• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.109 no.4
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• pp.492-503
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• 2020

This study was conducted to analyze stem decay in Quercus mongolica and Quercus variabilis in Korea. To ensure even allocation, a total of 5,005 sample trees (2,504 Q. mongolica and 2,501 Q. variabilis) were cut and collected in five regions and 27 subregions. The trees were then examined for stump decay and assigned to four classes based on the degree of scar, tissue decay and decolorization, splitting, and tree hollowing. The results show that the decay rate of Q. mongolica was 66.1%, at least twice as high as that of Q. variabilis, which was rated at 35% (χ2 = 631.15, p < 0.001). The comparison among regions indicated that the highest ratio of Q. mongolica occurs in the Central Regional Forest Service zone (76.5%), followed by the Northern zone (74.8%) and Eastern zone (65.7%). In contrast, the greatest proportion of Q. variabilis is found in the Northern Regional Forest Service zone (38.6%), followed by the Southern (32.9%) and Eastern (37.8%) zones. A statistically significant difference was seen among the five zones (p < 0.05, p < 0.001). There was also a clear tendency for the proportions for the two species to increase with a rise in the DBH. With respect to age, however, a statistically significant difference was found (p < 0.01, p < 0.05) only in Q. mongolica, whose rate increased with the increase in age. Our results show that as the DBH and age increases, the conditions of tissue decay and decolorization are manifested in Q. mongolica, whereas scars are common in Q. variabilis.