• Journal of Forest and Environmental Science
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• v.38 no.1
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• pp.21-37
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• 2022

The present study was carried out to evaluate the chemical properties of soil in relation to forest structure and composition at different altitudes (900-2,600 m asl) in a part of Western Himalaya. The composite soil samples were taken from three (viz. upper, middle and lower) depths. The soils of the whole study area were acidic in nature (pH=4.90-5.51). Contents of Nitrogen (N), Phosphorus (P), Potassium (K), Carbon (C) and soil organic matter (SOM) showed much fluctuation during different seasons of year. Nitrogen content showed significant positive correlations with altitude (r=0.924, p<0.05) and different community parameters like species diversity (r=0.892, p<0.01) and species richness (r=0.941, p<0.05). Phosphorus exhibited direct correlations with carbon (r=0.637) while weak negative correlations with different community parameters like species richness & diversity, total basal cover (TBC), density and canopy cover. Carbon content and hence SOM showed direct correlations with Nitrogen (r=0.821, p<0.01); Phosphorus (r=0.637, ns) and Potassium (r=0.540, ns). But no significant relationship was observed between K content and species richness (p=0.30, r=-0.504); between K content and species diversity (p=0.14, r=-0.672); between P content and species diversity (p=0.29, r=-0.513) and species richness (p=0.23, r=-0.575). Among the different soil nutrients, only N showed a significant positive correlation with altitude while all others exhibited negative (but non-significant) correlation with it. The study revealed that the chemical properties affect and are reciprocally affected by forest structure and composition and that N rich soils of higher altitudes are best for the growth and development of forests.

• Journal of The Geomorphological Association of Korea
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.41-56
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• 2011

This study analyzes the change in land-cover based on satellite imagery to draw up land-cover map in the future, and estimates the change in land category using statistical data of the land category. To estimate land category, this study applied the double exponentially smoothing method. The result of the land cover classification according to year using satellite imagery showed that the type with the largest increase in area of land cover change in the cities of Cheonan and Asan was artificial structure, followed by water, grass field and bare land. However forest, paddy, marsh and dry field were reduced. Further, the result of the time-series analysis of the land category was found to be similar to the result of the land cover classification using satellite imagery. Especially, the result of the estimation of the land category change using the double exponentially smoothing method showed that paddy, dry field, forest and marsh are anticipated to consistently decrease in area from 2010 to 2100, whereas artificial structure, water, bare land and grass field are anticipated to consistently increase. Such results can be utilized as basic data to estimate the change in land cover according to climate change in order to prepare climate change response strategies.

• Proceedings of the KSRS Conference
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• v.1
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• pp.102-105
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• 2006

Forest canopy density is an essentially important for maintaining the diversify flora and fauna in the tropic. But, the natural and human disturbances have an influence over the inconsistency of forest canopy density. So, forest canopy density (FCD) has been threatened in the tropic since a decade. The objective of this study was to examine the dynamics change of the forest canopy density in tropical forest Chitwan, Nepal combine with field survey and remote sensing data. The field survey data of 2001 such as canopy cover percentage, dbh so on and some human disturbances were used. Similarly, Landsat TM 1988 and ETM+ 2001 have also used to predict the dynamic changes of the FCD over the period. Moreover, nonparametric Kruskal- Wallis test has performed for the validation of the results. Data analysis revealed that very few factors i.e. the number of trees, path, and fire had realized statistically significance at P=<0.05. Therefore we concluded that detail analysis could be needed incorporate with additional socioeconomic, climatic, biophysical and institutional factors for the better understanding of the forest canopy dynamic in particular location.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.94 no.2 s.159
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• pp.117-120
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• 2005

This study was conducted to estimate population size and investigate habitat characteristics for the conservation and management of Amur goral Nemorhaedus caudatus raddeanus in DMZ (Demilitarized Zone) of Gangwon Province in South Korea from November 2003 to May 2004. The Amur gorals counting were carried out by assistance of military soldiers who guards the southern boundary of DMZ. Four hundred sixty individuals were estimated as total population size in DMZ of Gangwon Province. Deciduous forest, rocky area and coniferous forest were dominant land cover types in habitat of Amur goral. DMZ and its vicinity of Gangwon Province are very important areas for the conservation of this species. It is needed to establish management plan for the conservation of Amur goral and their habitats in DMZ.

• Journal of Forest and Environmental Science
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.281-294
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• 2017

Tropical forests constitute almost half of the global forest cover, account for 35% of the global net primary productivity and thereby have potential to contribute substantially to sequester atmospheric $CO_2$ and offset climate change impact. However, deforestation and degradation lead by unsustainable management of tropical forests contribute to the unprecedented species losses and limit ecosystem services including carbon sequestration. Sustainable forest management (SFM) in the tropics may tackle and rectify such deleterious impacts of anthropogenic disturbances and climatic changes. However, the existing dilemma on the definition of SFM and lack of understanding of how tropical forest sustainability can be achieved lead to increasing debate on whether climate change mitigation initiatives would be successful. We reviewed the available literature with a view to clarify the concept of sustainability and provide with a framework towards the sustainability of tropical forests for enhanced carbon stock and climate change mitigation. We argue that along with securing forest tenure and thereby reducing deforestation, application of reduced impact logging (RIL) and appropriate silvicultural system can enhance tropical forest carbon stock and help mitigate climate change.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural Science
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• v.49 no.4
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• pp.809-819
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• 2022

This study was conducted to improve the stability of cut slopes of forest roads in granitic weathered soil areas. The study area is a national forest road (road length 28.48 km) in Pyeongchang-gun, Gangwon-do. After data collection, a statistical analysis was performed using IBM SPSS (Ver. 26.0). First, the correlation analysis showed that structure, slope position, soil erosion, slope, and aspect (N, S) were correlated with vegetation coverage (p < 0.05). Elapsed years, slope distance, and aspect (E, W) were found to have no correlation with vegetation coverage. (p > 0.05) Second, one-way ANOVA and Kruskal-Wallis test results showed that vegetation coverage was worse when the slope was located at the top or the middle of the slope than at the bottom of the slope. In addition, the site with sheathing and gabions showed good vegetation coverage when compared with the site without structures. In the case of soil erosion, areas with severe damage and moderate damage showed worse vegetation coverage. Therefore, it is necessary to strengthen the slope angle of the cut soil of the granitic weathered soil area from 1 : 0.5 - 1.2 to 1 : 0.8 - 1.5. In addition, structures such as sheathing and gabions should be installed on granitic weathered land.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.37 no.5
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• pp.367-391
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• 2023

This study was conducted for 10 years from 2012, which is a year before the forest road construction in Minjujisan, to 2022 to analyze annual changes in flora and vegetation before and after the forest road construction and to provide strategies for management. The plant communities in the research sites along the forest road showed the differentiation between slopes with Quercus mongolica community on the northwestern slope and Quercus variabilis and Larix kaempferi communities on the southwestern slope. A total of 212 taxa have increased for number 7 between before and after the construction from a total of 66 taxa (44 families, 59 genera, 51 species, 13 varieties, and 2 forma) in 2012 and 207 taxa (71 families, 153 genera, 176 species, 27 varieties, and 4 forma) in 2015 to 278 taxa (78 families, 172 genera, 242 species, 1 subspecies, 31 varieties, and 4 forma) in 2022. It is noteworthy that the vegetation cover and the introduction of new taxa had been expanded in the sites adjacent to the construction, which is likely caused by the significantly increased amount of light and the introduction of annual herbaceous and naturalized plants after the construction. The results of 10 years of current study reveal that the vegetation cover and the number of new taxa had rapidly increased in earlier years after the construction, slowly decreased later on, and finally formed a stable forest with the increase in the ratio of dominant species. The vegetation cover of the herbaceous layer immediately increased on the slopes along the forest road for a few years after the construction although it had continuously decreased while that of the shrub layer quickly increased. It was shown that on the hillslope the vegetation cover of tall- and low-tree layers increased whereas that of herbaceous and shrub layers rapidly decreased.

• Journal of the Korean Association of Geographic Information Studies
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.81-94
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• 2005

The purpose of this study is to test the applicability of landscape metrics for quantifying and monitoring the landscape structure in the Geumho River watershed, which has undergone heavy environmental disturbances. Landscape metrics were computed from land cover maps(1985, 1999) for the forest patches. The number of variables were reduced from 12 metrics to 3 factors through factor analysis. These factors accounted for above 91% of the variation in the original metrics. We also determined the relative effects of land development on the changes of forest landscape structure using multiple linear regression analysis. At the forest patches, the conversion of forest to urban areas and agriculture resulted in increased fragmentation. Patch area and patch size decreased. and patch density increased as a result of the conversion of forest to agriculture($R^2=0.696$, p<0.01). The heterogeneity of patch size and complexity of patch shape mainly decreased as a result of the conversion of forest to urban areas($R^2=0.405$, p<0.01). The density of core area and edge showed the tendency increase, but there was no relationship with the conversion of forest to urban area and agriculture The future research will be needed to analyze correlations between landscape structures and specific environmental and socioeconomic landscape functions.

• Ecology and Resilient Infrastructure
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.46-53
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• 2016

This study was conducted to analyze the effect of the different land covers of an urban park (Hyowon park) in downtown Suwon on the urban thermal variations during a hot summer. The effect of the air temperature reduction in the urban park was 4.4%-4.5% for the downtown residence (Maetan-dong). This value was about 0.8% lower than that of the outskirts residence (Sanggwanggyo-dong). The daily mean temperature, daily maximum temperature, summer day and heat wave frequency were measured under the different land covers (cement-block, grass, pine-grass, shading area and mixed forest) showed these values generally decreased under natural land cover types. Daily minimum temperature and tropical night frequency didn't seem to correlate with the land cover types. Means of thermal comfort indices (wet bulb globe temperature, heat index and discomfort index) in the shading area, mixed forest and the pine-grass types were lower than those of cement block and grass types. However the levels of those indices were equal to 'very high' or 'caution' levels in the afternoon (13:00-15:00). In the morning (06:00-08:00), thermal comfort indices of the urban park didn't correlate with land cover types. Therefore, to reduce heat stress and to improve the thermal comfort in urban parks, an increase in the area of natural land cover such as grass, forest and open spaces is required.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.22 no.6
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• pp.553-563
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• 2006

This study aims to produce land-cover maps of Korean peninsula using multi-temporal MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) imagery. To solve the low spatial resolution of MODIS data and enhance classification accuracy, Linear Spectral Mixture Analysis (LSMA) was employed. LSMA allowed to determine the fraction of each surface type in a pixel and develop vegetation, soil and water fraction images. To eliminate clouds, MVC (Maximum Value Composite) was utilized for vegetation fraction and MinVC (Minimum Value Composite) for soil fraction image respectively. With these images, using ISODATA unsupervised classifier, southern part of Korean peninsula was classified to low and mid level land-cover classes. The results showed that vegetation and soil fraction images reflected phenological characteristics of Korean peninsula. Paddy fields and forest could be easily detected in spring and summer data of the entire peninsula and arable land in North Korea. Secondly, in low level land-cover classification, overall accuracy was 79.94% and Kappa value was 0.70. Classification accuracy of forest (88.12%) and paddy field (85.45%) was higher than that of barren land (60.71%) and grassland (57.14%). In midlevel classification, forest class was sub-divided into deciduous and conifers and field class was sub-divided into paddy and field classes. In mid level, overall accuracy was 82.02% and Kappa value was 0.6986. Classification accuracy of deciduous (86.96%) and paddy (85.38%) were higher than that of conifers (62.50%) and field (77.08%).