• Journal of Forest and Environmental Science
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• v.40 no.3
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• pp.196-209
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• 2024

This study aimed to develop a mixed plantation strategy, with Sal (Shorea robusta) as the primary tree species, along with four associated and two naturally grown tree species. Using a randomized complete block design (RCBD), the field experiment involved a control group (mono plantation) and three mixed plantation groups, each replicated four times, totaling 80 replicates (40 in 2019 and 40 in 2020). Survival rate, height and collar diameter growth of seedlings were recorded in both mono and mixed plots in July 2021. Statistical analyses, including one-way ANOVA on means from three replicate plots (p<0.05) and a Tukey HSD test, were conducted to assess differences between treatments. Significant differences in survival rates were found among mono plantations, with T_Mono04 showing the highest survival rate (88% to 91%). However, there were no significant differences in survival rates among seedlings in mixed plantations. Notably, survival rates were lower in mono plantations compared to mixed plantations. Mono plantations showed significant differences in height growth across both 2019 and 2020 plots, with T_Mono05 achieving the highest height growth (101.1 cm to 123.6 cm). Similarly, mixed plantations showed significant differences in height growth, with T_Mixed7 displaying the most substantial growth (116.4 cm to 138.2 cm). Overall, mixed plantations showed greater height growth compared to mono plantations. Significant variations in collar diameter growth were noted in both the 2019 and 2020 mono plantation plots, with T_Mono01 showing the highest growth (10.2 mm to 11.1 mm). Similarly, among mixed plantations, a significant difference in collar diameter growth was observed, with T_Mixed4 exhibiting the highest growth (10.4 mm to 13.1 mm). Overall, mixed plantations showed higher collar diameter growth compared to mono plantations. The findings suggest that planting Sal trees alongside compatible associated and naturally grown tree species in the Sal forests is preferable over establishing mono plantations.

• Journal of Korea Water Resources Association
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• v.55 no.6
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• pp.393-404
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• 2022

Reliable terrestrial rainfall observations from satellites at finer spatial resolution are essential for urban hydrological and microscale agricultural demands. Although various traditional "top-down" approach-based satellite rainfall products were widely used, they are limited in spatial resolution. This study aims to assess the potential of a novel "bottom-up" approach for rainfall estimation, the parameterized SM2RAIN model, applied to the C-band SAR Sentinel-1 satellite data (SM2RAIN-S1), to generate high-spatial-resolution terrestrial rainfall estimates (0.01° grid/6-day) over Central South Korea. Its performance was evaluated for both spatial and temporal variability using the respective rainfall data from a conventional reanalysis product and rain gauge network for a 1-year period over two different sub-regions in Central South Korea-the mixed forest-dominated, middle sub-region and cropland-dominated, west coast sub-region. Evaluation results indicated that the SM2RAIN-S1 product can capture general rainfall patterns in Central South Korea, and hold potential for high-spatial-resolution rainfall measurement over the local scale with different land covers, while less biased rainfall estimates against rain gauge observations were provided. Moreover, the SM2RAIN-S1 rainfall product was better in mixed forests considering the Pearson's correlation coefficient (R = 0.69), implying the suitability of 6-day SM2RAIN-S1 data in capturing the temporal dynamics of soil moisture and rainfall in mixed forests. However, in terms of RMSE and Bias, better performance was obtained with the SM2RAIN-S1 rainfall product over croplands rather than mixed forests, indicating that larger errors induced by high evapotranspiration losses (especially in mixed forests) need to be included in further improvement of the SM2RAIN.

• Journal of the Korean Association of Geographic Information Studies
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.20-38
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• 2014

Vegetation phenology is the most important indicator of ecosystem response to climate change. Therefore it is necessary to continuously monitor forest phenology. This paper analyzes the phenological characteristics of forests in South Korea using the MODIS vegetation index with error from clouds or other sources removed using the HANTS algorithm. After using the HANTS algorithm to reduce the noise of the satellite-based vegetation index data, we were able to confirm that phenological transition dates varied strongly with altitudinal gradients. The dates of the start of the growing season, end of the growing season and the length of the growing season were estimated to vary by +0.71day/100m, -1.33day/100m and -2.04day/100m in needleleaf forests, +1.50day/100m, -1.54day/100m and -3.04day/100m in broadleaf forests, +1.39day/100m, -2.04day/100m and -3.43day/100m in mixed forests. We found a linear pattern of variation in response to altitudinal gradients that was related to air temperature. We also found that broadleaf forests are more sensitive to temperature changes compared to needleleaf forests.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.24 no.5
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• pp.539-546
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• 2010

To investigate the variation of anion concentrations in relation to forest type, forest-related factors, forest survey and anion concentrations measurement were carried out on the 52 quadrats located at the national forest areas in Yangyang-gun, Kangwon-do. The relationship between anion concentrations and forest-related factors were correlated. Total mean of anion concentration was 2,405 ea/$cm^3$, which was slightly higher than general figures 2,000ea/$cm^3$. Highly significant positive correlations were observed between anion concentrations and soil moisture contents, and also between anion concentrations and altitude. Significant positive correlations were observed between anion concentrations and topography. Anion concentrations were significantly different among soil moisture levels. Mean anion concentration were highest at 4,524.4ea/$cm^3$ in on wet sites, and followed slightly wet sites and moderate sites. Mean anion concentrations was highest on valley sites at 3,372.4ea/$cm^3$, followed by slope and ridge areas. Mean anion concentrations measured before noon was highest at 3,133.4ea/$cm^3$, and measurements during 12:00~15:00 and after 15:00, showed relatively low anion concentrations. Mean anion concentrations was highest at mixed deciduous forests at 3,503.9ea/$cm^3$, followed by oak forests, pine forests, and pine-oak forests. Results of this study are expected to be used in planning therapeutic forests.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.44 no.3
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• pp.126-142
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• 2020

Background: Most of the Pinus densiflora forests, occupying the largest area, have been restored in South Korea since the 1970s. As young pioneer forests, the succession process is under way. Since the forests are distributed nationwide and are vulnerable to disturbances, the process may differ depending on the geography and/or site conditions. Therefore, we reviewed the direction, the seral communities, and the late-successional species of progressive and disturbance-driven succession nationwide in the cool-temperate zone through meta-analysis and empirical observations. Main text: As a result of a meta-analysis of the direct succession and vertical structure, we found that the P. densiflora forest is in a directionally progressive succession, changing to the broadleaved forest after forming a mixed forest with its overwhelming successor, Quercus species (particularly Q. mongolica and Q. serrata). In dry stands in a relative sense, the Quercus species was favored occupying over 80% of the abundance of the succeeding species. Therefore, in dry stands, it is presumed that Quercus-dominated stage would last for a long time due to the current dominance and long life span, and eventually, it settles as Quercus-broadleaved forest with a site change. Contrary to this, it is presumed that in mesic stands where Quercus species do not occur or have low abundance, the late-successional broadleaved species settle early to form a co-dominant forest with multiple species. Due to geographical limits, the species composition of the two late-successional forests is different. Disturbances such as insect pests and fire retrogressed vulnerable P. densiflora forest for a while. However, it was mostly restored to the Quercus forest and is expected to be incorporated in the pathway of the dry stand. Conclusions: We revealed the succession process of P. densiflora forests according to geography and moisture and found that stand moisture had a decisive effect on the species and abundance of the successor. Although the P. densiflora forest is undergoing structural changes, the forest is still young; so within a few decades, physiognomy is not likely to change. Therefore, the decrease in the forest area may be due to other causes such as disturbances and forest conversion rather than due to succession.

• Journal of Forest and Environmental Science
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• v.34 no.6
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• pp.435-450
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• 2018

Phenological events of four Rhododendron tree species (viz. R. arboreum, R. arboreum ssp. delavayi var. delavayi, R. barbatum and R. kesangiae) was monitored in temperate mixed broad-leaved forests of Arunachal Pradesh, India. Phenological events like flower bud formation, flowering, fruit setting, fruit maturing, seed dispersal, leaf bud formation, leaf flushing, and leaf shedding were recorded. Indices i.e., phenophase sequence index (PSI), active phenophasic period of the species (APS) and index of reproductive/vegetative activity (RVA) were also calculated. Present study revealed that bark consistency, growth form and leaf pattern of the studied species have showed variations among the species. Rhododendron species exhibited the phenological events overlapping with other phenophases. The peak flower bud formation was observed during the winter; R. arboreum ssp. delavayi var. delavayi start flowering from December, while the flowering in rest three species exhibited during February to April. Fruit setting occurred during summer to autumn while fruit maturation revealed peak during November. Leaf bud formation illustrated two peaks in April and May, leaf flushing exhibited peak in June, while leaf shedding peaked during October to November. Active phenophasic period of the species were found 12 months, which revealed that species engage in various phenophase activities throughout the year. Phenophase sequence index ranged between 0.8 to 0.9 (PSI ${\geq}0.6$), signifies that species have a sequential arrangement of phenophases. Index of reproductive/vegetative activity of the species exemplified >1, indicate that the reproductive phenophases were dominance over vegetative phenophases. The study have provided substantial insight on the life cycle events of Rhododendron species and ecological approaches for further scientific study with recent climate change and effective management and conservation.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.294-303
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• 2020

This study aimed to examine was conducted to the ability of microclimate control in old pine forests by surveying pine forest in Buddhist temples, where the pine forest are stably growing through active protection in the Gyeongnam region, and comparing variation characteristics of microclimate characteristics (temperature and humidity) and distribution of vegetation type. The study sites were pine forests protected well by Buddhist temples (Haein-sa, Beomeo-sa, Tongdo-sa, and Bulguk-sa) in the southeast region of Korea and thus known for stably growing young pine trees. According to the vegetation distribution status analysis, these pine forests did not have a high ratio of pine trees. Except for Tongdo-sa, the ratio of deciduous forest and mixed (deciduous and pine trees) forest had a much larger presence than that of pine forest. Measured data of microclimate showed that the Tongdo-sa area had significantly different characteristics compared to the other three areas. Tongdo-sa area showed a significantly higher diurnal range of temperatures and humidity than the other three areas, in both spring and summer. It is due to the difference in vegetation management. The forests around Tongdo-sa are mostly pine forests, except for the developed areas, while those in the other three areas have a dominant ratio of deciduous brad-leaved forests. Intensive control of pine forest is not effective in mitigating microclimate, i.e., temperature and air humidity. Stress caused by rising temperatures and decreasing air humidity is blamed for the decline of pine forests. Thus, the current active management of pine forests, such as the Tongdo-sa case, has been found to have a greater negative impact on the temperature and humidity stress. Therefore, we believe that a new change in forest management is necessary to increase the effect of mitigating the microclimate of pine forests.

• Proceedings of the KSRS Conference
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• 1999.11a
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• pp.386-389
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• 1999

In this study, visible and near infrared channels of NOAA/AVHRR data were used to classify land use and vegetation types over Korean peninsula. Analyzing forest stand structures and prediction of forest productivity using satellite data were also reviewed. Land use and land cover classification was made by unsupervised clustering methods. After monthly Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) composite images were derived from April to November 1998, the derived composite images were used as temporal feature vector's in this clustering analysis. Visually interpreted, the classification result was satisfactory in overall for it matched well with the general land cover patterns. But subclassification of forests into coniferous, deciduous, and mixed forests were much confused due to the effects of low ground resolution of AVHRR data and without defined classification scheme. To investigate into the forest stand structures, digital forest type maps were used as an ancillary data. Forest type maps, which were compiled and digitalized by Forestry Research Institute, were registered to AVHRR image coordinates. Two data sets were compared and percent forest cover over whole region was estimated by multiple regression analysis. Using this method, other forest stand structure characteristics within the primary data pixels are expected to be extracted and estimated.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.356-361
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• 2009

This study has targeted Quercus acutissima forests in Korea and has classified the association between Quercus acutissima forests by using the phytosociological method. In addition, the correlation between each association, distribution, potential natural vegetation, and aspect of Quercus acutissima forest according to location have been analyzed to examine the characteristics of the Korean Quercus acutissima forests. Through factor analysis of DECORANA, it was revealed that Quercetum serrato-acutissimae forms in the basal zones of mountains, Quercetum mongolico-acutissimae is formed in the highlands, in the relatively high mountain area, and Carpino-Quercetum acutissimae is mainly distributed in valleys. However, this phenomenon is not very obvious, as each association structure is often mixed up. This result is caused by inhomogeneity of the Quercus acutissima forests, and most of it is distributed in basal zones or around farmlands where there are severe disturbance factors. The proposed potential natural vegetation of the Quercus acutissima forests in Korea is as follows; Quercetum serrato-acutissimae$\rightarrow$Quercus aliena-Quercus serrata community$\rightarrow$Quercus serrata community, Quercetum mongolico-acutissimae$\rightarrow$Quercus aliena-Quercus mongolica community$\rightarrow$Quercus mongolica community, Carpino-Quercetum acutissimae$\rightarrow$Quercus aliena-Carpinus laxiflora community$\rightarrow$Carpinus laxiflora community.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.42 no.2
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• pp.70-76
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• 2018

Background: Sasa borealis (Hack.) Makino, a clonal dwarf bamboo, is widespread in Korean forests. Although S. borealis is native to that country, its growth habit can cause considerable harm when occupying particular areas where it dominates and influences those forested communities. However, few reports have described the extent of its inhibitory effects on the vigor of co-existing plant species. Therefore, we investigated the distribution, abundance, and diversity of other plant species in the communities where this plant occurs in the east-central forests on the Korean Peninsula. Results: S. borealis was most commonly found at an elevational range of 800 to 1,200 m, on gentle, usually lower, and near valley northern slopes. Out of the 13 forest communities based on 447 forest stands that we surveyed, S. borealis was detected in eight communities, mostly where Quercus mongolica dominates. In particular, it was more common in late-successional mixed stands of Q. mongolica, other deciduous species, and the coniferous Abies holophylla. Because of their ability to expand rapidly in the forest, this plant covered more than 50% of the surface in most of our research plots. Species diversity declined significantly (F = 78.7, p = 0.000) as the abundance of S. borealis increased in the herb stratum. The same trend was noted for the total number of species (F = 18.1, p = 0.000) and species evenness (F = 91.5, p = 0.000). Conclusions: These findings clearly demonstrate that S. borealis is a weed pest and severely hinders species diversity. Authorities should be implementing various measures for ecological control to take advantage of declining chance after the recent synchronized massive flowering of S. borealis.