## Materials and Methods
### Preparation of Ground Truth Data  
This research utilized ground truth data prepared from extant multi-source survey databases through the procedure of stratified sampling, cross-checking, and pruning of noisy labels. The reference data belonging to the DGPE communities were extracted from extant vegetation survey maps ([[http://gis.biodic.go.jp/webgis](http://gis.biodic.go.jp/webgis)]([http://gis.biodic.go.jp/webgis](http://gis.biodic.go.jp/webgis)), accessed on 10 April 2022) through the procedure of stratified random sampling and these reference data were cross-checked against the vegetation disturbances. For this purpose, vegetation disturbance maps were generated prefecture-wise through utilization of multi-year Sentinel-2 satellite images based on the ground truth data prepared from visual interpretation of annual composite images. The working definition of vegetation disturbance in this research was the loss of vegetation coverage occurring at any time within a study period. The pattern of vegetation disturbance includes logging of forests and conversion into herbaceous or barren lands, transfer of forested or non-forested vegetative areas into barren or built-up \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{l l l} \hline
1. Abandoned land & 35. Elaeagnus Shrub & 69. Populus DBF \\
2. Abies ECF & 36. Elaeocarpus EBF & 70. Prunus DBF \\
3. Acacia EBF & 37. Euptelea DBF & 71. Pterocarya DBF \\
4. Acer DBF & 38. Eurya EBF & 72. Pterostyrax DBF \\
5. Acer Shrub & 39. Eurya ECF & 73. Quercus DBF \\
6. Alnus DBF & 40. Evoldia DBF & 74. Quercus EBF \\
7. Alnus Shrub & 41. Fagus DBF & 75. Quercus Shrub \\
8. Alpine Herb & 42. Frazinus DBF & 76. Rhododendron Shrub \\
9. Alpine Shrub & 43. Heritiera EBF & 77. Robinia DBF \\
10. Ardisia EBF & 44. Hibiscus EBF & 78. Salix DBF \\
11. Bamboo EBF & 45. Hydrangea Shrub & 79. Salix Shrub \\
12. Bamboo Shrub & 46. Juglans DBF & 80. Sasa Shrub \\
13. Barren & 47. Juniperus Shrub & 81. Schima EBF \\
14. Betula DBF & 48. Lagestroemia DBF & 82. Sciadoptiys ECF \\
15. Betula Shrub & 49. Larix DCF & 83. Solar panels \\
16. Built-up & 50. Leucaena DBF & 84. Sorbus DBF \\
17. Calamagrostis Herb & 51. Lithocarpus EBF & 85. Stewartia DBF \\
18. Calophyllum EBF & 52. Litesa EBF & 86. Symplocos EBF \\
19. Camella EBF & 53. Machilus EBF & 87. Taxus Shrub \\
20. Capriuns DBF & 54. Mallotus DBF & 88. Thuja ECF \\
21. Carpinus Shrub & 55. Mangroves EBF & 89. Thujougs ECF \\
22. Castanopsis EBF & 56. Melia DBF & 90. Tilia DBF \\
23. Casaurina ECF & 57. Miscanthus Herb & 91. Treefern ECF \\
24. Celtis DBF & 58. Open space Herb & 92. Trema EBF \\
25. Cercidophyllum DBF & 59. Orchard & 93. Trochodendron EBF \\
26. Chionnanthus EBF & 60. Paddy field & 94. Tsuga ECF \\
27. Cinnamomum EBF & 61. Palm ECF & 95. Ulmus DBF \\
28. Coastal Herb & 62. Pandanus ECF & 96. Upland field \\
29. Cornus DBF & 63. Pasture & 97. Water \\
30. Costal Shrub & 64. Picea ECF & 98. Weigela Shrub \\
31. Cryptomeria ECF & 65. Pinus ECF & 99. Wetland Herb \\
32. Deciduous Shrub & 66. Pinus Shrub & 100. Zelkova DBF \\
33. Diospyros EBF & 67. Podocarpus ECF & 101. Zoysia Herb \\
34. Distylium EBF & 68. Pongamia EBF & \\ \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table} 
Table 1: List of Dominant Genus-Physiognomy-Ecological (DGPE) communities enumerated countrywide including land cover and agricultural types. areas, etc. Though vegetation may have recovered after the disturbance, the original species composition might have changed, and thus this study masked out the disturbed areas occurring at any time in a study period. The ground truth data belonging to the solar panels were collected recently through visual interpretation of Google Earth images.