Abstract
Wild edible plants, ecological foodstuffs obtained from forest ecosystems, grow in natural fields, and their productivity depends on their response to harvesting by humans. Addressing exactly how wild edible plants respond to harvesting is critical because this knowledge will provide insights into how to obtain effective and sustainable ecosystem services from these plants. We focused on bamboo shoots of Sasa kurilensis, a popular wild edible plant in Japan. We examined the effects of harvesting on bamboo shoot productivity by conducting an experimental manipulation of bamboo shoot harvesting. Twenty experimental plots were prepared in the Teshio Experimental Forest of Hokkaido University and were assigned into two groups: a harvest treatment, in which newly emerged edible bamboo shoots were harvested (n = 10); and a control treatment, in which bamboo shoots were maintained without harvesting (n = 10). In the first year of harvesting (2013), bamboo shoot productivities were examined twice; i.e., the productivity one day after harvesting and the subsequent post-harvest productivity (2–46 days after harvesting), and we observed no difference in productivity between treatments. This means that there was no difference in original bamboo shoot productivity between treatments, and that harvesting did not influence productivity in the initial year. In contrast, in the following year (2014), the number of bamboo shoots in the harvested plots was 2.4-fold greater than in the control plots. These results indicate that over-compensatory growth occurred in the harvested plots in the year following harvesting. Whereas previous research has emphasized the negative impact of harvesting, this study provides the first experimental evidence that harvesting can enhance the productivity of a wild edible plant. This suggests that exploiting compensatory growth, which really amounts to less of a decline in productivity, may be s a key for the effective use of wild edible plants.
Highlights
An ecological system provides a variety of valuable services for human wellbeing, and these benefits have been called “ecosystem services.” Ecosystem services are sustainable for as long as the ecosystem providing them functions stably
In the harvesting year and the following year, we measured the number of bamboo shoots produced at the sites where bamboo shoots had been harvested and at sites where bamboo shoots had been maintained without harvesting, and we examined whether compensatory growth occurred after harvesting
The survival ratio in the harvested plots was significantly lower than that in the control plots (t = 2.21, P = 0.040), and harvesting decreased the number of surviving bamboo shoots by 42%
Summary
An ecological system provides a variety of valuable services for human wellbeing, and these benefits have been called “ecosystem services.” Ecosystem services are sustainable for as long as the ecosystem providing them functions stably. Disturbances, especially anthropogenic disturbances, can alter the state of the ecosystems [1], sometimes with intense impacts result in a dramatic loss of ecosystem services via catastrophic regime shifts [2,3]. In order to receive benefits effectively as well as sustainably from ecosystems, we need to address our lack of a comprehensive knowledge about the varying impacts of disturbances on ecosystem services. The collection of wild edible plants (i.e., harvesting) can be regarded as a human (anthropogenic) disturbance to those plants and their ecosystems. It is important to understand how harvesting influences the subsequent properties (such as demography and succession) of wild edible plants, so that information can be gathered regarding the sustainable use of ecosystem services. We need to know how collecting wild edible plants influences the subsequent plant yield
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
