• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.22 no.5
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• pp.737-747
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• 2006

Ministry of Environment (MOE) of Korea has been implementing the water quality management policy to focus on the control of organic matters (BOD and COD) for 28 years since 1978 when the water quality standards had been established. However, the government and the public have begun to recognize the necessity of creating the best water environment for people and aquatic life, and also formulating the various measures of water pollution, Consequently, MOE of Korea is establishing the basic plan of water environment management, with the vision of "Clean Water, Eco River 2015." The major targets of water environment management plan are to maintain ecosystem health and to protect water quality from various hazardous substances in water bodies. In order to achieve the major targets, it is essential to amend the water quality standards, which bring about the systematic management of various pollutants and healthy ecosystem. Introduction of the new techniques of water environment assessment is also prerequisite to maintain sustainable water environment. These can be accomplished under the consideration of following suggestions in environmental quality standards. First, several criteria should be complemented in water quality standards; they include the improvement of the current water quality classification system, the strengthening and supplement of relevant parameters considering human health in the standards, the introduction of biotic indices, and management standards on eutrophication. Secondly, it should be considered to introduce the biological water quality standards using biotic indices and the management standards for sediments. Lastly, it needs to introduce or develop an ecological status classification which could be used in the assessment of the water environment as a whole.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.40 no.4
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• pp.527-536
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• 2007

In this study, we applied 10-metric health assessment model, based on the Index of Biological Integrity (IBI) during 2006 in the Changwon Stream, which is located in the Changwon city, Gyeongnam province, S. Korea, and then compared with water quality data. The Index of Biological Integrity (IBI) in the Changwon Stream varied from 18 to 38 in the watershed depending on the sampling location and averaged 30.3 (n=6) during the study. Analysis of tolerance guilds showed that the proportion of sensitive species was 13%, but tolerant and intermediate species were 34% and 53%, respectively. Qualitative Habitat Evaluation Index (QHEI) averaged 43.3 (range: 65-104, n=6) indicating non-supporting condition, based on the criteria of U.S. EPA (1993). Values of QHEI showed a typical longitudinal decreases from the headwater reach to the downstream location, except for Site 1 with a low QHEI value by artificial habitat by concrete construction. Minimum QHEI was found in Site 4 where fish diversity was minimal. Conductivity increased continuously along the gradients and especially showed abrupt increases in the downstream sites along with turbidity. Stream ecosystem health of IBI matched to the values of QHEI except for S6. Low IBI values in the sites 4 and 5 was considered to be a result of combined effects of chemical pollutions and habitat degradations. Our results support the hypotheses of Plafkin et ai. (1989) that physical habitat quality directly influences the trophic structure and species richness, and is closely associated with IBI values.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Environmental Restoration Technology
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• v.21 no.5
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• pp.29-37
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• 2018

Biodiversity refers to the diversity of organisms originating from all sources, including terrestrial ecosystems, aquatic ecosystems, and complex ecosystems and it is considered to be the standard of the area to be preserved and protected. So The Importance of environmental assessment for biodiversity conservation is increasing and International efforts to quantify biodiversity and to develop indices have been made, but there are insufficient researches on the use of biomass databases and their quantification in Korea. In this study, the biodiversity map was constructed using the 3rd National Ecosystem Survey Mammal Data with three spatial units(Administrative Area, 1:5,000 index map, hexagonal lattice). and the difference of map constructed by spatial unit was suggested to help research on quantification and evaluation of biodiversity in the future. As a result of the study, biodiversity index for the same area varied according to the spatial unit and overall average and standard deviation were different too. Therefore it is necessary to utilize appropriate spatial unit considering the suitability and purpose of quantification rather than using specific unit. It also showed the necessity of establishing a standard for biodiversity index as a result of comparative analysis with ecosystem and nature map. Based on this research, comprehensive efforts should be made for the sustainable development of the country through further research and institutional improvement for quantification and evaluation of biodiversity, set standards.

• Proceedings of the Korean Environmental Health Society Conference
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• 2005.06a
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• pp.345-350
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• 2005

Acute toxicities of five pharmaceutical products were evaluated with aquatic microbes, invertebrates, and fish. The test pharmaceuticals, i.e., cimetidine, carbamazepine, diltiazem, acetaminophene, and metformin have been often detected in aquatic environment, but theire cological hazard on receptors of various trophic levels has seldom been evaluated. In the present study, we conducted acute toxicity assays with a marine bacterium, Vibrio fischeri, an invertebrate, Daphnia magna, and a fish, Japanese medake (Oryzias latipes). In general, D. magna, showed the most sensitive response to the test chemicals. Diltiazem exhibited the lowest EC50 value after 96 hr of exposure at 7.6 mg/L, followed by cimetidine >acetaminophen > metformin = carbamazepine in an order of decreasing susceptibility. With the fish, diltiazem and carbamazepine showed the 96 hr EC50 values at 14.1${\sim}$35.4 mg/L while acetaminophen, cimetidine, and metformin did not cause 50% mortality at 100 mg/L. Similar pattern was noted with the Microtox Assay, with which the median effective concentrations for acetaminophen, cimetidine, and metformin were found at the range between 301.8 and 755.4 mg/L. Carbamazepine and diltiazem exposure to the microbes resulted in EC50 values around 50 mg/L. Predicted no effect concentrations (PECs) of these pharmaceuticals derived from the EC5O values obtained from this study, and predicted environmental concentrations (PECs) obtained from available literatures were utilized to estimate ecological risks of the test compounds. No test pharmaceuticals resulted in risk quotients (PEC/PNEC) greater than 1, which suggests no serious potential ecological concerns. It should be noted however that further studies including the refinement of PEC derivation, identification and toxicity assessment of the metabolites and/or their interactions with other stressors may be warranted to better understand the environmental consequences of the residual pharmaceutical discharge to the waterway.

• Journal of Wetlands Research
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.319-325
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• 2014

A lot of Pond Wetland (Palustrine Wetland) are distributed in agricultural landscapes, Korea. These wetlands are evaluated as important resources for conservation of biodiversity. However, the study of Pond Wetland is rarely conducted except type classification in Korea. In this study, the function of pond wetland as ecosystem services is studied for conservation and utilization of wetland. Research was conducted in three steps; functionality analysis, functionality derivation, and importance analysis. A total of 22 features were derived by analyzing the previous studies. As a result of expert survey, 4 features were selected by each in the field of biological, environmental, and socio-culture among the 22 features. Importance was calculated by conducting a cross-functional features using Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP). Finally, 10 ecosystem service functions of pond wetland were derived through expert survey; (1) Water Storage & Irrigation, (2) Vegetation Diversity, (3) Amphibian & Reptile Habitat, (4) Water Purification, (5) Aquatic Insect Habitat, (6) Nutriments Control was derived, (7) Groundwater Recharge, (8) Fishery Habitat, (9) Eco-Experience & Education, and (10) Aesthetic landscape. It is expected that this study is able to utilize in evaluation of pond wetlands ecosystem services by further study on analysis of functional importance and economic value index.

• Journal of Korea Water Resources Association
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• v.54 no.9
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• pp.657-666
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• 2021

Ecosystem biodiversity is rapidly being lost due to changes in habitat, fragmentation of habitat, climate change, and land use changes by human activities. Recently, attempts have been made to approach the watershed management level to secure the health of the watershed, but studies on how to approach biodiversity and habitat management are still in lack. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the habitat quality of Geum river basin using Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Tradeoffs (InVEST) habitat quality model. The results of habitat quality was verified to eco-natural map and ecological watershed health evaluation results. The habitat quality of watershed was evaluated from 0 to 0.86 and the results showed that habitat quality was higher in upstream than downstream. Compared the habitat quality value in each eco-natural grade, the average habitat quality of 1st, 2nd and 3rd grades were 0.80, 0.76 and 0.71 respectively. The results of the correlation analysis with ecological watershed health data, the coefficient of determination (R²) was 0.58, and the person coefficient was 0.76. The results of this study may be used as foundation data to support habitat protection and implementation of long-term biodiversity-related policies.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.425-439
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• 2018

W investigated the environmental factors and inhabiting biota such as macrophytes and zooplankton in 43 sites located on Jeju Island from May and June 2017 to evaluate the spread and ecosystem risk of dotted duckweed (landoltia punctata) which was recently found for the first time in Jeju Island. Dotted duckweeds were found in a total of 18 sites which tended to show low biomass of aquatic macrophyte species other than the dotted duckweed. We conducted a pattern analysis using SOM (Self-Organizing Map), which extracts information through competitive and adaptive properties, to analyze the effect of inhabiting biota on aquatic macrophytes such as the dotted duckweed and environmental factors. The SOM analysis showed that the inhabiting biota such as the zooplankton affected the biomass of aquatic macrophytes than they did the environmental factors. In particular, the biomass of dotted duckweed was positively related to plant-attached species (Alona, Chydorus, and Pleuroxus). Considering that low density of aquatic macrophytes covers the streams and wetlands on Jeju Island because of irregular water source and sharp change of water depth, the dotted duckweeds are likely to play an essential role as the vital habitat for micro-biota including zooplankton in wetlands and streams on Jeju Island. Furthermore, considering that organic matters are utilized as the primary food source in the areas occupied by dotted duckweed, dotted duckweeds have the role of being both habitat and food source. Although the dense growth of dotted duckweed adversely affects growth and development of some aquatic plants due to the shadow effect, it is due to the dominance of floating plants on the water surface should not be regarded as the risk of the dotted duckweed. In conclusion, the dotted duckweeds have spread and settled in most of the water systems on Jeju Island, their impact on inhabiting biota and the aquatic environment was minor. It is necessary to monitor the distribution and spread of dotted duckweeds in the inland areas outside of Jeju Island in the future.

• Journal of Korea Water Resources Association
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• v.52 no.spc2
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• pp.791-799
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• 2019

This study explained the historical changes in the habitat structures based on the aerial photographs (1948, 1967, 1973, 1989 and 2010) of the mid-stream reach of the Mangyeong River. The habitat structure was divided into landforms and aquatic habitats. The landform was classified into bare land, vegetated land, water surface, farmland and artificial land. The aquatic habitat was classified into natural riffle, artificial riffle, run, head wando, tail wando, mid wando, pond and chute channel. The ratio of bareland decreased, and water surface and vegetated land increased after the excavation in 1970s and since the construction of weir in 1980s. As historical changes of aquatic habitat, ratio of run decreased sharply while mid wando increased sharply. aquatic habitats such as head wando, tail wando, and pond located on bars decreased dramatically.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.35 no.6
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• pp.574-579
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• 2019

As interest in health issues increases, it is imperative to ensure good water quality from wastewater treatment plant effluent to preserve environmental health. In particular, currently there is a lack of water ecosystem risk assessment on pharmaceutical substances remaining in effluent. In this study, antidepressant escitalopram (ESC), antiepileptic carbamazepine (CBZ) and lead, which impact the behavior of aquatic organisms, were used to test their impact on the potential behavior of zebrafish. Zebrafish have been widely used in toxicological assessment studies due to the ease of handlinggenerically and genetically. It was possible to observe changes in the growth of organisms through monitoring the embryos' cognitive and behavior assessment. In this study, the embryo lethal dose test showed that the lethal concentration of ESC and CBZ was at 10 ppb, which is below the water quality criterion (100 ppb), increased by 32.5 % and 40 %, respectively. In the cognitive test, it was found that the cognitive ability function decreased by 22 % and 17% for ESC(500 ppb) and CBZ(1,000 ppb) respectively relative to control. Based on these results, it is necessary to initiate efforts to remove these trace pollutants from sewage treatment facilities to protect the health of aquatic organisms.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.38 no.4
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• pp.193-200
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• 2016

Water flea is a widely used test species in the aquatic ecotoxicity test. In Korea, D. magna is currently used as a standard test species, however that do not inhabit in the Korean aquatic ecosystem. In this study, Daphnia galeata, which is a dominant species in the Korean aquatic ecosystem, was collected from domestic lake and investigated to suggest the D. galeata for ecotoxicity assessment in Korea. We investigated the characteristics, life span, and toxicity sensitivity compared with D. magna. The life span test of D. galeata was performed in this study, and then the results were compared to the sensitivity with D. magna to confirm the applicability for ecotoxicity assessment. The 48h-L(E)C50 values for seven heavy metals (As, Cd, Cr, Cu, Hg, Ni, and Zn) of D. galeata and D. magna were collected and analyzed. As a results, shorter lifetime, less reproduction, smaller body size of D. galeata were observed compared with D. magna. D. galeata was similar or more sensitive than D. magna for seven heavy metals. Therefore, we propose that D. galeata is a suitable test species for ecotoxicity testing in Korea.