A Study on the Vegetation Structure of Abies koreana Forest in Yeongsil Area of Hallasan Mountain

Abstract

This study's purpose was to provide basic data for the monitoring of ecological changes caused by change of vegetation structure of Abies koreana forest in a study site susceptible to climatic change in Yeongsil area of Hallasan Mountain, Jeju Island. Surveys revealed this: in Yeongsil area of Hallasan Mountain, per 1 ha of A. koreana forests, total number 1,781, and A. koreana number 989, accounting for 55.5% of the total number of trees. 190 A. koreana or 19.2% were found to be dead. For the number of individual trees by DBH, trees standing 5 ㎝ -10 ㎝ tall formed the largest portion at 39.9%, and in the case of other trees except A. koreana, the number of individual trees below 5 ㎝ accounted for 23.5% of the total number of trees. The survey of importance by height revealed this: at the top level, the importance of A. koreana was the highest at 106.23, but the sum of importance of temperate deciduous broad-leaved trees (Prunus maximowiczii, Quercus mongolica, and Taxus cuspidata) was higher at 142.84 than that of A. koreana. The analysis of species diversity revealed 0.645 species diversity for the tree layer and 0.817 for the shrub layer; for evenness, 0.549 for the tree layer and 0.664 for the shrub layer; for dominance value; 0.451 for the tree layer and 0.336 for the shrub layer. The analysis of tree vitality revealed that for the A. koreana forests in Yeongsil, the composition ratio of A. koreana by type is AS type>AL type>DS type >DB type, and that of the other trees is AL type>AS type>AF type>AB type. Compared with the forests in other areas, the A. koreana forests in the Yeongsil area have a very high occurrence rate of dead trees, and a high importance of trees is shown in the deciduous broad-leaved tree forests. Compared with the A. koreana forests in the Jindallaebat area, with the same level above sea, the vegetation structures are fast changing. Also, due to dryness and other non-physical environmental changes caused by a lack of rainwater and dry winds in winter, dead trees are fast increasing in number. Environmental changes such as climate change diversely affect the maintenance of A. koreana in individual areas, and if environmental changes are fast and continue long, of the A. koreana forest areas in the Hallasan Mountain, the A. koreana forests in the Yeongsil area will decrease fastest in number and will experience changes in the vegetation structure. Thus, it is necessary to survey the vegetation changes in A. koreana forests, which are distributed in all directions but are centered on Hallasan Mountain, and to thus conduct long-term monitoring and research.