• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.39 no.2
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• pp.184-194
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• 2021

Since the construction of a dike in 1983, the water quality in the Bunam Lake has continued to deteriorate due to algal bloom caused by agricultural nutrient loading. Therefore, we evaluated the change in water quality and phytoplankton ecological characteristics in Bunam Lake and Cheonsu Bay, Korea. Water temperature, salinity, dissolved oxygen, chemical oxygen demand (COD), chlorophyll, and phytoplankton community were surveyed in April during the dry season and in July during the rainy reason. As a result, during the dry period, phytoplankton proliferated greatly and stagnated in the Bunam Lake while a very high population of cyanobacteria Oscillatoria spp. (8.61×10⁷ cells L^-1) was recorded. Most of the nutrients, except, nitrate and nitrite, were consumed due to the large growth of phytoplankton. However, during the rainy period, concentrations of ammonia, phosphate, silicate, nitrate, and nitrite, were very high towards the upper station due to the inflow of fresh water. Cyanobacteria Oscillatoria and Microcystis spp. were dominant in the Bunam Lake during the rainy period. Even in the Cheonsu Bay, cyanobacteria dominated due to the effect of discharge and diatoms, such as, Chaetoceros spp. and Eucampia zodiacus, which also proliferated significantly due to increased levels of nutrients. Since the eutrophication index was above 1 in Bunam Lake, it was classified as eutrophic water and the Cheonsu Bay was classified as eutrophic water only during the rainy season. In addition, a stagnant seawater-derived hypoxia water mass was observed at a depth of8m in the Bunam Lake adjacent to the tide embankment and the COD concentration reached 206 mg L^-1 in the bottom layer at B3. Based on this result, it is considered that the water quality will continue to deteriorate if organic matters settle due to continuous inflow of nutrients and growth of organisms while the bottom water mass is stagnant.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.37 no.4
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• pp.273-288
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• 2023

Although many studies have been conducted on techniques and effects that can be applied to forest meditation in domestic forest healing meditation research, there has been little research on the space where forest meditation takes place. Nevertheless, a meditation space is not just a place concept but a forest environment element responsible for the healing function of a forest, i.e., a place containing healing factors, and can be an essential clue to the healing mechanism. Therefore, to determine whether a healing forest meditation space is suitable for meditation, this study selected the attribute items of the meditation space using the Delphi expert survey and then surveyed the user satisfaction of the healing forest meditation space using the IPA (Importance Performance Analysis) technique. The survey was conducted from August to November 2022, targeting 315 adults who used the forest meditation space at the National Center for Forest Therapy, the Saneum Healing Forest, and the Jathyanggi Pureunsup Arboretum in Gyeonggi Province. The result of the IPA analysis showed the average satisfaction with the forest meditation space was relatively high at 4.33 points on a 5-point Likert scale (4.33 points for the National Center for Forest Therapy, 4.34 points for the Saneum Healing Forest, and 4.37 points for the Jathyanggi Pureunsup Arboretum), indicating that the three healing forest meditation spaces were suitable for forest meditation. Satisfaction with the "Sounds of nature" was high in all three forests. On the other hand, all three forests showed a relatively low satisfaction with "Quietness," indicating it to be a priority problem to be addressed. Also, an open-ended questionnaire survey showed that the mediation space's natural elements, such as natural sounds, scenery, air, forest spaces, and scents, had a higher positive impact on meditation satisfaction than artificial elements, such as facilities. Therefore, it is essential to secure sound resources such as the sound of water and birds around the meditation space, and it is also necessary to consider ways to create a meditation forest in an independent area to avoid encounters with visitors and allow only participants in the forest healing meditation program to enter to increase satisfaction with forest meditation.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.39 no.5
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• pp.321-327
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• 2006

In Korea, there is a growing competitive for water resources between industrial, domestic and agricultural consumer, and the environment as many other OECD countries. The demand on water use is also affecting aquatic ecosystems particularly where withdrawals are in excess of minimum environmental needs for rivers, lakes and wetland habits. OECD developed three indicators related to water use by the agriculture in above contexts : the first is a water use intensity indicator, which is expressed as the quantity or share of agricultural water use in total national water utilization; the second is a water stress indicator, which is expressed as the proportion of rivers (in length) subject to diversion or regulation for irrigation without reserving a minimum of limiting reference flow; and the third is a water use efficiency indicator designated as the technical and the economic efficiency. These indicators have different meanings in the aspect of water resource conservation and sustainable water use. So, it will be more significant that the indicators should reflect the intrinsic meanings of them. The problem is that the aspect of an overall water flow in the agro-ecosystem and recycling of water use not considered in the assessment of agricultural water use needed for calculation of these water use indicators. Namely, regional or meteorological characteristics and site-specific farming practices were not considered in the calculation of these indicators. In this paper, we tried to calculate water use indicators suggested in OECD and to modify some other indicators considering our situation because water use pattern and water cycling in Korea where paddy rice farming is dominant in the monsoon region are quite different from those of semi-arid regions. In the calculation of water use intensity, we excluded the amount of water restored through the ground from the total agricultural water use because a large amount of water supplied to the farm was discharged into the stream or the ground water. The resultant water use intensity was 22.9% in 2001. As for water stress indicator, Korea has not defined nor monitored reference levels of minimum flow rate for rivers subject to diversion of water for irrigation. So, we calculated the water stress indicator in a different way from OECD method. The water stress indicator was calculated using data on the degree of water storage in agricultural water reservoirs because 87% of water for irrigation was taken from the agricultural water reservoirs. Water use technical efficiency was calculated as the reverse of the ratio of irrigation water to a standard water requirement of the paddy rice. The efficiency in 2001 was better than in 1990 and 1998. As for the economic efficiency for water use, we think that there are a lot of things to be taken into considerations to make a useful indicator to reflect socio-economic values of agricultural products resulted from the water use. Conclusively, site-specific, regional or meteorogical characteristics as in Korea were not considered in the calculation of water use indicators by methods suggested in OECD(Volume 3, 2001). So, it is needed to develop a new indicators for the indicators to be more widely applicable in the world.

• Journal of Forest and Environmental Science
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.1-9
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• 1983

The purpose of this study was to elucidate the ecophysiological habitat of natural Sorbus commixta forest at Mt. Seorak. The results obtained were as follows: 1. The Sorbus commixta trees mainly distributed from 900m to 1,500m altitude. In there, the warm index(WI) was about 42$3.2{\times}10^3$ to $9.2{\times}10^3$, cation exchange capacity(CEC) was 13.7 to 19.5mg/100g, N content 0.21 to 0.39%, $P_2O_5$ content was 22.6 to 38.7ppm, and pH value was 5.6 to 5.8 respectively. 4. The upper crown trees in Sorbus commixta communities were Abies nephrolepis, Taxus cuspidata, Betula platyphylla var. japonica, Quercus${\times}$grosseserrata, Acer mono, Prunus sargentii, Carpinus cordata, Tilia amurensis, and the under crown trees were Rhododendron brachycarpum, Acer pseudo-sieboldianum, Thuja olientalis, Corylus heterohpylla, Philadelphus schrenckii, Rhododendron schlippenbachii, Rhododendron mucronulatum, and Magnolia sieboldii. 5. The stand densities were 1,156 trees/ha at 1,160m and 3,600 trees/ha at 1,300m respectively. The coverages by the DBH basal area were 0.37 at 1,160m and 0.31 at 1,300m respectively, and the vegetation coverages by the crown projection area were 2.04 at 1,160m and 1.61 at 1,300m respectively. 6. The light extinction coefficient(k) in Beer-Lambert's law, showed the distance, F(z), from top canopy to aboveground, was 0.17. 7. The water relations parameters of Sorbus commixta shoot were obtained by the pressure chamber technique. The osmotic pressure, ${\pi}_o$, at maximum turgor was -16.2 bar, and VAT pressure was 14.5bar. The osmotic pressure, ${\pi}_p$, at incipient plasmolysis was -19.4bar. The relative water contents at incipient plasmolysis were 83.1% ($v_p/v_o$) and 87.1%($v_p/w_s$;$w_s$, total water at maximum turgor). 8. The bulk modulus of elasticity(E) of shoot was about 69.6. The total symplasmic water to total water in shoot was 67.7%, and the apoplastic water to total water was 32.3%.

• Ecology and Resilient Infrastructure
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• v.3 no.3
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• pp.201-206
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• 2016

The purpose of this study is to find the regeneration method of filter media using physical and chemical treatment for restoration of phosphorus adsorption ability. The filtration material used in this study is called Adphos. In an experiment of heating treatment, re-used filter media is heated to a high temperature before the adsorption test. The results show that the $PO{_4}^{3-}-P$ adsorption capacity is in the range of 0.0021 - 0.0030 mg/g and the removal efficiency is in the range of 26.1 - 39.4%. In the experiment of acid or basic treatment, re-used filter media is exposed to a different pH condition before the adsorption test. The results show that the $PO_4^{3-}-P$ adsorption capacity is in the range of 0.0010 - 0.0066 mg/g and the removal efficiency is in the range of 15.8 - 87.1% after the acid treatments which have pH values of 1 - 5. However, after the basic treatments which have pH values of 8 - 11, the results show that the $PO{_4}^{3-}-P$ adsorption capacity is in the range of 0.0018 - 0.0034 mg/g and the removal efficiency is in the range of 26.7 - 48.0%. In an experiment of chemical treatment using NaCl, re-used filter media was exposed to a different NaCl concentration before the adsorption test. The results show that the $PO{_4}^{3-}-P$ adsorption capacity is in the range of 0.0036 - 0.0050 mg/g and the removal efficiency is in the range of 50.5 - 71.1%. In conclusion, chemical treatment using NaCl shows a high recovery probability of phosphorus adsorption ability of filter media.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.101 no.4
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• pp.722-728
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• 2012

Climate change affects all biological processes in terrestrial ecosystems including photosynthesis, plant growth and productivity. This study was conducted to investigate the effects of experimental warming on the growth of Quercus variabilis seedlings. One-year-old Q. variabilis seedlings were planted in control and warmed plots in April 2010. The air temperature of warmed plots was increased by $3^{\circ}C$ compared to control plots using the infrared lamp from November 2010. Shoot height and root collar diameter were measured in March 2011 and June 2012, respectively, and aboveground and belowground biomass were also measured in March 2011 and 2012, respectively. Shoot height and root collar diameter were significantly higher in warmed plots than in control plots, except for root collar diameter in March 2011. Increment (mm) of shoot height and root collar diameter were also higher in warmed plots ($529{\pm}30$, $5.6{\pm}0.5$) than in control plots ($464{\pm}28$, $4.5{\pm}0.4$). However, there were no significant differences between warmed and control plots except for root collar diameter. Increment (g/year) of total, aboveground and belowground biomass were higher in warmed plots ($36.88{\pm}6.52$, $11.91{\pm}3.44$, $24.97{\pm}3.73$) than in control plots ($30.59{\pm}5.51$, $8.73{\pm}1.66$, $21.86{\pm}3.88$), however, the differences were not statistically significant. Higher seedling growth and biomass of warmed plots might be related to the enhanced net photosynthetic rates in spring and the extended growing season.

• Journal of Wetlands Research
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.194-199
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• 2020

Unlike in the past, the world is facing water shortages due to climate change and difficulties in simultaneously managing the risks of flooding. The Four Major Rivers project was carried out with the aim of realizing a powerful nation of water by managing water resources and fostering the water industry, and the construction period was relatively short compared to the unprecedented scale. Therefore, the prediction and analysis of how the river environment changes after the Four Major Rivers Project is insufficient. Currently, part of the construction section of the Four Major Rivers Project is caused by repeated erosion and sedimentation due to the effects of sandification caused by large dredging and flood-time reservoirs, and the head erosion of the tributaries occurs. In order to solve these problems, the riverbed maintenance work was installed, but it resulted in erosion of both sides of the river and the development of new approaches and techniques to keep the river bed stable, such as erosion and excessive sedimentation, is required. The water agent plays a role of securing a certain depth of water for the main stream by concentrating the flow so much in the center and preventing levee erosion by controlling the flow direction and flow velocity. In addition, Groyne products provide various ecological environments by forming a natural form of riverbeds by inducing local erosion and deposition in addition to the protection functions of the river bank and embankment. Therefore, after reviewing the method of determining the shape of the Groyne structure currently in use by utilizing the mobile limit flow rate and marginal reflux force, a new Critical Movement Velocity(${\bar{U}}_d$) and a new resistance coefficient formula considering the mathematical factors applicable to the actual domestic stream were developed and the measures applicable to Groyne installation were proposed.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.43 no.2
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• pp.190-198
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• 2010

This study was conducted to examine the effects of dams on benthic macroinvertebrate communities in Korean streams and rivers. Four low-head dams and three large dams were studied throughout South Korea. Sampling was taken at immediately upper (impoundment), lower (riffle area), and control (riffle area) sites from the dams during 2004-2007. The upper sites, of which substrate heterogeneity and velocity were relatively low, showed a lower degree of species richness, density, and diversity indices, which is very different from the lower and control sites. Heavily polluted streams showed a lesser degree of community differences between the upper and lower sites. In the large dams, the upper and lower sites showed very low values of species diversity indices and very high values of dominance indices compared to the control sites. In the low-head dams, however, the difference of degree of the values was relatively smaller. Compositions of the functional feeding groups and the habitat orientation groups were relatively simpler at the upper sites than at the lower sites and the degree of difference was greater in the large dams. Species richness and community indices of benthic macroinvertebrates were more significantly affected by habitat characteristics than water quality at the upper sites; however, those were more significantly related with water quality at the lower sites. In conclusion, large and low-head dams could simplify stream habitats particularly at the upper sites (impoundment), and they negatively affected on the benthic macroinvertebrate communities inhabited the habitats. The impact was larger in the large dams than in the low-head dams.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.17 no.5
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• pp.423-435
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• 1984

The reproductive cycle of the small filefish, Rudarius ercodes was investigated based on the annual variations of gonadosomatic index(GSI) and hepatosomatic index(HSI) by electronic and photic microscophy. The specimens used were collected at the coastal area of Benden island, Sizuokagen, Japan, from September 1982 to August 1983. GSI began to increase from March, starting season of longer daylength and higher water temperature, and reached the maximum value between June and August. It began to decrease from September with the lowest value appearing between November and February without any evident variation. The annual variations of HSI were not distinct in male filefish and were negatively related to GSI in female : HSI decreased in the summer season when the ovary was getting mature and reached the maximum in the winter season when the ovary was getting retrogressive. The ovary consisted of a pair of saccular structure with numerous ovarian sacs branched toward the median cavity. Oogonia divided and proliferated along the germinal epithelium of the ovarian sac. Young oocytes with basophile cytoplasm showed several scattering nucleoli along the nuclear membrane. when the oocytes growing to about 300 ${\mu}m$, nuclear membrane to disappear with nucleus migrating toward the animal pole. The regions of protoplasm were extremely confined within the animal hemisphere in which most of cytoplasms were filled with yolk materials and oil drops. After ovulation, residual follicles and growing oocytes remaining in the ovarian sacs degenerated. But perinucleatic young oocytes without follicles formed were not degenerated, and growing continuously still in the next year. Mitochondria and endoplasmic reticula in the cytoplasm remarkably increased with oocytes maturing and yolk accumulating. Those were considered to be functionally related to the yolk accumulation. Five or six layers of possible vitellogenin, oval-shaped disc structures with high electron density, appeared in the apex of follicular processes stretching to the microvilli pits of mature oocytes. Testis consisting of a pair of lobular structures in the right and left were united in the posterior seminal vesicle, Cortex of testis was composed of several seminiferous tubules, and medulla consisting of many sperm ducts connected with tubules. Steroid hormone-secreting cells with numerous endoplasmic reticula and large mitochondria of well developed cristae were recognized in the interstitial cells of the growing testis. Axial filament of spermatozoon invaginated deeply in the central cavity of the nucleus and the head formed U-shape with acrosome severely lacking, mitochondria formed large globular paranuclei at the posterior head, and microtubular axoneme of the tail represented 9+9+2 type. The annual reproductive cycles could be divided into five successive stages : growth(March to July), maturation(May to September), Spawning(mid May to early October) and resting stages(October to February). The spawning peak occurred from June to August.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.35 no.3 s.99
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• pp.145-151
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• 2002

The effect of low pH on physiological changes was studied with the acidophilic green alga, Clamydomonas acidophila, UTCC 122. The growthrates (${\mu}$) were identical, $0.5{\sim}0.7\;day^{-1}$, at pH 3.7${\sim}$6.7 and no significantly different (ANOVA, p =0.134), showing cell volume reduced gradually as they were growing, whereas that at pH 2.7 was falling to zero and cell volume increased dramatically. Chlorophyll a concentration of the cultures incubated for one day was $191{\sim}255\;pg\;cell^{-1}$, after then it declined from $60{\sim}103\;pg\;cell^{-1}$ at pH 3.7${\sim}$6.7 except $210\;pg\;cell^{-1}$ at pH 2.7, which was directly related with cell volume. External carbonic anhydrase (CA) activity was varied from1.1 to$3.7{\times}10^{-4}\;E.U.\;mm^{-2}$, showing the gradualincrease during culture, except at 2.7 and pH 5.7. However there was not found any relationship among the pH gradient cultures. CA molecular mass of C. acidophila was 29 kBa, and concentration of that was identical in all cultures. The proteins of 41 kDa and 63 were not or very　faintly expressed in low pH cultures, in contrast that of 17 kDa more expressed. In this work, we found that C. acidophila could live optimally within a wide range of acidic pH, and 17 kDa of unidentified protein might be concerned with tolerating in low acid environment.