• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.175-183
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• 2015

Extremely strong winds and heavy rainfall caused canopy gaps in a mixed Abies holophylla broadleaf forest and a Quercus mongolica-dominated forest in Odaesan National Park, Korea in October 2006. The impact of the combination of strong winds and torrential rain on the development of forest gaps and canopy structures were investigated. The mean size of newly created gaps were $205m^2$ in the mixed forest and $86m^2$ in the Quercus forest, and were created by 2.8 and 1.4 gapmaker trees, respectively. Among the 73 trees lost in the mixed forest, 59% succumbed because of direct wind damage while 41% were struck by neighboring trees that fell into them. Most of these trees downed by wind were uprooted (74%), while the trees downed by neighboring tree falls snapped (78%). 21 trees in the Quercus forest died from direct wind damage, and 57% of them were uprooted. Although the relative density of Abies nephrolepis and A. holophylla represented only 0.2% and 6.4%, respectively, of all species in the intact mixed forest, they accounted for 27% and 15%, respectively, of all trees affected by wind on that site. In fact, 85% of the total A. nephrolepis and 91% of the total A. holophylla in the mixed forest fell directly due to strong wind. By contrast, only one Abies species, A. nephrolepis, was found in the Quercusdominated forest, and it accounted for 7.3% of the species composition. These findings suggest that A. nephrolepis and A. holophylla are particularly susceptible to high winds because of their great heights and shallow root systems.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.96 no.2
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• pp.227-234
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• 2007

The forest canopy gap has been well known as a substantial process of forest cyclic regeneration and important role in stand structure, dynamics, and biodiversity of the forest ecosystem. Based on 3,600 $5m{\times}5m$ square grids in a 9ha permanent experimental plot, the study was conducted to evaluate the regeneration pattern of woody species by developmental stage {seedlings (<1 m of height), saplingI (>1 m of height, <2 cm of DBH), and saplingII (2 cm$<200m^2$), $201-400m^2$, $400-600m^2$, $601-800m^2$, and $>800m^2$) in the mixed broadleaved-Korean pine forest. The results indicated that the regenerating trees of Populus ussuriensis occurred only in the canopy gap area, considered to be a typical gap-dependent species. The regeneration of Ulmus japonica, Ulmus laciniata, and Maackia amurensis could be generally satisfied with the gap size of $201-600m^2$, Betula costata and Prunus padus with gap size of $401-800m^2$, Picea koraiensis with gap size of $201-800m^2$, Fraxinus mandshurica and Syringa reticulata var. mandshurica with smaller than $800m^2$, respectively. Acer ukurunduense and Acer tegmentosum were likely to have no problem with the gap size to make gap regeneration. Acer mono and Tilia amurensis looked more capable of regenerating in the closed canopy disregarding the upper crown condition. The regeneration of Pinus koraiensis and Abies nephrolepis had no trouble under the canopy condition in less than $800m^2$of gap size. The density of regenerating shrubs was rather high, especially under the closed canopy, considered to be associated with great amount of regeneration production in such shade tolerant species as Lonicera maackii, Corylus mandshurica, Euonymus pauciflorus, and Philadelphus schrenkii under the closed canopy. Pearson correlation coefficient was computed to compare the similarity among non-gap area and five gap size classes by developmental stages for trees and shrubs. The similarity coefficients among closed canopy and the gap size classes were mostly significantly correlated to each other with a few exceptions.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.490-497
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• 2011

This study was carried out to identify environmental factor to influence fruiting of Vicia chosenensis populations distributed in Hongcheon-gun region, Korea. The populations was dominated by Quercus mongolica in the tree layer, and Lindera obtusiloba and Lespedeza maximowiczii in the shrub layer. Syneilesis palmata(21%) was abundant around reproductive state points and vegetative state points, and Artemisia stolonifera(13~18%) and Spodiopogon sibiricus(10~11%) show second high frequency in the both points. It was found that the soil moisture content in the Vicia chosenensis population was 20.4~21.9%; 8.6~14.9% for organic matter; 0.3~0.5% for the total N;12.7~16.9 ppm for available phosphorus; 22.5~28.5 $cmol_ckg^{-1}$ for CEC; 5.3~5.5 for soil pH, respectively. The microhabitat of individuals was restricted to areas high in understory light. Especially, reproductive individuals were more likely to be located than vegetative individuals in canopy gaps. Therefore, our results suggest that a proper forest management maintaining canopy gaps is needed for keeping natural Vicia chosenensis population.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.233-239
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• 2007

In the coastal wetland the mud is consist of fine particles, which means that it is characterized by small gap, and heat transfer is obstructed since moisture is found between the gaps. The relationship between net radiation ($R_N$) and soil heat flux($H_G$) shows a counterclockwise hysteresis cycle, which refer to a time lag behind in the maximal soil heat fluxes. The albedo is independent of seasonal variation of the vegetation canopy which plays very important roles to store and control the heat in the atmospheric surface layer.

• Journal of Information Processing Systems
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• v.16 no.6
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• pp.1424-1436
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• 2020

Although huge progress has been made in current image segmentation work, there are still no efficient segmentation strategies for tree image which is taken from natural environment and contains complex background. To improve those problems, we propose a method for tree image segmentation combining adaptive mean shifting with image abstraction. Our approach perform better than others because it focuses mainly on the background of image and characteristics of the tree itself. First, we abstract the original tree image using bilateral filtering and image pyramid from multiple perspectives, which can reduce the influence of the background and tree canopy gaps on clustering. Spatial location and gray scale features are obtained by step detection and the insertion rule method, respectively. Bandwidths calculated by spatial location and gray scale features are then used to determine the size of the Gaussian kernel function and in the mean shift clustering. Furthermore, the flood fill method is employed to fill the results of clustering and highlight the region of interest. To prove the effectiveness of tree image abstractions on image clustering, we compared different abstraction levels and achieved the optimal clustering results. For our algorithm, the average segmentation accuracy (SA), over-segmentation rate (OR), and under-segmentation rate (UR) of the crown are 91.21%, 3.54%, and 9.85%, respectively. The average values of the trunk are 92.78%, 8.16%, and 7.93%, respectively. Comparing the results of our method experimentally with other popular tree image segmentation methods, our segmentation method get rid of human interaction and shows higher SA. Meanwhile, this work shows a promising application prospect on visual reconstruction and factors measurement of tree.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.98 no.1
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• pp.94-105
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• 2009

Black locust (Robinia pseudoacacia) stand is representative lowland exotic plantation with low ecological quality and arrested succession in South Korea. To facilitate succession and restore natural vegetation, small canopy gaps (${\sim}57m^2$), which can modify minimally structural variables and reduce restoration related disturbances on stand, was established in the black locust stand, and oak (Quercus serrata) seedlings were introduced in the gap. Two types of varying levels were introduced for gap creation; cutting (C) and girdling (G) on canopies. Understory removal (CU and GU) treatment was applied as subtypes of structural modification. Growth (diameter, height and leaf area) of target species and responses (species composition, diversity and coverage) of understory community were monitored during study years (2007~2008). Canopy openness was different significantly among treatments but not for light availability. Based on the result of logistic regression, growth of height and leaf area of seedlings were significant variables on seedling survival. Height and leaf area of seedlings were increased during study years, although radial growth was reduced. During study years, there were no significant differences in species composition and diversity, and total coverage increased about 20%. Increase of resources by gap creation and understory removal likely affect growth of target species. Small gap creation was effective to reduce understory responses in composition and diverstiy. Synthesized, growth of target species and responses of understory community to small canopy gap creation exhibited, in short term, possibility of utilization in alternative forest restoration and management option. Long-term monitoring is necessary to certificate effect of artificial gap creation on forest restoration.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.127-142
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• 2024

This study aimed to understand the interrelationships between tree species in plant communities through Plant Social Network (PSN) analysis using a large amount of vegetation data surveyed in an island area belonging to a warm-temperate boreal forest. The Machilus thunbergii, Castanopsis sieboldii, and Ligustrum japonicum, which belong to the canopy layer, Pittosporum tobira and Ardisia japonica, which belong to the shrub layer and Trachelospermum asiaticum and Stauntonia hexaphylla, which belong to the vines, appearing in evergreen broad-leaved climax forest community, showed strong positive association(+) with each other. These tree species had a negative association or no friendly relationship with deciduous broad-leaved species due to the large difference in location environments. Divided into 4 group modularizations in the PSN sociogram, evergreen broad-leaved tree species in Group I and deciduous broad-leaved tree species in Group II showed high centrality and connectivity. It was analyzed that the arrangement of tree species (nodes) and the degree of connection (grouping) of the sociogram can indirectly estimate environmental factors and characteristics of plant communities like DCA. Tree species with high centrality and influence in the PSN included T. asiaticum, Eurya japonica, Lindera obtusiloba, and Styrax japonicus. These tree species are common with a wide range of ecological niches and appear to have the characteristics and survival strategies of opportunistic species that commonly appear in forest gaps and damaged areas. They will play a major role in inter-species interactions and structural and functional changes in plant communities. In the future, long-term research and in-depth discussions are needed to determine how these species actually influence plant community changes through interactions

• Korean Journal of Agricultural and Forest Meteorology
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.70-80
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• 2003

We report the first direct measurement of $CO_2$ flux over Kwangneung broadleaf deciduous forest, one of the tower flux sites in KoFlux network. Eddy covariance system was installed on a 30 m tower along with other meteorological instruments from June to August in 2002. Although the study site was non-ideal (with valley-like terrain), turbulence characteristics from limited wind directions (i.e., 90$\pm$45$^{\circ}$) was not significantly different from those obtained at simple, homogeneous terrains with an ideal fetch. Despite very low rate of data retrieval, preliminary results from our analysis are encouraging and worthy of further investigation. Ignoring the role of advection terms, the averaged net ecosystem exchange (NEE) of $CO_2$ ranged from -1.2 to 0.7 mg m$^{-2}$ s$^{-1}$ from June to August in 2002. The effect of weak turbulence on nocturnal NEE was examined in terms of friction velocity (u*) along with the estimation of storage term. The effect of low uf u* NEE was obvious with a threshold value of about 0.2 m s$^{-1}$ . The contribution of storage term to nocturnal NEE was insignificant; suggesting that the $CO_2$ stored within the forest canopy at night was probably removed by the drainage flow along the hilly terrain. This could be also an artifact of uncertainty in calculations of storage term based on a single-level concentration. The hyperbolic light response curves explained ＞80% of variation in the observed NEE, indicating that $CO_2$ exchange at the site was notably light-dependent. Such a relationship can be used effectively in filling up the missing gaps in NEE data through the season. Finally, a simple scaling analysis based on a linear flow model suggested that advection might play a significant role in NEE evaluation at this site.