Responses of wild edible plants to human-disturbance

2020 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 18K11724
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Review Section: Basic Section 64040:Social-ecological systems-related
• Research Institution: Otaru University of Commerce
• Principal Investigator: Katayama Noboru 小樽商科大学, 商学部, 准教授 (30646857)
• Project Period (FY): 2018-04-01 – 2021-03-31
• Keywords: チシマザサ / 撹乱応答 / 補償成長 / 生態系サービス / 北方林

Outline of Final Research Achievements

For sustainable and efficient use of ecosystem services, it is necessary to investigate relationships between anthropogenic disturbances and ecosystem services scientifically and predict changes in the services after disturbance. In this study, I investigated responses of wild edible bamboo (Sasa kurilensis) to human-harvesting, and demonstrated that (1) the productivity of edible culms was enhanced after harvesting, and (2) the productivity of edible culms was determined by environmental factors (i.e., the density of bamboo culms decreased but the stem diameter increased along the gradient of increasing slope angle in the habitat), and (3) the intensity of enhanced productivity of edible culms in response to human-harvesting was also affected by the slope angle.

Free Research Field

生態学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

生態系サービスとしての利用価値は高いにもかかわらず，山菜は資源としてあまり活かされていない．その理由は，山菜の撹乱応答を調べた研究は少なく，どのような撹乱がどのような条件で加わると山菜の生産性が向上するかについて解明されていないからである．本研究は，これまで培われてきた基礎生態学の知見やアプローチを用いて，山菜における人為的撹乱（人による収穫の影響）を科学的に調査し，収穫に応じて山菜の生産性は強化されうることを明らかにした．本研究の成果は森林に眠る山菜資源の有効な活用法を見つけだし，新たな産業基盤を生み出す契機になると期待している．