IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v6y2013i1p175-192d31685.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Knowledge-Based Estimation of Edible Fern Harvesting Sites in Mountainous Communities of Northeastern Japan

Author

Listed:
  • Toshiya Matsuura

    (Department of Forest Management, Forestry and Forest Products Research Institute, 1 Matsunosato, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8687, Japan)

  • Ken Sugimura

    (Research Planning and Coordination Department, Forestry and Forest Products Research Institute, 1 Matsunosato, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8687, Japan)

  • Asako Miyamoto

    (Department of Forest Management, Forestry and Forest Products Research Institute, 1 Matsunosato, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8687, Japan)

  • Nobuhiko Tanaka

    (School of Tourism, Tokai University, 2-28-4 Tomigaya, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo 151-8677, Japan)

Abstract

Once local expert knowledge regarding the harvesting of various non-timber forest products (NTFPs) is lost, it is difficult to recover. We investigated whether the knowledge of expert forest harvesters can be used to determine the habitat distribution and harvesting sites of three popular edible wild ferns, i.e. , ostrich fern ( Matteuccia struthiopteris ), bracken ( Pteridium aquilinum ), and royal fern ( Osmunda japonica ), in mountainous communities of western Fukushima, Japan. Using multi-criteria evaluation (MCE) based on the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) and geographic information system (GIS), we found that harvesters were easily able to recognize differences in the spatial characteristics of the habitat distribution of fern species due to both natural and anthropogenic factors. These factors were described by various GIS layers, such as vegetation and terrain features (e.g., gradient, aspect, and slope position) derived from a 20-m digital elevation model (DEM). Harvesting sites were limited by their distance from a roadway, which differed among species. By comparison with the GPS records of actual harvesting sites, we estimated the potential harvesting sites of each fern species with reasonable accuracy, particularly for bracken. Our results show that the knowledge of expert forest harvesters can be quantified using MCE and GIS, which is useful for determining the spatial characteristics of NTFP harvesting and ensuring sustainable management practices.

Suggested Citation

  • Toshiya Matsuura & Ken Sugimura & Asako Miyamoto & Nobuhiko Tanaka, 2013. "Knowledge-Based Estimation of Edible Fern Harvesting Sites in Mountainous Communities of Northeastern Japan," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 6(1), pages 1-18, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:6:y:2013:i:1:p:175-192:d:31685
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/6/1/175/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/6/1/175/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Delang, Claudio O., 2006. "Not just minor forest products: The economic rationale for the consumption of wild food plants by subsistence farmers," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 59(1), pages 64-73, August.
    2. Albers, H.J. & Robinson, E.J.Z., 2013. "A review of the spatial economics of non-timber forest product extraction: Implications for policy," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 92(C), pages 87-95.
    3. Freeman, Elizabeth A. & Moisen, Gretchen G., 2008. "A comparison of the performance of threshold criteria for binary classification in terms of predicted prevalence and kappa," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 217(1), pages 48-58.
    4. Mutenje, M.J. & Ortmann, G.F. & Ferrer, S.R.D., 2011. "Management of non-timber forestry products extraction: Local institutions, ecological knowledge and market structure in South-Eastern Zimbabwe," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(3), pages 454-461, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Zhu, Hongge & Hu, Shilei & Ren, Yue & Ma, Xing & Cao, Yukun, 2017. "Determinants of engagement in non-timber forest products (NTFPs) business activities: A study on worker households in the forest areas of Daxinganling and Xiaoxinganling Mountains, northeastern China," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 125-132.
    2. Jaramillo-Giraldo, Carolina & Soares Filho, Britaldo & Carvalho Ribeiro, Sónia M. & Gonçalves, Rivadalve Coelho, 2017. "Is It Possible to Make Rubber Extraction Ecologically and Economically Viable in the Amazon? The Southern Acre and Chico Mendes Reserve Case Study," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 134(C), pages 186-197.
    3. Baiyegunhi, L.J.S. & Oppong, B.B., 2016. "Commercialisation of mopane worm (Imbrasia belina) in rural households in Limpopo Province, South Africa," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 141-148.
    4. Václavík, Tomáš & Meentemeyer, Ross K., 2009. "Invasive species distribution modeling (iSDM): Are absence data and dispersal constraints needed to predict actual distributions?," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 220(23), pages 3248-3258.
    5. Mugido, Worship & Shackleton, Charlie M., 2019. "The contribution of NTFPS to rural livelihoods in different agro-ecological zones of South Africa," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 109(C).
    6. Tata Ngome, Precillia I. & Shackleton, Charlie & Degrande, Ann & Nossi, Eric Joel & Ngome, Francis, 2019. "Assessing household food insecurity experience in the context of deforestation in Cameroon," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 84(C), pages 57-65.
    7. Rasmussen, Laura Vang & Mertz, Ole & Christensen, Andreas E. & Danielsen, Finn & Dawson, Neil & Xaydongvanh, Pheang, 2016. "A combination of methods needed to assess the actual use of provisioning ecosystem services," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 17(C), pages 75-86.
    8. Serge Svizzero, 2016. "Foraging Wild Resources and Sustainable Economic Development," Post-Print hal-02146473, HAL.
    9. Miteva, Daniela A. & Kramer, Randall A. & Brown, Zachary & Smith, Martin, 2013. "A spatial model of household fuelwood extraction in northern Uganda," 2013 Annual Meeting, August 4-6, 2013, Washington, D.C. 150523, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    10. Bliss, Sam & Egler, Megan, 2020. "Ecological Economics Beyond Markets," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 178(C).
    11. Sillero, Neftalí & Arenas-Castro, Salvador & Enriquez‐Urzelai, Urtzi & Vale, Cândida Gomes & Sousa-Guedes, Diana & Martínez-Freiría, Fernando & Real, Raimundo & Barbosa, A.Márcia, 2021. "Want to model a species niche? A step-by-step guideline on correlative ecological niche modelling," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 456(C).
    12. Vu, Khoa & Vuong, Nguyen Dinh Tuan & Vu-Thanh, Tu-Anh & Nguyen, Anh Ngoc, 2022. "Income shock and food insecurity prediction Vietnam under the pandemic," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 153(C).
    13. Fu, Yongneng & Chen, Jin & Guo, Huijun & Chen, Aiguo & Cui, Jingyun & Hu, Huabin, 2009. "The role of non-timber forest products during agroecosystem shift in Xishuangbanna, southwestern China," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 11(1), pages 18-25, January.
    14. Steven M. Smith, 2016. "Common Property Resources and New Entrants: Uncovering the Bias and Effects of New Users," Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, University of Chicago Press, vol. 3(1), pages 1-36.
    15. Moradpanah Haniyeh & Dargahi Mohammad Dehdar & Limaei Soleiman Mohammadi & Moradpanah Monireh, 2016. "A socio-economic evaluation of a protected area - A case study: Hamadan province, Iran," Environmental & Socio-economic Studies, Sciendo, vol. 4(2), pages 9-16, June.
    16. Serge Svizzero, 2016. "Foraging Wild Resources: Evolving Goals of an Ubiquitous Human Behavior," Post-Print hal-02147756, HAL.
    17. Sam Bliss, 2019. "The Case for Studying Non-Market Food Systems," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(11), pages 1-30, June.
    18. Ehara, Makoto & Matsuura, Toshiya & Gong, Hao & Sokh, Heng & Leng, Chivin & Choeung, Hong Narith & Sem, Rida & Nomura, Hisako & Tsuyama, Ikutaro & Matsui, Tetsuya & Hyakumura, Kimihiko, 2023. "Where do people vulnerable to deforestation live? Triaging forest conservation interventions for sustainable non-timber forest products," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 131(C).
    19. Watling, James I. & Romañach, Stephanie S. & Bucklin, David N. & Speroterra, Carolina & Brandt, Laura A. & Pearlstine, Leonard G. & Mazzotti, Frank J., 2012. "Do bioclimate variables improve performance of climate envelope models?," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 246(C), pages 79-85.
    20. Salvador Arenas-Castro & João Gonçalves & Paulo Alves & Domingo Alcaraz-Segura & João P Honrado, 2018. "Assessing the multi-scale predictive ability of ecosystem functional attributes for species distribution modelling," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 13(6), pages 1-31, June.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:6:y:2013:i:1:p:175-192:d:31685. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.