Earticle

As the connecters of greenspace networks, urban trees in street (UTS) accumulate atmospheric carbon during growth via photosynthesis processes. However, excessive management of UTS including pruning causes negative effects to return absorbed carbon to the atmosphere. This study identified the management practices of pruning and developed regression models that easily estimates annual carbon emission by the pruning amount of each tree species. The pruning practices of UTS was surveyed targeting trees planted in Chuncheon and Daegu through maintenance data, interviews with managers and actual measurements. For measuring the pruning amount, Ginkgo biloba and Platanus occidentalis with a high relative planting frequency for which pruning is mainly carried out, were selected. The annual pruning frequency for Ginkgo biloba and Platanus occidentalis was 2 times, and the amount of gasoline consumption from operating the pruning equipment was 166.7 mL per tree. All the regression models by the pruning showed fitness with r2 values of 0.75 or larger. The pruning amount and carbon emissions of Ginkgo biloba and Platanus occidentalis increased accordance with the size. The carbon emissions from Platanus occidentalis (8.5 kg/yr, at dbh 30 to 39 cm) were larger than that from Ginkgo biloba (2.8 kg/yr, at dbh 30 to 39 cm). The results of this study can serve as useful base data necessary to quantify the net carbon uptake of UTS in the future.

Increasing concentration of atmospheric carbon and fine particulate matter (PM) is a serious environmental concern in the world. The purpose of this study was to quantify carbon and PM2.5 reduction by urban parks in Gangneung, Korea. A total of 35 parks was sampled applying a random sampling method to survey tree planting structures and areal distribution of land cover types of urban parks. These survey data and GET (Green Evaluation Technique) computer program were used to estimate annual carbon and PM2.5 reduction by trees. Mean tree density and cover in the study parks were 3.2 ± 0.2 trees/100 m2 and 44.5 ± 3.0%, respectively. Annual carbon uptake and PM2.5 deposition per unit area by the trees averaged 2.8 ± 0.2 t/ha/yr and 30.2 ± 2.8 kg/ha/yr. The annual carbon emissions from energy consumption of household and the annual PM2.5 emissions from human activities were 39 kt/yr and 407 t/yr in the study city, respectively. Gangneung’s urban parks annually offset the carbon emissions by 3.4% and the PM2.5 emissions by 3.5%. Thus, urban parks played an significant role in reducing atmospheric carbon and PM2.5 concentration. This study is expected to contribute to sharing the role and importance of urban parks regarding carbon and PM2.5 reduction.

Animals evolve in their own way, adapting to cities, changing body shapes, and mutating genes. Swallows' wings shorten resulting in fewer deaths due to car hitting, city moths avoid light, and city spiders grow in size due to the heat island phenomenon. The maintenance of urban ecosystems in which wild animals and citizens live together affects biodiversity and sustainability. Meanwhile, a solution based on nature is discussed by the international community to solve complex urban problems and increase the sustainability of cities, which is one of the sustainability goals. Up to now, urban management in Korea has been achieved by establishing and implementing a plan based on a statutory plan. In the case of cities, there is a lack of urban space management plans due to the lack of survey data on wild animals and the decrease in the population of the future society. As a non-growth-oriented management method for coexistence, we structured the spatial evaluation and management system based on collecting wild animals living in urban ecosystems and building a database. Based on the existing city information, the health/vulnerability of the city was evaluated, and the construction of urban species survey data according to new research techniques, such as unmanned cameras and eDNA, and an urban space management plan linking information were proposed.

With the advancement of laser scanning technologies, many studies have attempted to represent various spatial structures across urban forests. Especially, the multitemporal LiDAR approach has been used for deriving the changes in urban forest structures. The overarching goal of this study is to investigate three-dimensional changes in urban canopy structures using multi-temporal LiDAR datasets with a particular focus on forest gaps and open canopies formed by natural and artificial disturbances. Specifically, we compared the structural changes in open canopy areas by the different types of disturbed areas in urban forests. The research site is Mt. Bongseo (altitude: 158 m, area: 124 ha), located in Cheonan city, Chungcheongnam-Do, Republic of Korea. It is a mixed forest where the dominant species are Quercus acutissima (44.8%), Pinus rigida (29.7%), and Larix leptolepis (7.4%), and the average age class is class 3.8 (30 to 40-year-old forest). As the site is located adjacent to the downtown area, sports facilities and, outdoor education center were built in the forest nearby the trail. The airborne LiDAR datasets were acquired on October 9, 2012, May 16, 2013, June 16, 2014, and October 30, 2015, using IGI LiteMapper 6800. The results presented small opening areas distributed more frequent (scaling exponent = 1.28) in the naturally formed canopy openings (forest gaps), while larger opening areas distributed more frequent (scaling exponent = 1.22) in the artificial disturbances during the study periods. The values of changes in both plant area index (PAI) and canopy complexity were the greatest in the forest gaps, which could be interpreted that forest gaps (0.12 m2/m2 and 0.93 m2/m2, respectively) served to diversify the canopy structures. In contrast, artificially disturbed areas showed very low dynamics (0.01 m2/m2 and 0.15 m2/m2 changes in PAI and canopy complexity, respectively), and their areas had been widened during the study periods.

The deterioration of the urban thermal environment poses multiple threats to residents’ health and the ecological environment. The impact of the local environment on the water cooling island (WCI) effect is complex and non-negligible. In this study, 21 water bodies in Changsha, China, were selected to reveal the impact of the local environment on the WCI effect. The results showed the average cooling distance (WCI_D), cooling magnitude (WCI_M), and cooling gradient (WCI_G) of the water bodies are about 0.31 km, 2.36 °C, and 7.61 °C/km, respectively. The WCI effect changes with the type of land cover surrounding the water body: the greatest WCI effect occurs when the water body is surrounded by built-up land, followed by bare land, forest, and cropland. Shannon’s diversity index was the factor with the greatest effect on WCI_D and WCI_G, while the landscape shape index had the greatest effect on WCI_M. The wind direction has a significant impact on WCI_D and WCI_M. The influence of the wind direction on the WCI effect is obvious, e.g., the impact of prevailing wind in the downwind direction on the WCI effect is larger than that in the upwind direction, where WCI_D and WCI_M in the downwind direction were 0.15 km and 0.24 °C larger than those in the upwind direction, respectively.

Recently, the importance of 'citizen science', a technology that enables citizens to collect a large amount of data in the field of environmental planning and management, is being discussed around the world. In particular, the application of citizen science in the field of nature and ecological monitoring that requires extensive, quantitative, and qualitatively rich data can be expected to reduce research costs and secure large amounts of data within a short period of time. However, unlike the monitoring method made up of experts in the past, citizen science is the subject of non-expert citizens, so data collection must be carried out in consideration of data reliability and errors. This study confirmed how effective the data is in comparison with the existing expert-based survey method when citizens participate in urban ecosystem artificial bird nest monitoring. For about six months from February to August 2021, an artificial bird nest monitoring project was conducted for citizens in Suwon. Each participant installed the assigned artificial bird nest in an area with abundant green spaces such as forests, parks, and roadside trees, and monitored artificial bird nest according to the guidance of the researchers and recorded the contents through mobile applications. During the same period, the research team monitored the artificial bird nest in the Cheonan area and recorded it separately. As a result, a total of 98 citizens participated in the project, and 180 (87.3%) artificial bird nests were installed throughout Suwon. In addition, 1163 artificial bird nest monitoring activities were recorded, and traces of bird use were found in 57 birdhouses out of 180 artificial birdhouses. The citizen-based artificial bird nest monitoring project conducted in Suwon-si was able to monitor the wide-area target site within the same period, breaking away from the time limit that occurs in the existing expert-based monitoring activities. However, in the case of professional survey items such as the life history of birds, it was insufficiently prepared, and as the project was prolonged, the participation of citizens tended to decrease. In future research, it is considered necessary to explore complementary points for the monitoring program and organize a systematic monitoring program by conducting surveys at the same time.

Hybrid aspen, a hybrid between the European aspen and North American trembling aspen (Populus tremula L. × P. tremuloides Michx.), is a promising tree species in northern Europe especially for plywood and biomass because of the fast-growing tree characteristics and short rotation period for final cutting. This research was carried out to analyze the tree diameter at breast height (DBH) and tree height of hybrid aspen plantations based on the repeatedly measured clonal trials in southern Finland. The experiments were established in four locations from 1997 to 1999 and measured 7-12 times by experiments. In each experiment, trees were planted with different initial planting density ranging from 400 trees per ha to 1600 trees per ha (5.0 m × 5.0 m spacing to 2.5 m × 2.5 m spacing). The results showed that the DBH distribution by stand density was the same in the beginning of the measurement, but it differed in all experiments over time. As the stand age increased, the DBH distribution was skewed to the right, which means the stand mean and median DBH were larger in the stands with 5.0 m × 5.0 m spacing than in the stands with 2.5 m × 2.5 m spacing. On the other hand, height distribution displayed the different growing rate characteristics. As the stand density increased, a larger proportion of trees’ heights were located in higher classes. The findings are considered to be useful for stand management of hybrid aspen.

This study is about statistical analysis for factors affecting DBH Growth in species of major trees data. Pine forests and nut pine forests used the DBH data for six years from 2014 to 2020. And larch forests used the DBH data for six years from 2013 to 2019. We take growth of the DBH of each species for response variable, and degree of thinning and level of trees, age-class(of trees), age for the covariates. We focus on comparing the difference of the DBH growth according to each covariates. We use ANOVA for analysis of the difference in the amount of growth in DBH, Tukey's multiple comparisons for post analysis, and regression trees for analysis of a major effect on the growth of DBH, and clustering analysis for the growth of DBH according to age. We get some results that the effects of the thinning increase the growth of DBH and there is a difference in the growth of trees according to the level of trees and age-class.

The purpose of this study was to identify the current status of Pinus koraiensis in national forests and to suggest future management plans. The current status of the Pinus koraiensis was evaluated by comparing the Stand Yield Table with the height of the DBH, the height, the volume, and the number of trees per hectare. The average age of the Pinus koraiensis of the Eastern and Southern Regional Forest Service was about 46 years. The DBH was equal to or greater than the standard of the standing harvest table. Efforts were also higher than the standard of the stand yield table. The volume per hectare was lower than the standard because of the low number of trees per hectare. The Pinus koraiensis of the Eastern and Southern Regional Forest Service is excellent in diameter at breast height and height growth. Also, it is a time when decision-making on the species regeneration is necessary.

This study was conducted to find the age for maximizing stem volume accumulation of major planting tree species, which are Pinus densiflora, Pinus koraiensis and Larix kaempferi, by thinning intensity. For each species, we have developed age-dbh model and dbh-height model by thinning intensity. Also, stand density model was developed by the relationship between quadratic mean diameter and the number of trees. It was assumed that thinning was carried out in 25 and 35 years and that 20% and 40% of the total trees are removed for light thinning and heavy thinning, respectively. The result showed that the difference in diameter growth was clearly caused by thinning intensity in the three species. The diameter difference among the thinning intensities increased more and more as the age increased, while the difference between the light and the heavy was not significant. The stem volume per unit area was non-thinning > light thinning> heavy thinning. Assuming that there was no difference in tree height by thinning intensity, it generally showed a similar trend except that the stem volume was lower than when there was a height difference in thinning intensity.

In this study, the genetic variations of 36 wild accessions were investigated using SSR markers. Twenty-eight accessions were obtained from the National Institute of Horticultural Science and Technology, three accessions from Gangwon Forest Science Institute, and two accessions from Gangwon Agricultural Research Institute. Sixty SSR primer sets were designed from genomic information available publically and tested for PCR amplification using pooled DNA from the accessions. Twenty-five primer sets exhibited polymorphism and were used for further analysis. The average number of alleles was 4.64 per primer, and the observed and the expected average heterozygosity were 0.435 and 0.540, respectively. The average polymorphism information content was 0.568. UPGMA cluster analysis showed that 36 accessions were classified into five groups. PCoA analysis showed similar patterns with the UPGMA result. Nevertheless, a limited number of SSR markers were used for genetic relationship analysis, our results would provide valuable information to facilitate the management of selected wild pears and to develop new cultivars in the future.

Gastrodia elata is a saprophytic perennial plant in achlorophyllous orchidaceae, which has a myco-heterotrophic lifestyle with decrease leaves and bracts in scape. In the life cycle, G. elata is related to two types of fungi: Mycena spp. for seed germination to form vegetative propagation and Armillaria mellea for vegetative growth to develop tubers. Several fungal pathogens have caused root rot of Gastrodia elata in Korea. There is a need for research of pathogens with G. elata, anticipating the severity of the reduction. In this study, we identified necrotic spots on tubers of G. elata from commercial fields in Anseong and obtained infected tissues. The disease symptoms showed round and grayish-brown spots, which eventually merged into larger black lesions on tubers. All colonies from symptomatic tissues were yellowish-white and the surface was covered with thick aerial hyphae. We were confirmed by sequencing three fungal loci (internal transcribed spacer regions 1 and 4, translation elongation factor alpha, and beta-tubulin). The fungus was identified C. chlorolueca by multigene phylogenetic analysis and morphological observation. It is the first report of C. chlorolueca causing root rot on G. elata in Korea. Our result may assist to make the proper measures to control this disease in the commercial fields of G. elata in Korea.

In this study GC-MS was used to compare the main component by part (leaf, stem, root), seasons (spring, summer, autumn) and habitat (Chuncheon, Yanggu, and Inje). The main component of E. koreensis is N-methylcytisine that lupine alkaloid. N-methylcytisine has effects such as vasoconstriction, acrdiac hyperactivity, pulse control, increase in blood pressure. The concentration decreased in the order of leaves(7072mg/L), stems(606mg/L) and roots(71mg/L). The highest concentration of 8302mg/L was found in the autumn and the lowest at 509mg/L in the summer. Chuncheon (7072mg/L), Yanggu (5780mg/L) and Inje (665mg/L) showed gradually lower concentration. In conclusion, this study showed the high difference in the concentration according to part, habitat and season. We plan to conduct study on elicitor for components.

We investigated the effect on blueberries' growth by mulching pine cones and comparing them with the different treatments. Five treatments, shredded pinecone, shredded pinecone with sulfur, sulfur only, and pine needles, and without any treatment (control), were applied in the soil. We measured plant growth (height and crown width), physiological properties such as chlorophyll content and maximum quantum yield (Fv/Fm), and soil properties (pH, moisture content) at 5 months of cultivation from treatments). The height of plants treated with pinecones was the greatest at 21.43%, followed by the treatment of pinecone with sulfur at 19.23%. The crown growth was highest (34.26%) when they were treated with pinecone with sulfur. However, growth rates among the treatments were not significantly different. The chlorophyll content was high in pinecone with sulfur and pine needle treatment. Fv/Fm was generally high in the case of mulching pine cones, and the sulfur-only treatment was low. The soil moisture content was the highest in the case of mulching pine cones, followed by mulching pine needles. As for the soil pH, the treatment of the pine cone was the lowest, followed by the pinecone with sulfur and pine needle treatment. Taken together, blueberries grew actively in the case of mulching pine cones, and there was also an effect of improving soil miniaturization and reducing pH.

Plants sensitively respond to temperature among various living things. As a result, plants either develop tolerance to environmental changes or migrate for suitable environmental conditions. However, climate change is progressing faster than plants naturally migrate and settle. In addition, rare plants face extinction due to ecological disturbances such as the spread of naturalized plants. This study was conducted using the information of S. japonica, a rare medicinal plant, to find out its distribution changes for the past 50 years. We collected data using the public API of the Korea National Arboretum and through web crawling. We organized the data using geocoding, which converts physical addresses into geographic coordinates, applied visualization techniques, and performed Pearson's correlation analysis on latitude and longitude. In total, 253 data were collected, 53 were found in the southern region, 200 were found in the northern region. The correlation for the geographic coordinates was -0.1795, which suggests that S. japonica migrated to the northwest. As future work, we plan to apply machine learning with the climate and coordinate data of the species' natural habitats to predict their future migration route due to climate change.

We developed a deep learning-based algorithm with plant fruit images to predict the quantitative traits, fruit size, and weight. Highbush blueberry was selected as a model plant because of its commercial importance. Mask R-CNN was adopted for a deep learning guidance model to predict fruits' width, length, and weight. The deep learning algorithm had a high performance on object detection and image segmentation with more than 90% accuracy and detection rate.

Cnidium officinale is included in Umbelliferae family, it is one of the Korean traditional medicinal plants as the roots have been used to treat diseases. In this study, the growth characteristics and active compound contents of C. officinale were compared among the different forest sites. As a result, root diameter and root length of L. chuanxiong was the highest in Jeongseon. Also, the fresh weight and dry weight of C. officinale were the highest in Jeongseon. The total content of active compound was 23.27㎎/g the highest in Bonghwa, and 21.59㎎/g in Jeongseon, 15.87㎎/g in Hamyang was accumulated. In this study compares three forest site for cultivating of C. officinale in different climate zone that the best site to product yield were Jeongseon. In this sites were located in higher altitute and lower temperature than other sites, also there were shown that lower soil moisture contents and well-drained soil. It was shown yield and active compound contents of C. officinale was influenced by micro-environment conditions like as altitude, temperature, soil conditions.

The 2019 IPCC report approved that global warming of 1.5℃ will be exceeded between 2021 and 2040 if the current level of greenhouse gas emissions is maintained until the middle of this century. As global warming accelerates, climate change rapidly and frequently occurs. It also contributes to the plant extinction and loss of biodiversity. Recently, Abelia spathulata is a critically endangered (CR) species designated by The National Arboretum of the Korea Forest Service and the habitat of A. spathulata is Cheonseongsan Mountain in Yangsan-si, Gyeongsangnam-do, where is the only native habitat site in Korea. In addition, the number of populations is very small, so it is necessary to conserve their habitats and germplasm. Various ecological researches including environmental conditions, distribution range, and vegetation structure of A. spathulata have been conducted. However, there are few reports of ex-situ conservation and micropropation of A. spathulata. Development and establishment of stable, efficient in vitro regeneration systems is essential for clonally and mass propagation. Thus, the purpose of this study was to find and optimize the best re-differentiation and regeneration conditions of Abelia spathulate.