This study aims to compare the floristic status of six paddy fields with different chronosequences after rice crop closure. The study sites are located on the highlands and near an abandoned farm house of Gosanri Wanjumyeon Iksangun, Joeonbuk. All sites are adjacent to each other. We established a line transect along longitudinal and transverse direction within each site. The flora, plant cover and height of plants within 1 m × 1 m quadrat along the transect were recorded. We counted 34 Salix koreensis on 8 year old abandoned paddy field in 2008 and 23 Salix koreensis invaded more in this field until 2010. Typha orientalis, Salix koreensis, Phragmites japonica, Bidens frondosa and Persicaria thunbergii dominated on 13 year old abandoned paddy field. Phragmites japonica, Bidens frondosa and Persicaria thunbergii were recorded on 13 year old abandoned paddy field. Leersia japonica, Persicaria thunbergii and Typha orientalis dominated on 7 year old abandoned paddy field. No trees were discovered on 6 year old abandoned paddy field because of high water depth generated from bad draining. The exchangeable Ca content increased in each site as time goes by. The total mean species number of soil seedbank analysis did not indicate significant differences between study sites. It is suggested that colonization of plants on abandoned paddy field depend upon the condition of drain and soil chemical contents.

We surveyed the vegetation of an ecological landscape preservation area (legally protected conservation areas or national parks) and the surrounding areas of Mt. Cheonggye, Republic of Korea, to explore the conservation implications for preservation areas and surrounding transition areas. We calculated diversity indices to identify the properties of the preservation and surrounding areas that are relevant to conservation efforts. We then compared the plant community composition between the areas using field and quadrat surveys in the preservation and surrounding areas. The cover of the dominant species in all tree and herb layers was markedly higher in the preservation area than in the peripheral zones. The species richness indices were significantly higher in the preservation area than in the peripheral zones. Ordination using detrended canonical correspondence analyses showed that the cover of the dominant tree species and rocks could explain the distribution of plant species in the Cartesian space of the ordination. Our results demonstrate that physiognomically designated protected areas match well with ecological data based on diversity indices and ordination analyses and that disturbances in the areas surrounding the ecological landscape of preservation areas can have considerable impacts on plant diversity indices. Hence, the preservation and management of surrounding areas are essential conservation elements for protecting the entire ecological landscape of preservation areas.

We measured the amount of precipitation, stemflow, and throughfall and concentrations of nine major inorganic nutrients (H+, NH4 +, Ca2+, Mg2+, K+, Na+, Cl-, NO3 -, and SO4 2-) to investigate the nutrient inputs into soil from precipitation in Pinus densiflora and Quercus mongolica stands from September 2015 to August 2016. The precipitation inputs of H+, NH4 +, Ca2+, Mg2+, K+, Na+, Cl-, NO3 -, and SO4 2- into soil were 0.170, 15.124, 42.227, 19.218, 14.050, 15.887, 22.391, 5.431, and 129.440 kg·ha-1·yr-1, respectively. The P. densiflora stemflow inputs were 0.008, 0.784, 1.652, 1.044, 0.476, 0.651, 1.509, 0.278, and 9.098 kg·ha-1·yr-1, and those for Q. mongolica were 0.008, 0.684, 2.429, 2.417, 2.941, 1.398, 2.407, 0.436, and 13.504 kg·ha-1·yr-1, respectively. The P. densiflora throughfall inputs were 0.042, 21.518, 52.207 27.694, 20.060, 24.049, 37.229, 10.241, and 153.790 kg·ha-1·yr-1, and those for Q. mongolica were 0.032, 15.068, 42.834, 21.219, 20.294, 20.237, 24.288, 5.647, and 119.134 kg·ha-1·yr-1, respectively. Of the total throughfall flux (i.e., stemflow + throughfall flux) of the nine ions for the two species, SO4 2- had the greatest total throughfall flux and H+ had the lowest. The net throughfall fluxes of the ions for the two species had various correlations with the precedent dry period, rainfall intensity, rainfall amount, and pH of precipitation. The soil pH under the Q. mongolica canopy (4.88) was higher than that under the P. densiflora canopy (4.34). The difference in the soil pH between the two stands was significant (P < 0.01), but the difference in soil pH by the distance from the stems of the two species was not (P > 0.01). This study shows the enrichments of inorganic nutrients by two representative urban forests in temperate regions and the roles of urban forests during rainfall events in a year.

The Diameter at Breast Height (DBH) provides information about the volume growth of a tree. In this study, we estimated the relative growth rates of Castanea crenata and Pinus rigida as 4.07% and 3.73%, respectively. Although the difference was low, we demonstrated that the growth rate of C. crenata is slightly faster than that of P. rigida. After calculating the relative growth rate for each section, we found that the relative growth of C. crenata decreased with time. However, the relative growth rate of P. rigida showed an overall increase. The gap widths of both species showed an increasing trend. However, the gradient of the two species was different. The gradient of C. crenata was approximately 12.0, but that of P. rigida was approximately 4.7. This means that the volume growth of C. crenata was faster than that of P. rigida during 4 years. However, this was relatively a short period for measuring the volume growth pattern, and we believe that additional useful information can be obtained by conducting long-term ecological monitoring. Results of canonical correspondence analysis showed that among the climate variables, temperature was significantly related to the gap widths for both species.

The statistics of monitoring on soil quality is a report statistics which is made on the basis of Article 15, Environment Strategy Basic Law and Article 5, Soil Environment Conservation Law. This study was conducted according to quality assessment of Korea National Statistical Office. The assessment of quality infrastructure advised that the authority bring up and increase completely responsible officer and secure the budget. The assessment of user satisfaction and reflection of request propose that the statistics is focused on soil background concentration, decrease soil sampling points and extend survey period. The assessment of error management system per processes of detailed preparation suggest change of the statistics objective, a reduction of sampling points and improvement of survey period and soil measurement properties. Accuracy assessment of data proposed cuts of sampling points, accessibility increment and build up of management system linking subordinates and Ministry of Environment. The substantiality assessment of data service demonstrated information environment improvement for users including reference expression and records of statistics table and figure contents.

Riparian vegetation gives basic habitats for animal and other biological organisms. It is one of essential landscapes in river ecosystem. This floral study was conducted to give basic information for management of the Geum river ecosystem. We discovered total 69 plant communities out of 40 sites studied and mean 8 plant communities were analysed per study site. Salix koreensis and Salix subfragilis community were dominant of all communities at tree layer and Salix gracilistyla and Rubus parvifolius were dominant communities at shrub layer. Phalaris arundinacea, Phragmites japonica, Miscanthus sacchariflorus and Artemisia princeps var. orientalis appeared most as perennial grasses and Humulus japonicus, Persicaria thunbergii and Persicaria hydropiper appeared most as annual grasses. Robinia pseudoacacia, Amorpha fruticosa and Bidens frondosa were frequently present as exotic species. Grass communities were higher than tree communities because of human disturbance by artificial banks. The number of species was 182 appeared as 53 families 144 species, 34 varieties and 4 forma and mean species number was 25.5 per site. The most abundant site was Yanggang bridge site (14 vegetation association, 49 species) and the least abundant site was Namdaechon, Muju site (3 vegetation association, 12 species). We suggest that continuous riparian vegetation monitoring should be carried out to manage water environment ecologically.

Vegetation surveys were performed at 45 plots along 10 highways cut slopes in South Korea. Total floral inventory, species richness and exotic plant percentage were obtained within each plot. Life history and life form of each species appeared were analyzed. Community types were classified using hierarchical cluster analysis and detrended correspondence analysis and non-metric multidimensional scaling were conducted from vegetation matrix. 292 species of vascular plants were discovered and the number of natives and exotics were 226 and 66, respectively. There were no significant differences of species richness and exotic plant percentage between cut slopes and rest areas. Hierarchical cluster analysis indicated five clear vegetation associations in cut slopes and rest areas. Detrended correspondence analysis indicated that species composition of total and native plants were similar along the highway cut slopes whereas exotic plants were distributed differentially along the highway cut slopes. In non-metric multidimensional scaling, the studied sites were more separated from each other on the basis of their species composition than the results of detrended correspondence analysis with respect to total, native and exotic plants. The both ordination represented that exotic plants have not been made uniform yet on cut slopes and rest areas by highway corridor in spite of diverse chronosequences after highway construction termination (1 to 22 years). This study showed that the distribution of species composition in exotic plants was different and localized on cut slopes and rest areas of highway in this representative peninsula area of North East Asia and the invasion of exotic plants can retard the process of plant species homogenization.

A new single cross waxy corn (Zea mays L.) hybrid, “Miheugchal” with black kernel was developed by the Maize Experiment Station (MES), Gangwon-do Agricultural Research and Extension Services (GARES) in 2004. This hybrid, which has good eating quality and