KPSG NEWSLETTER
KOREAN PLANT SPECIALIST GROUP
Volume 12
(December 2000)
한국식물전문가그룹 뉴스레터
MISSION STATEMENT
OF THE KOREAN PLANT SPECIALIST GROUP
To support the conservation of Korean plant diversity, for present and future generations, through interdisciplinary collaboration applied conservation biology and professional development
GOALS
● KPSG to be authoritative source of plant conservation of Korea ● KPSG to play an influential and valued role in national biodiversity planning and management ● KPSG to develop national capacity in plant conservation ● KPSG to be a mechanism to introduce IUCN/SSC material and protocols to the Korean conservation community ● KPSG to pursue all of the above through active collaboration and free exchange of information with relevant partners
OBJECTIVES
● To identify IPA (Important Plant Areas) for Korea and ensure effective protections ● To identify and access threatened plant species in Korea and ensure effective protection ● To collaborate directly with Government of Korea on national biodiversity planning ● To develop and implement a training programme for KPSG members and allied institutional agencies ● To develop a fund raising programmes to directly support KPSG mission and goals
of the Korean Plant Specialist Group
Yong-Shik KIM, Chair of the KPSG
The IUCN SSC's Korean Plant Specialist Group (KPSG) meets the new Millennium. Since the Amman Congress in October 2000, the world plant conservation arena has been changed towards the intensive, integrated and collaborative works. Also, the plant conservation of Korea has been challenged to change from its conventional philosophy to the new approaches, based on conservation biology, to integrating interdisciplinary conception. The Korean Government poured the budget, with partly support in action from the NGO bodies, in the conservation of botanical diversity in Korea, but we have been experienced a lot of trial and errors in the service and output. With this overall conservation environments, the role of NGO's in Korea, like the KPSG, in the conservation of plant diversity becoming more important in the international, national and regional basis.
Although the KPSG started with not strong backgrounds for their organization and members, the four years was very good experience to develop the group as the capacity building to the conservation of Korean plants. The KPSG proved an incentive to lead the conservation activities, based on conservation biology, a new conception to the plant conservation in Korea. The qualities for the product in the various plant conservation works recorded the leading as the pioneer in the country. The support from the British Embassy, Seoul helps the KPSG become one of stronger NGO bodies in plant conservation in Korea.
As we are in the second stage since its establishment and the Amman Congress, the KPSG has a responsibility to strengthen the group to be role as the more vital plant conservation body. According to the KPSG mission and objectives, based under the umbrella of the IUCN's Species Survival Commissions, the perspective of next four years will be brighter to outstretch KPSG's mission and role in the country. This outstretching should need more strong attention from both international and national concerns, and thus the KPSG appealing to the conservation arena for their ceaseless concern.
THE CONSERVATION AND OF PLANT DIVERSITY
: PRACTICAL CHALLENGES
Mike Maunder* and Tim Upson**
SUMMARY
Studies have identified concentrations of plant diversity, as defined by endemism. These are situated in the tropical and sub-tropical regions. Whilst these geographic priorities for plant conservation are widely known the practical questions of retaining and managing plant diversity in ever diminishing and isolated tropical habitats have yet to be fully resolved.
Key words: plant conservation, hotspots, management, diversity, endemism
INTRODUCTION - WHERE IS THE PLANT DIVERSITY?
In 1986 the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and the Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF) initiated a project to identify major centres of plant diversity (CPDs). The project objectives were (1) to identify which areas around the world, if conserved, would safeguard the greatest number of plant species; (2) to document the many benefits, economic and scientific, that conservation of those areas would bring to society and to outline the potential value of each for sustainable development; and (3) to outline a strategy for the conservation of the areas selected. The project identified 234 areas of especially high species diversity (Davis et al., 1994, 1996, 1997), including Mount Halla in Korea.
The CPD study identifies 16 countries that hold 140 of the worlds 234 Centres of Plant Diversity. This list overlaps with 12 of the 17 Megadiversity countries identified by Mittermeier & Werner (1990) and correlates strongly with the listed 24 hotspots for plant endemism identified by Mittermeier et al., (1998). The 24 hotspots are estimated to hold about 124,000 endemic plant species, equating to 40% of the world's plant diversity occurring on about 2% of the land surface of the planet (Mittermeier et al., 1998).
Table 1: Major plant diversity countries (derived from Davis et al., 1994, 1996, 1997;Mittermeier & Werner, 1990; Mittermeier et al., 1998).
Country |
Mega- diversity Country -ranking |
No. of Centres of Plant Diversity |
No. of vascular plant taxa |
Botanical hotspots with no. of endemic plant species |
1. Brazil |
1 |
12 |
56,000 |
·Brazilian cerrado-6,000 ·Atlantic Forest-4,400 |
2. Colombia |
2 |
8 |
51,000 |
·Tropical Andes-20,000(in-part) ·Choco-2,500(in-part) |
3. China |
3 |
8 |
27,1000 |
·Indo-Burma-7,000(in-part) ·Eastern Himalayas-5,000(in-part) |
4. Mexico |
4 |
12 |
＞20,000 |
·Mesoamerican forest(in-part) |
5. Australia |
5 |
10 |
15,600 |
·Southwestern Australia-3,724 |
6. Indonesia |
6 |
18 |
＞12,000 |
·Wallacea-1,500 ·Sundaland-5,000(in-part) |
7. Peru |
7 |
8 |
18,200 |
·Tropical Andes-20,000(in-part) |
8. Ecuador |
8 |
6 |
＞20,000 |
·Choco-2,500(in-part) |
9. Malaysia |
9 |
13 |
＞14,000 |
·Sundaland-5,000(in-part) ·Indo-Burma-7,000(in-part) |
10. India |
10 |
6 |
17,000 |
·western Ghats-2,182(in-part) ·Eastern Himalayas-5,000(in-part) ·Indo-Burma-7,000(in-part) |
11. Zaire |
11 |
12 |
11,000 |
|
12. Madagascar |
12 |
1 |
10,000 |
·Madagascar-9,700(in-part) |
13. United States of America |
Not listed |
8 |
20,000 |
·California-2,125(in-part) ·Caribbean Islands-7,000(in-part) |
14. Philippines |
Not listed |
6 |
8,931 |
·Philippines-5,832 |
15. Republic of South Africa |
Not listed |
6 |
23,420 |
·Karoo-1,940 ·Cape-5,682 |
16. Turkey |
Not listed |
6 |
8,650 |
·Mediterranean Basin-13,000(in-part) |
Total number of Centers of Plant Diversity in the 16 countries 140/234 = 60% 16 Countries contain (entirely or in part) 18/24 of the most important plant Biodiversity hotspots = 75% |
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However, this focus on endemism is a rather narrow base for conservation and needs to be complemented by a recognition that habitats lacking endemics do provide vital plant resources (e.g. firewood, watershed provision etc.) to both local and international consumers. Whilst the distribution and rates of population and species loss are not fully documented there is a developing consensus on the location of conservation priorities based on concentrations of taxonomic diversity. The challenges of retaining and effectively managing these "hotspots" have yet to be fully resolved.
WHAT IS HAPPENING TO PLANT DIVERSITY?
As a result of human activities we are observing major changes in the status and distribution of plant diversity. Historically about half of the ice-free surface of the globe has been transformed, managed or utilised by man (Turner et al., 1990), with nearly 40% of the potential terrestrial net primary productivity of the Earth used by mankind or lost as a result of land change (Vitousek, 1994). Hannah et al., (1994) concluded that 73% of the earth's land surface, other than rock, ice and barren land, is either human dominated or partially disturbed, with only 27% undisturbed. This trend will continue as human populations and their demands grow. By the year 2025 the world population is projected to total about 8.3 billion people, compared with the current estimate of circa 6.0 billion. The patterns of increase will vary regionally, European populations may decline slightly, Asia could grow from a current 3.46 billion to 4.96 billion (UNEP/UNDP/World Bank, 1996).
The extensive conversion of wild habitats has resulted in changes to both the ecological and taxonomic composition of these areas. In many parts of the world the change has been extreme, taxonomically and ecologically diverse wildlands have been converted to agricultural landscapes dominated by a small range of domesticates, e.g. cereals replacing prairie. This fragmentation and loss of habitats is resulting in modifications in patterns of genetic diversity (Hall et al., 1996; Young et al., 1996) and losses of populations and species extinctions (Harris & Silva-Lopez, 1992; Hughes et al., 1997). The most comprehensive survey of plant species decline undertaken on behalf of the IUCN indicates that about 33,400 plant species are threatened with extinction (Walter & Gillett, 1997), equating to about 10% of the worlds 250-300,000 plant species. The study records 66 threatened species from South Korea, representing about 2% of the 2,900 plant species in the country. The IUCN records 380 global plant extinctions (Walter & Gillett, 1997), less than 1% of the recorded species of vascular plants. This is certainly an underestimate as many areas of the world (e.g. the Mediterranean Basin and Pacific Islands) have undergone massive levels of habitat destruction with presumed species loss prior to scientific inventory. For the largest part of the planet there is no clear consensus on the rate of species and population loss. It could be argued that the plant extinctions logged by the IUCN and World Conservation Monitoring Centre (WCMC) reflect, in part, the geographical distribution of botanical knowledge and monitoring, rather than actual rates of species loss. Koopowitz et al. (1994) in a review of historical extinction rates, current rates of habitat conversion, and distribution of restricted endemic plant species for tropical Latin American produced estimates for recent extinctions that exhibit a dramatic lack of congruity with the WCMC/IUCN records. This is particularly notable for Brazil where WCMC/IUCN has recorded only five extinctions and Koopowitz estimates a loss since 1950 of 2,261 species. It is evident that those data pertaining to plant extinctions are not sufficient to identify in advance those plant species are at greatest risk of extinction. The paucity of field survey work and rapidity of habitat loss, particularly in the tropics, means that the species' extinction will be identified only in retrospect, as centinelan extinctions sensu Wilson (1992).
The scale of both population loss and species extinction is illustrated through studies on the Indian Ocean island of Mauritius, part of the Madagascar botanical hotspot (sensu Mittermeier et al., 1998, Maunder et al., in prep.). Mauritius has suffered the complete loss of lowland forest habitats with the upland flora surviving in increasingly isolated forest patches subject to encroachment by invasive weeds. Mauritius has a recorded flowering plant flora of 672 species, with 75 recorded as Extinct, 36 of these endemic to the island. There are 267 surviving endemics, with seven newly recorded extinctions; three species Extinct in the Wild; 82 species Critically Endangered; 28 Endangered and 73 Vulnerable. A review of population status illustrates the fragile nature of the flora: 10 taxa are known from a single adult; 18 taxa are known from 10 or less mature individuals; 21 taxa are known from between 10 and 50 mature individuals; and 13 taxa known from between 50 and 100 mature individuals. This equates to 10% of the endemic flora of 267 taxa being represented by taxa whose numbers are reduced to 10 or less. Is conservation management about maintaining these fragmented populations as isolated museum pieces, the living dead, or about restoring viable populations in managed and protected areas?
RESPONSES TO BIODIVERSITY LOSS
The majority of the world's species will be retained through the coarse filter approach of habitat conservation that could potentially conserve all levels in the biodiversity hierarchy and their interactions. The surviving major wilderness areas, large relatively undisturbed natural areas, offer the best opportunities for retaining ecosystem and evolutionary processes (Hannah et al., 1994; Mittermeier et al., 1998). Beyond these areas plant conservation will depend upon a number of core skills (1) the protection and active management of habitats to maintain plant diversity and ecological processes, (2) the management of individual plant populations to retain viable populations and prevent species loss, and (3) dealing with the human context of plant conservation including sustainable use, cultural values and public access.
Protected area borders are permeable to a range of threats including disease, invasive species, poaching, civil unrest and climate change. Accordingly, a complementary fine filter approach will be required to catch those species not secured through the priority action of habitat conservation. Single species management for a threatened species can take a number of forms: (1) management/regulation of harvesting (both illegal and legal), (2) protection from invasive organisms and pathogens (3) habitat modification and management, e.g. prescribed burning, (4) reintroduction or translocation, and (5) artificial propagation (preferably on-site and in-country).
The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) is fast becoming the major legislative influence on the conservation of biodiversity; directly influencing national activities through the requirement to produce and implement Biodiversity Action Plans and through the Global Environmental Fund as the funding mechanism for the CBD. The three main objectives of the CBD are: (1) the conservation of biological diversity (Articles 6-9, 11 and 14); (2) the sustainable use of its components (Articles 6, 10 and 14); and (3) the fair and equitable sharing of the benefits arising from the use of genetic resources (Articles 15, 16, 19, 20 and 21) (Glowka et al., 1994). Outlined under Article 6 (General Measures for Conservation and Sustainable Use) is the requirement for each Contracting Party to develop a national biodiversity strategy, action plan or programme. Can we use the CBD as a lever to establish national goals for the conservation of plant diversity or will we face a split between conservation policy and practise?
DISCUSSION: TOWARDS AN INTEGRATED APPROACH
Plant conservation has often been marginalised as a peripheral activity for agencies involved in protected area or forestry management, often as a subset of wildlife management. Wild plants will continue to be an integral component of rural life for millions of people, traditional resource management practices will need to be protected and given a contemporary economic and legislative relevance. Plant conservation needs to identify specific national and local incentives and sanctions that can be used as connectors between the central government institutions (the legal infrastructure) and the public and private sectors (the financial infrastructure).
However, these activities must be built upon sound science, and particularly an understanding of how plant populations respond to change. The future challenge is to maintain plant populations as evolutionary lineages, as ecological components of functioning landscapes and as economic resources within a changing ecological and political context. For instance, the last fifteen years has seen the collapse of one of the world's most effective protected area and plant genetic resource networks during Russia's transition from communism to free-market economy.
The plant conservationist, facing the challenges of managing increasingly fragmented habitats and populations within human dominated landscapes will face a number of challenges: (1) Sound conservation solutions must increasingly include strong elements of social science, resource economics and commercial practice; an academic awareness of the need for sustainable management practices alone does not necessarily change practices. (2) Important plant habitats are subject to increasing levels of encroachment as pressure for land forces people further into protected areas. These areas are increasingly becoming ecological islands, and many of their enclosed species' populations will increasingly face issues of viability; modified habitats can contribute to maintaining connectivity between protected areas and increased research is urgently needed on this topic. (3) Habitat conversion produces an extinction debt, a pool of species destined for extinction unless the habitat is repaired or restored (sensu Tilman et al., 1994); can we identify these species in anticipation of habitat loss and can we co-ordinate short term ex situ custody with large scale habitat restoration? Here we need tools for the cost effective restoration of large landscapes, tools that effectively promote natural regeneration and serve the goals of biodiversity restoration whilst providing some economic service to resident communities. (4) Whilst there have been efforts to soften the edge between parks and the lands outside them, there is a continued need to develop schemes by which protected area resources and revenues are shared with neighboring communities. (5) Plant communities will be subject to the continued impact of invasives (plants, animals and pathogens). There is an urgent need for cost-effective tools for predicting and preventing invasions; in particular fragmented reserves may need permanent management. (6) It is unlikely that we will see a major investment in staffing for conservation agencies, with the need for more management, how can we bring more people into the management of plant resources. The increased need for species and habitat management will require greater continuity of information between successive management regimes and individuals. (7) Development of effective and easy to use (particularly by non-specialists) monitoring protocols and plant identification tools to assess the effectiveness of plant conservation activities. This will be of particular value in isolated reserves subject to continuing degradation (e.g. megazoos or hyper-disturbed parks). Whilst the taxonomic impediment has been recognised as a problem retarding the documentation of plant diversity there is an urgent need to break the larger and less publicised management impediment for the local management of plant resources. (8) There is an enormous gap between ecological research and its application to the practical management of threatened habitats and species by community groups, protected area managers and motivated volunteers. To what extent are the practical approaches to habitat management developed by such groups as the British Trust for Conservation Volunteers and the Wildlife Trusts applicable to CPD areas? (9) Fundamental to all of the above is the need to raise the professional and public profile of plant conservation-it is still a poorer sister to animal/wildlife conservation. This may require a move from the species as a conservation goal towards the broader promotion of habitat and ecosystem services.
REFERENCES
Davis S D, Heywood V H, Hamilton A C. eds. 1994. Centres of Plant Diversity: A strategy for their conservation. Vol.1 Europe, Africa, South West Asia and the Middle East. IUCN/WWF.
Davis S D, Heywood V H, Hamilton A C. eds. 1996. Centres of Plant Diversity: A strategy for their conservation. Vol. 2 Asia, Australia and the Pacific. IUCN/WWF.
Davis S D, Heywood V H, Hamilton A C. eds. 1997. Centres of Plant Diversity: A strategy for their conservation. Vol. 3 The Americas. IUCN/WWF.
Falk D, Millar C I, Olwell M. (eds) 1996. Restoring Diversity: Strategies for reintroduction of endangered plants. Island Press, Washington DC.
Glowka L, Burhenne-Guilman F, Synge H, McNeely J A, Gndling L. 1994. A Guide to the Convention on Biological Diversity. Environment Policy and Law paper No.30. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland.
Hall P, Walker S. Bawa K. 1996. Effect of forest fragmentation on genetic diversity and mating system in a tropical tree, Pithecellobium elegans. Conservation Biology 10(3):757-768.
Hannah L, Lohse D, Hutchinson C, Carr J L, Lankerani A. 1994. A preliminary inventory of human disturbance of world ecosystems. Ambio 23: 246-250.
Harris L D, Silva-Lopez G. (1992). Forest fragmentation and the conservation of biological diversity. In : Fiedler, P.L. & Jain, S.K. (eds) Conservation Biology: The Theory and Practice of Nature Conservation , Preservation and Management. Chapman and Hall, London. pp 197-237.
Hughes J B, Daily G C, Ehrlich P R. 1997. Population diversity: its extent and extinction. Science 278:689-692.
Koopowitz H, Thornhill A, Anderson M. 1994. A general model for the prediction of biodiversity losses based on habitat conversion. Conservation Biology 8 (2): 425-438.
Mittermeier R A, Werner T B. 1990. Wealth of plants and animals unites megadiversity countries. Tropicos 4: 4-5.
Mittermeier R A, Myers N, Thomsen, J B, da Fonseca, G A B, and Oilivieri, S. 1998. Biodiversity hotspots and major tropical wilderness areas: Approaches to setting conservation priorities. Conservation Biology 12 (3):516-519.
Tilman D, May R M, Lehman C L, Nowak M A . 1994. Habitat destruction and the extinction debt. Nature 371:65-66.
Turner B L, Clark W C, Kates R W, Richards J F, Mathews J T, Meyer W B. 1990. (eds) The Earth as Transformed by Human Action. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK.
Vitousek P M. 1994. Beyond global warming: ecology and global change. Ecology 75(7): 1861-1876.
Walter K S, Gillett H J. 1998. 1997 IUCN Red List of Threatened Plants. World Conservation Monitoring Centre and IUCN-World Conservation Union, Gland, Switzerland.
Wilson E O. 1992. The Diversity of Life. Belknap Press, Cambridge, Mass., USA.
WRI/UNEP/UNDP/World Bank. 1996. World Resources 1996-1997. Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK.
Young A, Boyle T, Brown T. 1996. The population genetic consequences of habitat fragmentation for plants. Trends in Ecology and Evolution 11(10): 413-418.
* National Tropical Botanical Garden, 3530 Papalina Road, Kalaheo, Kawai, Hawaii 96741, United States of America. Dr Mike Maunder had been worked as the Head of the Conservation Development Planning Unit, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, UK until the end of March in 2000. ** Superintendent, University of Cambridge Botanic Garden, Cory Lodge, Bateman Street, Cambridge, CB2 1JF
CHARACTERISTICS OF THE ALTITUDINAL DISTRIBUTION OF
ALPINE PLANTS IN MT HALLA AND HABITAT RESTORATION BY MEANS OF PROPAGATION
INTRODUCTION
One of the highest peaks in South Korea, Mt Halla (1950m) is located in the center of the Chejudo Island. The vegetation of island has been influenced from both continental and maritime climate. Compare to its size, this island owns very high plant diversity, and the altitudinal distribution of patterns is very clear. As this island has been separated for a long time from the Korean peninsula, it has many endemic and relic species, from the ice age such as Diapensia lapponica var. obovata (Diapensiaceae) and Empetrum nigrum var. japonicum (Empetraceae), one of the rare plants of Korea. Rapid industrialization with the expansion of urban ecosystem, road construction and increasing of tourism, the habitat of rare plants in the island envisaged from destruction mainly by human disturbance. With a localized and regular torrential downpour in the highlands and rapid increasing of visitors affected to the vegetation structure of the area. Both conservation of species and vegetation restoration are a growing concern to save the plant diversity in the island.
PLANT DISTRIBUTIONAL ZONES IN MT HALLA
The prairie in the highland over 1,300m is divided into two distributional patterns; sub-alpine coniferous forest which is dominated by Abies koreana and highland prairie, dominated by Rhododendron mucronulatum var. ciliatum, Juniperus chinensis var. sargentii, and Empetrum nigrum var. japonicum. The prairie is covered to the slopes of south, west and to the peak of the east.
As the prairie vegetation is formed in the deep soil depth, the communities of Rhododendron mucronulatum var. ciliatum and Rhododendron yedoense var. poukhanense is distributed in the flat land within slopes of 5o. The community of Juniperus chinensis var. sargentii is located in windy habitat. The species such as Viola crassa, and Elsholtzia minima is well grown in the degraded land. The community of Rhododendron mucronulatum var. ciliatum is mainly distributed in the areas of flat and high moisture contents, while the communities of Juniperus chinensis var. sargentii and Empetrum nigrum var. japonicum is well distributed in the steepy, dry and south-faced slopes. The community of herbaceous species is distributed in the areas of steep and over-moisture contents.
With almost 300 plant taxa were recorded in this area, the dormant types is grouped as 37% for hermicryptophytes and 21% for geophytes, and the shrubs and trees were 7 % and 4%. With the growth types, it is grouped as 24% for rosettes, 10% for clusters and 9% for ramification, in order. The plant diversity is relatively high, but most of the species is hardy to wind and draught. The origin of prairie in the high lands was suggested by over grazing and artificial fire. But this ecosystem is directly influenced from the marine and continental climates. As the Mt Halla formed by the volcanic activity, the geology of the area is mainly consisted with layers of basalt and volcanic rock. The highland prairie is distributed mainly in the south-west slopes. In the inner part of the Paeknokdam, the highest peak of the mountain, the community of Abies koreana is formed in the north slope, while the prairie in the south slope. In the valley, the communities of Abies koreana and mixed forest of Abies koreana with deciduous broad-leaved tree species are well developed. With this fact, the formation of highland prairie caused both from temperature and soil moisture contents. As the geology, topography, climate and direction caused the loss of soil moisture, this factors influenced to the overall growth of plants in the area.
CHARACTERISTICS OF THE ALPINE PLANTS OF MT HALLA
The alpine zone is located in the highest elevation of the mountain. With the fact that the species such as Abies koreana, Prunus maximowiczii and Betula ermanii var. saitoana are naturally distributed in this area, it is concluded there are no exist the alpine zone. There are 23 taxa of woody species such as Empetrum nigraum var. asiaticum, Diapensia lapponica var. obovata, and 38 herbaceous species such as Silene fasciculate and Arabis serrata var. hallaisanensis ( Ko, 1999).
Photo 1. The alpine zone of the Mt Halla (Photo
by Dr H T Shin on 25 July 1994)
The present distribution of the species was originated from the Ice age and
remnant species since after was left as the climate warmer. The morphological
characteristics of alpine plants has relatively short internodes and small and thick
leaves. The chlorophyll content is also higher to compare from the plants in the
lower lands. The flower colors became larger and represent clear than plants in
the lower lands as well. As the short of growing period, the root system is
developed and has more hairy leaves and branches. This characters inherited
from the environment such as topography, soil, short period of growth, heavy
snows and very diverse of sun-light and temperature changes. As the importance
of genetic diversity, the plants of the area should be conserved.
PRESENT STATUS OF HUMAN DISTURBANCES IN THE UPLANDS
The destructed area of the alpine zone including the peak of the mountain is about 1,900,000 m2; the peak of the mountain, east side of the peak, south slopes of the crater, the trail path in the south and northwest slopes. Most of the destruction caused by the visitors. Also torrential in the summer season is another threats to the vegetation in the area. The national park office limited to access to the Paeknokdam, the highest peak of the mountain. The office is also applied the restoration works to the sites. Local NGO's conservation activity such as carrying a soil in a bag is also the symbolic to conserve the destructed habitat in the area. The illegal collections by the visitors should be stopped.
Photo 2. The landscape of the highest peak
of Mt Halla, Paeknokdam. Photo by Dr H T
Shin on 25 July 2000.
TRIALS FOR HABITAT RECOVERY
Both the Mt Halla National Park Office and the Cheju Forest Research Institute has been working for the recovery and relevant researches. The main research works for the recovery is 1) investigation of vegetation of the disturbed sites, 2) investigation by regular monitoring to find out the successional changes, and finally 3) to restore the original vegetation based on the field data. The main target site for recovery is limited to the areas, where human disturbed. The propagation by seedlings is applied in order to maintain the genetic diversity. The study on the species composition, vegetation structure, successional changes and mass propagation techniques is under the action.
Vegetation in the Sites by the Human Disturbances: The grasslands and shrubs of the sub-alpine zones, where envisaged to human disturbances are distributed in the south and northwest slopes of the Mt Halla. The plant taxa of this area is recorded as 242 taxa; 66 families, 166 genus, 195 species, 1 sub-species, 43 varieties and 3 forms. The plants in the Crater, the Paeknokdam, is recorded as 160 taxa; 49 families, 121 genus, 126 species, 1 sub-species, 30 varieties and 3 forms.
Annual Changes of Vegetation in the Sites by the Human Disturbances: The coverage was increased to 86% after 15 years in the disturbed sites, and the tree species per unit area composition was decreased from 43 species to 16 species. The herbaceous species was dominant. As the successional changes developed further, the species composition was changed from annual Gramineae to Cyperaceae and finally to shrub species. The original vegetation, where no human disturbances was dominated by the annual herbaceous and woody species (Figure 1, 2 and 3). The coverage of the vegetation in the successional changes after 15 years increased to 86%. The species composition per area was 16, while 43 for original vegetation. As successional changes developed, the vegetation changes to annual Gramineae(Figure 1, 2, and 3).
Mass Propagations for Vegetation Recovery: With results above, we are carried out the mass propagation to supply the materials such as Rhododendron mucranulatum var. ciliatum, Empetrum asiaticum var. japonicum, Juniperus sargentii for the recovery works. The cuttings, tissue culture and dividing of the materials worked, and 25,000 individuals were propagated at the moment. The target plant species for the propagation is in the follows: ● Abies koreana Wilson (Pinaceae)
● Aconitum quelpaertense Nakai (Ranunculaceae)
● Adenophora tashiroi Makino et Nakai ex Nakai (Campanulaceae)
● Anaphalis sisnica Hance var. morii (Nakai) Ohwi (Compositae)
● Arabis serrata Franch. et Savat. var. hallaisanensis (Nakai) Ohwi (Cruciferae)
● Aruncus dioicus (Walter) Fernald var. aethusifolius (Levl.) Hara (Beberidaceae)
● Astragalus adsurgens Pallas var. alpina Nakai (Leguminosae)
● Betula ermanii Chamisso var. subcordata (Regel) Koidz. subvar. saitoana (Nakai) Schneid. (Betulaceae)
● Berberis amuerensis Ruprecht var. quelpaertensis Nakai (Beberidaceae)
● Chrysanthemum zawadskii Herbich var. coreanum (Nakai) T. Lee (Compositae)
● Circium rhinoceros (Lev. et Vant.) Nakai for. albiflorum (Compositae)
● Circium rhinoceros (Lev. et Vant.) Nakai for. albiflorum Sakata (Compositae)
● Clematis chiisanensis Nakai (Ranunculaceae)
● Diapensia lapponica L. var. obovata Fr. Schmidt (Diapensaceae) ● Elsholtzia pseudocristata Leveille et Vaniot for. minima (Nakai) Kitagawa (Labiatae)
● Empetrum nigrum L. var. japonicum K. Koch (Empetraceae)
● Euphrasia coreana W. Becker (Scrophulariaceae)
● Euphorbia pekinensis Ruprecht var. fauriei (Levl. et Vant.) Hurusawa (Euphorbiaceae)
● Geranium shikokianum Matsumura var. quelpaertense Nakai (Geraniaceae)
● Leontopodium coreanum Nakai Compositae)
● Leontopodium hallasanense Hand.-Mazz. (Compositae)
● Pedicularis verticillata L. (Scrophulariaceae)
● Primula modesta Bisset et Moore var. fauriae (Franch.) Takeda (Primulaceae)
● Rhamnus taquetii Leveille (Rhamnaceae)
● Salix blinii Leveille (Salicaceae)
● Salix hallaisanensis Leveille (Salicaceae)
● Scabiosa tschiliensis Grunning for. alpina (Nakai) W. Lee (Dipsacaceae)
● Silene fasciculata Nakai (Caryophyllaceae)
● Trifolium lupinaster L. for. alpinus (Nakai) M. Park (Leguminosae)
● Taraxacum hallaisanense Nakai Compositae)
● Tofieldia coccinea Richardson var. kondio (Miyabe et Kudo) Hara (Liliaceae)
● Weigela subsessilis (Nakai) Baily (Caprifoliaceae)
REFERENCES
Ko, J. K. 1999. Ecophysiological studies on alpine plants in Mt Halla. Ph.D. Dissertation of Graduate School, Cheju National University. 98pp.
Lee, K. Y., C. S. Kim, Y. J. Kang, I. K. Lee & E. J. Chung. 1999. Stabilization of the forest ecosystem in Mt Halla. Cheju Forest Research Institute (Unpublished).
* Dr Chan-Soo KIM finished his Ph.D. at the Department of Biology, Cheju National University, Chejudo. Dr KIM is also one of the KPSG members, and is working on plant taxonomy at the Chejudo Forest Research Institute, and especially conservation of rare plants and its restoration works in Mt Halla.
Byung-Yun SUN (Chonpuk National University, Chonju)*
NATURAL ENVIRONMENT
The Tokto Islet, 186,173 m2, is located in 37o 14' N and 131o 52' E, where the remote from the east coast of the Korean peninsula; 90 km from Ulnung Island and 160 km from Oki Island of the Japanese Archipelago. Geographically this island is more close to the Ulnung Island. The Tokto Islet is consisted with two small islet, Dongdo(64,580 square metres) and Sodo (91,740 m2) including 31 small islet with 56 reefs. The highest peak of the Dongdo is 98m and 168m for the Sodo, separated 175m each other. The soil has very shallow depth, including 60% sandy soils and 15% organic matter. The strong wind over the year and the topography with steep slopes allows a environment available to the growth of plants (Lee, 1990). The annual mean temperature is 12oC and 1oC for the mean temperature in January of the year. The mean temperature in August is 23oC. The mean annual precipitation is 1,400mm, 47 days for sunnydays, 168 days for cloudy, 86 days for rainfall, and 69 days for misty. The Tokto Islet was created in the 1.2 million years ago that earlier than the Ulnung Island (Son & Park, 1994).
HISTORY OF BOTANICAL EXPLORATION
Most of the botanical investigations in the Korean peninsula was done mainly by the Japanese botanists. The investigations for the flora of Tokto Islet started in 1947 by Professors Dr Y H Chung and Dr Y N Lee. Dr Y N Lee reported the islet flora as 35 taxa in 1952. Further investigations was continued as Dr I S Yang(1956) reported as 20 taxa. Lee and Ju(1958) reported as 60 taxa, and Lee(1978) reported as 68 taxa. Lee and Yang(1981) recorded as 75 taxa, and report that the islet can have 50 taxa. Both Drs Lee and Yang(1981) enumerated the flora as 75 taxa; 31 families 50 genus 69 species and 6 varieties, based on the previous results from Lee(1952), Lee & Joo(1958) and Lee(1978). Lee and Yang suggested that 50 taxa is the maximum of distribution numbers in this islet, which based on 24% of mis-identification ratio including extinct species in the wild such as Schizophragma hydrangeoides, Ampelopsis brevipedunculata var. heterophylla, Rubus phoenicolasius, Viola kusanoana, Cnidium japonicum, Farfugium japonicum, Plantago asiaticum, and Orobanche coerulescens. Lee(1990) recorded as 22 taxa in the islet and Sun et al.(1996) added Commelina communis to the list. Sun and Kim(1998) recorded 42 taxa with Cnidium japonicum, a species that Lee and Yang(1981) reported as extinct. The species such as Stellaria aquatica, Capsella bursa-pastoris, Taraxacum platycarpum, Machilus thunbergii, Campanula takesimense, and Elaeagnus macrophylla is reported as unrecorded species. Sun & Kim(1998) summarized the flora as 55 taxa, based on the previous reported 82 taxa and 19 taxa from mis-identification, 4 taxa for extinct and 4 taxa for planted.
PRESENT STATUS OF FLORA
The author recorded as 45 taxa; 24 families, 43 genus, 38 species, and 7 varieties, including 3 species such as Pinus densiflora, Machilus thunbergii and Majanthemum dilatatum which is introduced from outside of the islet. The extinct species of the islet is recorded as 5 taxa such as Plantago asiatica, Schizophragma hydrangioides, Schizophragma hydrangioides, Rubus phoenicolasius, Viola grypoceras and Ampelopsis brevipedunculata var. heterophylla. The species such as Plantago asiatica, Schizophragma hydrangioides, Rubus phoenicolasius, Viola grypoceras, and Ampelopsis brevipedunculata var. heterophylla, which are seen only in the literature are considered as extinct in the islet. The species which could find only in the reference list is 22 taxa; 10 families, 19 genus, 19 varieties and 3 varieties, and this caused from that most of taxa by the mis-identification of the plants.
Some of the plant taxa in this island is summarized in the follow: Reynoutria sachalinensis (Fr. Schm.) Nakai (Polygonaceae): This species is located with a quite big population at the Mulgol, and there is evidence that this species was used as firewood. This fact reminds that the species is one of native species to this island. The chromosome number of Reynoutria sachalinensis is 2n=132, resulting more similar from Ulnung Island and different from Japanese origin. This evidence that this species was originated from Ulnung Island.
Campanula takesimana Nakai (Campanulaceae): This species was investigated in 1997 as artificially planted at the side of path to the peak of the Sodo. But the other individuals of this species were investigated at the cliffs at the same islet, where difficult to access. This species is also recorded in Ulnung Island.
Sedum takesimense Nakai (Crassulaceae): Several individuals were recorded at the garrison's barrack, and this species was also planted. But quite big population was identified by the binocular, at the steep slopes, where impossible to be access. This evidence that this species is one of the native plants of this islet. This species is also grows in Ulnung Island.
Majanthemum dilatatum (Wood) Nelsons et Macbr. (Liliaceae): Several individuals of this species was witnessed at the path of the hillside near from Mulgol. This species seems to be planted or migrated from other areas by seeds or moved by the buried in the soils.
Orobanche coerulescens Steph. (Orobanchaceae): This species was recorded at the swell, way to the garrison's barrack.
Elaeagnus macrophylla Thunb. (Elaeagnaceae): This species was known as planted, but believed as native species to this islet as quite big individuals was recorded at the cliffs in Mulgol, where not access to.
Lonicera insularis Nakai (Caprifoliaceae): Two individuals were recorded as native species at the garrison's barrack. Some planted individuals grow not healthy, reaches to 10 to 20 cm in height.
Liliope platyphylla Wang et Tang (Liliaceae): Two individuals were firstly recorded at the fissured rock of the Sodo. This species believed native to this islet. Viola grypoceras A. Gray (Violaceae): Although this species was recorded, in 1952, by the botanist, Y N Lee, but this species was not recorded during the field inves tigations of 1995, 1997 and 1998.
10) Planted species: The species such as Euonymus japonicus, Camellia japonica, Elaeagnus macrophylla, Machilus thunbergii and Pinus thunbergii was planted, but the bad growing status at the moment.
The firstly recorded species in the islet in 1997, Taraxacum platycarpum was possibly moved by seeds or in the buried soils, from Ulnung Island, when tree planting was under way in the islet. Both community of Cyrtomium falcatum and Echinochloa crus-galli appeared in the coast of Dongdo and Sodo. Aster spathulifolius is one of the dominant species at the cliff habitat in the islet. The woody species native to this islet were recorded as three species such as Lonicera insularis, Euonymus japonica and Elaeagnus macrophylla. Quite big two individuals of Lonicera insularis recorded at Dongdo. Several individuals of Euonymus japonica can be found, where Lonicera insularis is growing. Sedum takesimense in front of the garrison is believed be planted. But a community of this species was seen, by binocular, at the steep slope at Mulgol, where not to be accessed to. This evidence assured the fact that this species is native to this islet. Some of species such as Sagina maxima, Sedum oryzifolium, Arabis takesimana, Lysimachia mauritiana are distributed at the seashore cliffs. Several individuals of Cnidium japonicum found in the seashore of Dongdo. The community of Miscanthus sinensis can be found in the seashore slopes. At the peak around the garrison's barrack, some weedy species such as Polygonum aviculare, Portulaca oleracea, Sonchus oleraceus, Solanum nigrum, Metaplexis japonica, Digitaria sanguinalis, Oxalis corniculata, and Rumex crispus can be found where two Lonicera insularis located. The habitat at the slopes of Mulgol is one of the best environments in Tokto Islet for the growth of plants. The community of Reynoutria sachalinensisis is well formed, and this is not to be considered as planted. At the slope of Mulgol, the species such as Elaeagnus macrophylla, Machilus thunbergii and Campanula takesimana was planted and grows healthy. Both species of Asparagus cochinchinensis and Asparagus schoberioides is recorded, but Asparagus cochinchinensis was mis-identified of Asparagus schoberioides. The species such as Ampelopsis brevipedunculata var. heterophylla, Rubus phoenicolasius, Plantago asiatica and Schizophragma htdrangeoides is considered as extinct by the wild rabbit (Lee, 1978; Lee & Yang, 1901). Both Pinus thunbergii and Camellia japonica was planted, but the growing is not so good so far.
FLORAL CHARACTERISTICS
As Tokto Islet has very limited flora compare to other regions, plant species density per km2 is only 2.7, while Ulnung Island as 6.8. This evidence derived from its habitat environment for the plant growth, as well as the small size of the islet role as limited factors. Most of the recorded plants in the islet could be categorized into the groups to tolerant to the salt and dry; 15 taxa of Gramineae and 11 taxa for Compositae. As the visitors increased recently and with artificial planting in the limited habitat, introduced plant species is rapidly increasing. Most of the plant species recorded in Tokto Islet is also seen in Ulnung Island. One of the species in Toto Islet such as Sedum takesimense, Arabis takesimana and Lonicera insularis are endemic to Ulnung Island, but no species is recorded native to the Tokto Islet. Although it was not recorded in the present field study, Gyosophila oldhamiana, which is not distributed both in Japan and Ulnung Island, it was considered to moved directly from the peninsula. Tetragonia tetragonoidesis recorded in the islet. As this species is not distributed in Ulnung Island, this species possibly moved by the current from other areas in the south. Most of the species in Tokto Islet believed the same patterns with Ulnung Island from the phytogeographical point of view.
CITED LITERATURE
Lee, D.B. & S.U. Joo. 1958. Reinvestigation of flora of Ullung Island. Bulletin of Korea University 3:223-296.
Lee, S.K. 1990. Flora and soil environment of Ullung Island. Bulletin of Sangji University 11:335 -364.
Lee, Y.N. 1952. Plants of Dog-do Island. Susan no. 2.
Lee, W.T. & I.S. Yang. 1981. The flora of Ullung island and Dogdo island. KACN Report 19:61-96.
Lee, I.K. 1978. Ecological consideration of plants of Dog-do Island. Nature Conservation 22:20-23.
Lee, T.B. 1978. Flora of Dog-do Island. Nature Conservation 22:16-19.
Kim, Y.K. 1985. Petrology of Ulreung Volcanic Island, Korea- Part 1. Geology. Journal of Japanese Ass. Minerology Petrolog. and Eco. Geolog. 80:128-135.
Sun B. Y. & C.H. Kim. 1998. Vascular Flora of Dog-do Island. pp.91-98. In, Research in Dog-go. Institute of Conservation of Dog-do Island.
Sun B.-Y., J.H. Park & M.J. Kwak. 1996. Characteristics of Vascular Flora of Ullung Island and Dog-do Island. KNCN report 10:115-135
Son, Y.K. & K.H. Park. 1994. Geology and evolution of Dog-do. Journal of Geology 30:242-261
Yang, I. S. 1956. Plants of Ullung Island. Bulletin of Kyungbuk National University. (Natural Sciences) 5:17-65.
* Dr Byung-Yun SUN, Professor of plant taxonomy at Chonpuk National University, Chonju, Chollapuk-do province, is the member of the KPSG. Dr Sun is working on the flora of Korean peninsula including Russian Far East and Manchurian regions of Mainland China.
CONSERVATION NEWS IN KOREA
THE KOREAN PLANT SPECIALIST GROUP (KPSG) submitted the final report on the conservation of rare and endangered plants in Korea to the British Embassy, Seoul at the end of the last year. This project was supported for the State Visit of Her Majorsity, Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh to Korea in April 1999. This project is on the conservation of Abeliophyllum distichum, Thuja koraiensis and Megalanthes saniculifolia in Korea. The KPSG also prepared the interim report on the genetic studies of Kirengeshoma koreana (Saxifragaceae), one of the Korean endemic plants. The Chicago Zoo kindly supported the fund for this conservation project.
MOVEMENT OF THE OFFICE OF NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH (NIER) MOVED TO THE NEW BUILDING, NIER, So-gu, Inchon City on July 2000. The NIER has new provision of herbarium facility (72㎡) equipped with mobile storage system at new office and approximately 25,000 herbarium specimens which were collected during the course of the 2nd National Natural Environment Survey will be stored at the Herbarium.
NEW HABITATS OF 15 RESERVED PLANT SPECIES WERE RECORDED during the 3rd year's investigation of the 2nd National Natural Environment Survey. Based on the designated as protected species under the Natural Environmental Conservation Act, the seven species were recorded at Mt Chuwang, Chongsong-gun, Kyongsangpuk-do Province. The plant species found from the field investigation were as follows: Lilium cernuum, Smilacina bicolor, Iris odaesanensis, Gastrodia elata, Thalictrum coreanum, Aconitum austro-koreense, Paeonia obovata, Jeffersonia dubia, Leontice microrhyncha, Sedum rotundifolium, Kirengeshoma koreana, Corylopsis coreana, Milletia japonica, Berchemia berchemiaefolia, and Trientalis europaea.
SURVEY ON THE HABITAT STATUS OF ENDANGERED AND RESERVED ANIMALS AND PLANTS BASED ON THE NATURAL ENVIRONMENT CONSERVATION ACT was proposed in 2001 by the MoE(Ministry of Environment). This plan is to field investigate the status of habitat for 194 species of endangered and reserved animals and plants designated under the Natural Environment Conservation Act from 2001. The 58 plant species including 6 endangered species and 52 reserved species are the target species for the field works.
SYMPOSIUM ON NATURAL ENVIRONMENT POLICY was held from 1 to 2 December 2000 at Sangrok Resort in Chonan City, Chungchongnam-do Province. The Symposium was organized by the MoE to establish the prospect on natural environment policy in the 21st century. Many papers on the plant conservation policy and actions were presented at the symposium and the major ones were as follows:
Mr Byung-Sung CHUN, Director General, MoE. Status and prospect of conservation policy on wild fauna and flora
Dr Heung- Lak CHUNG, MoE. Effective conservation measures for rare and endangered plant species
Prof. Byung-Yun SUN, Chonbuk National University. Systematic management of plant specimen and herbarium. Prof. Ju-Hwan KIM, Taejon University and Prof. Yong-Shik KIM, Yeungnam University. Conservation and supporting for ex-situ facilities for plant conservation
Prof. Woo-Tchul LEE, Kangwon National University. Management of ecologically harmful alien species
THE LEGIALATION ON ESTABLISHMENT AND PROMOTION OF KOREAN ARBORETA IS ON PROGRESS IN THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY in order to promote and support the botanical gardens and arboreta (BGA). If this Act become effective, it is expected to contribute to the development and management of Korean BGA.
NATIONAL ARBORETUM COLLABORATING WITH SEOUL CITY GOVERNMENT commenced project to conserve the rare plants in Seoul City. Field investigation was conducted, in 2000, for 10 rare plant taxa including the habitat of Forsythia saxatilis. Re-introduction work was done in two places, for two species, Malus asiatica and Viola seoulensis. Also the National Arboretum conducted the field investigation to the 76 habitats of rare plants. One of the products of the work was rediscovery of the native habitat of Bupleurum latissimum Nakai, belongs to Umfelliferae, in the wild of Ulnung Island, off the coast of east (See cover photo and explanation in the back page).
OFFICE OF FORESTRY conducted the pilot survey to collecting the disappearing ethnobotanical knowledge in the mountainous regions in the Korean peninsula including Chejudo Island. The information collection was on the widely use of edible, medicinal, and industrial uses by the local inhabitants. This project will be continued in the next year throughout the peninsula.
FOREST RESEARCH INSTITUTE, based in Seoul, recently finished the 5-year project on the forest ecosystem of DMZ and its vicinal areas, and this project contribute the plant species conservation in the area.
COVER PHOTO: One of the rare plants of Korea, Bupleurum latissimum Nakai, belongs to Umbelliferae. This species was known as extinct in the wild for the last decades. The Plant Expedition Team of the Korean National Arboretum, leaded by Dr Y M LEE, in June 2000, the wild population in Ulnung Island, off the eastern coast of the Korean peninsula. Only several individuals are survived in the wild. Photo by Dr S H PARK, Visiting researcher of the National Arboretum, in the wild habitat in Ulnung Island on 29th June 2000.
THE KPSG NEWSLETTER is published four times a year in March, June, September and December to promoting of information exchanges concerning the plant conservation. The first three issues for a year are prepared in Korean, and the edition of December in English. If you want to receive the KPSG Newsletter, please send your name and address to the Chair, Dr Yong-Shik KIM, Department of Landscape Architecture, College of Natural Resources, Yeungnam University, Kyongsan 712-749, Republic of Korea (Telephone +82 53 810 2975, Facsimile: +82 53 813 6470, E-mail: yskim1@yu.ac.kr). |
THE KPSG NEWSLETTER was kindly supported by the Office of Forestry, Republic of Korea
