• 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 Environmental Science International
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• v.33 no.6
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• pp.367-382
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• 2024

Alpine and subalpine plants are isolated and distributed in mountaintop areas at high altitudes and, are among the species most vulnerable to global warming. If the rate of warming continues at its current rate, it is highly likely that this species will be unable to find new refugia and will be the last to go extinct in their current habitats. Therefore, research on the distribution and diversity of alpine and subalpine plants is urgently needed and is important from the perspective of biodiversity conservation. Therefore, this study focused on the distribution of alpine and subalpine plants native to national parks. Alpine and subalpine plants distributed across the 12 national parks accounted for approximately half (47.78%) of all alpine plants in Korea. The average relative frequency of occurrence was 0.23, plant similarity between national parks was 37.19%, and beta diversity was 0.63. The number of species was positively correlated with the latitude, elevation, and area of the national park. Thus the geographical distributions of alpine and subalpine plants haves distinct spatial specificities and physical environmental differences.

• 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.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.119-136
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• 2014

This work aims to select the potentially vulnerable plant species against climate change at alpine and subalpine belts of Mts. Sorak, Jiri, and Halla, from central, southern, southern insular high mountains of the Korean Peninsula, respectively. The selection of global warming related vulnerable plants were performed by adapting various criteria, such as flora, endemicity, rarity, floristically specific and valuable species, species composition at mountain summits, horizontal and vertical ranges of individual species, and their distributional pattern in the Korean Peninsula. Line and quadrat field surveys along the major trails from all directions at height above 1,500 meters above sea level of Mts, Sorak, Jiri and Halla were conducted each year during spring, summer, and autumn from 2010 to 2011. Based upon above mentioned eight criteria, high level of climate change related potentially vulnerable arboral plants, such as Rhododendron aureum, Taxus caespitosa, Pinus pumila, Oplopanax elatus, Vaccinium uliginosum, and Thuja koraiensis are noticed from at subalpine belt of Mt. Sorak. Species of Abies koreana, Rhododendron tschonoskii, Oplopanax elatus, Taxus cuspidata, Picea jezoensis, and Juniperus chinensis var. sargentii belong to climate change concerned vulnerable species at subalpine belt of Mt. Jiri. High level of climate change related species vulnerability is found at alpine and subalpine belts of Mt. Halla from Diapensia lapponica var. obovata, Salix blinii, Empetrum nigrum var. japonicum, Vaccinium uliginosum, Juniperus chinensis var. sargentii, Taxus cuspidata, Rhamnus taquetii, Abies koreana, Hugeria japonica, Prunus buergeriana, and Berberis amurensis var. quelpartensis. Countermeasures to save the global warming vulnerable plants in situ are required.

• The Korean Journal of Ecology
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.331-337
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• 2000

Fourteen different taxa of dictyostelid cellular slime molds were recovered from the alpine and subalpine zone in Mt. Paektu. In subalpine zone, six species were recovered : Dictyostelium minutum, D. brefeldianum, D. crassicaule, D. capitatum, Polysphondylium solitarium and P. pallidum. One of these species which were isolated from the soils of Larix olgensis community exhibited several distinctive features which differed from the published species. This species was designated as a new species, Polysphondylium solitarium Kang et Chang, sp. nov. When cultivated at 22~24$^{\circ}C$ on low-nutrient agar media with Escherichia coli, Polysphondylium solitarium is distinguishable from other species by the following combination of features: (ⅰ) the sorocarps with vinaceous pigmentation; (ⅱ) pseudoplasmodia radial. usually centralized and rarely subdivided; (ⅲ) the various number of whorls; (ⅳ) the spores with unconsolidated and nonconspicuous polar granules. Also, we confirmed this new species by analyzing ribosomal DNA (ITS1, ITS2 and 5.8s DNA) sequences of P. solitarium and P. violaceum.

• 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 Species Research
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.246-254
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• 2021

Subalpine and alpine ecosystems are especially vulnerable to temperature increases. Betula ermanii Cham. (Betulaceae) is a dominant broad-leaved tree species in the subalpine zone and is designated as a 'Climate-sensitive Biological Indicator Species' in South Korea. This study aimed to predict the potential distribution of B. ermanii under current and future climate conditions in South Korea using the MaxEnt model. The species distribution models showed an excellent fit (AUC=0.99). Among the climatic variables, the most critical factors shaping B. ermanii distribution were identified as the maximum temperature of warmest month (Bio5; 64.8%) and annual mean temperature (Bio1; 20.3%). Current potential habitats were predicted in the Baekdudaegan mountain range and Mt. Hallasan, and the area of suitable habitat was 1531.52 km², covering 1.57% of the Korean Peninsula. With global warming, future climate scenarios have predicted a decrease in the suitable habitats for B. ermanii. Under RCP8.5-2070s, in particular, habitat with high potential was predicted only in several small areas in Gangwon-do, and the total area suitable for the species decreased by up to 97.3% compared to the current range. We conclude that the dominant factor affecting the distribution of B. ermanii is temperature and that future temperature rises will increase the vulnerability of this species.