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Environmental Factors Affecting the Composition and Diversity of The Imai et al. Journal of Ecology and Environment (2017) 41:8 Journal of Ecology DOI 10.1186/s41610-017-0027-2 and Environment RESEARCH Open Access Environmental factors affecting the composition and diversity of the avian community in igune, a traditional agricultural landscape in northern Japan Haruka Imai1*, Tohru Nakashizuka1,2 and Michio Oguro1,3 Abstract Background: “Igune,” a traditional agricultural landscape in the Tohoku region of Japan, is characterized by small-scale artificial woodlots surrounding a farmer’s house that are interspersed with paddy fields. During the rapid economic growth of Japan over recent decades, some igune woodlots have been abandoned or logged. Biodiversity conservation is an important issue worldwide, and traditional agricultural landscapes are of particular interest. To elucidate the role of igune landscapes in conserving biodiversity, we examined the effects of environmental factors on avian communities. Results: The study was conducted in the suburban areas of Oshu and Hanamaki cities, Iwate Prefecture, Japan, at eight sites that varied in the density and area of igune woodlots within the landscape. Bird surveys were conducted from the middle to late breeding season, and several environmental factors of the igune landscape were also measured. The results of canonical correspondence analysis indicated that the characteristics of avian communities were mainly determined by the total forested area in the landscape. Increased total forested area and shrubs layer of igune woodlots did not cause a reduction in number of bird species of any habitat and foraging types, while increased both in species number and abundance of insectivores and forest species. The number of raptor species increased in igune sites without shrubs. Conclusions: Our results suggest that maintaining igune landscapes may enhance avian diversity within this landscape, although the effects of shrubs within igune varied; developed bush communities increased the evenness of the avian community, whereas some raptor species preferred an open forest understory. Keywords: Canonical correspondence analysis, Conservation, Igune, Japan Background the winter and to occasionally supply timber and provide “Igune,” a traditional agricultural landscape unique to a daily commodity for farmers (Hirabuki and Fukuda the Tohoku region of northeastern Japan, comprises of 2006). Igune was mostly composed of sugi (Cryptomeria small-scale artificial woodlots (approximately 0.2 ha on japonica) trees because of the usefulness and commer- average and 3 ha maximum) that surround farmers’ cial value of its timber. Several deciduous broadleaf tree houses and are interspersed with paddy fields (Fig. 1). species are also sometimes found in igune woodlots, The oldest woodlots were likely established more than which can account for up to approximately 50% of the 500 years ago (Fukuoka et al. 2002). Originally, igune all trees. served to protect houses from strong winds and snow in The cultural values of igune have recently gained increasing attention. For example, farmers utilize many non-timber products derived from igune for religious * Correspondence: [email protected] ceremonies and daily life, and these woodlots also 1Graduate School of Life Sciences, Tohoku University Aoba, 6-3, Aramaki, Aoba-ku, Sendai 980-8578, Japan contribute to the scenic beauty of Japanese traditional Full list of author information is available at the end of the article © The Author(s). 2017 Open Access This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated. Imai et al. Journal of Ecology and Environment (2017) 41:8 Page 2 of 12 Fig. 1 The “igune” landscape. Farmers’ houses are surrounded by woodlots. The picture was taken in Oshu City landscapes (Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Fukuoka et al. (2002) categorized the igune landscapes of of Japan 1991). During recent decades of strong economic Oshu into four groups based on plant species composition growth in Japan, however, some igune woodlots have been and management type. They reported that the dominance abandoned or logged coincident with the shift from a of dwarf bamboo and/or canopy closure led to the traditional to modern lifestyle (Koganezawa et al. 2002; simplification of forest understory vegetation. Thus, Hirabuki and Fukuda 2006). The lifestyle which utilizes the ecological factors affecting species richness and igune is the best example of sustainable living and there their significance in conserving the igune landscape are many points that we should learn from it. So, for this warrant further research. point, to conserve igune is very important. In this study, we focused on the avian community to Currently, biodiversity conservation has become an examine the relationship between biodiversity and the important issue worldwide. The Millennium Ecosystem igune landscape. Birds were selected as the target organism Assessment, a program focusing on ecosystem changes and for several reasons: they are sensitive to habitat changes the future effects of these changes, demonstrated that and thus good indicators of the ecosystem environment biodiversity is crucial for various ecological services (Savard et al. 2000); birds are functionally diverse and inter- (Millennium Ecosystem Assessment 2005). Such conserva- act with many other organisms such as plants and insects; tion issues in human-dominated landscapes have been the they are relatively easy to observe and are ubiquitous subject of much research (Takeuchi 2003), and biodiversity among ecosystems and landscapes (Sandström et al. 2006); in traditional agricultural landscapes such as igune is of par- and birds are familiar to many people, and some species ticular interest in Japan (Hirabuki and Fukuda 2006). Espe- can serve as flagships for stimulating public interest in cially, the small-scale artificial woodlots like igune are paid conservation (Simberloff 1998). Analyses of the ecological attention. Osawa and Katsuno (2001) suggested the import- traits of bird species appear to be effective in linking diver- ance of small-scale woodlots in paddy field as the habitat of sity with the environment of avian habitats. In addition, Schlegel’s green tree frog (Rhacophorus schlegelii)andEndo some ecological traits, such as diet, are also considered and Hirano (1990) reported that Japanese sparrowhawk functional groups in terms of ecosystem processes such as (Accipiter gularis) often build a nest in small-scale woodlots food-web interactions. Because the avian community surrounding a residence. usually includes several trophic levels within an ecosys- Murata and Takehara (unpublished observation) exam- tem, analyzing the guild structure and functional ined avian communities in igune and other landscapes in groups of birds can estimate the stability of the focal Oshu, Iwate Prefecture, and found that species richness ecosystem (Hino 2004; Gray et al. 2007). was higher and species composition differed in igune To obtain baseline information for conserving avian di- compared to secondary forests. They concluded that the versity, we examined the igune traditional agricultural igune avian community included not only forest species landscape with particular focus on the ecological factors but also open-land species, resulting in a richer avifauna. of igune that affect avian communities. We hypothesized Imai et al. Journal of Ecology and Environment (2017) 41:8 Page 3 of 12 that igune provides secondary habitats for forest bird spe- some farmers have abandoned this management regime. cies. The igune landscape creates a forest–wetland (paddy) The proportion of igune woodlots that experienced such complex, generating spatially heterogeneous habitats shrub clearing varied among the study sites. within a monotonic paddy field landscape. The research Each study site was a circle with a radius of 1 km sites were selected to vary in size and density of woodlots, (about 3.1 km2 in area). The sites included four groups and we attempted to elucidate the relationship between of two sites each: <60 igune woodlots within the site (20 the extent of spatial heterogeneity of the forest–wetland woodlots per km2), 60–80 igune woodlots per site, 80– complex and the diversity of the avian community. Subse- 100 woodlots per site, and >100 woodlots per site. One quently, we analyzed the ecological traits of component of the two sites in each group was located within 3 km species and examined the relationships between these of the nearest continuous forest (connected to high characteristics and environmental factors. Finally, we eval- mountain areas), and the other site was more than 3 km uated this traditional agricultural landscape in terms of from the nearest continuous forest. The distances be- the conservation of avian diversity. tween the closest study sites (edge to edge) ranged from 0.5 to 4 km. The total area of igune woodlots within a Methods study site accounted for 0.9–15% of the area. Study site The study was conducted at eight sites within igune General characteristics
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