• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.96 no.2
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• pp.227-234
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• 2007

The forest canopy gap has been well known as a substantial process of forest cyclic regeneration and important role in stand structure, dynamics, and biodiversity of the forest ecosystem. Based on 3,600 $5m{\times}5m$ square grids in a 9ha permanent experimental plot, the study was conducted to evaluate the regeneration pattern of woody species by developmental stage {seedlings (<1 m of height), saplingI (>1 m of height, <2 cm of DBH), and saplingII (2 cm$<200m^2$), $201-400m^2$, $400-600m^2$, $601-800m^2$, and $>800m^2$) in the mixed broadleaved-Korean pine forest. The results indicated that the regenerating trees of Populus ussuriensis occurred only in the canopy gap area, considered to be a typical gap-dependent species. The regeneration of Ulmus japonica, Ulmus laciniata, and Maackia amurensis could be generally satisfied with the gap size of $201-600m^2$, Betula costata and Prunus padus with gap size of $401-800m^2$, Picea koraiensis with gap size of $201-800m^2$, Fraxinus mandshurica and Syringa reticulata var. mandshurica with smaller than $800m^2$, respectively. Acer ukurunduense and Acer tegmentosum were likely to have no problem with the gap size to make gap regeneration. Acer mono and Tilia amurensis looked more capable of regenerating in the closed canopy disregarding the upper crown condition. The regeneration of Pinus koraiensis and Abies nephrolepis had no trouble under the canopy condition in less than $800m^2$of gap size. The density of regenerating shrubs was rather high, especially under the closed canopy, considered to be associated with great amount of regeneration production in such shade tolerant species as Lonicera maackii, Corylus mandshurica, Euonymus pauciflorus, and Philadelphus schrenkii under the closed canopy. Pearson correlation coefficient was computed to compare the similarity among non-gap area and five gap size classes by developmental stages for trees and shrubs. The similarity coefficients among closed canopy and the gap size classes were mostly significantly correlated to each other with a few exceptions.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.89 no.5
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• pp.543-551
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• 2000

This study was conducted to understand Pinus densiflora regeneration characteristics from canopy gaps due to disturbance in natural forests located at Mt. Joongwang in Kangwon-do. The line-transect method was adopted to analyze crown architecture of Pinus densiflora. The saplings of Pinus densiflora in the canopy gap showed high adaptation to growth environment at their early regeneration stage, and showed different characteristics in crown architecture. Variation of branching angle in the main branch of Pinus densiflora was small in canopy gap. Primary branch growth showed was high during 4~5 year-old period and slowly low after that period. Average 5 of primary branch were generated from stem in canopy. Average 4 of secondary branch were generated from primary branch in canopy gap. Primary branches generated from the stem were uniformly distributed at all cardinal directions. When canopy gap size is $100{\sim}120m^2$, secondary branches generated from primary branch had mostly high numbers between $S44^{\circ}E$ and $S90^{\circ}W$.

• The Korean Journal of Ecology
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.189-201
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• 1995

In order to clarify regeneration processes and mechanisms of the disturbed Pinus densiflora forest, responses of Pinus densiflora to gap formed by disturbance were analysed by growth of saplings and mature and growth equations were obtained from branch growth of mature trees and height growth of saplings, and age distribution of saplings and young trees recruited within gap was analysed in relation to gap age. Height growth of saplings within gaps was accelerated after gap formation. Such abrupt increases of growth of saplings after the gap formation might be resulted in the difference of growth of saplings between gap and non-gap areas. In fact, height and diameter of saplings in the central part of gap were larger than those of saplings in marginal parts of gap and non-gap area. However, density of saplings was not different in both parts. In addition, growth of annual rings of mature trees bordering on gap also increased after gap formation. Branch growth of mature trees bodering on gap was 6.3 - 6.5 cm /year and the mean radius of gaps created by death of only one canopy tree was about 3 m. Therefore, for those gaps to be closed by branch growth it will take 46 years. Growth of saplings within gap showed exponential equation. Fifty years will be required for the saplings to enter the forest canopy by the exponential growth equation. Therefore, gap created by only one tree might be closed by branch growth of surrounding canopy trees in advance of being done by height growth of saplings. But gaps created by death of trees more than 2 will be closed by the growth of saplings. Among the regenerating saplings and young trees within gaps, individuals established in advance of gap formation were more than those established after the gap formation. From these results, it was assumed that the disturbed Pinus densiflora forests in these sites were regenerated by height growth of saplings recruited in advance of gap formation.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.89 no.3
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• pp.452-460
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• 2000

This study was to investigate the growth characteristics, physiological adaptation of Pinus densiflora(Japanese Red Pine) seedlings at the artificial canopy gap in the Quercus acutissima plantation and to analyze its natural regeneration mechanism. Photosynthetic and transpiration rates were analyzed by different levels of photosynthetically active radiation and by seedling growth. Comparing to seedlings at the open area, those at the canopy gap showed more growth in height than in diameter with different levels of light quality and low light intensity, and the increase rate of dry weight was higher in the aboveground than in the underground, maintaining relatively high T/R rate. The C/F(the ratio of non-photosynthetic organs to photosynthetic organs in dry weight) of the aboveground at the canopy gap was higher than that at the open area by 0.1~0.2, while light saturation and light compensation points at the canopy gap were lower than that at the open area by $300{\mu}mol\;m^{-2}s^{-1}$ and 40%, respectively. The seedlings appeared to have shade tolerance to a certain extent at the young growth stage despite Pinus densiflora is typically classified shade-intolerant species. With light intensity lower than $400{\sim}450{\mu}mol\;m^{-2}s^{-1}$, photosynthetic rate and water use efficiency relatively increased by effective use of light energy.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.87-96
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• 2009

Pinus thunbergii plantations in Pohang-si, Gyeongsangbuk-do, Korea, are of low ecological quality, with arrested succession and a high proportion of ruderal species. To improve the quality of the habitat, we created canopy gaps ($\sim42\;m^2$) and monitored changes in abiotic (light availability, canopy openness) and biotic (survival and growth of seedlings and understory communities) variables in 2007 and 2008 in plots that had received one of five types of treatment: cutting of canopy trees and removal of the understory (CU), cutting of canopy trees only (C), girdling of canopy trees and removal of the understory (GU), girdling of canopy trees (G) or control. Each treatment was applied to three replicate plots. Abiotic variables did not significantly differ among treatments. Survival rates of target species were slightly lower in the CU, G and control conditions. Based on logistic regression analysis, the only significant growth factor affecting survival was height growth. Positive effects of seedling height and leaf area growth on survival were also detected, but did not reach statistical significance. In treatment G, gradual improvement of overstory conditions and mitigation of competition by limitation of disturbance to the understory community were likely to have promoted seedling growth. There were no significant effects of gap treatments on changes in species abundance (cover and richness) and composition of understory between the study years. This result implies that the small gaps created in our study may be below the threshold size to affect understory growth. However, the results of this study are based on a short-term investigation of only two years. Long-term research is strongly recommended to clarify the effects of gap treatment on plant communities in afforested areas.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.44 no.2
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• pp.90-97
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• 2020

Background: Natural forests are generally considered to be less prone to biological invasions than other modified ecosystems, particularly when canopy cover is high. Few decades of management of degraded forests by local communities in Nepal has increased canopy cover and altered disturbance regimes. These changes might have reduced the abundance of invasive alien plant species (IAPS) in forests. To understand the status of IAPS in such forests, we studied two community managed Shorea robusta forests (Sundari and Dhusheri) of Nawalpur district in central Nepal. In these two forests, vegetation sampling was done using circular plots 10 m radius at forest edge, gaps, and within canopy. Variation of IAPS richness and cover across these microhabitats were compared, and their variation with tree canopy cover and basal area analyzed. Result: Altogether 14 IAPS were recorded in the study forests; among them Chromolaena odorata, Ageratum houstonianum, and Lantana camara had the highest frequency. Mikania micrantha was at the early stage of colonization in Sundari Community Forest (CF) but absent in Dhuseri CF. Both IAPS cover and richness was higher at forest edge and gap than in canopy plots and both these attributes declined with increasing canopy cover and tree basal area. Conclusion: The results indicate that increase in canopy cover and closure of forest gaps through participatory management of degraded forests can prevent plant invasions and suppress the growth of previously established IAPS in Shorea robusta forests of Nepal. This is the unacknowledged benefit of participatory forest management in Nepal.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.325-330
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• 2007

Recognizing the ecological importance of forest gap formation for forest community structure, we examined the differences in species diversity between forest gaps and closed canopy areas for trees and shrubs in three developmental stages (seedling, sapling I, and sapling II) in a typical mixed broadleaved-Korean pine forest. We randomly placed 100 sample plots ($2{\times}2m$ for seedling and sapling I, and $5{\times}5m$ for sapling II) in forest gap and closed canopy areas of a 9 ha permanent sample plot for vegetation surveys of plants of each developmental stage in each habitat type. Even though the formation of forest gaps encouraged the occurrence of gap-dependent species and increased overall species diversity, there were no significant differences in species richness among the three developmental stages for both tree and shrub species (p>0.05). Comparing the two types of sites, statistical tests revealed no difference in species richness for trees, but highly significant differences (p<0.01) between forest types for shrubs for seedlings and sapling I, but not sapling II. Analysis of variance test indicated that there were no significant differences in species diversity among the three developmental stages of tree species (p>0.05) for both Simpson and Shannon indices. The variance for shrub seedlings was significantly different between forest gaps and closed canopy areas, but not for sapling I and sapling II. The analysis showed that the species diversity in forest gaps was significantly different from that of closed canopy areas for seedling and sapling I (p<0.01), but not for sapling II (p>0.05).

• Proceedings of the KSRS Conference
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• 2003.11a
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• pp.72-74
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• 2003

Forest canopy density is an ideal representative of the forest habitat situations. It can directly or indirectly depict the canopy structure and gap size in the forestland, thus could be applied to assessment of wildlife’s diversit y. Since population survey of vegetation and wildlife diversities is a key issue for sustainable forest ecosystem management, many research efforts have been focused on forest canopy density using multispectral data in the last two decades. Unfortunately, prediction of canopy density using large scaling remote sensing data remains a challenging issue. Due to recent advances in hyperspectral image sensors hyperspectral imagery is now available for environmental monitoring. In this paper, we conduct experiments to monitor complicated environments of forestland that can be captured by using hyperspectral imagery and further be analyzed to test a prediction model of forest canopy density. The results show that 95% of canopy density could be well described by using 2 difference vegetation indices (DVIs), which are difference of blue and green reflectances rband_100-rband_150 and difference of 2 short wave infrared reflectancse rband_406-rband_410 With the wavelengths of band no. 100, 150, 406, and 410 specified by 462.39 nm, 534.40 nm, 918.22 nm and 924.41 nm respectively.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Environment and Ecology Conference
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• 2003.04a
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• pp.37-41
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• 2003

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.157-165
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• 2011

This study was conducted to determine the characteristics of gaps and natural regeneration of trees on Mt. Makiling, the Philippines. Canopy gaps in or around two 1-ha permanent plots and on 3-km line transects were investigated. Most of the gaps studied were formed or affected by Typhoon Milenyo, which hit the study site in September 2006. The most frequent mode of gap maker death was snap-off, whereas uprooting was relatively less important. The most frequent gap maker was balobo (Diplodiscus paniculatus) followed by magabuyo (Celtis luzonica) and katmon (Dillenia philippinensis). In contrast, the most frequent gap filler was magabuyo (C. luzonica). At the sapling layer, the most important species was magabuyo (C. luzonica), but there was a high proportion of lianas and palms. Most of the gaps had leaf area index (LAI) values between 3 and 5. A clear trend of a decrease in gap size and an increase in LAI was observed for 2 years from 2007 to 2009. New seedlings emerged very abundantly during the same time period. The rapid changes in the gaps were partially due to the excellent capability of tropical trees to resprout after the crown or stem was damaged by the typhoon. This study on gap dynamics may contribute to a better understanding of the natural regeneration process of trees in tropical rainforests.