• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• 제47권4호
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• pp.177-186
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• 2023

Background: Inner Mongolia, desertification is happening due to climate change and land use alterations. In order to evaluate desert restoration effectiveness, this study compares number of species and species diversity in restored (with planted trees), unrestored area, and the reference ecosystem (Ref-E, typical steppe and woody steppe). Results: The Ref-E had the most plant species (64 taxa), while the unrestored area had the fewest (5 taxa). Among restored areas (restored in 2012, 2008, 2005), older restoration sites had more species (18-42). Similarly, species richness (3.93-0.41) and diversity (1.99-0.40) were highest in the Ref-E and lowest in unrestored areas, with older restored sites having higher values. Conclusions: More plant species and diversity in older restoration areas suggest progress toward ecosystem stabilization, approaching the Ref-E. Therefore, tree planting in Inner Mongolia's Hulunbuir semi-arid desert is a successful restoration effort.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• 제43권2호
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• pp.246-253
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• 2019

Background: Water use efficiency (WUE) is an indicator of the trade-off between carbon uptake and water loss to the atmosphere at the plant or ecosystem level. Understanding temporal dynamics and the response of WUE to climatic variability is an essential part of land degradation assessments in water-limited dryland regions. Alternative definitions of and/or alternative methodologies used to measure WUE, however, have hampered intercomparisons among previous studies of different biomes and regions. The present study aims to clarify semantic differences among WUE parameters applied in previous studies and summarize these parameters in terms of their definition and methodology. Additionally, the consistency of the responses of alternative WUE parameters to interannual changes in moisture levels in Northeast Asia dryland regions (NADRs) was tested. Results: The literature review identified more than five different WUE parameters defined at leaf and ecosystem levels and indicates that major conclusions regarding the WUE response to climatic variability were partly inconsistent depending on the parameters used. Our demonstration of WUE in NADR again confirmed regional inconsistencies and further showed that inconsistencies were more distinct in hyper- and semi-arid climates than in arid climates, which might reflect the different relative roles of physical and biological processes in the coupled carbon-water process. Conclusions: The responses of alternative WUE parameters to drying and wetting may be different in different regions, and regionally different response seems to be related to aridity, which determines vegetation coverage.

• 대한원격탐사학회:학술대회논문집
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• 대한원격탐사학회 2005년도 Proceedings of ISRS 2005
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• pp.153-164
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• 2005

The paper presents time and cost effective remote sensing technology to estimate recharge potential of fresh water shallow aquifers for their sustainable management in arid ecosystem. Precipitation measurement of Raudatain Basin in Kuwait from TRMM data has been made and integrated with geological, geomorphological and hyrological data, to estimate the recharge potential of the basin. The total potential recharge to the area is estimated as 333.964 MCM annually. The initial losses are estimated at $60\%$ of the net precipitation .The net available quantity for recharge is 133.58 MCM. For sustainable management of the ground water resources, recharge wells have been proposed in the higher order streams to augment the Raudatain aquifer in Kuwait. If the available quantity of precipitation can be successfully utilized, it will reduce considerable pressure on desalination, which is leading to increased salinity off the coast in Arabian Gulf.

• 대한원격탐사학회:학술대회논문집
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• 대한원격탐사학회 2008년도 International Symposium on Remote Sensing
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• pp.224-227
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• 2008

Land cover and its changes, affecting multiple aspects of the environmental system such as energy balance, biogeochemical cycles, hydrological cycles and the climate system, are regarded as critical elements in global change studies. Especially in arid and semiarid regions, the observation of ecosystem that is sensitive to climate change can improve an understanding of the relationships between climate and ecosystem dynamics. The purpose of this research is analyzing the ecosystem surrounding the Gobi desert in North Asia quantitatively as well as qualitatively more concretely. We used Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) derived from SPOT-VEGETATION (VGT) sensor during 1999${\sim}$2007. Ecosystem monitoring of this area is necessary because it is a hot spot in global environment change. This study will allow predicting areas, which are prone to the rapid environmental change. Eight classes were classified and compare with MODerate resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MODIS) global land cover. The time-series analysis was carried out for these 8 classes. Class-1 and -2 have least amplitude variation with low NDVI as barren areas, while other vegetated classes increase in May and decrease in October (maximum value occurs in July and August). Although the several classes have the similar features of NDVI time-series, we detected a slight difference of inter-annual variation among these classes.

• Journal of the korean society of oceanography
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• 제33권3호
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• pp.123-135
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• 1998

Cooperative scientific research in Antarctic has been successful since the International Geophysical Year 1957/1958. Presently, 43 nations have joined the Antarctic Treaty as consultative parties or acceding states, and other treaties and agreements have evolved to conserve the integrity and to manage the resources of the Antarctic ecosystem. Although yet to be designated, tourism areas in Antarctica are under consideration. Due to its remoteness and vast magnitude, Antarctica's science is slowly emerging. Satellite technology has enabled observation of the progression of the ozone hole above Antarctica. Mineral exploitation has yet to take place, as has the transport of Antarctic icebergs to some arid nations. On the other hand, both seal and whale exploitations have occurred, devastating these populations. The lessons learned from past human greed are used to design krill and squid fisheries, though the life histories of these organisms are yet to be adequately understood. An ecosystem approach to managing Antarctic resource exploitation is essential. Procuring the needed logistics to do so is daunting, requiring the highest degree of international cooperation and educational outreach to nurture the needed effective scientific and engineering talent, both natural and social.

• Mycobiology
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• 제48권5호
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• pp.410-417
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• 2020

Fungal ecological interactions play a key role in structuring community assemblages. These associations may involve both antagonistic and synergistic relationships, which are commonly influenced by abiotic factors such as nutrient conditions. However, information for extreme, oligotrophic systems remain poor. Herein, interactions among key members of the aquatic transient fungal community (Aspergillus niger, Cladosporium sp., and Coprinellus micaceus) of a low-nutrient freshwater system in the Cuatro Ci enegas Basin, Mexico were studied. Pairwise interaction bioassays were explored in vitro under different nutrient conditions, including carbohydrates-rich, carbohydrates and amino peptides-rich, and low nutrients. Our results indicated that antagonistic patterns prevail among the studied taxa. However, nutrient-dependent changes were observed in Cladosporium sp. shifting to synergy under carbohydrates-rich conditions, suggesting changes in the fungal community composition as a result of nutrient enrichment. Remarkably, our findings contrast with previous work demonstrating mainly synergistic interactions between our tested fungal isolates and co-occurring autochthonous bacteria (Aeromonas spp. and Vibrio sp.) under low-nutrient conditions. This observation may indicate that bacteria and fungi exhibit distinct community-level responses, driven by nutrient conditions. This contributes to the knowledge of fungal community dynamics and interspecific interactions in an oligotrophic ecosystem, highlighting the relevance of nutrient-based shifts and antagonistic interactions in ecosystem dynamics.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• 제23권1호
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• pp.61-67
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• 2010

The chemical components in plant cuticular wax can be used as markers to estimate the species composition of the diet of grazing animals. In this experiment, composition of the diet of yak on the Qinghai-Tibetan plateau was estimated using n-alkane analysis. During the grazing period, samples of whole plants of the species present, plus fecal samples voided by the yak, were collected, air-dried and ground prior to the extraction of cuticular wax n-alkanes. The species composition of the yak diets was estimated by relating fecal alkane contents to those of the plant species, using the 'ATWHAT'software package. The results showed that the n-alkane technique can detect the main dietary components selected by yak. The diet consumed by yak contained 33% Kobresia humilis, 67% Stipa aliena in summer pasture; 26% Potentilla anserine, 74% Carex qinghaiensis in autumn pasture; 52% Carex qinghaiensis, 32% Heteropappus bowerii and 16% Saussurea semifasciata in winter pasture and 5% Carex qinghaiensis, 95% Achnatherum splendens in spring pasture. The apparent selection for forbs is likely to be a reason for nutritional constraint of yak inhabiting alpine environments.

• 한국조경학회지
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• 제25권1호
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• pp.100-111
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• 1997

Owing to the urbanization, the industrialization and joining to WTo, there are lots of fallow and abandoned farmlands in Korea. Those results have occurred inefficient land use and destruction of agricultural ecosystem with the secondary succession and invasion of alien weeds. Using these fallow and abandoned farmlands, Korean government tries to create the ecological parks for the nature conservation, amenity, education and research, etc. For these purposes, materials on the ecological park construction were gathered from abroad such as England, Germany, Switzerland and Japan and also field trips to those countries were executed in April,1996. Accordingly, the goal for the ecological parks could be set suitably to Korean situation as of Japanese styles which are characterized by man-made biotopes. For a case study, dragonfly was selected as an indicator of the rehabilitation of water-side ecosystem, arid a site was selected for the dragonfly biotope under the criteria of selection to the Experimental Farm of Korea University including near abandoned farmlands (Dogok-ri, Wabu-eup, Namyangju city Kyunggi-do). Natural and cultural factors of this site were inventoried and analyzed, and then with the results dragonfly biotope was planned to the site with the detailed ecotechnology.

• Journal of Forest and Environmental Science
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• 제37권4호
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• pp.292-303
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• 2021

Studies that relate the structure of tropical regrowth vegetation to soil properties are generally lacking in the literature. This study proposes three indices for assessing the structural regeneration of secondary forests. They are: (1) the tree diameter class, (2) the plant life form and (3) the woody/herbaceous plants ratio indices. They were applied to assess the regeneration status of forest regrowth vegetation (aged 1-10 years), derived savanna regrowth vegetation in south western Nigeria, and to secondary forests in different stages of succession in Columbia and Venezuela, Bolivia, Mexico in South and Central America and semi-arid savanna in Ethiopia and seasonal deciduous forest successional stages in India. In all the cases, the indices increased with increasing age of regrowth vegetation and hence, with increasing structural complexity of regenerating vegetation. The tree diameter class index increased from 32.1% in a 9-year secondary forest to 69.0% in an 80-year-old secondary forest in Columbia and Venezuela and from 0.4% in a 1-year fallow to 20.9% in 10-year regrowth vegetation in southwestern Nigeria. In semi-arid savanna in northern Ethiopia, the woody/herbaceous plants ratio index increased from 18.1% in a 5-year protected grazing enclosure to 75.1% in 15-year protected enclosure, relative to the status of 20-year enclosure. The indices generally had correlations of 0.6-0.90 with species richness and Simpson's/Margalef's species diversity, implying that they are appropriate measures of ecosystem development over time. The proposed indices also had strong and positive correlations with soil organic carbon and nutrients. They are therefore, significant indicators of fertility status.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• 제25권1호
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• pp.122-142
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• 2012

The importance of rainfed areas and animal agriculture on productivity enhancement and food security for economic rural growth in Asia is discussed in the context of opportunities for increasing potential contribution from them. The extent of the rainfed area of about 223 million hectares and the biophysical attributes are described. They have been variously referred to inter alia as fragile, marginal, dry, waste, problem, threatened, range, less favoured, low potential lands, forests and woodlands, including lowlands and uplands. Of these, the terms less favoured areas (LFAs), and low or high potential are quite widely used. The LFAs are characterised by four key features: i) very variable biophysical elements, notably poor soil quality, rainfall, length of growing season and dry periods, ii) extreme poverty and very poor people who continuously face hunger and vulnerability, iii) presence of large populations of ruminant animals (buffaloes, cattle, goats and sheep), and iv) have had minimum development attention and an unfinished wanting agenda. The rainfed humid/sub-humid areas found mainly in South East Asia (99 million ha), and arid/semi-arid tropical systems found in South Asia (116 million ha) are priority agro-ecological zones (AEZs). In India for example, the ecosystem occupies 68% of the total cultivated area and supports 40% of the human and 65% of the livestock populations. The area also produces 4% of food requirements. The biophysical and typical household characteristics, agricultural diversification, patterns of mixed farming and cropping systems are also described. Concerning animals, their role and economic importance, relevance of ownership, nomadic movements, and more importantly their potential value as the entry point for the development of LFAs is discussed. Two examples of demonstrated success concern increasing buffalo production for milk and their expanded use in semi-arid AEZs in India, and the integration of cattle and goats with oil palm in Malaysia. Revitalised development of the LFAs is justified by the demand for agricultural land to meet human needs e.g. housing, recreation and industrialisation; use of arable land to expand crop production to ceiling levels; increasing and very high animal densities; increased urbanisation and pressure on the use of available land; growing environmental concerns of very intensive crop production e.g. acidification and salinisation with rice cultivation; and human health risks due to expanding peri-urban poultry and pig production. The strategies for promoting productivity growth will require concerted R and D on improved use of LFAs, application of systems perspectives for technology delivery, increased investments, a policy framework and improved farmer-researcher-extension linkages. These challenges and their resolution in rainfed areas can forcefully impact on increased productivity, improved livelihoods and human welfare, and environmental sustainability in the future.