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Experimental Evaluation of the Sustainability of Dwarf Bamboo (Pseudosasa usawai) Sprout-Harvesting Practices in Yangminshan National Park, Taiwan

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Abstract

Sustainable harvest of natural products that meets the needs of local people has been viewed by many as an important means for sustaining conservation projects. Although plants often respond to tissue damage through compensatory growth, it may not secure long-term sustainability of the populations because many plants enhance individual well-being at the expense of propagation. Sustainability may further be threatened by infrequent, large-scale events, especially ill-documented ones. We studied the impacts of sprout harvesting on sprout growth in a dwarf bamboo (Pseudosasa usawai) population that has seemingly recovered from an infrequent, large-scale masting event. Experimental results suggest that although a single sprout harvest did not significantly alter the subsequent abundance and structure of sprouts, culm damage that accompanied sprout harvesting resulted in shorter, thinner, and fewer sprouts. Weaker recovery was found in windward, continually harvested, and more severely damaged sites. These findings suggest that sprout growth of damaged dwarf bamboos is likely non-compensatory, but is instead supported through physiological integration whose strength is determined by the well-being of the supplying ramets. Healthy culms closer to the damage also provided more resources than those farther away. Sustainable harvesting of sprouts could benefit from organized community efforts to limit the magnitude of culm damage, provide adequate spacing between harvested sites, and ensure sufficient time interval between harvests. Vegetation boundaries relatively resilient to infrequent, large-scale events are likely maintained by climatic factors and may be sensitive to climate change. Continual monitoring is, therefore, integral to the sustainability of harvesting projects.

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank Miss Pei-Yu Wu and many students of the Department of Life Science, Chinese Culture University, Taiwan for their help in data collection. We thank Drs. Shong Huang, Hen-Biao Kim, and Ching-Ming Lu for valuable comments on an earlier manuscript, and three anonymous reviewers and the editors for valuable comments on the manuscript. Funding for this research was provided by the Yangmingshan National Park, Taiwan.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Life Science, Chinese Culture University, Taipei, 11114, Taiwan, ROC

    Chi-Cheng Liao, Meng-Ting Hsu & Wak-Kim Poo

  2. Graduate Institute of Earth Science, Chinese Culture University, Taipei, 11114, Taiwan, ROC

    Chi-Cheng Liao

  3. Department of Landscape Architecture, Chinese Culture University, 55 Hwakang Rd., Yangmingshan, Taipei, 11114, Taiwan, ROC

    Chi-Ru Chang

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  1. Chi-Cheng Liao
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Correspondence to Chi-Ru Chang.

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Liao, CC., Chang, CR., Hsu, MT. et al. Experimental Evaluation of the Sustainability of Dwarf Bamboo (Pseudosasa usawai) Sprout-Harvesting Practices in Yangminshan National Park, Taiwan. Environmental Management 54, 320–330 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-014-0296-9

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