• The Korean Journal of Ecology
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• v.24 no.5
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• pp.281-288
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• 2001

The relationships between the growths of Abies koreana W. and climatic factors were analyzed by the use of tree-ring analysis at the subalpine belt of Mt. Halla National Park. The four cores were extracted from each 21 trees at north-facing slope (1,900m a.s.1.). The site chronology was established on the periods from 1912 to 1999. The growth of A. koreana was very poor, in particular in the years of 1982, 1988 and 1996. Simple correlation was employed to analyze the relationship between the growth of A. koreana and climatic factors. The result of simple correlation indicates that the growth of A. koreana represent positive correlations both with the mean temperatures of April and previous November, and the precipitation of previous December and January. The presence of large number of frost-damaged scars in the individual trees of A. koreana implies that local freezing temperature conditions at Mt. Halla have occurred in 1964, 1965 and 1966. The correlations between the fir chronology SOI(Southern Oscillation Index) of previous January, February and November were significantly positive. The growth ratio of A. koreana demonstrates that this species is sensitive to seasonal variations. As the winter temperature rises, the growth ratio of A. koreana decreases, on the other hand, the increase of autumn temperature accelerates the growth ratio of A. koreana. The growth decline of A. koreana was observed from 51 cores out of the 54 cores, and the overall growth declines have initiated at 1978, 1982 and 1988. Distinct growth decline of A. koreana in the range of 70% is noticed at 34 cores out of the 51 cores. The decline of, A. koreana growth appears to be related to the winter temperature which has increased since mid-1970s.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.83 no.2
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• pp.229-238
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• 1994

Issues of declining growth and vigor in forests are major concerns in many areas around the world, especially in response to predictions in the 1980s of widespread forest declines. This paper summarizes the current state of knowledge for forests in North America, Europe, and East Asia. Forest declines near point-sources of pollution(such as metal smelters) have been well recognized for a century, but evidence of widespread impacts away from point-sources remains relatively uncommon. In North America, significant forest decline has resulted from high concentrations of ozone near Los Angeles, California, and around Mexico City. Some high-elevation forests of red spruce in the eastern U.S. have declined in the past 20 years ; evidence indicates a role of low-pH fog in reducing they cold-tolerance of spruce. In Europe. most attention has focused on Norway spruce stands that developed yellow foliage, needle loss, and in some cases mortality. This syndrome appears to be related generally to an inadequate supply of magnesium, perhaps coupled with a very high supply of nitrogen. Despite localized areas that show declining trees, overall stand growth and standing biomass in Europe increased from. 1970 to 1990. Much less information is available for East Asia. Many industrialized regions in China have a pH of rain <4.5, and some connections between pollution and forest decline have been suggested. Pollution impacts on forests near cities in Korea include needle chlorosis, reduced needle retention, and declining species diversity. Overall, temperate forests show no widespread declines, and no evidence of substantial effects of pollutants on forest growth or vigor. Small areas showing declining forests may indeed demonstrate pollution impacts, and may provide cause for concerns about future impacts on larger areas.

• The Korean Journal of Ecology
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.31-37
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• 1999

The developmental process of Paracolopha morrisoni's galls on Zelkova serrata until the emergence of alatae from the galls was studied at Chonju, Korea. The galls were formed from late April to early May, 1997 and the galls began to open in early June. The length and width of galls and leaves were measured during the period from gall formation to opening. The length and width of galls have been increased until mid May continuously. The galls stopped growing at 12th of May. Fundatrices (the first generation in the gall) began to larviposit from May 15th and the second generation developed in late May. The alatae of the second generation arrived at the final stadium, that was escaped from the gall, in early June. Thus, there were only 2 generations in the gall. The close correlationship between gall growth and leaf growth suggests that leaf growth force may have a great influence on gall development.

• Journal of Korea Foresty Energy
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.19-25
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• 2004

This study was performed to investigate the growth and photosynthetic rate of ten-years old Pinus koraiensis and Pinus rigida in Banwol industrial region comparing with those of the control site in Gwangju, Gyeonggi Province. Surface soil of the damaged site in pH 4.2 was more acidic than control site in pH 4.8, assuming the accelerated soil deterioration by acid deposition. The shoot growth, needle survival rate and net photosynthetic rate of P. koraiensis and P. rigida at the damaged site were lower than at the control site. In addition, the quantum yield and chlorophyll a+b and b contents reduced in damaged treatment. These results suggest that an inhibition of photochemical reaction of P. koraiensis and P. rigida at the damaged site of Banwol industrial region could be attributed to combined influence of atmospheric pollution and soil acidification.

• Journal of Plant Biology
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.119-126
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• 1985

The productivity and growth pattern of Sargassum confusum (Phaeophyta, Sargassaceae) was investigated in Ohori, east coast of Korea, from March 1983 to April 1984. S. confusum shows an obvious seasonal variation of the growth by passing through the germinative, vegetative, reproductive and decaying phases for about an year. The mean length of tagged individuals shows a positive correlation with the water temperature during the growing period. The growth is depressed at less than 1$0^{\circ}C$ in February, and accelerated at above 15$^{\circ}C$ in May. The rapid growth (1.29 cm/dry) occurs at 15-l8$^{\circ}C$ during May-June and the maximum length is shown at 20-21$^{\circ}C$ in early August. Daily net production estimated by the oxygen light and dark bottle method is 11.2 g C/$m^2$/ day in June. The annual value calculated by the integration of the daily net production, growth rate and biomass is 745 gC/$m^2$/yr. Net production estimated from the biomass change only is 287 gC/$m^2$/yr. But this must be an underestimated value, because the loss of considerable biomass by shedding is not included.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Landscape Architecture
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• v.45 no.5
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• pp.14-28
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• 2017

Mt. Seunghak's Miscanthus sinensis community is not only a landscape resource in terms of cultural services within the Ecosystem Services but also a site that is visited by many mountaineers in autumn. As the current Miscanthus sinensis community has been experiencing a rapid decline due to Korean forest succession characteristics, ongoing artificial management is thought to be needed for landscape resource use. The purpose of this study was to determine growth environment characteristics and the cause of the rapid decline of the Miscanthus sinensis community in Mt. Seunghak, which is located inside a large city with a large scale and outstanding accessibility. As the Miscanthus sinensis community is the representative early vegetation that appears temporarily in dry, barren soil, the Miscanthus sinensis community in Korean forest succession tends to be unsustainable. As the current soil on Mt. Seunghak is inappropriately fertile for the Miscanthus sinensis community, other wetland woody plant communities are anticipated to succeed it. If Miscanthus sinensis community maintenance is needed for Miscanthus sinensis landscape scenery, various alternatives apart from overall Miscanthus sinensis community maintenance should be determined for cost-effective management. For example, while many byways toward the inside of the Miscanthus sinensis community have affected the Miscanthus sinensis community growth environment, the installation of wooden fences and ropes has been a control in approach. As a result of this positive effect, many byways toward the inside of Miscanthus sinensis community have been restored naturally. Through viewable range analysis, as good scenery sites on the observatory have a good viewable range on the main trail as well, if these scenery sites are intensively managed, effective Miscanthus sinensis ccommunity management will be done despite maintenance budget cutbacks. This study is expected to be used as a basic material regarding the alternatives for a sustained Miscanthus sinensis community and the possibility of cultivating other growth in poor soils of fallow fields and unused land.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.35 no.4
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• pp.408-423
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• 2021

We established and monitored survey sites in seven regions of Mt. Jiri to investigate population decline and change of the Korean fir (Abies koreana) over a ten-year period from 2009 to 2018. With the exception of one site (Seseok), the six remaining ones all showed a four-layer stratification structure. The importance value of Korean firs in all of the survey areas decreased significantly by 28.5%, from 55.7% in 2009 to 39.8% in 2018. The average population of objects with a diameter at breast height (DBH) of 5cm or more in all survey sites was 711 objects/ha in 2018, and the cumulative death rate from 2009 to 2018 was 10.8%. Among the death types, DS (dead standing) was the most dominant, comprising 82.4% of the total survey area. However, in Banyabong 1, which had a high gradient of 35°, the death types other than DS accounted for 44.2%. We estimate that A. koreana can maintain a stable population as its distribution type for each diameter class in the Saeseokpyeongjeon site showed a reverse-J shape. The average annual ring growth in all survey sites was 1.09 mm/year, with the most abundant growth observed in the Seseokpyeongjeon site, which was formed mainly by a subtree layer. The growth ring survey showed the estimated average age of A. koreana population in the Byeoksoryeong and Banyabong 1 sites to be 102 and 91 years, respectively, a general downward trend of vitality since 2013.

• The Korean Journal of Ecology
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.34-38
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• 2003

An analysis of tree ring series of a lace-bark pine (Pinus bungeana Zuccarini) was carried out to find out the exact age of the tree, to describe life history of the tree affected by the change of past environmental factors, and to explain the relationships between the growth fluctuation of the tree and the change of environmental factors of the past. This study explicitly showed that the tree was about 300 years old in 1992 and that the previous estimate of the age to be about 630 years old has no ground to be justified. This was also ascertained by the close correspondence of the tree growth fluctuation to the fluctuation of soil moisture related environmental factors for the last 80 years in Seoul. Although it is clear that the tree suffered from slow growth for about 30 years initiating from the 1910s, it is not sure whether the soil moisture deficits or droughts during the years of 1910-1913 played a major role in causing the decline of the trees afterwards. Discussion was further extended for defining active roles for the Cultural Properties Administration of Korea in management and research to effectively protect the Old and Big Trees under the category of Natural Monument of Korea.

• Korean Journal of Plant Resources
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.144-155
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• 2021

This study was conducted to analyze community structure and species composition of Abies koreana forest. Field survey was carried out from June, 2019 to 2020, September. 121 plots (20×20 m) were set up, 5 herb layer plots (3×3 m) were constructed for each plot, and there, Diameter at Breast Height(DBH), height, environmental factor were measured. It was analyzed that water stress did not have a significant effect on the factors affecting the growth of A. koreana in Mt. Halla-san, and in the case of Mt. Deokyu-san, the more forest stands located at the ridge, the higher the tree density. It was found that the factors affecting the distribution of Abies koreana were not consistent according to the environment of study site.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.33 no.5
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• pp.565-577
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• 2019

The purpose of this study was to understand the factors influencing the decline and the patterns of changes in Abies nephrolepis populations on Mt. Seorak. We installed permanent quadrats in the areas of the Gwittagicheongbong (peak), Gwanmoneungseon (ridge), and the Seorak Falls and have monitored the community structure, population dynamics, radial growth, and vitality in the quadrats since 2009. Excluding the Seorak Falls, the three research sites showed a three-layer structure in which the low-tree layer forms the canopy. Major tree species were Khingan fir, Korean arborvitae, Mongolian oak, Erman's birch, and Korean maple. The significance of Khingan fir in Seorak Falls decreased from 45.3% in 2009 to 36.8% in 2018. The number of shoots ($DBH{\geq}5cm$) was highest at 1,800 individuals/ha and 1,700 individuals/ha at the Gwittagicheongbong 2 and the Gwanmoneungseon, respectively. The mortality rates over the past 10 years were very high, at 38.3% and 35.3%, respectively, in the Gwittagicheongbong 1 and Seorak Falls. The most stable inverse J-shaped distribution in the Gwittagicheongbong 1 area was shown in the size-frequency distribution of the Khingan fir populations. The average annual ring growth of the Khingan fir was 0.96 ~ 1.73 mm/year, and the ring growth tended to decrease in the areas of Gwittagicheongbong 1, Gwanmoneungseon, and Seorak Falls, where the vitality was low. If the monitoring process continues, it will be possible to obtain basic data for the conservation and management of subalpine vegetation.