Plant invasion and management in turf-dominated waste landfills in South Korea

A floristic survey was conducted in turf-dominated fields on some waste landfills in South Korea, to quantify the degree of plant invasion in those degraded lands. The dominant species, except turf (Zoysia japonica), were Conyza canadensis, Setaria viridis, Digitaria sanguinalis and Aster tripolium. Mean species number declined linearly with distance from the edge of the turf stands. Biomass of each species ranged between 0.1 g and 122.6 a, decreasing linearly with distance from the edge of the stand and declining exponentially with turf coverage. Mean soil moisture storage and organic matter content were 12.59 per cent and 5.81 per cent, respectively. Sum of relative cover, frequency and biomass of all species with environmental variables (distance from the stand edge, turf cover, soil moisture storage, soil organic matter content and the ratio of species number of exotic plants to that of native plants) were ordinated by DCA (detrended correspondence analysis). The first axis of the DCA was positively correlated with distance from the stand edae and turf cover and the second axis of the DCA was negatively correlated with soil organic matter content. Highly and lowly invasive species were indicated from DCA results. From analysis of dispersal type, barochore and anemochore were the most widespread of other dispersal types but it was suggested that anthropochore played an important role in plant invasion in these degraded wastelands. Establishment of an edge transition zone, enhancement of turf cover and reduction in traffic is recommended as management options for turf fields. Copyright (C) 2002 John Wiley Sons, Ltd.