Estimation of Tree Mortality and Recruitment Rate Derived from National Inventory Data of South Korea

Calculating accurate tree turnovers including mortality and recruitment are crucial for forest dynamics model that predicts the changes in forest characteristics such as structure, density and carbon stocks under future climate. Mortality rate, a key factor in forest dynamics, is known to be increasing over the world, therefore it would not be practical to implement the rate based on the conventional theoretical methods. However, National Inventory Data could provide good opportunity to estimate solid mortality and recruitment rate due to their large data set. Therefore, the aim of this study is the estimation of forest turnover rate based on DBH from National Inventory Data from South Korea to improve understanding of temperate-zone forest dynamics. The number of the permanent plot was 15,300 during 1st measurement and 15,179 during 2nd measurement. Each plot was measured every 5year repeated after first measurement. Total tree mortality rate was 5.25%, total recruitment rate was 4.71% covering permanent plots. Pinus spp. which is one of the dominated species in the study area represented high mortality rate of 6.79%, a low recruitment rate of 1.84%. In contrast, Quercus spp. represented a relatively low mortality rate of 4.14%, a relatively high recruitment rate of 4.06%. This study covered only a 5-year short-term rate but these results might be improved because the third measurement period will finish the end of this year. The results of this study can contribute to estimate forest dynamics under future climate.

Keyword: turnover, mortality rate, recruitment rate, national inventory data, forest dynamics