• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.111 no.2
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• pp.201-223
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• 2022

Currently, species extinctions are increasing due to climate change and continued anthropogenic impact. We selected 300 species for conservation with emphasis on plants co-occurring in the Baekdudaegan area, which is a large ecological axis of Korea. We aimed to investigate the vegetation community and environmental characteristics of Zabelia tyaihyonii in the limestone habitat among the target plant species in the Baekdudaegan region to derive effective conservation strategies. In Danyang-gun, Yeongwol-gun, and Jecheon-si, we selected 36 investigation sites where Z. tyaihyonii was present. We investigated the vegetation, flora, soil and physical environment. We also found notable plants such as Thalictrum petaloideum, Sillaphyton podagraria, and Neillia uekii at the investigation sites. We classified forest vegetation community types into 4 vegetation units and 7 species group types. With canonical correspondence analysis (CCA) of the vegetation community and habitat factors, we determined the overall explanatory power to be 75.2%, and we classified the environmental characteristics of the habitat of Z. tyaihyonii into a grouping of three. Among these, we detected a relationship between the environmental factors elevation, slope, organic matter, rock ratio, pH, potassium, and sodium. We identified numerous rare and endemic plants, including Thalictrum petaloideum, in the investigation site, and determined that these groups needed to be preserved at the habitat level. In the classification of the vegetation units analyzed based on the emerging plants and the CCA, we reaffirmed the uniqueness and specificity of the vegetation community in the habitat of Z. tyaihyonii. We anticipate that our results will be used as scientific evidence for the empirical conservation of the native habitats of Z. tyaihyonii.