A floristic study of Donggeom-do (Isl.), Ganghwa-gun, Korea

Abstract

The district of Ganghwa-gun in the western coast (Seohae) of the Korea is consisted of several islands, Ganghwa-do, Seokmo-do, Gyodong-do, Jumun-do, Boreum-do, Seogeom-do and Donggeom-do. Since several islands of them were connected to mainland of Korea by bridges, the islands attract a lot of tourists from Seoul, Incheon and Gyeonggi-do areas. Construction of new roads, pensions, resort areas and restaurants provided economical benefits to local residents while natural vegetation of these islands has deteriorated continuously. Before biodiversity of vascular plants in these regions is damaged seriously by human impacts, it is needed to conserve original vegetation of the islands for restoration and monitoring in the future. Therefore, the primary purpose of the study is to clarify the flora of Donggeom-do, belonging to Ganghwa-gun. From the 15 times of field trips to the island, we have collected a number of vascular plants, 512 taxa in total, including 110 families, 329 genera, 449 species, six subspecies, 52 varieties, four forms and one hybrid. Of 512 taxa investigated, we have identified 12 taxa to be endemic to Korea. Six taxa were endangered or rare species which were designated by the Ministry of Environment and Korea Forest Service, respectively. 25 taxa were recognized as floristic regional indicator species designated specially by the Ministry of Environment. Seven species have shown their northern or southern distributional limit ranges, and 29 taxa were recognized as halophytes. The naturalized plants were identified as 55 taxa, and their naturalization ratio was 10.7%.