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Alpine Vegetation on the Paekdu-San (Changbaishan) Summit of the North-east China

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Abstract

We aim to provide a syntaxonomical scheme for the alpine tundra vegetation of volcano Mount Paekdu (Changbaishan) bordering China and North Korea. From the field investigations in 1991, 2004, and 2009 a total of 89 phytosociological relevés were sampled by the Braun-Blanquet method. Obtained data sets were analyzed by tabular hand-sorting technique. Syntaxonomic position and nomenclature of units were determined by comparison with mainly Japanese relevant communities. Ten rankless units in four physiognomic vegetation types were classified: alpine desert vegetation (Papaver radicatum var. pseudoradicatum community, Minuartia arctica community, Polytrichastrum alpinum-Minuartia macrocarpa var. koreana community), alpine windswept dwarf vegetation (Chrysanthemum zawadskii var. alpinum-Festuca ovina var. koreano-alpina community, Scirpus maximowiczii community, Oxytropis anertii-Salix rotundifolia community, Carex longirostrata-Dryas octopetala var. asiatica community), snow-bed vegetation (Phyllodoce caerulea-Tofieldia coccinea community, Viola biflora-Calamagrostis langsdorfii community), and colluvial drainage channel vegetation (Carex atrata-Sanguisorba stipulata var. riishiriensis community). The variation of the vegetation resulted from primarily the rock and soil particle size and soil mobility, and slope inclination. Some of the plant communities were regarded as local and endemic types. Yet we firmly believe that further researches are requested by much richer materials and syntaxonomical comprehensive evaluation in between elsewhere in the Pan-East Sea (Sea of Japan).

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Acknowledgements

We present special thanks to Dr. KH Ahn, Dr. GJ Cho, Dr. JC Lim, Mr. SU Han, JS Kim, CW Lee, Mrs. YM Jeong, MS Kim, Mrs. JA Lee, and Mrs. JE Kim for long-lasting cooperation in very tough fieldworks.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Unit of Vegetation Science, School of Biological Sciences, University of Keimyung, Daegu, 42601, Korea

    Jong Won Kim

  2. Research Division, National Science Museum, 481 Daedeokdaero Yuseong-gu, Daejeon, 34143, Korea

    Sung Yeol Kim

  3. Warm Temperate and Subtropical Forest Research Center, National Institute of Forest Science, 22 Donnaeko Rd. Seogwiposi, Jeju Special Self-governing Province, Seoul, 63582, Korea

    Byoung Ki Choi

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  1. Jong Won Kim
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  2. Sung Yeol Kim
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Contributions

JWK designed and accomplished the whole work from the beginning; SYK performed the identification of nonvascular plants and participated in the initial version of manuscript; BKC and SYK analyzed data, tested statistics, coordinated the figures. All the authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Correspondence to Byoung Ki Choi.

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Kim, J.W., Kim, S.Y. & Choi, B.K. Alpine Vegetation on the Paekdu-San (Changbaishan) Summit of the North-east China. J. Plant Biol. 62, 436–450 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12374-019-0305-x

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