• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.457-464
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• 2003

A valley forest in Sangbuun area at Jirisan National Park was studied to investigate forest structure in relation to altitude and part of the slope. Forty-eight quadrats were set up in the valley forest along altitude of 726m to 1,090m and part of the slope, and vegetation analysis for the woody species in the tree and subtree layers were carried out. With increasing elevation belt, mean DBH, height and basal area of the trees in the tree layer increased while their density decreased. This trends may be caused by the disturbance which was relatively severe in the low elevation area. As elevation increased, the importance percentages of Fraxinus rhynchophylla, Quercus variabilis and Quercus mongolica increased while those of Styyax japonicus, Carpinus laxiflora and Pinus densiflora decreased. The importance percentages of Quercus variabilis and Pinus densiflora increased as going from lower part to upper part of the slope. However, the opposite trend was found for the importance percentages of Acer mono and Corlus heterophylla var. thunbergii. Number of species and species diversity decreased as increasing elevation and going from lower part to upper part of the slope. According to importance percentage and cluster analysis, the valley forest was classified into three forest communities of Quercus serrata-broad-leaved tree species community in lower part of the slope at low elevation belt, middle elevation belt and middle and upper parts of the slope at high elevation belt, Pinus dnsiflora-Quercus serrata community in middle and upper parts at low elevation belt, and Quercus mongolica-broad-leaved tree species community in lower part of the slope at high elevation belt and top area.