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Rural biodiversity in East Asia is at risk due to the loss of habitat diversity, and good indicators are needed to evaluate diverse habitats in rural landscapes. We examined whether the higher taxa (classes and orders) of soil invertebrates discriminated among several types of secondary forests such as broad-leaved deciduous forests, conifer forests and bamboo forests, primary forests, grasslands and/or wetlands, better than species assemblages of a well-established indicator, ground beetles (Coleoptera, Carabidae and/or Staphylinidae), in three East Asian regions (Japan, South Korea and the Russian Far East). We collected soil invertebrates with pitfall traps and used community composition and an ordination technique to test their performance as indicators. In Japan, the higher taxa of soil invertebrates discriminated finely among a wide range of habitats, and soil moisture seemed to be an important factor underlying habitat arrangement by these taxa along an ordination axis. While species assemblages of ground beetles detected large faunal differences among grasslands, wetlands and a composite group of three forest-type habitats (oak, conifer and bamboo forests), it failed to discriminate among any of the three forest-type habitats. When the analysis included only these types of forests, ground beetles were found to be able to discriminate finely among them, indicating limited performance in relation to the range of habitats covered. In the other two countries, the higher taxa of soil invertebrates showed a performance similar to that of species assemblages of ground beetles, possibly because of the narrow range of habitats analyzed. We conclude that the higher taxa of soil invertebrates are an effective tool for assessing the diversity of rural habitats across the East Asian region, where taxonomic knowledge at the species level is still insufficient. Our results may be applied broadly to other regions where agricultural intensification and land abandonment have caused quantitative and qualitative changes in rural landscapes.

Oil palm industry is one of the major revenue for economic development in Malaysia. Oil palm was introduced to Malaysia in 1911 and the first commercial planting began in 1917. Since then and combined with increasing demand of its product both at the local and international market, areas planted with oil palm has been expanded throughout the nation. In 2004, oil palm plantation covered approximately 9.9% of the total Malaysian land area. However, its expansion has been recognised intrude into forested areas. This situation has been debated as one of the major international issues that cause forest degradation and loss of biodiversity. To balance between economic importance and conservation of forested areas a practical approach in planning and managing oil palm land use is necessary. Landscape ecological approach is an emerging pathway to achieve the goal and increasingly recognised as tool in various aspects of planning and managing land use. In this chapter, the land use changes of this premier man-influenced area in Malaysia will be analysed. How landscape ecology concepts can be integratedinto planning and managing oil palm land use for forest conservation in Malaysia will be discussed.

Cultivated land in the Kangnam area of Seoul is for the most part dispersed. The large area paddies are distributed around the western boundary of Seoul, but the small area paddies are located at the southeast boundary of Seoul. Review of the land use trends of these cultivated lands, large areas have been converted into development areas or converted for use by green houses for high profits. According to this trend, by identifying the landscape ecology characteristics of the rice paddy culture and finding management alternatives it could be possible to improve the biodiversity enhancement of the region, specifically in terms of space and time. According to the results of the shape index analysis, rice paddies in Seoul comprise a 9.4ha area, larger than the mean area of other types of cultivated land with the exception of land used for green houses. Interestingly, the circumference of paddy use area has a similar trend to that of the cultivated land patches of green houses. Also, of the 68% of the first three neighbouring land use that was analyzed the patches were primarily dedicated to river and wetlands (50%) and forests (23%). This characteristic of rice paddy culture, in particular as major neighbouring land use, is representative of the other types of cultivated land; river and wetland usage is due to its particular characteristics. Therefore, on the basis of the analysis’ results, cultivated land management is important for urban environment conservation and biodiversity.

Kushiro Mire, a marsh located near the mouth of the Kushiro River, is suffering from the cumulative effects of pollution caused by land-use development in the watershed. A high wash load is of particular concern and accounts for approximately 95% of the total suspended sediment load that flows into the marsh. Researches have found that turbid water floods the margins of the marsh; this is due to riverbed aggregation in a channelized stream reach that provides agricultural drainage. An analysis of Cs- 137 concentrations determined that the rate of fine sediment deposition was approximately three to eighttimes higher in the channelized reach than in a reach of the natural river. This rapid sediment deposition has lowered groundwater levels and enriched the nutrient content of the marsh soil. Consequently, woody species are rapidly invading the margins of the marsh, causing concern about a vegetation shift from reeddominated marsh to woodland. To address the physical and biological changes that are taking place in Kushiro Mire, various restoration projects have been planned and are being implemented under the Kushiro Mire Conservation Plan. Three examples of projects in the Kushiro Mire Conservation Plan are a restoration of the straightened river channel to meandering course, a forest restoration near Takkobu Lake, and a wetland restoration of a crane habitat. To develop pasture fields the natural meandering rivers in the Kushiro Mire have been channelized from the marginal areas of the marsh. The channelization projects lost pristine river-floodplain landscapes and inhibiting wildlife species. In the Kayanuma area, a river section extending about 2 km of Kushiro River is planned to restore from a straightened channel to a original meandering stream and floodplains. Monitoring and scientific evaluation will be conducted before and after the project and compared with downstream reference reaches. Fine sediments and nutrients have been accumulating in Takkobu Lake because of agricultural development and soil erosion in the uplands. The number of aquatic species in the lake has also been decreasing. An environmental assessment was undertaken in collaboration with "Trust Sarun", a non-profit organization, and sites were selected for conservation and restoration work. A larch forest was purchased to prevent it from being clear-cut and thus increasing sediment loading in the lake. The forest will be restored to its natural state. In addition, the Ministry of Environment in the Hirosato District acquired a wetland restoration site that was originally designated as an "ordinary area," i.e., the least regulated area of a national park. The restoration site is an abandoned agricultural field with an old drainage system developed in the 1960s; it is an important breeding habitat for red-crowed cranes (). Based on a preliminary investigation, and under careful supervision to avoid disturbing the cranes, soil excavation and seeding experiments were undertaken and biogeochemical processes have been monitored.

In the study presented here, the occurrence of non-indigenous vascular plant species in Central European forest ecosystems is outlined with regard to the current state and future perspectives. A focus is laid on Germany. This analysis is based on numerous ecological investigations on the species and ecosystem level. In total, 29 non-indigenous woody and 25 non-indigenous herb species are recorded within forest stands. Generally, there are much less exotic species, which grow on forest sites compared to habitats more or less strongly altered by human impact like, for example, agricultural and urban-industrial ecosystems. Most of the exotic species found in forests belong to the plant families Rosaceae, Pinaceae, and Asteraceae and have their origin in North America. A wide range of different natural and anthropogenic forest communities are invaded by non-indigenous plants, such as floodplain forests, mixed broad-leaved and conifer forests on nutrient-poor to nutrient-rich sites, and dry oak forests. The establishment of nonindigenous species in forests can affect the ecosystem considerably. This is shown, for instance, for the tree species (alteration of the soil conditions) and (influence on forest regeneration) and the herbs of the genus (decrease of species richness on a local scale). Few nonindigenous species in forests, like for example , can cause problems with regard to land use on a supra-regional scale. In conclusion, the management of non-indigenous species in forests on a local scale, in accordance with regional nature conservation objectives and considering socio-economic aspects might be useful. However, an assessment of a positive or negative impact of non-indigenous species on forest ecosystems has to be based on properly defined values.

This chapter focuses on the impact of transportation on wildlife. Measures are frequently applied to mitigate these impacts. Most measures involve technical devices that change the road characteristics. However, also other measures may reduce traffic mortality, such as reduction of traffic volume or speed, and periodic closing of roads. For effectively applying these mitigating measures, insight in the effects of road and traffic characteristics on traffic mortality is needed. We argue that the success of measures that mitigate habitat fragmentation by roads drastically increases when minor roads are integrated in transportation planning. We discuss a strategy based on the concept “traffic-calmed rural areas”, where the effects of minor and major roads are not mitigated separately, but in coherence. To enable transportation planning to include the impacts on wildlife in the planning process, we present a traversability model derived from traffic flow theory that can be used to determine the probability of successful road crossings of animals based on the relevant road, traffic, vehicle and species characteristics. We apply this model in a case study in The Netherlands to evaluate different scenarios. Several levels of traffic calming are compared with the autonomous development, which shows that traffic calming can drastically reduce traffic mortality.

Nutrient fluxes and cycling are key processes to sustaining the structure and functioning of patches as well as the landscapes in which they are embedded. In this chapter, we synthesized a 10- year study on the nutrient cycling of an plantation located in the upper slope of a watershed landscape consisting on a tree plantation, a fruit garden, a grassland meadow, and a fishpond. Element fluxes and budgets were analyzed to derive guidelines for managing this landscape. We found that the plantation acted as a nutrient sink during its early stage of development (15-20 years since establishment), as it accumulated a large amount of nutrients on its compartment pools (i.e., plant biomass, forest floor, and soil). Over 1/3-1/6 of total litter on the plantation floor could be moved to fertilize other landscape components (e.g., the fruit garden and the grassland). However, the ability of the plantation to retain nutrients started to decrease at a fast rate when it approached near-mature development stage (20-30 years old). During this stage the risk of N saturation, soil acidification, and nutrient depletion (e.g., P, K, and Mg) increased as the plantation ages, especially under conditions of large atmospheric deposition. In order to sustain its nutrient retention ability and other ecosystem services, we suggested that application of composite P, K and Mg fertilizers are needed after the plantation reached about 20-30 years old. This study also confirmed that positioning the plantation on the upper slope of the watershed was an appropriate spatial arrangement for the studied landscape, as it decreases the risk of transporting excessive elements into the lowland fishpond via soil erosion and surface runoff processes. Further studies on element fluxes and budgets of the other three landscape components need to be conducted in order to obtain a comprehensive understanding of interactions between landscape pattern and biogeochemical processes, and to ultimately reach a sustainable management of the landscape.

The effects of a regulation system on conserving the green space were evaluated in Kitakyushu City, southern Japan. Nearly half of the city is under the Urbanization Control Area that should restrain urbanization, and about 30% of the city is specified as Scenic Zones and Green Conservation Areas where their use is restricted by a regulation system. Area of green spaces within the Urbanization Control Area decreased slightly from 1984 to 2001, although those within Urbanization Promotion Area decreased largely. The specification for the Urbanization Control Area, therefore, plays a role in conserving area of green spaces. Specifying Scenic Zones as well as Green Conservation Areas also have value in retaining green spaces. Some woodland was, however, transferred to residential areas within the Green Conservation Area. This decrease in woodlands was due to constructing a City Planning Road, suggesting that area of green spaces even within a Green Conservation Area depends on decisions made by the municipalities. The habitat function of the forests for dominant canopy and sub-canopy evergreen broad-leaved trees was also evaluated by examining the relationships between stem densities at different growth stage (seedling, sapling and mature). Success of seedling recruitment of (Fagaceae), for which the seed-dispersal type is classified as chasing dispersal, was depended largely on the existence of conspecific mature trees. Thus, the forests with a low density of conspecific matures have low habitat function for the species even if safe-sites for seedling recruitment exist. There were no clear relationships between densities at each growth stage for , , and of the family Lauraceae that the seed-dispersal type is classified as endozoochory. This finding might suggest that the habitat function of the forests for these three was not controlled by the ‘dispersal limitation’ as seen in but by the micro-environmental conditions of the forests.

In the past few decades, improved seeding technologies have been developed in Japan. This paper discusses the restoration of degraded slopes by the application of seeding, which is known as "restoration of natural vegetation on slopes" in Japan. First, the technical aspects of revegetation work are described; second, historical changes in approaches to seeding are discussed; third, typical case studies of restoration of engineered slopes (road cuts) using the "thick-growth-media spraying method," a popular approach in Japan, are presented. The article concludes with a discussion of the basic principles of restoration of natural slopes based on previous Japanese studies and the author’s experience.

According to the main landscape functions - productional (economic), regulatory (ecological), and social (informative) functions - the role of wetlands and riparian buffers regarding landscape functioning is analysed. An analysis of the literature and authors’ earlier research results and experience has been used to highlight these functions. Special focus is devoted to the regulation of nutrient fluxes by wetlands and riparian buffer zones at landscape level. Examples from Estonia are used to illustrate the relevance of wetlands and riparian buffers in landscapes.