Cheetahs and Lions Trapped by Time and Place – The Theory of Specialization Extinction – Part 3

Cheetah standing in grassy savanna with trees and antelope in background

INTRODUCTION

This presentation is the third in a series of blogs that uses the example of Cheetahs and Lions to show the survivability effects of evolving specialization. The first in the series lays the foundation of geography, climate and time. The second compared two African cats; Lions and Cheetahs. This presentation introduces the concept of traps. The “traps” are made of time, location, resources and specializations. They put these cats at risk for survival. Survival of the species depends on behavioral modification, physiologic adaptation and selection by desirable mating. We may have exposed ourselves to the same traps. This is not about mechanical traps. These are more insidious.

In The opening video clip – The “traps in this presentation are UNINTENTIONALLY generated by the animal’s remarkable behavior and adaptations. They are more SIGNIFICANT than physical traps

Traps are the delimiters that block biologic adaptation to a changing environment. Inability to overcome traps leads to extinction. It is not about survival of the fittest. It is about survival of the most adaptable. This is the reason to study the survival of these two cats. Understanding the pitfalls will reflect on the survival of everything, specifically us.

In order to discuss unintentional consequences of behavior leading to traps, I suggest that we review of the work of the naturalists of the 18th century. Several theories had been proposed. The most notable is the Theory of Evolution. Darwin and Wallace proposed the foundational ideas. Survival of the fittest forces the origin of species. Additionally, isolation promotes differentiation. In the view of these observers of nature, there is a progressive change in the survival of the majority. I propose an alternative view of the Darwinian theory. Let’s call this the Theory of Specialized Extinction.

THEORY OF EVOLUTION

I respect the pioneering publication of the books of Charles Darwin. These include The Beagle diary (1839), Origin of the Species (1859) and The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex (1871). I first read these 66 years ago when I was in high school. Here are the tenants of his theory. My comments are in italics.

Overproduction: Organisms produce more offspring than their local environment can support, which leads to competition for limited resources. Alternatively, it may lead to cooperation, revolution or migration.
Variation: Individuals within a single species naturally display a wide range of variation in their physical traits, behaviors, and genetic makeup. This suggests that there are mutations in the population.
Inheritance: Many of these unique variations are heritable—meaning they can be passed down from parents to their offspring. This does not take into consideration dominant and recessive genes.
Differential Survival & Reproduction: Individuals possessing traits best adapted to their specific environment (“survival of the fittest”) are more likely to survive threats and successfully reproduce. If individuals are highly specialized they may not be able to adapt to the changing environment.
Descent with Modification: Over vast expanses of time, these advantageous traits become more common in the population. Gradually, this accumulation of changes can lead to the emergence of entirely new species. The rate of accumulation of traits depends on the complexity of the organism. The accumulation of traits does not necessarily lead to new species but may lead to species vulnerabilities.

Most of Darwin’s work suggests a time line with a steady progression of change, most of which was deemed to be an improvement. In prospect most of his writing appears to be intrinsically biased. Yes, there is change, however, it is coincidental with “implicit bias”. It does not confirm causality. Additionally, an apex implies that there is a narrowing of differentiation that is progressively better. It presumes the philosophical question of a decision tree which has an apex. It does not imply value to alternative views.

Although it is implied, there is no proof of progressive improvement in the Darwinian model. In fact, as we rapidly degrade the environment the apex creatures may be the first to go extinct. Depending on your point of view, does increased specialization imply improvement or loss of adaptive capacity? In fact does life and specialization run contrary to the laws of thermodynamics. The second law predicts disorganization.

A horizontal continuum for example could be applied to the time line of species differentiation. Here is a visual representation of a relationship between and among animal adaptability and humidity during the recent 20,000-year history of the area. I picked humidity because, as you could see in our previous presentations, desertification was the most prominent aspect of the environments we explored.

3D scatter plot showing vertebrate adaptability index versus climate matrix over a timeline from 20,000 years before present to the present. The plot features colored data points indicating adaptability levels across different time periods.

X-Axis (Time): Spans from \(20,000\) years ago (Last Glacial Maximum) to the present day.
Y-Axis (Animal Adaptability): Represents the biological versatility and survival threshold of the regional fauna.
Z-Axis (Relative Humidity / Moisture): Represents the effective regional moisture, tracking the African Humid Period (approx. \(15,000\) to \(5,000\) years ago) and the subsequent Holocene aridification

Please see the extensive discussion of this in the following posting titled Exploring Animal Adaptability in Southeast Africa.

The 20,000-Year Timeline

20,000 to 15,000 Years Ago (Last Glacial Maximum):
- Z (Humidity): Low. The climate was cool and highly arid.
- Y (Adaptability): Low to Moderate. Only highly resilient generalist species (versatile feeders and water-independent grazers) persisted in the harsh, patchy grassland habitats. [1, 2, 3]
15,000 to 5,000 Years Ago (African Humid Period):
- Z (Humidity): High. Monsoon rains expanded into the southern tropics, creating vast, resource-rich savannas and lakes (such as those in the Lake Malawi basin).
- Y (Adaptability): High. The lush, stable environment allowed for an expansion of both generalist and highly specialized animal species. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
5,000 Years Ago to Present Day (Progressive Aridification):
- Z (Humidity): Decreasing. Regional humidity dropped significantly, causing a return to arid or semi-arid conditions.
- Y (Adaptability): Bifurcating. Highly specialized taxa (niche foragers) faced extinction, while the surviving fauna demonstrated exceptional, evolutionarily “winnowed” adaptability. [1, 2]

Theory of SPECIALIZED extinction

Specialized Extinction is progressive reduction of life forms. It is the unspecified opposite of Darwin’s theory. Please recall that Darwin’s work of the mid 1800s predated the current concepts of ecology, genetics, statistics, modern scientific method, advances in understanding of natural history, microbiology, plate tectonics, climate change, extraterrestrial incidents, human behavior, etc.

We are experiencing the reverse of the origin of the species. This is the loss of the species variations. Species vary in response to environmental pressure. Without necessity there is no invention. With environmental change only the adaptable will survive.

MASS EXTINCTIONS

During the ice age animals located in water compromised areas or in cold climates faced environmental pressure. Many were not capable of adapting with sufficient rapidity to the changes. The advancing cold wall of ice combined with the massive dust storms which ripped across the deserts of the planes starved, froze or buried millions as they struggled to compete for diminishing food and water. These climatic events resulted in loss of thousands of species, of fauna and flora of the northern continental masses.

This process of extermination was exaggerated by bottleneck effect and genetic drift.

Illustration of genetic drift in frog populations, showing a funnel shape with green and red frogs at the top, labeled with 'death' and 'invasion,' leading to a diverse green population at the bottom. — Fig 1

Illustration explaining the bottleneck effect in population genetics, showing three stages: original population in a bottle, a bottleneck event reducing the population, and the surviving population in a cup, with a graph depicting population size over time. — Fig 2

Fig 1 and Fig 2 are two variations on population behavior that limit the genetic pool of diversified genomes.

In Fig. 1 This can happen when the genetic pool is insufficient to maintain variance. The largest constituent group are light and dark green. If the orange portion dies and the purple portion does not invade, then the survivors can only reproduce mixed green progeny.

In Fig. 2 In the biologic bottleneck only a few members of the population escape. In this case the green did not pass the bottleneck. Those that did act are founders of a new community with a more exclusive population. Since only one yellow member passed the bottleneck it represents an extinction effect unless it can hybridize with the blue members. If not it will die thus ending that part of the population. Hybridization may result in a recovery of the population that will not be exclusively blue. Alternatively, with recessive traits the population will recover with a Mendelian result.

The well known traps are outlined below. I suggest that the study of these traps may challenge the initial concepts theorized by Darwin.

TRAPS DEFINED

By specialization animal abilities to avoid these traps are disadvantaged.

Specialization Trap is where the animals of a species undergoes physical evolution to match their environment. This results in highly efficient but physically fragile animals who cannot cope with the changes in their environment that occur faster than they can adapt. This includes many species and may be a natural process. Loss of one non-adapting species makes room for another. This is consistent with Darwinian “Natural Selection”.

Genetic Bottleneck Trap results in reduced adaptability. When the population reaches a point of limited genetic variation there is insufficient capacity to adapt to environmental changes, such as climate change or new diseases.

Genetic Drift Trap results in lack of genetic diversity.

Declining Prey Base Trap is a broad based result of all the regional population of mutually entangled species with an extremely low general DNA variance.

Habitat Fragmentation Trap prevents the massive, free-roaming across territories. Without corridors, species cannot migrate to compatible environments. Conversely, species variants can immigrate into territories thereby promoting hybridization.

Daylight Hunting Trap Prevents animals from night hunting while hot, dry daytime conditions become intolerable

Human-Wildlife Conflict. Genocidal hunting, trapping and habitat destruction by farming and mining at industrial scale combine to make the ultimate trap.

CHEETAH

Cheetah are likely a distinct, naturally evolved species (Acinonyx jubatus) belonging to the small-cat lineage (Felinae). Their closest living relatives are the puma (mountain lion) and the jaguarundi. They cannot be naturally hybridized with other members of the Felinea because they are just too different. They split from the rest of the cat family tree millions of years ago and are the sole members of their own unique genus, Acinonyx.

They are not related to the Pantherinae (Lions, which started in Africa)
Cheetah existed secondary to late Pleistocene bottleneck extinctions 100K to 12K years ago.

Cheetahs are believed to have survived the two ice age catastrophic population bottlenecks that nearly drove the species to extinction. [1, 2] The root causes of cheetah’s problems were the two historic climatic bottlenecks plus their great speed. They were able to quickly run ahead of their competitors and ranged widely looking for prey. They out ran their competitors and extended beyond their base population. As small groups continuously separated from their peers they formed new island clusters. These founder effect groups were cut off from hybridization and experienced genetic drift. In summary:

They are not related to the Pantherinae (Lions, which started in Africa)
Cheetah existed secondary to late Pleistocene bottleneck extinctions 100K to 12K years ago.
Cheetah developed in the Asia/Americas and are related to domestic cats.
Extremely inbred with depressed dominant traits.
They are all near identical clones: Completely depleted of variation in their genomes
They are experiencing founder effect. Africa is their CULMINATING POINT

LION

As a member of the big cat family these animals were born and bred in Africa. Modern lions diverged and began to leave its earliest fossilized footprints in East Africa around 2 to 3 million years ago. Through a combination of geographic refugia, extreme dietary flexibility, and evolutionary teamwork the lions thrived in the dry, ice free planes of Africa.

Cheetah and Lion – SUBJECTED TO time, relative humidity and LEVEL of adaptability

Over the last 20,000 years in Southeast Africa, climate shifts drastically altered humidity and ecosystems. The region swung between severe arid phases (like the Last Glacial Maximum) and the highly humid African Humid Period. In that period animal adaptability peaked. Generalist species thrived by adjusting to habitats, while specialists faced selective extinction. [1, 2, 3, 4] Some mammalian species failed to track their preferred climates over the last several thousand years. The failure to either migrate or adapt quickly may be their obstacle to survive. There is a significant time lag between climate change and species’ responses. These two cats were able to survive. The African Saber-toothed Cats, Scimitar Cats, Eastern Koppard and the Giant Cheetahs did not make it through the last 50,000 to 10,000 years.

Below is a four-column table of paleoclimatic and evolutionary timeline outlining the historical shifts:[1, 2]

Time (Years Ago) [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11]	Relative Humidity (Z-Axis)	Animal Adaptability & Response (Y-Axis)	Environmental Context
20,000 – 15,000	Very Low(Dry / Arid)	High (Specialist Die-off / Generalist Shift)	Last Glacial Maximum. Equatorial lakes dried, forcing animals to adapt to sparse resources.
15,000 – 11,500	Increasing(Transition)	Moderate to High (Adaptive radiation)	Deglaciation. Climate instability introduced genetic variance and rapid adaptation (“variability selection”).
11,500 – 5,000	Very High(Wet / Humid)	High (Biodiversity Boom)	African Humid Period. Savannas expanded, and water-reliant generalist species thrived and spread.
5,000 – 2,000	Decreasing(Drying Trend)	High (Behavioral Adaptability)	Monsoons weakened, leading to progressive desertification and forcing animals/humans into complex, mixed-habitat strategies.
2,000 – Present	Moderate / Variable	High	Modern climate regimes. Continuous micro-adaptations are documented, though global warming increasingly tests limits.

Table 2. Variables and Environmental Context

This is the scenario of failure to survive, the theory should be called “THE THEORY of SPECIALIZED EXTINCTION” The tenants of this are

Reproduction with wide ranging genetic adaptability
Environmental change
Differential reproduction based on past environments
Extinction by environmental change

THE EFFECTS OF THIS ON PEOPLE TODAY

A very small hominoid population (likely Homo heidelbergensis or Homo erectus) expanded before 900,000-800,000 years ago. It underwent a massive glacial bottleneck which lasted for 100,000 years. The population was reduced to ~1200 individuals. This lengthy event killed off so much of the population that it irreversibly reduced the genetic diversity of the species. The effects of that have persisted until today. Even though chimpanzees and gorillas might look similar to us, they have many more times the genetic diversity within their species than humans.

CONCLUSION:

We can conclude that developing survival strength through unique specialization may be a death trap. To do this we followed cheetahs and lions as they adapt and survived through the last 20,000 years. There was an entire eco system which followed the same path. We should pay more attention to the generalists. Survival by adaptation to environmental change is more advantageous than specialization. Ability to change our environment may be our only survival option.

In our next posting (Exploring Animal Adaptability in Southeast Africa) we will try to project the future of the fauna for the next 50 years. See you there !

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REFERENCES

uhttps://www.science.org/content/article/carnivorous-ballet-helps-cheetahs-coexist-lions

uhttps://www.wildlifenomads.com/blog/cheetah-facts/

uhttp://www.macroevolution.net/natural-selection.html

Adaptive introgression

uhttps://evolution.berkeley.edu/evo-news/will-evolution-doom-the-cheetah/

uhttps://evolution.berkeley.edu/triggering-adaptive-radiation/

uhttps://evolution.berkeley.edu/evolution-101/macroevolution/

# Cheetah #lions #traps #genetic drift #bottleneck #adaptability #evolution #environment #founder effect #survival

June 19, 2026

Exploring the Elements of the Classical Japanese Garden. Part 4

The purpose of the classical Japanese garden is to provide a place for meditation and veneration. A Shinto shrine is the historically oldest and perhaps archetypical garden. Its form may date back to 500 BCE. It is noted for its rusticity and blending into the local surroundings. It is a place for contemplation and veneration of the native elements and important concepts and significant ancestral figures. These spiritual elements called “Kami” were recognized as important and worthy of respect or veneration. These were not deities for worship but instead were intellectual constructs supporting the Japanese “rules of civility”

This is part 4/5 in a series of postings on my experiences and observations of gardens of Japan. For a complete understanding please visit the other postings. (1) (2) (3)

There are typically 6 elements in the classical Japanese garden. These include a Torii Gate, a bridge, one or more lanterns, rocks, a pond, and trees.

The Torii is a gateway which is placed at the entrance of the shrine. It signifies the transition between the ordinary and the spiritual worlds. Often it is painted carmine red and made of wood. I frequently saw two shapes. Myojin torii are curved upwards at their ends and have a crossbeam that extends past the posts. Shinmei torii have a straight top and a crossbeam that ends at each post. There may be associated symbolic decorative rope or string accents called Shimenawa which along with trees further signify the boundaries of the shrine space.

The bridge symbolizes transition from one state of existence or world to another; from mundane to spiritual, from our sensual mortal reality to perfect immortal paradise. They maybe made of stone or wood and maybe either elaborate constructions or simply a single flat stone. Stepping on a bridge gives us a choice – either we cross it and take time on the bridge, or we turn back. In some gardens, bridges led to a central island called nakajima, which symbolized the Pure Land of Amida Buddha.

Stone lanterns originate in Buddhist traditions where the light suggests the enlightenment of Buddha’s teachings through the darkness of ignorance. From a Shinto perspective stone lanterns or yorishiro are made to attract, guide and house kami in the created sacred space. Each item in the construct has special significance. They are regarded as peaceful and tranquil.

Garden rocks selected and arranged for contemplation while sitting.

Rocks are ever so carefully selected, placed and arranged into the shinto garden. They are the residences of the kami. They symbolize the mountains or islands or even powerful figures in the Japanese pantheon. They are especially important in the Zen Buddhist garden. In the Zen garden, rocks stand for Mt Horai, the “Blessed Isles of the Immortals”.

Expansive water feature with bridge in background

Water in the shinto garden represents purity or purification. Without water in the garden the significance of bridges, rocks and islands would be lost. Ponds and especially flowing water are a key element to all but the Zen gardens. Instead of water in the Zen garden, gravel and stones are carefully placed and raked into patterns resembling rippling water.

Group of carefully trimmed trees in private garden. Note the variations in color and texture.

Trees are included within and around the periphery of the garden. They are called shinboku, and may be draped with shimenawa rope. The shinto shrine trees are specifically designated as sacred because of their age, size, or connection to a particular kami. Large, old, single or groups of trees are attributed with concepts like immortality or endurance, beauty or mythology. They are the connection between the natural world and the divine.

Perhaps the ideal of the shinto garden, this place is in the wilderness at the base of Mt. Fujii. The Torii arches over the simple stone path. The bridge provides a decisional option to access another route. The native trees surround not only this pleasant lowland but also the entire Mt. Fuji national park. The stones are truely mountainous.

SUMMARY:

The five classical garden types include shinto shrines, buddhist gardens, zen-buddhist gardens, imperial palace grounds, and castle grounds. Images of these can be seen on our previous blog.

Shinto shrines are intended for veneration of kami.

Buddhist monastery: I think of these enclaves as gardens for the mind. They are surrounded garden areas that are mostly devoid of effigies or suggestions of kami. They are intended to provide tranquil respite for peace and tranquility. Buddhism derives from India and became very powerful in Japan. During the Shogunate civil wars the Buddhists fought for independence from the warring parties. During the Edo period Buddhism was considered a threat to the Empire. Its foreign origin and power conflicted with the concept of three principals of Japan; duty to the Emperor, to the Nation of Japan and to the Japanese ancestors. The State no longer supported the monasteries. Attendance dwindled and contributions were insufficient to maintain these mammoth wooden buildings.

Zen/Buddhist gardens: Zen Buddhism arose during the civil wars. The Shoguns combined various portions of the Shinto faith and positions of Buddhism to facilitate their own code of ethics. The esthetic simplicity of the Buddha combined with a strict discipline of the Samurai. This is referred to as the “Shogun way”. Samurai and Daimu modeled their private retreats in the form of shinto shrines.

Imperial palace grounds. The centers of government changed during the more than one thousand years of imperial rule. Several cities were host to the Emperor and these cities hold the remains of the various palaces.

Castle grounds: The castle itself is a military fortification. It was not a residence, instead it was a place for defense. It would be packed with munitions and armaments. These materials were used for offense or as a depot for invasion forces. Surrounding the castle the army would be encamped and the outer rings were the support and suppliers for the troops. The grounds may have extended many square kilometers around the castle. The gardens encircling the castle were for walking, meeting and socializing.

CONCLUSION:

It appears to me that both shinto and buddhism seek enlightenment. They have opposite approaches to achieve this goal. Buddhism puts faith in self inspection, shinto puts faith in kami. Both approaches have value.

REFERENCES:

Japanese Gardens Revealed and Explained, Chard R., Zenibo Marketing, 2013

Japanese Stone Gardens, Mansfield S., Tuttle Publishing, 2009

REFERENCE LINKS:

Stone lanterns , Water in Japanese gardens , Bridges in Japanese gardens

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#Japanese garden #kami #shinto #buddhist #lanterns #bridges #trees #samurai #shogun #zen

June 15, 2025

Japanese Garden Types – Part 3 – Woodlands

The native woodlands are foundational for all other Japanese gardens. They have been revered for thousands of years as part of Shinto. They are geologically, ecologically, historically, culturally and economically important. The previous posts in this series have reviewed the cultural insights and history of the Japanese gardens. This is part three of a six part series on Japanese gardens. The purpose of this presentation is to focus on the value and management of the forests. Can these be applied to care of woodlands in Florida and the East Coast of the USA?

There are three garden types in Japan that include woodlands, food production gardens, and the classic traditional gardens. Here is a brief overview of the forests in the wilderness of Japan.

The feature image is typical of the countryside viewed from the cable car on the way to Mt. Fuji. It is mountainous and covered with a forest of predominantly gymnosperm trees.

The history of Japan has significantly altered the natural woodlands of Honshu. The wilderness is not as natural as expected. 75% of Japan is densely forested. Forty percent’ was planted by people. There is a deep and protracted use of the woodlands for lumbering. The giant shrines with statues of the Buddha are made of cedar and cypress harvested from the wilderness. Historically all of the major buildings and residences were built from local wood. Until the twentieth century no other materials were used.

No understory at altitude at 1/2 (4500 ft) of Mt Fuji

Deforestation Events

The forests were depleted of wood from three major events. There were two major event periods of construction which consumed whole mountains of wood. The first was during the castle shogun period the 1700’s. These included many square miles of defensive castles and associated residences for soldiers, civilians and commerce. Simultaneously, the residences and temples of the Buddhists were constructed. The second period was during the Edo and the Mejie eras. Edo construction focused on the new capital now called Tokyo. The third and period was the combination of the 1850’s through 1950. The forests were severely depleted as never before. This third period included deforestation for construction and devastation as a result of war.

Deforestation has an impact on the geology and ecology. Without the tree roots to hold the soil, earthquakes, floods, land slides with mud and rocks ensued. To restrain the soil trees were aggressively replanted with cedar and cypress with very little diversity. In 1954 The public was incentivized to plant even more. That incentive indirectly increased further deforestation of diverse native tree angiosperm hardwood species like the maple.

This had a further modern impact of construction lumber. Its value depends on good management of the trees. To grow straight, tall and knot free, the limbs need to be trimmed. To allow sufficient light and access to the trees the forest needs thinning. To be accessible to harvest, the slopes of the hills must be within the capacity of the power equipment. This is demanding work requiring a skilled and able labor force. The population of Japan is aging. The wage rate compared to other countries is relatively high There are insufficient foresters to develop an industrial timber crop. As a result of this, the trees are of questionable value. The monocultural nature of the crop also makes the forest susceptible to pests and diseases. The understory is sparse and not diverse. The wildlife is severely limited. To compete with imported lumber the method of management needs to be rethought.

2024. Tokyo completely rebuilt in concrete

Spiritual Value of Old Trees as Seen in Art

Shinto regard of trees and forests is foundational. Recall that there has been a long veneration of trees which we described in the last posting. This value dates back thousands of years. They are assigned individual and group value as Kami spirits.

In Japan, old trees are venerated for their resilience, strength and power. Allegorically, they offer a bridge to the past. Both of these concepts are essential to the concept of Shinto. Blossoming trees are also highly regarded. Most notably are the spring blooms of the weeping cherry and plum trees. Autumnal trees with seasonal chromatic change in the leaves offer even more inspiration for artists.

Kano Masanobu, ~1550, This exquisite screen, ink on foiled paper is in the Tokyo National Museum

Buildings for the Community Revering Forested Trees

The size of the remaining wooden buildings speak volumes about the mass of lumber needed for the temples, castles and residences of ancient Japan. The Great Buddha Hall of Tōdai-ji in Nara Japan is the world’s largest wooden building. It houses the largest cast bronze seated Buddha statue. It is only one of the few remaining giant Buddha halls. These images of notable wood structures do not truly capture their great size. Maintenance of these halls, palaces and castles is constant, expensive, and requires expert craftsmen and are paid for by donations. The remaining buildings are a small fraction of all of the original buildings that once existed.

Great Buddha Hall of Tōdai-ji in Nara. This reconstruction is only two thirds of the original building.

Private Wooden Buildings

The Gion district in Kyoto and the Yasaka-no To Pagoda has a high concentration of traditional wooden machiya merchant houses. This area was established 1300 years ago. Many of these wooden buildings date back to the Meiji period more than 150 years ago. Most of the original buildings were destroyed in the fire of 1865. In Kyoto those which were rebuilt were not destroyed in WW II. There were wooden structures like these in Tokyo. They were the norm and as you would expect, during WW II most of them burned. Only a few pockets of these remain. They were replaced with modern buildings made of steel reinforced concrete and glass.

Tokyo. Wood is protected from deterioration caused by dog urination. The curved barriers can be seen on the face of the structure

Kyoto. No barriers results in discoloration and acidic damage to the structure.

WW II post war reconstruction period and current state of woodlands

Trees by the numbers

Look at this hillside. At the lower level, below the green line, you can see the density of the tree trunks. There is no place for understory growth. This suggests over planting without selective tree pruning or thinning as is necessary for a healthy tree growth pattern.

The foliage distribution strongly overlaps the mountainous areas which we described in the first of this series on Japan. To better appreciate the distribution of trees in Japan, the following illustrations will show the varieties and locations in the island group. This underscores the limited accessibility to manage the growth or to commercially harvest the wood.

The distribution of trees is approximately 40% deciduous and 60% coniferous and evergreen.

This graphic is from “Forest and Forestry of Japan Textbook to Learn about Forests” . The Japan Forestry Association, “Forest zone of Japan”. Note our visited area is characterized as warmer temperature vegetation.

For more information on plants seen on this trip, please visit the Everglades Ark Epicollect database. to see more native trees and plants in seen on this visit. See observations numbers 422 to 434.

Reforestation:

There is a strong response to the tree management in today’s Japan. The forests of Japan rank third in the world for percentage of forest covered land. Modern management techniques including diversification of species are being applied and the use of local lumber is increasing.

Japan is now making a concerted effort to reforest and rewild their woodlands. Although this is a public works project and is government sponsored/funded it depends on community part time and volunteer workforce. It includes incremental reforestation using a variant of the Montreal process. This successful process has been widely applied in many locations around the world. The dedication and discipline of the people of Japan have made this do-it-yourself (DIY) project an example that could be followed here in Florida.

CONCLUSION

Forests continue to play an important part in Japan both spiritually and economically. Hopefully we can learn that over deforestation and questionable management can result in unintended consequences. The reversal of the untoward results can be costly, labor intensive and time consuming.

Next

In our next posting we will explore the productive gardens as farms in Japan. Later we will see the classic formal gardens

HERE ARE SUGGESTED TOPICS FOR the discussion board

Where does the art of bonsai fit into Japanese culture?

How would you manage the woodlands of Japan?

What can we learn from the Japanese woodland management experiences?

How can we use the Florida Master Naturalist program to encourage woodlands management in our own neighborhoods?

If you have visited or live in Japan please add to this description.

Is Japan competitive with the world in lumber production?

Reference texts:

•Japan, DK Eyewitness, Penguin House, Dorling Kindersley, 2000

•The Chrysanthemum and the Sword, Benedict R., Houghton Mifflin, 1946, 1957, 1967. 2005

•Judgement at Tokyo, Bass G.J., Alfred Knoff, 2023

•Zen Gardens, Masuno S., Tuttle Publishing, 2012

•Japanese Gardens Revealed and Explained, Chard R., Zenibo Marketing, 2013

•Japanese Stone Gardens, Mansfield S., Tuttle Publishing, 2009

Please post your comments in the space provided below.

If you wish to be notified of future postings please enter your email address and click on Subscribe.

#gardens #Japan #Shinto #samurai #Buddhism #Shogun # culture #imperialism #history #philosophy #art #trees #

December 8, 2024

Category: society

Cheetahs and Lions Trapped by Time and Place – The Theory of Specialization Extinction – Part 3

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