Neural Networks and Artificial Intelligence
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In this article, we describe a project about forest from an ecological point of view where we argue a perspective of its current conditions, threats, challenges and future in the globe and Japan, together with our activities. 1 Forest and Its Multiple Functions About 30% on average of the surface of the earth is covered with forests. The types of the forests are variable depending on the ecological conditions of habitats such as temperature, amount of rainfall, topography and soil. Forest has multiple functions beneficial to human society, which is called as ecosystem services (Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, carried out by UN in 2002-2005). Ecosystem services include provisioning (wood, charcoal, game animals, medical plants, mushroom and other foods), regulating (climate regulation, water purification, CO2 absorption, preventing soil erosion and flood regulation), cultural (traditional festival and recreation) and supporting (nutrient cycling, soil formation and primary production). Biodiversity, fostered by forests, has crucially important roles for these functions. As the results of Millennium Ecosystem Assessment indicated, forest degradation and fragmentation have been very rapidly increasing during last 50 years, which may have contributed to substantial net gains in human well-being and economic development, but these gains have been achieved at growing costs in the form of the degradation of many ecosystem services and increased risks of nonlinear changes. 2 Nature and Forest in Japan Consisting of thousands of islands that vary greatly in size, Japan is a long archipelago stretching for approximately 3000 km from south to north located in the mid latitude (20-40 degrees) of the northern hemisphere. It expands from the subtropics to sub-frigid zones, so wide range of ecosystems have evolved. It has a complex topography from seacoast to mountain ranges with considerable differences in elevation (0-3779 m) and the four seasons are clearly defined due V. Golovko and A. Imada (Eds.): ICNNAI 2014, CCIS 440, pp. 1–4, 2014. c © Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2014