• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.108 no.1
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• pp.10-20
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• 2019

The purpose of this study is to identify the long-term area changes in the subalpine coniferous forests in Korea in order to understand the changes in the subalpine forest ecosystems vulnerable to climate change. We analyzed 20 years of time-series Landsat satellite images (mid 1990s, mid 2010s) for change detection of coniferous forests and compared with the long term changes of climate information to identify their relationship in the study area. As a result, the area of coniferous forests in the study region decreased by 25% over 20 years. The regions with largest changes are Seoraksan, Baegunsan-Hambaeksan-Jangsan, Jirisan, and Hallasan. The region with the largest decrease in area was Baegunsan (reduced area: 542 ha), and the region with large decrease in area and the largest rate of decrease was Hallasan (rate of decrease: 33.3%). As the Jeju region has the most rapid temperature rise, it is projected that Hallasan is the most vulnerable forest ecosystem affected by climate change. The result of this study shows that from a long-term perspective the overall coniferous forests in the subalpine region are declining, but the trend varies in each region. This national and long-term information on the change of coniferous forests in the subalpine region can be utilized as baseline data for the detailed survey of endangered subalpine coniferous trees in the future.

• The Korean Journal of Ecology
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• v.27 no.5
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• pp.311-323
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• 2004

To date, restoration ecology has focused on local areas, particularly small-scale ecosystems. As such, restoration ecology has been applied to areas with clear boundaries, such as roads, abandoned mines, wetlands, and forest ecosystems. However, those involved in these restoration efforts, due to their tendency to implement comprehensive plans to change the landscape structure, and their mismanagement of the restoration process, have more often than not wound up weakening the ecological functions of surrounding ecosystems, and in further degrading the ecosystem which they were trying to restore. To resolve these problems and restore a comparatively large-scale region, methods to assess the impact of such restoration efforts on surrounding ecosystems must be developed. These include expanding the scale of restoration efforts; in other words, moving from the local to the landscape scale. As a conclusion, practice of ecological restoration is increasingly moving towards landscape scale in order to deal with these problems.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.166-174
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• 2011

This study was carried out to investigate the actual vegetation and Degree of Green Naturality(DGN) in Naejangsan National Park in 2010. The actual vegetation of the surveyed site were classified into twelve plant communities and the others. Secondary forest were classified into eight plant communities; Pinus densiflora community, Deciduous broadleaf forest, Quercus mongolica community, etc. Afforested lands were classified into four forest types: P. rigida -P. densiflora forest, P. rigida forest, etc. The area of DGN 8 consisted of 60.58% while the area of DGN 9 consisted of 3.62% when compared with land area in Naejangsan National Park. The exotic plants needs to be managed for recovery of natural landscape and biological diversity in Naejangsan National Park.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.36 no.3
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• pp.193-204
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• 2013

Altitudinal patterns of plant species richness and the effects of area, the mid-domain effect, climatic variables, net primary productivity and latitude on observed richness patterns along the ridge of the Baekdudaegan Mountains, South Korea were studied. Data were collected from 1,100 plots along a 200 to 1,900 m altitudinal gradient on the ridge. A total of 802 plant species from 97 families and 342 genera were recorded. Common and rare species accounted for 91% and 9%, respectively, of the total plant species. The altitudinal patterns of species richness for total, common and rare plants showed distinctly hump-shaped patterns, although the absolute altitudes of the richness peaks varied somewhat among plant groups. The mid-domain effect was the most powerful explanatory variable for total and common species richness, whereas climatic variables were better predictors for rare plant richness. No effect of latitude on species richness was observed. Our study suggests that the mid-domain effect is a better predictor for wide-ranging species such as common species, whereas climatic variables are more important factors for range-restricted species such as rare species. The mechanisms underlying these richness patterns may reflect fundamental differences in the biology and ecology of different plant groups.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.113-118
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• 2001

This study was carried out to provide basic data for establishment of Natural Ecology Center through vegetation research in Nodong valley, Pyungchanggun of Kangwondo. The vascular plants consisted of total 178 taxa such as 56 families, 121 genera, 152 species, 24 varieties and two forms. In the study area, we found some plants designated as protect plants by the Ministry of Environment such as Dryopteris crassirhizoma and Rodgersia podophylla that is a vulnerable species and Iris odaesanensis that is an endemic species. Communities by characteristic in species composition of Nodong valley forest were classified into Quercus mongolica - Acer pseudosieboldianum community as a natural forest community and Larix leptolepis and Pinus koraiensis community as artificial forest. The Quercus mongolica-Acer pseudosieboldianum community was further classified as Pinus densiflora subcommunity and Acer mono subcommunity. A protection program will be needed for Iris odaesanensis classified as an endemic species to make a Natural Ecology Center.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.102 no.1
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• pp.97-106
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• 2013

The present study is aimed to evaluate forest health in a fragmented urban forest using characteristics of insect communities. Ants (Formicidae) and ground beetles (Carabidae) surveyed by pitfall trap method in the Hongneung forest located in the urban area of Seoul were compared with those in the Gwangneung forest. The Gwangneung forest is supposed to be health due to its high biodiversity and well-conserved nature. Ants of the Hongneung forest was much more abundant compared with those of the Gwangneung forest. However, ground beetles showed the opposite patterns; much more abundant in the Gwangneung forest than in the Hongneung forest. Species richness was higher in the Gwangneung forest than in the Hongneung forest, but species diversity was higher in the Hongneung forest. In the Hongneung forest, forest specialist species and generalist species were balanced, whereas few forest specialists dominated in the Gwangneung forest. This dominance decreased species diversity in those Gwangneung forest. Thus, characteristics of insect community in the Hongneung forest were greatly different with those in the Gwangneung forest.

• Proceedings of The Korean Society of Agricultural and Forest Meteorology Conference
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• 2019.08a
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• pp.259-259
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• 2019

• Proceedings of the National Institute of Ecology of the Republic of Korea
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.101-107
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• 2021

The objective of this study was to analyze social wasps' urban distribution tendency based on 10 species found in two metropolitan cities (Busan and Daegu) of South Korea. There 10 species included six species (Vespa mandarinia, V. ducalis, V. crabro flavofasciata, Vespula koreensis koreensis, Parapolybia indica, and Polistes snelleni) of forest dwellers that inhabited urban main forests and satellite forests, two species (V. simillima simillima and V. analis parallela) of facultative dwellers that nested at diverse sites of urban areas with greater preference for urban forest, and two species (V. velutina nigrithorax and P. rothneyi koreanus) of urban dwellers that nested at almost all sites, including urban and forest areas. These urban dwellers were found to adapt well to an urban environment based on their far higher rate of urban nesting compared to facultative dwellers. When distribution tendencies of facultative dwellers and urban dwellers in Busan and Daegu were compared, a regular distribution was mostly observed in Busan with a dense forest network. For Daegu that lacked forest connectivity, the greatest distribution of species was found in the nearby urban forest. For Daegu, a city further away from forests, urban dwellers occurred far beyond forest sites compared to Busan with a dense forest network.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.176-184
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• 2018

This study was intended to provide basic data for more ecological and systematic preservation and management planning of forest vegetations in the Baekdudaegan sector between Danmoknyeong and Guryongnyeong where biodiversity is considered to be very important. A vegetation survey using the Zurich-Montpellier (Z.-M.) method of phytosociology was carried out in a total 142 sites to examine the environmental characteristics. The survey showed the forest vegetation types of one community group, two communities, four groups, and four subgroups. Quercus mongolica and Acer pseudosieboldianum, which fall under Constancy Class V, were dominant species and deemed to be the key species of the forest ecosystem management plan for the investigated areas. Regarding species diversity, it was found that the dominant species of the VT3 type were evenly distributed in the area while the species of the VT4 type showed not only a diverse composition but also the most abundant number of species. Moreover, there were 24 of rare plants found in the Danmoknyeong-Guryongnyeong section: the critically endangered species include Dracocephalum rupestre; the endangered species include Saxifraga octopetala; the vulnerable species include Paeonia japonica, Euphorbia fauriei, Hanabusaya asiatica, and Parasenecio pseudotaimingasa; the least concern species include Aristolochia manshuriensis, Rodgersia podophylla, Salvia chanryoenica, Scopolia japonica, and Parasenecio firmus.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Environment and Ecology Conference
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• 2004.04a
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• pp.165-168
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• 2004