Modeling the Distribution of Floodplain Vegetation for Restoration of Lateral Connectivity in the Cheongmi-cheon Stream, Korea

초록

Because most streams in South Korea were channelized by artificial levee constructions for the flood protection, the lateral connectivity between channel and floodplain was disturbed. River rehabilitations have been attempt to restore lateral connectivity in Korea. Models are very useful for simulation the changes of ecosystem due to the stream restorations. This research described a concept, methodologies and results of the floodplain vegetation model that is used to simulate the effect of hydrological alteration by the restoration of the lateral connectivity on vegetation distribution in isolated former floodplain of the Cheongmi-cheon Stream, Korea. The model was built with statistical method, canonical correspondence analysis (CCA). Distribution altitude, distance from water, inundation duration and water velocity in flood season were selected for model parameters using stepwise selection. The result of vegetation model showed that the vegetation distribution was well predicted by the environmental gradients.