• Animal cells and systems
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.321-328
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• 2012

The oily bittering Acheilognathus koreensis is a freshwater species that is endemic to Korea and is experiencing severe declines in natural populations as a result of habitat fragmentation and water pollution. For the conservation and restoration of this species, it is necessary to assess its genetic diversity at the population level. We developed 13 polymorphic microsatellite loci that were used to analyze the genetic diversity of two populations collected from the Kum River and the Tamjin River in Korea. All loci exhibited Mendelian inheritance patterns when examined in controlled crosses. Both populations revealed high levels of variability, with the number of alleles ranging from 3 to 20 and observed and expected heterozygosities ranging from 0.500 to 0.969 and from 0.529 to 0.938, respectively. None of the loci showed significant deviation from Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium, and one pair of loci showed significant linkage disequilibrium after Bonferroni correction. Pairwise $F_{ST}$ and genetic distance estimation showed significant differences between two populations. These results suggest that the microsatellites developed herein can be used to study the genetic diversity, population structure and conservation measure of A. koreensis.

• Proceedings of the National Institute of Ecology of the Republic of Korea
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• v.3 no.3
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• pp.129-138
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• 2022

Reintroduction programs have been promoted across the world to recover and rehabilitate endangered birds through ex situ captive breeding and releasing to the nature. The ultimate aims of these reintroduction programs are recovery of sustainable populations in natural habitats. To ensure the success of the reintroduction programs, it is necessary to examine the followings in order to increase the success rate of releasing along with the development of captive breeding techniques: 1) Adequate habitat provision, 2) adaptability of captive-bred individuals, 3) survivability of released individuals, and 4) social interest and will. Before releasing captive-bred individuals, it should be reviewed whether there are habitats in which the limiting factor is removed, and assessed their long-term safety. The quantity and quality of the released individuals must be considered to increase the chances for mate selection, maintain genetic diversity, and acquire the ability to adapt to the wild. The release method must be decided in consideration of characteristics of the target habitats and individuals, and rational means such as careful observation, evaluation, and feedback must be provided throughout the release process. For the long-term success of recovery projects, social awareness, sustainable support, and related experts are needed. Satisfying these criteria can help to increase the success rates of reintroduction programs. For the bird reintroduction program in the future, the feasibility of the methods and procedures must be closely reviewed before starting.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.35 no.3
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• pp.167-175
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• 2012

Coastal sand dune systems are particularly fragile and threaten the environment. However, these systems provide fundamental ecosystem services to the nearby urban areas, acting, for example, as protective buffers against erosion. In this paper, we attempt to classify the biotope types of coastal sand dune ecosystems and select an index for the assessment of the conservation value. The types of biotopes are categorized based on the vegetation map; floras are examined in order to research the effects of hinterlands on coastal sand dunes. In addition, a naturalization rate and an urbanization index for each biotope type in hinterlands are analyzed. In the ecosystem of coastal sand dunes, the urbanization index and naturalization rate shows a higher value in sand dunes with areas of road, residential, and idle land in farm villages, rice fields, and fields. On the contrary, a lower value in the urbanization index and naturalization rate is present when typical biotope types, such as sand dune vegetation and natural Pinus thunbergii forests, are widely distributed. Based on these results, urbanization index and naturalization rate should be used as critical indices for the assessment of the ecosystem of costal sand dunes.

• Proceedings of the National Institute of Ecology of the Republic of Korea
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.72-78
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• 2023

The leopard (Panthera pardus) is one of the most widespread felids worldwide. Despite their wide distribution, reliable data on leopard population densities are still inadequate for conservation and management strategies in different landscapes. In the present study, we estimated leopard density using camera traps in the Ranthambhore Tiger Reserve (RTR), Rajasthan, India, between December 2010 and February 2011, where leopards coexist alongside a high density of tigers (Panthera tigris), a larger predator (RTR). A sampling effort of 4,450 trap days was made from 178 camera trapping stations over 75 days, resulting in 46 suitable photo captures (25 right flanks and 21 left flanks). In total, 18 individuals (7 males, 8 females, and 3 unknown sexes) were identified using the right flanks, and the estimated leopard density was 8.8 (standard error=2.8) individuals/100 km². Leopard density appeared to respond to small prey (<50 kg weight) richness. As this is the first systematic study to provide baseline information on leopard density in RTR, it could form a baseline for comparison in future investigations.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.19 no.6
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• pp.625-631
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• 2010

The objective of this work was to investigate how carbon sink and sequestration of vegetation and soil in the development project area can impact the land use plan, in addition to carbon emission capacity of the development project when we conduct environmental impact assessment. Especially, we did this work for a development project of solar power plant which would be constructed in forest area. Through this work, we found that 1) the amount of carbon sink and sequestration largely decreased due to reduction of the green area, 2) in terms of carbon sink and sequestration, conservation of natural green area is better than construction of newly vegetated area, 3) biochar application into soil can become an alternative for increase of carbon sink, and 4) even though a solar power production does hugely reduce carbon emissions and offset the carbon sink and sequestration capacity from the forest, it is necessary to consider the public value of the forest(reduction of heat island, habitat etc.) in siting for development area.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.110 no.2
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• pp.289-294
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• 2021

A mushroom survey was conducted in Mt. Cleopatra Needle Forest Reserve (CNFR) northeast of Puerto Pincesa, the capital city of Palawan island, from August 2018 to September 2019. During this period, 433 fungal fruiting bodies were collected from 3 different from survey sites, Concepcion, Kalakwasan, and Tanabag Barangays. The specimens were identified based on their morphological and molecular analyses and classified into 176 species, 114 genera, 55 families, and 22 orders. The mushrooms belong to Ascomycota were classified into 20 species, 15 genera, 12 families, and 7 orders, while those belongs to Basidiomycota were classified into 156 species, 99 genera, 43 families, and 15 orders, respectively. Among these mushrooms, the families with high frequency were Polyporaceae (18.9%), Marasmiaceae (11.5%), Xylariaceae (9.7%), Agaricaceae (8.3%), Auriculariaceae (4.8%), Ganodermataceae (4.2%), Hypoxylaceae (3.2%), and Sarcoscyphaceae (3.0%), and comprised 63.7% of the total specimens identified. This report may be the first checklist of mushrooms in Mt. CNFR and could be used for developing conservation strategies of the critical habitat in Palawan island.

• Korean journal of applied entomology
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• v.46 no.1 s.145
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• pp.19-25
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• 2007

A survey to investigate the inhabitation of Callipogon relictus Semenov and evaluate the population of the species in the Gwangneung Forest was conducted during last seven years. During the study, a female was observed in the forest in 2006 which confirmed a possibility of the inhabitation with a small population. Fortunately, a ovipositing female was observed in the forest during this study period in 2006. The female laid more than 20 eggs singly in the crack of bark of the Carpinus laxiflora Blume. We collated the all available data for the species with the present study including the previous reports to provide the information far the conservation plan. It will be needed the long term monitoring and various efforts for the conservation of the species will be need hereafter.

• Journal of Wetlands Research
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.359-369
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• 2015

Stream ecosystems are highly valued natural resources, however, stream environments are currently under threat in several respects. We evaluated vegetation and ecological characteristics according to different revetment types. The distribution of vegetation differed with revetment type, with a 42~45 taxa found in natural revetments, and 23~38 taxa in vertical revetments. Thus, natural revetments host more diverse vegetation than vertical revetments. We also found more plants belonging to the families Labiatae and Cyperaceae growing in natural revetments than in vertical revetments. We proposed that habitat space be apportioned to introduce annual plants as part of stream restoration projects. And, we identified 7 families and 18 taxa of naturalized plants, majority taxa were either biennial or perennial. Moreover, naturalized ratio was higher in vertical(14.3%) than natural(12.1%), we proposed a plan to promote and improve natural streams and revetments. Furthermore, we applied a waterfront evaluation method developed by the Natural Resources Conservation Service of the USDA-NRCS, which confirmed that stream health can be improved in most regions by controlling naturalized plants and ensuring shrub and tree growth. We adopted a new method to remove naturalized plants and establish natural revetments to ensure shrub and tree growth to aid in small-stream restoration and improvement. In future studies, we hope to develop methods for small-stream restoration projects in rural areas.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.27 no.5
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• pp.489-508
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• 2018

As climate changes, it is necessary to predict changes in the habitat environment in order to establish more aggressive adaptation strategies. The bioclimatic classification which clusters of areas with similar habitats can provide a useful ecosystem management framework. Therefore, in this study, biological habitat environment of Northeast Asia was identified through the establishment of the bioclimatic zones, and the impac of climate change on the biological habitat was analyzed. An ISODATA clustering was used to classify Northeast Asia (NEA)into 15 bioclimatic zones, and climate change impacts were predicted by projecting the future spatial distribution of bioclimatic zones based upon an ensemble of 17 GCMs across RCP4.5 and 8.5 scenarios for 2050s, and 2070s. Results demonstrated that significant changes in bioclimatic conditions can be expected throughout the NEA by 2050s and 2070s. The overall zones moved upward, and some zones were predicted to be greatly expanded or shrunk where we suggested as regions requiring intensive management. This analysis provides the basis for understanding potential impacts of climate change on biodiversity and ecosystem. Also, this could be used more effectively to support decision making on climate change adaptation.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.171-180
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• 2012

The field of wildlife habitat conservation research has attracted attention as integrated biodiversity management strategies. Considering the status of the species surveying data and the environmental variables in Korea, the GARP and Maxent models optimized for presence-only data could be one of the most suitable models in habitat modeling. For make sure applicability in the domestic environment we applied the machine learning species distribution model for analyzing habitats of the Korea water deer($Hydropotes$ $inermis$ $argyropus$) in the $Sapgyocheon$ watershed, $Chungcheong$ province. We used the $3^{rd}$ National Natural Environment Survey data and 10 environment variables by literature review for the modelling. Analysis results showed that habitats for the Korea water deer were predicted 16.3%(Maxent) and 27.1%(GARP), respectively. In terms of accuracy(training/test) the Maxent(0.85/0.69) was higher than the GARP(0.65/0.61), and the Spearman's rank correlation coefficient result of the Maxent(${\rho}$=0.71, p<0.01) was higher than the result of GARP(${\rho}$=0.55, p<0.05). However results could be depended on sites and target species, therefore selection of the appropriate model considering on the situation will be important to analyzing habitats.