• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.16 no.5
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• pp.549-559
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• 2007

Vegetation surveys were performed at 45 plots along 10 highways cut slopes in South Korea. Total floral inventory, species richness and exotic plant percentage were obtained within each plot. Life history and life form of each species appeared were analyzed. Community types were classified using hierarchical cluster analysis and detrended correspondence analysis and non-metric multidimensional scaling were conducted from vegetation matrix. 292 species of vascular plants were discovered and the number of natives and exotics were 226 and 66, respectively. There were no significant differences of species richness and exotic plant percentage between cut slopes and rest areas. Hierarchical cluster analysis indicated five clear vegetation associations in cut slopes and rest areas. Detrended correspondence analysis indicated that species composition of total and native plants were similar along the highway cut slopes whereas exotic plants were distributed differentially along the highway cut slopes. in non-metric multidimensional scaling, the studied sites were more separated from each other on the basis of their species composition than the results of detrended correspondence analysis with respect to total, native and exotic plants. The both ordination represented that exotic plants have not been made uniform yet on cut slopes and rest areas by highway corridor in spite of diverse chronosequences after highway construction termination (1 to 22 years). This study showed that the distribution of species composition in exotic plants was different and localized on cut slopes and rest areas of highway in this representative peninsula area of North East Asia and the invasion of exotic plants can retard the process of plant species homogenization.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.155-161
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• 2011

In application and discussion of population structure and phenotypic divergence in plant community, the classic Lotka-Volterra models of competition and spatial model are conceived as a mechanism that is composed by multiple interacting processes. Both the Lotka-Volterra and spatial simulation formulae predict that species diversity increases with genotypic richness (GR). The two formulae are also in agreement that species diversity generally decreases within increasing niche breadth (NB) and increases with increasing potential genotypic range (PGR). Across the entire parameter space in the Lotka-Volterra model and most of the parameter space in the spatial simulations, variance in community composition decreased with increasing genotypic richness. This was, in large part, a consequence of selecting genotypes randomly from a set pool.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.46 no.3
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• pp.204-217
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• 2022

Background: Increasing land demands for food production have led to biodiversity loss and land degradation in the Madhupur Sal forest. Reforestation activities such as agroforestry and woodlot plantation support the conservation of diversity, restoration of forest and prevention of soil erosion in degraded natural Sal forest. Knowing about these reforestation activities, this study is needed to compare the species composition, richness, and soil nutrients of these two plantation activities to the natural Sal forest in the degraded Madhupur Sal forest in Bangladesh. Results: The analysis showed that in between the reforestation activities, the highest Shannon-Wiener index (1.79), evenness (0.60) and Simpson's index (0.79) were found in the agroforestry site compared to the woodlot plantation site. On the contrary, the highest species richness (n = 14), tree basal area (19.56 m² ha^-1), Margalef's index (1.96) were recorded in woodlot plantation than in the agroforestry site. We observed that at 0-15 cm depth, soil organic matter (2.39%), total nitrogen (0.14%), available phosphorous (62.67 ㎍ g^-1) and exchangeable potassium (0.36 meq/100 g) in agroforestry plots were significantly higher compared to other forest sites. At topsoil (15-30 cm depth), soil organic matter (1.67%) and available phosphorous (21.09 ㎍ g^-1) were found to be higher in agroforestry site. Conclusions: Both reforestation approaches improved soil function, although woodlot plantation had the higher species richness. Therefore, plantation activities by the sustainable implementation of these two practices are the best alternative to restore the biodiversity, richness and conserve soil fertility in the Madhupur Sal forest of Bangladesh.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.62-68
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• 2015

In order to get basic data for flood plain restoration, we surveyed the woody vegetation in Korean natural rivers and analyzed the species' characteristics with regards to patterns of richness and diversity. These characteristics were higher in hard wood forests than those in soft wood forests, such as Salix spp. community. Futhermore, they were the highest in the Prunus sargentii-Pinus densiflora community(H' 1.095), and the lowest in the Carpinus laxiflora community(H' 0.118) among the hard wood forests. Species' richness diversity were the highest in the Salix gracilistyla community, but the lowest in the S. koriyangi community or S. koreensis community among the soft wood forests. With regards to the dominant index, just one community is over 0.9, 13 communities are between 0.3-0.7 and 15 communities are less than 0.3. The Salix koreensis community was the highest at 0.931, and Prunus sargentii-Pinus densiflora community was the lowest at 0.13. Species' richness and diversity was significantly correlated with tree layer coverages and degree of slope. These results mean that in order to increase plant species diversity in flood plains planted hard woody trees, such as oaks and fir, are needed to suit environmental conditions with steeper slope and lower canopy coverage.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.347-355
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• 2008

This study analyzed and modeled the relationships between the species richness of fish, plant, and bird and environmental factors such as climatic and geographical variables based on data collected from 109 major drainage systems in Japan from 1990 until 2005. As a result, the most parts of the distributions of the fish, plant, and bird species richness were clarified by the average annual atmospheric temperature, dimension of drainage areas, and annual rainfall, respectively. In addition, this study predicted the value of each organism species distributed in national drainage areas in Japan using GAMs(Generalized Additive Models) for each organism model created by environmental factors on a wide-ranging scale, and also mapped out the value. Mapping out the predicted value could make it easier for its managers to newly set up the areas needing to be protected to obtain diversity of the organism species and to assess their availability of conservation for bio-diversity.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.22 no.5
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• pp.505-513
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• 2008

The purpose of this study is to analyze the distribution patterns and characteristics of plant species by human impact in urban areas. In order to achieve a comprehensive data acquisition of all autogenously introduced vascular plant species occurring in the city of Cheon-ju, this study made an analysis of 106 sample plots, each with a size of one hectare, These sample plots were selected to represent the typical land-use patterns within the city of Cheon-ju and to cover the various distances from the city center. Species richness, patterns of life forms, and the percentage of non-native species were analyzed in relation to the degree of hemeroby of the sample plots. It was found that the species number appeared the largest in sites that were moderately influenced. This result corresponds to the intermediate disturbance hypothesis that moderate disturbance leads to an increase in species richness. The flora of sites which were subject to the highest level of human impact, was characterized by a high proportion of annual species and non-native species. In addition, some species were divided into three groups with similar distribution corresponding to land-use type and urban zone: urbanophobic (e.g. Indigofera kirilowii, Prunus sargentii, Rhus trichocarpa), urbanoneutral (e.g. Commelina communis, Erigeron annuus, Metaplexis japonica) and urbanophilus (e.g. Euphorbia supina, Senecio vulgaris, Taraxacum officinale).

• Asian Journal of Turfgrass Science
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• v.7 no.2_3
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• pp.113-120
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• 1993

Dictyostelid cellular slime molds were quantitatibly isolated from Korean lawngrass turf in Seoul National University, Korea, by the 'Clonal Isolation Technique(Cavender and Raper, 1965a)'. Total six species were found. These are Dictyostelium sphaerocephalum. D. purpuream. D. flavidam, D. crassica ale, Polysphondilium pallidum. P. violaceum. D. sphaerocephalum was the dominant species and P. violaceum, D. flaviidum, D. crassicaule were rare. Compared with other region, species diversity and species richness of Korean lawngrass turf appeared to he low. The dominant species, however, is not very common in other plant communities, so it cnay he characteristic of Korean lawngrass turf.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.102 no.2
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• pp.239-246
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• 2013

This study observed changes of understory vegetation to evaluate the role of forest aggregate after 15% aggregated retention harvest in mature oak forest (> 100 years) in Gyungsangbukdo Bonghwagun in 2010 and 2011. Spontaneous responses of understory vegetation cover (%), species richness, abundance of plant growth forms (herbaceous and woody plants), and overall attributes (by Ordination analysis) were estimated in aggregate area (0.15 and n=36) and clear cut area (0.85 and n=192) in experimental site and control site (1 and n=300). Based on ordination analysis, overall change of species composition in aggregated sites were relatively lower than in harvest area. Right after treatment, total cover of cutted area slightly decreased from 15.6% to 14.7%, and species richness increased from 14 species to 22 species. Cover and richness in the both of aggregate and control sites increased. In plant growth forms, 15% aggregate harvest revealed positive effects on the abundance (cover and richness) of herbaceous plants than woody group. After retention treatment, overall, edge effect likely played major component of vegetation changes in aggregate forest and in harvested area, mechanical damage from harvest operation and change of forest structure by clear cutting were critical. As pre-treatment data, which are rare in ecological studies in Korea, were critical for interpretation between patterns that may have arisen from spatial distributions in the original forest, our experimental design have higher opportunity for long term monitoring on the effect of forest aggregate and vegetation regeneration in clear cutted area.

• Journal of Forest and Environmental Science
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.75-89
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• 2022

The negative impact of monoculture rubber plantations on biodiversity and associated ecological processes/ecosystem services has led to suggestions on the use of integrated land use systems for rubber cultivation and production in order to ensure environmental sustainability. However, there is paucity of information on the effect of such integrated land use systems on the diversity and abundance of the rubber plantation undergrowth. We evaluated and compared undergrowth plant species composition, richness, abundance, diversity and interaction, in three integrated systems (Rubber-Strelitzia reginae Integrated System - RSrIS, Rubber-Podocarpus nagi Integrated System - RPnIS & Naturally Managed Rubber Plantation - NMRP) with three Rubber Monoculture Plantations (RMP₁, RMP₂ & RMP₃) adjacent to the integrated systems, respectively, at the Investigation and Experiment Station of Tropical Crops, Danzhou, Hainan, China. Undergrowth species density was higher in the rubber monocultures than in the integrated systems except in RSrIS. Species richness and diversity were also higher in the monocultures except in NMRP. Species similarity/interaction between the monocultures and the integrated systems was highest between RMP₃ and NMRP. The NRMP proved to be the best model of natural rubber integrated system for the conservation of undergrowth species richness, diversity and interspecific interaction. However, the conservation of undergrowth species in other forms of integrated natural systems can be enhanced by considering the ecology of species to be integrated in terms of their growth characteristics, competitive nature, and ability to grow in association with other species.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.42 no.3
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• pp.90-102
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• 2018

Background: We sought to understand the relationship between the seed bank and vegetation in abandoned rice paddies in South Korea, in order to guide management of these sites. We investigated the floristic composition and species richness of the soil seed bank and ground vegetation in former paddies along three seral gradients (wet meadow, young forest, and mature forest) in Gwangneung Forest Biosphere Reserve. Results: Seed bank samples contained 59 species, of which the dominant families were Cyperaceae, Gramineae, and Polygonaceae. Species richness and seedling density (59 taxa and 19,121 germinants from all samples) were high. Carex spp. (11, 921 germinants) were the dominant taxa. The species composition in the seed bank changed gradually as the land transitioned from wet meadow to mature forest. Sørensen's index of similarity between above- and below-ground vegetation was 29.3% for wet meadow, 10.8% for young forest, and 2.1% for mature forest. Germinant density also declined, with 10, 256 germinants for wet meadow, 6445 germinants for young forest, and 2420 germinants for mature forest. Conclusions: Changes in aboveground environment and life history traits such as amphicarpic plants, likely affect the composition of soil seed bank species. Abandoned paddy fields may be good sites for restoration of wetland forest and conservation of wetland habitat. Some intervention may be required to promote the recovery of a natural species assemblage.