• Korean Journal of Plant Resources
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• v.35 no.2
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• pp.317-345
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• 2022

This study carried out a survey to utilize basic data for the conservation of northern lineage plants that are vulnerable to climate change, targeting algific talus slope of a specific forest biodiversity region in Yeotan-ri, Jeongseon-eup, Jeongseon-gun, Gangwon-do. The survey was conducted by dividing the wind hole into 625 m² inside and 6,925 m² outside based on the wind hole. The vascular flora were identified as 84 families, 203 genera, 296 species, 6 subs., 27 var., 2 for., and a total of 331 taxa. This was found to be about 7% of 4,724 species of vascular plants in Korea. Plants endemic to the Korean peninsula were identified as 19 taxa, including Syringa fauriei, and 11 taxa for rare plants designated by IUCN. Critically endangered grade (CR) was Paeonia obovata 1 taxa, Endangered grade (EN) was Forsythia saxatilis and Prunus choreiana 2 taxa. A total of 78 taxa were florisitc target species, and 19 taxa were classified for indicator plants in the limestone area. As for alien plants, 20 taxa such as Taraxacum officinale were identified, and the naturalization rate was 6.04% and the urbanization rate was 5.33%. Geographical plants of the study area are 2 taxa of Syringa fauriei and Syringa villosa subsp. wolfii.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.37 no.3
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• pp.182-191
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• 2023

This study was carried out to identify the distribution and growth characteristics and evaluate the conservation status of the Michelia compressa Maxim., a rare and endangered wild plant II, in the habitats in Korea. A total of 314 individuals were found in the natural habitats of Heuksan Island and Jeju Island and were divided into four populations. About 45.9% (144 individuals) were distributed in the range of 401m~500m above sea level. The average height of trees was 2.7(±4.8)m, the diameter at breast height was 12.6(±13.9)cm, and the number of branches was 1.0(±0.5) on average. 54.3% of the sapling individuals of M. compressa were distributed within a radius of 30 m from the mother tree, 25.8% were distributed between 31 m through 40 m, and most (90.1%) were distributed within a radius of 60 m. The fact that sapling individuals of M. compressa are not identified even around some mature individuals and appear only in extremely limited areas is estimated to be closely related to the growth conditions as well as the environment of the natural habitats. The dispersal of M. compressa is presumed to be related to the birds and natural seedlings because water puddles, a resting place for birds beyond the range of natural seedlings, characterize its habitats. The IUCN Red List evaluation criteria at the regional and national level of M. compressa corresponds to the Critically Endangered category, and the domestic population under the category of "CR B2ab(v); C2a(i); D."

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.109 no.4
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• pp.371-381
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• 2020

The Ministry of Environment (ME) is planning to adopt in 2020 the IUCN regional Red List for "Guidelines for listing and delisting rare & endangered species and management of endangered Species System". The ME designated 377 species of vascular plants on the regional Red List. In a previous study it had been suggested that 103 species from this list are candidates for the regional Red List. With respect to a possible Red List, we assessed 59 species (after excluding 34 additional NA species and ten endemic species). These assessments indicated that 16 species are at the "threatened" level. Of those, one species is Critically Endangered, ten are Endangered, and five are Vulnerable. A further four species are classified as Near Threatened, 30 as Of Least Concern, and nine as Data Deficient. We found that most of the assessments proposed by the Ministry of Environment were not supported by scientific data, including quantitative geographic data (over 70%) in Criteria B. In order to determine the endangered species belonging to the orchid family, it is necessary to obtain records of illegal activities or data on overcollection. The current problem with the Ministry of Environment Red List has been the lack of management of scientific data on species showing a trend in decreasing population in the mid- to long-term; thus, there is a lack of critical resources for policy-makers. The ME legally designated categories and assessment, and the lack of expertise in failing to comply with the legal law by itself. The key to presenting an accurate overview of the state of Korean flora is to fill the information gaps with respect to significant geographical and taxonomical biases in the quality and quantity of data. By regularly updating the qualified data, we will be able to track the changes in the conservation status of the flora and inform the necessary conservation policies.

• The Korean Journal of Ecology
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• v.28 no.5
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• pp.305-320
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• 2005

Recently 64 species in Korea have been ranked as rare and endangered taxa by the Ministry of Environment using two categories, I and II. The original threat categories produced by the Ministry of Environment were developed to provide a standard for specifying animals and plants in danger of extinction and has been influential sources of information used in species conservation in Korea. However, the criteria by Ministry of Environment were applied to the whole taxa only by regional boundaries, especially in South Korea, rather than international context, and it also lacked an explicit framework that was necessary to ensure repeatability among taxa because of the absence of quantitative criteria to measure the likelihood of extinction. The World Conservation Union (IUCN) has developed quantitative criteria for assessing the conservation status of species. The threatened species categories, the 2000 IUCN Red List, proposed by SSC (Species Survival Commission) of IUCN have become widely recognized internationally. Details of threatened Korean plants, identified by applying the IUCN threat categories and definitions, were listed and analyzed. The number of species identified as threatened was only 34 out of 64 taxa (48.4%), while the rest of taxa were rejected from the original lists. Many of the species (51.6%, 33 taxa) excluded from the original list proposed by Ministry of Environment do not qualify as Critically Endangered, Endangered or Vulnerable because these taxa were widely distributed either in Japan or in China/far eastern Russia and there is no evidence of substantial decline in these countries. An evaluation of taxa in Korea has been carried out only based on subjective views and qualitative data, rather than quantitative scientific data, such as rates of decline, distribution range size, population size, and risk of extinction. Therefore, the national lists undermine the credibility of threatened species lists and invite misuse, which have been raised by other cases, qualitative estimate of risk, political influence, uneven taxonomic or geographical coverage. The increasing emphasis on international responsibilities means that global scale is becoming more significant. The current listings by Environment of Ministry of Korea should be challenged, and the government should seek to facilitate the resolution of disagreements. Especially the list should be flexible enough to handle uncertainty and also incorporates detailed, quantitative data. It is suggested that the highest priorities for the Red List should be given to endemic species in Korea first. After setting up the list of endemic species to Korea, quantitative data on population size and structure, distributional range, rated of decline, and habitat fragmentation should be collected as one of long term projects for the Red list categories. Transparency and accountability are the most important key factors. Also, species assessors are named and data sources referenced are required for the future objective evaluations on Korean plant taxa.

• Journal of Wetlands Research
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.337-346
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• 2014

This study was carried out to investigate the terrestrial diurnal insects in the Donggang river neighborhood. A total of 455 species belonging to 117 families of 16 orders were identified from 3,001 collected terrestrial insects around the Donggang river. Species richness showed as follows; Coleoptera (166 species, 34.48%), Hemiptera (11 species, 24.0%), Lepidoptera (68 species, 14.95%), Diptera (40 species, 8.79%), Hymenoptera (28 species, 6.15%), Orthoptera (18 species, 3.96%), Odonata (7 species, 1.54%), and others (3.74%). The Coleoptera consisted of the most number of individuals (33.2%), followed by 951 Hemiptera (31.7%), 662 Lepidoptera (20.7%), 155 Orthoptera (5.2%), 100 Diptera (3.3%), 87 Hymenoptera (2.9%), 30 Odonata (1.0%) and others (2.0%). Among them, 1 endangered species of Ministry of Environment, 1 Critically Endangered Korean species, 7 Vulnerable Korean species (VU), and also 2 Near Threatened Korean species were surveyed in the Donggang river neighborhood.

• Korean Journal of Plant Resources
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.99-114
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• 2010

This study was carried out to clarify the distribution of vascular plants and their usefulness at Gallasan of Andong-si in Gyeongbuk (596.2 m, N $36^{\circ}29'396"{\sim}36^{\circ}29'356"$, E $128^{\circ}43'841"{\sim}128^{\circ}45'799"$). The vascular plants collected 13 times (April 2006 to August 2009) were consisted of total 424 taxa; 92 families, 273 genera, 365 species, 2 subspecies, 47 varieties and 10 forms. Among them, edible, medicinal, industrial, ornamental and unknown of usefulness plants were 239 taxa, 291 taxa, 109 taxa, 135 taxa, 24 taxa, respectively. Korean endemic plants of this area were 9 taxa, and Law-protected plants by Ministry of Environment were 2 taxa, and the special plants species based on floral region by Ministry of Environment were 7 taxa in grade III category, 1 taxa in grade IV category, 5 taxa in grade V category, rare plants were 1 taxon in critically endangered (CR), 3 taxa endangered species (EN), 2 taxa vulnerable (VU), the naturalized plants were 23 taxa.

• Korean Journal of Plant Resources
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.79-98
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• 2010

This study was carried out to clarify the distribution of vascular plants and their usefulness at Bakjisan of Pyeongchang in Gangwon (1,394m, $36^{\circ}35'068"{\sim}36^{\circ}34'713"N$, $128^{\circ}36'245"{\sim}128^{\circ}36'252"E$). The vascular plants collected 7 times (from April to October 2008) were consisted of total 502 taxa; 95 families, 304 genera, 439 species, 4 subspecies, 53 varieties and 6 forms. Among them, edible, medicinal, industrial, ornamental and unknown of usefulness plants were 248 taxa, 263 taxa, 98 taxa, 138 taxa, 98 taxa, respectively. Korean endemic plants of this area were 13 taxa, and Law-protected plants by Ministry of Environment were 2 taxa, and the special plants species based on floral region by Ministry of Environment were 22 taxa in grade III category, 13 taxa in grade IV category, 6 taxa in grade V category, rare plants were 2 taxa in critically endangered (CR), 4 taxa endangered species (EN), 7 taxa vulnerable (VU), the naturalized plants were 18 taxa.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.297-312
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• 2012

This study was carried out to investigate the flora of Mt. Seoungma (Gyeonggi-do). The vascular plant were collected 13 times (from March to October 2011), and 384 taxa in total were identified, including 94 families, 260 genera, 340 species, 5 subspecies, 37 varieties and 2 forms. Korean endemic plants of this area were nine taxa; Clematis brachyura, Rhododendron mucronulatum, Forsythia koreana, Paulownia coreana, etc. Rare plants (IUCN) by the Korean Forest Service and Korean National Arboretum three taxa were recorded; one Critically Endangered species (CR), Prunus yedoensis, one Vulnerable species (VU), Epimedium koreanum, one Least Concemed species (LC), Phacelurus latifolius. The floristic regional indicator plants found in this area were 15 taxa comprising two taxa of grade V and III, one taxa of grade II, 10 taxa of grade I. Furthermore, therophytes (28.3%), hemicryptophytes (23.0%), hydrophytes (14.3%) showed high proportional ratio in life form spectrum. The naturalized plants were identified as 43 taxa and the percent of naturalized index (NI) was 11.2% of total 384 taxa vascular plants. The vegetation status of investigated area was comparatively well conserved, but the degree of damage was increasing rapidly by the disturbances of human beings. Therefore, a long-term monitoring of vegetation changes and movement grasp must become accomplished.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Traditional Landscape Architecture
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• v.37 no.1
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• pp.41-55
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• 2019

The purpose of this study is to present the basic data for conservation and management of traditional landscape and ecological environment by surveying and analysing the vascular plants distributed in Gwnagneung, a royal tomb of the Joseon Dynasty. The results are as follows. The numbers of vascular plants were summarized as 446 taxa including 97 families, 274 genera, 384 species, 4 subspecies, 49 varieties and 9 forms. The planting species were 34 taxa including Ginkgo biloba L., Pinus koraiensis Siebold ＆ Zucc., Taxus cuspidata Siebold ＆ Zucc. and so forth. Exotic species such as Pterocarya stenoptera DC. and Magnolia obovata Thunb. need to be remove for traditional landscape management. The rare plants were 7 taxa including 2 taxa of CR(critically endangered), 2 taxa of VU(vulnerable) and 3 taxa of LC(least concerned). The Korean endemic plants were 8 taxa including Pseudostellaria coreana (Nakai) Ohwi, Chrysosplenium pilosum var. fulvum (N.Terracc.) Hara, Philadelphus schrenkii Rupr., Indigofera koreana Ohwi, Paulownia coreana Uyeki(planting), Weigela subsessilis (Nakai) L.H.Bailey, Aster koraiensis Nakai(planting) and Hosta minor (Baker) Nakai(planting). The specific plants by floristic region were 45 taxa including 2 taxa of grade V, 12 taxa of grade III, 9 taxa of grade II and 22 taxa of grade I. The naturalized plants were 25 taxa including Fallopia dumetorum (L.) Holub, Chenopodium ficifolium Smith, Amorpha fruticosa L., Galinsoga ciliata (Raf.) S.F.Blake and so forth. The target plants adaptable to climate change were 9 taxa including 1 taxon of endemic plant and 8 taxa of northern plants.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.36 no.3
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• pp.257-276
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• 2022

Studies on rare and endemic plant conservation should be performed nationally to conserve plant diversity. Studies targeting a specific taxon have been reported based on the necessity of conserving plant diversity. From this point of view, there is an increasing necessity to compare and evaluate the studies for conservation. Moreover, it is necessary to analyze and review the direction for study subjects and items required for effective conservation of rare and endemic plants in Korea, based on the analysis results of collected data. We analyzed trends of studies on rare and endemic plants worldwide. In particular, we collected and analyzed the study trend in Korea. Study fields of the rare and endemic plants were divided into six classifications, of which the conservation ecology classification was sub-divided into the species traits, population study, and biological interaction. We have collected conservation ecology studies showing significant differences in regions and countries. They have been actively conducted in Europe and North America by region and in Japan and the United States by country. On the contrary, studies on basic ecology accounted for the most, followed by conservation genetics and restoration ecology in Korea. It was revealed that the portion of conservation ecology conducted in Korea was lower than that of the world. Moreover, studies mainly focused on a specific taxon of rare and endemic plants, such as endangered plants designated by the Korean Ministry of Environment. Particularly in Korea, conservation genetics and restoration ecology studies accounted for high percentages. Considering the worldwide study trends, particularly those in Europe and North America that lead the study of conservation ecology, we suggest approaches to increase the percentages of conservation ecology, including securing the information on species traits, population structure and population dynamics, and interaction between animals and plants are necessary for effective conservation of rare and endemic plants in Korea.