Establishing an Ecological Network to Enhance Forest Connectivity in South Korea’s Demilitarized Zone

Lim, Chi Hong

doi:10.3390/land13010106

Cited by 3 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 62 publications

(87 reference statements)

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“…These results imply that the landscape of the DMZ is less fragmented compared with that of the urban and rural areas; the shape of the patches is not simple, but complex, and connectivity between the patches is high [71,72]. These results are believed to have resulted from the strictly limited human access in the area for about 70 years following the Korean War [77]. In particular, the recovery of the riparian forest that has disappeared…”

Section: Ecological Characteristics Of the Dmz And Ccz Based On Lands...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Passive Restoration Achieved through Natural Processes over 70 Years in the Korean DMZ

Lim,

Kim,

Lim

et al. 2024

Forests

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The Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) is an area where human disturbance has been strictly restrained for about seven decades since 1953. As a result, compared with rural and urban areas in Korea with similar ecological conditions, the landscape structure of the Korean DMZ today shows a big difference in that it has a riparian forest and lacks any of the artificial landscape elements, such as agricultural and residential areas. The vegetation maps made in the 1950s and those made in recent years of a model site that extends throughout the DMZ, the Civilian Control Zone (CCZ), and adjacent rural areas show that successional changes in the DMZ and CCZ areas are remarkable, while changes in the rural areas are not clear. Rice fields have been replaced by riparian forests, whereas young forests in areas previously subjected to excessive use and pine forests have been replaced by broad-leaved forests. Among the three landscape elements that changed, it was found that riparian zones, where natural disturbance is usually frequent, could mitigate the impacts of human disturbance and restore the original features of nature sooner than any other elements. The results of analyses on landscape change that focused on rice fields before the Korean War also showed similar results: most of these fields had turned into riparian vegetation. Stand ordination of riparian vegetation investigated in the CCZ, rural areas, and urban areas showed clear differences in species composition and diversity among regions. In this study, we confirmed the passive restoration of the Korean DMZ and CCZ through natural regeneration processes as a result of restricted human disturbance over a period of about seven decades.

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Section: Ecological Characteristics Of the Dmz And Ccz Based On Lands...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Passive Restoration Achieved through Natural Processes over 70 Years in the Korean DMZ

Lim,

Kim,

Lim

et al. 2024

Forests

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Habitat Protection in Urban–Rural Fringes through Coordinated Ecological Network Construction and Territorial Planning

Xie,

Ying,

Zou

et al. 2024

Land

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Urban–rural fringes (URFs) are crucial for biodiversity yet often neglected in conservation efforts. This study refines URF habitat evaluation and integrates it into a coordinated ecological network (EN) and territorial planning framework. Using Qingpu District, Shanghai as a case study, we defined its URF via k-means clustering of night-time light data and applied the InVEST model, MSPA, Integrated Habitat Value, Patch Importance, and Betweenness Centrality analyses to identify high-value URF habitats. Furthermore, we constructed the EN using circuit theory and evaluated the impact of URF sources on network connectivity and construction costs. Our findings reveal that integrating URF sources increased connectivity indices significantly (α by 127.18%, β by 47.00%, and γ by 33.4%) and decreased construction costs (CR index by 0.07). Despite these benefits, under China’s “Three Zones and Three Lines” policy, 78.18% of Qingpu’s URF sources remain unprotected, with 56.78% at risk of conversion to construction land. Our study proposes a comprehensive evaluation system for URF habitats and strategic recommendations for their incorporation into regional ENs, thus informing policy making and planning for more inclusive ecological conservation.

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The Evolution of Forest Landscape Connectivity and Ecological Network Construction: A Case Study of Zhejiang’s Ecological Corridors

Bai,

Zhao,

Shen

et al. 2024

Sustainability

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As main components of terrestrial ecosystems, forests play irreplaceable roles in maintaining ecological balance and protecting the basic environment for human survival and development. In this study, the dynamic changes in the forest landscape connectivity in Zhejiang province in 2000, 2010, and 2020 were detected by identifying ecological sources and evaluating connectivity indexes based on morphological spatial analysis (MSPA) and a minimum cumulative resistance (MCR) model. The results are as follows: (1) The forest area of Zhejiang increased by 64.88% from 2000 to 2020, indicating that the overall habitat quality has improved and that ecological risks have decreased, which are attributed to Zhejiang’s adherence to comprehensive environmental management. (2) Regions with low connectivity are distributed mainly in the north, where human activities are intensive. The overall pattern of high connectivity in the middle of the region and low connectivity elsewhere demonstrates the uneven distribution of forest landscape connectivity across the province. (3) The extracted ecological corridors have a mesh-like structure that is dense in the middle and slack in the north. Important corridors have disappeared over time, indicating potential issues in maintaining connectivity for species migration. (4) These results can provide optimization strategies for ecological infrastructure planning in Zhejiang province and offer a theoretical reference for the optimization of the ecological network system.

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Establishing an Ecological Network to Enhance Forest Connectivity in South Korea’s Demilitarized Zone

Cited by 3 publications

References 62 publications

Passive Restoration Achieved through Natural Processes over 70 Years in the Korean DMZ

Passive Restoration Achieved through Natural Processes over 70 Years in the Korean DMZ

Habitat Protection in Urban–Rural Fringes through Coordinated Ecological Network Construction and Territorial Planning

The Evolution of Forest Landscape Connectivity and Ecological Network Construction: A Case Study of Zhejiang’s Ecological Corridors

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