• Journal of Forest and Environmental Science
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.157-167
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• 2011

This study was conducted to analyze the stand structure and growth characteristics along different elevations of Pinus koraiensis natural forests located at mean elevation 1,300 m (site1), 900 m (site2) and 600 m (site3) on Mt. Seorak. Mean DBH and height of P. koraiensis were 25.4 cm and 12.3 m in site1, while that of site2 and 3 were over 40 cm and 20 m, respectively. For this reason, there was 5 times difference of single tree volume between site1 and other sites(p<0.05). Mean ringwidth increment of P. koraiensis was 1.1 mm/yr in site1, 1.5 mm/yr in site2 and 2.6 mm/yr in site3. However, recent growth of ringwidth has increased by 8.6% in site1, whereas site2 and 3 have fallen by approximately 50% over the last 10 years. These results signify that the growth and distribution of natural P. koraiensis are effected by different climatic environment along elevations.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.40 no.5
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• pp.429-434
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• 2007

This study was conducted to estimate site productivity of Quercus acutissima and Quercus mongolica by four forest climatic zones. We used site environmental variables (28 geographical and pedological factors) and site index as a site productivity indicator from nation-wide 23,315 stands. Based on multiple regression analysis between site index and major environmental variables, the best-fit multivaliate models were made by each species and forest climatic zone. Most of site index prediction models by species were regressed with seven to eight factors, including altitude, relief, soil depth, and soil moisture etc. For those models, three evaluation statistics such as mean difference, standard deviation of difference, and standard error of difference were applied to the test data set for the validation of the results. According to the evaluation statistics, it was found that the models by climatic zones and species fitted well to the test data set with relatively low bias and variation. Also having above middle of site index range, total area of productive sites for the two Quercus spp. estimated by those models would be about 6% of total forest area. Northern temperate forest zone and central temperate forest zone had more productive area than southern temperate forest zone and warm temperate forest zone. As a result, it was concluded that the regressive prediction with site environmental variables by climatic zones and species had enough estimation capability of forest site productivity.

• Journal of Forest and Environmental Science
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.155-158
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• 2008

Site index is the essential tool for forest management to estimate the productivity of forest land Generally, site index equation is developed and used by relationship between stand age and dominant tree heights. However, there is a limit to use the site index equation in the application of variable ages, environmental influence, and estimation of site index for unstocked land. Therefore, it was attempted to develop a new site index equations based on various environmental factors including site and topographical variables. This study was conducted to develop regional site index equations based on the relationship between site index and soil factors for Pinus densiflora. Environmental factors that obtained from GIS application, were selected by stepwise-regression. Site index Equation was estimated by multiple regression from selected factors. Four environmental factors were selected in the final site index equations by stepwise regression. It was observed that coefficients of determination for site index equations were ranged from 0.34 which seem to be relatively low but good enough for estimation of forest stand productivity. The site index equations developed in this study were also verified to be useful by three evaluation statistics such as model's estimation bias, model's precision and mean square error type of measure.

• Journal of Forest and Environmental Science
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.202-206
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• 2015

Site index curves were developed for Larix kaempferi and Pinus koraiensis in Gangwon and North Gyeongsang provinces in Korea. For the development of site index, Schumacher and Chapman-Richards model were applied using the data collected from 2012 to 2014. Base age was set to 40 years for Larix kaempferi and Pinus koraiensis in site index of this study. Coefficient of determination and root mean square error of site index models were provided by species, and the models were compared with the previous studies to check the suitability. Overall, site index models developed in this study fitted in the current data well. Thus, the site indexes are considered to be properly used in Gangwon and North Gyeongsang provinces.

• Journal of Forest and Environmental Science
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.315-321
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• 2014

Forest timber production potential of any site is oftentimes measured quantitatively by site index, which is defined as dominant height of a particular stand at a specified age. A site index was developed for estimating site quality of monoculture Pinus caribaea plantations in southwestern Nigeria using a base age of 25 years. Dominant height data were collected from 60 Temporary Sample Plots (TSPs) of $20{\times}20m$ in plantations of 15 to 37 years. Linear and non-linear models as been widely applied in quantitative forest measurements were fitted to dominant height-age data and the best site index equation is : $SI=Exp^{(InHd-23.495(A^{-2}-0.04)}$. The site index curves constructed for the three sites (Omo Forest Reserve - OFR (J4), Oluwa Forest Reserve - OLFR and Shasha Forest Reserve - SFR) across the southwestern Nigeria using the chosen equation revealed that a 15 year old Pinus caribaea in the study area attained average dominant heights of 25, 22 and 21 m in OFR (J4), OLFR and SFR respectively. The site index equation and curves proffer veritable insight into better silvicultural options and management practices for the future plantations suitable sites.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural and Forest Meteorology
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.97-106
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• 2006

Site index is an essential tool to estimate forest productivity. Generally, a site index equation is developed and used from the relationship between stand age and dominant tree heights. However, there is a limit to the use of the site index equation in the application of variable ages, environmental influence, and estimation of site index for the unstocked forest. Therefore, it has been attempted to develop a new site index equation based on various environmental factors including site, climate, and topographical variables. This study was conducted to develop a site index equation based on the relationship between site index and environmental factors for the species of Pinus koraiensis in Yangpyung-Gun, Gyunggi Province. The influence of climatic factors (temperature and solar irradiation ratio), topographical factors (elevation, slope, ratio of slope to valley and aspect) and soil profiles (soil depth by layer and soil consistency) on site index were evaluated by multiple regression analysis. Five environmental factors were selected in the final site index equation for Pinus koraiensis. The site index equation developed in this study was also verified by three evaluation statistics: model's estimation bias, model's precision, and mean square error of measurement. Based on the site index equation, the number of productive areas for Pinus koraiensis were estimated by applying GIS technique to digitized forest maps. In addition, the distribution of productive areas was compared with the areas of current distribution of Pinus koraiensis. It is expected that the results obtained in this study could provide valuable information about the amount and distribution of productive areas for Pinus koraiensis reforestation.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Environmental Restoration Technology
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• v.19 no.6
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• pp.87-100
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• 2016

This research was performed for the purpose of providing useful and base data and preservation strategy of growth characteristics of Rhododendron micranthum. From the result of research, wild growth area of Rhododendron micranthum was discovered near steep forest road on 695~901m in altitude above sea level of Baekdu-daegan National Arboretum. Vegetation colony structure of Site I was resulted in Pinus densiflora(tree stratum M.I.P.=45.3%) is dominants, Betula schmidtii(arborescent M.I.P.=9.8%) is second dominant, and Site III resulted in Pinus densiflora(tree stratum M.I.P.=30.5%) is dominants, Betula schmidtii(arborescent M.I.P.=10.3%) is second dominant. Site II resulted in Betula schmidtii(arborescent M.I.P.=30.4%) is dominants and Pinus densiflora tree(tree stratum M.I.P.=8.3%) is second dominants. For herbs, it was researched that the rate of one year herb of chrysanthemum family(10), rice family(3), sedge(2) was higher than near forest area. Among Species diversity index, that of Shannon was in range of 0.7348~1.1090. After comparing this with similar area, this value was relatively low. Dominance analysis result was analyzed that various groups are evenly distributed. Monthly highest average temperature is $23.9^{\circ}$ in Site A and Site B, and monthly lowest average temperature is $-4.5^{\circ}C$ in Site I and $-4.7^{\circ}C$ in Site II. Monthly maximum average humidity is 85.6% in Site I and 83.2% in Site II. Monthly minimum average humidity is 60.9% in Site I and 60.8% in Site II and it showed that these 2 area are located far away but have similar temperature and humidity characteristic and climate environment is similar. It was analyzed that humidity is high with the result of annual average humidity is over 60%. In growth characteristic, it showed that doubt damage of Stephanitis pyrioides, exposure of roots, peeled bark was discovered and supplement on this is urgent.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.111 no.3
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• pp.428-434
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• 2022

This study was conducted to derive the site index of forest productivity of Robinia pseudoacacia (honey plant) to characterize suitable planting sites and to investigate the effect of the site environmental factors on the site index using the quantification theory I method. The data used in the analysis were growth factors (stand age, dominant height, etc.) of the 6th national forest resources survey and various site environmental factors of a forest soil map (1:5,000). The average site index value of the R. pseudoacacia stand in Korea was 14 (range, 8 to 18). The environmental factors affecting the site index were parent rock, climatic zone, soil texture, local topography, and altitude. The accuracy of the estimation model using quantification theory I was only 33%. However, the correlation between the site index and the site environmental factors was statistically significant at the 1% level. Results of quantification analysis between site index and site environmental factors revealed that metamorphic and igneous rocks received high grades as parent rocks, climate zones received higher grades than central temperate zone, clay loam and silt loam received high grades in soil texture, and hillside received a high grade in local topography. Analysis of the partial correlation between site topographical factors and forest productivity (site index) found that soil class and altitude were partially correlated to x by 0.4129 and 0.4023, respectively, indicating that these factors are the most influential variables.

• Journal of Forest and Environmental Science
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• v.34 no.5
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• pp.359-375
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• 2018

The long term ecological effects have been reported in natural forest ecosystem due to various anthropogenic disturbances, especially in tropics of the world. The present study was carried out in the sanctuary area of central India to assess the changes on litter biomass, litterfall pattern and soil attributes under different disturbance regimes. The study area includes three forest circles i.e., Bhoramdeo, Jamunpani and Salehwara each comprising three disturbances regimes viz., high, medium and low severity of biotic pressure. A noticeable variation and impact were recorded in different sites. The impact varies significantly from least disturbed sites to highly disturbed sites across the circle and among different disturbances level. The seasonal mean total forest floor biomass across the forest circles varied from 2.18 to $3.30t\;ha^{-1}$. It was found highest under lightly disturbed site and lowest under heavily disturbed site. Total litterfall varied from 5.11 to $7.06t\;ha^{-1}\;yr^{-1}$ across the forest circle. Lowest litterfall was recorded at heavily disturbed site while highest in lightly disturbed site. Annual turnover of litter varied from 69-73% and the turnover time ranged between 1.37-1.45 years. The turn over time was higher for heavily disturbed site and lower for lightly disturbed site. The heavily disturbed site of all the circle showed the sandy loam soil texture, whereas moderately and lightly disturbed site comprised of sandy loam, sandy clay loam and clay soil texture, respectively. The bulk density decreases from heavily disturbed site to lightly disturbed site and the pH of soils ranged from 5.57-6.89 across the circle. Across the circle the total soil nitrogen ranged from 0.12-0.21%, phosphorus from 10.03-24.00 kg and Potassium from $139.88-448.35kg\;ha^{-1}$, respectively. Our results demonstrate that anthropogenic disturbances regime significantly influences forest floors in terms of mass, composition and dynamics along with litterfall rate and soil properties.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.102 no.3
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• pp.437-445
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• 2013

This study was conducted to develop site index equations and to estimate productive areas of Quercus acutissima by ecoprovince in Korea using environmental factors. Using the large data set from both a digital forest site map and a climatic map, a total of 48 environmental factors including 19 climatic variables were regressed on site index to develop site index equations. Four to six environmental factors for Quercus acutissima by ecoprovince were selected as independent variables in the final site index equations. The result showed that the coefficients of determination for site index equations were ranged from 0.30 to 0.41, which seem to be relatively low but good enough for the estimation of forest stand productivity. The site index equations developed in this study were also verified by three evaluation statistics such as the estimation bias of model, precision of model, and mean square error of measurement. According to the evaluation statistics, it was found that the site index equations fitted well to the test data sets with relatively low bias and variation. As a result, it was concluded that the site index equations were well capable of estimating site quality. Based on the site index equations of Quercus acutissima by ecoprovince, the productive areas by ecoprovince were estimated by applying GIS technique to the digital forest site map and climate map. In addition, the distribution of productive areas by ecoprovince was illustrated by using GIS technique.