• Journal of the Korean Association of Geographic Information Studies
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.1-18
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• 2024

This study aimed to identify the optimal street tree planting method to improve the summer thermal environment in Seoul, Republic of Korea. The effects of road direction and street tree planting patterns on urban thermal environments using ENVI-met simulations were analyzed. The 68 scenarios were analyzed based on four road directions and 17 planting patterns. The results showed that tree planting had a reducing air temperature, mean radiant temperature, human thermal sensation (PET and UTCI). The most effective planting pattern among all scenarios was low tree height (6m), wide crown width (9m), high leaf area index (3.0), and narrow planting interval (8m). The largest improvement in the thermal environment was the northern sidewalk of the east-west road. Since this study used computer simulations, the difference from real urban spaces should be considered, and further research is needed through field measurement and consideration of more variables.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.77-90
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• 2015

BACKGROUND: The field margins, which are uncultivated area of permanent vegetation located adjacent to field, play an important role in enhancing biodiversity in the agricultural ecosystem. This study focused on floristic characteristics on dry field margins in Korea Peninsula. METHODS AND RESULTS: This study was conducted at margins of 196 dry fields in 32 areas in 8 provinces in May and September 2013. The vascular plants of the dry field margins were listed 347 taxa which contain 73 families, 219 genera, 311 species, 1 subspecies, 30 varieties and 5 forms. Of these 347 taxa, 48 taxa were woody plants and 299 taxa were herbaceous plants. Among total 73 families, Compositae (17.6%) was the most dominant family, and followed Gramineae (15.9%), Polygonaceae (5.8%), Leguminosae (4.9%) and Cyperaceae (3.8%). Based on relative frequency values of survey fields, the appearance frequency of Digitaria ciliaris (89.8%) was the highest, and followed Acalypha australis (86.2%), Artemisia princeps (82.1%), Commelina communis (80.6%) and Portulaca oleracea (80.6%). Disturbance index of dry field margins was 55.0% at national level, and Gangwon region was the highest among the 8 regions at regional level. Life form spectrum was determined to be $Th-R_5-D_4-etype$. CONCLUSION: These results will be used fundamental data for studies to improve or even stabilize the current state of plant biodiversity in agricultural environments.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.46 no.4
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• pp.561-569
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• 2013

This study examines locational environment factors that may affect the vegetation structure in the forests of Naejang National Park. To that end, we selected LAI (Leaf Area Index), diameter at breast height, and tree height as structural variables as well as altitude above sea level, gradient, slope direction, soil moisture, topographic location, and amount of solar radiation as locational environment factors, using the method of canonical correlation analysis in order to find out correlation between them. As to the simple correlation between the locational environment factors and structural variables, the correlation coefficient was relatively low (0.6). The values of LAI, measured along the ridge with higher altitudes, decreased as the soil moisture and solar radiation increased. However, LAI increased as the gradient increased and the slope direction faced the north (farther from the east). In respect of the diameter at breast height, the diameter decreased as the altitude and gradient increased. But the diameter increased as the moisture and solar radiation increased. The tree height decreased as the moisture increased and the site was closer to the ridge. These various correlations show a variety of locational environment factors in the national park, implying that the structural variables are affected by complex locational environment factors. This study conducted a canonical correlation analysis on locational environment factors which may affect the vegetation structure, and the result showed that LAI increased and tree height & diameter at breast height decreased as the solar radiation & moisture decreased and altitude increased. Although more factors that may affect vegetation structure (e.g. climate) should be taken into account, this study is significant in that the vegetation structure, which can adapt to more unfavorable conditions in terms of solar radiation, moisture, and higher altitudes, could be inferred in a statistical way. The results of this study, especially the locational environment factors based on DEM, can be used for assessing diversity of vegetation structure in a forest and for monitoring the structure in a national park on a regular basis so as to establish more effective maintenance plans of a park.

• Journal of Bio-Environment Control
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.95-101
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• 2012

This study was conducted to investigate the effect of climate conditions during cultivation and harvesting on the quality and storability of fresh bulb cabbage (Brassica oleracea L. var. capitata). Plug seedlings of six cabbage cultivars were transplanted to Gangneung-Wonju University high elevation research station in Gangwon province (780 m above sea level, lat. $37.5^{\circ}N$.) and harvested with four different harvest times like August 3 ($1^{st}$), August 13 ($2^{nd}$), August 23 ($3^{rd}$), and September 10 ($4^{th}$), respectively from 50 days after transplanting. Weight loss, Hunter color factors, firmness, and soluble solids content (SSC) of the cabbage bulbs were investigated during storage at $3^{\circ}C$ (85% RH) and $25^{\circ}C$ (60% RH). Decreased bulb weight and poor quality cabbages were apparent at the late transplanting (July 14) and harvest (September 10) respectively. Quality index such as firmness and SSC at August 23 ($3^{rd}$) harvested cabbage was better than August 3 ($1^{st}$) and August 13 ($2^{nd}$) cabbages due to the good weather condition just before harvesting. The cv. 'Speed king' and 'Minix 40' showed good qualities among the cultivars, especially when the bulbs were harvested during sunny day conditions from one week before harvesting. Also SSC was influenced by weather condition before harvesting rather than transplanting date, while firmness was influenced by transplanting and harvest date. However, the differences among the cultivars were not significant. The potential of storage as maintaining the quality was different, depending on weather conditions at harvest time. Generally the storage periods of six cultivars were around 3~5 days and 9~10 days at room and low temperature, respectively. However, the August 3 ($1^{st}$) harvested cabbage lost their marketable quality very fast because of rainy and cloudy weather condition before harvesting and also storability of bulbs was 2 days and 4 days at room temperature and $3^{\circ}C$, respectively. Quality index was also not significant difference among cultivars.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.53 no.1
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• pp.31-45
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• 2020

The biological indices based on the community structure with species richness and/or abundance are commonly used to assess aquatic ecosystem health. Meanwhile, recently functional traits-based approach is considered in ecosystem health assessment to reflect ecosystem functioning. In this study, we developed a database of biological traits for 136 taxa consisting of major stream insects (Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera, Trichoptera, Coleoptera, and Odonata) collected at Korean streams on the nationwide scale. In addition, we obtained environmental variables in five categories (geography, climate, land use, hydrology and physicochemistry) measured at each sampling site. We evaluated the relationships between community indices based on taxonomic diversity and functional diversity estimated from biological traits. We classified sampling sites based on similarities of their environmental variables and evaluated relations between clusters of sampling sites and diversity indices and biological traits. Our results showed that functional diversity was highly correlated with Shannon diversity index and species richness. The six clusters of sampling sites defined by a hierarchical cluster analysis reflected differences of their environmental variables. Samples in cluster 1 were mostly from high altitude areas, whereas samples in cluster 6 were from lowland areas. Non-metric multidimensional scaling (NMDS) displayed similar patterns with cluster analysis and presented variation of taxonomic diversity and functional diversity. Based on NMDS and community-weighted mean trait value matrix, species in clusters 1-3 displayed the resistance strategy in the life history strategy to the environmental variables whereas species in clusters 4-6 presented the resilience strategy. These results suggest that functional diversity can complement the biological monitoring assessment based on taxonomic diversity and can be used as biological monitoring assessment tool reflecting changes of ecosystem functioning responding to environmental changes.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural and Forest Meteorology
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.234-244
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• 2013

This study was conducted to determine the factors affecting to seed characteristics and seedling growth of Zelkova serrata. The seeds were collected from sixteen populations of Z. serrata and the seed characteristics (i.e., seed length, width, weight and full seed rate) were measured. We also measured the 1-year-old seedling growth of each population at nursery. All seed characteristics showed significant differences in population level. Seed length and seed width were positively correlated with latitude, longitude, altitude and distance from coast line of sampling site. Seed length and seed width also negatively correlated with annual mean temperature, mean temperature of growing season (Mar.~Oct.). The ratio of seed length/seed width showed inverse trend in case of seed length and seed width. Seed weight/1,000 grains had no correlation with geographic factors but showed negative correlation with annual mean dryness index. Seed weight/L showed negative correlation with latitude and longitude and positive correlation with mean temperature of growing season of sampling site. Full seed rate showed negative correlation with latitude, longitude and annual mean dryness index of sampling site. There were significant differences among populations, among family within population and among individuals within family in seedling growth. Height and diameter of root collar of seedling showed negative correlation with longitude and mean humidity of growing season of sampling site. Height growth of seedlings was not correlated with any seed characteristics but, diameter at root collar showed low negative correlation with seed weight/1,000 grains and seed weight/L. We discussed the implications of the results in view of tree improvement of Z. serrata.

• Journal of Wetlands Research
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.1-13
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• 2010

Most of investigations about the effects of dam construction on the surrounding environments have focused mainly on the change of climate conditions and crop production. In order to research the effect of dam construction on the surrounding vegetation, we chose the Soyanggang dam whose storage capacity is the largest in Korea, and was built 33 years ago. We surveyed and analyzed the surrounding vegetation by using quadrat method and measured the soil moisture content among floodplain (FP), 5m above the flood plain (AFP) and control group (CG) which is 3km far from the lake through ridge. The largest value of mean importance percentage of the canopy~understory layer at FP was Salix koreensis (87.9%) and those of AFP and CG was Quercus mongolica (38.9% and 40.4% respectively) and the largest important percentage of the herb layer at FP was Artemisia capillaris (34.2%) and those of AFP and CG was Oplismenus undulatifolius var. undulatifolius (9.4% and 24.6% respectively). The Shannon-Wiener diversity index of shrub~canopy layer at FP (0.26) was lower than AFP (2.34) and CG (2.23) and there was not any significant difference in the herb layer among three groups. The S${\o}$rensen similarity index between FP and AFP, FP and CG was 0, and that of AFP and CG was relatively high. The highest density of tree and subtree with the DBH level of FP was S. koreensis of 5~10cm (240/ha), and that of AFP and CG was Quercus spp. of 15~20cm (400/ha and 466/ha respectively). And the highest density of seedlings of FP was Pinus densiflora (7,040/ha), and that of AFP and CG was Quercus spp. (720/ha and 400/ha respectively). The soil water content of FP (6.28%) was relatively lower than AFP and CG (11.13% and 10.14% respectively; p<.01). These results indicated that construction of Soyanggang dam changed the vegetation of the floodplain, without showing a change in its upland areas.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Landscape Architecture
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• v.44 no.4
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• pp.100-108
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• 2016

The climatic index for tourism(CIT) has recently been advanced, which includes complete human energy balance models such as physiological equivalent temperature(PET) and universal thermal climate index(UTCI). This study investigated human thermal sensation and comfort at Woljung-ri Beach, Jeju, Republic of Korea, in spring and summer 2015 for landscape planning and design in beach areas. Microclimatic data measurements and human thermal sensation/comfort surveys from ISO 10551 were conducted together. There were 869 adults that participated. As a result, perceptual and thermal preference that consider only physiological aspects had high coefficients of determination($r^2$) with PET in linear regression analyses: 92.8% and 87.6%, respectively. However, affective evaluation, personal acceptability and personal tolerance, which consider both physiological and psychological aspects, had low $r^2s$: 60.0%, 21.1% and 46.4%, respectively. However, the correlations between them and PET were all significant at the 0.01 level. The neutral PET range in perceptual for human thermal sensation was $25{\sim}27^{\circ}C$, but a PET range less or equal to 20% dissatisfaction, which was recommended by ASHRAE Standard 55, could not be achieved in perceptual. Only PET ranges in affective evaluation and personal tolerance affected by both aspects were qualified for the recommendation as $21{\sim}32^{\circ}C$ and $17{\sim}37^{\circ}C$, respectively. Therefore, the PET range of $21{\sim}32^{\circ}C$ is recommended to be used for the human thermal comfort zone of beach areas in landscape planning and design as well as tourism and recreational planning. PET heat stress level ranges on the beach were $2{\sim}5^{\circ}C$ higher than those in inland urban areas of the Republic of Korea. Also, they were similar to high results of tropical areas such as Taiwan and Nigeria, and higher than those of western and middle Europe and Tel Aviv, Israel.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.35 no.5_1
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• pp.649-663
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• 2019

The 2018 United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) report announced that deforestation in North Korea is the most extreme situation and in terms of climate change, this deforestation is a global scale issue. To respond deforestation, various study and projects are conducted based on remote sensing, but access to public data in North Korea is limited, and objectivity is difficult to be guaranteed. In this study, the forest detection based on density estimation in statistic using Landsat imagery was conducted in Gangwon province which is the only administrative district divided into South and North. The forest spatial data of South Korea was used as data for the labeling of forest and Non-forest in the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), and a threshold (0.6658) for forest detection was set by Gaussian Probability Density Function (PDF) estimation by category. The results show that the forest area decreased until the 2000s in both Korea, but the area increased in 2010s. It is also confirmed that the reduction of forest area on the local scale is the same as the policy direction of urbanization and industrialization at that time. The Kappa value for validation was strong agreement (0.8) and moderate agreement (0.6), respectively. The detection based on the Gaussian PDF estimation is considered a method for complementing the statistical limitations of the existing detection method using satellite imagery. This study can be used as basic data for deforestation in North Korea and Based on the detection results, it is necessary to protect and restore forest resources.

• Korean Journal of Plant Resources
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.355-378
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• 2019

We investigated the flora of vascular plants in Mt. Papyeong which is located in the northern part of Paju and the border of western DMZ through 13 surveys from April 2016 to August 2019. The vascular plants of Mt. Papyeong include 410 taxa; 361 species, 9 subspecies, 36 varieties, and 4 forms from 257 genera of 91 families. Among 410 taxa, we characterize endemic species, rare and endangered plants, floristic regional indicator plants, and climate change adapted plants in Korea. Specifically, there are 9 Korean endemic plants designated by Korea National Arboretum and 6 taxa by Korean Ministry of Environment. According to IUCN evaluation, there are 13 rare and endangered plants in Mt. Papyeong. On the other hand, 2 taxa were listed in a red list suggested by Korean Ministry of Environment. The floristic regional indicator plants include 46 taxa which are composed of 2 species of IV degree, 13 taxa of III degree, 11 taxa of II degree, and 20 taxa of I degree. Also, 27 naturalized plants were identified, and the percentage of Naturalized Index (NI) and Urbanization Index (UI) were 6.58%, and 8.43%, respectively. We hope that this investigation provide a valuable data for applying the further studies on the biodiversity and strategy of conservation of environment in the DMZ and Paju areas.