2008 Volume 25 Issue 2 Pages 75-93
This study compared the species composition and distribution of the forest communities between Korea and western Japan using vegetation releve database. The study area included the eastern and southern Korean Peninsula, Is. Cheju, Is. Ulreung, northern Kyushu, and Is. Tsushima. Twenty-eight forest communities were classified by tabular comparison with the total of 1204 releves. The forest communities of Is. Ulreung, Korean Peninsula, and northern Kyushu contained many characteristic species, while those of Is. Cheju and Is. Tsushima had less number of characteristic species. In Is. Cheju, the forest communities had many common species with Korean Peninsula in high elevation area, and with northern Kyushu in the low elevation area. Northern Kyushu and Is. Tsushima shared the highest number of common species. The physiognomical features of the vertical vegetation zones in the study area were similar, however, dominant species and species composition were different between the regions. In the lowland zone of the study area, the forest communities dominated by Castanopsis cuspidata var. sieboldii or C. cuspidata var. cuspidata were distributed except for northern part of the Korean Peninsula and Is. Ulreung. Additionally, Persea thunbergii forest was distributed widely in the lowest part of the study area, however, it showed the simplification of the species composition in the Korean Peninsula and Is. Ulreung. In the hilly zone, evergreen forest dominated by Abies firma and Quercus acuta established in northern Kyushu and Is. Tsushima, but they were absent in the Korean Peninsula. The difference in forest community was conspicuous, especially in the montane zone. In the Korean Peninsula and Is. Cheju, deciduous broadleaved forests dominated by two Quercus species (Q. mongolica and Q. serrata) flourished in the montane zone. In addition, the Abies nephrolepis forest was established in the same altitudinal range of the Q. mongolica zone in the Korean Peninsula. On the other hand, the forest communities of the montane zone in Is. Ulreng and northern Kyushu were dominated by two different Fagus species, i.e., F. multinervis and F. crenata, respectively. As a result of DCA ordination, evergreen broadleaved forests of the whole study area showed the lower scores along the first axis, while deciduous and coniferous forests in the Korean Peninsula showed the higher scores. The forest communities of Is. Cheju, northern Kyushu, and Is. Tsushima were located in the middle. The first axis reflected the gradient from oceanic climate to continental one. Evergreen broadleaved forests of lower elevation had higher floristic similarity, except for Is. Ulreung. On the other hand, deciduous broadleaved forests and coniferous forests of higher elevation had distinct characteristic species, thus less similar amongst each other and regional differentiation of forest community is progressing.
