Classification of West Coastal Dune Vegetation and Comparison of the Inorganic Constituents for the Soil and Present Plants

To understand the community structures of the vegetation of the beaches and coastal dunes of Seocheon-gun, Boryeong-si, Anmyeon-do, Taean-gun in Chungcheongnam-do and Buan-gun in Jeollabuk-do at the west coast of South Korea, a plant sociological vegetation survey was carried out to make a classification of correlation vegetation communities, a cluster analysis and an inorganic component analysis on the soil and plant body. Regarding the vegetation of the coastal dunes, plant communities were classified into 31 communities by correlation dominant species, and as a result of a cluster analysis on the vegetation communities, they were classified into five vegetation types such as Calystegia soldanella community, Rosa rugosa community, Imperata cylindrica community, Vitex tend community and Elymus mollis community. The soil pH was highest in Seocheon area () while lowest in Buan area (), and regarding inorganic components, the nitrogen content was highest in Robinia while lowest in Imperata cylindrica. The soil PH of vegetation I was highest (8.23) among the five vegetation types, and the organic matter was lowest (71.58). As a result of CCA ordination analysis to examine the correlation among environmental factors, Calystegia soldanella community, Rosa rugosa community and Imperata cylindrica community among the five vegetation types were distributed while they were not affected by soil environmental elements, but Vitex tend community and Elymus mollis community were distributed mainly at the places with high content in the soil.