• The Korean Journal of Ecology
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• v.7 no.4
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• pp.185-193
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• 1984

Regneration process of Abies koreana-Pinus koraiensis community consisted of a subalpione coniferous forest in Mt. Jiri, Korea, was studied in relation to age structure, especially to gap formation. The tall-tree layer (ca. 6.5m) is dominated by Abies koreana and Pinus koraiensis, while lower layer by the sapling and juveniles of A. koreana and Picea jezoensis below 2m tall. The ranges of DBH in A. koreana, P. koraiensis and P. jezonesis were 11.8cm~26.4m, 11.7cm~24.5 cm and 18.2cm~21.7 cm, respectively. The trees below 130 cm tall had contagious distribution, while tall and subtall trees had uniform distribution. The average tree ages of A. koreana, P. koraieniensis and P. jezoensis were 60~70 years, 70~80 years and 70~90 years, respectively. The saplings and juveniles below 20 years in tree ages were occupied over 80% of total trees. The coniferous trees in the gaps or around dead trees were composed of sapligs and juveniles which had emerged or invaded about 20 years before and after the gap formation. The Betula type regeneration of the coniferous forest took place in gaps which orginated from the failing down of a single or a few trees by longevity. Accordingly, it is clear that the subalpine coniferous forest composed of A. koreana of A. koreana, P. koraiensis and P. jezoensis in Mt. jiri was supporting by the regeneration pattern of Betula type.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.42-54
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• 2020

This study aimed to analyze the rate of increase and spread patterns of dead trees of the conifer (Abies koreana and others) in subalpine zones by using the high-resolution aerial images in Jirisan National Park around 10 years ago. Furthermore, factors affecting the death of conifer were identified by analyzing the altitude, topographical information, solar radiation, and moisture environment of the site where the dead trees are located. The number of dead trees per unit area increased by two to five times in the Banyabong peak, Yeongsinbong peak, and Cheonwangbong peak in Jirisan National Park over the past decade. The increase was about 2 times in the Banyabong peak, about 3.9 times in the Yeongsinbong peak, and about 5.2 times in the Cheonwangbong peak, indicating the most notable increase in the Cheonwangbong peak. It is estimated that dead trees commonly occurred in the environments where the soil moisture content was low due to the high slope, amount of evaporation was high due to strong solar radiation as the location faced south, and the soil was dry due to strong solar radiation and short rain retention time. In other words, dead conifer trees in subalpine zones were concentrated in dry location environments, and the tendency was the same more than ten years ago.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Environmental Restoration Technology
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.103-118
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• 2018

Ecosystems in subalpine regions are recognized as areas vulnerable to climatic changes because rainfall and the possibility of flora migration are very low due to the characteristics of topography in the regions. In this context, habitat niche was formulated for representative species of arbors in subalpine regions in order to understand the effects of climatic changes on alpine arbor ecosystems. The current potential habitats were modeled as future change areas according to the climatic change scenarios. Based on the growth conditions and environmental characteristics of the habitats, the study was conducted to identify direct and indirect causes affecting the habitat reduction of Abies nephrolepis. Diverse model algorithms for explanation of the relationship between the emergence of biological species and habitat environments were reviewed to construct the environmental data suitable for the six models(GLM, GAM, RF, MaxEnt, ANN, and SVM). Weights determined through TSS were applied to the six models for ensemble in an attempt to minimize the uncertainty of the models. Based on the current climate determined by averaging the climates over the past 30years(1981~2010) and the HadGEM-RA model was applied to fabricate bioclimatic variables for scenarios RCP 4.5 and 8.5 on the near and far future. The results of models of the alpine region tree species studied were put together and evaluated and the results indicated that a total of eight national parks such as Mt. Seorak, Odaesan, and Hallasan would be mainly affected by climatic changes. Changes in the Baekdudaegan reserves were analyzed and in the results, A. nephrolepis was predicted to be affected the most in the RCP8.5. The results of analysis as such are expected to be finally utilizable in the survey of biological species in the Korean peninsula, restoration and conservation strategies considering climatic changes as the analysis identified the degrees of impacts of climatic changes on subalpine region trees in Korean peninsula with very high conservation values.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.82 no.1
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• pp.17-25
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• 1993

Tree-ring data of subalpine conifers growing in Korea were analyzed to evaluate the possibility of enhanced tree growths due to increased atmospheric carbon dioxide. A total of 64 trees of three species(Taxus cuspidata, Pinus koraiensis, Abies koreana) were sampled from three mountain ranges (Seolak, Sobaek, Chiri) at 1200~1750m(above sea level) and four chronologies were developed in spans of 209~412 years. No apparent growth increases were found in the graphs of chronologies. As comparing the growths of 1900-1949 and 1950-1989 period, only one chronology possessed higher mean growth in the post-1950 period. Growth increase found in the Pinus koraiensis chronology from Mt. Seolak was 8% but it could not be solely attributed to increased carbon dioxide concentration.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.113 no.2
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• pp.222-238
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• 2024

Coniferous species in subalpine ecosystems are known to be highly sensitive to climate change. Therefore, it is becoming increasingly important to monitor community and population dynamics. This study monitored 37 plots within the distribution area of Abies koreana on Mt. Jirisan for a period of eight years. We analyzed the importance value, density of living stems, mortality rate, recruitment rate, basal area, DBH (diameter of breast height) class distribution, and tree health status. Our results showed changes in the importance value based on the tree stratum, with A. koreana decreasing by 3.6% and Tripterygium regelii increasing by 2.5% in the tree layer. Between 2015 and 2023, there were 149 dead trees/ha (17.99% mortality rate) and 12 living trees/ha (1.02% recruitment rate) of A. koreana. The decrease in basal area was attributed to a decrease in the number of living trees. Tree mortality occurred in all DBH classes, with a particularly high decline in the <10 cm class (65 trees/ha reduced). In terms of changes in tree health status, the population of alive standing (AS) type trees, initially consisting of 539 trees/ha, has been transformed into alive standing (AS), alive lean (AL), and death standing (DS), accounting for 69.7%, 0.5%, and 13.8%, respectively. Meanwhile, DS-type trees have transitioned into dead broken (DB) and dead fallen (DF) types. This phenomenon is believed to be caused by strong winds in the subalpine region that pull up the rootlets from the soil. Further research on this finding is recommended.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.108 no.1
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• pp.10-20
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• 2019

The purpose of this study is to identify the long-term area changes in the subalpine coniferous forests in Korea in order to understand the changes in the subalpine forest ecosystems vulnerable to climate change. We analyzed 20 years of time-series Landsat satellite images (mid 1990s, mid 2010s) for change detection of coniferous forests and compared with the long term changes of climate information to identify their relationship in the study area. As a result, the area of coniferous forests in the study region decreased by 25% over 20 years. The regions with largest changes are Seoraksan, Baegunsan-Hambaeksan-Jangsan, Jirisan, and Hallasan. The region with the largest decrease in area was Baegunsan (reduced area: 542 ha), and the region with large decrease in area and the largest rate of decrease was Hallasan (rate of decrease: 33.3%). As the Jeju region has the most rapid temperature rise, it is projected that Hallasan is the most vulnerable forest ecosystem affected by climate change. The result of this study shows that from a long-term perspective the overall coniferous forests in the subalpine region are declining, but the trend varies in each region. This national and long-term information on the change of coniferous forests in the subalpine region can be utilized as baseline data for the detailed survey of endangered subalpine coniferous trees in the future.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.45 no.1
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• pp.62-71
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• 2021

The climate is changing rapidly, and this may pose a major threat to global biodiversity. One of the most distinctive consequences of climate change is the poleward and/or upward shift of species distribution ranges associated with increasing temperatures, resulting in a change of species composition and community structure in the forest ecosystems. The Baekdudaegan mountain range connects most forests from the lowland to the subalpine zone in South Korea and is therefore recognized as one of the most important biodiversity hotspots. This study was conducted to understand the distribution range of vascular plants along elevational gradients through field surveys in the six national parks of the Baekdudaegan mountain range. We identified the upper and lower distribution limits of a total of 873 taxa of vascular plants with 117 families, 418 genera, 793 species, 14 subspecies, 62 varieties, two forms, and two hybrids. A total of 12 conifers were recorded along the elevational gradient. The distribution ranges of Abies koreana, Picea jezoensis, Pinus pumila, and Thuja koraiensis were limited to over 1000 m above sea level. We also identified 21 broad-leaved trees in the subalpine zone. A total of 45 Korean endemic plant species were observed, and of these, 15 taxa (including Aconitum chiisanense and Hanabusaya asiatica) showed a narrow distribution range in the subalpine zone. Our study provides valuable information on the current elevational distribution ranges of vascular plants in the six national parks of South Korea, which could serve as a baseline for vertical shifts under future climate change.

• The Korean Journal of Ecology
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.415-424
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• 1994

Community structure, size and age distribution of tree species of the subalpine Korean fir (Abies koreana) forest at the elevation of 1, 400~1, 700m were strudied in the north-west side of Chonwangbong Peak (1915m) in Mt. Chiri for the purpose of better understanding of the population dynamics of Abies koreana. Eight 20m X 20m permanent quadrats were established in 1991, and trees $\geq$ 2.5cm DBH for all species were marked with numbered aluminum tag, and saplings of Korean fir and Korean pine (Pinus koraiensis) were also tagged with aluminum sheet. These two conifer species comprised more than 60% of the total density and total basal area of the community. Quercus mongolica and Acer pseudo-sieboldianum were subdominats. Oridination study showed that cool temperate species such as Sorbus commixta, Betula costata, Acer tschonoskii and Acer ukurunduense occurred in close association with Abies koreana and Pinus koraiensis. Major tree species, especially Abies koreana and Pinus koraiensis, were well represented in samller size classes, indicating that they were regenerating well. Age distributuion of the Abies koreana and Pinus koraiensis showed that the former has longer physiological longevity than the latter, and that establishment were episodic and varied with sites, which implies the importance of the role of natural and artificial disturbances in this Abies kireana forest.

• Journal of the Korean Wood Science and Technology
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• v.45 no.5
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• pp.661-670
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• 2017

50-year tree-ring ${\delta}^{18}O$ chronologies (1966~2015) for principle conifer tree species (Taxus cuspidata, Pinus koraiensis, Abies koreana) and Quercus mongolica at subalpine zone in Mt. Jiri were established. The establishing of tree-ring ${\delta}^{18}O$ chronologies for each tree species were fulfilled using four trees, which showed the good result in cross-dating. In the comparisons between tree-ring ${\delta}^{18}O$ chronologies within the same tree species all tree species showed reliable results statistically (p < 0.001), and they also showed EPS higher than 0.85. In addition to, the reliable correlations (p < 0.001) were verified between tree-ring ${\delta}^{18}O$ chronologies of four tree species, as well. In the response function analysis in order to investigate the relationships between tree-ring ${\delta}^{18}O$ chronologies and corresponding climatic factors, i.e., monthly precipitation and mean temperature, T. cuspidata showed a negative correlation with May precipitation (p < 0.05) and A. koreana showed a negative correlation with April precipitation (p < 0.05). If long tree-ring ${\delta}^{18}O$ chronologies of T. cuspidata and A. koreana will be established, it will be possible to reconstruct April and May precipitation in the past when we have no the meteorological data.

• The Korean Journal of Quaternary Research
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.25-33
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• 1999

The relationships between climate (monthly precipitation and temperatures) and tree-ring growth of Korean fir (Abies koreana) growing at subalpine (1,600∼l,700m) zone on the south slope, Joong-Bong and the north slope, Changgun-Bong in the Cheonwang-bong area in Chiri mountains in the southern Korea were analyzed. Two cores from each of 10∼12 trees were extracted. The relationship between tree-ring(standardized) chronologies and climate was analyzed by the response-function method. Climate variables could explain 45.9∼53.8% of total variance in the chronologies. The precipitation response function of Korean fir were similar at both sites in overall ; positive for March∼May and August, and negative for February and July. The south-slope fir of Joong-Bong possessed higher negative temperature response function for February and August than north-slope one. The positive response function for April temperature was significant for both sites. In contrary to other subalpine species (e.g., Pinus koraiensis and Taxus cuspidata) in South Korea, whose growths are positively correlated with temperature in most seasons, the growths of Korean fir trees in Mt. Chiri appeared to be mainly limited by the moisture regime of spring prior to the cambial growth and early growing season.