A Specimen For Forest Ecology
| MOUNT TAKAO A Specimen For Forest Ecology |
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Mt.Takao is Japan's most visited, hence the most crowded, mountain. It is the nearest and most easily accisible mountain from Tokyo. But this explanation does not do justice to its popularity. Mt. Takao has other substantial virtues as a nature spot. The most conspicuous, among others, is its abundance in flora. Most of the area is the property of a large Buddhist temple, thus the whole mountain was protected from dvelopment. Now the entire area is designated as quasi-national park, and conservation is maintained. Covered with rather a deep forest, Mt.Takao provides good study materials for students of forest ecosystem. |
| A Little Lecture On Climate And Vegetation A well-known feature about the flora here is that the area is located just exactly on the boudary between cool temperate zone and warm temperate zone. Cool temperate zone is characterized by deciduous forest, and the warm temperate zone, by evergreen forest. Cool temperate zone covers northern states of the U.S. and most of Europe. Warm temperate zone covers Southern Confederate states of the U.S., central China, and the Mediterranean regions. In Japan, cool temperate zone is found in most of Tohoku region and mountanous regions in central Japan, and warm temperate zone is found in lower flats in central Japan and southward. Vegetational zones change according to the elevation as well. Tokyo is located in warm temperate zone, but mountains in Okutama are in cool temoperate zone. |
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| An interesting fact about vegetational zones in Mt. Takao is that the two
different vegetations are clearly separated not by elevation but by direction
to the sun: i.e. the north slope exhibits cool temperate vegetation and
the south slope shows warm temperate vegetation. The mechanism is that
the south slope receives much sunlight and is warmer. Evergreen oaks and
camelias are the dominant trees on the south slope. On the other hand,
the north slope gets less sunlight, so the temperature stays lower, and
the moisture level is higher. Beeches, maples, and zelkovas are dominant
on the north slope. The two vegetations look clearly different. Evergreen trees have thick dark leaves, thus the inside of the forest is rather dark. Deciduous trees have thin light leaves, so the insides is light even under thick capopy and gives you a pleasant impression. See pictures on the right: Above is part of evergreen thicket, below is deciduous. |
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Heavily Wooded Mountain Mt. Takao is covered with deep forest; tall, sometimes huge trees are everywhere. The forest's ecosystem is almost at the climax stage in its process of succession. This means that the flora mainly consists of shade tolerant trees: trees that live in relatively dark environment. This also means that the flora includes fewer light demanding trees: those favoring open and light environment. An ecosystem at its climax stage like Mt. Takao's shows a strong stability, so that it does not allow exotic species to easily come in. On the other hand, flora of Tokyo's suburban areas primarily consists of pioneering plants with a large percentage of invading exotic species. It is interesting to observe that the flora completely changes when you step inside the boundary of Mt. Takao quasi-national park area. |
| Forest covered Mt. Takao does not afford good views. There are very few
view points to look down on towns. The only view available is at a deck
at the top, but it is one to look up other faraway mountains. Many animals live in the forest. Particularly well-known is the Japanese giant flying squirrel (musasabi in Japanese). This lovely animal lives in tree hollows. At night, it climbs up trees and, behold, it jumps and glides! In summer evenings, local naturalists hold "musasabi watching tours". But keep in mind that observing time of their flying can be only a couple of seconds in a tour of a couple of hours. |
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Mt. Takao's natural gifts also include good stream ecosysytems. While streams everywhere in Japan are filled with ugly concrete walls, streams flowing in Mt.Takao area are relatively free of such havoc. Clear streams and tiny gorges provide cozy habitats for stream crabs, and notably, varieties of aquatic insects. On the foot of the north slope, Hikagesawa Stream and its tributaries flow in tranquility. Turn over a rock in or beside the stream, and enjoy finding these denizens of clear water streams. But do not foget to turn the rock back to where it was when you leave, so that they can go back to the resting beds again. |
| Not a pleasant thing to talk about, but environmental changes are certainly
occurring for the worse. One apparent thing is the construction of a freeway
and a large intersection. The new freeway will pierce rihgt through Mt.
Takao. The area is a protected quasi-national park, so if you pick a endangered
plant, you will be warned and may even be arrested. But bulldozing hillsides
and dumping streams are perfectly fine. Opening of the freeway is a celebration
day. Enjoy driving a gas gazzler through Mt. Takao tunnel. Global warming is certainly on its way and its signs are observable. On the north slope, among plants of cool temtarate zone, young evergreen trees can be spotted. They are all only 10-20 feet high. Their aparrent young age indicates that they started their advance to the cool temperate zone in these 10 to 20years. If the warming advances on this pace, the deciduous forest on the north slope will change to evergreen forest in about several decades. |