Reference ecosystems are frequently used for forest and river restoration, considering the ecosystem of a reference area that has a similar ecological environment to that of the damaged land. However, living creatures and the succession stages are sometimes not taken into consideration, and the application of reference ecosystems considering the ecological environment and structure is not made well. These problems arising from the planning stage lead to an additional problem that maintenance is not easy after the completion of the project. Thus, the purpose of this study is to develop the selection process of the reference ecosystems considering the existing vegetation and the ecological characteristics of a region similar to the degraded site. We considered the condition of the land before degradation, and to provide a method of revegetation using such a selected reference ecosystem. We applied this process into 10 degraded sites in the Seoul metropolitan area, Republic of Korea, with the 6 types of dominant vegetation communities of the region.
Results/Conclusions
The implementation case of the methods in this study includes the steps to determine whether a reference ecosystem is created on the basis of the growth and vegetation of the site to be restored, and the steps to select a reference ecosystem model if the creation of a reference ecosystem is required in the site to be restored. In step 1, the type of an ecosystem to be restored is selected by comparing the land to be restored with the condition before damage. In step 2, a reference area with the damage status similar to the land to be restored is selected, and the location characteristics and the target forest type. In step 3, the scope of the reference ecosystem is established by taking the regional, global and temporal ranges into account. Lastly, in step 4 of selecting the final reference ecosystem model, the reference ecosystem considering the existing vegetation is selected and the method of revegetation using the model is provided. The ecological restoration models and reference ecosystem models for each type presented in this study will provide a basis for rationally determining the progress of ecological restoration and the need for specific follow-up management at the local sites.
* This work was supported by Korea Environment Industry & Technology Institute(KEITI) through Public Technology Program based on Environmental Policy, funded by Korea Ministry of Environment(MOE)(No. 2018000210007)