• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.38 no.4
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• pp.461-476
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• 2015

Global warming has accelerated glacial retreat in the high Arctic. The exposed glacier foreland is an ideal place to study chronosequential changes in ecosystems. Although vegetation succession in the glacier forelands has been studied intensively, little is known about the microbial community structure in these environments. Therefore, this study focused on how glacial retreat influences the bacterial community structure and its relationship with soil properties. This study was conducted in the foreland of the Midtre Lovénbreen glacier in Svalbard (78.9°N). Seven soil samples of different ages were collected and analyzed for moisture content, pH, soil organic carbon and total nitrogen contents, and soil organic matter fractionation. In addition, the structure of the bacterial community was determined via pyrosequencing analysis of 16S rRNA genes. The physical and chemical properties of soil varied significantly along the distance from the glacier; with increasing distance, more amounts of clay and soil organic carbon contents were observed. In addition, Cyanobacteria, Firmicutes, and Actinobacteria were dominant in soil samples taken close to the glacier, whereas Acidobacteria were abundant further away from the glacier. Diversity indices indicated that the bacterial community changed from homogeneous to heterogeneous structure along the glacier chronosequence/distance from the glacier. Although the bacterial community structure differed on basis of the presence or absence of plants, the soil properties varied depending on soil age. These findings suggest that bacterial succession occurs over time in glacier forelands but on a timescale that is different from that of soil development.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.347-355
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• 2011

Effects of forest thinning on community level properties have not been understood yet in Korea. We investigated regeneration patterns and trajectories after a disturbance by applying a chronosequence approach. Light availability, litter and woody debris cover, and species composition were determined for twenty 50 m line-transect samples representing a disturbance duration gradient (within 11 years). Environmental factors such as light availability and coverage of woody debris and litter changed abruptly after thinning and then returned to the pre-disturbance state. Although species richness was gained at shrub and ground layer in a limited way in both forests, cover of various functional types revealed diversity in their responses. Notably, Alnus firma stands exhibited a larger increment of cover in woody plants. Ordination analysis revealed different regeneration trajectories between natural and planted stands. Based on ordination analysis, rehabilitated stands showed movement to alternative states compared with natural ones, reflecting lower resilience to perturbation (i.e., lower stability). Our results suggest that community resilience to artificial thinning depends on properties of the dominant species. But to get more explanatory ecological information, longer-term static observations are required.

• Proceedings of the National Institute of Ecology of the Republic of Korea
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.16-27
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• 2023

Primary succession on bare rocks is a challenge for invaders, including one of which was plants. The invasion of bare rock by exotic species raises the question of whether their presence hinders or facilitates succession. This study aimed to determine the role of exotic species in primary succession in six overburden (OB) coal mines using a chronosequence approach. Vegetation analysis was undertaken using line transects. Measurements were carried out on the absolute and relative coverage of each species. Native and exotic species were identified and grouped using information from local communities, identification books, and websites. The relationship between time and number of species, time, and relative dominance of exotic and native species was analyzed using Pearson's correlation. Species number and dominance data were analyzed descriptively. The number of native species from the six OB heaps was higher (57) than that from exotic heaps (50). Neither the number of species nor the coverage showed a significant relationship with time. Exotic species predominated throughout the age of the embankment but tended to decrease over time. Temporary dominance by exotic species plays a role in assisting primary succession in the OB. This process might be prolonged without the temporary dominance of exotic species during early primary succession.

• The Korean Journal of Ecology
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.83-88
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• 2000

When interpreting change over time in forest ecosystems, distinguishing the effects of forest succession from the effects of environmental stress can be difficult. The result may be a simplistic interpretation. citing a specific successional or environmental cause of forest change when both types may be occurring. We present two case studies of changes in the forest floor in northern hardwoods. First, the belief that 50% of soil organic matter is lost in the first 20 years after logging was based on a study comparing northern hardwood stands of different ages. We resampled a series of 13 such stands after an interval of 15 years, and found that the young stands were not, in fact. losing organic matter as rapidly as predicted from the original chronosequence study. The pattern of higher organic matter content in the forest floors of older stands compared to young stands could be equally well explained by changes in logging practices over the last century as by the aging of the stand. The observed pattern of forest floor organic matter as a function of stand age was previously interpreted as a successional pattern, ignoring changes in treatment history. In the second case study, observed losses of base cations from the forest floor were attributed to cation depletion caused by acid rain and declining calcium deposition. We found that young stands were gaining base cations in the forest floor; losses of base cations were restricted to older stands. Differences in litter chemistry in stands of different ages may explain some of the pattern in cation gains and losses. In this case, the contribution of successional processes to cation loss had been overlooked in favor of environmental stress as the dominant mechanism behind the observed changes. Studies of environmental stress use repeated measures over time. but often don't consider stand age as a factor. Studies of successional change often assume that environmental factors remain constant. We were able to consider both forest succession and external factors because we repeatedly sampled stands of different ages.

• Journal of Forest and Environmental Science
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.302-310
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• 2016

The loss and degradation in tropical forest region are some of the current global concern. Hence, these issues elevated the role of rehabilitated forests in providing ecological products and services. The information on the carbon stock is important in relation to global carbon and biomass use, but lacking from the tropical region. This paper reports the assessment of tree and soil carbon stock in a chronosequence rehabilitated tropical forest stands in Malaysia. The study site was at the UPM-Mitsubishi Forest Rehabilitation Project, UPMKB. $20{\times}20m$ plot was established each and assessed in 2009 at 1-, 10- and 19-year-old sites while an adjacent ${\pm}23-year-old$ natural regenerating secondary forest plot was established for comparison. The overall total carbon stock was in the order of 19-year-old>${\pm}23-year-old$>10-year-old>1-year-old. When forest carbon stock is low, the soil component plays an important role in the carbon storage. The forest carbon recovery is crucial to increase soil carbon stock. The variations in the carbon stock showed the different stages of the forest recovery. Species survived after 19-years of planting are potential species for carbon sequestration activities in rehabilitated forest. Human intervention in rehabilitating degraded forest areas through tree planting initiatives is crucial towards recovering the forest ecological role especially in forest carbon stock capacity.

• Journal of the Mineralogical Society of Korea
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.32-39
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• 1988

The effect of soil forming factors on the pedogenesis of basaltic volcanic ash soils and the influence of allophane material on soil properties have been investigated on 5 chronosequence soils situated from at the near sea coast up to the foot slope of Mt. Halla in Jeju Island. Time seems to be the important soil forming factor which today differentiates soil of the Island. Songag and Donghong soils developed in lower elevations are older and somewhat less influenced by ash shower. However, soils developed at higher elevations, Pyeongdae and Heugag, are rather younger and strongly influence by the ash. It is also proved that the parent materials are very heterogeneous. They mainly are basaltic with some contamination of acidic volcanic ashes and continental aeolian deposits where a considerable amount of quartz encountered in most soils studied. Many physico-chemical properties of soil, such NaF pH, phosphate sorption power, pH and extractable acidity are parameters to differentiate andepts and non-andeptic soils.

• Journal of the Mineralogical Society of Korea
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.40-47
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• 1988

Mineralogy of sand, silt and clay fractions from the five chronosequence soils of Jeju Island is studied with the X-ray, TEM and SEM techniques. Soils of Songag and Donghong situated at lower elevations are generally developed on relatively of ash or alluvial deposits and contain mainly ferromagnesian minerals and feldspars, with some quartz, mica and volcanic glass. Crystalline minerals are dominant in the clay fraction; halloysite and vermiculite are abundant but small amounts of allophane are present. Clay migration results in well developed ferrigargillan, Soils of Pyeongdae and Heugag located at higher elevations are developed on relatively young volcanic ash with some contamination of continental aeolian dust probably containing quartz which may be come from acid ash shower. The absence of clay illuivation is due to the dominance of allophane. This clay mineral is associated with some gibbsite, imogolite and halloysite.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.211-215
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• 2014

In order to accurately estimate the litter mass, we evaluated the required sample sizes across 13 chronosequence stands for five years (1994~1996, 2003~2004) in northern hardwood forests in New Hampshire, USA. It was found that the number of required litter traps in our stands (0.25~0.5 ha) within ${\pm}10%$ of the sample mean was appeared to be similar or higher than the 15 litter traps installed in this study. Notably, in 1994 and 1995, the number of required litter trap was twice higher than the 15 litter traps. Further, within ${\pm}20%$ of the sample mean, the number of required litter traps was less than 10 across all 13 stands for five years, which indicates that we can reduce the sample size. Precisely, the number of sample size had increased in stands with steep and high elevation, but no relations with stand age across 13 stands were observed. Based on these results, we suggest that it is important to sample litter mass for several years, in order to determine the number of appropriate sample size, and stands with steep and high elevation may need more litter traps.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.100 no.2
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• pp.240-245
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• 2011

Vegetation changes were studied for 16 yr in clearcut logged Pinus densiflora forests in the southern Gangwon-do province in Korea by applying chronosequence approach. Ambient temperature and relative humidity, Detrended Correspondence Analysis (DCA), Multiple Responses Permutation Procedure (MRPP), Indicator Species Analysis (ISPAN) were used to examine successional trajectory and compositional changes. After clearcutting, canopy openness was increased abruptly at three folds (1yr 68.3% and R1 23.0%) and then decreased, but relative moisture was slightly decreased (6%) compare to control site. In the result of DCA, right after clear cutting, vegetation composition was developed heterogeneously compared to control sites, and then approached to control sites within 16 years. Based on MRPP, species composition of each developmental stages (1yr, 3yr, 10yr and 16yr) revealed signigicant differences to that of control vegetation (R1, R3, R10 and R16). Indicator species in 1yr and 3yr samples included various woody species rather than herbaceous species, but in 10yr and 16yr, herbaceous were more abundant. Earlier succession of pine forests likely can explain to Initial Floristic Composition (IFC) Model.