• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.67-78
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• 2006

Global warming brings about changes of diverse environmental, especially changes of plant distribution. The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between temperature rise and changes of northern limit of vegetation growth in Korea. Bamboos (Phyllostachys) and boundary between the northern type and southern type of garlic (Allium sativum L.) were selected. The data of the distributions of bamboos and garlic are collected by field survey and interviews. Temperature is analyzed from 1904 to 2000. The northern limit of Phyllostachys moves 60-100 km northward, for about 100 years, the period of 1907-2003 and mean temperature of Korea increases about $2^{\circ}C$ during the same period. It means that the northern limit moves 30-50 km northward, for each $1^{\circ}C$ rising of January mean temperature. The boundary between the northern type and southern types of garlic moves northward 40-140 km from 1980s to 2000. The moving width is broad in the west coastal region while the width is narrow in the inland and mountain regions. The mean moving width is about 100 km.