• Journal of the Korean Association of Geographic Information Studies
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.222-237
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• 2022

This study was performed to predict change of forestland area in future to 2050 based on System Dynamics Model which is based on feedback loop by causal relationship. As forestland area change in the future depends on potential forestland conversion demands, each demand type of forestland conversion such as agricultural, industrial, public and residential/commercial use was modeled using annual GDP, population, number of household, household construction permission area (1981~2019). In results, all of conversion demands would have continuously decreased to 2050 while residential and commercial land would be reduced from 2034. Due to such shortage, eventually, total of forestland in South Korea would have decreased to 6.18 million ha when compared to current 6.29 million ha. Moreover, the forestland conversion to other use types must be occurred continuously in future because most of forestland is owned privately in South Korea. Such steady decrement of forestland area in future can contribute to the shortage of carbon sink and encumber achievement of national carbon-neutral goal to 2050. If forestland conversion would be occurred inevitably in future according to such change trends of all types, improved laws and polices related to forestland should be prepared for planned use and rational conservation in terms of whole territory management. Therefore, it is needed to offer sufficient incentive, such as tax reduction and payment of ecosystem service on excellent forestland protection and maintenance, to private owners for minimizing forestland conversion. Moreover, active afforestation policy and practice have to be implemented on idle land for reaching national goal 'Carbon Neutral to 2050' in South Korea.

• Animal cells and systems
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.191-196
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• 2006

This study was carried out to evaluate soil carbon cycling of a 36-year-old larch (Larix leptolepis) stand in Korea. The aboveground and soil organic carbon storage, litterfall, and soil respiration rates were measured over twoyear periods. The estimated aboveground biomass carbon storage and increment were 4220 gC $m^{-2}$ and 150 gC $m^{-2}\;yr^{-1}$, respectively. Mean organic carbon inputs by needle and total litterfall were 118 gC $m^{-2}\;yr^{-1}$ and 168 gC $m^{-2}\;yr^{-1}$, respectively. The aboveground carbon increment of the stand was similar to the annual input of carbon from total litterfall. The soil respiration rates correlated exponentially with the soil temperature at a depth of 20 cm ($R^2$ = 0.86). In addition, the exponential regression equation indicated a relatively strong positive relationship between the soil respiration rates and soil temperature, while there was no significant relationship between the soil respiration rates and the soil moisture content. The annual mean and total soil respiration rates were 0.40 g $CO_2\;m^{-2} h^{-1}$ and 3010 g $CO_2\;m^{-2}\;yr^{-1}$ over the two-year study period, respectively.

• The Korean Journal of Ecology
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• v.19 no.5
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• pp.417-430
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• 1996

This study was conducted to investigate the developmental process of plant community during the secondary succession and the dynamics of soil properties in the burned and unburned areas of Mt. Ch’oly-san. Owing to the forest fire occurred on April, 1989, the red pine(Pinus densiflora) forest and its floor vegetation were burned down. The floristic composition of burned and unburned areas were composed of 53 and 49 species of vascular plants, respectively. The dominant species based on SDR4 of the burned sites were lespedeza cyrtobotrya (89.62), Miscanthus sinensis var. purpurascens (62.50), and Carex humilis (58.73), Quercus serrata (43.33). In contrast, Pinus densiflora (83.56), Lespedeza cyrtobotrya (55.57), Miscanthus sinensis var. purpurascens (51.88) and Carex humilis (50.41) were dominant in the unburned area. The biological spectra showed the $H-D_1-R_5-e$ type in both the burned and unburned areas. The indices of similarity ($CC_S$) between the two areas were 0.74. Degree of succession (DS) was 604 in the burned area and 802 in the unburned area. From these facts, it is assumed that the succession is rapidly progressing because of the recovery of vegetation. The species diversity ($\={H}$) and evenness index(C) in the burned and unburned areas were 0.15 and 0.18, respectively. Red pine tree did not resprout after scorch by the forest fire, but Lespedeza, Quercus, Rhododendron, Albizzia, and Zanthoxylum resprouted from the roots and trunks after the forest fire. It seems that these species are the fire-resistant species. Soil properties such as soil pH, content of organic matter, available phosphous, total nitrogen, tatal carbon, exchangeable potssium, sodium, calcium, and magnesium increased due to forest fire. These results suggest the intensity of forest fire in the study area was relatively weak. Monthly changes of soil properties were of little significance except for some cases.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.87-95
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• 2013

The objective of this study was to estimate dynamics of litter production and soil organic carbon of Pinus densiflora forest, Quercus mongolica forest, and Rhobina pseudo-acasia forest at Mt. Nam as a part of Korea National Long-Term Ecological Research (KNLTER) from 2008 to 2009. Litter production of P. densiflora forest was the highest in October 2008, 2009 and the lowest in January 2008 and December 2009. Litter production of Q. mongolica forest was the highest in November and the lowest in February in 2008 and 2009. Litter production of R. pseudo-acacia forest was the highest in November in 2008 and October in 2009 and the lowest in January in 2008 and December in 2009. It means that leaves of P. densiflora forest shed earlier than deciduous oak forests in Korean central region. An average of litter production for 2 years was 7.07, 6.36, $4.66ton\;ha^{-1}$ in P. densiflora forest, Q. mongolica forest, R. psuedo-acacia forest, respectively. An average of soil organic carbon matter for 2 years was 88.3, 76.5, $84.2ton\;ha^{-1}$ in P. densiflora forest, Q. mongolica forest, R. psuedo-acacia forest, respectively.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.111 no.4
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• pp.473-481
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• 2022

Environment-friendly harvesting is practiced to maintain ecosystem, landscape, and forest protection functions. The present study was conducted at Simgok-ri, Sinbuk-myeon, Pocheon, Gyeonngi-do, where a 41-50-year-old Japanese larch forest was harvested in an environment-friendly manner from 2017 to 2019. The dynamics of organic matter in this forest were investigated at three years after the harvest. Specifically, organic matter content was measured on the forest floor and in overstory biomass, litterfall, and soil up to 30 cm in depth from June 2020 to January 2021. Owing to the harvest, the amount of overstory biomass of the Japanese larch stands decreased from 142.22 to 44.20 t ha^-1. On the forest floor, the amount of organic matter was 32.87 t ha^-1 in the control plots and 23.34 t ha^-1 in the harvest plots. Annual litterfall was 4.43 t ha^-1 yr^-1 in the control plots and 1.16 t ha^-1 yr^-1 in the harvest plots. Soil bulk density in the B horizon was 0.97 g cm^-3 in the control plots and 1.06 g cm^-3 i n the harvest plots. Soil organic matter content was 11.5% in the control plots and 12.8% in the harvest plots. The total amount of soil organic matter did not differ significantly between the control plots (245.21 t ha^-1) and harvest plots (263.92 t ha^-1), although the amount of soil organic matter tended to be higher in the harvest plots. The total amount of organic matter in the forest was estimated to be 406.48 t ha^-1 in the control plots and 338.21 t ha^-1 in the harvest plots. In the harvest plots, the ratio of aboveground organic matter decreased to 13.1% and soil organic matter increased to 78.0%, indicating that the distribution of organic matter changed significantly in these plots. Overall, the carbon accumulated in aboveground biomass was substantially reduced by environment-friendly harvesting, whereas the soil carbon level increased, which played a role in mitigating the reduction of system carbon in the forest. These results highlight one possible resolution for forest management in terms of coping with climate change. However, given that only three years of environment-friendly harvesting data were analyzed, further research on the dynamics of organic matter and tree growth is needed.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.107 no.2
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• pp.140-150
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• 2018

For the estimation of greenhouse gas dynamics in forests, it is useful to use a model which simulates both carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) cycle simultaneously. A forest C model, called FBDC, was developed and validated in Korea. However, studies on development of forest N model are insufficient. This study aimed to suggest a development process of a forest C and N model. We analyzed the general features, structures, ecological processes, input data, output data, and methods of integrating C and N cycles of the VISIT, Biome-BGC, Forest-DNDC, and O-CN. The structure and features of the FBDC were also analyzed. The VISIT was developed by integrating forest C model with a N cycle module, and the new model also could be designed by combining the FBDC with a N cycle module. The VISIT and Forest-DNDC could estimate soil $N_2O$ emissions, and the integrated model should include the processes shared by these models. Especially, the overseas models linked C and N cycles based on N absorption, C absorption, and decomposition of dead organic matter. Therefore, the integration of the FBDC with N cycle module should apply this linkage of structures between C and N cycles. Climate, soil texture, and species distribution data, which are essential for the model development, were available in Korea. However, parameter data associated with N cycle and validation data for soil $N_2O$ emissions need to be obtained by field studies.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural and Forest Meteorology
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.242-252
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• 2016

A process-based ecosystem model, BIOME-BGC, was applied to simulate seasonal and inter-annual dynamics of carbon and water processes for potential evergreen needleleaf forest (ENF) biome in Korea. Two simulation sites, Milyang and Unljin, were selected to reflect warm-and-dry and cool-and-wet climate regimes, where massive diebacks of pines including Pinus densiflora, P. koraiensis and P thunbergii, were observed in 2009 and 2014, respectively. Standard Precipitation Index (SPI) showed periodic drought occurrence at every 5 years or so for both sites. Since mid-2000s, droughts occurred with hotter climate condition. Among many model variables, Cpool (i.e., a temporary carbon pool reserving photosynthetic compounds before allocations for new tissue production) was identified as a useful proxy variable of tree carbon starvation caused by reduction of gross primary production (GPP) and/or increase of maintenance respiration (Rm). Temporal Cpool variation agreed well with timings of pine tree diebacks for both sites. Though water stress was important, winter- and spring-time warmer temperature also played critical roles in reduction of Cpool, especially for the cool-and-wet Uljin. Shallow soil depth intensified the drought effect, which was, however, marginal for soil depth shallower than 0.5 m. Our modeling analysis implicates seasonal drought and warmer climate can intensify vulnerability of ENF dieback in Korea, especially for shallower soils, in which multi-year continued stress is of concern more than short-term episodic stress.

• Journal of Forest and Environmental Science
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.253-257
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• 2018

Climate models forecast more frequent and a longer period of drought events which may impact forest soil carbon dynamics, thereby altering the soil respiration (SR) rate. We examine the simulated drought effects on soil $CO_2$ effluxes from soil surface partitioning heterotrophic and autotrophic soil respiration sources. Three replicates of drought plots ($6{\times}6m$) were constructed with the same size of three control plots. We examined the relation between $CO_2$ and soil temperature and soil moisture, each being measured at a soil depth of 15 cm. We also compared which factor affected $CO_2$ efflux more under drought conditions. Total SR, autotrophic respiration (AR) and heterotrophic respiration (HR) were positively correlated with soil temperature (p < 0.05), and the relationships were stronger in roof plots than in control plots. Total SR, AR, and HR were negatively correlated only in roof plots, and the only HR showed a significant correlation (p < 0.05, r = -0.59). Soil respiration rates were more influenced by soil temperature than by soil moisture, and this relationship was more evident under drought conditions.

• Journal of Forest and Environmental Science
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.330-341
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• 2017

Tropical forests play a key role for functioning of the planet and maintenance of life. These forests support more than half of the world's species, serve as regulators of global and regional climate, act as carbon sinks and provide valuable ecosystem services. Forest floor biomass and litterfall dynamics was measured in different sites influenced by fire in a seasonally dry tropical forest of Bhoramdeo wildlife sanctuary of Chhattisgarh, India. The forest floor biomass was collected randomly placed quadrats while the litterfall measured by placing stone-block lined denuded quadrat technique. The seasonal mean total forest floor biomass across the fire regimes varied from $2.00-3.65t\;ha^{-1}$. The total litterfall of the study sites varied from $4.75-7.56t\;ha^{-1}\;yr^{-1}$. Annual turnover of litter varied from 70-74% and the turnover time between 1.35-1.43 years. Monthly pattern of forest floor biomass indicated that partially decayed litter, wood litter and total forest floor were differed significantly. The seasonal variation showed that leaf fall differed significantly in winter season only among the fire regimes while the wood litter was found non significant in all the season. This study shows that significant variation among the site due to the forest fire. Decomposition is one of the ecological processes critical to the functioning of forest ecosystems. The decomposing wood serves as a saving account of nutrients and organic materials in the forest floor. Across the site, high fire zone was facing much of the deleterious effects on forest floor biomass and litter production. Control on such type of wildfire and anthropogenic ignition could allow the natural recovery processes to enhance biological diversity. Chronic disturbances do not provide time for ecosystem recovery; it needs to be reduced for ecosystem health and maintaining of the high floral and faunal biodiversity.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural and Forest Meteorology
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.198-221
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• 2021

After large-scale reforestation in the 1960s and 1970s, forests in Korea have gradually been aging. Net ecosystem CO₂ exchange of old-growth forests is theoretically near zero; however, it can be a CO₂ sink or source depending on the intervention of disturbance or management. In this study, we report the CO₂ budget dynamics of the Gwangneung deciduous old-growth forest (GDK) in Korea and examined the following two questions: (1) is the preserved GDK indeed CO₂ neutral as theoretically known? and (2) can we explain the dynamics of CO₂ budget by the common mechanisms reported in the literature? To answer, we analyzed the 15-year long CO₂ flux data measured by eddy covariance technique along with other biometeorological data at the KoFlux GDK site from 2006 to 2020. The results showed that (1) GDK switched back-and-forth between sink and source of CO₂ but averaged to be a week CO₂ source (and turning to a moderate CO₂ source for the recent five years) and (2) the interannual variability of solar radiation, growing season length, and leaf area index showed a positive correlation with that of gross primary production (GPP) (R²=0.32~0.45); whereas the interannual variability of both air and surface temperature was not significantly correlated with that of ecosystem respiration (RE). Furthermore, the machine learning-based model trained using the dataset of early monitoring period (first 10 years) failed to reproduce the observed interannual variations of GPP and RE for the recent five years. Biomass data analysis suggests that carbon emissions from coarse woody debris may have contributed partly to the conversion to a moderate CO₂ source. To properly understand and interpret the long-term CO₂ budget dynamics of GDK, new framework of analysis and modeling based on complex systems science is needed. Also, it is important to maintain the flux monitoring and data quality along with the monitoring of coarse woody debris and disturbances.