Uhram Song , SeokHyeon Oh , Byoung Woo Kim , SangEun Kwak , Euijoo Kim , Younghan You , Hojun Rim
{"title":"Sustainability of the endangered species Maesa japonica and Daphne jejudoensis in Gotjawal forest, Jeju Island","authors":"Uhram Song , SeokHyeon Oh , Byoung Woo Kim , SangEun Kwak , Euijoo Kim , Younghan You , Hojun Rim","doi":"10.1016/j.jnc.2025.127058","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>In Jeju’s lava stony forests (Gotjawal), climate change is shifting the canopy composition from deciduous to evergreen broadleaved species, impacting understory plants and threatening bodiversity. This study investigated the adaptability of two canopy-dependent rare species, Maesa japonica and Daphne jejudoensis, to these environmental changes. Greenhouse experiments showed that M. japonica grew 2.56 times faster in brighter light conditions (90 % shading) than its natural habitat (97 %), and D. jejudoensis grew 1.55 times faster under 50 % shading compared to 75 %. This suggests both species favor environments with less canopy cover. Indoor trials revealed M. japonica maintained adaptability under low light (97 %–99 % shading) but exhibited reduced growth, while D. jejudoensis struggled in low light conditions. Despite both species having adequate photosynthetic rates in current low-light settings, they showed reduced rates in light conditions projected under an evergreen-dominant canopy. This shift to evergreen-dominant canopy threatens the sustainability of these and other rare plants that rely on the increased light available in deciduous forests during winter and spring. Such changes are expected to occur in many temperate forests in the future, and this study serves as a precursor to these changes. Conservation strategies are thus essential to manage Gotjawal’s biodiversity amid climate-induced canopy changes.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":54898,"journal":{"name":"Journal for Nature Conservation","volume":"88 ","pages":"Article 127058"},"PeriodicalIF":2.5000,"publicationDate":"2025-08-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal for Nature Conservation","FirstCategoryId":"93","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1617138125002353","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"BIODIVERSITY CONSERVATION","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
In Jeju’s lava stony forests (Gotjawal), climate change is shifting the canopy composition from deciduous to evergreen broadleaved species, impacting understory plants and threatening bodiversity. This study investigated the adaptability of two canopy-dependent rare species, Maesa japonica and Daphne jejudoensis, to these environmental changes. Greenhouse experiments showed that M. japonica grew 2.56 times faster in brighter light conditions (90 % shading) than its natural habitat (97 %), and D. jejudoensis grew 1.55 times faster under 50 % shading compared to 75 %. This suggests both species favor environments with less canopy cover. Indoor trials revealed M. japonica maintained adaptability under low light (97 %–99 % shading) but exhibited reduced growth, while D. jejudoensis struggled in low light conditions. Despite both species having adequate photosynthetic rates in current low-light settings, they showed reduced rates in light conditions projected under an evergreen-dominant canopy. This shift to evergreen-dominant canopy threatens the sustainability of these and other rare plants that rely on the increased light available in deciduous forests during winter and spring. Such changes are expected to occur in many temperate forests in the future, and this study serves as a precursor to these changes. Conservation strategies are thus essential to manage Gotjawal’s biodiversity amid climate-induced canopy changes.
期刊介绍:
The Journal for Nature Conservation addresses concepts, methods and techniques for nature conservation. This international and interdisciplinary journal encourages collaboration between scientists and practitioners, including the integration of biodiversity issues with social and economic concepts. Therefore, conceptual, technical and methodological papers, as well as reviews, research papers, and short communications are welcomed from a wide range of disciplines, including theoretical ecology, landscape ecology, restoration ecology, ecological modelling, and others, provided that there is a clear connection and immediate relevance to nature conservation.
Manuscripts without any immediate conservation context, such as inventories, distribution modelling, genetic studies, animal behaviour, plant physiology, will not be considered for this journal; though such data may be useful for conservationists and managers in the future, this is outside of the current scope of the journal.