• Korean Journal of Agricultural Science
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• v.38 no.1
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• pp.109-113
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• 2011

The purpose of this study was to examine the potentiality of urban forest roads as an environment for enhancing physical fitness. Six male university students participated in the study as subjects. The subjects walked on an urban forest road for 30 minutes. As a control experiment, they also walked on a national park trail for 30 minutes. Subjects' heart rates were monitored during the walks to calculate the ratio of the average time their heart rates were within the target range (from 60% to 80% of the maximal heart rate) for Enhancing Physical Fitness. After the walks, images of the spaces were analyzed using the semantic differential (SD) method. During the walk on the urban forest road, subjects' heart rates were within the target range 63.3% of the time, and lower than the target range 36.7% of the time. During the control experiment on the national park trail, subjects' heart rates were within the target range only 23.3% of the time, and higher than the target range 76.7% of the time. From the spatial perception evaluation using the SD method, subjects' comfortable and natural feelings when they were on the national park trail were significantly greater than when they were on the urban forest trail, but there were no differences in terms of other SD descriptors, such as friendliness and likeability. The results of our study indicate that the urban forest road provides a good environment for walking to enhance physical fitness. Although not as close to nature as national park trails, urban forest roads offer similar natural environments and have a high potentiality for serving as leisure spaces for urban residents who seek physical activities.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural and Forest Meteorology
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.141-148
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• 2008

This study was conducted to investigate the photosynthetic responses of four Oak species (Quercus mongolica, Q. serrata, Q. acutissima and Q. variabilis) by shading treatment. We investigated light response curve, photosynthesis (A)-intercellular $CO_2$ concentration (Ci) curve, leaf growth and chlorophyll content at the level of 35, 55 and 75% shading treatments and under the full sunlight. In our results, Q. variabilis and Q. acutissima showed increased leaf growth, chlorophyll content and net apparent quantum yield but reduced chlorophyll a/b and carboxylation efficiency under the low light intensity. Therefore, light absorption and light utilization efficiency were improved under the low light intensity. Q. mongolica showed the similar responses that Q. variabilis and Q. acutissima showed, but net apparent quantum yield was reduced. The effects of shading treatment on Q. serrata were lower than those of other three species.

• Journal of the Korean Wood Science and Technology
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• v.35 no.3
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• pp.79-87
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• 2007

This study investigated the effects of lacquer-finishing to prevent discoloration of coloring chestnut wood coated with natural dyes from deteriorating factors such as lights (indoor, 500 lux and outdoor, 50,000~70,000 lux), acid, alkali, and heat through measurement of color difference. Lacquer-finishing coating contributed to protection of intrinsic color of the natural dyeing woods in spite of severe treatment. In particular, dyeing liquor with alkali pH played a great role in prevention of light discoloration.

• Proceedings of The Korean Society of Agricultural and Forest Meteorology Conference
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• 2016.09a
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• pp.91-93
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• 2016

• Proceedings of The Korean Society of Agricultural and Forest Meteorology Conference
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• 2016.09a
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• pp.190-196
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• 2016

• Journal of People, Plants, and Environment
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• v.22 no.5
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• pp.505-513
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• 2019

As the number of foreign workers increases in Korea, people's interest in their adaptation to this society has also increased. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of a forest-healing program on foreign workers' cultural adaptation stress and psychological wellbeing. The experiment was conducted in a recreation forest located in Hongcheon-gun, Gangwon-do. The subjects who participated in this study included 40 foreign workers (16 males, 24 females). The experiment was conducted for three days and two nights from June 26 to 28, 2019. The forest healing program was composed of activities that can enhance immunity and restore physical and mental health by utilizing various healing environmental factors such as landscapes, sunlight, anion and oxygen in forest. The independent sample t-test was conducted to examine changes in cultural adaptation stress and psychological well-being before and after the program. The collected data were analyzed using SPSS 18.0 program. As a result, cultural adaptation stress was statistically significantly reduced in sub-factors including discrimination experience, language conflict and legal status. Psychological wellbeing improved in all the surveyed sub-factors such as self-confidence, ego, immersion, and joy. The results of this study are expected to be used as basic data for reducing the stress foreign workers experience from cultural adaptation and restoring their psychological wellbeing in the future.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural Science
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• v.45 no.2
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• pp.177-184
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• 2018

The frost heave process from repeated freezing and thawing actions in winter on forest road cut-slopes is important for forest road maintenance and management. This study investigated the damages of the forest heave process on forest road cut-slopes by measuring the changes in the road-cut surface elevation and sediment production and by conducting vegetation surveys which were aimed at providing information for forest road maintenance plans. The temperature and humidity differences were determined between the north and south cut-slopes. T-test showed that the north slope had a lower temperature and humidity than that of the south slope. Field observations also confirmed frozen soils on the north slopes, indicating that the north slopes are susceptible to frost heave. Sediment was converted to dry weight per unit area ($g/m^2$). T-test showed that the north slope produced more sediment than that of the south slope. The study confirmed that more frost heave occurred on the north cut-slopes than on the south cut-slopes. Vegetation surveys were conducted on five cut-slope plots. Considering the dominant species found above the cut-slopes, vegetations in all the plots are expected to succeed to pine and oak in the future. The dominant species appearing on the cut-slopes of the study area were exotic species because the elapsed time of the site was only 2 - 4 years.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural Science
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• v.46 no.1
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• pp.33-44
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• 2019

This study was conducted to examine the components of phytoncide from a pine forest in the southern temperate zone. Recent studies have found that a large amount of phytoncide is released not only from cypress trees but also from pine trees. Because the amount released is the highest during summer, we selected a warm climate region in the southern temperate zone and measured the concentration in the month of August. To capture the phytoncide from the forest atmosphere, we used the adsorption tube method with a mini pump and successfully gathered 9 L of forest air at a flow rate of 150 mL/min. We performed duplicate sampling from two different tubes installed at the same location and derived the mean value. A gas chromatography/mass spectrometer detector with thermal desorption spectroscopy was utilized to perform quantitative and qualitative analyses of the captured material. The results showed that the average phytoncide particle of the pine forest in the southern temperate zone contained a number of components as follows in descending order: ${\alpha}$-Pinene (39%, $0.28ng/m^3$), followed by ${\beta}$-Pinene (16%, $0.11ng/m^3$), D-Limonene (8%, $0.06ng/m^3$), camphor (6%, $0.04ng/m^3$), camphene (6%, $0.04ng/m^3$), and p-Cymene (5%, $0.04ng/m^3$). There were also 13 additional phytoncide components in trace amounts. The results of this study are expected to provide a useful dataset for building a "Healing-forest".

• Journal of People, Plants, and Environment
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.301-309
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• 2021

Background and objective: The purpose of this study is to analyze the case of healing experience for lifestyle and environmental diseases through life and activities in the forest from the perspecitive of critical realism, and how the causal power and mechanism of the healing experience relate to forest healing factors and programs. Methods: 93 video data of people who started living in the forest for disease treatment were analyzed using a qualitative content analysis method from the perspective of critical realism. Categories for analysis include general categories (age, duration, occupation, disease name), forest therapy categories (climate therapy, plant therapy, water therapy, diet therapy, kinesiotherapy, psychotherapy), and other categories (ecology, learning and management, life tools), etc., and the unit of analysis is the context unit. Results: 1) The diseases that motivated life in the forest were digestive system diseases, lung diseases, cardiovascular diseases, endocrine system diseases, and various lifestyle-related diseases and environmental diseases in similar proportions. This indicates that forest life does not have specificity to respond to specific diseases, but provides treatment and recovery for all lifestyle and environmental diseases. 2) Among the forest therapies, climate therapy and plant therapy are related to the climatic and residential environment in the forest where 'natural persons' live. And others such as water therapy, diet therapy, kinesiotherapy, psychotherapy indicate the change from the lifestyle that caused the disease to the lifestyle for treatment and recovery. Conclusion: Life and activities in the forest provide an environment for treatment and recovery in which the healing principles such as aromatherapy, nutritional and dietary therapy, kinesiotherapy, and emotional psychotherapy are integrated in the 'real world'.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.44 no.2
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• pp.81-89
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• 2020

In the forest ecosystems, litterfall is an important component of the nutrient cycle that regulates the accumulation of soil organic matter (SOM), the input and output of the nutrients, nutrient replenishment, biodiversity conservation, and other ecosystem functions. Therefore, a profound understanding of the major processes (litterfall production and its decomposition rate) in the cycle is vital for sustainable forest management (SFM). Despite these facts, there is still a limited knowledge in tropical forest ecosystems, and further researches are highly needed. This shortfall of research-based knowledge, especially in tropical forest ecosystems, may be a contributing factor to the lack of understanding of the role of plant litter in the forest ecosystem function for sustainable forest management, particularly in the tropical forest landscapes. Therefore, in this paper, I review the role of plant litter in tropical forest ecosystems with the aims of assessing the importance of plant litter in forest ecosystems for the biogeochemical cycle. Then, the major factors that affect the plant litter production and decomposition were identified, which could direct and contribute to future research. The small set of studies reviewed in this paper demonstrated the potential of plant litter to improve the biogeochemical cycle and nutrients in the forest ecosystems. However, further researches are needed particularly on the effect of species, forest structures, seasons, and climate factors on the plant litter production and decomposition in various types of forest ecosystems.