• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.27 no.5
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• pp.579-591
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• 2013

This study was carried out to investigate the actual vegetation, the structure of plant community, and ecological succession sere of forest ecosystem in temperate northern climate zone, Daegwallyeong Ranch, Gangwon-do (Province) and to offer the basic data for planning of the forest managemant. As a result of analysis of actual vegetation, vegetation types divided into 56types and the area of survey site was $19,397,361m^2$. The ratio of vegetation type dominated by Quercus mongolica forest was 39.1%, primary grassland was 24.7%, Quercus mongolica-Deciduous broad-leaved forest was 11.3%. Twenty eight plots (size is $20m{\times}20m$) were set up and the results analyzed by DCA which in one of the ordination technique showed that the plant communities were divided into six groups which area community I (Pinus densiflora-Quercus mongolica community), community II (Quercus mongolica-Pinus densiflora community), community III (Quercus mongolica community), community IV (Quercus mongolica-Deciduous broad-leaved community), community V (Deciduous broad-leaved community), community VI (Sorbus alnifolia community). The age of community Iwas ranged from 57 to 62 years old, that of community IIwas ranged from 41 to 77 years old, community III was ranged from 47 to 108 years old, community IV was ranged from 47 to 82 years old, community V was 47 years old, community VI was 55 years old, thus we supposed that the age of the study site is about from 41 to 108 years old. The Ecological succession is predicted from Pinus densiflora community to Quercus mongolica community and Deciduous broad-leaved were distributed in the center of the valley in Daegwallyeong Ranch. According to the index of Shannon's diversity (unit: $400m^2$), community IV was ranged from 0.8203 to 1.1439, community III was ranged from 0.8019 to 1.1375, community V was 1.0993, community I was ranged from 0.9475 to 1.0797, community II was ranged from 0.6896 to 1.0324, community VI was 0.9909.

• Korean Journal of Plant Resources
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.248-270
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• 2013

The purpose of this study is to collect the raw data for conservation of plant ecosystem by surveying and analysing the flora of Mt. Geumgok located in Gyeongju-si, Gyeongsangbuk-do, Korea. The flora were summarized as 453 taxa including 91 families, 298 genera, 397 species, 4 subspecies, 46 varieties and 6 forms. The rare plants designated by Korea Forest Service were 3 taxa such as Eranthis byunsanensis B.Y.Sun, Potentilla discolor Bunge and Iris odaesanensis Y.N.Lee. The Korean endemic plants were 6 taxa such as Carpinus laxiflora (Siebold & Zucc.) Blume, Eranthis byunsanensis B.Y.Sun, Philadelphus schrenkii Rupr., Lespedeza maritima Nakai, Vicia chosenensis Ohwi and Weigela subsessilis (Nakai) L.H.Bailey. The specific plants by floristic region were 36 taxa such as Pinus koraiensis Siebold & Zucc., Salix chaenomeloides Kimura, Anemone raddeana Regel, Chloranthus japonicus Siebold, Euphorbia pekinensis Rupr., Ilex macropoda Miq., Ajuga multiflora Bunge, Saussurea odontolepis Sch.Bip. ex Herd, Viola orientalis (Maxim.) W.Becker, Betula davurica Pall., Vitex negundo var. incisa (Lam.) C.B.Clarke and Cimicifuga heracleifolia Kom.. The naturalized plants were 36 taxa such as Fallopia dumetorum (L.) Holub, Lepidium apetalum Willd., Robinia pseudoacacia L., Trifolium repens L., Euphorbia supina Raf., Ipomoea purpurea Roth, Veronica persica Poir., Bidens pilosa L., Carduus crispus L., Xanthium canadense Mill., Bromus unioloides H.B.K. and Festuca arundinacea Schreb.. The invasive alien plants were 2 taxa such as Ambrosia artemisiifolia L. and Aster pilosus Willd.. The ratios of the urbanized index(UI), the naturalized index(NI) and the disturbed index(DI) were 11.2%, 7.9% and 18.2% each.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.271-279
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• 2013

The species of Corydalis cornupetala Y.H.Kim et J.H.Jeong Which is belong to the Corydaliaceae is only distributed at the Gyaejeong Forest in Gyeongsan. As one of the spring ephemeral plants, this species has limited growing period. The present study is on site characteristics and vegetation structure in the wild habitats of Corydalis cornupetala Y.H.Kim et J.H.Jeong and offers basic information on habitat conservation including recovery plan. The soil texture is silty loam and soil acidity is ranged as pH 5.4~5.9. The electric conductivity was 0.22-0.50 ds/m and soil organic content is ranged as 7.61~15.78 %. Fifty nine vascular plants were identified from 5 quadrats. According to the two way cluster analysis applied by the PC-ORD, the community was classified as Acer ginnala, Vicia amoena and Stellaria aquatica. The habitat of Corydalis cornupetala Y.H.Kim et J.H.Jeong was determined by the dissimilarity indices rather than the species number of appearance. Species diversity was 1.26, and dominance and evenness were found to be 0.08 and 0.92, respectively.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.24 no.5
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• pp.575-581
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• 2010

This study was accomplished for verifying the biotope field survey accuracy in the forests. Biotope data is used as the standard for the preservation and restoration of the urban ecosystem. The study area is the forests of Gwanak-gu, Seoul. For verifying accuracy, first we compared biotope field survey results between 2000 and 2005, second we compared between field survey results and satellite imagery. For comparing with satellite imagery, we delineated the evergreen-coniferous forests from imagery taken during winter season. As a result of comparison, the ratio of most actual vegetation types by delineated detail field surveys were matched around 92% between 2000 and 2005. But, between 2 field surveys, around 60% of total vegetation type was regionally matched. Evergreen-coniferous forests extracted by satellite imagery were regionally matched 69.4% of field survey result in 2000, and matched 80% of the result in 2005. If we consider the delineating errors from deciphering the picture, the results have high accuracy, especially 2005. The processes of verifying accuracy have not been proceeding in the part of delineating actual vegetation works. The verification of accuracy is important for the renewal process. Thus, the various verification methods will be studied and criteria should be developed for enhancing objectivity.

• Ecology and Resilient Infrastructure
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• v.6 no.4
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• pp.267-276
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• 2019

The Gonggeomji Reservoir is a historical irrigation facility built in the 8th century and designated as a wetland protected area by Ministry of Environment, Korea. In order to collect the baseline data necessary for developing a sustainable conservation strategy, we investigated the classification of actual vegetation, the vegetation distribution and the floristic structure of the vegetation in the Gonggeomji Wetland Protection Area. In the whole protection area, a total of 26 plant communities were classified including the wetland, riparian, grassland, forest, farmland, and orchard vegetation. According to the results of detrended correspondence analysis, the structure of wetland vegetation was mainly affected by water depth and human disturbance. In reservoir wetlands, floating vegetation such as Utricularia vulgaris var. japonica, Trapa japonica, and emergent vegetation such as Nelumbo nucifera, Typha spp. completely covered the water surface. Since 2014, the reservoir wetland has been terrestrialized with the expansion of emergent and hygrophytic plants. For the sustainable conservation and restoration of wetland protected areas, it is necessary to naturalize the topography and wetland vegetation, recovery the hydrologic system, and restore ecosystem connectivity from wetlands to forests.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.24 no.6
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• pp.648-656
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• 2010

Global warming brings changes of natural ecosystems and affects on the plant growth response. Quercus acutissima and Q. variabilis are taxonomically similar and dominant native species in deciduous forests in South Korea. In order to understand the growth response of Q. acutissima and Q. variabilis to global warming condition, we cultivated the seedling of the two oak species in ambient condition(control) and treatment with elevated $CO_2$(700~800ppm) and increased air temperature(approximately $3^{\circ}C$ above than control). Then we measured the growth characteristic among them and analyzed the relationship between two species using PCA ordination. Stem length and total plant weight of Q. acutissima were significantly affected by elevated $CO_2$ concentration and increased air temperature. Stem diameter and weight of Q. variabilis were significantly affected by elevated $CO_2$ concentration and increased air temperature(p<0.05). The variation characteristics of Q. acutissima were changed more than Q. variabilis by elevated $CO_2$ concentration and increased air temperature. These result suggested that Q. acutissima was more sensitive to global warming situation than Q. variabilis in central region of Korea. PCA ordination showed that two species were arranged by two distinct groups based on 10 characters by elevated $CO_2$ and increased air temperature.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.52 no.2
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• pp.175-182
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• 2016

In this study, we isolated aromatic compounds (lignin polymers) utilizing bacteria in humus layer of oak forest and investigated phylogenetic characteristics and correlation with major bacterial populations in the humus layer by pyrosequencing. Forty-two isolates using aromatic compounds such as p-anisic acid, benzoic acid, ferulic acid and p-coumaric acid were isolated and phylogentic analyses based on 16S rRNA gene sequences showed that the isolates belonged to the genus Rhizobium, Sphingomonas, Burkhorlderia, and Pseudomonas. Among these, Burkhorlderia species which belong to Betaproteobacteria class occupied 83% among the isolates. The bacterial populations in humus layer of oak forest were characterized by next generation pyrosequencing based on 16S rRNA gene sequences. The humus sample produced 7,862 reads, 1,821 OTUs and 6.76 variability index with 97% of significance level, respectively. Bacterial populations consist of 22 phyla and Betaproteobacteria were the major phylum consisting of 15 genera including Burkholderia, Polaromonas, Ralstoria, Zoogloea, and Variovorax. Approximately fifty percentage of them was Burkholderia. Burkholderia as the majority of population in the humus was considered to play a role in degrading lignin in humus layer of oak forest.

• The Korean Journal of Ecology
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• v.28 no.6
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• pp.389-393
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• 2005

This study was carried out to investigate the effects of soil acidification on the growth of 3-year-old Pinus densiflora seedlings grown for 21 weeks in brown forest soils acidified with $H_2SO_4$ solution. The concentrations of Al in the acidified soils were increased with increasing amount of $H^+$ added to the soil. The total dry weight of the seedlings was reduced by the addition of the $H_2SO_4$ solution. In addition, there was a strong positive correlation (r=0.97, p<0.01) between the dry weight of the seedlings and the molar (Ca+Mg+K)/Al ratio of the soil. The seedlings with the molar (Ca+Mg+K)/Al ratio of 1.0 resulted from approximately 50% growth reduction compared with the control value. The results suggest that the molar (Ca+Mg+K)/Al ratio of the soil may be a useful indicator for assessing the critical load of acid deposition.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.36 no.3
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• pp.412-423
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• 2018

In this study, we investigated the distribution and habitat of Tscherskia triton from 2014 to 2016 in Jeju Island. Nine individuals of T. triton were observed and captured from four habitat sites. Most of the habitats were of the natural and rural type, and urban type coexisted in some of the areas. The natural type of habitat comprised of forests, shrubs, and grasslands. The habitat of T. triton ranged vertically from 102 m in lowland to 742 m in a mountainous area and was not observed in altitude over 1,000 m. Small brooks, dry streams or wetlands were found to be located nearby the habitat of T. triton. The T. triton was distributed mainly in areas with natural vegetation and artificial plantation in company with the upper story vegetation on the ground of intact or incomplete layer structure, or the area with the relatively large distribution of shrubs and long grassland. The presence of roads and forest paths in these habitats suggested that the T. triton can thrive in areas with human disturbance. The designation of Halla Mountain National Park in Jeju Island as a conservation area prevents damage or loss of the habitat due to any artificial development. However, frequent human disturbances occurring in grassland is tolerated by small mammals. Therefore, in order to help T. triton maintain a stable population density, it is essential that various types of the habitat should be conserved in the middle mountain areas and the grasslands in lowlands should be well protected.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.51 no.4
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• pp.322-330
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• 2018

Herbivory is a major functional component of forest ecosystems, and herbivorous insects comprise about 25% of all insect species. Increasing plant diversity is related to herbivore abundance and diversity, which affects the level of leaf damage caused by insects. This study was conducted to identify plant-related variables such as plant diversity and number of leaves and density-related variables, basal area, and diameter at breast height (DBH) in a temperate forest of southern South Korea. To assess the level of leaf damage caused by leaf chewing insects, we set up two 0.1 ha plots in a temperate deciduous forest on Mt. Jirisan National Park. Plant richness differed between two sites: 16 species in 14 families(site 1) and 19 species in 15 families (site 2). Fisher's alpha index based on plant species richness and abundance resulted in 4.41 (site 1) and 6.57 (site 2). However, the sum of basal area of each site was higher in site 1 ($6.6m^2$) than site 2 ($3.7m^2$). The total surveyed leaves at two sites were 3,832 and 4,691, respectively and the damage leaves were 1,544 and 2,136, respectively. The mean leaf damage level was 11.2% (${\pm}1.76%$) in two study sites: the leaf damage level of the site 1 (11.99%) was significantly higher than site 2 (10.59%). Stepwise regression analysis showed that species diversity and evenness were the significant variables for leaf damages by chewing herbivores. NMDS ordination also identified that high tree density and low species diversity were the significant variables. This suggested that the level of damage was significantly higher in plots with low plant diversity and high tree density. In the future, we will investigate other guilds of herbivores such as sap-suckers, miners and gallers in temperate deciduous forests.