversity by providing intermediate levels of vegetation height and soil pH

Nagata

Ushimaru

2016

Applied Vegetation Science

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“…Fires in Bashania forests were also likely a function of anthropogenic activity since the oldest charcoal date was 1410 yr BP, representing the approximate start of the Tang dynasty (Zhang, 1989;Gao et al, 1999). Krawchuk et al (2009), in an attempt to examine current and historical fire regimes throughout China, suggest contemporary fires, such as those of the surficial soil horizons in this study, were possibly a function of human activity (Kawano et al, 2012).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 76%

Fire occurrence in relation to bamboo dominance in the Qinling Mountains of China: Evidence from phytolith and charcoal records in Holocene sediments

Rayle

Franklin

2015

Sci. China Earth Sci.

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The internal genetic clock of semelparous mast-flowering bamboo species creates gregarious regions of flowering and death, thus leading to fuel-load accumulation that potentially promotes fire (Fire-Cycle Hypothesis). Higher abundance of bamboo could be expected to provide greater fuel loads after flowering. Here, we investigated the possible link between bamboo dominance and fire occurrence. As the main food source for the giant panda in the Qinling Mountains of China, Bashania fargesii (Farges Canebrake) and Fargesia qinlingensis (Arrow Bamboo) dominate lower (1000-1900 m) and higher elevations (1800-2700 m), respectively. Four soil profiles (elevation ranging from 1240 to 2170 m) in areas of known recent bamboo flowering events (~1980) and adjacent non-flowering sites were assessed for phytoliths and charcoal. Characteristic phytoliths were chosen to describe bamboo dynamics, and charcoal particles were extracted from the soil to reconstruct fire history. Carbon 14 dating of soil charcoal samples was conducted using an accelerator mass spectrometry technique. In addition, we chose two depths (28-52 and 90-100 cm) in one Bashania profile (B. fargesii forest) and one Fargesia profile (F. qinlingensis forest) for phytolith dating. Our findings indicate that bamboo has been a dominant component of these ecosystems almost for the entire profile; some 6400 yrs for Bashania and ca. 10000 yrs for the Fargesia. It is also clear from the charcoal and phytolith data that bamboo abundance and recent mast flowering were significantly related to fire occurrence for lower elevation Bashania while the higher elevation Fargesia was not. One of the four profiles had chronological charcoal records throughout and the oldest charcoal aged was ~1410 yr BP, suggesting an anthropogenic origin. The mixing of phytolith and charcoal made it unrealistic to describe temporal dynamics of bamboo and fire events, and thus our interpretation is cognizant of the dating discrepancies and conservative (less-speculative). Due to the long history of bamboo and much shorter history of fire within the profile, our data lend little evidence to the Fire-Cycle Hypothesis. bamboo dynamics, Bashania, Fargesia, fire cycle hypothesis, phytolith, Qinling Mountains Citation: Rayle C M, Franklin S B, Lu Z J. 2015. Fire occurrence in relation to bamboo dominance in the Qinling Mountains of China: Evidence from phytolith and charcoal records in Holocene sediments. Science China: Earth Sciences,

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“…Ogura et al () reported that soil layers younger than 9.7–9.5 ka contained abundant charcoal fragments at the northern caldera rim. Kawano et al () presented a charcoal record from the Daikanbo site (Fig. ) and demonstrated that fire events have occurred continuously near the section at least since the early Holocene.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Environmental reconstructions including vegetation history in and around Aso caldera have been conducted based on both pollen records (Iwauchi and Hase, ; Hase et al , ; Shu et al , ) and phytolith records (e.g. Miyabuchi and Sugiyama, , ; Kawano et al , ; Miyabuchi et al , ). Most parts of areas surrounding the Aso caldera are dry environments.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Vegetation history after the late period of the Last Glacial Age based on phytolith records in Nangodani Valley basin, southern part of the Aso caldera, Japan

Miyabuchi

Sugiyama²

2019

J Quaternary Science

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Vegetation history after the late period of the Last Glacial Age has been reconstructed using phytolith records obtained from three tephra sections in the Nangodani Valley basin, southern part of the Aso caldera, southwest Japan. The topography of the Nangodani Valley basin is divided into three types: somma (caldera rim and wall), caldera floor (central valley) and post-caldera central cone slope. The vegetation transitions after the late period of the Last Glacial Age in the basin vary between these topographic types. The differences can be explained based on human activities in the valley basin. Grassland dominated by Sasa and Pleioblastus dwarf bamboos (before 8 ka) and Miscanthus and other Andropogoneae pampas grasses (after 8 ka) occurred in the central valley and on the postcaldera central cone slope, which were strongly affected by human activities including a long period of burning. In contrast, forest with an understory of Bambusoideae plants was preserved on the caldera rim and wall, which was inaccessible because of its steep topography, during the Holocene.

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Grassland and fire history since the late-glacial in northern part of Aso Caldera, central Kyusyu, Japan, inferred from phytolith and charcoal records

Cited by 27 publications

References 24 publications

Traditional burning and mowing practices support high grassland plant diversity by providing intermediate levels of vegetation height and soil pH

Traditional burning and mowing practices support high grassland plant diversity by providing intermediate levels of vegetation height and soil pH

Fire occurrence in relation to bamboo dominance in the Qinling Mountains of China: Evidence from phytolith and charcoal records in Holocene sediments

Vegetation history after the late period of the Last Glacial Age based on phytolith records in Nangodani Valley basin, southern part of the Aso caldera, Japan

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