• Journal of Ecology and Environment
• /
• v.47 no.3
• /
• pp.75-84
• /
• 2023

Background: Knowledge of the spatial trends of plant invasions in different habitats is essential for a better understanding of the process of these invasions. We examined the variation in invasive alien plant species (IAS) richness and composition at two spatial scales defined by elevation and habitat types (roadside, forest, and cultivated lands) in the Makawanpur district of Nepal. Following an elevation gradient ranging from 500 to 2,400 m asl along a mountain road, plant species cover was recorded within sample plots of size 10 m × 5 m. Systematic random sampling was adopted in every 100 m elevation intervals on three habitat types. Results: Altogether 18 invasive alien plants belonging to eight families were recorded within 60 plots, of which 14 species (representing 80%) were from tropical North and South America. The most common plants by their frequency were Ageratina adenophora, Chromolaena odorata, Bidens pilosa, Lantana camara, and Parthenium hysterophorus. We found a significant relationship between species composition and elevation in the study area. Low-elevation regions had a higher number of alien species as compared to high-elevation regions within different habitat types. Conclusions: The species richness and density of IAS were higher in the road site followed by the cultivated land and forest sites. This pattern occurred throughout the elevation range and habitats. IAS were found mostly in the open land with high sunlight availability. Information from such scientific assessment of invasive alien plants will assist in developing appropriate management plans in the Makawanpur district.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Environmental Restoration Technology
• /
• v.18 no.6
• /
• pp.97-110
• /
• 2015

This study aimed to classify damaged lands, to find what are the damage factors affecting the studied area, and to present a prescription in order to provide some benefit for the restoration of Regional Ecological Network at Chungnam province. Finally we classified damaged lands from 1st to 4th damaged lands according to relative intensity of damage. The main damage factors for the First Damage Lands were humus horizon, soil hardness and plant species richness. In the Second Damage Lands, those were soil hardness, plant species richness, number of plants and dominant plant species. In the Third Damage Lands, those were humus horizon, soil hardness, plant species richness, number of plants and dominant plant species. In the Fourth Damage Lands, those were humus horizon, organic matter, soil hardness, EC, T-N content, plant species richness, number of plants and dominant plant species. In every cases, the damage of soil and vegetation was originated due to development carried out by human being. The changes in soil condition were not big enough for it to affect plant growth, however, degradation of vegetation was still severe.

• The Korean Journal of Ecology
• /
• v.27 no.6 s.122
• /
• pp.363-367
• /
• 2004

Photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) beneath the forest canopy, understory species richness and diversity, and biomass were measured in a Larix leptolepis plantation seven years after thinning in Yangpyeong. Four different thinning intensities (control, $10\%,\;20\%\;and\;40\%$ stocking reduction) were applied in 1997. The current PAR values were lower than those measured four years after thinning, and PAR at the heavy thinning plots was significantly higher than that of other thinning intensities. A total of 23 species including 9 tall-trees and 14 shrubs were found for the high layer while a total of 82 species including 10 tall-trees, 29 shrubs, and 43 herbs for the low layer. Species richness and diversity generally increased with thinning intensities, and the trends were more evident for the low layer. Aboveground biomass significantly differed among thinning intensities for both shrubs and herbs. Also there was a negative correlation between biomass and the current number of stems per hectare. The current study suggested that the effects of thinning on light conditions at the forest floor, species richness and diversity and production of understory vegetation continued seven years after the treatment.

• Journal of Forest and Environmental Science
• /
• v.38 no.1
• /
• pp.21-37
• /
• 2022

The present study was carried out to evaluate the chemical properties of soil in relation to forest structure and composition at different altitudes (900-2,600 m asl) in a part of Western Himalaya. The composite soil samples were taken from three (viz. upper, middle and lower) depths. The soils of the whole study area were acidic in nature (pH=4.90-5.51). Contents of Nitrogen (N), Phosphorus (P), Potassium (K), Carbon (C) and soil organic matter (SOM) showed much fluctuation during different seasons of year. Nitrogen content showed significant positive correlations with altitude (r=0.924, p<0.05) and different community parameters like species diversity (r=0.892, p<0.01) and species richness (r=0.941, p<0.05). Phosphorus exhibited direct correlations with carbon (r=0.637) while weak negative correlations with different community parameters like species richness & diversity, total basal cover (TBC), density and canopy cover. Carbon content and hence SOM showed direct correlations with Nitrogen (r=0.821, p<0.01); Phosphorus (r=0.637, ns) and Potassium (r=0.540, ns). But no significant relationship was observed between K content and species richness (p=0.30, r=-0.504); between K content and species diversity (p=0.14, r=-0.672); between P content and species diversity (p=0.29, r=-0.513) and species richness (p=0.23, r=-0.575). Among the different soil nutrients, only N showed a significant positive correlation with altitude while all others exhibited negative (but non-significant) correlation with it. The study revealed that the chemical properties affect and are reciprocally affected by forest structure and composition and that N rich soils of higher altitudes are best for the growth and development of forests.

• The Korean Journal of Ecology
• /
• v.23 no.3
• /
• pp.241-253
• /
• 2000

The degree to which microenvironmental factors are linked to spatial patterns of vegetational factors within ecosystems has important consequences for our understanding of how ecosytems are structured and for conservation of rare species in ecosystems. We studied this relationships between the spatial patterns of microenvironmental factors and vegetational factors in temperate hardwood forest in Mt. Jumbong Biological Reserve Area, Korea. To do this, environmental and vegetational factors from 196 micropoints in a 0.49 ha plot were investigated. Most of all environmental factors and vegetational factors showed the variations among micropoints. Microtopographic factors, litter depth, soil moisture content and relative light intensity at this site were spatially dependent at a scale of 14∼62 m. Coverage of tree and shrub layer and species diversity of herb layer in autumn were spatially dependent at a scale of < 15 m. Species richness and species diversity of herb layer in spring and species richness of herb layer in autumn were spatially dependent at a scale of 28∼48 m. Multiple regression analysis showed that spatial patterns of species richness and species diversity of herb layer in spring and autumn were affected by litter depth, slope, subtree layer, shrub, Sasa borealis etc. The best predictor for the spatial patterns of species richness and species diversity of herb layer at this site was the spatial pattern of litter depth. Species richness and species diversity of herb layer showed strongly negative correlation with litter depth. We estimate that the spatial pattern of litter depth at this site were affected by direction of wind, microtopography and spatial pattern of shrub layer.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
• /
• v.32 no.3
• /
• pp.183-189
• /
• 2009

This research focused on the effects of fragmentation on moth diversity in an agricultural land-scape by comparing moth species richness and abundance between hillocks and young secondary forests. We examined five sites from the southwestern part of South Korea: three sites from hillock forest and two from secondary forest. We collected moths bi-weekly from April to October for a 2-year period (2006-2007) with a UV light trap that usually attracts moths within 30 meters. Tree species richness and abundance in $20m{\times}20m$ plots at each moth sampling site showed a substantial difference in tree diversity between the two types of forest habitats. The total abundance and richness of moth species were higher in secondary forests (541 species with 4,998 individuals) than in hillock forests (423 species with 3,913 individuals), irrespective of the distance among the sites. An ordination analysis with NMDS showed that habitat is the most important factor of grouping sites. The food preferences of the dominant moth species i,n each habitat were closely related to the habitat type.

• Korean Journal of Plant Resources
• /
• v.30 no.5
• /
• pp.481-488
• /
• 2017

Under circumstances of rapid disappearing of traditional ethnobotanical knowledge, traditional ethnobotanical knowledge surveys are the major step in documenting useful species with a conservation priority. In the ethnobotanical research, the relevance to the survey intensity, ethnobotanical information and plant species richness is the most important research theme. We made up TEK database in south Korea using metadata which had been published by the Korea National Arboretum. We calculated species richness using species richness estimator like ACE, Chao1, Chao2, ICE, Jack 1, Jack 2, and Bootstrap. Species accumulation curves showed each province sampling efforts appeared to be wide range of variance so that Gangwon province need more sampling efforts, and Chungnam province approached a horizontal asymptote earlier. We found heterogeneous patterns in the rarefaction curves of TEK species between gender for each categories of use (medicinal, food and handicrafts). Comparing with regional floral diversities, it was predicted that more diverse species would be found in some provinces by carrying out additional survey.

• Animal Systematics, Evolution and Diversity
• /
• v.31 no.4
• /
• pp.296-303
• /
• 2015

We surveyed moths on Gageodo island in the southwestern sea of the Korean Peninsula over three years (2009, 2012, 2013) and found a total of 253 species in 18 families. Geometridae had the greatest species richness, with 63 species, followed by Noctuidae, Erebidae, Crambidae and Sphingidae. The annual changes in species richness and abundance were not different and seasonal occurrence of species showed a unimodal pattern in which the numbers of species and individuals increased from April and May, peaked in June and decreased to September and October. Seven moth species (Pyralidae: Herculia drabicilialis Yamanaka, Didia striatella (Inoue); Crambidae: Clupeosoma pryeri (Butler), Demobotys pervulgalis (Hampson), Yezobotys dissimilis (Yamanaka), Syllepte cissalis Yamanaka; Erebidae: Hypena sinuosa (Wileman)) are reported for the first time in Korea.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
• /
• v.46 no.3
• /
• pp.204-217
• /
• 2022

Background: Increasing land demands for food production have led to biodiversity loss and land degradation in the Madhupur Sal forest. Reforestation activities such as agroforestry and woodlot plantation support the conservation of diversity, restoration of forest and prevention of soil erosion in degraded natural Sal forest. Knowing about these reforestation activities, this study is needed to compare the species composition, richness, and soil nutrients of these two plantation activities to the natural Sal forest in the degraded Madhupur Sal forest in Bangladesh. Results: The analysis showed that in between the reforestation activities, the highest Shannon-Wiener index (1.79), evenness (0.60) and Simpson's index (0.79) were found in the agroforestry site compared to the woodlot plantation site. On the contrary, the highest species richness (n = 14), tree basal area (19.56 m² ha^-1), Margalef's index (1.96) were recorded in woodlot plantation than in the agroforestry site. We observed that at 0-15 cm depth, soil organic matter (2.39%), total nitrogen (0.14%), available phosphorous (62.67 ㎍ g^-1) and exchangeable potassium (0.36 meq/100 g) in agroforestry plots were significantly higher compared to other forest sites. At topsoil (15-30 cm depth), soil organic matter (1.67%) and available phosphorous (21.09 ㎍ g^-1) were found to be higher in agroforestry site. Conclusions: Both reforestation approaches improved soil function, although woodlot plantation had the higher species richness. Therefore, plantation activities by the sustainable implementation of these two practices are the best alternative to restore the biodiversity, richness and conserve soil fertility in the Madhupur Sal forest of Bangladesh.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
• /
• v.29 no.1
• /
• pp.62-68
• /
• 2015

In order to get basic data for flood plain restoration, we surveyed the woody vegetation in Korean natural rivers and analyzed the species' characteristics with regards to patterns of richness and diversity. These characteristics were higher in hard wood forests than those in soft wood forests, such as Salix spp. community. Futhermore, they were the highest in the Prunus sargentii-Pinus densiflora community(H' 1.095), and the lowest in the Carpinus laxiflora community(H' 0.118) among the hard wood forests. Species' richness diversity were the highest in the Salix gracilistyla community, but the lowest in the S. koriyangi community or S. koreensis community among the soft wood forests. With regards to the dominant index, just one community is over 0.9, 13 communities are between 0.3-0.7 and 15 communities are less than 0.3. The Salix koreensis community was the highest at 0.931, and Prunus sargentii-Pinus densiflora community was the lowest at 0.13. Species' richness and diversity was significantly correlated with tree layer coverages and degree of slope. These results mean that in order to increase plant species diversity in flood plains planted hard woody trees, such as oaks and fir, are needed to suit environmental conditions with steeper slope and lower canopy coverage.