• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.42 no.3
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• pp.90-102
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• 2018

Background: We sought to understand the relationship between the seed bank and vegetation in abandoned rice paddies in South Korea, in order to guide management of these sites. We investigated the floristic composition and species richness of the soil seed bank and ground vegetation in former paddies along three seral gradients (wet meadow, young forest, and mature forest) in Gwangneung Forest Biosphere Reserve. Results: Seed bank samples contained 59 species, of which the dominant families were Cyperaceae, Gramineae, and Polygonaceae. Species richness and seedling density (59 taxa and 19,121 germinants from all samples) were high. Carex spp. (11, 921 germinants) were the dominant taxa. The species composition in the seed bank changed gradually as the land transitioned from wet meadow to mature forest. Sørensen's index of similarity between above- and below-ground vegetation was 29.3% for wet meadow, 10.8% for young forest, and 2.1% for mature forest. Germinant density also declined, with 10, 256 germinants for wet meadow, 6445 germinants for young forest, and 2420 germinants for mature forest. Conclusions: Changes in aboveground environment and life history traits such as amphicarpic plants, likely affect the composition of soil seed bank species. Abandoned paddy fields may be good sites for restoration of wetland forest and conservation of wetland habitat. Some intervention may be required to promote the recovery of a natural species assemblage.

• Journal of Climate Change Research
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• v.6 no.3
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• pp.185-191
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• 2015

This study presents an estimate of on-site surface fuel loadings composed of coarse woody debris (CWD) using $5^{th}$ National Forest Inventory (NFI) data in South Korea. We classified CWD data into forest type, region and decay class, and used conversion factors by decay class and tonne of oil equivalent developed in the country. In 2010, the total wildfire fuel load of CWD was estimated as 8.9 million TOE; those of coniferous, deciduous and mixed forests were 3.5 million TOE, 2.8 million TOE and 2.6 million TOE, respectively. Gangwon Province had the highest wildfire fuel load of CWD (2.3 million TOE), whereas Seoul exhibited the lowest wildfire fuel load of CWD (0.02 million TOE). Wildfire fuel loads of CWD were estimated as 2.9 million TOE, 1.9 million TOE, 2.4 million TOE and 1.7 million TOE for decay classes I, II, III and IV, respectively. The total wildfire fuel load of CWD corresponded to the calorific value of 8.2 million tons crude oil, 2.46% of that of living trees. Proportionate to the growing stock, total wildfire fuel load of CWD was in a broad distinction by region, while its TOE $ha^{-1}$ was not. This implies that there is no need to establish different guidelines by region for management of CWD. The results of this work provide a baseline study for scientific policy guidelines on preventing wildfires by proposing CWD as wildfire fuel load.

• The Korean Journal of Ecology
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.373-382
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• 1998

This paper describes the ecological structure and function of riparian zone, and their historical changes with land-use. The riparian zone consists of valley floor landform and riparian vegetation. The functions discussed are attenuation of sunlight energy, input of leaves and needles, contribution of woody debris to streams, and retention of flowing material out of transport. These primary functions directly or indirectly influence water and sediment qualities of streams, bars and floodplains, and thereby aquatic biota. Temporal changes in a hydrological system and riparian ecosystem were examined with reference to land-use conversin in order to understand the linkages between these two systems in Toikanbetsu River. The influences of channelization and land-use on discharge of suspended sediment and wetland vegetation was also investigated in Kushiro Marsh. These two examples suggested that the ecological functions of riparian zone have been degraded as flood control and reclamation works have expanded in the past twenty years The author proposes river restoration planning by preserving or creating landscape elements based on the concepts of sustaining physical and ecological linkages.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.95 no.5
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• pp.605-613
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• 2006

The goal of this study was to propose building strategies of web-based national park monitoring system (WNPMS) using geographic information analysis system. To accomplish this study, at first, this study selected and made integrated management indicators considering physical, ecological, and socio-psychological carrying capacity in national park. Secondly, this study built up an integrated management this system with statistical analysis program for execution of various multivariate analysis and spatial analysis. Finally, WNPMS could identify the relationship among visitors, natural resources, and recreation facilities in national park, and forecast the future management status of each national park in Korea. There results of this study will contribute to prevent the damage of natural resources and facilities, improve visitor's satisfaction, prevent an excess of carrying capacity at national park, and established tailored management strategies of each national park.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.103 no.4
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• pp.599-604
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• 2014

This study was conducted to analyze the ecological environment of the 53 uninhabitable islands of Jeju for the management formulation. The result of the Pearson correlation analysis were 0.647(p<0.01) for herbs, 0.585(p<0.01) for trees and 0.762 (p<0.01) for animals which means that there is a high correlation between the size of the forests in the uninhabitable islands and the species diversity of herbs, trees and animals. For the regression modeling to predict the forest area, the R value was 0.899 and the $R^2$ was 0.803 with 79.7% statistical significance. This study also classified the uninhabited islands based on its forest area into two classes, with a forests area of 0.5ha and with a forest of approximately 12ha. The importance value of the biodiversity in the uninhabited islands was also evaluated using DEA and the islands with higher importance, namely DMU14(0.941), DMU36(0.964), DMU44(1.000) and DMU45(0.903) were recommended to be managed. It was observed that uninhabited islands with forests had a mean importance value of 0.439 which is higher as compared to the uninhabited islands without forests with 0.096. This verified that there is close relationship between forest and biodiversity.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.29-40
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• 2006

This study was conducted to obtain the fundamental data for the ecological management in the Pinus koraiensis natural forest in Seoraksan National Park. The community types of the P. koraiensis forest were divided into Ainsliaea acerifolia group and Rhododendron schlippenbachii group. A. acerifolia group was subdivided into Acer tschonoskii var. rubripes subgroup and Calamagrostis arundinacea subgroup. The importance value of major species showed higher value in the order like Pinus koraienses, Abies nephrolepis, Acer barbinerve, Betula ermani, Acer pseudo-sieboldianum, Sorbus commixta and Quercus mongolica. The value of species diversify ranged from 0.44 to 0.86, and showed stronger competition in the interspecific association than in the intraspecific one. The number of individuals of P. koraiensis below 10 centimeters in the 15 study sites was 35, and it was considered that the population of P. koraiensis could be succeeded to the other species in the present situation because of lower frequency in the low layer though the canopy of tree layer was dominated with P. koraiensis. The radial growth patterns of P. koraiensis individuals were mainly fluctuated for the entire life time, which was considered to be caused by frequent disturbance.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.224-231
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• 2003

To develope reforestation methods for environmentally sound and ecological forest management, stand structure and radial growth of the trees were investigated and compared by species and study sites. Plantation forest studied on Betula costata, Betula platyphylla var. japonica and Betula davurica, was located at Jawoon-ni Nae-myeun, Hongcheon-gun and natural forest studied on Betula costata, was located at Jangjeon-ni Jinbu-myeun, Pyeungchang-gun. In 12.3 years after planting, differences of annual diameter increment among three Betula species were significant. The highest mean annual diameter increments, 7.67mm was measured in planting Betula costata, and followed by planting Betula platyphylla var. japonica and Betula davurica, and the lowest values. 4.32mm did in natural Betula costata. If planting Genus Beula in this district. Betula costata might be the best species. From these facts, massive planting of three Betula species in this district might have much problems, but might be evaluated as proper trial.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.36 no.4
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• pp.422-432
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• 2022

Soil and micro-climatic environmental monitoring was conducted to evaluate the factors causing tree growth impediments at the Baekdudaegan ecological axis restoration project site. As a result, it was found that the nutrient supply was insufficient in the restoration project site due to the lack of organic matter, total nitrogen and cation exchange capacity of the soil compared to the surrounding forest. After the completion of the restoration, the soil moisture in the autumn decreased more than 7 times faster than that of the surrounding forest, and it was evaluated that the soil moisture was significantly low due to the lack of silt and clay content. In the case of the restoration site, the annual potential evapotranspiration was analyzed to be 975mm, which is approximately two times higher than that of the surrounding forest. The soil moisture of the restoration site in the summer decreased rapidly during the daytime when the amount of insolation increased and this was found to be strongly influenced by the increase in potential evapotranspiration. In order to improve the above factors affecting the tree growth at the Baekdudaegan ecological axis restoration project site, it is necessary to induce the smooth supply of nutrients and water to plants by improving physical proprieties and cation exchange capacity, i.e., using litterfall, humus soil, soil conditioner and organic fertilizer. The results of this study are expected to serve as basic data for the design, construction, and management of ecological axis restoration projects in the future.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.33 no.6_2
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• pp.1119-1137
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• 2017

This study assessed the water provisioning and climate mitigation ecosystem services of the urban forest in Seoul and Gyeonggi-do. The ecosystem service assessment is conducted based on natural function, natural function and population, and natural function and the beneficiary of the ecosystem service. Then, the impact of climate change on ecosystem services is analyzed to figure out the sensitivity of the impact on the beneficiary when the natural function of forest destroys under climate change. Gyeonggi-do has higher function-based water provisioning ecosystem service than Seoul. And population-based water provisioning ecosystem service appears to be higher in the densely populated area. On the other hand, beneficiary-based water provisioning ecosystem service by applying both natural water supply function and beneficiary distribution appears different with the result of population-based water provisioning service assessment. In other words, regions with high beneficiary population show higher ecosystem service than those with a low beneficiary population even though they have the same water storage function. In addition, climate change has a negative impact on the water provisioning ecosystem service. Under climate change, water provisioning service is expected to decrease by 26%. For climate mitigation service, regions close to the forest seem to have a low temperature, which indicates their high climate mitigation service. The center of the city with high beneficiary population shows high beneficiary-based ecosystem service. The climate change impacts the forest growth to decrease which affect the beneficiary-based climate mitigation ecosystem service to decrease by 33%. From this study, we conclude that beneficiary-based function and ecosystem service assessment is needed as well as the supply-based classification of forest function suggested by Korea Forest Service. In addition, we suggest that not only supply-based function classification and ecosystem service assessment but also beneficiary-based function classification and ecosystem service assessment is needed for managing the urban forest, which has been destroyed by climate change. This will contribute to revaluing cases where a forest with low natural function but high beneficiary-based ecosystem service, which is not considered under the current forest function-based assessment system. Moreover, this could assist in developing a suitable management plan for the urban forest.

• Journal of the Korean Association of Geographic Information Studies
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.120-134
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• 2015

InVEST Water Yield model developed by Natural Capital Project was applied for South Korea to assess domestic forest ecosystem's water provisioning services. The InVEST Water Yield model required 8 input dataset, including six spatial map data and two derived by coefficients. By running the model with relatively easy acquired and modified data, the result of domestic forest ecosystem's water provisioning services was 9,409,622,083 ton using the standard of the year 2011. The result showed similar patterns and distribution of rainfall in 2011, but showed difference when compared with existing researches spatially driven in nationwide statistical analysis results. This difference is assumed to occur with different model mechanism in spatial implementation and statistical analysis. So given that the model is currently still developing, applications should be taken on qualitative perspectives rather than on quantitative perspectives. Additionally, for advancing the application of InVEST water yield model, quantification of suitable input data and comparison using multi-modeling is required.