## 1 Introduction  
According to the Korea Forest Service, 64% of Korea's land area is composed of forests [1]. Coniferous trees are the most prevalent, with broad-leaved forests accounting for 26%, mixed forests accounting for 30.5%, and coniferous forests accounting for 43.5% [2]. For efficient management of diverse forest vegetation environments, it is necessary to establish a comprehensive system of various climatic factors (such as air temperature, soil temperature, solar radiation, soil moisture content, and relative humidity) and changes in soil heterogeneity [3]. In particular, the growth and the content of active components of various wild plants grown in natural mountain environments were affected by climatic factors. The plants respond to environmental conditions by the synthesis of several secondary metabolites or new molecules endowed with important physiological and biological activities and constitute the means of plant defense and adaptation [4; 5]. Soil properties are highly influenced by the surrounding vegetation, which is already established. They can be significantly altered by dominant tree species, biotic and abiotic activities in the soil, and site differences [6; 7]. Environmental factors known to affect plant growth and active ingredients content can be divided into biotic and abiotic factors [6]. Biotic factors mainly include microorganisms living in the rhizosphere soil, such as plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) and endophytes [8; 9; 10; 11; 12; 13; 14]. Abiotic factors include wind, temperature, light, soil minerals, salicylic acid, and phytohormones [15; 16; 17; 18; 19; 20; 21]. Therefore, a multifaceted analysis of these influences is required to determine the optimal plant growth model. Wild-simulated ginseng (WSG, _Panax ginseng_ [PERSON]) belongs to the Panax genus of the Arialaceae family. It is defined as \"a ginseng that is naturally grown in mountainous areas without the installation of artificial facilities by sowing or transplanting seeds or seedlings\". It is currently designated and managed by the Korea Forest Service as the only specially managed forest product [22]. Suitable conditions for growing Korean WSG are known to include a coverage from 80% to 90%, a slope from 15 to 30\({}^{\circ}\), a slightly acidic soil with a soil pH level of 5.5, a north or northeastern slope direction, a diameter at breast height of more than 15 cm, and a tree height of more than 10 m [23]. According to a statistical survey conducted by the Korea Forest Service, the production of WSG increased significantly by 1.9 times (from 130 tons in 2018 to 254 tons in 2023) and the economic value of production increased by about 1.5 times (from 40.8 billion Won in 2018 to 62.8 billion Won in 2023) [24]. The price of WSG increases significantly as the age increases since it requires long-term cultivation of more than 7 years. The fact that the price of WSG increases when the cultivation period increases is due to various factors, including damage and theft by rodents during the cultivation period, labor shortage due to aging, and lack of various sales channels [25]. Therefore, it is necessary to set quality control standards for WSG by presenting scientific data on the differences in growth characteristics and pharmacological component content according to the cultivation environment. The active ingredients of WSG identified to date can be categorized into saponin type and non-saponin type according to their structural characteristics [26]. The saponin type is represented by ginsenosides, while the non-saponin type includes polyacetylenes, phenolic compounds, acidic polysaccharides, peptides, and amino acid derivatives [27; 28]. Ginsenosides were classified into protopanaxadiol and protopanaxatriol based on their structures. They have various pharmacological effects, including anticancer, anti-inflammatory, anti-obesity, and immune-enhancing properties.