Is the Baekdudaegan “the Southern Appalachians of the East”? A comparison between these mountain systems, focusing on their role as glacial refugia

Based on genetic studies and palaeoecological surveys, the main Korean mountain range, the socalled “Baekdudaegan” (BDDG), has been recently suggested to be a major glacial refugium at the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) for the boreal and temperate flora of northeastern Asia. On the basis of its shared role as a glacial refugium, and on a series of striking similarities in floristic richness and orographic features, the BDDG would constitute a sort of “eastern counterpart” of the Southern Appalachians. Given its floristic, biogeographic, and cultural value, the BDDG merits high priority for conservation.