Vegetation structure in relation to micro‐landform in an evergreen broad‐leaved forest on Amami Ohshima Island, south‐west Japan

Abstract

The relationship between micro-landform and vegetation structure was studied in a plot that was established on a slope from the ridge to the valley bottom in an evergreen broad-leaved forest on Amami Ohshima Island, south-west Japan. Five micro-landform units recognized in the plot were grouped into the upper and lower slopes by their location in relation to the erosion front, and plant distributions and vegetation structure were compared between them. Although small trees with d.b.h, less than 10 cm occurred almost all over the plot, the occurrence of larger trees was limited mostly to the upper slope. Based on the spatial distribution pattern in the plot, woody species are classified into three groups: group A mostly or strictly confined to the upper slope; group B confined to the lower slope; and group C associated statistically with neither slope. A well-developed forest stand, whose dominant species were Castanopsis sieboldii ssp. lutchuensis and Schima wallichii, was seen on the upper slope, whereas only a poorly developed stand was seen on the lower slope.The difference in stability of the land surface is likely to be th e major cause of the observed differences in stand structure between the upper and lower slopes. It is suggested that the erosion front is important as a line demarcating different habitats within a slope from the ridge to the valley bottom.

Topography-specific emergence of fungal fruiting bodies in warm temperate evergreen broad-leaved forests on Yakushima Island, Japan

“…Furthermore, mycorrhizal-supported families of trees such as Fagaceae and Ericaceae were distributed mainly on the upper slope area and dominated 55.3% of BA in the upper slope area of the study quadrat compared to 30.6% in the lower slope area (see Table 3). In fact, Fagaceae tree species such as Pasania edulis, Castanopsis cuspidate, and Quercus acuta and Ericaceae tree species such as Rhododendron tashiroi and Vaccinium bracteatum distributed mainly on the ridge area in evergreen broad-leaved forests in Amami Ohshima Island, Okinawa Island, and other study plots in Yakushima Island (Hara et al 1996;Aiba et al 2001;Enoki 2003;Tsujino et al 2006). Thus, we suggest that the symbiosis of mycorrhizal fungi with trees was one of the key factors affecting topography-specifi c tree distribution patterns as a kind of extended function of the plant roots in a stressful environment such as a ridge.…”

“…We characterized the topography of the study areas as ridge area, upper side-slope, lower side-slope, foot slope, and valley area, according to the land surface, soil, and slope inclination (Hara et al 1996;Nagamatsu and Miura 1997;Yumoto 2007, 2008). The ridge area is a gentle convex slope that runs along a ridge.…”

Spatial Association of Shrubs and Their Interrelation to Burrowing Site Preference of Subterranean Rodents on Dune Slope in the Otindag Sandy Land, China

“…), thus indirectly affects the distribution of vegetation [65,66]. The influence of slope position on vegetation pattern is receiving growing attention [67][68][69][70][71][72][73]. In the mountains and hilly regions, the terrain controls the redistribution of solar radiation and precipitation, which can well indicate the microclimate condition of local habitat, and reflect the spatial differences on the thickness and soil nutrient [74][75][76], hence, the research on the relation between plants and topography has focused on the mountains [77][78][79][80] and hilly regions [65,[69][70][71]81,82].…”

Relationship between remotely sensed vegetation change and fracture zones induced by the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake, China

“…At a local scale, small scale, topography becomes a dominant factor controlling vegetation distribution because it can reallocate locally water and solar radiation (Hara et al, 1996). However, fracture zones including faults, gouges, and continuous joints can influence the vegetation pattern more strongly than topography by changing hydraulic conductivity and other soil properties around the fracture zone.…”