Develop discipline of wood utilization for building regional circle and ecological sphere based on biodiversity

2022 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 20K20730
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Research (Exploratory)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: Medium-sized Section 4:Geography, cultural anthropology, folklore, and related fields
• Research Institution: Kyushu University
• Principal Investigator: Koga Shinya 九州大学, 農学研究院, 教授 (20215213)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 内海 泰弘 九州大学, 農学研究院, 准教授 (50346839)
• Project Period (FY): 2020-07-30 – 2023-03-31
• Keywords: 伝統的木材利用 / 木材基本性質 / 木材組織 / 木材物理 / 地域循環共生圏 / 生物多様性 / 木材民俗学

Outline of Final Research Achievements

As fundamental research toward the construction of a "regional circle and ecological sphere zonebased on biodiversity", we clarified how to use and characteristics of tree species traditionally used in three areas (Ashoro Town, Hokkaido; Shiiba Village, Miyazaki Prefecture; and Sasaguri Town and Hisayama Town, Fukuoka Prefecture), which have different natural environmental conditions and historical backgrounds in the relationship between people and forests, and evaluated various wood properties (i.e. anatomical, physical and mechanical properties) of the tree species. Although the data obtained were not sufficient due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it was shown that there is a high relationship between the information on traditional wood use and some wood quality traits such as wood density obtained from the literatures and experiments. It was also recognized that the relationships may differ depending on the natural environmental and social conditions of the region.

Free Research Field

木材理学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

かつて国内各地では，生活圏に近い場所に生育する多種・多様な樹木を用途に応じて経験的に使い分けしてきたが，他材料への転換や木材の工業材料化にともない，これまで継承されてきた伝統的な樹種選択や利用方法に関わる民俗知は消失の危機にある．他方，生物多様性の保全や生態系サービスの発揮の観点から今後地域に存在する生物資源を持続的に循環利用する「地域循環共生圏」の構築が求められている．本研究で得られた研究成果はこれらの課題に応える知見のひとつとして貢献できると考える．