• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
• /
• v.50 no.1
• /
• pp.126-136
• /
• 2017

We describe characteristics of diversity and distribution of oak forests on the Daegok-cheon gorge of the Southeastern Korean Peninsula, the oldest prehistoric site, in view of a sort of food resources of acorns. The $Z{\ddot{u}}rich$-Montpellier School's method was adopted for field investigation on the oak dominant stands. A total of 20 phytosociological $relev\acute{e}s$ composed of 193 taxa were analyzed by syntaxonomy and ecological flora. The Daegok-cheon's oak forests occupied 36.9% ($513,374m^2$) of the surveyed area, and its 99% ($507,677m^2$) was Quercus variabilis and Q. serrata stands. Oak forests of the Daegok-cheon gorge are a kind of regional vegetation type characterizing by the high relative net contribution degree (r-NCD) of Platycarya strobilacea and Sapium japonicum, which are an edaphic type of the xerophilous and thermophilic oak forests. The region of the Daegok-cheon petroglyphs is defined as an ecoregion with rich acorn supply and abundant water resources, and the warmer environment, which attracts prehistoric man.