It had been about two hours since I entered Hallasan Mountain.

Over the rhododendron field, which is about 1,400m above sea level, a forest of cypress trees began to appear.

However, the scene unfolding before my eyes was horrifying to the extent that the word forest was overshadowed.

At first, I went to the coverage knowing that the cypress tree was threatened with survival, but seeing the uprooted trees in front of me, I was filled with mixed emotions.

Dr. Choi Byung-gi of the Warm Subtropical Forest Research Institute at the National Academy of Forest Sciences, who accompanied the interview, said, "It's a pity that I see this kind of scene every time I go up."




The coniferous tree is a species that lives in cold alpine regions.

It is a tree endemic to Korea and famous as a Christmas tree, but it is gradually losing its place to stand due to climate change.

The high temperature directly affects it, but the changed environment is more problematic.

Plants usually get the moisture they need in the spring through snow accumulated in the winter.

In spring, the snow accumulated in winter melts and wets the soil.

However, as the winter temperature rises due to climate change, the snow that fell in winter cannot hold up until spring and is melting rapidly.

This means that all the moisture that plants need in spring is already lost in winter.

In some ways, it is a natural result that plants do not receive the necessary moisture, which increases the moisture stress of plants and causes problems in growth.

Typhoons that get stronger in summer are also a problem.

Plants growing under stress cannot withstand a stronger typhoon, and species such as conifers are completely crushed and uprooted, resulting in a swampy field.

It is, in fact, a direct hit from climate change.




In fact, if you look at the satellite images of the coniferous forest of Mt. Halla in the 1990s and 2010, the difference is clearly visible.

Most of the coniferous forests are conifers, and their area has decreased by 33.3% compared to the past 20 years.

(See figure) According to a recent field survey by the Korea Forest Service, the number of young trees decreased by more than half in 2020 from 444 per hectare to 212 per hectare compared to 2018.

Already dying trees are a problem, but young trees give them a big red flag for the conservation of the species.

Dr. Choi Byung-gi of the Warm Subtropical Forest Research Institute said that the restoration project for cypress trees is not easy due to the already changed environment.


Choi Byung-gi ㅣ Doctor of the Warm Subtropical Forest Research Institute, National Academy of Forest Sciences


"In particular, we are carrying out this restoration project within the restoration site for the restoration of conifer trees. When this sub-zero temperature in this area occurs, the soil easily rises up like this, and there are a lot of things that we have been seeing, where the hidden young restored seedlings easily wither."

Are you more worried about the future of cypress trees?


Although the cypress tree has already been hit by a direct hit, the situation is likely to worsen in the future.

Recently, an overseas research team predicted how climate change would affect alpine plants such as conifers.

The effects of alpine plants under various climate change scenarios were analyzed, and it was found that climate change impairs genetic diversity within the same species.

Biological species, even of the same species, show different characteristics through various genes.

We humans, our biologically identical species, are the best example.

The same goes for alpine plants, and in this study, the research team focused on the genetic traits necessary for adaptation to warm and cold places among various genetic traits.

All six types of plants were studied, and as a result, it was found that the genes necessary for adaptation to warm places were destroyed first due to climate change.

In other words, alpine plants evolve more unfavorably in the increasingly warm future environment.

It is fatal for species that have to accept nature as it is.



▲ The change in genetic traits required for adaptation to warm places is predicted according to each of the four climate change scenarios. A negative value means that the genetic trait disappears that much.



Naturally, it was found that the distribution area where alpine plants will live in the future will also decrease due to climate change.



▲ The left means that the distribution area is gradually decreasing, and the right one means that the area of ​​the alpine zone that can exist in the future disappears.

genetic diversity is very important


Although about 62% of Korea is forest, there are very few alpine areas where alpine plants such as conifers can live.

Also, due to the nature of plants and the nature of alpine plants, the places where they can move to avoid climate change are very limited.

Since this species is already distributed over a small area, the overall population is not large.

This means that if any one of its present distribution is hit, the entire species may be at risk.

Previously, he said that although many efforts are being made to restore and preserve these conifers, it is not easy.

In addition, the research team predicted that the genetic diversity will gradually change into unfavorable conditions for the cypress tree to live.



The 2021-2030 Strategic Plan discussed in the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) signed by 168 countries, including Korea, says that genetic diversity of at least 90% must be maintained for species conservation.

In the past, genetic diversity was not taken into account when conserving a specific species, and this type also increases the risk of inbreeding, which is not conducive to maintaining a stable species.

According to a recent study by a Korean research team, it was analyzed that at least 35 different genotypes are needed for the stable preservation of cypress trees.



Climate change is changing nature.

Some species have adapted to this change and survived, but there are other species that are concerned about extinction, such as conifers.

We should not look at the changes in nature from our point of view.

It is impossible to decide what is lost in nature and what needs to be preserved.

In the past, numerous species have repeatedly appeared and disappeared.

However, it is clear at this point that the changes in the past were natural selection, but not now.

We must not forget that this change that is currently taking place is a very unnatural change involving human intervention.




<Reference>


Johannes Weessely and Andreas Gattringer, Frédéric Guillaume, Karl Hülber, Günther Klonner, Dietmar Moser, Stefan Dullinger, "Climate warming may increase the frequency of cold-adapted haplotypes in alpine plants", nature climate change (2022) 12, 77-82, doi.org/10.1038/s41558-021-01255-8



Seung-Beom Chae, Hyo-In Lim*, Yong-Yul Kim, "Selection of Restoration Material for Abies koreana Based on Its Genetic Diversity on Mt. Hallasan ", forests (2022), 13(1) 24, doi.org/10.3390/f13010024