• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.35 no.5
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• pp.525-547
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• 2021

The main purpose of this study is to examine the use of plant species in ecological restoration projects. To this end, planting drawings from 58 sites that had completed the return of the ecosystem conservation cooperation fund for the past six years were collected and analyzed. The analysis used the construction completion and design drawings to determine the overall selection status and analyze frequency by classifying planted plants into wild and cultivated plants by nature, size, vegetation climate, and upland and wetland habitat. The investigation and analysis process found many cases of wrong plant names, so an analysis was also performed on the matter. In the 58 investigation sites, 282 plants were used for planting: 91 tree species, 69 shrub species, 11 vine species, and 111 herbal species. The most commonly used plant species was Spiraea prunifolia f. simpliciflora, followed by Sorbus alnifolia, Quercus acutissima, Zoysia japonica, Callicarpa dichotoma, and Weigela subsessilisin that order. The most commonly used tree species was Sorbus alnifolia,followed by Quercus acutissima, Zelkova serrata, Chionanthus retusus, and Cornus officinalis, in that order. The most commonly used shrub species was Spiraea prunifolia f. simpliciflora, followed by Weigela subsessilis, Callicarpa dichotoma, Rhododendron yedoense f. poukhanense. and Euonymus alatusin that order. The most commonly used herbal plant species was Zoysia japonica, followed by Dendranthema zawadskii var. latilobum, Aster koraiensis, Miscanthus sacchariflorus, and Pennisetum alopecuroidesin that order. In the analysis by vegetation climate, Spiraea prunifolia f. simpliciflora, Callicarpa dichotoma, and Sorbus alnifoliawere most used in that order in both the temperate central and the warm temperate forest zones, but the pattern does not properly reflect the climate characteristics. In the analysis by habitat, Miscanthus sacchariflorus and Lythrum salicariawere most used in the wetland. In particular, the ratio of wild plants to cultivated plants was 76% to 24%, indicating the ratio of selecting cultivated plants was high. The names of plants on the drawings were mostly common names that did not appear in the Korea National Arboretum or the National Species List of Korea. It is necessary to use proper plant names in the future. Regarding the use of planting plants for ecological restoration, it is necessary to adopt the approach of diversifying selected plants, selecting plants according to characteristics of climate zones, and lowering the specifications of plants used for ecological restoration. Moreover, it is important to fully understand the ecological characteristics of wetland plants and minimize the ratio of using cultivated plants to ensure the plant selection centered on wild plants.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.35 no.2
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• pp.164-180
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• 2021

Plants Social Network(PSN) analysis combines the plant sociological method and the social network analysis to understand plant society focusing on environmental-to-plant and plant-to-plant relationships. PSN is at an early stage of research and require comparing plant society analyses in various environments and existing interspecies binding analysis. This study conducted a vegetation structural analysis of Mudeungsan National Park and compared the existing interspecies connection analysis with the PSN. A total of 60 plots were established for a survey on the Old Trail. The TWINSPAN and DCA analysis showed that the 60 survey plots were divided into the Quercus serrata-Pinus densiflora community (Community I) and the Quercus mongolica community (Community II) based on an altitude of 800 meters. We performed the interspecies correlation with more than 30% emergence frequency and the DCA analysis and compared the results with a focus on the major species in each colony. The results showed that Quercus serrata had a correlation of -0.450^** and -0.375^** with Pinus densiflora and Quercus mongolica, respectively. The DCA analysis also confirmed that Quercus serrata was located close to Pinus densiflora and far from Quercus mongolica along one axis. For the PSN analysis of PSN, 40 survey plots were added to investigate the species appearing in a total of 100 survey plots. The network structural analysis showed 378 links and a species having an average of 6 interspecies bindings. The density was 0.097, the diameter was 7, and the average path distance was 2.788, similar to the PSN analysis results of the Busan Metropolitan City. The plant social network analysis showed similar results to the existing interspecies combination analysis, enabling analyzing more data than the existing methods and observing the structure of plant society.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.378-401
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• 2019

This study generated a list of plants in eight sections from the Baekdansa ticket office (874m) to Cheonjedan (1,560m) divided in the interval of 100m above sea level to examine the species diversity patterns and distribution changes of the vascular plants at different altitudes in Taebaeksan National Park. Four site surveys found a total of 385 taxa: 89 families, 240 genera, 345 species, 5 subspecies, 34 varieties, and 1 form. A result of analyzing the change of species diversity along elevational gradients showed that it decreased with increasing elevation and then increased from a certain section. A result of analyzing habitat affinity types showed that the proportion of forest species increased with increasing elevation. On the other hand, the ruderal species appeared at a high rate in the artificial interference section. A result of comparing the proportion of woody and herb plants showed that the woody plants gradually increased with elevation and rapidly decreased in the artificial interference section. On the other hand, the herb plants showed the opposite trend. A result of analyzing the change of distribution of species according to altitude with the DCA technique showed that the vascular plants were divided into three groups according to the elevation in order on the I axis with the boundaries at 900m and 1,300m above sea level. The arrangement of each stand from right to left along the altitude on the I axis with a significant correlation with warmth index (WI) confirmed that the temperature change along the altitude could affect the distribution of vascular plants, composition, and diversity. Therefore, the continuous monitoring is necessary to confirm ecological and environmental characteristics of vegetation, distribution ranges, changes of habitat. We expect that the results of this study will be used as the basic data for establishing the measurement measures related to the preservation of biodiversity and climate change.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.440-446
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• 2019

This study examined the growth and fruiting characteristics and the acorns biomass allometric equation of Quercus acuta to provide reference data related to the growth and seed supply during the restoration of evergreen forest in the warm temperate zone in Wando Island, Korea. For the growth survey, we selected and cut three sample trees having a mean diameter at breast height (DBH) to investigate the growth analysis through a stem analysis. We then developed the allometric equation (Y=aX+b) of DBH and tree height growth characteristic (Y) according to the average tree age (X) of sampled trees and estimated the DBH and tree height according to the age of Quercus acuta. For the fruiting survey, we selected and cut three sample trees with full fruit in August when, they are at the early mature fruiting stage, for the analysis. To develop the acorns/tree biomass allometric equation of Quercus acuta, we selected and cut ten sample trees of evenly divided diameters. The acorns biomass allometric equation ($Y=aX^b$) was derived by analyzing the biomass (Y) and the growth characteristics (X), such as the DBH, tree height, crown width, and crown height. The allometric equations of average tree age according to DBH and tree height were Y=0506X-2.064 ($R^2=0.999$) and Y=0.321X+0689 ($R^2=0.992$), respectively. The developed allometric equations estimated that the DBH were 3.0cm, 8.1cm, 13.1cm and 18.2cm while the tree heights were 3.9m, 7.1m, 10.3m, and 13.5m when the tree ages were 10, 20, 30, and 40 years, respectively. The analysis results of fruiting characteristics showed that the length, the diameter, the number of fruits, and the number of acorns per fruiting branch had the statistically significant difference and tended to decrease from the upper part to the lower part of crown downward. The total number of acorns was 1,312 acorns/tree in the upper part, 115 acorns/tree in the middle part, and 5 acorns/tree in the lower part of the crown. The allometric equation for the amount of acorns with DBH as an independent variable was $Y=0.003X^{4.260}$ with the coefficient of determination at 0.896. Although the coefficient of determination of the allometric equation using only DBH as the independent variable was lower than that using DBH and tree height ($D^2H$), it would be more practical to consider only DBH as the independent variable because of measurement errors.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.100 no.2
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• pp.246-255
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• 2011

This study was carried out to investigate the characteristics of wind damaged trees in the Hongneung Arboretumin Korea. Many trees in the Hongneung Arboretum were damaged by the 'Kompasu', the seventh typhoon in the year of 2010 having strong impacts on the central region of Korea. Damaged trees were divided into 3 damage types: windthrow, slanted and broken trees. Most of damaged trees (97.3%) were found at low slope (below 15 degree) or medium slope (15~20 degree). The 45.3% of damaged trees were coniferous and 54.7% were deciduous trees. The wind speed was recorded for the duration of the typhoon from 04:00 AM to 12:00 PM on September 2. The average wind speed and the maximum instantaneous wind speed inside the forest were 1.4 m/sec and 3.5 m/sec, respectively. The highest peak of the average and the maximum instantaneous wind speed inside of forest, 3.4 m/sec and 8.7 m/sec respectively, were recorded at 06:10 AM on September 2. To analyze relationship between wind characteristics and the damage types, the average wind speed and the frequency of wind wave was compared to those of pre-typhoon period (Feb. 13, Feb. 20, Apr. 21, Oct. 16, 2009 and Mar. 20, 2010). The results indicated that the damaged trees were affected by frequent wind wave rather than the wind speed itself. Also average wind direction inside the forest was analyzed to investigate the impact of wind direction on the damaged trees. The wind had mainly blown from SE and SW, and the maximum instantaneous wind direction was SE direction overall. Most of the damaged trees (84.0%) had fallen down to the NW or NE direction. This result showed that the fallen direction of the damaged trees and wind direction was highly related. Therefore, we found that the frequency of wind wave was the main factor of wind damages during the typhoon 'Kompasu' and wind direction was highly related to the fallen direction.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.111 no.1
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• pp.61-71
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• 2022

Data from an investigation of vulnerable conifer species in the subalpine zone in Korea obtained by the Korea Forest Service in 2017-2018 and monitoring research conducted by the National Institute of Forest Science since 2014 were used to analyze the status of distribution and growing condition of three major conifer species (Abies nephrolepis, Abies koreana, and Picea jezoensis) in the subalpine zone in the Baekdudaegan protected area. The distribution area of the studied species in the Baekdudaegan protected area was ca. 74% (8,035 ha) of the total distribution area in Korea, indicating that Baekdudaegan is a core area for conservation and restoration of subalpine conifer species. From decline index [A. nephrolepis in Mt. Taebaeksan and Mt. Deogyusan increased by 77.3% and 29.6%, respectively; A. koreana in Mt. Jirisan (Chunwangbong Peak) increased by 45.2% in four years; and P. jezoensis in Mt. Jirisan (Chunwangbong Peak) increased by 47.8% in two years] and seedling frequency (lower frequency of newly recruited seedlings than dead seedlings) results, the studied species are expected to face difficulties in sustainability. In contrast, at Mt. Seseoksan and Chunwangbong Peak in Mt. Jirisan, the health of trees and seedling frequency showed a partial tendency to recover and increase. In addition, we identified the relationship between the decline index and seedling frequency. These results will support the implementation of conservation strategies for vulnerable conifer species in the subalpine zone.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.36 no.2
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• pp.177-201
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• 2022

Following the adoption of the global plant conservation strategies at the Conference of the Parties for Biodiversity Conservation, diligent actions to achieve each targets are actively carried out. In particular, the need for ecological conservation research to achieve targets 2 and 7 of GSPC-2020 has increased. The priority taxa to accomplish the objectives of GSPC-2020 are rare and endemic plants. In particular, endemic plants with limited distribution in specific regions are evaluated to face a high risk of extinction. To address the necessity to preserve endemic plants, we investigated the distribution of Prunus choreiana H. T. Im, a Korean endemic plant. After that, we examined the vegetational environment of the habitat of P. choreiana and evaluated its population structure. The productivity of its fruits and the effects of pollinators on fruit production were evaluated as well. The fruiting ratio was calculated based on the number of flowers produced. Lastly, we observed the annual growth characteristics of P. choreiana. The habitats of P. choreiana did not show a specific type of vegetation. All of them were located in a limestone area of Gangwon-do in the central Korean Peninsula and occupied a site where the coverage of the tree layer and the sub-tree layer was not high or did not exist. The population structure of P. choreiana contained a high proportion of mature plants capable of producing fruits and a low proportion of seedlings and Juvenile plants. We found that the production of fruits required pollinators and was affected by the performance of each plant. Although P. choreiana produces many flowers, only a maximum of 20% and only 2-6% on average bear fruits. These flowering characteristics may be due to pollinators' low abundance and activity during the flowering season (between mid-March and early April), suggesting that many flowers are needed to attract more pollinators. We rarely observed the re-establishment of seedlings in the population of P. choreiana. Despite that, we predict the population to persist owing to its long lifespan and periodic production of numerous fruits. However, if the tree layer and sub-tree layer in competing status with P. choreiana increase their crown density, they are expected to inhibit the growth of P. choreiana and affect the risk of its extinction. Therefore, the current changes in the vegetational environment of the habitats are expected to decrease the number and extent of P. choreiana in the long term. The results of this study may serve as primary and important data necessary for the achievement of GSPC-2020 objectives.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.36 no.3
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• pp.327-337
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• 2022

Ecological restoration is considered a good means to prevent biodiversity loss in terms of the ecosystem's health and sustainability. However, there are difficulties in putting it into practice as there is no comprehensive and objective standard for the selection of plant species, such as environmental, ecological factors, and restoration goal setting. Therefore, this study developed an evaluation index necessary for selecting plant species for restoration using the Delphi method that synthesizes the opinions of the expert group. A survey with 38 questionnaires was conducted twice for experts in ecological restoration, etc., and the importance and priority of evaluation indicators were analyzed by dividing the restoration targets into inland and island regions. The result of the importance analysis showed that "native plants" had the highest average of 4.9 among the evaluation indices in both inland and island regions, followed by "seed security", "propagation", and "root growth rate". In the inland region, the index priority was analyzed in the order of "native plants", "appearance frequency", "root growth rate", "distribution range", and "seed security" in the island region, it was analyzed in the order of "native plants", "root growth rate", "appearance frequency", "distribution range", and "tolerance", showing slight differences between the two indicators. As a result of the importance and priority indicator analysis, we set the mean importance and priority of 4.1 and 2.9, respectively, in the inland region and 4.2 and 2.9, respectively, in the island region. As for the criteria of selecting plant species for ecological restoration, the "native plants" had the highest importance and priority. "Seed securing", 'viability", "topography", "proliferation", "tolerance", "soil conditions", "growth characteristics", "early succession", "distribution range", "appearance frequency", and "germination rate" were classified into subgroups of low importance and priority. The lowest indicators were "final stage of succession", "transition period", 'transition stage", "root", "reproduction", "soil", "appearance", "technology", "landscape", "climate", and "germination rate". We expected that the findings through objective verification in this study would be used as evaluation indicators for selecting native plant species for ecological restoration.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.36 no.3
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• pp.257-276
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• 2022

Studies on rare and endemic plant conservation should be performed nationally to conserve plant diversity. Studies targeting a specific taxon have been reported based on the necessity of conserving plant diversity. From this point of view, there is an increasing necessity to compare and evaluate the studies for conservation. Moreover, it is necessary to analyze and review the direction for study subjects and items required for effective conservation of rare and endemic plants in Korea, based on the analysis results of collected data. We analyzed trends of studies on rare and endemic plants worldwide. In particular, we collected and analyzed the study trend in Korea. Study fields of the rare and endemic plants were divided into six classifications, of which the conservation ecology classification was sub-divided into the species traits, population study, and biological interaction. We have collected conservation ecology studies showing significant differences in regions and countries. They have been actively conducted in Europe and North America by region and in Japan and the United States by country. On the contrary, studies on basic ecology accounted for the most, followed by conservation genetics and restoration ecology in Korea. It was revealed that the portion of conservation ecology conducted in Korea was lower than that of the world. Moreover, studies mainly focused on a specific taxon of rare and endemic plants, such as endangered plants designated by the Korean Ministry of Environment. Particularly in Korea, conservation genetics and restoration ecology studies accounted for high percentages. Considering the worldwide study trends, particularly those in Europe and North America that lead the study of conservation ecology, we suggest approaches to increase the percentages of conservation ecology, including securing the information on species traits, population structure and population dynamics, and interaction between animals and plants are necessary for effective conservation of rare and endemic plants in Korea.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Landscape Architecture
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• v.49 no.6
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• pp.1-15
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• 2021

This study considered Forest Specialists, who are nurtured by the legal system through the analysis of laws and regulations under the jurisdiction of the Korea Forest Service. In particular, the transition process of forest-related laws and laws to train forest specialists were identified. In addition, changes and characteristics regarding the cultivation of professional forestry talents according to forestry policy were investigated. As a result, it was found that Forest Specialist on policy dealt with forestry success for forestry promotion, and forestry engineers dealt with technical skills for forestry industry development. In addition, according to the revision of the laws for the sustainable use of timber, wood-structural engineers, timber grade evaluators, and timber education specialists are trained separately. Forest Specialists concerned with forest welfare policies were found to train forest experts and complete specialized training courses to provide various services for forest cultural and recreation facilities, healing forests, and forest leisure sports facilities. There is an instructor for forest leisure sports. Forest welfare experts are divided into forest education experts and forest healing instructors; forest education specialists are further divided into forest interpreters, forest guides for children, and forest trekking guides. Forest Specialists on forest protection policy were found to train arboretum and garden experts for the efficient management and exhibition of arboretums. Gardens and tree doctors and tree treatment technicians for arboretums wer also trained. A tree doctor and a tree treatment technician were found to have the necessary qualifications to run a tree hospital business, diagnosing and treating tree damage. Therefore, it is thought that the Korea Forest Service is nurturing Forest Specialists with technical capabilities for forestry promotion, forest industry development, and tree treatment; and the Forest Specialists can provide education and welfare services at culture, recreation, treatment, and conservation sites in forests.