• Journal of The Korean Society of Grassland and Forage Science
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• v.44 no.2
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• pp.71-82
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• 2024

It would be advantageous to grow legume forage crops in order to increase the productivity and sustainability of sloped croplands in Hamkyongbukdo. In particular, the identification of potential cultivation areas for alfalfa in the given region could aid decision-making on policies and management related to forage crop production in the future. This study aimed to analyze the climate suitability of alfalfa in Hamkyongbukdo under current and future climate conditions using the Fuzzy Union model. The climate suitability predicted by the Fuzzy Union model was compared with the actual alfalfa cultivation area in the northern United States. Climate data obtained from 11 global climate models were used as input data for calculation of climate suitability in the study region to examine the uncertainty of projections under future climate conditions. The area where the climate suitability index was greater than a threshold value (22.6) explained about 44% of the variation in actual alfalfa cultivation areas by state in the northern United States. The climatic suitability of alfalfa was projected to decrease in most areas of Hamkyongbukdo under future climate scenarios. The climatic suitability in Onseong and Gyeongwon County was analyzed to be over 88 in the current climate conditions. However, it was projected to decrease by about 66% in the given areas by the 2090s. Our study illustrated that the impact of climate change on suitable cultivation areas was highly variable when different climate data were used as inputs to the Fuzzy Union model. Still, the ensemble of the climate suitability projections for alfalfa was projected to decrease considerably due to summer depression in Hamkyongbukdo. It would be advantageous to predict suitable cultivation areas by adding soil conditions or to predict the climate suitability of other leguminous crops such as hairy vetch, which merits further studies.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural and Forest Meteorology
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.164-173
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• 2017

Alternative cropping systems would be one of climate change adaptation options. Suitable areas for a crop could be identified using a climate suitability model. The EcoCrop model has been used to assess climate suitability of crops using monthly climate surfaces, e.g., the digital climate map at high spatial resolution. Still, a high-performance computing approach would be needed for assessment of climate suitability to take into account a complex terrain in Korea, which requires considerably large climate data sets. The objectives of this study were to implement a script for R, which is an open source statistics analysis platform, in order to use the EcoCrop model under a parallel computing environment and to assess climate suitability of maize using digital climate maps at high spatial resolution, e.g., 1 km. The total running time reduced as the number of CPU (Central Processing Unit) core increased although the speedup with increasing number of CPU cores was not linear. For example, the wall clock time for assessing climate suitability index at 1 km spatial resolution reduced by 90% with 16 CPU cores. However, it took about 1.5 time to compute climate suitability index compared with a theoretical time for the given number of CPU. Implementation of climate suitability assessment system based on the MPI (Message Passing Interface) would allow support for the digital climate map at ultra-high spatial resolution, e.g., 30m, which would help site-specific design of cropping system for climate change adaptation.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural and Forest Meteorology
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.75-88
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• 2024

It would be advantageous to predict acreage and yield of crops in major grain-exporting countries, which would improve decisions on policy making and grain trade in Korea. A climate suitability model can be used to assess crop acreage and yield in a region where the availability of observation data is limited for the use of process-based crop models. The objective of this study was to determine the climate suitability index of wheat by province in Ukraine, which would allow for the spatial assessment of acreage and yield for the given crop. In the present study, the official data of wheat acreage and yield were collected from the State Statistics Service of Ukraine. The EarthStat data, which is a data product derived from satellite data and official crop reports, were also gathered for the comparison with the map of climate suitability index. The Fuzzy Union model was used to create the climate suitability maps under the historical climate conditions for the period from 1970 to 2000. These maps were compared against actual acreage and yield by province. It was found that the EarthStat data for acreage and yield of wheat differed from the corresponding official data in several provinces. On the other hand, the climate suitability index obtained using the Fuzzy Union model explained the variation in acreage and yield at a reasonable degree. For example, the correlation coefficient between the climate suitability index and yield was 0.647. Our results suggested that the climate suitability index could be used to indicate the spatial distribution of acreage and yield within a region of interest.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural and Forest Meteorology
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.250-257
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• 2020

It is difficult for farmers to select new crops for cultivation to increase income. So we conducted land suitability assessment of grapes with soil and climate information related to crop growth. At first, land suitabilities for grapes were classified into three categories (most suitable, suitable, low productive & not suitable areas) according to soil and climate conditions, respectively. In details, land suitability with respect to soil was assessed by soil morphological and physical properties including soil texture, drainage class, available soil depth, slope and gravel content, whereas one in accordance with climate was evaluated by average annual temperature, temperature during the growing season, temperature during maturation, the lowest temperature, chilling requirement and precipitation during the growing season. Secondly, we combined both soil and climate classification results using a most-limiting characteristic method. Maps showing the suitable land for grapes cultivation were drawn. The results indicate that the most suitable area of cultivation for grapes in south Korea was 3.43% and suitable (possible) area was 10.61%. This study may help to preserve land and increase the productivity through providing valuable information regarding where more suitable areas for grapes are located.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Grassland and Forage Science
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• v.40 no.4
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• pp.265-273
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• 2020

We aimed to predict the Italian ryegrass (IRG) productivity change of introduced and domestic varieties based on climate factors and identify suitable areas for IRG cultivation using the RCP 8.5 scenario. The minimum mean air temperature in January showed the highest correlation with productivity. The ratio of possible and low productivity areas was high in Gangwondo, and the ratio of suitable and best suitable areas was relatively high in the central and southern regions in the past 30 years. The change in the IRG cultivation area was found to be 26.9% in the best suitable area between 1981-2010 but increased significantly to 88.9% between 2090s. In the IRG suitability comparison classes between domestic and introduced cultivars, the ratio of suitable and best suitable areas was relatively high in the domestic varieties during the past 30 years. However, there is almost no difference between the IRG domestic and introduced varieties in the IRG suitability classes after the 2050s. These results can predict changes in the IRG suitability classes between domestic and introduced cultivars according to the climate change scenario, but there are limitations in accurately predicting the productivity of IRG because the results may vary depending on other environmental factors.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural and Forest Meteorology
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.35-47
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• 2022

Expansion of potato production areas can improve the food security in North Korea because the given crop has less requirements for agricultural materials and facilities. The Global Agro-Ecological Zones (GAEZ) model, which was developed to evaluate climate suitability under different cultivation conditions, was used to identify potential areas for the potato production. The spatial estimates of crop suitability under low and high input management conditions were downloaded from the GAEZ data portal. The values of suitability were obtained at the potato occurrence sites retrieved from the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) database. The suitable areas for the potato production were identified using a threshold value derived from the suitability estimates at the occurrence sites. It was found that 90% of the occurrence sites had the suitability index value >3,333, which was set to be the threshold value. The suitable areas in North Korea were summarized by province and county. Rice cultivation areas were excluded from the analysis. The reported relative acreage of potato production was better represented by the suitable areas under the low input management options than the high input conditions. The suitable areas also had a similar distribution to the reported acreage of potato production by county. These results indicated that the GAEZ model would be useful to identify the candidate production areas, which would facilitate the increases in potato production especially under future climate conditions. Furthermore, monthly maps of crop suitability can be used to design cropping systems that would improve crop production under the limited use of agricultural materials and facilities.

• Ecology and Resilient Infrastructure
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.134-142
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• 2016

Temperature increase and precipitation changes caused by change alter aquatic environments including water quantity and quality that eventually affects the habitat of aquatic organisms. Such changes in habitat lead to changes in habitat suitability of the organisms, which eventually determines species distribution. Therefore, conventional habitat suitability models were investigated to evaluate habitat suitability changes of freshwater fish cause by change. Habitat suitability models can be divided into habitat-hydraulic (PHABSIM, CCHE2D, CASiMiR, RHABSIM, RHYHABSIM, and River2D) and habitat-physiologic (CLIMEX) models. Habitat-hydraulic models use hydraulic variables (velocity, depth, substrate) to assess habitat suitability, but lack the ability to evaluate the effect of water quality, including temperature. On the contrary, CLIMEX evaluates the physiological response against climatic variables, but lacks the ability to interpret the effects of physical habitat (hydraulic variables). A new concept of ecological habitat suitability modeling (EHSM) is proposed to overcome such limitations by combining the habitat-hydraulic model (PHABSIM) and the habitat-physiologic model (CLIMEX), which is able to evaluate the effect of more environmental variables than each conventional model. This model is expected to predict fish habitat suitability according to climate change more accurately.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural and Forest Meteorology
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.127-134
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• 2016

Land suitability assessment for apples and pears was conducted with soil and climate information in South Korea. In doing so, we intended to preserve land and increase the productivity by providing valuable information regarding where more suitable areas for apples or pears are located. We used soil classification driven by soil environmental information system developed by National Institute of Agricultural Science, RDA, and also used climate classification in digital agro-climate map database for which is made by National Institute of Horticultural and Herbal Science. We combined both soil and climate classification results using a most-limiting characteristic method. The combined results showed very similar patterns with the results by classification based on soil information. Such results seem to come from the fact that the classification results by soil relatively lower than those by climate information. The results by soil classification seem to be too downgraded and checking if the final classification ranges in soil are reasonably made is strongly required. Although the most limiting characteristic method had been used widely in land suitability assessment, adapting the method based on results by soil and climate can be influenced by one downgraded factor. Therefore, alternative ways should be carefully considered for increasing the accuracy.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.43 no.4
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• pp.427-437
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• 2019

Background: Climate change is believed to be continuously affecting ticks by influencing their habitat suitability. However, we attempted to model the climate change-induced impacts on future genus Rhipicephalus distribution considering the major environmental factors that would influence the tick. Therefore, 50 tick occuance points were taken to model the potential distribution using maximum entropy (MaxEnt) software and 19 climatic variables, taking into account the ability for future climatic change under representative concentration pathways (RCPs) 4.5 and 8.5, were used. Results: MaxEnt model performance was tested and found with the AUC value of 0.99 which indicates excellent goodness-of-fit and predictive accuracy. Current models predict increased temperatures, both in the mid and end terms together with possible changes of other climatic factors like precipitation which may lead to higher tick-borne disease risks associated with expansion of the range of the targeted tick distribution. Distribution maps were constructed for the current, 2050, and 2070 for the two greenhouse gas scenarios and the most dramatic scenario; RCP 8.5 produced the highest increase probable distribution range. Conclusions: The future potential distribution of the genus Rhipicephalus show potential expansion to the new areas due to the future climatic suitability increase. These results indicate that the genus population of the targeted tick could emerge in areas in which they are currently lacking; increased incidence of tick-borne diseases poses further risk which can affect cattle production and productivity, thereby affecting the livelihood of smallholding farmers. Therefore, it is recommended to implement climate change adaptation practices to minimize the impacts.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.46 no.4
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• pp.292-303
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• 2022

Background: Climate change significantly influences the geographical distribution of plant species worldwide. Selecting indicator species allows for better-informed and more effective ecosystem management in response to climate change. The Korean Peninsula is the northernmost distribution zone of warm temperate evergreen broad-leaved (WTEB) species in Northeast Asia. Considering the ecological value of these species, we evaluated the current distribution range and future suitable habitat for 13 WTEB tree species designated as climate-sensitive biological indicator species. Results: Up-to-date and accurate WTEB species distribution maps were constructed using herbarium specimens and citizen science data from the Korea Biodiversity Observation Network. Current northern limits for several species have shifted to higher latitudes compared to previous records. For example, the northern latitude limit for Stauntonia hexaphylla is higher (37° 02' N, Deokjeokdo archipelago) than that reported previously (36° 13' N). The minimum temperature of the coldest month (Bio6) is the major factor influencing species distribution. Under future climate change scenarios, suitable habitats are predicted to expand toward higher latitudes inland and along the western coastal areas. Conclusions: Our results support the suitability of WTEB trees as significant biological indicators of species' responses to warming. The findings also suggest the need for consistent monitoring of species distribution shifts. This study provides an important baseline dataset for future monitoring and management of indicator species' responses to changing climate conditions in South Korea.