Succession of the Abandoned Rice Fields Restores the Riparian Forest

Bong Soon Lim, Jaewon Seol, A Reum Kim, Ji Hong An, Chi Hong Lim and Chang Seok Lee ()
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Bong Soon Lim: Department of Bio & Environmental Technology, Seoul Women’s University, Seoul 01797, Korea
Jaewon Seol: Department of Bio & Environmental Technology, Seoul Women’s University, Seoul 01797, Korea
A Reum Kim: Division of Forest Ecology, National Institute of Forest Science, Seoul 02455, Korea
Ji Hong An: Department of Bioresources Conservation, Korea National Baekdudaegan Aboretum, Bonghwa 36209, Korea
Chi Hong Lim: Division of Ecological Survey Research, National Institute of Ecology, Seocheon 33657, Korea
Chang Seok Lee: Department of Bio & Environmental Technology, Seoul Women’s University, Seoul 01797, Korea

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 16, 1-23

Abstract: The vegetation changes in the abandoned rice fields with different abandonment histories were analyzed across the country of South Korea. The successional process was confirmed by changes in vegetation profiles and species composition. The vegetation profile showed the process of starting with grassland, passing through the shrub stage, and turning into a tree-dominated forest. DCA ordination based on vegetation data showed that the process began with grasslands consisting of Persicaria thunbergii , Juncus effusus var. decipiens , Phalaris arundinacea , etc., then partially went through shrubland stages consisting of Salix gracilistyla , S. integra , young Salix koreensis , etc., and ultimately changed to a Salix koreensis dominated forest. In order to study the relationship between the succession process of the abandoned rice paddies and riparian vegetation, information on riparian vegetation was collected in the same watershed as the abandoned rice paddies investigated. Riparian vegetation tended to be distributed in the order of grasslands consisting of Phragmites japonica , Miscanthus sacchariflorus , P. arundinacea , etc., shrubland dominated by Salix gracilistyla , S. integra , etc., and a S. koreensis community dominated forest by reflecting the flooding regime as far away from the waterway. The result of stand ordination based on the riparian vegetation data also reflected the trend. From this result, we confirmed that the temporal sequence of the vegetation change that occurred in the abandoned rice fields resembled the spatial distribution of the riparian vegetation. Consequently, succession of the abandoned rice fields restored the riparian forest, which has almost disappeared in Korea and other Asian countries that use rice as their staple food.

Keywords: abandoned rice fields; riparian forest; succession; South Korea (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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