Abstract
Nine shrub layer communities under two relatively well conserved natural summer green forests in the central region of Korean Peninsula were studied for the pattern of stem distribution in terms of Greig-Smith's multiple split-plot experiment and for the association between the population of the two main species in terms of Kershaw's covariance analysis respectively. Four contiguous belt transects, $4{\times}64m size with 1{\times}1m$ basic unit, were set in each shrub layer communities. Significant primary clumps with $1{\times}1m or 1{\times}2m$ dimension wer observed consistently throughout the nine study sites. The primary clumps themselves were significantly distributed either regularly or at random. The association between the two principal species of each shrub layer is highly significantly either positive or negative in $1{\times}1m or 1{\times}2m$ dimension. As the plot size increases from $1{\times}1m to 8{\times}8m$ the associational trends were changed from negative to positive direction in one forests. But the change from positive to negative direction and the consistent negative association were also observed from the other forest. All of the association trends were observed only from $1{\times}1m to 4{\times}4m$ dimension. These results are suggestive that the distributional pattern of the shrub layer species under the summer green forest is simple mosaic fashioned with $1{\times}1m or 1{\times}2m$ dimension. The rest of the principal species are located in that matrix. The simple mosaic pattern of two principal species are located in that matrix. The simple mosaic pattern of two principal species seems to be controlled by change in micro-environmental pattern. Differences between the primary random group and clumped group among sites also suggest that competition exists for light or/and soil between primary clumped groups.