Figure 6 - available via license: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
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Canopy profiles of pitch pine stands with different ages. The thickness of the horizontal bars represents the span of the canopy height, and the length of each bar represents the total cover of that canopy. 30s, 40s, 50s, and 80s indicate 30-, 40-, 50-, and 80-year-old stands.
Source publication
During the period of Japanese occupation (1910–1945) and the Korean War (1950–1953), extensive areas of forest were severely degraded by over-harvesting and fire in Korea. In addition, intensive use of the forest-resources to obtain fuel, organic compost, livestock feed, and so on contributed to forest degradation. As a result, the South Korean gov...
Contexts in source publication
Context 1
... the older plantations, the coverage of the understory tree layer, composed of trees that become replacer species, sometimes became similar to or surpassed that of the pitch pine forming canopy tree layer. In the canopy profile of the reference oak forest, the coverage of canopy tree, understory tree, shrub, and herb layers cover the ground at values of 80%, 25%, 40%, and 50%, respectively ( Figure 6). ...
Context 2
... our study, we compared the species composition and biodiversity of the afforested pitch pine stands with Mongolian oak stands selected as the reference stand. The species composition of pitch pine stands resembled those of the reference stands ( Figure 5) as their diversity increased over time ( Figure 6). In consequence, the afforestation by introducing pitch pine helped increase both biological integrity and ecological stability and thereby met the restoration goal [38,43,[95][96][97]. ...
Context 3
... supply of organic matter by established vegetation appeared in the increases of thickness of litter layer and organic matter content, and their decomposition led to an increase in nutrients content (Figure 8). In particular, it is believed that litters of the native broadleaved trees including oaks established and grown rapidly on the forest floor of pitch pine plantation (Figures 6 and 7) were decomposed rapidly and thus played an important role as the stand age of the pitch pine plantation increases [99][100][101][102][103]. Consequently, the younger stand age, the more soil environmental factors showed a big difference with the reference oak stands, and the number of environmental factors that showed a big difference tended to decrease according to the stand age of the pitch pine plantation. ...
Citations
... During the same period, the annual soil erosion mass decreased by 83% from 24 to 4 teragrams (Tg) [35]. In addition, reforestation in Korea improved the soil physicochemical qualities in the reforested areas, with particularly significant improvements in old forest stands [36,37]. Furthermore, after reforestation, the thickness of the litter layer, soil organic matter content, and nutrient content (including phosphorus and calcium) of the soils were found to increase [37]. ...
... In addition, reforestation in Korea improved the soil physicochemical qualities in the reforested areas, with particularly significant improvements in old forest stands [36,37]. Furthermore, after reforestation, the thickness of the litter layer, soil organic matter content, and nutrient content (including phosphorus and calcium) of the soils were found to increase [37]. ...
Industrial and technological development have contributed significantly to causing environmental crises, such as climate change and land degradation. To address these environmental challenges, nature-based solutions (NBS) have gained increased attention over conventional technical responses. This study derived conceptual linkages from NBS application to resilience promotion, and subsequently, to the achievement of sustainable development goals (SDGs). The study was conducted to reveal that NBS activities are an essential approach that determines the balance between human development and nature conservation. In this paper, we compare four case studies, one domestic reforestation project and three international afforestation projects, all of which had forest-related NBS experiences and were conducted by the Republic of Korea. All four projects were found to have an impact on environmental and socio-economic resilience. These impacts were qualitatively assessed through resilience indicator evaluations. Subsequently, the resilience indicators were matched with the targets of the SDGs. NBS initiatives designed to include various natural and social elements promoted the resilience of ecosystems and society and address a broader spectrum of SDGs. Further efforts to establish region-specific promotional models, identify resilience indicators, and collect scientific data are recommended for quantitatively assessing the NBS initiatives.
