Abstract
This study examined the natural restoration of vegetation through monitoring of the development of a vegetation community from 2006 through 2007 after a forest fire. Approximately 5,000 $m^2$ in a forest near Topyeon-ri, Kangnae-myeon, Chungcheongbuk-do with Japanese red pine (Pinus densiflora) forest and its floor vegetation had been completely burned by a fire in April 2005. This area and another nearby Japanese red pine forest were selected as the experiment site and the control site, respectively. Vegetation survey was conducted at the experiment site and the control site. A seed bank experiment was carried out in the greenhouse to examine underground vegetation. Effective microorganism(EM) was applied to the seed bank experiment to estimate its effects on the direction of ecological succession. According to the results, a total of 36 plant species including shrub and herbaceous species were discovered in the experiment site. Quercus serrata, Lespedeza cyrtobotrya, and Castanea crenata, Rubus crataegifolius, Oplismenus undulatifolius, and Carex lanceolata were among the most abundant species. Biomass in the experiment site reached 2.4 times biomass than those in the control site, indicating the productivities of shrub and herbaceous layers are better in the experiment site. According to the result of the soil seed bank experiment of the experiment site, a total of 182 plants of 14 species were recorded. In addition, a total of 13 plants of 2 species were found from soil seed bank of the experiment site applied by EM. If EM is applied to the burned site, it will control the budding of herbaceous plants, creating the gap between herbaceous plants. This loss of competition is expected to help the restoration of trees in the burned area.