• Journal of Forest and Environmental Science
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.291-301
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• 2016

One of the most concerned topics in ecology is the relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem functioning. However, there are few field studies, carried out in forests, although many studies have been done in controlled experiments in grasslands. In this paper, we describe the relationship pattern between three facets of diversity and productivity at Ratargul Fresh Water Swamp Forest (RFWSF) in Bangladesh, which is the only remaining fresh water swamp forest of the country. Sixty sample plots were selected from RFWSF and included six functional traits including leaf area (LA), specific leaf area (SLA), leaf dry matter content (LDMC), tree height, bark thickness and wood density. In analyzing TD, we used Shannon diversity and richness indices, functional diversity was measured by Rao's quadratic entropy (Rao 1982) and Faith's (1992) index was used for phylogenetic diversity (PD). It was found that, TD, FD and PD were positively related with productivity (basal area) due to resource use complementarity but surprisingly the best predictor of tree productivity was FD. The results contribute to the understanding the effects of biodiversity loss and it is essential for conservation decision-making and policy-making of Ratargul Fresh Water Swamp Forest.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.27 no.5
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• pp.417-430
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• 2018

Identification and mangement of ecosystem service hotspots are necessary to set environmental policies that include concepts of ecosystem service. Assessment and mapping of ecosystem service hotspot referring areas with high amount of ecosystem services provide essential information to manage ecosystem services effectively. Assessment of hotspots based on regional environmental stakeholders' perception is an useful approach to identify priority areas where management practices are required. This study estimated weights on regulating ecosystem services from regional environmental stakeholders' surveys in Ansan, and then, identified regulating service hotspots with weights. The result indicated that regulating services are, in order of importance, water quality, air quality, erosion, and climate control. The north-eastern forest of Ansan was mainly revealed as an ecosystem service hotspot. Ecosystem service hotspots were spatially distributed similarly regardless of environmental stakeholders' weights. Identification of ecosystem service hotspot with environmental stakeholders' perception can be applied in decision-support tools for ecosystem service management.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.85 no.3
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• pp.416-425
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• 1996

Aboveground biomass, distribution of N and P in tree components, forest floor and the top 20cm of mineral soil, and litterfall were determined in adjacent 37-year-old plantations of Pinus rigida Mill. and Larix leptolepis Gord. on a sandy clay loam soil in Yangpyeong, Kyonggi Province. Total above-ground tree biomass for P. rigida and L. leptolepis were 138.2 and 127.2 t/ha, respectively, and did not differ between the two species. Nitrogen concentrations in stembark and foliage were all greater in L. leptolepis. Understory biomass contributed less than 2.0% of the total aboveground biomass but contributed up to 12.0% of the aboveground nutrient contents. Soil below L. leptolepis had higher concentrations of N and P. Total ecosystem N content (kg/ha) was greater for L. leptolepis (5,579) than P. rigida (4,147). Litterfall dry mass (kg/ha/yr) was greater for P. rigida (6,020) than L. leptolepis (4,191) whereas N contents in leaf litterfall (kg/ha/yr) was almost twice as large in L. leptolepis (28) than P. rigida (16). This common garden experiment suggests a strong influence of tree species on nutrient distribution and cycling in a forest ecosystem.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.108 no.2
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• pp.189-199
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• 2019

The forest management paradigm has recently shifted from focusing on commercial production to focusing on ecosystem management. Accordingly, a natural seedling regeneration method that has a naturally high affinity has attracted much attention in recent years. The aim of this study was to determine the relationship among various environmental factors, lower stratum vegetation, and seedling regeneration in Pinus densiflora forests. The survey site comprised 50 sectors divided using the line transect method, and the survey data were divided into those from wet habitat (19 sites) and dry habitat (31 sites), depending on the soil humidity, and were analyzed separately to show the close relationship between soil humidity and natural seedling regeneration. As a result, the dry habitat exhibited high seedling density (157,419 trees/ha), with the main species being Quercus serrata, Zanthoxylum piperitum, Smilax china, and Pueraria lobata, while wet habitat exhibited low seedling density (57,895 trees/ha), with the main species being Stephanandra incisa, Castanea crenata, Lespedeza maximowiczii, Lysimachia barystachys, Aralia elata, and Styrax japonicus. The height and root-collar diameter under wet conditions exhibited faster growth than those under dry conditions. Height growth by the root-collar diameter in dry habitat increased faster than that in wet habitat. It was also confirmed that seedling regeneration in wet habitat exhibited a rapid growth pattern 5 years after germination. These results suggest that the seedlings begin to grow more rapidly after a period of suppression by competition with surrounding plants. Considering an ecosystem or ecological management approach, specific practices, such as bush control and vine clearing in wet habitats, should be more intensively conducted, especially at the beginning of the management operations.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.22 no.9
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• pp.1141-1152
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• 2013

Insect fauna were surveyed in 2011 at Ungok wetland, Obeygol, located in Gochang, Jeonbuk, Korea. In total, 149 species belonging to 11 orders and 57 families were surveyed. Among them, Lepidopterans composed 23.5% (35 species) of the total insect numbers surveyed, comprising the most abundant group, and followed by Coleoptera, Hemiptera, and Odonata with a composition of 22.1% (33 species), 17.4% (26 species), and 10.1% (15 species), respectively. Bothrogonia japonica Ishihara was the most dominant species, and followed by Gastrophysa atrocyanea Motschulsky and Celastrina argiolus (Linnaeus). Phytophagous insects accounted for 60 percent of the total species. Dominance index was the highest in spring by 0.21. Diversity, richness, and evenness indices were the highest in summer by 4.07, 11.84 and 0.96, respectively. In the study area, the legally-protect species were grouped into five groups; 9 export-restricted species, 17 endemic species, 28 indicator species, 1 climate-sensitive biological indicator and 3 southern characteristic species. Additionally, twenty forest insect pest species were surveyed, belonging to 5 orders and 15 families. Therefore, it is required to conduct long-term monitoring and appropriate management based on the ecological characteristic of the habitats to continuously conserve and maintain of wetland.

• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.20 no.12
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• pp.33-39
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• 2019

The upsurge of population, internal migration, economic activities and developmental works has brought significant land use and land cover (LULC) change over the period of 1990 and 2010 in the Bagmati basin of Nepal. Along with alteration on various other ecosystem services like water yield, water quality, soil loss etc. carbon sequestration is also altered. This study thus primary deals with evaluation of LULC change and its impact on the soil carbon storage for the period 1990 to 2010. For the evaluation, InVEST (Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Tradeoffs) Carbon model is used. Residential and several other infrastructural development activities were prevalent on the study period and as a result in 2010 major soil carbon reserve like forest area is decreased by 7.17% of its original coverage in 1990. This decrement has brought about a subsequent decrement of 1.39 million tons of carbon in the basin. Conversion from barren land, water bodies and built up areas to higher carbon reserve like forest and agriculture land has slightly increased soil carbon storage but still, net reduction is higher. Thus, the spatial output of the model in the form of maps is expected to help in decision making for future land use planning and for restoration policies.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Environmental Restoration Technology
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• v.25 no.5
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• pp.59-76
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• 2022

This study was conducted to investigated woody species community classification and understory vegetation characteristics of Abies nephrolepis forest in Mt. Gyebang and Mt. Odae designated as Protected Area for Forest Genetic Resource Conservation and National Park. Vascular plants were surveyed as following; 55 family, 148 species, 3 sub species, 14 variety, 2 form 167 taxa. As an analysis of the species estimator of Jackknife 1, 29 survey plots could be representative of vegetation in study site. Results of the woody species, 3 communities were divided by cluster analysis(A=Abies nephrolepis-Tilia amurensis, B=Betula ermanii-Abies nephrolepis, C=Quercus mongolica-Abies nephrolepis). Using MRPP-test, there were significant differences between the communities indicating analysis of the appropriate group classification(p<0.01). The basal area and altitude were analyzed by negative relationship for NMS ordination. By analyzing plexus diagram of woody species, Acer pseudosieboldianum is strong associated with Quercus mongolica and Rhododendron schlippenbachii. Magnolia sieboldii is strong associated with Acer pictum subsp. mono etc.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Environmental Restoration Technology
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.1-16
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• 2023

The purpose of this study is to understand the vegetation structure of the Corylopsis coreana habitats in South Korea and their correlation with environmental factors, in order to provide basic data for preparing conservation. A total of 40 vegetation survey plots were established in around Southern region, Gangwon-do and Gyeonggi-do Province. The cluster analysis revealed four distinct clusters: Quercus mongolica-Pinus densiflora (QmPd), Castanea crenata (Cc), Quercus mongolica (Qm), and Pinus koraiensis (Pk). Among them, the QmPd cluster was selected as the representative community. Soil texture analysis that most areas consisted of loamy soil and were distributed on the northern aspects. The plantation, represented by Pk, exhibited a high content of exchangeable aluminum (5.227±0.342 mg/kg), suggesting the need for soil improvement and monitoring in these habitats. The canopy openness (forest gap) ranged from 11% to 21%, indicating a relatively closed canopy in many survey plots. Non-metric multidimensional scaling analysis indicated heterogeneous species composition between the QmPd cluster and the Pk cluster (total R² = 0.608).

• Journal of Forest and Environmental Science
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.49-57
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• 2013

Malaysia possesses about 1.56 million ha of Peat Swamp Forest (PSF). The PSF safeguard enormous biological diversity, while providing crucial benefits for the sustainable development of human communities. Numbers of threatened plant species are associated with the PSF, including the commercially important Gonystylus bancanus timber. To prevent significant losses of biodiversity, it is important to manage the PSF for both biological conservation and sustainable use. Equally important is to restore all degraded PSF in an attempt to ensure the PSF ecosystem is suitable for the vegetation to grow and rehabilitate back to the normal condition. Prior to plan any forest restoration program, there is a need to properly map the degraded PSF in order to estimate the forest conditions and determine the vegetations status. Most of the time this need to be done at a landscape level and requires a technology that can provide accurate, timely and reliable information for the planner to make decision. This paper describes a study using geospatial technology in combination with ground survey to classify the degraded PSF in South East Pahang Peat Swamp Forest (SEPPSF), Malaysia, into different degree of vegetation classes. With map accuracy of about 83%, the technique proved to be useful in delineating the different degree of PSF degradation from which the information can be used to properly plan forest restoration program in the area. The final output which is in the form of map can be used in developing a Restoration Master Plan for the degraded PSF areas.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.78 no.1
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• pp.11-25
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• 1989

Four regions have been selected and surveyed to investigate the effects of air pollution and acid deposition on forest ecosystem. They were Seoul as urban region, Yeochon and Ulsan as industrialized region, and Kangwondo as uncontaminated region. Soil pH and the distribution of elements were analyzed in process of time for three years as well as by distance from pollution sources. In general, forest soils acidified in process of time from pollution sources to suburban areas. Hydrogen ion concentration in forest soils increased in 1988 as much as 60% of that in previous year. Average soil pH values in coniferous forest were 4.45 in Seoul, 4.54 in Yeochon, 4.81 in Ulsan, and 6.03 in Kangwondo. Forest soil pH increased with the distance from pollution sources to suburban areas at constant rate within short ranges (up to 30 km) and at decreasing rate within long ranges (up to 200 km). On the contrary, sulfur content in soils decreased every year except in Yeochon region. Base saturation of forest soils in polluted regions were all below 20% level compared with 70% in Kangwondo region. Active aluminum content in soils increased with the soil acidification at the highest rate in Yeochon, and the next in Ulsan and Seoul. Heavy metal content such as copper and zinc in tree tissues were the lowest in Kangwondo region, and the next in Yeochon, Seoul and Ulsan.