인천 승기천에서 하안식생의 현황과 복원 방안

Status of Riparian Vegetation and Implication for Restoration in the Seunggi Stream, Incheon

The riparian environments of urban streams in Korea have been disturbed through the channelization for flood control and artificial land use as well as water pollution and flow decrease due to industrialization and urbanization. The flora and vegetation structure were investigated and an implication of stream restoration was discussed for the conservation of biodiversity in the riparian area of the Seunggi stream in Incheon. Naturalized plants and ruderal plants were widely distributed in the riparian area which was disturbed from cultivating, trampling, dumping etc. Submerged and floating hydrophytes were not found in the stream due to channelization and water pollution. Some halophytes were remained in downstream and reservoir after reclamation and embankment. The communities of Humulus japonicus, Panicum dichotomiflorum, Digitaria sanguinalis, Artemisia montana, Amaranthus retroflexus, and Aster pilosus were distributed in the disturbed area of bank slope and floodplain in the stream. As a natural potential vegetation, Phragmites australis in the wet meadow, Typha latifolia, Typha angustifolia, Oenanthe javanica, Persicaria thunbergii, and Penthorum chinense in the marsh, and Salix babylonica and Salix matsudana for. tortuosa in the woodland appeared in the floodplain. The topography in the stream played an important role on the distribution of riparian vegetation in the Seunggi stream. Appropriate methods for conservation and restoration of the riparian ecosystems must be planned on the basis of the actual vegetation in the disturbed urban stream.