• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
• /
• v.82 no.2
• /
• pp.176-187
• /
• 1993

Based on the analysis of ecomorphological characters for 84 tree and shrub species, climax indices were estimated so as to interpret the position of the successional sere for the species in the natural deciduous forest. Nineteen ecomorphological characters, considered to be associated with successional gradient in the forest, were selected for the study. One of 2 to 4 steps per character for each species was given on a standardized scale of increasing climaxness, and the index was computed by percent of the sum of the scoring values for total score. Calculated mean value of 54.2 for all indices. Carpinus laxiflora had the highest index value of 83.3, and Populus davidiana recorded the lowest of 18.8. The most climax group, greater than 70 of the index, contained only 9 species, intermediate group, between 40 to 70 of the index, had 58 species, and the most pioneer group, less than 40 of the index comprised 17 species. The result has noticed that the large number of species would take advantage of most diverse resource and niche in the intermediate stage of the sere in the forest. The three components, i.e., light absorption, reproduction, and wood quality were used as axes for a 3-dimensional projection of the relative position for 44 species by principal component analysis. Along the similar ecomorphological characters, four recognized species group were classified by cluster analysis. The distribution pattern of plant families on the index gradient showed that the Betulaceae and Aceraceae had the widest seral amplitude, and the Salicaceae was a family typified as pioneer. There were no families specializing entirely with climax niche.