• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.108 no.1
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• pp.127-132
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• 2019

This study aimed to investigate the differences in habitat environment and characteristics of small rodent populations with time elapse after thinning in Japanese larch (Larix kaempferi) plantations, Mt. Janggun, Gyeongbuk Province, South Korea. We found that there were significant differences in habitat environment, number of tree, shrub stems, coverage of overstory, midstory, rock and number of coarse woody debris (CWD) between thinned and unthinned forest stands. We captured four small rodent species. Total number of captured small rodent were higher in thinned stands. Male-to-female ratio of Apodemus agrarius, and A. peninsulae were both the highest in forest stand 3 year after thinning. The differences in number of captured and sex ratio of small rodents might be related to habitat environment between thinned and unthinned stands. Thus, thinning can provide good habitat for small rodents by developing understory vegetation and increasing CWD in Japanese larch plantations. These results suggest that forest management through maintenance of CWD and induction of midstory and understory vegetation after thinning is necessary to maintain small rodents diversity.

• Korean Journal of Plant Resources
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• v.34 no.5
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• pp.491-501
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• 2021

This study was carried out to investigate the occurrence of seedlings of Korean fir (Abies koreana) in Korean fir forest located on the eastern slope of Mt. Halla National Park. Between June and August in 2016, the systematic sampling method was applied to 125 plots of 5 m × 5 m quadrats and field survey was came out to measure the characteristics of sites and understory vegetation. Correlation analysis was applied to the variables quantified from the data collected. Total number of flora found at the study site is 31 in families, 44 in genera, and 56 in species. The main lower layer vegetation was investigated such as Jeju dwarf bamboo, Toothed club moss (Lycopodium serratum), Pacific fir moss (Lycopodium chinense), Climbing hydrangea (Hydrangea petiolaris) etc. Among these plant species, the vegetation which had a high positive correlation with the frequency and the coverage of seedlings of Korean fir were Jeju dwarf bamboo, Toothed club moss and Pacific fir moss.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Landscape Architecture
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.27-42
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• 1986

The vegetation structure in the Hoo - Won, Changduk Palace in Seoul was analysed on 10 sites sampled for understanding structure of natural vegetation. The main vegetational survey was conducted during July, 1985 and actual vegetaion and degree of natural vegetaion types were surveyed additionally. The result summarized of this research are as follows. 1) The physical - chemical conditions of soil showed middle class. This might be derived by short succession period from Pine forest to decidious broadleaf forest and artificial impact by human intervention. 2) When considering dominance species by crown story, Quercus aliena was a dominant species over all site and Castanea crenata, Prunus sargentii and Quercus variabilis appeared as a dominant species locally at upper story. Styrax story and Rhododendron mucronulatum, Styrax japonica, Stephanandra incisa and Lespedeza spp. at lower story. 3) The distances kept by trees per crown story are as follows. The mean distances between trees were 4.5-5.5m at upper story, 2.8-3.3m at middle story. On the other hand, the mean distances between dominant species were 6-8m at upper story, 5-9m at middle story. 4) The vegetation in this area was not developed yet into dominant species community according to the similarity analysis. The natural vegetation was dominated by Quercus spp. especially Quercus aliena according to the analysis of species diversity, relative dominance by story and DBH class. On the orther hand, succession to climax stage dominated by shade tolerent species will take a long time due to little appearance of shade tolerence species by previous heavy artificial impacts on understory species. 5) Quercus forest took possesion of 71.3%(27.37ha) of total forest area when considering the actual vegetation and especially Quercus aliena community covered 53.2%(15.21ha). Carpinus laxiflora community, one of the climax species in temperate zone, took possesion of 1.0%(0.3ha) and Pine densiflora was almost disappeared due to species competition. 6) According to the degree of natural vegetation types, the possession of degree of 6-9 was 60.6% and degree of 7-8, substitute vegetation, was 15.5%. The possesion of degree of 9 which consists of over 50 years old trees simliar to natural vegetaion was the highest, 43.1% in this area. Therefore continuous protection in this area of degree of 9 should be recommended.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.67-73
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• 2007

To investigate the coastal forest structure and its ecological characteristics in Busan, four typical sites, Taejongdae, Molundae, Amnam Park, and Igidae, were selected and surveyed. These sites are famous coastal areas in Busan. According to the analysis of vegetation structure, Pinus thunbergii was a dominant species at the canopy layer in all sites. But at the understory layer, Eurya japonica in Taejongdae and Molundae, Ficus erecta in Igidae and Eurya japonica and Prunus sargentii in Amnam Park were dominant species.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.231-245
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• 2010

The the purpose of this study was to analyze of the vegetation structure and phytosociological changes in the area adjacent to GeumJeong Mountain Fortress for fifteen years. The result of this study was as follows; Of the 8 quadrates, site of the North Gate 2 was having a highest in the number of extinct trees, 15 kinds. This is probably due to trampling effect caused by climbers' steps. Site of the West Gate 1 and South gate 1 each had 8 kinds of extinct trees, respectively. The number of newly appeared trees was highest at site of the North Gate 1, (8 kinds) followed by the sites of South gate 1 and South gate 2, respectively (5 kinds). The highest decrease in number of tree species was observed in North Gate 1, therefore, there is a strong relationship between vegetation diversity and the number of users of the available spaces. In order to revitalize the unstable vegetation structure of the Area Adjacent to GeumJeong Mountain Fortress, Robinia pseudo-acacia has to be well maintained in the shrub tree layer, and vines, such as Smilax china, Humulus japonicus, and Pueraria thungergiana, should be removed. To recover natural vegetation, dead leaf layer should be protected, and more shrub trees need to be planted. In the understory and shrub tree layer, multi layer tree planting is highly recommended to recover natural vegetation and increase tree diversity. In order to improve bad soil condition caused by trampling effect of recreational users, special treatments to the soil structure are required, such as mulching and raking soil. Also, depending on its soil damage from users trampling, the areas in the park should be divided into usable areas and user limited areas by the sabbatical year system. To improve the soil acidity due to acidic rain, soil buffering ability should be improved by activating microorganisms in the soil by using lime and organic material.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.299-304
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• 2005

Biomass and net production of the three 46-to 52-year-old natural Queycus mongojica stands were investigated in Namsan Park at Seoul. Total above- and belowground biomass including understory vegetation for the three stands ranged from 14776t1ha to 278.48t/ha and total net production ranged from 6.96t/ha/yr to 11.11t/yr. Understory vegetation biomass for the three stands ranged from $0.14\%\;to\;1.14\%$ of total biomass. Biomass accumulation ratio for the three stands ranged from 20.72 to 25.07 and net assimilation ratio as an index of foliage photosynthetic efficiency ranged from 2.79 to 3.34. Net production and net assimilation ratio of this study stands which were located in Namsan Park of central Seoul were low compared to the natural Quercus mongojica forests in other districts in Korea.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.20 no.6
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• pp.701-710
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• 2011

The purpose of this study is to investigate the vegetation structure and ecological restoration of disturbed forest due to artificial plant. To this end, 12 plots were set up and surveyed. The result analyzed considering mean importance percentage(M.I.P) showed that the types were divided into three groups which are artificial planted forest type(three plots), natural forest-artificial planted forest type(four plots), natural forest type(five plots). Dominant proportion of artificial planted species were as follows: artificial planted forest type was over 60%, natural forest-artificial planted forest types were 14~49%. The range of Shannon's index of all associations was from 0.7131 to 0.7771(natural forest-artificial planted forest > natural forest > artificial planted forest). Also we suggested restoration method of vegetation for ecological value as follow: Control of density considering step and Remove of Pinus koraiensis seedlings of understory layer and shurb layer.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.98 no.1
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• pp.94-105
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• 2009

Black locust (Robinia pseudoacacia) stand is representative lowland exotic plantation with low ecological quality and arrested succession in South Korea. To facilitate succession and restore natural vegetation, small canopy gaps (${\sim}57m^2$), which can modify minimally structural variables and reduce restoration related disturbances on stand, was established in the black locust stand, and oak (Quercus serrata) seedlings were introduced in the gap. Two types of varying levels were introduced for gap creation; cutting (C) and girdling (G) on canopies. Understory removal (CU and GU) treatment was applied as subtypes of structural modification. Growth (diameter, height and leaf area) of target species and responses (species composition, diversity and coverage) of understory community were monitored during study years (2007~2008). Canopy openness was different significantly among treatments but not for light availability. Based on the result of logistic regression, growth of height and leaf area of seedlings were significant variables on seedling survival. Height and leaf area of seedlings were increased during study years, although radial growth was reduced. During study years, there were no significant differences in species composition and diversity, and total coverage increased about 20%. Increase of resources by gap creation and understory removal likely affect growth of target species. Small gap creation was effective to reduce understory responses in composition and diverstiy. Synthesized, growth of target species and responses of understory community to small canopy gap creation exhibited, in short term, possibility of utilization in alternative forest restoration and management option. Long-term monitoring is necessary to certificate effect of artificial gap creation on forest restoration.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.29 no.6
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• pp.907-916
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• 2015

The purpose of this study was to identify characteristics of vegetation structure, vegetation succession, and species diversity of artificially planted Chamaecyparis obtusa (CO) stands. The study was carried out by performing vegetation survey for eight CO stands located in Jeollanam-do Province, Korea. Analysis on vegetation classification and ordinations of the stands was conducted using the data from the vegetation survey, and as a result, the stands were classified into five types of communities. Community I showed a considerably lower index of species diversity when compared to other communities because the canopy of the dominant CO was so highly dense that the low-height vegetation was not able to develop or the low-height vegetation almost disappeared due to elimination of weed trees. Meanwhile, the Community II - IV had relatively higher indices of species diversity because various native tree species mixed with the low-height vegetation and competed with each other in the understory and shrub layers to some degree of stability or in their early stage of vegetation development. Community V, lastly, showed higher use intensity as a recreational forest, thus developing simpler vegetation structure on account of artificial intervention. There was positive correlation between photosynthetically active radiation entering the forest floor, number of observed species and index of species diversity. Such characteristics of vegetation structure in CO stands are closely associated with forest management and prescription for planting reforestation, thinning, and brush cutting in the past. There was a slight difference in vegetation structure and species diversity by communities, based on rotation time of the vegetational succession, process of disturbance frequency and disturbance, development, and maturity by planting CO stands. However, when compared to natural forests, the CO stands showed simpler vegetation structure. Because artificial forests are vulnerable in ecosystem service with lower species diversity, a drive for ecological management is needed for such forests to change into healthy ecosystems that can display functions of public benefit.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Landscape Architecture
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• v.28 no.6
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• pp.1-15
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• 2001

The purpose of this study is to figure out the structural characteristics of urban plant community and suggest restoration model of Quercus mongolica in the case of Korean national Capital Region. The investigation areas were selected from urban area of Mt. Nam at Chung-Gu, suburban areas of Mt. Bong at Eunpyoung-GU, Mt. Sungju at Buchon City and non-urban areas of Mt. Suri at Kunpu City and Mt. Chonma t namyangju-City. After the main study field had been classified into the evaluation of the ecological characteristics and the modeling of the vegetation. We analyzed to evaluate the ecological characteristics of the forest structure -- successional stage, naturalness, multi-layer structure of the forest and species diversity, and the plant community structures. We have proposed vegetation restoration model based on the selection of proper plants, the number of individuals, diameter short area of breast height, the shortest distance between plants in non-urban area. As for successional stage, It was judged that the ecological succession may not be followed like the present stage of the surveyed areas in urban, suburban and non-ruban areas. As for the retention of naturalness and multi-layer structures of vegetation, In Quercus mongolica community, Robinia pseudo-acacia and Ailanthus altissima occurred in each layers at Mt. Nam, Mt. Bong and Mt. Sungju, and Eupatorium rugosum occurred in herbaceous layer at Mt. Nam. Consequently, the ecological restoration plan following the structure of the vegetation in Mt. Chonma seemed to be advisable in Q. mongolica community, there were less number of species and individuals in urban areas than those of non-urban areas. Planting of trees following the simulated native plant community of non-urban areas seemed to be required to promote the plants in urban areas. Considering the number of individuals up to three layers in each 400$m^2$ area, it was composed of twenty nine in canopy layer, forth nine in understory layer, 367 in shrub layer and 33.7% herbaceous ground cover in the Q.mongolica community. The suggested restoration model in this study is nan applicable model for the introduction in the cities, and this study shows that continuous experiments and field investigation on this model should be performed in the future.