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Shared ecological data have the potential to revolutionize ecological research just as shared genetic sequence data have done for biological research. However, for ecological data to be useful, it must first be discoverable. A broad-scale research topic may require that a researcher be able to locate suitable data from a variety of global, regional and national data providers, which often use different local languages to describe their data. Thus, one of the challenges of international sharing of long-term data is facilitation of multilingual searches. Such searches are hindered by lack of equivalent terms across languages and by uneven application of keywords in ecological metadata. To test whether a thesaurus-based approach to multilingual data searching might be effective, we implemented a prototype web-services-based system for searching International Long-Term Ecological Research Network data repositories. The system builds on the use of a multilingual thesaurus to make searches more complete than would be obtained through search term-translation alone. The resulting system, when coupled to commodity online translation systems, demonstrates the possibility of achieving multilingual searches for ecological data.

Limited knowledge is available on the regeneration of Korean fir ( Abies koreana Wilson), an endemic plant species, growing on the upper part of Mt. Hallasan, a volcanic mountain, located in the central part of Jeju Island, Korea. A forest stand with the size of 1 ha dominated by Korean fir trees was established and all the trees with DBH 2 cm or larger were mapped and surveyed. Initial analysis indicated that the numbers of saplings with their DBHs between 2 cm and 10 cm were very small and that there was a big gap in the frequency of the number of saplings regenerated from the forest stand. It seems clear that the regeneration of the Korean fir trees was disturbed for longer than the last two decades, potentially by the browsing of the seedlings by ungulate including Siberian roe deer and by the physical hindrance of the dwarf bamboo to the development of the saplings of the Korean fir. Urgent measures and extensive studies are needed to promote the natural regeneration of the tree species on the dynamics of the forest regeneration and the mechanism of forest development of the forests on the Mt. Hallasan, Jeju Island, Korea.

Gotjawal, a uniquely formed forest vegetation on the lava terrain located at eastern and western parts of Jeju Island, covers 6% of the island’s land surface. The Gotjawal forests play important roles in establishing the biological and cultural diversity while maintaining ecosystem services. Recently, with the recognition of the diverse ecological and cultural values of the Gotjawal forests, efforts to conserve the forests were conducted by adopting the resolutions of the Jeju World Conservation Congress of the IUCN held in 2012. Despite its precious values, the Gotjawal forest is being threatened by the developmental activities of large scale constructions projects. To understand the recent regeneration of the Gotjawal forests, ecological studies have been conducted at the Hankyeong-Andeok Gotjawal Terrain, which is located in the western part and occupies the largest area of the Gotjawal Terrain of Jeju Island. Major vegetation in the area includes the deciduous broad-leaved forests (Acer palmatum–Styrax japonicus community), mixed deciduous and evergreen broad-leaved forests (Neolitsea aciculata–Styrax japonicus community), and evergreen broad-leaved forests (Quercus glauca community). In addition, the Gotjawal forests are evaluated as secondary forests mainly developed from sprouts. Tree-ring studies have revealed that the Gotjawal forests were regenerated from mid- to late-1960s after the cessation of human activities for using woods for various resources.