• Korean Journal of Agricultural and Forest Meteorology
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.9-16
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• 2008

In this study we investigated the effects of the microclimatic conditions on tree growth in different site types for natural deciduous forests in Korea. First, we classified all the sites into 36 types according to their aspect (east, west, south, and north), elevation (higher than 1,000 m, 700$\sim$1,000 m, and lower than 700 m), and topographical conditions (ridge, slope, and valley). For each site type, we measured diameter growth with increment borer, and then estimated periodic annual increment of diameter, height and volume. We applied a topoclimatological technique for estimating microclimatic conditions, and produced monthly climatic estimates from which 17 weather variables (including indices of warmth, coldness, and aridity) were computed for each site type. The periodic annual increments of diameter, height, and volume were then correlated by regression analysis with those weather variables to examine effects of microclimate on tree growth by site type. We found that the correlation of diameter growth by site type was significantly correlated with most weather variables except daily photoperiod. Water condition was the most important factor for the height growth. For volume growth, on the other hand, the conditions such as relatively high temperature and low humidity provided favorable environment. Our regression analysis shows that aridity index is a good predictor for tree growth including diameter, height and volume increments.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.590-600
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• 2011

The research was carried out for prediction of the potential habitats of warm-temperate evergreen broad-leaved trees under the current climate(1961~1990) and three climate change scenario(2081~2100) (CCCMA-A2, CSIRO-A2 and HADCM3-A2) using classification tree(CT) model. Presence/absence records of warm-temperate evergreen broad-leaved trees were extracted from actual distribution data as response variables, and four climatic variables (warmth index, WI; minimum temperature of the coldest month, TMC; summer precipitation, PRS; and winter precipitation, PRW) were used as predictor variables. Potential habitats(PH) was predicted 28,230$km^2$ under the current climate and 77,140~89,285$km^2$ under the three climate change scenarios. The PH masked by land use(PHLU) was predicted 8,274$km^2$ and the proportion of PHLU within PH was 29.3% under the current climate. The PH masked by land use(PHLU) was predicted 35,177~45,170$km^2$ and increased 26.9~36.9% under the three climate change scenarios. The expansion of warm-temperate evergreen broad-leaved trees by climate change progressed habitat fragmentation by restriction of land use. The habitats increase of warm-temperate evergreen broad-leaved trees had been expected competitive with warm-temperate deciduous broadleaf forest and suggested the expand and northward shift of warm-temperate evergreen broad-leaved forest zone.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural and Forest Meteorology
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.41-51
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• 1999

This study was conducted to investigate the effects of local climatic conditions on the annual increment of Korean white pine planted in Gapyung and Yaungdong. For this, stand variables such as mean DBH, mean height, basal area per hectare, and volume per hectare by stand age were measured and summarized for each locality. Based on these statistics, annual increments for 8 years from stand age 10 to 18 were calculated for each of stand variables. A topoclimatological technique which makes use of empirical relationships between the topography and the weather in study sites was applied to produce normal estimates of monthly mean, maximum, minimum temperatures, relative humidity, precipitation, and hours of sunshine. Then, the yearly climatic variables from 1990 to 1997 for each study site were derived from the spatial interpolation procedures based on inverse- distance weighting of the observed deviation from the climatic normals at the nearest 11 standard weather stations. From these estimates, 17 weather variables such as warmth index, coldness index, index of aridity etc., which affect the tree growth, were computed on yearly base for each locality. The deviations of measured annual increments from the expected annual increments for 8 years based on yield table of Korean white pine were then correlated with and regressed on the yearly weather variables to examine effects of local climatic conditions on the growth. Gapyung area provides better conditions for the growth of Korean white pine in the early stage than Youngdong area. This indicates that the conditions such as low temperature, high relative humidity, and large amount of precipitation provide favor environment for the early growth of Korean white pine. A ccording to the correlation and regression an analysis using local climatic conditions and annual increments, the growth pattern of Gapyung area corresponds to this tendency. However, it was found that the relationship between annual increments and local climatic conditions in Youngdong area shows different tendency from Gapyung. These results mean that the yearly growth pattern could not sufficiently be explained by climatic conditions with high variance in yearly weather variables. In addition, the poor growth in Youngdong area might not only be affected by climatic conditions, but also by other environmental factors such as site quality.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.88 no.1
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• pp.73-85
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• 1999

This study was conducted to reveal the characteristics of the early growth by locality for Korean white pine planted in Gapyung and Kwangju, Kyunggi-Do and Youngdong, Choongchungbuk-Do. The effects of local climatic conditions as one of environmental factors on the growth were also analyzed. For this, several stand variables such as number of trees survived, mean DBH, mean height, basal area per hectare, and volume per hectare by stand age were measured and summarized for each locality. Based on these statistics, periodic annual increments for 8 years from stand age 10 to 18 were calculated for each of stand variables. A topoclimatological technique, for the estimation of local climatic conditions, which makes use of empirical relationships between the topography and the weather in study areas was applied to produce reasonable estimates of monthly mean, maximum, minimum temperatures, relative humidity, precipitation, and hours of sunshine over remote land area where routine observations are rare. From these monthly estimates, 17 weather variables such as warmth index, coldness index, index of aridity etc. which affect the tree growth, were computed for each locality. The periodic annual increments were then correlated with and regressed on the weather variables to examine effects of local weather conditions on the growth. Gapyung area provided the best conditions for the growth of Korean white pine in the early stage and Kwangju area ranked second. On the other hand, the growth pattern in Youngdong ranked last overall as expected. It is also found that the local growth patterns of Korean white pine in juvenile stage were affected by typical weather conditions. The conditions such as low temperature, high relative humidity, and large amount of precipitation provide favorable environment for the growth of Korean white pine. Especially, the diameter growth, basal area growth, and volume growth are mainly influenced by the amount of precipitation. However, it is proved that the height growth is affected by both the precipitation and temperature.

• Journal of Wetlands Research
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.172-179
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• 2017

The purpose of this study is to analyze the current original habitat and to conserve the narrow-mouthed toad populations. For this study, we used 240 pitfall traps (30 cm height ${\times}$ 20 cm width) to catch the narrow-mouthed toads that inhabit in Myeongji-dong, Gangseo-gu, in Busan metropolitan city from August 2, 2013 to November 7, 2013. We measured the environmental characteristics (soil composition factors, soil moisture, Humidity, soil temperature) for the seven habitat patterns of narrow-mouthed toads based on vegetation types. Main habitats of narrow mouthed toads were flat grassland where grass and false acacia grew and there was wetland all over the place. When analyzing habitats that main habitats of narrow-mouthed toads prefer after selecting representative seven vegetation, it was found that the most narrow-mouthed toads were caught in amur silver grass colony while the least narrow-mouthed toads were caught in bare land. Totally, we caught 846 narrow-mouthed toads over 68 times, and released them into the newly constructed habitat after injection VIE-tag. It seems that the reason for which the least narrow mouthed toads were caught in bare land is that bare land is not suitable for narrow mouthed toads to protect themselves from strong sunlight and to hide themselves from natural enemy. We found that temperature had the greatest influence on activities of narrow mouthed toads and at temperature of less than $15.6^{\circ}C$. We also found that the activities of narrow mouthed toads were remarkably low and then temperature was below $15.6^{\circ}C$. It meant that narrow mouthed toads seemed to go into hibernation. From this research, we could find the prefer habitat after analyzing habitats for the narrow-mouthed toads and could suggest for construction for the better habitat of narrow-mouthed toads.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.109 no.1
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• pp.1-22
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• 2020

In order to evaluate the vertical distribution and distributional pattern of vascular plants in the Samga district of Sobaeksan National Park, vascular plants were surveyed along a hiking trail from the Samga Tour Support Center to the top of a mountain. The elevation range was divided into 11 sections with 100 m intervals from 400 m to 1439 m above sea level.A total of 375 taxa were listed, comprising 92 families, 235 genera, 332 species, 3 subspecies, 37 varieties, and 3 forms. The pattern of species richness along the elevational gradient showed a reverse hump-shaped trend. The species distribution pattern was positively correlated with the soil exchangeable cations Ca²⁺ and Mg²⁺, soil pH, available phosphate, and the warmth index. Furthermore, slope, soil moisture content, and soil exchangeable cations were significantly correlated with species distribution. DCA grouped herb species into two groups. Stands of each section were sequentially arranged from 400 m to 1500 m along an altitudinal gradient. Soil moisture content, soil pH, soil K²⁺ and Na²⁺, available phosphate, and slope were significantly correlated with stand distribution. This study provides important data that could be useful for conservation and the sustainable use of biodiversity in the study area. In order to understand the ecological and environmental characteristics and distribution of plant species, it will be necessary to continuously develop relative studies with continuous monitoring.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.48 no.3
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• pp.176-187
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• 2015

In this study, we hypothesized that the size of wintering crane population would change due to the climate factors. We assumed that wintering population size would differ by climate values in January, which is the coldest period in year. Especially, White-naped cranes were able to choose wintering site between Cheorwon and other alternative place where snow coverage had low influence, differing from Red crowned cranes. For this reason, we predicted the population size of White-naped cranes would fluctuate according to the extent of snow coverage in Cheorwon. Therefore we used snow coverage data based on MODIS and climate data from KMA (Korea Meteorological Administration) that are generally used. We analyzed the crane's population size in Cheorwon in January from 2002 to 2014. The temperature in the Cheorwon increased from 2002 to wintering period in 2007~ 2008 and went down, showing the lowest temperature in 2011~ 2012. With this phenomenon, warmth index showed the similar pattern with temperature. Amount of newly accumulated snow (the amount of snow that fallen from 0:01 am to 11:29 pm in a day) was low after 2002, but rapidly increased in 2010~ 2011 and 2011~ 2012. The area of snow coverage rapidly declined from 2002 to 2005~ 2006 but suddenly expanded in wintering period in 2009~ 2010 and 2010~ 2011. Wintering population size of the White-naped cranes decreased as snow coverage area increased in January and the highest correlation was found between them, compared to the other climatic factors. However, the number of individuals of Red crowned cranes had little relationship with general climate factors including snow cover range. Therefore it seems that population size of the Red crowned crane varied by factors related with habitat selection such as secure roosting site and area of foraging place, not by climatic factors. In multiple regression analysis, wintering population of White-naped cranes showed significant relationship with logarithmic value of snow cover range and its period. Therefore, it suggests that the population size of the White-naped crane was affected by snow cover range n wintering period and this was because it was hard for them to find out rice grains which are their main food items, buried in snow cover. The population size variation in White-naped cranes was caused by some individuals which left Cheorwon for Izumi where snow cover had little influence on them. The wintering population in Izumi and Cheorwon had negative correlation, implying they were mutually related.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.378-401
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• 2019

This study generated a list of plants in eight sections from the Baekdansa ticket office (874m) to Cheonjedan (1,560m) divided in the interval of 100m above sea level to examine the species diversity patterns and distribution changes of the vascular plants at different altitudes in Taebaeksan National Park. Four site surveys found a total of 385 taxa: 89 families, 240 genera, 345 species, 5 subspecies, 34 varieties, and 1 form. A result of analyzing the change of species diversity along elevational gradients showed that it decreased with increasing elevation and then increased from a certain section. A result of analyzing habitat affinity types showed that the proportion of forest species increased with increasing elevation. On the other hand, the ruderal species appeared at a high rate in the artificial interference section. A result of comparing the proportion of woody and herb plants showed that the woody plants gradually increased with elevation and rapidly decreased in the artificial interference section. On the other hand, the herb plants showed the opposite trend. A result of analyzing the change of distribution of species according to altitude with the DCA technique showed that the vascular plants were divided into three groups according to the elevation in order on the I axis with the boundaries at 900m and 1,300m above sea level. The arrangement of each stand from right to left along the altitude on the I axis with a significant correlation with warmth index (WI) confirmed that the temperature change along the altitude could affect the distribution of vascular plants, composition, and diversity. Therefore, the continuous monitoring is necessary to confirm ecological and environmental characteristics of vegetation, distribution ranges, changes of habitat. We expect that the results of this study will be used as the basic data for establishing the measurement measures related to the preservation of biodiversity and climate change.