• The Korean Journal of Ecology
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• v.22 no.6
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• pp.363-369
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• 1999

Reconstruction of the past vegetational changes of Korea in connection with climate changes enables to understand the impacts of past and future global warming on alpine vegetation. Despite the early appearance of the cold-tolerant vegetation since the Mesozoic Era. the occurrence of warmth-tolerant vegetation during the Oligocene and Miocene implies that most of alpine and subalpine vegetations have been confined to the alpine and subalpine belts of northern Korean Peninsula. The presence of cold-episodes during the Pleistocene. however. might have caused a general southward and downslope expansions of cold-tolerant alpine and subalpine vegetation. But the climatic warming trend during the Holocene or post-glacial period eventually has isolated cold-tolerant alpine and subalpine vegetation mainly in the northern Korea. but also on scattered high mountains in the southern Korea. The presence of numerous arctic-alpine and alpine plants on the alpine and subalpine belts is mainly due to their relative degree of sensitivity to high summer temperatures. Global warming would cause important changes in species composition and altitudinal distributional pattern. The altitudinal migration of temperate vegetation upward caused by climatic warming would eventually devastate alpine plants.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Grassland and Forage Science
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.129-136
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• 2001

The alpine grassland vegetation at the northwest slope of Mt. Paektu were investigated by Penound- Howard's cover-degree method. The floristic composition of the alpine grassland from 2,100m altitude to the top of mountain were 35 species, 1 subspecies, and 6 varieties, and most of the plants were short p e r e ~ i a l herbs and shrubs. The dominant species of the vegetation distributed along to altitude were Rhododendron aureum (2,100-2,20Om), Dryas octopetala var. asiatica(2,200-2,30Om), Dryas octopetala var. asiatica(2,300-2,40Om), Rhododendron aureum- Rhododendron redowskianum(2,400-2,50Om), and Rhododendron redowskianum(2,500- 2,58Om), respectively. Characteristics of the shrub plants which settled in alpine grassland showed uniform low height(3-15cm), creeping stem and evergreen leaf. Life form of the plants were 29 species of Hemicryptophyte, 8 species of Chamaephyte, 1 species of Geophyte, and 5 species of Phanerophyte. (Key words : Alpine grassland, Mt. Paektu, Altitude, Dominant, Life form)

• The Korean Journal of Ecology
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• v.21 no.5_2
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• pp.541-547
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• 1998

The flora and vegetation of the alpine grassland at Dalmoon on Mt. Paektu were investigated on July 24, 1997 by 1 m ${\times}$ 1 m quadrat method. The flora of the vascular plants investigated on this alpine grassland was 36 taxa belonging to 17 families, 35 genera, 29 species, 3 subspecies, 4 varieties. Te leading families were Compositae (7 taxa) and Gramineae (4 species), and the forb was more than the grass. Four dwarf shrubs which were Salix metaformosa, Dryas octopetala var. asiatica, Rhododendron aureum and Vaccinium vitis-idaea were found at the studied sites. This alpine grassland was composed of 17 communities, Astragalus uliginosus, Sanguisorba sitchensis, Deschampsia caespitosa were dominated over 18, 5 and 4 quadrats, respectively.

• Journal of Climate Change Research
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.401-414
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• 2017

Vegetation and landscape characteristics at the three highest summits of Republic of Korea, i.e. Seoraksan, Jirisan and Hallasan, are analyzed on the basis of species composition, physiognomy, vegetation distribution and structure of alpine plants, along with landform, geology, soil and habitat conditions. Dominant high mountain plants at three alpine and subalpine belts contain deciduous broadleaved shrub, Rhododendron mucronulatum var. ciliatum (31.6%), and evergreen coniferous small tree, Pinus pumila (26.3%) at Seoraksan, deciduous broadleaved tree, Betula ermanii (35.3%), evergreen coniferous tree, Picea jezoensis (23.5%) at Jirisan, and evergreen coniferous tree, Abies koreana (22.6%), deciduous broadleaved shrub, Rhododendron mucronulatum var. ciliatum, and Juniperus chinensis var. sargentii (19.4%) at Hallasan, respectively. Presence of diverse landscapes at the peak of Seoraksan, such as shrubland, grassland, dry land along with rocky areas, and open land may be the result of hostile local climate and geology. High proportion of grassland and wetland at the top of Jirisan may related to gneiss-based gentle topography and well developed soil deposits, which are beneficial to keep the moisture content high. Occurrence of grassland, shrubland, dry land, conifer vegetation, and rocky area at the summit of Hallasan may due to higher elevation, unique local climate, as well as volcanic origin geology and soil substrates. Presences of diverse boreal plant species with various physiognomy at alpine and subalpine belts, and wide range of landscapes, including rocky, grassland, shrubland, wetland, and conifer woodland, provide decisive clues to understand the natural history of Korea, and can be employed as an relevant environmental indicator of biodiversity and ecosystem stability.

• The Korean Journal of Quaternary Research
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.40-43
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• 2005

The island alpine biogeography of Mt. Halla (Hallasan), Jeju Island (Jejudo), Korea is discussed. The presence of numerous species of alpine flora on Mt. Halla, the southernmost distributional limit for certain species, may primarily be attributed to palaeo-environmental factors, since it can not be wholly explained by reference to current environmental conditions. The alpine flora on the peak of Mt. Halla, mainly above 1,500m a.s.l, is evidently descended from immigrants from NE Asia via the Korean Peninsula during the epochs of the Ice Age. These plants, which are very intolerant of competition with temperate vegetation, have been able to persist in alpine belts thanks to their harsh climatic conditions, sterile soil, rugged topography and cryoturbation. The alpine plants on Hallasan are in a stage or process of retreat toward the mountaintop, most likely due to recent climatic amelioration. The lower limit of some species seems to coincide with maximum summer isotherms. The continued survival of arctic-alpine and alpine plants on the summit of Hallasan, Jejudo, the Korean Peninsula, however, is in danger, if global warming associated with the greenhouse effect continues.

• Journal of The Geomorphological Association of Korea
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.69-83
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• 2014

This study examines vegetation and climate changes from pollen compositions of alpine moors in the Korean Peninsula such as Mujechineup at Mt. Jeongjok, Yongneup at Mt. Daeam, Jilmoineup at Mt. Odae and Wangdeungjaeneup at Mt. Jiri including moors at Mt. Jeombong. It can be found that the alpine moors were less interfered by human than low moors during the past 2,000 years of the historical age. Based on dominant periods of Pinus and Quercus, pollen compositions of the alpine wetlands, climatic environments of vegetation and historical records, vegetation and climate changes during three periods such as approximately 2,000~1,000 yr BP, 1,000~400 yr BP and 400 yr BP~present are examined. It was warmer during the period of 1,000~400 yr BP than 2,000~1,000 yr BP. The period of approximately 400 yr BP indicate the coldest climate of Little Ice Age. This study finds dominances of Quercus, low NAP/AP ratios, obvious divisions of pollen zones and human interference after 400 yr BP from pollen compositions of the alpine moors during the historical age. Human interference in the high moors becomes obvious after approximately 400 yr BP, indicating that there is a time lack of approximately 1,500~2,000 years between the alpine and low moors.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.117-125
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• 2010

Korea's researchers have recently studied the prediction of forest change, but they have not considered landuse/cover change compared to distribution of forest vegetation. The purpose of our study is to predict forest vegetation based on landuse/cover change on the Korean Peninsula in the 2090's. The methods of this study were Multi-layer perceptrom neural network for Landuse/cover (water, urban, barren, wetland, grass, forest, agriculture) change and Multinomial Logit Model for distribution prediction for forest vegetation (Pinus densiflora, Quercus Spp., Alpine Plants, Evergreen Broad-Leaved Plants). The classification accuracy of landuse/cover change on the Korean Peninsula was 71.3%. Urban areas expanded with large cities as the central, but forest and agriculture area contracted by 6%. The distribution model of forest vegetation has 63.6% prediction accuracy. Pinus densiflora and evergreen broad-leaved plants increased but Quercus Spp. and alpine plants decreased from the model. Finally, the results of forest vegetation based on landuse/cover change increased Pinus densiflora to 38.9% and evergreen broad-leaved plants to 70% when it is compared to the current climate. But Quercus Spp. decreased 10.2% and alpine plants disappeared almost completely for most of the Korean Peninsula. These results were difficult to make a distinction between the increase of Pinus densiflora and the decrease of Quercus Spp. because of they both inhabit a similar environment on the Korean Peninsula.

• The Korean Journal of Ecology
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.435-448
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• 1991

Mt. paektu(altitude 2,749.6m) is ecologically important because successional processes following volcanic eurption are quite clear. We investigated plant communities with altitude know vertical distribution of plant vegetation on the north-western slope of Mt. paektu was divided into five parts; the pine-hardwood forest zone(600∼1,000m alt.), the lower coniferous forest zone (1,000∼1,500 m alt.), the upper coniferous forest and birch forest zone(1,500∼2,000 m alt.), the alpine shrub zone(2,000∼2,500 m alt.) and the alpine meadow zone(2,500∼2,749 m alt.). In particular, the alpine zone was divided into alpine shrub and alpine meadow zones and distributed up to 2,500m alt. these results reflet the adaptations of these shrubs at this altitude. But these shrubby communities disappeared on the alpinemeadow zone. In the alpine meadow zone above than 2,500m alt., some meadows, papaver radicatum var pscudoradicatum. bistorta ochotensis, chrysathemum zawadskii var. latilobum etc., were occured.

• Proceedings of the Korean Quaternary Association Conference
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• 2002.12a
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• pp.87-88
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• 2002

• Journal of The Korean Society of Grassland and Forage Science
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.77-84
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• 2002

The alpine grassland vegetation at the west slope of Cheungseuk-bong on Mt. Paektu was investigated by Penound-Howard's cover-degree method. The floristic composition of the alpine grassland from 1,800m altitude to the top of mountain were 30 species, 2 subspecies, and 3 varieties, and most of the plants were short(height 2∼13㎝) perennial herbs and shrubs. The highest cover degree of the species in the alpine grassland zone were Ligularia jamesii, Veratrum patulum and Thalictrum aquilegifolium (1,800∼2,l00m), Vaccnium uliginosum and Rhododendron aureum (2,100∼2,l00m), and Rhododendron aureum (2,300∼2,600m). Life form of the plants were 7 species of Chamaephyte, 27 species of Hernicryptophyte, and 1 species of Geophyte. Among the presented plants, 19 species were at flowering stage. Trollius hondoemsis, Trollius japonicus, Liguiaria jamesii and Lloydia serotina were peak at flowering.