This study was conducted to clarify the richness patterns of woody plants along a temperate altitudinal gradient on the Baekdudaegan ridge, South Korea. The effects of the spatial and climatic factors on the observed altitudinal richness patterns were evaluated. We also tested Rapoport’s altitudinal effect, which relates the distribution of a species’ altitudinal ranges to the patterns in species richness. Woody plant data were collected from 1100 plots on the Baekdudaegan ridge. A total of 248 woody plant species from 47 families and 99 genera were found. The altitudinal pattern of the woody plant species richness on the Baekdudaegan ridge exhibited a clear hump-shaped pattern with a peak around 800 m. Spatial factors(mid-domain effect and area) were the primary drivers in the simple linear models, whereas the climatic factors(mean annual precipitation and temperature) had lower explanatory power. Multiple linear regression analysis revealed that the combined interaction between spatial and climatic factors affected the altitudinal richness patterns of the overall woody plants. Furthermore, the spatial and climatic factors were more important for large- and small-ranged woody plants, respectively. The results of Stevens’ method and the midpoint method do not support Rapoport’s altitudinal effect. The results suggest that a combined interaction between spatial and climatic factors influences the richness pattern of the total woody plant species. Furthermore, the relative importance of these factors depends on the range size of the woody plants species along an altitudinal gradient on the ridge of the Baekdudaegan ridge.

The population of Myrmica ants, which is most abundant in high altitudinal areas in South Korea, is expected to decrease significantly due to climatic warming, whereas Aphaenogaster japonica population is expected to increase in these areas. The two ant groups are similar in shape, size, and ecology, indicating intensive competition in overlapping areas. To determine the competitions between the two groups, I investigated the ants at a high mountain (Mt. Gaebangsan) during two ant foraging seasons (2010 and 2011) using pitfall traps and bait traps along altitudinal gradients. Two Myrmica species (kotokui and kurokii) were present between 800 m to 1577 m, whereas A. japonica appeared up to 1200 m. Fights between ants were observed 22 times and fights between these two ant groups were most frequently found. Although a competitive hierarchy was not apparent, A. japonica appears to be dominant over Myrmica species in food competition when considering the more timid behavior of Myrmica species and my unpublished data. However, food discovery speed is greater in Myrmica species than in A. japonica, indicating a dominance-discovery tradeoff. The food discovery capability of A. japonica was greatly reduced at 1050 m elevation, which is around the elevational limit. This elevational suppression of food discovery capability was not found in Myrmica species.

In South Korea, ants are predicted to shift their distributions northwards and upwards. It was predicted that ant fauna will be changed dramatically in highlands due to the range shifts. The Mymica ants which are most abundant in high altitudinal areas in South Korea will be nearly disappeared there in 2050s, and replaced by Aphaenogaster japonica which is abundant in lowlands. It was recently found that A. japonica shifted upwards in Mt. Hanla in Jeju island, South Korea. Interestingly, A. japonica is similar in shape and size with the Myrmica species, which indicate niche overlap and resulting intensive competition. To find elevational change of competitions between two specie, we investigated ants during two ant foraging periods (2010 and 2011) in a high mountain (Mt. Gaebang) using pitfall traps and bait traps along elevational gradients. Ten ant species were collected from a.s.l. 800 m to a.s.l. 1577 m. Myrmica sp. 1 was most abundant (35% of total ants) and collected at all elevations. Myrmica sp. 2 (19.7%) occurred from 1000 m to 1577 m. Meanwhile, A. japonica occurred up to 1200 m. Fights between ants were observed 22 times; fights between these two species were most frequently found. Although, competitive hierarchy was not recognized due to a low frequency of interspecific encounters, A. japonica is likely to be superior over Myrmica species in food competition when considering the slower and more timid behavior of Myrmica species compared with A. japonica. Therefore, it is likely that A. japonica would replace easily Myrmica species in Korean highlands when thermal barrier (i.e., cold climate in high elevations) will be removed due to climate warming.

This study was conducted to investigate the altitudinal distribution of the ground beetle community in a mountain area during 2007 to 2009, and to examine what habitat characters are most relevant to the distribution of mountain ground beetle species, and finally to identify potential biological indicators for monitoring in forest. The study area was Mt. Sobaeksan National Park (1439 m elevation), in Punggi-up, Gyeongsangbuk-do, Korea. Ground beetles were collected by pitfall traps, which were installed along the altitudinal gradient 437, 757, 1100 and 1420 m. In total, 3,259 individuals were identified as 32 species in 18 genera. The dominant species were Synuchus cycloderus (29.4%), Eucarabus sternbergi sobaeksanensis (15.4%) and Pterostichus orientalis (9.7%) in order. Overall, the ground beetle community structure was different along the altitude (similarity 65.2%) by NMDS ordination, but also were clustered into 2 groups, 437 and 757 m, and 1100 and 1420 m (similarity 57.9%). Therefore, the ground beetle assemblage could provide basic information for forest management. In this study, some ground beetle species were suggested to potential biological indicators along altitudinal gradient.

The effect of altitude and latitude on biodiversity (or species richness) has been a topic of great interest for many biogeographers for a long time. This study was conducted to examine the dynamics of species richness of aquatic insects along the altitudinal gradient in 24 wetlands on Mt. Halla, Jeju and test the Rapoport’s rule. The species richness of aquatic insects monotonically decreased with increasing altitude, showing a significant inverse correlation (r = -0.64). However, the pattern of species richness with altitude showed a hump-shaped relationship, with a peak in species richness at intermediate elevations when the effects of area were removed. The altitudinal range of species tended to increase with increasing altitude, as Rapoport’s rule predicts. There was a positive correlation between the altitudinal range size and the midpoint of the range size (Median) except for Hemiptera (Odonata: r = 0.75, Hemiptera: r = -0.22, Coleoptera: r = 0.72, Total: r = 0.55). Also, the extent of average altitudinal range of high-altitude species was 904.3m, and it was significantly wider than a 469.5m of low-altitude species. Consequently, the species richness of aquatic insects in wetlands on Mt. Halla along the altitudinal gradient well supported Rapoport’s rule.