————Ó 
Dp. 
  
rythrosora 
——— 
issetiana 
—— 
chino 
  
Wii 
  
sinaefolia 
  
ina 
  
oversa 
  
cea 
  
ica 
  
———— 
Y 
) 
  
1tatum 
  
onica 
  
ntaphyllum 
  
a 
  
ropoda 
  
rgii 
  
Oro 
"icuspidata 
  
rratus 
  
  
Ta 
  
System of Japan (JIS-C6304-1976) (Figure 
2), which has three spatial levels: i) a first 
grid that is equivalent to the size of a 
1/200,000 topographical map, ii) a second 
grid that is equivalent to the size of a 
1/25,000 map, and iii) a third: grid that 
divides the second grid into 10 grids equally 
in length and width. Near the center of 
Japan, the size of the second grid is 
approximately 10 km x 10 km and the third 
grid is approximately 1 km x 1 km. Because 
this coding system is based on latitude and 
longitude, the grid-cell is not an accurate 
square and the size is different for Hokkaido 
(north) and Kyushu (south). 
The data of climatic conditions, which 
includes mean annual temperature, annual 
precipitation, etc., was merged into the data 
base from the data file offered > by’ the 
Meteorological Agency of Japan. 
The data of edaphic conditions, which 
includes altitude, relief, landform, surface 
geology, soils, etc., was merged into the 
data base by reordering data selected from 
the Digital National Land Information mainly 
offered by the Geographical Survey Institute 
and the National Land Agency. 
The data of plant communities, which 
includes the plant community code for each 
third grid-cell, was merged into the data 
base from "Country-Wide Vegetation Data" 
offered by the Environment Agency. 
142 (E) 
138 139 140° 141 
  
) 
First Grid 
  
  
  
3640' 
36 
Code of A is 
3520' 53-39. 
140 
Second Grid 
Ds codeof Bis 53 39-34, 
which corresponds to 
  
   
  
Upper-Left".(Tab.1) 
  
  
Third Grid 
1 1 . , a a ° 1 3 
F--4-7-4--4--4---7--6-7-T--1-7-43-7-j 
1 1 1 1 0 1 ’ . ' 
D se" Code of Cis 
53 39-34-35. 
First Second Third 
  
Oo mt» t0 -10 © 
  
  
0123456789 
Figure 2 Explanation of National Grid 
Code System 
"Tokyo-Seinan(1:50,000), 
53 
2.3 Outline of the software (Figure 3) 
Software includes the originally 
developed program (by C or FORTRAN), the 
program package (SAS) on the mainframe 
computer,and the application software 
(Ichitaro, © Lotus; etc.) on’ the personal 
computer. 
2.4 Outline of the function 
The following analyses are possible 
using the Japan Vegetation Data Base 
system. 
(1) Gathering of vegetation investigation 
sheets in which plant species of interest 
occurs. 
(2) Mapping of the plant distribution, 
analysis of the northern or southern limit of 
distribution, and analysis of habitat 
segregation. 
(3) Analysis of environmental factors which 
affect the plant distribution. That is, the 
system can analyze whether plant 
distribution is affected by the temperature 
factor or the precipitation factor, or in what 
range in Kira's warmth index the plant is 
distributed. 
2.5 Problems 
The following two problems could be 
pointed out for the Japan Vegetation Data 
Base. 
(1) Because the information of "Position" 
extracted from the relevés corresponds with 
the second grid (approximately 10 km x 10 
km), there is a possibility of a problem in 
i mountainous 
accuracy. Especially in 
regions, there is certain possibility that 
correspondence with the environmental 
conditions will not succeed. 
(2) It is considerably hard work to check the 
species' name filled in relevé sheets. Cases 
where errors have occurred include, for 
instance, the misspelling of relevé sheet, the 
misreading in data entry, or the use of 
different species names in the naming of one 
species. These mistakes are being checked 
as much as possible, however, ambiguous 
mistakes "in a releve sheet cannot be 
checked. 
3. EXAMPLE OF ANALYSIS 
At present, approximately 1,000 
relevés had been digitized, however, this is 
not sufficient for a strict analysis. Here, 
some simple analyses were attempted to 
verify the effectiveness of this data base. 
The Japanese islands are covered with 
various types of vegetation, from the 
subarctic conifer forest in the northern part 
to a mangrove forest in the southern part. 
From the viewpoint of the. area, a 
summergreen broad-leaved forest in the 
northern half of Japan and an evergreen 
broad-leaved forest in the southern half of 
Japan occupy the majority of the natural 
vegetation on the Japanese islands. The two 
major forms of vegetation correspond to 
Fagetea crenatae (Japanese beech class) and 
Camellietea japonicae (Japanese camellia 
class), respectively, from the viewpoint of 
plant sociology. 
Fagus crenata (Japanese beech) and 
Quercus mongolica (an oak) were analyzed