• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.48 no.1
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• pp.96-109
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• 2024

Background: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government initiated the Billion Tree Tsunami Afforestation Project including regeneration and afforestation approaches. An effort was made to assess the distribution characteristics of afforested species under present and future climatic scenarios using ecological niche modelling. For sustainable forest management, landscape ecology can play a significant role. A significant change in the potential distribution of tree species is expected globally with changing climate. Ecological niche modeling provides the valuable information about the current and future distribution of species that can play crucial role in deciding the potential sites for afforestation which can be used by government institutes for afforestation programs. In this context, the potential distribution of 8 tree species, Cedrus deodara, Dalbergia sissoo, Juglans regia, Pinus wallichiana, Eucalyptus camaldulensis, Senegalia modesta, Populus ciliata, and Vachellia nilotica was modeled. Results: Maxent species distribution model was used to predict current and future distribution of tree species using bioclimatic variables along with soil type and elevation. Future climate scenarios, shared socio-economic pathways (SSP)2-4.5 and SSP5-8.5 were considered for the years 2041-2060 and 2081-2100. The model predicted high risk of decreasing potential distribution under SSP2-4.5 and SSP5-8.5 climate change scenarios for years 2041-2060 and 2081-2100, respectively. Recent afforestation conservation sites of these 8 tree species do not fall within their predicted potential habitat for SSP2-4.5 and SSP5-8.5 climate scenarios. Conclusions: Each tree species responded independently in terms of its potential habitat to future climatic conditions. Cedrus deodara and P. ciliata are predicted to migrate to higher altitude towards north in present and future climate scenarios. Habitat of D. sissoo, P. wallichiana, J. regia, and V. nilotica is practiced to be declined in future climate scenarios. Eucalyptus camaldulensis is expected to be expanded its suitability area in future with eastward shift. Senegalia modesta habitat increased in the middle of the century but decreased afterwards in later half of the century. The changing and shifting forests create challenges for sustainable landscapes. Therefore, the study is an attempt to provide management tools for monitoring the climate change-driven shifting of forest landscapes.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.6 no.3
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• pp.218-226
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• 2015

Background: The present study aimed to analyze the index value trends of injured employed persons (IEPs) covered in Pakistan Labour Force Surveys from 2001-02 to 2012-13. Methods: The index value method based on reference years and reference groups was used to analyze the IEP trends in terms of different criteria such as gender, area, employment status, industry types, occupational groups, types of injury, injured body parts, and treatment received. The Pearson correlation coefficient analysis was also performed to investigate the inter-relationship of different occupational variables. Results: The values of IEP increased at the end of the studied year in industry divisions such as agriculture, forestry, hunting, and fishing, followed by in manufacturing and construction industry divisions. People associated with major occupations (such as skilled agricultural and fishery workers) and elementary (unskilled) occupations were found to be at an increasing risk of occupational injuries/diseases with an increasing IEP trend. Types of occupational injuries such as sprain or strain, superficial injury, and dislocation increased during the studied years. Major injured parts of body such as upper limb and lower limb found with increasing trend. Types of treatment received, including hospitalization and no treatment, were found to decrease. Increased IEP can be justified due to inadequate health care facilities, especially in rural areas by increased IEP in terms of gender, areas, received treatment, occupational groups and employment status as results found after Pearson correlation coefficient analysis. Conclusion: The increasing trend in the IEP% of the total employed persons due to agrarian activities shows that there is a need to improve health care setups in rural areas of Pakistan.

• Journal of the Korean Geographical Society
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• v.40 no.6 s.111
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• pp.694-715
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• 2005

I examine in this paper the change of land use and the development of desertification in Horqin desert, east Inner Mongolia, China. The change of land use in this area can be summarized as the increase of agricultural field and intensive livestock farming. The agriculture and livestock farming in semi-arid area such as Horqin desert raised the problem in the management and use of water and vegetation. This problem led to desertification. The types of development of desertification in this area could be classified as follows: the mobile sand dune extension, the riverside shifting sand flat extension, the shifting sand speck extension around settlements, and the shifting sand speck extension in agricultural Held and grassland. There have been political or social movements such as the Great Leap Forward, the Cultural Revolution and the Reform and Open Policy in the background of land use change and desertification. Specially, the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution played an important role in the land use change and desertification in this area. Since 1990s, there has been some kind of policy in the control of desertification. However, it is necessary for the controling desertification of this area to consider the globalization and marketization, the survival and profit of peasants and livestock farmers, and the disturbrd and fixed population and land use structure in this area since 1949.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.33 no.5_3
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• pp.855-866
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• 2017

Several research cases using remote sensing methods to analyze changes of storage and dynamics of groundwater aquifer were reviewed in this paper. The status of groundwater storage, in an area with regional scale, could be qualitatively inferred from geological feature, surface water altimetry and topography, distribution of vegetation, and difference between precipitation and evapotranspiration. These qualitative indicators could be measured by geological lineament analysis, airborne magnetic survey, DEM analysis, LAI and NDVI calculation, and surface energy balance modeling. It is certain that GRACE and InSAR have received remarkable attentions as direct utilization from satellite data for quantification of groundwater storage and dynamics. GRACE, composed of twin satellites having acceleration sensors, could detect global or regional microgravity changes and transform them into mass changes of water on surface and inside of the Earth. Numerous studies in terms of groundwater storage using GRACE sensor data were performed with several merits such that (1) there is no requirement of sensor data, (2) auxiliary data for quantification of groundwater can be entirely obtained from another satellite sensors, and (3) algorithms for processing measured data have continuously progressed from designated data management center. The limitations of GRACE for groundwater storage measurement could be defined as follows: (1) In an area with small scale, mass change quantification of groundwater might be inaccurate due to detection limit of the acceleration sensor, and (2) the results would be overestimated in case of combination between sensor and field survey data. InSAR can quantify the dynamic characteristics of aquifer by measuring vertical micro displacement, using linear proportional relation between groundwater head and vertical surface movement. However, InSAR data might now constrain their application to arid or semi-arid area whose land cover appear to be simple, and are hard to apply to the area with the anticipation of loss of coherence with surface. Development of GRACE and InSAR sensor data preprocessing algorithms optimized to topography, geology, and natural conditions of Korea should be prioritized to regionally quantify the mass change and dynamics of the groundwater resources of Korea.

• Journal of Korea Water Resources Association
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• v.46 no.3
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• pp.253-265
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• 2013

The objective of this study is to analyse the current climate zone applied by K$\ddot{o}$ppen climate classification and the future climate zone projected by the A2 scenario in Asia regions. The spatial and temporal variations of precipitation and temperature were also analyzed. As regards to the result of analysis on the variation of climate factor, temperature and precipitation will be increasing $4.0^{\circ}C$ and 12% respectively in the 2080s comparing with the reference period (1991~2010). Spatially, the range of temperature increase on the high latitude area is higher than that on the low latitude area. The precipitation will be increasing averagely in the overall area, but the spatial unequal distribution of precipitation will be intensified. At the result of the future climate zone, the area of warm climates will be increasing while the area of cold climates will be decreasing. In 2080s, the temperature will be increasing as much as 7.2% and 1.9% on the Tropical climates and Arid climates respectively, but it will be decreasing as -2.4%, -4.9% and -1.8% on the Warm temperate climates, Cold climates and Polar climates respectively. Furthermore, the part of Savannah climates and Desert climates will be mostly increasing. It is mainly caused by the temperature increase and desertification impact according to global warming.

• Journal of the Korean earth science society
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.423-436
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• 2000

The lithofacies, biofacies, and paleosol development of the Jindong Formation, the Geoncheonri Formation, and the lacustrine deposits of Mt. Hwangryeong at Pusan, which occur in the southeastern part of the Gyeongsang Basin, were analyzed in comparative sedimentology and in stratigraphy. The common features of these lacustrine deposits are: 1) clastic deposits are prevailing, 2) deltaic deposits are not associated, 3) mudflat deposits are common, and 4) stromatolites are absent. The distinct differences among these deposits are: 1) in the Jindong Formation, the mudflat deposits are predominant, pedogenic calcretes are commonly present, and dinosaur tracks frequently occur, compared with other two lacustrine deposits, and 2) in the Geoncheonri Formation, invertebrate fossils are relatively common and storm deposits are not recognized, compared with other deposits, and 3) evaporite mineral casts and tuffaceous turbidite deposits are common in the Mt. Hwangryeong lacustrine deposits. In stratigraphy, the Geoncheonri Formation is correlated with the lower part of the Jindong Formation, and the Mt. Hwangryeong lacutsrine deposits are deemed to overlie the Jindong Formation. On the basis of comparative sedimentology and stratigraphic relationship among these lacustrine deposits, general paleoenvironements of the southeastern part of the Gyeongsang Basin from the late Hayang time to the early Yucheon time are interpreted as follows. During the late Hayang time, tectonic and volcanic activities were generally inacitive in the Gyeongsang Basin, and lacustrine environments expanded since the paleoclimatic condition became less arid compared with the middle Hayang time. In general, however, paleoclimate during the late Hayang time was still arid, and wetting and drying periods were alternated. The occasional occurrences of severe droughts were also characteristic of the late Hayang time. Mudflats existed in wide area in the southeastern part of the Gyeongsang Basin during the late Hayang time, and sedimentation rate was accordingly low. The sedimentation rate became relatively high during the latest Hayang time and the early Yucheon time since tectonic and volcanic activities had been active. Generally arid climate continued for the early Yucheon time, enough for evaporite minerals to precipate occasionally.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.90-98
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• 2009

Every spring, Korea is always plagued by sandy dust from the western region of China and Mongolia. Yellow sand is causing an environmental problem to Japan and far into the American continent, let alone Korea. At present, the western region of China is going under desertification at a great speed due to climatic change and humans' damaging activities. To cope with this, each country including China is considering ecological restoration of deserts through planting. Accordingly, this research conducted a vegetation survey on Baicheng district which is a representative dry land of western China to obtain a basic data for ecological restoration of a desert. The survey revealed that Setaria viridis which invaded an arid land made a succession into Setaria viridis-Cannabis sativa var. fruderalis community together with Artemisia mongolica-Setaria viridis community due to the increase in salt concentration and alkalization subsequent to dryness. It was also found out that there finally formed Artemisia mongolica community on a flat intense in harsh wind and dryness with the continuous worsening of environmental conditions. There appeared a different type of vegetation on hilly districts where sporadic shade could come into being because the air humidity could be available relatively there. Frequently, typically appearing at the whole survey area, the Tributlus terrestris community was found to make succession into Tribulus terrestris-Cleisrogenes squarrosa community due to the aggravation of soil environment. In addition, with the worsening of the environment at hilly districts, there formed Clesirogenes squarrosa community resistant to dryness, salinity in soil and strong alkalinity. Further, there appeared higher plant life totalling to 62 taxa comprising 58 species and 4 varieties with 27 families and 49 genuses at the whole survey area. Among these, Compositae plants excellent in resistance to environment was surveyed the most, accounting for 27%.

• Horticultural Science & Technology
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.500-502
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• 1999

This study was carried out to survey the distribution of Korean native Sedum rotundifolium and environmental conditions of their native habitats. Sedum rotundifolium could be found only at the Mt. Juwang and its vicinity, Okgae valley. And most of Sedum rotundifolium plants in habitats were positioned between the chasm of cliffs in middle mountainous area having altitudes ranging about 250~450 m. Most of soil conditions in native habitats were somewhat arid, and light intensities were ranged from 1 to 90 % of those at the open area. But relative humidity, air temperature and soil temperature showed little difference compared with those of open area. Soil acidities were ranged from pH 5.0 to 7.0, and relatively high amount of humus, total $P_2O_5$, Ca, and Mg were measured at habitat area. On the other hand, growth of Sedum rotundifolium was significantly different according to habitat sites.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.277-283
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• 2001

This paper presents treatment efficiency and plant growth of a surface-flow constructed wetland system (30 meter in length and 10 meter in width) over one year after its establishment on a floodplain of a stream. Cattails (Typha angustiflora) grown on pots were transplanted on one half of its area from inlets and reeds (Phragmites australis) on another half from an outlet. Effluent discharged from a secondary-level treatment plant was funneled into the system. The stems of cattails and reeds emerging in April 2001 grew up to 165.9 cm and 95.3 cm, respectively until July 2001. The number of stems of cattails arid reeds in July 2001 increased by 65% and 100%, respectively, compared with that just after their planting. The growth of cattails was better than that of reeds during study period. The removal rates for SS, $BOD_5$, T-N and T-P was 33%, 43%, 31%, and 51%, respectively. The system was inundated seven times by storms over the monitoring period, which disturbed its environment and led to its lower treatment rates. The increase of SS concentration in effluent after inundation of the system was attributed to the falls of soil particles onto its water surface, which had been attached to the emergent plants by floods. Purification rates for T-N were relatively low for the period of late fall through winter until early spring due to lower water temperature which may have retarded microbial nitrification and denitrification mechanisms. Reduction in T-P concentration during fall and winter was relatively higher than that during summer and spring, which may have resulted from no system perturbations by floods and heavy storms during fall and winter.

• Atmosphere
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.399-414
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• 2010

Sand and dust storm in East Asia, so called Asian dust, is a seasonal meteorological phenomenon. Mostly in spring, dust particles blown into atmosphere in the arid area over northern China desert and Manchuria are transported to East Asia by prevailing flows. An Asian dust event occurred on 6-8 May 2007 is chosen to investigate how sensitive the Asian dust transport forecast to the initial condition uncertainties and to interpret the characteristics of sensitivity structures from the viewpoint of dynamics and predictability. To investigate the forecast sensitivities to the initial condition, adjoint sensitivities that calculate gradient of the forecast aspect (i.e., response function) with respect to the initial condition are used. The forecast aspects relevant to Asian dust transports are dry energy forecast error and lower tropospheric pressure forecast error. The results show that the sensitive regions for the dry energy forecast error and the lower tropospheric pressure forecast error are initially located in the vicinity of the trough and then propagate eastward as the surface low system moves eastward. The vertical structures of the adjoint sensitivities for the dry energy forecast error are upshear tilted structures, which are typical adjoint sensitivity structures for extratropical cyclones. Energy distribution of singular vectors also show very similar structures with the adjoint sensitivities for the dry energy forecast error. The adjoint sensitivities of the lower tropospheric pressure forecast error with respect to the relative vorticity show that the accurate forecast of the trough (or relative vorticity) location and intensity is essential to have better forecasts of the Asian dust event. Forecast error for the atmospheric circulation during the dust event is reduced 62.8% by extracting properly weighted adjoint sensitivity perturbations from the initial state. Linearity assumption holds generally well for this case. Dynamics of the Asian dust transport is closely associated with predictability of it, and the improvement in the overall forecast by the adjoint sensitivity perturbations implies that adjoint sensitivities would be beneficial in improving the forecast of Asian dust events.