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Quercus floribunda (Tilonj oak) is among the five species of Quercus and an evergreen tree found in Kumaun Himalayan region. Timing of germination is a crucial event determining the success of seedling establishment and survival. The aims of the study were to investigate the effect of sowing date on the germination and morphological responses of Tilonj oak (Quercus floribunda), cultivated during the month of August-September, with supplementary irrigation. The experiment was conducted by sowing seeds at two dates with one month interval in glass house conditions at DSB Campus, Nainital, Uttarakhand, India. Present study revealed that higher germination percentage (46.67 %) was recorded at sowing time S2 as compared to the sowing time S1 (32.86 %). Germination percentage as well as seedling growth were affected by sowing date though the differences were insignificant. At both the sowing dates, highest germination percentage was recorded for large seeds (32.86-46.67 %) followed by medium (31.43- 33.33 %) and lowest germination (6.67-7.14 %) was recorded for small size seeds. In all parameters assessed, sowing time S2 had the best performance in combination with large seed size. Thus, September is suitable month for best germination, growth and seedling vigour and large seed size is recommended to silviculturists and tree planters. The information on seed germination and seedling growth is vital both for conservation and rehabilitation of degraded lands.

We investigated tree composition, stand characteristics, biomass allocation pattern and carbon storage variability in Sal forests (Shorea robusta Garten.) under two forest management regimes (Sal forest and Sal plantation) in Tripura, Northeast India. The results revealed higher species richness (29 species), stand density of 1060.00±11.12 stems ha−1 and diversity index (1.90±0.08) in Sal forest and lower species richness (4 species), stand density of 230.00±37.22 stems ha−1 and diversity index (0.38±0.15) in Sal plantation. The total basal cover (33.02±4.87 m2 ha−1) and dominance (0.76±0.08) were found higher in Sal plantation than the Sal forest (22.53±0.38 m2 ha−1 and 0.23±0.02 respectively). The total vegetation carbon density was recorded higher in Sal plantation (219.68±19.65 Mg ha−1) than the Sal forest (167.64±16.73 Mg ha−1). The carbon density estimates acquired in this study suggest that Sal plantation in Tripura has the potentiality to store a large amount of atmospheric carbon inspite of a very low species diversity. However, Sal forests has also an impending sink of carbon due to presence of large number of young trees.

An efficient method to select drought tolerant Korean native plants using in vitro culture system was established in this study. While the plant growths and root inductions of each plant were proportionately affected by concentrations of mannitol on in vitro culturing seven plant species to test tolerance to osmotic stress, growth index (GI) and number of root induction of Chrysanthemi zawadskii var. latilobum and Dianthus chinensis var. semperflorens plantlets were higher than the others in 125mM mannitol. In test with polyethylene glycol (PEG), plantlets of C. zawadskii var. latilobum and D. chinensis var. semperflorens showed higher GI and number of root induction than the others in 33.3mM. On testing whether the well grown plants under osmotic stress are tolerant to virtual drought stress, there were significant differences in the withering rates of C. zawadskii var. latilobum and D. chinensis and those of were Aster yomena and Centaurea cyanus after 12 days without watering. It was found that significantly lower stomata numbers were shown in both drought tolerant plants than the sensitive plants. Averages of the stomata circumferences and the stomata area in the plantlets of the tolerant species were larger than those of the sensitive plants D. chinensis var. semperflorens showed the lowest transpiration level per unit area. The highest stomatal area per unit area was found in C. zawadskii, followed by D. chinensis var. semperflorens, Aster yomena and C. cyanus. In conclusion, C. zawadskii var. latilobum and D. chinensis var. semperflorens were more tolerant to drought than other two species. Furthermore in vitro selection was successfully used to screen drought tolerance species of native plant species.

This study was conducted to find out the growth pattern of Pinus koraiensis plantation over 34 years, focusing on DBH, height, basal area and allometric change. Total increment (TI), mean annual increment (MAI) and correlation coefficient were calculated and compared with stand and dominants. Total increment and mean annual increment of both DBH and height of dominants were bigger than those of stand. The difference was apparently shown bigger in DBH than height. Unlike DBH and height the total increment and mean annual increment of basal area per hectare of dominants were distinctively smaller than those of stand. Furthermore MAI of dominant was increasing until age 42, while MAI of stand increased at early ages and then gradually decreased after culmination like MAIs of DBH and height. MAIs of basal area of dead trees at each measurement tended to increase until early age (18 years in this study), while it reached a peak and gradually decrease after that (21 years in this study). Correlation coefficient between DBH and height tended to decrease as both dominant and stand age and the difference between dominant and stand was not clearly shown over the measurement period. Correlation coefficients between DBH and crown width tended to decrease as the trees age and correlation coefficients of dominant were clearly shown smaller than that of stand. Correlation coefficients of height and crown width also was found to be similar to correlation coefficients between DBH and crown. Meanwhile correlation coefficient of height and crown width dropped more radically than coefficient of DBH and crown width as the trees age.

Understanding visit motivation to parks is important when attempting to improve visitor satisfaction and their intentions to revisit and recommend. The objective of this study is to not only examine the impact of visitors’ motivations on their satisfaction, but also study the effect of their satisfaction on their behavioral intentions. This objective will be fulfilled using regression models populated with data from the Gyeryongsan National Park (GNP). Onsite surveys were collected during April and May 2017 at the Donghaksa, Gapsa, Cheonjeong, Sinwonsa, Sangsin, and Sutonggol information centers of the GNP (N=224). The results of this study indicate that the visitors’ motivations influenced their visit satisfaction, which, in turn, impacted their behavioral intentions. The study’s findings will help park managers and policy-makers establish effective park management strategies and enhance visitors’ experiences.

Urban development and population have augmented the increase of impervious land-cover. This phenomenon has amplified the effects of climate change and increasing urban island effects due to increases in urban temperatures. Seoul, South Korea is one of the largest metropolitan cities in the world. While land uses in Seoul vary, land cover patterns have not changed much (under 2%) in the past 10 years, making the city a prime target for studying the effects of land cover types on the urban temperature. This research seeks to generalize the urban temperature of Seoul through a series of statistical tests using multi-temporal remote sensing data focusing on multiple scales and typologies of green space to determine its overall effectiveness in reducing the urban heat. The distribution of LST values was reduced as the size of urban forests increased. It means that changing temperature of largescale green-spaces is less influenced because the broad distribution could be resulted in various external variables such as slope aspect, topographic height and density of planting areas, while small-scale urban forests are more affected from that. The largescale green spaces contributed significantly to lowering urban temperature by showing a similar mean LST value. Both of concentration and dispersal of urban forests affected the reduction of urban temperature. Therefore, the findings of this research support that creating urban forests in an urban region could reduce urban temperature regardless of the scale.

Climate is one of most important environmental factors on the forest ecosystem. This study was conducted to analyze the characteristics of meteorological factors in the forest area and weather stations from July 2015 to June 2016 in Cheuncheon and Hongcheon of Kangwon Province in Korea. The HOBO data logger was installed for meteorological analysis in forests area (site 1 and site 2). The meteorological data from the HOBO data logger compared with meteorological data of the weather station. The meteorological data used for the analysis was monthly mean temperature (°C), monthly mean minimum temperature (°C), monthly mean maximum average temperature (°C), and monthly mean relative humidity (%). As a result of this study, the mean temperature (°C) of forest area was relatively lower than weather station which is the outside the forest area, and the mean maximum temperature (°C) of weather station was relatively higher than that of forest area. The mean relative humidity (%) was higher in forest area than weather station.

Climate models forecast more frequent and a longer period of drought events which may impact forest soil carbon dynamics, thereby altering the soil respiration (SR) rate. We examine the simulated drought effects on soil CO2 effluxes from soil surface partitioning heterotrophic and autotrophic soil respiration sources. Three replicates of drought plots (6 x 6 m) were constructed with the same size of three control plots. We examined the relation between CO2 and soil temperature and soil moisture, each being measured at a soil depth of 15 cm. We also compared which factor affected CO2 efflux more under drought conditions. Total SR, autotrophic respiration (AR) and heterotrophic respiration (HR) were positively correlated with soil temperature (p < 0.05), and the relationships were stronger in roof plots than in control plots. Total SR, AR, and HR were negatively correlated only in roof plots, and the only HR showed a significant correlation (p < 0.05, r = -0.59). Soil respiration rates were more influenced by soil temperature than by soil moisture, and this relationship was more evident under drought conditions.

Drought alters soil microorganisms; however, it is still not clear how soil microbes respond to severe drought conditions. In this study, the responses of soil bacterial community to experimental drought in a coniferous stand were examined. Six 6 m x 6 m plots with three replicates of control and drought treatments were delimited. PCR amplification and Illumina sequencing were conducted for cluster analysis of soil bacterial community and species richness and species diversity was analyzed. Along the 393 days of simulated drought from July 2016 to October 2017, soil bacterial species diversity slightly increased whereas species richness decreased in both control and roof plots. Moreover, soil bacterial species richness more decreased in roof plots than in controls. Combining these results, soil bacterial activity might have been altered by simulated drought.

Spider fauna of Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) and adjacent areas in Korea was surveyed in 2001-2003, 2013-2015, and 2017. Total of 34 surveyed areas across 10 provinces were divided into four main regions (east coast, mid-east mountain, midland, and west coast areas) in accordance with administrative districts and topography. Total of 273 species of 145 genera in 32 families were identified from 10,886 collected spiders. In conclusion, the spider fauna in the DMZ is 281 species of 147 genera in 32 families with 162 species of 99 genera in 23 families in the previous reports. This corresponds to about 37.6% of the Korean spiders as of 2015. The species richness among surveyed localities was ranged 45 species to 92 species. The species richness of each taxon is high in Araneidae, Salticidae, Linyphiidae and Theridiidae. Habitat generalists were 22 species and habitat specialists were 69 species. The 143 species were web builders and 130 species were wanderers by the outlined life style. In DMZ spiders, only 7 species, Thymoites ulleungensis, Arcuphantes pennatus, Lycosa coreana, Allagelena koreana, Cybaeus mosanensis and Cybaeus triangulus, Kishidaia coreana, were recognized as Korean endemic. Five species, Scytodes thoracica, T. ulleungensis, Lycosa labialis, Takeoa nishimurai, and Phrynarachne katoi, are rare species with a trend of decreasing density in recent years. Araneus rotundicornis has been discovered for the first time since its first report. This study may be useful in the conservative management and will contribute to knowledge of the distribution and biogeography of DMZ areas in the future.