• Weed & Turfgrass Science
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• v.6 no.4
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• pp.355-358
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• 2017

Amur silver grass, Miscanthus sacchariflorus is one of the promising biofuel weeds. A damage of noctuid pest, Leucapamea askoldis was firstly observed from Amur silver grass in Hwasun silver grass plantation during the survey of insect pests of Amur silver grass in Iksan, Hwasun, and Sancheong plantation areas in Korea. The host of L. askoldis was not known yet in Korea. The L. askoldis damage was observed as larval feeding on newly grown shoots and roots of M. sacchariflorus close to soil surface from early May in 2013. Investigated larval density was $1.6{\pm}1.1per\;m^2$ on April 4 and damage rate of shoots was $0.8{\pm}0.4%$ on May 4, 2013. The larvae bore into shoots of M. sacchariflorus and feed on the inside of plant. The damaged shoots are easily pulled out and distinguished by the boring hole on the shoots. L. askoldis was potential insect pest in M. sacchariflorus plantation areas.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.36 no.4
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• pp.237-245
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• 2014

Amur silver grass (Miscanthus sacchariflorus) and reed canary grass (Phalaris arundinacea) were selected for RDX removal experiments in hydroponic culture conditions based on vegetation survey at three shooting ranges in northern Kyunggi province. Seedling of two plants were grown in 1/4 strength Hoagland solution in quadruplicates containing 10, 20, 30, 40 mg/L RDX for 15 days along with control and blank treatments. During the 15 days of incubation, pH and RDX concentration in medium were routinely analyzed and RDX contents in the shoot and the root were determined after solvent extraction at the end of the experiments. Both plant species showed no symptoms of RDX phyto-toxicity. The pseudo first order RDX-removal constants for amur silver grass and reed canary grass were in the range of $0.0143{\sim}0.0484day^{-1}$ and $0.0971{\sim}0.1853^{-1}$, respectively. Plant biomass normalized RDX removal rates, which decreased with the increase of initial RDX concentration, were in the range of $0.27{\sim}1.01mL{\cdot}g^{-1}day^{-1}$ and $0.87{\sim}1.66mL{\cdot}g^{-1}day^{-1}$ for amur silver grass and reed canary grass, respectively. After 15 days of treatment, RDX removal from the medium decreased from 49.0% to 23.7% with increase in the initial RDX concentration in amur silver grass and 7.3% of the initial RDX remained in the plant. In reed canary grass planted medium, less than 16.8% and 5% of the initial RDX remained in the medium and in the plant, respectively. Large quantities of unidentified polar compound, which was not detected in amur silver grass, accumulated in the root and shoot of reed silver grass.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.20 no.6
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• pp.73-84
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• 2015

Nine plant species were selected through vegetation survey at three military shooting ranges at northern Gyeonggi Province. Plants were germinated in normal soil and three seedlings were transplanted to a bottom sealed pot containing sandy loam soils contaminated with either RDX (291 mg/kg) or TNT (207 mg/kg). Planted, blank (without plant), and control (without explosive compound) pots were grown in triplicate at a green house for 134 days. During cultivation, transplanted plants exhibited chlorosis and necrosis in flower and leaf by explosive toxicity and stress. Only three plants, Wild soybean, Amur silver grass, Reed canary grass, survived in TNT treated pot, while seven plant species except for field penny cress and jimson weed, thrived in RDX treated pot. Appreciable amount of TNT (61.6~241.2 mg/g-D.W.) was detected only in plant roots. Up to 763.3 mg/g-D.W. along with 4-amino-2,6-dinitrotoluene, an intermediate of TNT, accumulated in the root of wild soybean. In addition, azoxy compounds, abiotic intermediates of TNT, were detected in TNT treated soils. RDX absorbed average 1,839.95 mg/kg in shoot and 204.83 mg/kg in root. Most of TNT in plant was accumulated in underground part whereas RDX was localized in aerial part. Material balance calculation showed that more than 95% of the initial TNT was removed in the planted pots whereas only 60% was removed in the blank pot. The amount of RDX removed from soil was in the order of Amur Silver Grass (51%) > Chickweed (43%) > Evening primrose (38%). Based on the results of pot cultures, Amur silver grass and Reed canary grass are selected as tolerant remedial plants for explosive toxicity.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.20 no.6
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• pp.85-94
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• 2015

RDX (hexahydro-1,3,5-trinitro-1,3,5-triazine) is the most important explosive contaminant, both in concentration and in frequency, at military shooting ranges in which green technologies such as phytoremediation or constructed wetlands are the best option for mitigation of explosive compounds discharge to the environment. A study was conducted with two identical lab-scale plug flow constructed wetlands planted with Amur silver grass to treat water artificially contaminated with 40 mg/L of toxic explosive compound, RDX. The reactor was inoculated with or without RDX degrading mixed culture to evaluate plant-microorganism interactions in RDX removal, transformation products distribution, and kinetic constants. RDX and its metabolites in water, plant, and sediment were analyzed by HPLC to determine mass balance and kinetic constants. After 30 days of operation, the reactor reached steady-state at which more than 99% of RDX was removed with or without the mixed culture inoculation. The major transformation product was TNX (Trinitroso-RDX) that comprised approximately 50% in the mass balance of both reactors. It was also the major compound in the plant root and shoot system. Acute toxicity analysis of the water samples showed more than 30% of toxicity reduction in the effluent than that of influent containing 40 mg/L of RDX. In the Amur silver grass mesocosm seeded with the mixed culture, the specific RDX removal rate, that is 1st order removal rate normalized to plant fresh weight, was estimated to be 0.84 kg⁻¹ day⁻¹ which is 16.7% higher than that in the planted only mesocosm. Therefore, the results of this study proved that Amur silver grass is an effective plant for RDX removal in constructed wetlands and the efficiency can be increased even more when applied with RDX degrading microbial consortia.

• Journal of the Korean Wood Science and Technology
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• v.46 no.4
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• pp.309-314
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• 2018

Size reduction is an important pre-processing operation for utilizing biomass as a sustainable resource in industrial-scale energy production and as a raw material for other industries. This work investigates the size reduction characteristics of air-dried Miscanthus sacchariflorus Goedae-Uksae 1 (Amur silver grass) via image processing and identifies the morphological characteristics of comminuted and screened M. sacchariflorus. At chopping lengths of 18, 40, 80, and 160 mm, 81%, 77%, 78%, and 76% of the particles, respectively, passed through a 4-mm sieve. Even a knife mill with a very small screen aperture (>1 mm) admitted over 10% of the particles. The average circularity and aspect ratio of the particles were <0.30 and >10, respectively. These results confirm that in all preparation modes, most M. sacchariflorus particles were needle-like in shape, irrespective of the type of preparation.

• Journal of Wetlands Research
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.172-179
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• 2017

The purpose of this study is to analyze the current original habitat and to conserve the narrow-mouthed toad populations. For this study, we used 240 pitfall traps (30 cm height ${\times}$ 20 cm width) to catch the narrow-mouthed toads that inhabit in Myeongji-dong, Gangseo-gu, in Busan metropolitan city from August 2, 2013 to November 7, 2013. We measured the environmental characteristics (soil composition factors, soil moisture, Humidity, soil temperature) for the seven habitat patterns of narrow-mouthed toads based on vegetation types. Main habitats of narrow mouthed toads were flat grassland where grass and false acacia grew and there was wetland all over the place. When analyzing habitats that main habitats of narrow-mouthed toads prefer after selecting representative seven vegetation, it was found that the most narrow-mouthed toads were caught in amur silver grass colony while the least narrow-mouthed toads were caught in bare land. Totally, we caught 846 narrow-mouthed toads over 68 times, and released them into the newly constructed habitat after injection VIE-tag. It seems that the reason for which the least narrow mouthed toads were caught in bare land is that bare land is not suitable for narrow mouthed toads to protect themselves from strong sunlight and to hide themselves from natural enemy. We found that temperature had the greatest influence on activities of narrow mouthed toads and at temperature of less than $15.6^{\circ}C$. We also found that the activities of narrow mouthed toads were remarkably low and then temperature was below $15.6^{\circ}C$. It meant that narrow mouthed toads seemed to go into hibernation. From this research, we could find the prefer habitat after analyzing habitats for the narrow-mouthed toads and could suggest for construction for the better habitat of narrow-mouthed toads.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.36 no.5
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• pp.445-459
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• 2022

In this study, we investigated current vegetation and assessed the health of vegetation through the KERVI (Korea Estuary Riparian Vegetation Index) to monitor vegetation changes near estuaries due to the opening of the Nakdong River estuary. As the first investigation of the long-term monitoring, six areas near the Nakdong River estuary were surveyed twice in July and October 2021, and vegetation monitoring and a survey of species composition and distribution density of aquatic, riparian, and land plants were carried out. The survey identified 262 taxa, 82 families, 192 genera, 196 species, 3 subspecies, 26 varieties, and 1 form of vascular plants in the surveyed area. The results of the vegetation health assessment through KREVI showed that sites 1 and 6 were rated "Very good" in both surveys, sites 2 and 4 were rated "Very good" in the first survey and then "Good"in the second survey, and site 3 and 5 were rated one grade higher in the second survey than the first survey. The assessment showed that the health grades of most species in the survey area were generally high. Most of the potential natural vegetation after the opening of estuary gates to create a brackish water area is expected to consist of reed (Phragmites communisTrin.) communities. The area of the willow (Salix koreensisAndersson) community adjacent to the water area may be somewhat narrower, but the community will be maintained. In the case of freshwater areas in inland areas with very low salinity, reeds (Phragmites communisTrin.) are expected to occupy most of them, and some communities such as amur silver-grass (Miscanthus sacchariflorusBenth.) and cattails (Typha orientalisC. Presl) are expected to be distributed. We suggest establishing measures such as estuary gate operation to create healthy brackish water regions through long-term monitoring.