• The Korean Journal of Ecology
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.383-387
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• 1998

the geoecology of the alpine and subalpine belts of the Korean Peninsula, its component plant group, its environmental history, and climatic amplitudes of the arctic-alpine and alpine plants has reviewed and discussed. The present-day alpine and subalpine landscapes are likely to have been formed during the post-glacial warming phase. The disjunctive distribution of many alpine and subalpine plants, however, suggests a former continuous distribution of these both locally and on a broader, and the subsequent breakdown of a former continuous range into fragments as the climate ameliorated during the post-glacial warming phase. The presences of numerous arctic-alpine and alpine plants on the alpine and subalpine belts of the Korean Peninsula, are mainly their relative degree of sensitivity to high summer temperatures. The continued survivals of alpine species and landscape in Korea is in danger if global warming associated the greenhouse effect takes place.

• The Korean Journal of Ecology
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• v.22 no.6
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• pp.363-369
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• 1999

Reconstruction of the past vegetational changes of Korea in connection with climate changes enables to understand the impacts of past and future global warming on alpine vegetation. Despite the early appearance of the cold-tolerant vegetation since the Mesozoic Era. the occurrence of warmth-tolerant vegetation during the Oligocene and Miocene implies that most of alpine and subalpine vegetations have been confined to the alpine and subalpine belts of northern Korean Peninsula. The presence of cold-episodes during the Pleistocene. however. might have caused a general southward and downslope expansions of cold-tolerant alpine and subalpine vegetation. But the climatic warming trend during the Holocene or post-glacial period eventually has isolated cold-tolerant alpine and subalpine vegetation mainly in the northern Korea. but also on scattered high mountains in the southern Korea. The presence of numerous arctic-alpine and alpine plants on the alpine and subalpine belts is mainly due to their relative degree of sensitivity to high summer temperatures. Global warming would cause important changes in species composition and altitudinal distributional pattern. The altitudinal migration of temperate vegetation upward caused by climatic warming would eventually devastate alpine plants.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.43 no.4
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• pp.390-399
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• 2019

Background: The Northern Hemisphere forest ecosystem is a major sink for atmospheric carbon dioxide, and the subalpine zone stores large amounts of carbon; however, their magnitude and distribution of stored carbon are still unclear. Results: To clarify the carbon distribution and carbon budget in the subalpine zone at volcanic Jeju Island, Korea, we report the C stock and changes therein owing to vegetation form, litter production, forest floor, and soil, and soil respiration between 2014 and 2016, for three subalpine forest ecosystems, namely, Abies koreana forest, Taxus cuspidata forest, and Juniperus chinensis var. sargentii forest. Organic carbon distribution of vegetation and NPP were bigger in the A. koreana forest than in the other two forests. However, the amount of soil organic carbon distribution was the highest in the J. chinensis var. sargentii forest. Compared to the amount of organic carbon distribution (AOCD) of aboveground vegetation (57.15 t C ha^-1) on the subalpine-alpine forest in India, AOCD of vegetation in the subalpine forest in Mt. Halla was below 50%, but AOCD of soil in Mt. Halla was higher. We also compared our results of organic carbon budget in subalpine forest at volcanic island with data synthesized from subalpine forests in various countries. Conclusions: The subalpine forest is a carbon reservoir that stores a large amount of organic carbon in the forest soils and is expected to provide a high level of ecosystem services.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.42 no.4
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• pp.298-307
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• 2018

Background: Subalpine ecosystems at high altitudes and latitudes are particularly sensitive to climate change. In South Korea, the prediction of the species richness of subalpine plant species under future climate change is not well studied. Thus, this study aims to assess the potential impact of climate change on species richness of subalpine plant species (14 species) in the 17 mountain national parks (MNPs) of South Korea under climate change scenarios' representative concentration pathways (RCP) 4.5 and RCP 8.5 using maximum entropy (MaxEnt) and Migclim for the years 2050 and 2070. Results: Altogether, 723 species occurrence points of 14 species and six selected variables were used in modeling. The models developed for all species showed excellent performance (AUC > 0.89 and TSS > 0.70). The results predicted a significant loss of species richness in all MNPs. Under RCP 4.5, the range of reduction was predicted to be 15.38-94.02% by 2050 and 21.42-96.64% by 2070. Similarly, under RCP 8.5, it will decline 15.38-97.9% by 2050 and 23.07-100% by 2070. The reduction was relatively high in the MNPs located in the central regions (Songnisan and Gyeryongsan), eastern region (Juwangsan), and southern regions (Mudeungsan, Wolchulsan, Hallasan, and Jirisan) compared to the northern and northeastern regions (Odaesan, Seoraksan, Chiaksan, and Taebaeksan). Conclusions: This result indicates that the MNPs at low altitudes and latitudes have a large effect on the climate change in subalpine plant species. This study suggested that subalpine species are highly threatened due to climate change and that immediate actions are required to conserve subalpine species and to minimize the effect of climate change.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.181-186
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• 2003

To obtain the basic data for monitoring and the conservation of native plant species at the sub-alpine zone Jongseogdae in Jirisan (Mt.).40 plots(5m${\times}$5m) set up by random sampling method and the distribution of native shrub and herb species at the subalpine zone was surveyed. Leading shrub species at the subalpine zone of Jongseogdae were Tripterygium regelii with IP value of 23.45% : followed by Lespedeza maximowiczii, Symplocos chinensis for. pilosa and Lespedeza tomentella. Dominant species at the subalpine zone were Lysimachia clethroides, Pteridium aquilinum var. latiusculum, Synurus deltoides, Veratrum maackii var. japonicum, Hemerocallis fulva and Astilbe chinensis var. davidii. Rhododendron tschonoskii recorded from the rare and endangered species list of the Korea Forest Service distributed among the rocks on the top of Jongseogdae. The long-term sustainable habitat monitoring might be required to conserve this subalpine zone.

• The Korean Journal of Ecology
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.237-245
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• 1990

Ninety six plant species recorded at the alpine tundra zone on the Paektusan (Zhu and Rowe, 1987) were examined on the floras of alpine and subalpine zones in Korea. Among the 96 species, 59(61%), 47(49%) and 51(53%) species in the alpine zone of Kwanmobong, Turyusan and Puksubaeksan were recognized respectively, and 24(25%), 21(22%), 11(11%) and 16(17%) species in the subalpine zone of Myohyangsan, Kumgangsan, Soraksan, Chirisan and Hallasan respectively. The similarities between the alpine tundra zone of Paektusan and the alpine zones of other mountains in Korea showed high values than the values compared with subalpine zones.

• Journal of Climate Change Research
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.201-211
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• 2017

This study was conducted to investigate the vascular plants which can be an indicator of environmental change in Seseok of Jirisan National Park. The purpose of this study was to find out the basic information for the subalpine species. This study showed that the area had a total 295 taxa including 63 families, 177 genus, 252 species, 2 subspecies, 36 variants 5 forms and Pte-Q was 1.7. Among them, Korea endemic plants were 15 taxa such as Abies koreana. Rare plants were 14 taxa such as Viola diamantiaca. Naturalized plants consisted of 5 taxa such as Rumex crispus. The floristic regional indicator plants found in surveyed area were 72 taxa comprising 3 taxa of grade V, 7 taxa of grade IV and 24 taxa of grade III. In summary, The subalpine plants of the survey region consisted of 37 taxa including Abies koreana and Gymnadenia cucullata. As rare plants distributed in subalpine zone respond sensitively to climate change, accuracy distribution range, environmental characteristics of habitat and population dynamics of rare plants should be evaluated quantitatively.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.108 no.1
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• pp.10-20
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• 2019

The purpose of this study is to identify the long-term area changes in the subalpine coniferous forests in Korea in order to understand the changes in the subalpine forest ecosystems vulnerable to climate change. We analyzed 20 years of time-series Landsat satellite images (mid 1990s, mid 2010s) for change detection of coniferous forests and compared with the long term changes of climate information to identify their relationship in the study area. As a result, the area of coniferous forests in the study region decreased by 25% over 20 years. The regions with largest changes are Seoraksan, Baegunsan-Hambaeksan-Jangsan, Jirisan, and Hallasan. The region with the largest decrease in area was Baegunsan (reduced area: 542 ha), and the region with large decrease in area and the largest rate of decrease was Hallasan (rate of decrease: 33.3%). As the Jeju region has the most rapid temperature rise, it is projected that Hallasan is the most vulnerable forest ecosystem affected by climate change. The result of this study shows that from a long-term perspective the overall coniferous forests in the subalpine region are declining, but the trend varies in each region. This national and long-term information on the change of coniferous forests in the subalpine region can be utilized as baseline data for the detailed survey of endangered subalpine coniferous trees in the future.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.37-45
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• 1997

The Nogodan area has maintained the subalpine meadows(m.s.l. 1,500m) in Chirisan National Park. A field experiment including fertilizing, introducing plants and mulching treatment was conducted for three years at artificially disturbed subalpine meadows in the Nogodan to find out effective revegetation measures. Factorial experiment(2*2*2) was applied to the subsoil sites with ten percent hillslope and the topsoil sites with forty percent hillslope. Regardless of site conditions, survival rates of plants were more effective in on-site conditions, showed significant increase in the number of individuals and crown coverage of vegetation, but mulching treatment did not show a significant effect.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.15 no.5
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• pp.323-337
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• 2006

This work discussed the species composition, phylogeny, spatio-temporal distribution, ecology and natural history of North Korean Pinaceae or pine tree family, which seems to be important to maintain nature and ecosystem in the Korean Peninsula. Out of five genera and sixteen species of Pinaceae of the Korean Peninsula, North Korea contains four genera and eleven species of Pinaceae, including Pinus densilflora, P. koraiensis, P. pumila, Picea jezoensis, P. koraiensis, P. koraiensis var. koraiensis, P. pungsanensis, Larix gmelini, L. gmelinii var. olgensis, Abies holophylla and A. nephrolepis. In terms of phylogeny Pinus is closely related to Picea, and followed by Larix. Abies is close to Tsuga which only occur at Ullung Island. Distributional pattern of North Korean Pinaceae can be classified into four types; three species of nation-wide montane type i.e., Pinus densilflora, P. koraiensis and Abies holophylla, four species of central and northern subalpine type, i.e., Pinus pumila, Picea koraiensis, Larix gmelini and Abies nephrolepis, one nation-wide subalpine type, Picea jezoensis, and three species disjunctive to north type, i.e., Picea koraiensis var. koraiensis, P. pungsanensis, and Larix gmelinii var. olgensis. Pinaceae species occurring on the alpine and subalpine belts of North Korea, such as Pinus koraiensis, P. pumila, Picea jezoensis, P. koraiensis, P. koraiensis var. koraiensis, P. pungsanensis, Larix gmelini, L. gmelinii var. olgensis and A. nephrolepis are considered as the glacial descendant from the boreal region. Those species might have migrated from the north during the Pleistocene glacial epochs in search of favourable condition, and since the Holocene period they survived on the hostile alpine and subalpine environments, in which they are more competitive than warmth-tolerant temperate vegetation. Certain species, such as Picea pungsanensis, is segregated on the isolated mountains since the Pleistocene period, and forced to adapt to local environment, and eventually became an endemic species of North Korea. Recent rapid global warming trend especially in northern high mountains of North Korea could cause an unfavourable environment for the survival of cold-tolerant Pinaceae of the alpine and subalpine belts. Pinus densiflora, which is occurring on the montane belt might faced with difficulties due to both the deforestation and the outbreak of insect-borne disease, such as Bursaphelenchus xylophilus.