Land-use changes and their factors in mountainous forest landscapes in mountainous region of Kyushu, southern Japan

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  • Soen Norihisa
    Faculty of Agriculture, University of Miyazaki
  • Ito Satoshi
    Faculty of Agriculture, University of Miyazaki
  • Mituda Yasushi
    Department of Forest Management, Forestry and Forest Products Research Institute (FFPRI)

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Other Title
  • 九州山地の中山間地域における土地利用の変化とその要因
  • キュウシュウ サンチ ノ チュウサンカン チイキ ニ オケル トチ リヨウ ノ ヘンカ ト ソノ ヨウイン

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Abstract

We investigated the pattern of land-use changes since 1902 within a river basin in mountainous region of Kyushu, southern Japan in order to discuss the factors promoting the different land-use changes in relation to the natural and social conditions. Land-use maps were generated for the upper Hitotsuse River basin by interpreting the symbols of topographic maps in 1902, 1965 and 1990. The study area was divided into two parts (upper and lower parts of the basin) based on the dissimilarity of the pattern of the 51 combinations of land-use changes analyzed at about 13,000ha catchment scale. The biases of distribution were analyzed by calculating the Jacobs' electivity index for each pattern of land-use change at 50m x 50m cells in relation to elevation and slope. As the result, we found clear differences in the timing of expansion of traditional Satoyama land use and establishment of conifer plantation between the upper and lower parts of the basin. During 1902 to 1965, expansion of Satoyama land use such as coppice forests and grassland had expanded in the upper basin, though the conifer plantation was prevailed in the lower basin. In the following period (1965-1990), the expanded Satoyama land use in upper basin was replaced by conifer plantations. Analysis of electivity demonstrated the priority of the establishment of conifer plantations on relatively steep slopes at lower elevation, which might resulted in the difference of the pattern of land-use change between upper and lower elevation. The expanded Satoyama land-use before 1965 in the upper basin seemed to be partly owing to the settlement in this period. These result indicated that the influences of social factors such as national forest management policy or agricultural modernization varied depending on natural condition represented by topography, which might be responsible to promote the different land-use change within a river basin of the region.

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