Biogeochemistry and Traditional Ecological Knowledge and Practices in Japan - Earth Stewardship: Linking Ecology and Ethics in Theory and Practice - page 34

Kyoto city (previous capital of Japan), western Japan resulted in tight N cycle among
plant-soil-microbe system and decreased the inorganic N fertility in surface soil of
the current ecosystem (Shibata et al. 2011b ). In these ecosystems, the responses of
soil N cycle to the environmental change such as winter climate changes were
lower than that of other ecosystems (Shibata et al. 2011b ; Urakawa et al. 2014 ).
Understandings these path dependencies (legacy effect) of the current ecosystem
structure and functioning by the past human impact would help to predict the future
directions of the coupled social and ecological system on long-term aspects.
Kadoya and Washitani ( 2011 ) have developed what they refer to as the
Satoyama index (SI) using 1 km by 1 km gridded land cover data on a global scale.
They observed that the SI was closely associated with traditional agricultural sys-
tems with high conservation values, not only in Japan but also in other countries.
This suggests that the landscape form and characteristics of the Satoyama system
may even be universal for traditionally coupled socio-ecological systems in rural
landscapes.
The anthropogenic fl ow of nutrients and their use across systems occurred not
only between the Satoyama and their surrounding production systems, but also
between urban areas and surrounding agricultural spaces during the Edo period
(1603-1867) of early modern Japan. During this period, human waste produced
within urban society (Edo city, currently Tokyo) was purchased by farmers, trans-
ported to the surrounding agriculture lands, and used as fertilizer to produce food
that was then consumed by urban residents (Tajima 2007 ) (Fig. 3.3 ). Tajima ( 2007 ) has
shown how the marketing of human waste as fertilizer became more sophisticated
Fig. 3.3 Typical examples of nutrient fl ows as fertilizer, fuel, and food, and their technological
and economic relations across Satoyama and urban systems during Japan's early modern period