As the impacts of climate change and various disturbances on forest ecosystem have become serious, management and research efforts to improve forest biodiversity in response to the changing environment are needed. Biodiversity is associated with functional protection, adaptation to external conditions, and ecosystem resilience. Therefore, forest ecosystems with high biodiversity tend to have better resistance and resilience to disturbances. In this study, we investigated whether tree species diversity varies according to ownership status (national forests vs. private forests). In addition, selected ecological (stand characteristics, site condition, and climate) and socioeconomic (regional forest management sectors, population, forestry population, forest coverage, and forestry income) factors that influence forest biodiversity were determined using data from the National Forest Inventory in South Korea. National forests had higher biodiversity than private forests, reflecting differences in management objectives. For the ecological factors, stand structural diversity (SDivI), stand density index (SDI), quadratic mean diameter (QMD), annual heat moisture index (AHM), slope, and reproduction type influenced forest biodiversity. Among these factors, SDivI was the most influential factor in both national and private forests. For the socioeconomic factors, population, forest coverage, forest income, and forest management body significantly influenced forest biodiversity, even though the impact was smaller than that of ecological factors. Our results suggest that securing stand growth and development is essential to increase stand structural diversity, which leads to an increase in forest biodiversity. Furthermore, our study shows that socioeconomic factors could influence forest conditions over time. To better understand factors influencing the states of forests, collaborative research bridging ecological and sociological fields will be necessary to sustainably manage forests in the future
