• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.54 no.1
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• pp.49-59
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• 1981

In order to elucidate the process of plant succession of the Japanese red pine forests caused by pine gall midge, Thecodoplosis japonensis, in the area of Chungbuk and Kyongbuk, 12 study plots, 4 plots from each three districts, were set up. Districts A (Cheongwon)not attacked by this insect, as the check, District B(Gumi) in which the insect outbreak occured 5 years ago, and District C(Yeongdong)in which the insect outbreak occured 10 years ago, were sampled. The surveyed were some environmental factors, the number of woody plants, relative density, relative dominance values, species composition of plots by layer(upper, middle and ground), importance values, species diversity, similarity and dissimilarity index, etc. The results obtained are summarized as follows: The accumulation of litter on the ground was increased with the lengthening the insect damage duration. Through the crown opening and litter accumulation, the light intensity, temperature condition and soil moisture and nutrient content might be altered. According to the changes of species composition were forced. In general, the Genus Quercus, as a compensation species, has sprung up. The relative importance values for Q.aliena, Q.serrata, and Q.variabilis were significantly increased in the insect infested forests. 2. the stand structure and species composition of the insect attacked forest about 5 years later after the outbreak become complex and diverse. However, since this time, the simplicity of these regards become restored up to 10 years after the outbreak. 3. As the synthetic analysis of plant succession process, the relative values calculated from the relative density and the relative dominance values shown the dominant status of Genus Quercus in the heavily damaged forests. In addition, Genus Rhododendron and Genus Lespedeza with higher frequency become the ground vegetation components. They were gradually increased along the time elapsing after the insect out-break. 4. The differences in connection with the soil moisture contents, the organic matter contents which might give some influences to the vegetation change were hardly recognizable statistically among the studied plots by three district groups. We estimated that the annual mean precipitation and the annual mean temperature did not operated any meaningful effects on the vegetation alteration among plots between districts.