• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.327-357
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• 2011

This study compared the species composition and distribution of the forest communities between Korea and Japan using vegetation releve database. The study included the eastern and southern Korean Peninsula, Is. Jeju, Is. Ulreung, northern Kyushu, central part of Japan and Is. Tsushima and divided in fourteen region with major mountain as the center. Seventy-nine forest communities were classified by tabular comparison with the total of 1844 releves. In the composition table, fifty-four groups of plant species were listed. Some grew in one area exclusively, while others were present in multiple locations. This study showed the similarity and heterogeneity of species composition among study areas. We grouped fourteen types showing similar physiognomy for forest communities. The physiognomical features of the vertical vegetation zones in the study area were similar, however, dominant species and species composition were different between the regions. In the lowland zone, Castanopsis-Type dominated by Castanopsis cuspidata var. sieboldii or Castanopsis cuspidata were distributed in the study area except for northern part of the Korean Peninsula and Is. Ulreung. Additionally, Persea thunbergii-Type was distributed widely in the lowest part of the study area, however, it showed the simplification of the species composition in the Korean Peninsula and Is. Ulreung. In the hilly zone, evergreen forest composed by Abies firma-Type distributed in northern Kyushuand Is. Tsushima, but it was absent in the other study region. The difference in forest community was conspicuous, especially in the montane zone. Deciduous broadleaved forests composed Quercus(D)-Type and Fagus-Type widely distributed in the montane of study area. However, forest community dominated by Quercus mongolica and Fagus multinervis flourished in Korea. On the otherhand, forest community dominated by Quercus mongolica var. grosseserrata, Fagus crenata and F. japonica distributed in Japan. In the sub-alpine zone, evergreen coniferous forest composed Abies-Quercus(D)-Type, Abies koreana-Type, and Pinus pumila-Type were distributed in the Korean Peninsula and Is. Jeju. Forests composed Taxus cuspidata var. nana-Type, Abies mariesii-Type, and Pinus pumila-Type distributed in the central part of Japan. As a result of DCA ordination, evergreen broadleaved forests of the whole study area showed the lower scores along the first axis, while deciduous and coniferous forests showed the higher scores. The forest types of western part of Japan were located the higer scores, forest types of the Korean Peninsula were located the lower scores, and forest types of Is. Jeju located in the middle. Warmth index (WI) and Annual range of temperature in climate factor were highly correlated on the first axis. The first axis reflected the gradient from oceanic climatic to continental one. The higher the altitude and further geographically, the lower the similarity among communities and the peculiarity of community appeared stronger. The historical background reflecting local flora has strongly influenced on development of community.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Marine Environment & Energy
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.1-11
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• 2017

Nakdong River Estuary is affected by the dam, barrage construction and dredge and reclaim worked artificially. So, we have studied the area input both freshwater and sea water to understand marine environment of Nakdong River estuary related to the effect of artificial work from 2013 to 2015. As a result, The discharge flow to the estuary remarkably decreased before barrage construction and the average of salinity at the estuary increased. So, the brackish water zone reduced under the influence of decreased discharge flow. The major sources of nitrate and silicate were freshwater, phosphate supplied from bottom and the open sea water. The concentration of phosphate and dissolved oxygen (DO) decreased remarkably in spring and summer. we investigated that phosphate in freshwater was removed under the influence of the estuary dam and phosphate in sea water was removed under the influence of phytoplankton. The low concentration of DO was due to decomposition of the organic compound by microorganism after phytoplankton blooms. Generally, the concentrations of chlorophyll-a in summer was higher than spring and fall. Therefore, the change of ecosystem in Nakdong river estuary was due to decrease of freshwater influx, the other change is facing because of the barrage.

• Journal of the Korean Association of Geographic Information Studies
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.107-120
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• 2014

First purpose of this study is to build Korean mountain ridgelines based on GIS by using spatial information and analyze natural environment around mountain ridgelines built before. Second purpose of this study is to integrate Korean ridgelines and natural environment built before and then provide the integrated information related to ridgelines for public. To do so, fist of all, Korean mountain ridgelines including Deagan, Jeongmeak, Gimeak, Jimeak, are built as spatial information. Second, Encoding of mountain ridgelines is conducted to analyze main and divaricate ridgelines systematically as grades of ridgelines. Third, based on spatial information, present condition using natural environment including geographical information, ecological zoning map, environmental conservation value assessment map, is analyzed. Finally, as a method integrating and using the aforementioned three information, the system providing integrated information based on GIS is proposed, To build the GIS data of Gimeak and Jimeak, they should be analyzed in more detail than Beakdu Deagan and Jeongmeak, so existing methodology to build mountain ridgelines based on GIS is improved. According to the distance of each mountain ridgeline, they are separated into five grades, and encoding of each mountain ridgeline based on Beakdu Deagan is applied to all mountain ridgelines to figure out the present condition of ridgelines themselves. In addition, according to the distance of each mountain ridgeline, it is separated into three areas: core, buffer, median zone. Based on three zones, the way to make use of the information efficiently related to mountain ridgelines is proposed. This study systematizes Korean mountain ridgelines which did not have systematic structures and then analyzes systematic mountain ridgelines. Based on this analysis, this study finds the way to makes use of information related to mountain ridgelines effectively.

• Journal of the Korean Association of Geographic Information Studies
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.189-204
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• 2018

This study has developed a forest fire occurrence probability model for inaccessible areas such as North Korea and Demilitarized Zone and we have developed a real-time forest fire danger rating system that can be used in fire-related works. There are limitations on the research that it is impossible to conduct site investigation for data acquisition and verification for forest fire weather index model and system development. To solve this problem, we estimated the fire spots in the areas where access is impossible by using MODIS satellite data with scientific basis. Using the past meteorological reanalysis data(5㎞ resolution) produced by the Korea Meteorological Administration(KMA) on the extracted fires, the meteorological characteristics of the fires were extracted and made database. The meteorological factors extracted from the forest fire ignition points in the inaccessible areas are statistically correlated with the forest fire occurrence and the weather factors and the logistic regression model that can estimate the forest fires occurrence(fires 1 and non-fores 0). And used to calculate the forest fire weather index(FWI). The results of the statistical analysis show that the logistic models(p<0.01) strongly depends on maximum temperature, minimum relative humidity, effective humidity and average wind speed. The logistic regression model constructed in this study showed a relatively high accuracy of 66%. These findings may be beneficial to the policy makers in Republic of Korea(ROK) and Democratic People's Republic of Korea(DPRK) for the prevention of forest fires.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.108 no.4
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• pp.513-521
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• 2019

With rapid climate change and increasing global warming, the distribution of evergreen broad-leaved trees (EBLTs) is gradually expanding to the inland regions of Korea. The aim of the present study was to analyze the survival rate of 148 EBLT plantations measuring 180 ha and to determine the optimal plantation size that would help in coping with climate change in the warm, temperate climate zone of the Korean peninsula. For enhancing the reliability of our estimated survival model, we selected a set of 11 control variables that may have also influenced the survival rates of the EBLTs in the 148 plantations. The results of partial correlation analysis showed that the survival rate of 67.0±26.9 of the EBLTs in the initial plantation year was primarily correlated with plantation type by the crown closure of the upper story of the forest, wind exposure, and precipitation. For predicting the probability of survival by quantification theory, 148 plots were surveyed and analyzed with 11 environmental site factors. Survival rate was in the order of plantation type by the crown closure of upper story of the forest, wind exposure, total cumulative precipitation for two weeks prior to planting, and slope stiffness in the descending order of score range in the estimated survival model for the EBLTs with the fact that survival rate increased with shade rate of upper story to some extent.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.45 no.3
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• pp.105-116
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• 2021

Background: The creation of the National Institute of Ecology began as a national alternative project to preserve mudflats instead of constructing the industrial complexes by reclamation, and achieve regional development. On the other hand, at the national level, the research institute for ecology was needed to cope with the worsening conditions for maintaining biodiversity due to accelerated climate change such as global warming and increased demand for development. In order to meet these needs, the National Institute of Ecology has the following objectives: (1) carries out studies for ecosystem change due to climate change and biodiversity conservation, (2) performs ecological education to the public through exhibition of various ecosystem models, and (3) promotes regional development through the ecological industry. Furthermore, to achieve these objectives, the National Institute of Ecology thoroughly followed the basic principles of ecology, especially restoration ecology, in the process of its construction. We introduce the principles and cases of ecological restoration applied in the process. Results: We minimized the impact on the ecosystem in order to harmonize with the surrounding environment in all the processes of construction. We pursued passive restoration following the principle of ecological restoration as a process of assisting the recovery of an ecosystem degraded for all the space except in land where artificial facilities were introduced. Reference information was applied thoroughly in the process of active restoration to create biome around the world, Korean peninsula forests, and wetland ecosystems. In order to realize true restoration, we pursued the ecological restoration in a landscape level as the follows. We moved the local road 6 and high-voltage power lines to underground to ensure ecological connectivity within the National Institute of Ecology campus. To enhance ecological diversity, we introduced perch poles and islands as well as floating leaved, emerged, wetland, and riparian plants in wetlands and mantle communities around the forests of the Korean Peninsula in the terrestrial ecosystem. Furthermore, in order to make the public aware of the importance of the intact nature, the low-lying landscape elements, which have disappeared due to excessive land use in most areas of Korea, was created by imitating demilitarized zone (DMZ) landscape that has these landscape elements. Conclusions: The National Institute of Ecology was created in an eco-friendly way by thoroughly reflecting the principles of ecology to suit its status and thus the impact on the existing ecosystem was minimized. This concept was also designed to be reflected in the process of operation. The results have become real, and a result of analysis on carbon budget analysis is approaching the carbon neutrality.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.44 no.4
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• pp.264-274
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• 2020

Background: Climate change has altered the various ecosystem processes including forest ecosystem in Himalayan region. Although the high mountain natural forests including treelines in the Himalayan region are mainly reported to be temperature sensitive, the temperature-related water stress in an important growth-limiting factor for middle elevation mountains. And there are very few evidences on growth performance of planted forest in changing climate in the Himalayan region. A dendrochronological study was carried out to verify and record the impact of warming temperature tree growth by using the tree cores of Pinus roxburghii from Batase village of Dhulikhel in Central Nepal with sub-tropical climatic zone. For this total, 29 tree cores from 25 trees of P. roxburghii were measured and analyzed. Result: A 44-year long tree ring width chronology was constructed from the cores. The result showed that the radial growth of P. roxburghii was positively correlated with pre-monsoon (April) rainfall, although the correlation was not significant and negatively correlated with summer rainfall. The strongest negative correlation was found between radial growth and rainfall of June followed by the rainfall of January. Also, the radial growth showed significant positive correlation with that previous year August mean temperature and maximum temperature, and significant negative correlation between radial growth and maximum temperature (Tmax) of May and of spring season (March-May), indicating moisture as the key factor for radial growth. Despite the overall positive trend in the basal area increment (BAI), we have found the abrupt decline between 1995 and 2005 AD. Conclusion: The results indicated that chir pine planted population was moisture sensitive, and the negative impact of higher temperature during early growth season (March-May) was clearly seen on the radial growth. We emphasize that the forest would experience further moisture stress if the trend of warming temperatures continues. The unusual decreasing BAI trend might be associated with forest management processes including resin collection and other disturbances. Our results showed that the planted pine forest stand is sub-healthy due to major human intervention at times. Further exploration of growth climate response from different climatic zones and management regimes is important to improve our understanding on the growth performance of mid-hill pine forests in Nepal.

• Journal of the Korean Association of Geographic Information Studies
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.115-127
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• 2018

This study aims to propose management strategies of ventilation paths for improving urban thermal environments. For this purpose, Gimhae-si in Gyeongsangnamdo was selected as a study area. We analyzed hot spots and cool spots in Gimhae by using Landsat 8 satellite image data and spatial statistical analysis, and finally derived the vulnerable areas to thermal environment. In addition, the characteristics of ventilation paths including wind direction and wind speed were analyzed by using data of the wind resource map provided by Korea Meteorological Administration. As a result, it was found that a lot of hot spots were similar to those with weak wind such as Jinyoung-eup, Jillye-myeon, Juchon-myeon and the downtown area. Based on the analysis, management strategies of ventilation paths in Gimhye were presented as follows. Jinyoung-eup and Jillye-myeon with hot spot areas and week wind areas have a strong possibility that hot spot areas will be extended and strengthened, because industrial areas are being built. Hence, climate-friendly urban and architectural plans considering ventilation paths is required in these areas. In Juchon-myeon, where industrial complexes and agricultural complexes are located, climate-friendly plans are also required because high-rise apartment complexes and an urban development zone are planned, which may induce worse thermal environment in the future. It is expected that a planning of securing and enlarging ventilation paths will be established for climate-friendly urban management. and further the results will be utilized in urban renewal and environmental planning as well as urban basic plans. In addition, we expect that the results can be applied as basic data for climate change adaptation plan and the evaluation system for climate-friendly urban development of Gimhye.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.44 no.5
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• pp.887-894
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• 2011

To evaluate the effects of abiotic factors of paddy fields on greenhouse gases (GHGs) emissions from rice paddy fields, $CH_4$ emission amounts were investigated from rice paddy fields by different soil organic matter contents, paddy types, and agricultural climatic zone in Yeongnam area during 3 years. $CH_4$ emission amounts according to soil organic matter contents in paddy field were conducted at having different contents of 5 soil organic matters fields (23.6, 28.7, 31.0, 34.5, and $38.0g\;kg^{-1}$), The highest $CH_4$ emission amount was recorded in the highest soil organic matters plot of $38.0g\;kg^{-1}$. High correlation coefficient (r=$0.963^{**}$) was obtained between $CH_4$ emissions from paddy fields and their soil organic matter contents. According to paddy field types, $CH_4$ emission amounts were investigated at 4 different paddy fields as wet paddy, sandy paddy, immature paddy, and mature paddy. The highest $CH_4$ emissions was recorded in wet paddy (100%) and followed as immature paddy 64.0%, mature paddy 46.8%, and sandy paddy 23.8%, respectively. For the effects of temperature on $CH_4$ emissions from paddy fields, 4 agricultural climatic zones were investigated, which were Yeongnam inland zone (YIZ), eastern coast of central zone (ECZ), plain area of Yeongnam inland mountainous zone (PMZ), and mountainous area of Yeongnam inland mountainous zone (MMZ). The order of $CH_4$ emission amounts from paddy fields by agricultural climatic zone were YIZ (100%) > ECZ (94.6%) > PMZ (91.6%) > MMZ (78.9%). The regression equation between $CH_4$ emission amounts from paddy fields and average air temperature of Jul. to Sep. of agricultural climatic zone was y = 389.7x-4,287 (x means average temperature of Jul. to Sep. of agricultural climatic zone, $R^2=0.906^*$)

• Journal of Forest and Environmental Science
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• v.35 no.4
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• pp.232-239
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• 2019

This study was carried out to establish an efficient selection condition for cold-tolerant individuals among evergreen Quercus spp. To select higher cold-tolerant individuals among four species of evergreen Quercus spp. (Q. acuta, Q. glauca, Q. myrsinaefoila, and Q. salicina), an-year-old seedlings of each species were exposed to low temperature in serial, and then examined for the death of cell tissue and the surface temperature was monitored. It was shown that the higher numbers of seedlings of Q. myrsinaefolia were survived than the others when those seedlings are exposed to cold stress. Thus, selection of the cold tolerant individuals was conducted on Q. myrsinaefolia seedlings. The limit low temperature condition for selecting cold-tolerant individuals was -6℃ for 24 hrs because no seedling of Q. myrsinaefolia was survived after exposed to -7℃ for 24 hours. It was shown that the leaf surface temperature of the selected individuals was higher than those of the non-selected individuals when they were exposed to cold-stress while monitoring them using thermal graphic camera. The results in this study can be used for expanding afforestation area of tree species of the warm temperate zone for preparation of climate change.