• 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.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.96 no.5
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• pp.591-601
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• 2007

Spatial information on forest biomass is an important factor to evaluate the capability of forest as a carbon sequestrator and is a core independent variable required to drive models which describe ecological processes such as carbon budget, hydrological budget, and energy flow. The objective of this study is to understand the relationship between satellite image and field data, and to quantitatively estimate and map the spatial distribution of forest biomass. Landsat Enhanced Thematic Mapper (ETM+) derived vegetation indices and field survey data were applied to estimate the biomass distribution of mountainous forest located in Gwangneung Experimental Forest (230 ha). Field survey data collected from the ground plots were used as the dependent variable, forest biomass, while satellite image reflectance data (Band 1~5 and Band 7), Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Soil-Adjusted Vegetation Index (SAVI), and RVI (Ratio Vegetation Index) were used as the independent variables. The mean and total biomass of Gwangneung catchment area were estimated to be about 229.5 ton/ha and $52.8{\times}10^3$ tons respectively. Regression analysis revealed significant relationships between the measured biomass and Landsat derived variables in both of deciduous forest ($R^2=0.76$, P < 0.05) and coniferous forest ($R^2=0.75$, P < 0.05). However, there still exist many uncertainties in the estimation of forest ecosystem parameters based on vegetation remote sensing. Developing remote sensing techniques with adequate filed survey data over a long period are expected to increase the estimation accuracy of spatial information of the forest ecosystem.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.33-47
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• 1996

To select the criteria, literature review was made in the quantitative case of conservation biology, foreign country's EIA and domestic ecology. Among them, a few factors was extracted. To applicate the criteria to domestic forest ecosystem, expert opinion survey was executed to the ecologist. The results were summarized as follows; 1. Classification of sites was made of land use system which is related to forest ecosystem or forest conservation. Sites are divided into 3 categories which are nature preservation area, seminature preservation area and urbanized area. Evaluation criteria is consisted of rarity and naturalness. 2. Each area had different criteria composition according to the site characteristics. Criteria of nature preservation area is rarity in the broad sense (distribution pattern of vegetation), vegetation size, successional stage and depth of organic matters. Those of seminature preservation area are rarity in the broad sense (distribution area of vegetation), vegetation size, successional stage, diameter at breath height and depth of organic matters. And those of urbanized area are vegetation distribution in area, successional stage, age of forest and diameter of breath height. The basic data of criterion was gathered by field survey. 3. Evaluation index and total naturalness index was obtained by adding the each criterion. It is made up of two categories-rarity and naturalness. TNi is divided into 3 grades. Grade I is more than 70% for TNi, grade IT is 50~70%, and grade III is below 50%. According to the each grade, permitted action and facilities were suggested.. This research just focuses on the evaluation of vegetation quality and the assessment results do not directly judge conservation or development. To make better evaluation criteria, various fields of forest ecosystem-geological or physical nature environment and fauna ecosystem etc. -will be added wholly to this research.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.44 no.4
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• pp.275-285
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• 2020

Background: In Korea, Symplocos prunifolia Siebold. & Zucc. is only found on Jeju Island. Conservation of the species is difficult because little is known about its distribution and natural habitat. The lack of research and survey data on the characteristics of native vegetation and distribution of this species means that there is insufficient information to guide the management and conservation of this species and related vegetation. Therefore, this study aims to identify the distribution and vegetation associated with S. prunifolia. Results: As a result of field investigations, it was confirmed that the native S. prunifolia communities were distributed in 4 areas located on the southern side of Mt. Halla and within the evergreen broad-leaved forest zones. Furthermore, these evergreen broad-leaved forest zones are themselves located in the warm temperate zone which are distributed along the valley sides at elevations between 318 and 461 m. S. prunifolia was only found on the south side of Mt. Halla, and mainly on south-facing slopes; however, small communities were found to be growing on northwest-facing slopes. It has been confirmed that S. prunifolia trees are rare but an important constituent species in the evergreen broad-leaved forest of Jeju. The mean importance percentage of S. prunifolia community was 48.84 for Castanopsis sieboldii, 17.79 for Quercus acuta, and 12.12 for Pinus thunbergii; S. prunifolia was the ninth most important species (2.6). Conclusions: S. prunifolia can be found growing along the natural streams of Jeju, where there is little anthropogenic influence and where the streams have caused soil disturbance through natural processes of erosion and deposition of sediments. Currently, the native area of S. prunifolia is about 3300 ㎡, which contains a confirmed population of 180 individual plants. As a result of these low population sizes, it places it in the category of an extremely endangered plant in Korea. In some native sites, the canopy of evergreen broad-leaved forest formed, but the frequency and coverage of species were not high. Negative factors that contributed to the low distribution of this species were factors such as lacking in shade tolerance, low fruiting rates, small native areas, and special habitats as well as requiring adequate stream disturbance. Presently, due to changes in climate, it is unclear whether this species will see an increase in its population and habitat area or whether it will remain as an endangered species within Korea. What is clear, however, is that the preservation of the present native habitats and population is extremely important if the population is to be maintained and expanded. It is also meaningful in terms of the stable conservation of biodiversity in Korea. Therefore, based on the results of this study, it is judged that a systematic evaluation for the preservation and conservation of the habitat and vegetation management method of S. prunifolia should be conducted.

• The Korean Journal of Ecology
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• v.19 no.5
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• pp.465-476
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• 1996

There are several environmental variables that may be influential to the spatial distribution of forest vegetation. To create a map of forest vegetation zone over southern part of Korean Peninsula, digital map layers were produced for each of environmental variables that include topography, geographic locations, and climate. In addition, an extensive set of field survey data was collected at relatively undisturbed forests and they were introduced into the GIS database with exact coordinates of survey sites. Preliminary statistical analysis on the survey data showed that the environmental variables were significantly different among the previously defined five forest vegetation zones. Classification of the six layers of digital map representing environmental variables was carried out by a supervised classifier using the training statistics from field survey data and by a clustering algorithm. Although the maps from two classifiers were somewhat different due to the classification procedure applied, they showed overall patterns of vertical and horizontal distribution of forest zones. considering the spatial contents of many ecological studies, GIS can be used as an important tool to manage and analyze spatial data. This study discusses more about the generation of digital map and the analysis procedure rather than the outcome map of forest vegetation zone.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.46 no.3
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• pp.460-470
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• 2013

Forest vegetation of Choksangsan area in the Deogyusan National Park is classified into mountain forest vegetation. Mountain forest vegetation is subdivided into deciduous broad-leaved forest, valley forest, coniferous forest, afforestation and other vegetation. Including 103 communities of mountain forest vegetation and 8 communities of other vegetation, the total of 111 communities were researched; the mountain forest vegetation classified by physiognomy classification are 36 communities deciduous broad-leaved forest, 26 communities of valley forest, 10 communities of coniferous forests, 31 plantation and 8 other vegetation. As for the distribution rate for surveyed main communities, Quercus mongolica, Quercus variabilis communities account for 65.96 percent of deciduous broad-leaved forest, Fraxinus mandshurica community takes up 22.50 percent of mountain valley forest, Pinus densiflora community holds 63.27 percent of mountain coniferous forest holds. In conclusion, minority species consisting of Quercus mongolica, Fraxinus mandshurica, Quercus serrata, Pinus densiflora, and Quercus variabilis are distributed as dominant species of the uppermost part in a forest vegetation of Choksangsan in Deogyusan National Park. In addition, because of vegetation succession and climate factors, numerous colonies formed by the two species are expected to be replaced by Quercus mongolica, Carpinus laxiflora and Fraxinus mandshurica which are climax species in the area.

• The Korean Journal of Ecology
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.1-13
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• 1983

A survey was conducted on the vegetation of southern slope of Daecheong-bong, Mt. Seolag, Located at the northern part of Taebaek mountain chain in the Central Korea. The altitudinal zonation of the vegetation was analyzed by distribution pattern of dominant species along thermal gradient, In additiion to these procedure th plant sociological studies by Braun-Blanquet(1964) were carried out. It was recognized that the vegetation is consist of 16 associations including Quercus mongolica-Lindera obtusiloba. association and the forest zone is classified into southern, central and northern part of cool temperate forest and subarctic forest.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.29 no.6
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• pp.521-529
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• 2006

This study was carried out to classify all forest vegetation types in Ulleung Island, Korea using the methodology of the Z.-M. school's phytosociology, and map out the spatial distribution patterns of those vegetation types. The forest vegetation was classified into the mountain forest type (Acer okamotoanum community group) and maritime forest type (Artemisia scoparia community group). Vegetation units at the community level were divided into three categories; six communities, sixteen groups, and seven subgroups, giving a total of 22 communities. Total area for mapping was 5,544.9 ha, of which Fagus engleriana community accounted for 1,952 ha (35.2%), Hedera rhambea community ror 1,196 ha (21.6%), Camellia japonica community for 1,104 ha (19.9%), Sambucus sieboldiana var. pendula community for 612 ha (11.0%), Aster spathulifolius community for 506 ha (9.1%), and Tsuga sieboldii - Pinus parviflora community for 174 ha (3.1%). According to canonical correspondence analysis (CCA), variables such as $Mg^{2+}$, pH, $Ca^{2+}$ were positively correlated in maritime vegetation types, and variables such as total nitrogen, carbon content, C/N ratio and ration exchange capacity (CEC) were highly correlated in mountain vegetation types, respectively. The sea level and the slope direction were not showing regular trend as a factor to decide on species diversity, evenness and richness in this research area. But it seems to be affected by topography, slope degree and dominance vegetation.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.46 no.4
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• pp.570-580
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• 2013

The forest vegetation of the Deogyusan National Park is classified into mountain forest vegetation and riparian forest vegetation. Mountain forest vegetation in the forest vegetation is subdivided into deciduous broad-leaved forest, valley forest, coniferous forest, subalpine coniferous forest, shrub forest, afforestation and other vegetation. Including 192 communities of mountain forest vegetation and 3 communities of other vegetation, the total of 195 communities were researched; the distributed colonies classified by physiognomy classification are 61 communities deciduous broad-leaved forest, 55 communities of valley forest, 17 communities of coniferous forests, 6 communities of subalpine coniferous forest, 3 communities of shrub forest, 50 afforestation and 3 other vegetation. As for the distribution rate for surveyed main communities, Quercus mongolica, Quercus serrata, Quercus variabilis communities account for 66.00 percent of deciduous broad-leaved forest, Fraxinus mandshurica, Cornus controversa community takes up 64.40 percent of mountain valley forest, Pinus densiflora community holds 70.40 percent of mountain coniferous forest holds. In conclusion, minority species consisting of Quercus mongolica, Quercus serrata, Quercus variabilis, Fraxinus mandshurica, Cornus controversa, Pinus densiflora are distributed as dominant species of the uppermost part in a forest vegetation of Geochilbong in Deogyusan National Park. In addition, because of vegetation succession and climate factors, numerous colonies formed by the two species are expected to be replaced by Quercus mongolica, Carpinus laxiflora and Fraxinus mandshurica which are climax species in the area. However, the distribution rate of deciduous broad-leaved forest seems to increase gradually due to global warming and artificial disturbance.

• The Korean Journal of Ecology
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• v.21 no.5_1
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• pp.419-426
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• 1998

Twenty-two forest stands and one hundred and fourteen plant species were ordinated by a reciprocal averaging(RA) method to extract the major forest patterns of the Quercus forests in Mts. Wolak, choryong, Juhul and Bohyun. The RA stand ordination on the first and second axes revealed a gradient of vegetation. It is the gradient from the Quercus mongolica-dominated forest to the Quercus serrata-dominated forest or Quercus variabilis-dominated forest. An intermediate zone between the two forest types was recognized by the RA stand ordination. Especially the zone on Mt. Bohyun was evidently higher than those of the other mountains. The gradient also showed the environmental one from mesic to xeric habitats and from higher to lower altitudes. The RA species ordination showed the distribution center of each species in the above mentioned patterns of the forest vegetation.