Abstract

Environmental stress factors such as drought and elevated temperatures affect plant growth and pose a growing threat to sustainable ecosystems. Subalpine ecosystems are the most sensitive to stress. The Korean fir (Abies koreana) is an endemic species that is distributed in subalpine regions, such as the mountain summits of Mts. Halla, Jiri, and Deogyu in southern Korea. A. koreana is severely affected by environmental stress. Here, we performed a comparative analysis of cone fidelity in response to environmental stress by districts of A. koreana on Mt. Halla. Cone samples of A. koreana were harvested from an ecologically vulnerable region (Yeongsil) and two stable regions (Nambyeok and Nambyeok-Baeknokdam) on Mt. Halla. The decline in A. koreana in the Yeongsil region of Mt. Halla is rapidly increasing. Embryos of the cone samples were observed using an optical microscope and classified as full or empty embryos. The cone fidelity in the stable regions was approximately two to five times higher than that in the vulnerable regions. The stable regions exhibited similar cone-fidelity patterns. These results suggest that the cone fidelity of A. koreana is greatly affected by the environmental stress on Mt. Halla.