The Transitions of Biological Resources Use and Land Use in the 1950s and Later in Shitaru, Tsushima City, Nagasaki Prefecture

Abstract

To examine relationship between biological resources and rural landscape use from the 1950s to 2016, we interviewed local people in Shitaru, Tsushima city, Nagasaki prefecture. As for biological resources, we found that the number of species used by the locals became less than half in 2016 compared to 1950s, but the locals still used those species for various purposes in their life. The utilization areas by the locals were only near their village in the 1950s; however, these areas expanded in 2016 because it became harder to gain some biological resources in their village and the population of having a car increased. In the seashore, resources use had no significant changes. The quantity of resources has been reduced because of depopulation, especially resources for food. On the other hand, the locals attitude on effective resources use has not changed. The cultural and habitual biological resources use was especially important for the locals. The continuity of biological resources use possibly depended on quality and accessibility of resources, and the change of utilization style might lead to the lack of management awareness of the locals. We suggested that it is necessary to evaluate influence of the utilization style change on forest ecosystem in order to consider rural resources management.