• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.44 no.3
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• pp.126-142
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• 2020

Background: Most of the Pinus densiflora forests, occupying the largest area, have been restored in South Korea since the 1970s. As young pioneer forests, the succession process is under way. Since the forests are distributed nationwide and are vulnerable to disturbances, the process may differ depending on the geography and/or site conditions. Therefore, we reviewed the direction, the seral communities, and the late-successional species of progressive and disturbance-driven succession nationwide in the cool-temperate zone through meta-analysis and empirical observations. Main text: As a result of a meta-analysis of the direct succession and vertical structure, we found that the P. densiflora forest is in a directionally progressive succession, changing to the broadleaved forest after forming a mixed forest with its overwhelming successor, Quercus species (particularly Q. mongolica and Q. serrata). In dry stands in a relative sense, the Quercus species was favored occupying over 80% of the abundance of the succeeding species. Therefore, in dry stands, it is presumed that Quercus-dominated stage would last for a long time due to the current dominance and long life span, and eventually, it settles as Quercus-broadleaved forest with a site change. Contrary to this, it is presumed that in mesic stands where Quercus species do not occur or have low abundance, the late-successional broadleaved species settle early to form a co-dominant forest with multiple species. Due to geographical limits, the species composition of the two late-successional forests is different. Disturbances such as insect pests and fire retrogressed vulnerable P. densiflora forest for a while. However, it was mostly restored to the Quercus forest and is expected to be incorporated in the pathway of the dry stand. Conclusions: We revealed the succession process of P. densiflora forests according to geography and moisture and found that stand moisture had a decisive effect on the species and abundance of the successor. Although the P. densiflora forest is undergoing structural changes, the forest is still young; so within a few decades, physiognomy is not likely to change. Therefore, the decrease in the forest area may be due to other causes such as disturbances and forest conversion rather than due to succession.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.43 no.4
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• pp.438-453
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• 2019

Background: To investigate the trends of succession occurring at the Pinus thunbergii forests on the lowlands of Jeju Island, we quantified the species compositions and the importance values by vegetation layers of Braun-Blanquet method on the Pinus thunbergii forests. We used multivariate analysis technique to know the correlations between the vegetation group types and the location environmental factors; we used the location environment factors such as altitudes above sea level, tidal winds (distance from the coast), annual average temperatures, and forest gaps to know the vegetation distribution patterns. Results: According to the results on the lowland of Jeju Island, the understory vegetation of the lowland Pinus thunbergii forests was dominated by tall evergreen broad-leaved trees such as Machilus thunbergii, Neolitsea sericea, and Cinnamomum japonicum showing a vegetation group structure of the mid-succession, and the distribution patterns of vegetation were determined by the altitudes above sea level, the tidal winds on the distance from the coast, the annual average temperatures, and the forest gaps. We could discriminate the secondary succession characteristics of the Pinus thunbergii forests on the lowland and highland of Jeju Island of South Korea. Conclusions: In the lowland of Jeju Island, the secondary succession will progress to the form of Pinus thunbergii (early successional species)→Machilus thunbergii, Litsea japonica (mid-successional species)→Machilus thunbergii (late-successional species) sequence in the temperate areas with strong tidal winds. In the highland of Jeju Island, the succession will progress to the form of Pinus thunbergii (early successional species)→Neolitsea sericea, Eurya japonica (mid-successional species)→Castanopsis sieboldii (late-successional species) sequence in the areas where tidal winds are weak and temperatures are relatively low. However, local differences between lowland and highland of Jeju Island will be caused by the micro-environmental factors resulting from the topographic differences and the supply of tree seeds. From the characteristics of succession study, we could properly predict and manage the Pinus thunbergii forest ecosystem on lowland and highland of Jeju Island.

• The Korean Journal of Ecology
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• v.24 no.6
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• pp.385-394
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• 2001

An attempt to clarify the landscape structure of urban areas was carried out in the greenbelt around Seoul, Korea's metropolis. By means of aerial photographs and a field survey, a vegetation map including land-use pattern was made. Landscape structure was described by analyzing this vegetation map and the results of phytosociological survey. Landscape element types identified were (1) secondary forest, (2) plantation, (3) cultivated field, (4) urbanized area, (5) graveyard, and (6) bare rock. Vegetation units, resulting from the phytosociological analysis, included Quercus mongolica, Q. variabilis, Q. acutissima, Pinus densiflora, Q. aliena, and Alnus japonica communities. Plantations were composed of Robinia pseudoacacia, Populus tomentiglandulosa, P. rigida, Larix leptolepis, P. koraiensis, and Castanea crenata stands. Patches near to human settlements in the lower zones of the mountains were fragmented and small but they became larger towards the higher mountain zones. On the other hand, the number of patches was fewer and their size was larger in Mt. Cheonggye more distant from the principal residential area, larger in size, and higher in elevation compared with the other 2 mountains, Mt. Daemo and Mt. Acha. Floristic composition of Mongolian oak(Q. mongolica) stand distributing in the upper part of each mountain, in which artificial interference is rare, showed a difference among those study areas different in parent rock and disturbance regime. But that of black locust(R. pseudoacacia) stand located in lowland of mountainous area, in which artificial interference is frequent was similar to each other. As the results of analyses on the frequency distribution of diameter classes of major species, dominant landscape elements, Mongolian oak forest showed different responses depending on artificial interference as continuous maintenance and retrogressive succession in the sites far from and near to the residential areas, respectively. On the other hand, black locust stands showed a probability to be restore to the native oak forest through progressive succession.

• The Korean Journal of Ecology
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• v.21 no.5_3
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• pp.589-602
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• 1998

Mt. Nam (265m), a city park of Seoul, was originally covered with a typical deciduous broad-leaved forests in Central Korea. However, the park forests have been changed the development for various purpose such as the construction of castle wall, road way, broadcasting station, theater, hotel and apartments, in addition, to thoughtless plantation or alien plant introduction. Human population growth from ca. 100 thousands persons less in that time established Seoul as the capital of choseon dynasty in 1394 to ten millions over persons at present, accelerated the vegetational changes of the park. mt. Nam boundary in those days of sunjong (1908) also was much shrinked as much the range of 300 m distance in the northern most to 700 or 800m distance in some places. The actual vegetation of Mt. Nam largely can be classified by floristic composition into two plant communities of Quercus mongolica community and Pinus densiflora community, four plantations of Pinus rigida, Robinia pseudo-acacia, Populus tomentiglandulosa and other tree species, and on mixed forest with native and alien tree species in secondary succession stage (Yim et al. 1987). The restoration movement of Mt. Nam toward to the natural condition of forest or biodiversity is moving now. However, in the movement there are some problems such as the lack of ecological consideration and the undesirable decision of priority in the practice. A warning should be given, especially, on the undesirable plantation of non-native tree species restricting the forest succession, as in the case of southern slope of Mt. Nam. First of all, the most importance in Mt. Nam management is that the restoration for natural forest and biodiversity should be carried on the basis of integrated ecological principles based on the site evaluation.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.44 no.4
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• pp.241-255
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• 2020

Background: The stem exclusion stage is a stage of forest development that is important for understanding the subsequent understory reinitiation stage and maturation stage during which horizontal heterogeneity is formed. Over the past 11 years (2009-2019), we observed a deciduous broad-leaved forest in the Albongbunji Basin in Ulleungdo, South Korea in its stem exclusion stage, where Fagus engleriana (Engler's beech) is the dominant species, thereby analyzing the changes in the structure (density and size distributions), function (biomass and species richness), and demographics. Results: The mean stem density data presented a bell-shaped curve with initially increasing, peaking, and subsequently decreasing trends in stem density over time, and the mean biomass data showed a sigmoidal pattern indicating that the rate of biomass accumulation slowed over time. Changes in the density and biomass of Fagus engleriana showed a similar trend to the changes in density and biomass at the community level, which is indicative of the strong influence of this species on the changing patterns of forest structure and function. Around 2015, a shift between recruitment and mortality rates was observed. Deterministic processes were the predominant cause of tree mortality in our study; however, soil deposition that began in 2017 in some of the quadrats resulted in an increase in the contribution of stochastic processes (15% in 2019) to tree mortality. The development of horizontal heterogeneity was observed in forest gaps. Conclusions: Our observations showed a dramatic shift between the recruitment and mortality rates in the stem exclusion stage, and that disturbance increases the uncertainty in forest development increases. The minor changes in species composition are likely linked to regional species pool and the limited role of the life-history strategy of species such as shade tolerance and habitat affinity. Our midterm records of ecological succession exhibited detailed demographic dynamics and contributed to the improvement of an ecological perspective in the stem exclusion stage.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Environmental Restoration Technology
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.41-51
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• 2001

'The Ecological Forest' in Youido Park was intended to be an artificial forest in urban center, following the form of natural forests in central Korea. This study was to investigate the planting plan and the vegetation change of 'the Ecological Forest' and to compare it with natural forests of similar plant composition. The natural forests had slopes between $12^{\circ}$ and $21^{\circ}$, whereas 'the Ecological Forest' had slopes between $2^{\circ}$ and $6^{\circ}$. It was unlikely that the slope condition was adequate to show 'toposequence succession' at 'the Ecological Forest'. The soil bulk density and soil hardness of 'the Ecological Forest' were higher than those of the natural forests. The soil pH of 'the Ecological Forest' was 7.45, which was greater than that of the natural forests. There were some changes in plant composition and amounts 2 years after the construction : the number of conifers was reduced from 383 to 338 ; the number of deciduous trees was reduced from 4717 to 1158. It was because of the young trees dead in the sub-tree layer. The herbaceous species planted were 14 families, 31 species, which increased to 37 families, 93 species after 2 years. In case of horizontal structure of vegetation, trees and shrubs were distributed evenly in the natural forests, whereas 'the Ecological Forest' showed uneven distribution with higher total density. In case of vertical structure of vegetation, the natural forests had distinctive layers with dominant species distributed in each layers. In 'the Ecological Forest', however, dominant species were only in tree layer. The natural forests had greater average tree height, tree density, however, and basal area than 'the Ecological Forest'. The results showed that there were some differences in the structure between 'the Ecological Forest' and natural forests. The management plan should be applied in order that the natural condition be restored in 'the Ecological Forest' by competition between plant species and natural processes.

• The Korean Journal of Ecology
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• v.20 no.6
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• pp.439-450
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• 1997

The potential natural vegtation of the Pukhansan National Park area, mid-western Korea, was inferred from the actual vegetation. With the phytosociological classification and field surveys, the actual vegetation map of the park area was made on a scale of 1:25, 000, including fourteen communities. By the analyses of the species diversity, the age structure, the human interferences and various informations on vegetation changes, two pathways of late stage succession from Pinus densiflora forests to the climatic climax were suggested. One is from Quercus serrata forests to Q. mongolica forests throughout the mountain and the other, from Q. variabilis or Q. acutissima forests to Carpinus laxiflora forests in lower parts. Considering the vegetation changes, the potential natural vegetation of the park area mainly composed of Q. mongolica, C. laxiflora, P. densiflora and Zelkova serrata forest as the climatic and/or edaphic climax was inferred.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.36 no.4
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• pp.267-271
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• 2013

To examine the density effect and food concentration in the competitive output of two Bosmina species, the population growths of Bosmina fatalis were investigated by manipulating the density of B. longirostris and the concentration of algae. The B. fatalis density did not increase in conditions with abundant B. longirostris regardless of the food concentrations. The B. fatalis increased only at low densities of B. longirostris with high food concentrations. Based on the current results, a possible mechanism underlying the seasonal shift from B. longirostris to B. fatalis in Japanese eutrophic lakes will be explored below.

• The Korean Journal of Ecology
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.337-344
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• 1992

A study on the secondary succession and species diversity was conducted at burned sites of which pinus densiflora forest and its floor vegetation was almost destroyed by the forest first in the mts. todok, sansong and palgong from 1977 to 1986. The changes of vegetation during period the year to 11th after fire occurred miscanthus sinensis var. purpurascens $\rightarrow$ miscanthus sinensis var. purpurascens-lespedeza cyrtobotyra $\rightarrow$ lespedeza cyrtobotyra $\rightarrow$ lespedeza cyrtobotyra-quercus serrata community. The biological spectra based on $SDR_3$(%) and SP(%) were $H-D_1-R_5-e$ types. The species diversity generally decrease from miscanthus to lespedeza stage and reached minimum at stage of lespedeza, and after that a litter increase for lespedeza-quercus stage. The species distribution curves showed a decrease from miscanthus to lespedeza stage and slight increase at lespedeza-quercus stage in evenness.

• The Korean Journal of Ecology
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.15-23
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• 1991

The early vegetational recovery and species diversity were investigaed in burned pine forest of Mt. Todoksn from 1986 to 1990. The changes of vegetation in the burned site occurred Miscanthus→Miscanthus-Lespedeza→Lespedeza community. The biological spectra based on SD(%) and SP(%) of the burned site were similar to the unburned site with H---e type. The degree of succession(DS) was gradually increased with succession in burned site. The species diversity index(H') and evenness index(e) were declining successional trend, nut dominance index(C) inclining successional trend in the burned site. The domiance-diversity curves of the burned site showed gradual decrease in diversity and evenness, and then slopes of them were progressively steep in early successional stage.