Relationship between early development of plant community and environmental condition in abandoned paddy terraces at mountainous valleys in Korea

Abstract

In Korea, many paddy fields in mountainous area have been abandoned because of their low accessibility and rice priceand the abandoned paddy terraces have changed into natural lentic wetlands. To understand the relationship betweencharacteristics of environmental conditions and early development of plant community in abandoned paddy terraces,we investigated at four well-maintained abandoned paddy terraces in 3 different climatic zones in Korea. Soil texture ofabandoned paddy terraces was mostly kinds of loam and electric conductivity of soil was also similar among abandonedpaddy terraces. On the other hand, contents of nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, sodium, magnesium, and calcium insoil were relatively low and significantly different among abandoned paddy terraces. Water depth was different withinsites and inter-sites. Although environmental conditions including climate, soil condition and water depth were differentamong abandoned paddy terraces, the compositions of plant communities were relatively similar in all abandonedpaddy terraces. 55 dominant taxa out of 141 recorded species were commonly recorded over sites and they were mostlyperennial obligate wetland plants and facultative wetland plants. 8 taxa out of 55 dominant taxa were occurred at allabandoned paddy terraces with over 10% coverage. Several site-specific species were occurred at site, which have somearea with deep water level. This result indicates that early development of plant community in abandoned paddy terracesof similar water regime is similar in the entire area of Korea even though environmental conditions such as climate, biogeographichistory and soil are different.