• Journal of Wetlands Research
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.26-37
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• 2015

Halophyte distribution pattern and area in the Suncheon-bay and Beolgyo estuary coastal wetlands were analyzed using KOMPSAT-2 landsat images were taken in 2008 and 2009, and field investigations were fulfilled for confirming the precise boundaries of individual halophyte areas. The salt-marsh vegetation in those areas can be classified mainly into two dominant communities: Suaeda japonica-dominant and Phragmites communis-dominant communities. In order to identify sedimentary characteristics, tidal-flat surface leveling and sedimentary facies analysis had been conducted. The sedimentary facies of marsh area are mostly silty clayey and clay facies with a little seasonal change and its slope is very gentle (0.0007~0.002 in gradient). Phragmites communis and Suaeda japonica communities were distributed in the mud-flat zone between 0.7 m and 1.8 m higher than MSL (mean sea level): zone of 1.1~1.8 m in the former and zone of 0.7~1.3 m in the latter. In the Suncheon-bay estuarine wetland, on the basis of 2009 distribution, Phragmites communis-dominant and Suaeda japonica-dominant communities are about $0.79km^2$ and $0.22km^2$ in distribution area, respectively. On the other hand, Bulgyo estuarine marsh shows that the distribution areas of Phragmites communis-dominant and Suaeda japonica-dominant communities are about $0.31km^2$ and 0.031km2 in distribution area, respectively. Individual 105 and 60 dominant community areas and their distribution patterns can be well defined and indicated in the Suncheon-bay and Bulgyo estuarine marshes, respectively. The distribution pattern and area of hylophyte communities analyzed in this study based on 2008/2009 satellite images would be valuable as a base of future monitoring of salt-marsh related studies in the study area which is the most important salt-marsh research site in Korea.

• Journal of Plant Biology
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.17-32
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• 1983

The aboveground production, nutrient distribution and nutrient cyclings were compared between two Phragmites communis communities growing in the different salt contents of soil in a coastal salt marsh. Inorganic nutrient contents of soil for plant growth were greater at the low salt stand than at the high salt stand except for sodium(Na). Maximum aboveground biomass of the plant at the low and the high salt stands were 2,533 and 1,719 g dw/$m^2$, respectively, in August. Seasonal changes of nutrient content of biomass in dry weight decreased with growth except for Na. Nutrient contents in biomass per unit land area increased continuously as biomass increases, although the amount of potassium(K) reached the maximum content in July and thereafter decreased. Vertical distributions of total nitrogen(T-N) and phosphorus(P) increased with plant height, but Na showed the reverse trend. That of K was similar to the patterns for T-N and P in the leaves, and to the pattern of Na in the stems. The Na was greatly accumulated in underground biomass but transported scarcely to aboveground. At the low and the high salt stands, the ratios of the inorganic nutrients contained in the plant were 100 : 66 for T-N, 100 : 61 for P, 100 : 62 for K and 100 : 97 for Na. the ratios of the amounts of nutrients retrieved to soil were 100 : 242 for T-N, 100 : 408 for P, 100 : 127 for K and 100 : 269 for Na, respectively. Turnover times of the T-N, P, K and Na in the communities were 56, 1, 15 and 174 years at the low salt stand, and 75, 2, 24 and 323 years at the high salt stand, respectively. In nutrient cyclings, all of the nutrients retrieving to soil were less than uptake by plant. Among the nutrient, especially P is expected to be exhausted from soil, sooner or later, because of the harvest by men.