Abstract
The Minabe-Tanabe Ume System in central Japan is defined as a Globally Important Agricultural Heritage System (GIAHS) by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization. This study examined relationships between parcel-level plant diversity and land use, management, and development in traditional sloped Ume (Japanese apricot; Prunus mume) orchards and adjoining level orchards recently developed through large-scale cut-fill land development. We constructed and overlaid past (1974) and present (2015) digital land-use maps to assess land use and topography. We conducted field vegetation surveys in land parcels with different development and management histories. Although 249 ha (4.6% of the total 2015 area) were developed using cut-fill methods, 5148 ha remain a traditional orchard surrounded by coppice forests. Vegetation surveys and a two-way indicator species analysis revealed that traditional orchards had more native species and a higher plant diversity index. Cut-fill orchards contained a higher proportion of alien species; however, the degree depended on parcel history and management. Overall, this area remains a dynamic mosaic landscape containing a core of long-standing Ume orchards. We suggest that biodiversity conservation in this area should focus on conservation measures such as indirect land-use regulations, including some acceptable landform transformations, to promote continued farming of this ecologically important area.
Highlights
Introduction iationsTraditional agricultural dynamic mosaic landscapes around the world are attracting increasing scientific and public attention as land-use systems with long-term sustainability and high biodiversity [1], ranging from tropical agroforestry [2] and wetland mosaics [3]to temperate satoyama ecosystems [4]
Slope-type Ume orchards have been historically cultivated [18], nearly half of the current traditional-type Ume orchards were developed since the 1970s, when Japan faced economic growth and intensive governmental support for agriculture was initiated against rapid urbanization and global free trade movements [19]
During interviews conducted with local people as part of our Wakayama University field class in Globally Important Agricultural Heritage System (GIAHS) sites since 2017 [11], many farmers, especially older ones, told us that they prefer cut-fill Ume orchards and those developed from rice paddies to traditional slope-type orchards because of their greater labor efficiency and productivity, even though they acknowledged the importance of traditional orchards in their land-use systems
Summary
Introduction iationsTraditional agricultural dynamic mosaic landscapes around the world are attracting increasing scientific and public attention as land-use systems with long-term sustainability and high biodiversity [1], ranging from tropical agroforestry [2] and wetland mosaics [3]to temperate satoyama ecosystems [4]. The GIAHS scheme emphasizes dynamic landscape conservation measures that involve positive human management over systems that only protect the target area, which is sometimes seen in UNESCO World Heritage schemes This dynamic approach to conservation emphasizes the sustainability of a total land-use system, thereby allowing changes to landscape elements and installation of new agricultural technologies Local people and the GIAHS promotion authority tend to focus on the value of the GIAHS designation for local economic revitalization [10], with less consideration of biodiversity and ecosystem services, which are key criteria in the GIAHS scheme [11] Balancing these elements in a manner based on scientific evidence remains challenging in the current and candidate
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