Designing eco-villages for revitalizing Japanese rural areas

Reestablishing a sound environment in rural areas has become one of the most important environmental issues in Japan, not only in rural policy but also in national land policy. Physically speaking, regeneration of natural ecosystems, reestablishment of sound material flows, and the design of rural landscapes are important areas of research and practice. Another important issue in the management of rural areas, particularly in the mountainous areas that cover 61% of the country, is the preparation of the landscape for urban dwellers. This paper considers methods for improving rural environments. The modeling of ideal eco-villages with sound natural environment, low input and sustainable material flow, and maintenance of villages through urban and rural interaction is considered. Three different types of typical eco-village models are designed in urban fringe areas, in typical rural areas and in remote mountainous areas. Further, a case-study for the search of reality in adopting such models is surveyed in Chosei-gun, Chiba prefecture as a case of an eco-village in a typical rural areas.     

Geographical range as predictor of spatial expansion of invading birds

Many studies have been carried out on predictive traits, such as geographical range, but most of them were related to introduced species and considered the invasion as a whole. The contrasting results previously obtained suggest that studies should take into account the dynamics of the invasion process (immigration, establishment, spread). We hypothesise that the geographical range reflects the species tolerance to new environments, and is related especially to the establishment and spread of the invasion process. First, data on spontaneous invasive birds in France since 1950 were collected to determine the relation between geographical range and spontaneous invasions of French biogeographical areas. Second, the urban context, assumed to be free of immigration, was used to focus on this relation during the establishment and spread of species. For all species recorded, we determined the geographical range from an atlas, measured as the distribution range area RA (occupied area in km²) and the latitudinal range LR (km from north to south). Our results on spontaneous invaders show that the geographical range, especially RA, could help to predict the extent of an invasion once it has started. In the urban context, RA and LR discriminated urban colonists from urban avoiders, which supported the link between the geographical range and establishment/spread success. The geographical range participates, with other traits, in defining an ‘ideal invader’. We suggest that the dynamics of the invasion process i.e., considering each step of invasion rather than an entity, should be an important conceptual tool for future predictive studies.     

Comparison between phenological and aerobiological patterns of some arboreal species of Mar del Plata (Argentina)

An atmospheric pollen survey and a periodical quantitative check of the flowering phases of trees were performed during 1993. Most of specific flowering seasons lasted from 4 to 8 weeks. October is the month with the highest number of species in bloom. Anemophylous species flower mainly in coincidence with the relatively low temperatures of late winter and early spring, while the enthomophylous ones correlate with the high temperatures of late spring and summer. The anemophylous ‘community’ follow a sigmoid pattern with respect to both the flowering development and the cumulative pollen concentration. Agreement between floral phenophases and pollen counts were evaluated for 14 genera (27 species). Pollen data of anemophylous species coincide fairly well with the phenological behaviour. Particular features must be taken into account to interpret this relationship.