Analysis of Vegetation Structure of Castanopsis sieboldii Forest in the Warm-temperate Zone, Korea

This study aims at classifying and analyzing the vegetation structure of Castanopsis sieboldii forest, one of the evergreen broad-leaved forests found under the warm-temperate climate of Korea. It is also compared with the ones of the Castanopsis sieboldii forest in Japan where most similar such forest of Korea, to find unique vegetation structures of the only Korean forest. Vegetation structure of Korean Castanopsis sieboldii forest was divided into two units at the level of community units both of Ardisia japonica-Castanopsis sieboldii community and Ardisio-Castanopsietum sieboldii association. The association carries similar type with the vegetation system of Japan, but any subunits differentiated with the Japan were found vary much. Hierarchical cluster analysis brings in similar result with the analysis on the vegetation structure as well.