Evaluation of the effect of grazing by Sika deer on forest vegetation and forest management

2015 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 25292088
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B)
• Allocation Type: Partial Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Forest science
• Research Institution: Kyoto University
• Principal Investigator: Yoshioka Takahito 京都大学, フィールド科学教育研究センター, 教授 (50202396)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): TATENO Ryunosuke 京都大学, フィールド科学教育研究センター, 准教授 (60390712)
• Co-Investigator(Renkei-kenkyūsha): MATUSYAMA Shuhei 酪農学園大学, 農食環境学群, 講師 (30570048) ; FUKUSIMA Keitaro 首都大学東京, 都市環境科学研究科, 特任助教 (60549426)
• Project Period (FY): 2013-04-01 – 2016-03-31
• Keywords: シカ食害 / 餌選択 / 天然生林 / 草本群落 / 人工林 / 生物多様性 / 窒素循環

Outline of Final Research Achievements

The Japanese sika-deer overgrazing have been surveyed in the different ecosystems, such as natural and artificial forests, and grassland, for evaluating their effects on the forest floor vegetation, on the material cycling in the forest soil and on the multifunction of forest ecosystem. It was suggested that the effect of the deer exclusion fence for the vegetation growth and biodiversity was smaller (or, slower) in the non-thinning artificial forest of Cryptomeria japonica than in the thinning forest. It seemed to be the highest (fastest) in the grassland. It was suggested that the overgrazing indirectly affected to the material cycling in the soil by the physiological feature of plant (nitrate reducing enzyme activity), while it directly affected to the plant biodiversity. It indicated that the linkage among the dietary habit of the deer, vegetation and the soil material cycling was important for understanding and evaluating effects of the overgrazing on the forest ecosystem.

Free Research Field

森林科学