Fig 6 - uploaded by Yosihiro Natuhara
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This irrigation and drainage ditch is designed for living things. Fish and tadpoles can survive in non-irrigation season.
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This paper reviews research on the ecosystem services or multifunctionality of paddy rice cultivation in Japan, focusing on biodiversity as a basis for ecosystem services, with the aim of describing the current status and impact of the subject and exploring options for sustainable practices. Ecosystem services provided by paddy fields include; grou...
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... catchment ditch is a traditional engineering feature to slow the inflow water (Fig. 6). This feature is not necessary for paddy fields with modern irrigation systems. However, because catchment ditches are filled with water during midsummer drainage, it is recommended that catchment ditches be installed as a refuge for aquatic species. Fallow paddies are filled with water as feeding sites for egrets and other birds. ...
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Citations
... The field ridges of paddy lands are not only integral for retaining water and serving as pivotal linear dividers between different owners' paddy fields but also for providing habitats for many organisms, thereby protecting farmland biodiversity [17,18]. The unique aquatic environment of paddy fields endows the field ridges with the potential to serve as exclusive habitats for a diverse range of hygrophilous plants, arthropods, and amphibians [19]. Exploring the biodiversity and ecological importance of paddy field ridges is crucial for understanding their role in agricultural ecosystems [17,20]. ...
Field ridges are commonly viewed as the stable semi-natural habitats for maintaining plant diversity in the agricultural landscape. The high plant diversity could further support higher animal diversity. But following the adoption of well-facilitated farmland construction measures in China, many field ridges have been disproportionately neglected or destroyed. Empirical studies delineating the relationships between plant and animal diversity in these field ridges in the paddy landscape remain scant, especially in China, which has the most rice production. A two-year field ridge evaluation was conducted in the Chengdu Plain area, covering 30 paddy landscapes. This investigation scrutinizes the shape attributes of field ridges, their plant diversity, and the associated animal α-diversity and community compositions, including spiders, carabids, birds, frogs, and rice planthoppers. In the results of Pearson’s correlation analysis, a significant inconsistent correlation was observed between plant diversity and animal diversity. The analysis of community structure heterogeneity also revealed no correspondence for species composition between plant and animal communities (i.e., spiders, carabids, and birds), while the non-metric multidimensional scale analysis indicated a substantial difference in the species composition of spiders or plants even within the same field ridge between 2020 and 2021. We argue that the implementation of intensive management practices in paddy landscapes, such as machine ploughing and harvesting and herbicide spraying with drones, leads to a scarcity of stable animal and plant communities in field ridges. Therefore, besides retaining these field ridges in paddy landscapes, maintaining the long-term stable ridges by refraining from herbicide spraying or artificial weeding, as well as avoiding winter wheat cultivating in field ridges, will contribute to protecting biodiversity of field ridges as semi-natural habitats.
... Wetlands are important ecosystems that provide essential ecoservices such as food production, flood control, and maintenance of biodiversity. Paddy fields are human-made wetlands that not only produce rice (Oryza sativa), a widely consumed staple food in Asia, but also have eco-functions such as water purification and flood prevention (Natuhara, 2013). Paddy fields can also provide surrogate habitats for waterbirds when their natural wetlands disappear (Elphick, 2000). ...
Biodiversity in tropical regions is facing threats from agricultural expansion and intensification. Therefore, a promising future for local ecosystem conservation depends not only on traditional protected areas but also on well‐managed agricultural landscapes. In this study, we compared the ecological traits of bird species in paddy fields outside of protected areas and natural forests within the protected areas of Xishuangbanna, southern China. There were 148 species in total, of which 98 were in forests and 55 in paddy fields. The abundance of birds in paddy fields was 176 per kilometer, which was much higher than the 60 per kilometer in forests. There were 26 law‐protected species observed, half of which were found in each habitat. The main functional groups living in nature reserves are invertivores and frugivores, whereas paddy fields provide habitats for aquatic predator and granivore bird species. Our results indicate that paddy fields act as a refuge for wetland and grassland bird species when natural wetlands disappear, highlighting the urgent need to focus more on wetland protection and eco‐friendly agricultural schemes at the landscape scale in future conservation policies.
... More than providing food in the form of rice and non-rice foods such as fish and prawns, rice paddies provide other ecosystem services such as regulation of quantity and quality of water, ground water recharging, flood control, decomposition of organic wastes, soil formation, biological nitrogen fixation, soil erosion and landslide prevention, and biodiversity conservation. 1,2,3,4,5 Rice ecosystems of Kerala are unique as these are greatly influenced by the regional climate and the land forms. ...
A study was conducted to determine the changes in bacterial micro flora of soil in relation fallowing (abandonment) in rice fields. Soil samples from two paddy fields at Kumarakom region, southwest part of Kuttanad, Kerala, one field with paddy cultivation and the other fallowed, was subjected to the study. A total of 15 bacterial species, 8 from the cultivated field only, 6 from the fallowed field only and 1 common to both fields were isolated and identified in the study. The bacterial community in the soil of uncultivated field are entirely shifted from field where rice has been cultivated continuously. The persistent occurrence encountered in the cultivated field isolates were Bacillus megaterium, Pseudomonas aeroginosa and Klebsiella oxytoca while that in the abandoned field were of E coli followed by higher incidence of (80%) Enterobacter aerogenes and Citrobacter freundii. Under rice cultivation, soil pH, EC and bacterial density were generally higher than that in uncultivated soils while organic carbon in the soil was consistently lower than that in uncultivated soils. The study reveals the importance of bacteria in maintaining the health of a habitat and confirm that soil quality deteriorates over long-term fallowing.
... The invasive nature of this plant can affect biodiversity and ecosystems. Paddy fields are considered a wetland ecosystem in which various plants and animals coexist during rice cultivation [7], And the infestation of paddy fields by H. reniformis, which forms dense floating mats, could significantly impact rice yield [8]. ...
The growth of Heteranthera reniformis, an invasive alien paddy weed, can be affected by cultivation practices. The experiments were conducted using herbicide-free soil to understand the effects of irrigation regimes and nutrient treatments on the growth of H. reniformis, as well as yield parameters while competing with a pre-existing seedbank. The pot experiments were conducted in a randomized complete block design (RBCD) with three replicates and twelve treatments. The four irrigation regimes (IRs): continuous irrigation (CI), soil condition at near saturation (non-puddled) (S), alternate wetting and drying (AWD) irrigation under two conditions [rewatered when the soil water potential reached −25 kPa (25P) and −35 kPa (35P)], and three nutrient treatments (NTs) of 0–0–0 NPK (NT0), 40–25–30 NPK (NT1), 80–50–60 NPK (NT2), kg ha−1 were established. The IRs had a significant effect on the growth of H. reniformis and other paddy field weeds, and the growth of H. reniformis was suppressed in the AWD regimes. NT2 resulted in more rice panicles, higher grain yield, and increased irrigation water use efficiency (IWUE). The highest grain yield and protein content were observed in S–NT2 and 25P–NT2 treatments. The IR and NT can be maintained to prevent yield penalties and reduce the invasiveness of weeds.
... Paddy lands act as wet lands in the hydrological processes. Terraced paddy fields are crucial in water and soil conservation because their water storage capacity reduces the peek floods in the hilly and mountainous terrain (Natuhara 2013;Chen et al. 2014). A study conducted by Scaria (2016) has pointed out that paddy fields of Karimpuzha, portion of midland region in Palakkad district are dominated with river alluvium; the rate of infiltration in this fields is higher than sandy paddy fields. ...
Morphology of the landscape is subjected to continuous change across the geological history over the Earth surface. Series of extreme weather events are the catalyst for accelerating the rate of geomorphic changes. The rising global atmospheric temperature, warming of oceans and extreme rainfall events cause hazardous impact on the landscape of Kerala in South India. This study aims to examine the causes of extreme rainfall events in Kerala during July and August 2018 and its consequent results in landslides and floods in Kerala. The analysis reveals that the pattern of tropical circulation has undergone rampant modifications in the last few decades, particularly in the nature of South-West Monsoon (SWM) over the Indian sub-continent. Since 1901, Kerala has recorded a decreasing trend of annual rainfall along with tremendous decrease in number of rainy days, while the extreme rainfall events are increasing in the past two decades. The incidence of landslips has accelerated as a result of extreme rainfall events and modifications in the land use. Further, the low-lying areas in the state are also exposed to flood as well as marine transgression at different intervals.
... In a rice-based agroecosystem, biodiversity refers to the variability that exists at the habitat, species, and genetic levels. Habitat diversity refers to the patchwork of rice and non-rice habitats of the paddy landscape (Natuhara 2013). The non-rice habitat includes the bunds, surrounding or adjacent grasslands swamps, or forests. ...
Traditional agriculture relies on ecosystem services for sustainable food production and is also identified as a climate-smart approach. The present study analyses the agroforests associated with the rice farming system of three different agricultural practices for biodiversity richness by comparing two parameters: plants and birds. Out of the nine study sites, three sites were traditional farms maintained by Kurichiya tribal communities, three were natural farms, and the other three farms were modern. A total of 45 families, 104 genera, 128 species of plants, and 101 bird species belonged to 48 families, and 17 orders were identified from the study sites. The sample-size-based rarefaction and extrapolation (R/E) method was adopted to identify estimated biodiversity indices. Renyi profile was used to understand the native tree diversity profile of the selected sites. The result of this study indicates that bird diversity is positively correlated with native tree diversity and NDVI of May and October. Conserving more native trees in the farmland could be one of the reasons for the sustainable agriculture system of the Kurichiya tribal community as it attracts more bird species and contributes to the biological control of pests. Thus, the conservation of native tree species in the agroforest of rice-based agroecosystems will contribute to the sustainable agriculture system.
... Rice is a major crop in Asia, accounting for approximately 90% of global rice production (FAOSTAT, 2017). At the same time, paddy fields are important ecosystems not only for crop production, but also for biodiversity conservation as wetlands (Natuhara, 2013;Usio and Miyashita, 2014). Consequently, developing management strategies that sustain crop production while maintaining biodiversity conservation is a critical issue in rice paddy ecosystems. ...
Abstract
The pest control services provided by natural enemies are important for maintaining crop productivity in environmentally friendly agriculture with reduced use of pesticides. Organic farming is generally considered to increase the abundance of natural enemies and to enhance ecosystem services, but species and guild compositions vary from region to region, and so the population levels of pests and their natural enemies can be expected to vary geographically. Here, we surveyed the abundance of rice insect pests and spiders as their natural enemies in 51 organic and 45 conventional paddy fields at 22 locations in Japan and examined latitudinal differences in the effects of farming practices on their abundance. Independently of latitudinal differences, organic farming had positive effects on the abundance and species diversity of spiders caught in nets and on Tetragnatha and lycosid spiders. It increased the abundances of the leafhopper Nephotettix cincticeps and the white-backed planthopper Sogatella furcifera, and decreased that of the small brown planthopper Laodelphax striatellus. Both spiders and insect pests showed diverse responses to the interaction between farming practice and latitude. In particular, insect pests distributed in warmer regions, such as So. furcifera and Ne. cincticeps, tended to be more abundant in the south. The ratios of spider to pest abundance, as indicators of pest suppression, were lowest in organic paddies at lower latitudes for So. furcifera and Ne. cincticeps; at higher latitudes they were higher in organic paddies than in conventional paddies for La. striatellus. These results suggest that the effectiveness of pest suppression by natural predators in organic paddy fields varies by region depending on the ecological characteristics of each organism. As such, it is necessary to devise field management strategies appropriate to each region to balance crop production and biodiversity.
... Paddy fields play an important role as a nursery habitat to various aquatic and terrestrial organisms irrespective of their condition as manmade habitats (Natuhara, 2013). Thus, conservation of paddy fields and mitigation of environmental disturbances are pressing issues in Japan and other Asian countries or regions where rice cultivation is mainstream. ...
... Research has found that wild animals living in paddy fields can have potential benefits for rice production [22,23]. Their movements in the water can increase turbidity, blocking sunlight and inhibiting weed growth [24]. ...
The widespread use of chemical herbicides has jeopardized concerns about food safety and ecological consequences. To address these issues and reduce reliance on chemical herbicides, a physical weed control device was developed for the tillering stage in paddy fields. This device features a biomimetic duckbill-like vibration chain that effectively controls weed outbreaks. The chain penetrates the soft surface soil of the paddy field under gravity and rapidly stirs the soil through vibration, leading to the detachment of the weed roots anchored in the surface layer. Simultaneously, the device avoids mechanical damage to rice seedlings rooted in deeper soil. This study aimed to investigate the effects of chain structural parameters (the number of chain rows, vibration amplitude, and length of chains) and operational parameters (vibration frequency and working velocity) on weed control efficiency and rice seedling damage. Through a central composite regression field test, the optimal device structure and operational parameters were determined. The optimization results demonstrated that a vibration amplitude of 78.8 mm, a chain length of 93.47 cm, and 3.4 rows of chains, along with a vibration frequency and working velocity ranging from 0.5 to 1.25 m/s, achieved an optimal weeding effect. Under the optimal parameter combination, field test results demonstrated that approximately 80% of the weeds in the field were effectively cleared. This indicates that the design of the biomimetic duckbill-like vibration chain weeding device exhibits a relatively superior weeding performance, offering a practical solution for the management of weeds in rice fields.
... Missbildungen bei Amphibien sind ein globales Problem, über das auf allen Kontinenten bei mehr als 400 Arten berichtet wurde, und es wurden Fälle in verschiedenen Lebensräumen und Mikrohabitaten weltweit dokumentiert (Lannoo 2008; Mollov et al. 2010; Peltzer et al. 2011; Haas et al. 2018; Mônico et al. 2019; Yeung & Yang 2022). Anomalien bei Amphibien in Japan wurden in einigen wenigen Studien dokumentiert (Kadokami et al. 2002; Tanaka & Nishikawa 2021).In Japan fungieren Reisfelder als Feuchtgebiete, was für das Überleben von Froschpopulationen entscheidend ist(Natuhara 2013; Matsushima et al. 2021). Diese Gewässer und der damit verbundene Lebensraum sind Brutstätte, Eiablageplatz und Larvenhabitat für viele Anuren(Naito et al. 2012; Zheng & Natufara 2020). ...
At 2130 h on 27 April 2023, an adult male Zhangixalus schlegelii was found in a rice paddy field in Kitazato, Oguni, Kumamoto prefecture, Japan. (33°08’39.9”N, 131°07’10.3”E; elev. 577 m asl).
