Growing environment characteristics and vegetation structure of Vaccinium Oldhamii Miq. native habitats in Korea

Abstract

In the present study was surveyed the flora, vegetation structure, growing environment, and soil characteristics in the wild habitats of Vaccinium oldhamii and offered basic information for habitat conservation and restoration.Most of the wild habitats of V. oldhamii were located at altitudes between 5 and 1095 m with inclinations of 2–33°, Dense populations were found around the climbing routes of the north-facing mountain slopes and dry rocky areas along mountain ridges. Vascular plants identified in the surveyed V. oldhamii habitats (28 quadrats in 12 habitat areas) included 129 taxa (50 families, 94 genera, 115 species, 9 varieties, 2 subspecies and 3 forms), of which woody plants accounted for 31.1%. The flora identified in the habitat areas were classified into four community types: Community I (Pinus densiflora – Quercus mongolica), Community II (Pinus thunbergii), Community III (Pinus rigida), and Community IV (Castanea crenata). The differences among communities within V. oldhamii habitats were more dependent on the occurrence of species with high importance percentages than on the population sizes of the species observed. The soil characteristics of V. oldhamii habitats were as follows: mostly silty loams; well-drained; shallow available-soil depth; high acidity (pH 3.93–5.07, mean = 4.63, lower than mean Korean forest soil pH of 5.5); and mean available phosphate (=9.485 mg/kg, lower than the mean Korean forest soil available phosphate of 26 mg/kg). Mean species diversity, evenness and dominance were calculated as 1.216, 0.954 and 0.046, respectively.