• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.56 no.3
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• pp.229-241
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• 2023

Microphysogobio rapidus is designated as endangered species class I by Ministry of Environment, and its distribution and population have been gradually declining, and it is now limited to the Nam River and some tributary streams of the Nakdong River Watershed. For the restoration of this highly endangered species, it is important to identify the causes of the decline and establish appropriate restoration plans. However, due to lack of basic data and ecological research, most steps are stagnant. Therefore, in this study, we identified the differences in the physical, biological, and sociological habitats between current and past distributed sites through field surveys and literature reviews. As a result of the field survey, there were differences in conductivity between the current and past distributed sites, and fish communities were also showed differences. The literature data also showed that the physico-chemical values of the past distributed sites were generally unfavorable, which generated negative consequences on biological factors. In particular, the effects of urbanization were found to be a major factor affecting the habitat of M. rapidus. Habitat stabilization is crucial for the recovery of this endangered species. However, in the past distributed sites, disturbances such as stream development and weir construction have altered streams physico-chemically and result in changes of M. rapidus. Therefore, a comprehensive plan that considers both stream connectivity and water quality is needed to manage and restore the habitat of M. rapidus.

• Ecology and Resilient Infrastructure
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• v.6 no.4
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• pp.179-190
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• 2019

In this study, a fish survey was conducted to investigate the habitat status of black shinner (Pseudopungtungia nigra) designated as endangered species level from the lower part of Yongdam Dam to the upper part of Daecheong Dam. Biodiversity analysis was performed on the basis of the number of fish emerged, and biological health and physical habitat environment were quantitatively analyzed using collected P. nigra. According to the survey, the habitat range of P. nigra was found from Banguri-myeon, Buri-myeon, Geumsan-gun, downstream of Yongdam Dam. The biodiversity analysis results of all species appeared to be low in overall dominance index and relatively high in species diversity and uniformity index. In addition, P. nigra collected in this study was confirmed to have normal growth and nutritional status by the full-length-weighted relativities and condition factor. The physical habitat environment of P. nigra was 0.3 - 0.6 m in depth, 0.3 - 0.7 m/s in flow rate, and bed materials showed high frequency of occurrence in the range of cobbles (64.0 - 256.0 mm) to boulders (>256.0 mm). These results are expected to be used as data for habitat restoration and management in the future as basic data on the spatial range and preferred physical habitat environment of P. nigra in Geumgang.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.159-171
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• 2001

Community structure, horizontal distribution, density, and ratio between nematodes and benthic harpacticoid copepods of the meiobenthos within the sediments of inner Sihwa Lake were investigated in May 1999 and May 2000. A total of 11 and 8 classes of meiobenthic animals were identified in 1999 and 2000, respectively, which were much lower than other coastal areas. The dominant animals during both sampling periods was the nematodes, followed by sarco-mastigophorans, nauplius of crustaceans, benthic harpacticoid copepods and polychaetes. These five classes of animals comprised more than 90% of total abundance of neiobenthos presented in the samples. In 2000, a lot of polychaete larvae were identified. The most abundant animal were the size that fits in 0.063 mm sieve size. Lower density was observed upper inner part of the Sihwa Lake during both sampling periods, and higher density was observed around the Sihwa floodgates. The average density between those two numbers were observed in the samples collected in the middle of the lake. Lower nematodes to betnhic harpacticoides (N/C) ratio, a relative indicator of environmental pollution, was observed to be lower around the floodgate but higher ratios were observed in the upper inner Sihwa Lake. The present study indicated that inner upper part of the lake becomes unsuitable for the meiobenthos, and the most inner upper lake was considered to be polluted.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.39 no.1
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• pp.19-31
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• 2021

We investigated the distribution characteristics of mussels (Mytilus coruscus) growing in the Geomundo sea area by water depth. The research was also conducted to identify the surrounding benthic organisms. Mussels showed high density and low obesity in low water depths. The lower the density, the higher the obesity level appeared in deeper water. The morphological characteristics also appeared to increase as the water depth deepened. In addition, the shell length and total weight were more strongly correlated at a depth of 12 m than at 2 m. The total weight by the growth of the shell length and shell height was affected by the water depth. The analysis showed that the density and biomass of the algae inhabiting the surroundings decreased somewhat as the water depth increased. In benthic animals, the number of mussels tended to decrease slightly at the point where oysters dominated, at a depth of 2 m. Conversely, the number of oysters tended to decrease in deeper water dominated by mussels. Thus, the spatial competition between oysters and mussels was affected by the water depth. Also, mussels did not appear in areas where large algae flourished, suggesting that the survival of mussels was affected by the presence or absence of large algae.

• Journal of the Speleological Society of Korea
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• v.41 no.42
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• pp.27-40
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• 1995

동굴 생물의 실태를 조사한다는 것은 이 동굴이 그대로 살아 있는가 아니면 이미 폐허화된 동굴인가를 판가름할 수 있는 좋은 근거가 된다. 본 연구는 화암동굴의 동굴 생물들이 서식할 수 있는 생태환경을 조사 분석하고 이들 동굴 생물들의 분포 상태가 어떠한가를 연구 조사한 것이다. 앞으로 이들 동굴 생물의 생태 환경이 그대로 존속되고 있는지 아니면 훼손 오염되어 생태 환경이 보존되고 있지 아니한가를 비교 분석 관찰하는 자료가 될 것이다. 실지 현지 조사한 근거를 토대로 기록한 자료이기 때문에 이 연구 결과가 영원히 보존되어야 하겠다.(중략)

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.42 no.1
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• pp.54-61
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• 2024

The ecosystem provides a diverse array of environmental conditions for organisms, and only those that are capable of successfully adapting to these conditions within their habitats can endure, thrive, and proliferate. Further, the environmental conditions within these habitats can significantly affect the bioavailability of chemicals that are introduced therein, thus resulting in varied adverse impacts on the organisms. The present study aims to evaluate the sensitivity of Yuukianura szeptyckii - a species adapted to riparian - to heavy metals following ISO guideline 11276, with the objective of assessing its potential as an indicator species for ecotoxicological evaluations in riparian habitats. The findings revealed that cadmium and copper both had significant toxic effects depending on their concentrations. For cadmium, the LC₅₀ was 280 mg kg^-1, EC₅₀ was 66 mg kg^-1, and NOEC and LOEC were 25 and 50 mg kg^-1, respectively. For copper, the LC₅₀ was 911 mg kg^-1, EC₅₀ was 151 mg kg^-1, and LOEC was 50 mg kg^-1. Comparative analysis with previous results for the international standard species Folsomia candida and the domestic standard species Allonychiurus kimi indicated that Y. szeptyckii exhibited even greater sensitivity to toxicity values. The adverse effects on survival and reproduction were closely associated with the influx concentration of heavy metals in their bodies. Altogether, the results suggest that Y. szeptyckii is a sensitive species for ecotoxicological assessments in riparian habitats, thus making it suitable as an indicator species, particularly in riparian ecosystems that are characterized by relatively high humidity conditions.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.36 no.3
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• pp.221-230
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• 2014

In order to restore an ecologically damaged river, freshwater fish which inhabit at the target aquatic ecosystem have a great applicability as one of the essential indicators. Although the informations about the habitat conditions of freshwater fish are key elements reflecting biological, physical, and chemical properties of the aquatic environment, because of the lack of preceding related research and insufficient database with scattered data, they have not been applied effectively for the ecological river restoration projects in Korea. To cope with these problems, based on the nation-wide detailed investigation for domestic freshwater fish habitat conditions, we have selected 70 species considering the possibility for the candidates of flagship species, constructed a database for their population, physical, and chemical habitat properties, and suggested its application methodology for the river restoration projects. In particular, the utilization of the database has been enhanced by the additional statistical analysis to present their resistance and optimum ranges for physical, and chemical habitat properties respectively. It is expected that the database constructed in this study can be utilized for the calculation and evaluation of the appropriate ecological flow rate and target water quality for the selected flagship species (fish), and the basic data for the restoration of river environment.

• Proceedings of the Korean Environmental Sciences Society Conference
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• 1998.10a
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• pp.259-262
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• 1998

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.68-74
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• 2014

Scientific study has investigated the body condition differences by habitat characteristics in larvae Korea salamander (Hynobius leechii) from March to April in 2012. To examine the sensitivity of external environment (predation risk), we divided two groups according to habitat characteristic; 1) Permanent pond and 2) Temporary pond. Howere, each larva was measured by head width at the level of the eye (HWE), largest head width (LHW) and snout-vent length, and we calculated the ratio of the head size by dividing HWE/LHW. As a result, larvae were larger in permanent pond group, had a faster growth rate than in temporary pond group. When exposed to the predator, larvae in permanent pond were smaller HWE/LHW than larvae in permanent pond. Therefore, these results indicate larvae in temporary pond more sensitive to the external environment.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.35-50
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• 2015

The purposes of this study are to apply species distribution modeling in urban management planning for habitat conservation in non-urban area and to provide a detailed classification method for management zone. To achieve these objectives, Species Distribution Model was used to generate species richness and then to compare with the results from land suitability assessment. 59 species distribution models were developed by Maxent. This study used 15 model variables (5 topographical variables, 4 vegetation variables, and 6 distance variables) for Maxent models. Then species richness was created by sum of predicted species distributions. Land suitability assessment was conducted with criteria from type I of "Guidelines for land suitability assessment". After acquiring evaluation values from species richness and land suitability assessment, the results from these two models were compared according to the five grades of classification. The areas with the identical grade in Species richness and land suitability assessment are categorized and then compared each other. The comparison results are Grade1 10.92%, Grade2 37.10%, Grade3 34.56%, Grade4 20.89% and Grade5 1.73%. Grade1 and Grade5 showed the lowest agreement rate. Namely, development or conservation grade showed high disagreement between two assessment system. Therefore, the areas located between urban, agriculture, forest, and reserve have a tendency to change easily by development plans. Even though management areas are not the core area of reserve, it is important to provide a venue for species habitat and eco-corridor to protect and improve biodiversity in terms of landscape ecology. Consequently, adoption of species richness in three levels of management area classification such as conservation, production, planning should be considered in urban management plan.