Impact of Flood Pattern on the Distribution of Riparian Vegetation in the Cheongmi Stream, Korea

초록

Distribution of floodplain vegetation was affected by hydrological property. In this study, we investigated changes of vegetation distribution due to flood discharge alteration and relationship between vegetation types and flood frequency during the last ten-year period in the Cheongmi Stream. The flood discharge of the Cheongmi Stream tend to decrease from 2006 to 2015. It has greatly diminished to less than 160 m3/s since 2013. This resulted in the settlement of Phragmites japonica to the wide sand bar at the Jeomdong area of the Cheongmi Stream where it had sparse vegetation before 2013. The sand bar was fully covered with P. japonica in 2015. Vegetation communities along altitude in the floodplain were pioneer plant, reed and mesophyte community. As a result of relationship analysis between vegetation communities and flood frequency, the pioneer, P. japonica and mesophyte communities distributed in the range of 1-3 year, 3-7 year and over 7 year flood inundation area, respectively. Conclusionally, the distribution of floodplain vegetation was closely related with flood discharge and frequency in the Cheongmi Stream. This research was supported by a grant (12-TI-C02) from Advanced Water Management Research Program funded by Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport of Korean government.