• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
• /
• v.109 no.4
• /
• pp.361-370
• /
• 2020

Long-term observation of the life cycle of plants allows the identification of critical signals of the effects of climate change on plants. Indeed, plant phenology is the simplest approach to detect climate change. Observation of seasonal changes in plants using digital repeat imaging helps in overcoming the limitations of both traditional methods and satellite remote sensing. In this study, we demonstrate the utility of camera-based repeat digital imaging in this context. We observed the biological events of plants and quantified their phenophases in the northern temperate type deciduous broadleaf forest of Jeombong Mountain. This study aimed to identify trends in seasonal characteristics of Quercus mongolica (deciduous broadleaf forest) and Pinus densiflora (evergreen coniferous forest). The vegetation index, green chromatic coordinate (GCC), was calculated from the RGB channel image data. The magnitude of the GCC amplitude was smaller in the evergreen coniferous forest than in the deciduous forest. The slope of the GCC (increased in spring and decreased in autumn) was moderate in the evergreen coniferous forest compared with that in the deciduous forest. In the pine forest, the beginning of growth occurred earlier than that in the red oak forest, whereas the end of growth was later. Verification of the accuracy of the phenophases showed high accuracy with root-mean-square error (RMSE) values of 0.008 (region of interest [ROI]1) and 0.006 (ROI3). These results reflect the tendency of the GCC trajectory in a northern temperate type deciduous broadleaf forest. Based on the results, we propose that repeat imaging using digital cameras will be useful for the observation of phenophases.