• Proceedings of The Korean Society of Agricultural and Forest Meteorology Conference
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• 2017.11a
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• pp.83-83
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• 2017

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.45 no.1
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• pp.1-9
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• 2021

Background: Abandoned coal piles after the closure of mines have a potential negative influence on the environment, such as soil acidification and heavy metal contamination. Therefore, revegetation by efficient species is required. For this, we wanted to identify the role of Silene acaulis in the succession of coal piles as a pioneer and a nurse plant. S. acaulis is a well-studied cushion plant living in the Arctic and alpine environments in the northern hemisphere. It has a highly compact cushion-like form and hosts more plant species under its canopy by ameliorating stressful microhabitats. In this research, we surveyed vegetation cover on open plots and co-occurring species within S. acaulis cushions in coal piles with different slope aspects and a control site where no coal was found. The plant cover and the similarity of communities among sites were compared. Also, the interaction effects of S. acaulis were assessed by rarefaction curves. Results: S. acaulis was a dominant species with the highest cover (6.7%) on the coal piles and occurred with other well-known pioneer species. Plant communities on the coal piles were significantly different from the control site. We found that the pioneer species S. acaulis showed facilitation, neutral, and competition effect in the north-east facing slope, the south-east facing slope, and the flat ground, respectively. This result was consistent with the stress gradient hypothesis because the facilitation only occurred on the north-east facing slope, which was the most stressed condition, although all the interactions observed were not statistically significant. Conclusions: S. acaulis was a dominant pioneer plant in the succession of coal piles. The interaction effect of S. acaulis on other species depended on the slope and its direction on the coal piles. Overall, it plays an important role in the succession of coal piles in the High Arctic, Svalbard.

• Proceedings of The Korean Society of Agricultural and Forest Meteorology Conference
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• 2019.08a
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• pp.246-246
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• 2019

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.57 no.6
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• pp.607-612
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• 2019

The aim of this parasitological study is examining contemporary (the late 20th century) specimens of the arctic or subarctic areas in Western Siberia and comparing them with the information acquired from archaeological samples from the same area. In the contemporary specimens, we observed the parasite eggs of 3 different species: Opisthochis felineus, Ascaris lumbricoides, and Enterobius vermicularis. Meanwhile, in archaeoparasitological results of Vesakoyakha, Kikki-Akki, and Nyamboyto I burial grounds, the eggs of Diphyllobothrium and Taenia spp. were found while no nematode (soil-transmitted) eggs were observed in the same samples. In this study, we concluded helminth infection pattern among the arctic and subarctic peoples of Western Siberia throughout history as follows: the raw fish-eating tradition did not undergo radical change in the area at least since the 18th century; and A. lumbricoides or E. vermicularis did not infect the inhabitants of this area before 20th century. With respect to the Western Siberia, we caught glimpse of the parasite infection pattern prevalent therein via investigations on contemporary and archaeoparasitological specimens.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.44 no.2
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• pp.171-179
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• 2016

Recent succession of soil microorganisms and vegetation has occurred in the glacier foreland, because of glacier thawing. In this study, whole microbial communities, including bacteria, archaea, and eukaryotes, from the glacier foreland of Midtre Lovénbreen in Svalbard were analyzed by metagenome sequencing, using the Ion Torrent Personal Genome Machine (PGM) platform. Soil samples were collected from two research sites (ML4 and ML7), with different exposure times, from the ice. A total of 2,798,108 and 1,691,859 reads were utilized for microbial community analysis based on the metagenomic sequences of ML4 and ML7, respectively. The relative abundance of microbial communities at the domain level showed a high proportion of bacteria (about 86−87%), whereas archaeal and eukaryotic communities were poorly represented by less than 1%. The remaining 12% of the sequences were found to be unclassified. Predominant bacterial groups included Proteobacteria (40.3% from ML4 and 43.3% from ML7) and Actinobacteria (22.9% and 24.9%). Major groups of Archaea included Euryarchaeota (84.4% and 81.1%), followed by Crenarchaeota (10.6% and 13.1%). In the case of eukaryotes, both ML4 and ML7 samples showed Ascomycota (33.8% and 45.0%) as the major group. These findings suggest that metagenome analysis using the Ion Torrent PGM platform could be suitably applied to analyze whole microbial community structures, providing a basis for assessing the relative importance of predominant groups of bacterial, archaeal, and eukaryotic microbial communities in the Arctic glacier foreland of Midtre Lovénbreen, with high resolution.

• Journal of Ocean Engineering and Technology
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.42-49
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• 2008

Recently many countries have become interested in the development of cold or arctic regions. The construction of engineered structures in those regions demands an understanding of the deformation characteristics of frozen soil. However, an understanding of frozen soil behavior poses difficult problems owing to the complex interaction between the soil particles and the ice matrix. In this research, a series of laboratory tests was performed to investigate the variations in the unconfined compression strength and split tensile strength of weathered granite soil and mixed soil (standard sand and kaolinite) in 15 degrees below zero environments. In the frozen soil tests, specimens were prepared with various water and clay contents, and then the interrelationships between four factors (water content, clay content, unconfined compression strength, split tensile strength) were analyzed. The test results were summarized as follows; as the water content was increased, the unconfined compressive and split tensile strengths also increased in frozen soil. However as the clay content was increased, the unconfined compressive and split tensile strengths were lowered. In the case of frozen soil that contained little clay content, the strength decreased rapidly in mixed soil (standard sand and kaolinite) when the frozen specimen was broken. On the other hand, in the cases of mixed soil that contained a high clay content and weathered granite soil, the strength decreased relatively slowly.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.15-26
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• 2010

To determine the frost heave suppressing mechanism of soil mixed with tire powder, we conducted three kinds of laboratory experiments: measurement of unfrozen water, evaluation of thermal conductivity, and a frost heave. In this research, we focused on changes in the coefficient of permeability of the mixed soil, and first found that of the unsaturated soil. Next, in the case of the presence of ice, we took the ice-impeding factor into consideration to derive the coefficient of permeability of the frozen fringe from the area ratio of the soil and tire powder in mixed soil. The results show a positive correlation between the water intake rate and the coefficient of permeability. Moreover, we found that the frost heave decreased thanks to a reduction in the permeability and a fall in the unfrozen water content of the soil mixed with tire powder. We also calculated the weight of the water content of the soil and tire powder void quantitatively using the result of the volumetric ratio of mixed soil.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.5-14
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• 2010

Three years of frost heave field experiments were conducted to evaluate a method for reducing heave using a recycled tire powder-soil mixture. By mixing Tomakomai soil with 20% recycled tire powder, frost heave amount was drastically decreased. The results of the field experiment confirm that recycled tire powder is an excellent material for use in controlling the total amount of heave. The restraining effect of a recycled tire powder-soil mixture is qualitatively analyzed based on amount of frost heave, frost heave ratio, thermal conductivity, permeability and segregation potential theory.

• The Korean Journal of Quaternary Research
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.40-43
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• 2005

The island alpine biogeography of Mt. Halla (Hallasan), Jeju Island (Jejudo), Korea is discussed. The presence of numerous species of alpine flora on Mt. Halla, the southernmost distributional limit for certain species, may primarily be attributed to palaeo-environmental factors, since it can not be wholly explained by reference to current environmental conditions. The alpine flora on the peak of Mt. Halla, mainly above 1,500m a.s.l, is evidently descended from immigrants from NE Asia via the Korean Peninsula during the epochs of the Ice Age. These plants, which are very intolerant of competition with temperate vegetation, have been able to persist in alpine belts thanks to their harsh climatic conditions, sterile soil, rugged topography and cryoturbation. The alpine plants on Hallasan are in a stage or process of retreat toward the mountaintop, most likely due to recent climatic amelioration. The lower limit of some species seems to coincide with maximum summer isotherms. The continued survival of arctic-alpine and alpine plants on the summit of Hallasan, Jejudo, the Korean Peninsula, however, is in danger, if global warming associated with the greenhouse effect continues.

• Korean Journal of Plant Taxonomy
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• v.37 no.4
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• pp.363-386
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• 2007

Endemic element of the Russian Far East (RFE) flora includes 497 species of 150 genera and 46 families. The level of endemism in structure of regional natural flora reaches 11.1% as a whole, and in structure of its native fraction - 13.1%. As a result of chorologic and ecocenotic analysis of RFE flora endemic element it is revealed that it consists of 8 main geographical groups and 7 main floristic complexes. The largest number of endemic species is concentrated in Arctic - Alpine & Montane (140, 28.2%), Forest (107, 21.5%) and Maritime (88, 17.7%) floristic complexes as well as in Russian Far East - West-Pacific (136, 27.4%), Japan Sea (88, 17.7%) and North-East-Asian - Beringian (69, 13.9%) geographical groups. It's possible to distinguish three main areas with similar eco-geographical differentiation of endemics on RFE as follows: (1) North-East Asia sector of RFE which North-East-Asian - Beringian and Maritime Okhotia - Beringian geographical groups approximately correspond to, (2) Continental part of East Asia sector of RFE (West - Okhotian, Amur - Okhotian, Amur - Ussirian, Okhotsk Sea and Japan Sea groups) and (3) Oceanic part of East Asia sector (Russian Far East - West Pacific group). Taxonomical variety of RFE endemics on these territories makes up accordingly (1) - 99 species (19.9%), (2) - 259 (52.8%) and (3) - 136 (27.4%).