• Journal of the Korean Society of Environmental Restoration Technology
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.1-15
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• 2006

As the imports of foreign agricultural products are liberalized and the consumption of agricultural products declines, abandoned rice paddy fields continues to rise. However, such abandoned rice paddy fields has not been precisely surveyed yet. In this backdrop, a necessity to develop technology to utilize such abandoned rice paddy fields has emerged. Utilization of abandoned rice paddy fields as wetlands may be a good example. This study aimed to survey the current status and characteristics of wetlands created within abandoned rice paddy fields by selecting abandoned rice paddy fields throughout the nation and conducting field surveys on the sites that had transformed into wetlands. The abandoned rice paddy fields almost transformed into wetland and the types of wetlands transformed from abandoned rice paddy fields were mainly Inland/Moutain/Depression/Abandoned rice paddy fields/Marsh/Phragmites communis community and Inland/Moutain/Depression/Abandoned rice paddy fields/Swamp/Salix koreensis community. Abandoned rice paddy fields that had transformed into wetlands was depending heavily on waterways for water supply than other reservoirs and lakes do. Abandoned rice paddy fields transformed into wetlands was most observed in mountainous area. Abandoned rice paddy fields are because agricultural land is no longer profitable due to international and social changes and is not cultivated as government policy. Wetland period and dimension originated from abandoned rice paddy fields are very various and its surrounding land its mostly forest and the next largest follow roads and rural community. The abandoned rice paddy fields transformed into wetlands is mostly deserted currently. Despite their value as wetlands, no restoration and utilization efforts are made in Korea today. Therefore, it is imperative to conduct a precise current status survey on these areas and introduce management and restoration plans at the government level in the case of important habitats.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Environmental Restoration Technology
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.52-66
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• 2009

The increase of rice productivity, the decrease of rice demand, aging farmers, and the market-opening of rice along with the domestic and international conditions changes have been led to the increase of the abandoned rice paddy fields. Such abandoned rice paddy fields have been left in many areas and most of them have become wetlands. The purpose of this study is methodology of selection to the wetland for development in the abandoned rice paddy fields along with surroundings. The selection of habitat suitability index assessment study to conservation and restoration was done through hydrology, wild animals habitation, wetland vegetation, outside disturbance, and natural purification capacity assessment. In addition, the same method was applied to assessment items and standards for both the restoration site selection and the type of restoration. Both assessment items and standards were applied to the sites, drawn on the maps, and overlayer for the comprehensive map, and then the wetland suitability index was applied to the suitable site. The development technique was applied to 10 sites near the Banwol Stream watershed in Gunpo, Gyeonggi province. The selection of conservation, restoration, and the optimal sites can lead to not only the biodiveristy increase in agricultural or semi natural areas but also to the establishment of ecological networks in national level.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.36 no.2
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• pp.131-140
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• 2013

In Korea, many paddy fields in mountainous area have been abandoned because of their low accessibility and rice price and the abandoned paddy terraces have changed into natural lentic wetlands. To understand the relationship between characteristics of environmental conditions and early development of plant community in abandoned paddy terraces, we investigated at four well-maintained abandoned paddy terraces in 3 different climatic zones in Korea. Soil texture of abandoned paddy terraces was mostly kinds of loam and electric conductivity of soil was also similar among abandoned paddy terraces. On the other hand, contents of nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, sodium, magnesium, and calcium in soil were relatively low and significantly different among abandoned paddy terraces. Water depth was different within sites and inter-sites. Although environmental conditions including climate, soil condition and water depth were different among abandoned paddy terraces, the compositions of plant communities were relatively similar in all abandoned paddy terraces. 55 dominant taxa out of 141 recorded species were commonly recorded over sites and they were mostly perennial obligate wetland plants and facultative wetland plants. 8 taxa out of 55 dominant taxa occurred at all abandoned paddy terraces with over 10% coverage. Several site-specific species occurred at site, which have some area with deep water level. This result indicates that early development of plant community in abandoned paddy terraces of similar water regime is similar in the entire area of Korea even though environmental conditions such as climate, biogeographic history and soil are different.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.185-192
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• 2013

BACKGROUND: As a result of rural exodus, aging of rural population, development of high-yield rice varieties and so on, abandoned paddy fields of South Korea have generally increased. The phytosociological studies are needed to recommend the effective vegetation management methods of abandoned paddy fields. The current study performed an analysis of vegetation characteristics by classifying plant communities for abandoned paddy fields in South Korea. METHODS AND RESULTS: A comparative analysis of syntaxonomy, synecology, and syndynamics was performed by using the Z.-M. method of phytosociology and vegetation survey which was obtained from an enumeration district of total 203 phytosociological releves of 5 regions in Gangwon-do, 5 regions in Gyeonggi-do, 2 regions in Chungcheong-do, 18 regions in Gyeongsang-do, and 10 regions in Jeolla-do. Alopecurus aequalis community, Juncus effusus var. decipiens community and Salix koreensis community were, respectively, identified as successional plant communities of the early stage, the middle stage, and the late stage in the vegetation of abandoned paddy field. Sere of abandoned paddy field can be classified, developmentally, into annual plant stage, perennial plant stage, shrub plant stage, and forest tree stage. Several kinds of dominant species rather than a distinct species were found in the middle stage of abandoned paddy field. CONCLUSION(S): In this study, changing pattern in vegetational communities of abandoned paddy field were understood. These results will provide important information for restoring and conserving the ecology of fallow ground.

• Journal of Wetlands Research
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.93-101
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• 2022

This study was conducted to analyze the distribution characteristics of abandoned paddy wetlands according to topography and land cover. In Seosan-si, Dangjin-si, Boryeong-si, and Taean-gun, Chungcheongnam-do, abandoned rice wetlands were found through GIS and field surveys, and the distribution status according to slope, elevation and land cover type was analyzed. As a result of the study, a total of 106 abandoned paddy wetlands were identified, and the average elevation of each abandoned paddy wetlands was 38.85m (S.D.32.76), the average slope was 6.27˚ (S.D.5.39), and the total area was 24,200km². 90 sites (84.9%) of abandoned paddy wetlands were distributed on flat land with less than 5˚ slope, 63 sites (12,121.07km²), and 27 sites(9,524.15km²) at 5-10˚ (9,524.15km²) on flat land with less than 10˚. The area is 21,645.22km²(89.5%) of the total area of abandoned paddy wetlands. 48 sites(12,326km²) in the lowlands with an altitude of less than 25 m, 29 sites(4,909.4km²) below 50m. It accounts for 71.2% of the total area of abandoned paddy wetlands. Among environmental factors of abandoned paddy wetlands, there was no statistically significant correlation between slope and altitude. According to the land cover classification, it was widely distributed in artificial grasslands (38), paddy fields (33), and fields (22).

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.199-206
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• 1996

Vegetation succession and changes in soil chemical properties were investigated in 10 abandoned rice fields in Kyunggi Province in 1995. Annual weeds were dominant at the first year of abandonment, later on Perennial weeds became dominant as the period of abandonment progressed. The number of Salicaceae(willow family) increased rapidly as the abandonment period further progressed. In cultivated fields, soil pH and cation contents are slightly higher in subsurface layer than surface layer. In abandoned fields, however, pH of surface layer was getting higher than subsurface soil layer with the lapse of time. Similar trends were observed in case of exchangeable Ca and Mg contents.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.38 no.4
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• pp.219-224
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• 2019

BACKGROUND: Soil bacteria play important roles in organic matter decomposition and nutrient cycling during the non-growing season. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of soil management and chemical properties on the utilization of carbon sources by soil bacteria in paddy fields. METHODS AND RESULTS: The Biolog EcoPlate was used for analyzing community-level carbon substrate utilization profiles of soil bacteria. Soils were collected from the following three types of areas: plain, interface and mountain areas, which were tested to investigate the topology effect. The results of canonical correspondence analysis and Kendall rank correlation analysis showed that soil C/N ratio and NH₄⁺ influenced utilization of carbon sources by bacteria. The utilization of carbohydrates and complex carbon sources were positively correlated with NH₄⁺ concentration. Cultivated paddy fields were compared with adjacent abandoned fields to investigate the impact of cultivation cessation. The level of utilization of putrescine was lower in abandoned fields than in cultivated fields. Monoculture fields were compared with double cropping fields cultivated with barley to investigate the impact of winter crop cultivation. Cropping system altered bacterial use of carbon sources, as reflected by the enhanced utilization of 2-hydroxy benzoic acid under monoculture conditions. CONCLUSION: These results show that soil use intensity and topological characteristics have a minimal impact on soil bacterial functioning in relation to carbon substrate utilization. Moreover, soil chemical properties were found to be important factors determining the physiological profile of the soil bacterial community in paddy fields.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.162-169
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• 1998

This study was carried out to assess the roles of soil and vegetation on the nutrient cycling in paddy ecosystem where excessive amounts of animal wastes were flowed in due to the rain. Experimental sites included one abandoned and four cropping paddy fields which were moderately terraced under a small farm village raising 90 milk cows and 35 deer under open-air condition. The watershed covered 4 ha with every 50% of uptown and fodder crops. Concentrations of $NH_4-N$ and $P_2O_5$ in waste water flowed into the abandoned paddy field, enforced by the rain of $56.4mm\;day^{-1}$, were $8.3mg\;{\ell}^{-1}$ and $1.8mg\;{\ell}^{-1}$, respectively. Total mass of rainfall inflow to abandoned field during rice growing period (1 May to 30 Sept.) was $20,900Mg\;ha^{-1}$. Total amounts of $NH_4-N$ and $P_2O_5$ contained in that inflow were estimated as 173 kg and 38 kg, respectively. Concentrations in the outflow water through one abandoned and four rice paddy fields were reduced by 92% for $NH_4-N$ and 95% for $P_2O_5$, as compared to those in the inflows. The reserved portions of nutrients in the abandoned paddy field ecosystem, which were the summation of the uptake by weed and residues in soil, were 29% of the inflow amount for $NH_4-N$ and 30% for $P_2O_5$. These results demonstrated that soil and vegetation in paddy field ecosystem reduced the excessive nutrients from the animal waste inflow to the extents that might be suitable not only for the better growth of rice plant, located at the lower paddy fields, but also for preservation of the downstream from eutrophication.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.42 no.3
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• pp.90-102
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• 2018

Background: We sought to understand the relationship between the seed bank and vegetation in abandoned rice paddies in South Korea, in order to guide management of these sites. We investigated the floristic composition and species richness of the soil seed bank and ground vegetation in former paddies along three seral gradients (wet meadow, young forest, and mature forest) in Gwangneung Forest Biosphere Reserve. Results: Seed bank samples contained 59 species, of which the dominant families were Cyperaceae, Gramineae, and Polygonaceae. Species richness and seedling density (59 taxa and 19,121 germinants from all samples) were high. Carex spp. (11, 921 germinants) were the dominant taxa. The species composition in the seed bank changed gradually as the land transitioned from wet meadow to mature forest. Sørensen's index of similarity between above- and below-ground vegetation was 29.3% for wet meadow, 10.8% for young forest, and 2.1% for mature forest. Germinant density also declined, with 10, 256 germinants for wet meadow, 6445 germinants for young forest, and 2420 germinants for mature forest. Conclusions: Changes in aboveground environment and life history traits such as amphicarpic plants, likely affect the composition of soil seed bank species. Abandoned paddy fields may be good sites for restoration of wetland forest and conservation of wetland habitat. Some intervention may be required to promote the recovery of a natural species assemblage.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.46 no.4
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• pp.329-338
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• 2013

The objective of this study is to investigate the contents and seasonal variation of arsenic in soils and crop plant(rice) in paddy fields around the abandoned metal mines in Korea. The soils were extracted by various methods including aqua regia, 1 M $MgCl_2$, 0.01 M $CaCl_2$ and 0.05 M EDTA to evaluate the relationships between soils and crop plants(rice). According to correlation analysis, statistically significant correlation with the four methods(p<0.01) were found in soils extracted by various chemical solutions and arsenic contents in soils were decreased in the order of 1M $MgCl_2$ > 0.01M $CaCl_2$ > 0.05 M EDTA. Biological accumulation coefficients(BACs) of rice stalks were higher than those of rice grain, and the coefficients under reducing(August) environment were higher than those under oxidizing conditions(October). Assuming the rice consumption of 315 g/day by farm households in Korea, the amount of daily intake of arsenic were estimated to be 77.8 ${\mu}g/day$. The daily intake of arsenic from the rice estimates up to 65% of ADI(acceptable daily intake) that the FAO/WHO Joint Food Additive and Contaminants Committee has set to evaluate their safeties.