• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.45 no.6
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• pp.1194-1202
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• 2012

Remotely sensed satellite images can be applied to monitor and obtain land surface information on inaccessible areas. We classified paddy field area in North Korea based on on-screen digitization with visual interpretation using 291 RapidEye satellite images covering the whole country. Criteria for paddy field classification based on RapidEye imagery acquired at different time of rice growth period was defined. Darker colored fields with regular shape in the images with false color composite from early May to late June were detected as rice fields. From early July to late September, it was hard to discriminate rice canopy from other type of vegetation including upland crops, grass, and forest in the image. Regular form of readjusted rice field in the plains and uniform texture when compared with surrounding vegetation. Paddy fields classified from RapidEye imagery were mapped and the areas were calculated by administrative district, province or city. Sixty six percent of paddy fields ($3,521km^2$) were distributed in the west coastal regions including Pyeongannam-do, Pyeonganbuk-do, and Hwanghaenam-do. The paddy field areas classified from RapidEye images showed less than 1% of difference from the paddy field areas of North Korea reported by FAO/WFP (Food and Agriculture Organization/World Food Programme).

• Proceedings of the Korean Environmental Health Society Conference
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• 2005.06a
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• pp.45-72
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• 2005

C. neoformans-associated cryptococcosis is primarily a disease of immunocompromised persons, has a world-wide distribution, and is often spread by pigeons in the urban environment. In contrast, C. gattii causes infection in normal hosts, has only been described in tropical and semi-tropical areas of the world, and has a unique niche in river gum Eucalyptus trees. Cryptococcosis is acquired through inhalation of the yeast propagules from the environment. C. gattii has been identified as the cause of an emerging infectious disease centered on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. No cases of C. gattii-disease were diagnosed prior to 1999; the current incidence rate is 36 cases per million population. A search was initiated in 2001 to find the ecological niche of this basidiomycetous yeast. C. gaftii was found in the environment in treed areas of Vancouver Island. The highest percentage of colonized-tree clusters were found around central Vancouver Island, with decreasing rates of colonization to the north and south. Climate, soil and vegetation cover of this area, called the Coastal Douglas fir biogeoclimatic zone, is unique to British Columbia and Canada. The concentration of airborne C. gattii was highest in the dry summer months, and lowest during late fall, winter, and early spring, months which have heavy rainfall. The study of the emerging colonization of this organism and subsequent cases of environmentally acquired disease will be informative in planning public health management of new routes of exposure to exotic agents in areas impacted by changing climate and land use patterns. Cryptococcosis is an infection associated with an encapsulated, basidiomycetous yeast Cryptococcus neoformans. The route of entry for this organism is through the lungs, with possible systemic spread via the circulatory system to the brain and meninges. There are four cryptococcal serogroups associated with disease in humans and animals, distinguished by capsular polysaccharide antigens. Cryptococcus neoformans: variety grubii (serotype A), variety neoformans (serotype D), and variety gattii (serotypes B and C) (Franzot et at. 1999). C. neoformans variety gattii has recently been elevated to species status, C. gattii. C. neoformans val. grubii and var. neoformans have a world-wide distribution, and are particularly associated with soil and weathered bird droppings. In contrast, C. gattii (CG) is not associated with bird excrement, is primarily found in tropical and subtropical climates, and has a restricted environmental niche associated with specific tree species. (Ellis & Pfiffer 1990) Ellis and Pfeiffer theorize that, as a basidiomycete, CG requires an association with a tree in order to become pathogenic to mammals. In Australia, CG has been found to be associated with five species of Eucalypts, Eucalyptus camaldulensis, E. tereticornis, E. blakelyi, E. gomphocephala, and E. rudis. Eucalypts, although originally native to Australia, now have a world-wide distribution. CG has been found associated with imported eucalypts in India, California, Brazil, and Egypt. In addition, in Brazil and Columbia, where eucalypts have been naturalized, native trees have been shown to harbour CG (Callejas et al. 1998; Montenegro et al. 2000). In British Columbia, Canada, since the beginning of 1999, there have been 120 confirmed cases of cryptococcal mycoses associated with CG in humans, including 4 fatalities (data from British Columbia Centre for Disease Control), and over 200 cases in animal pets in BC (data from Central Laboratory for Veterinarians). What is remarkable about the BC outbreak of C. gattii-cryptococcosis is that all of the cases have been residents of, or visitors to, a narrow area along the eastern coast of Vancouver Island, BC, from the tip of the island in the south (Victoria) to Courtenay on the north-central island as illustrated in Figure 1. Of the first 38 human cases, 58% were male with a mean age of 59.7 years (range 20 - 82): 36 cases (95%) were Caucasian. Ten cases (26%) presented with meningitis, the remainder presented with respiratory symptoms. Cultures recovered from cases of cryptococcosis associated with the outbreak were typed as serogroup B, which is specific to CG (Bartlett et al. 2003). This was the first reported outbreak of CVG in Canada, or indeed, the world. Where infection with CG is endemic, for example, Australia, the incidence of cryptococcosis ranges from 1.8 - 4.7 per million between the southern and northern states (Sorrell 2001). However, the overall incidence of cryptococcosis in immunocompenent individuals has been estimated at 0.2 per million population per year (Kwon-Chung et al. 1984). The population of Vancouver Island is approximately 720,000,consequently, even if the organism were endemic, one would expect a maximum of 0.15 cases of cryptococcal disease annually.

• Journal of Wetlands Research
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.295-303
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• 2018

Inland wetlands in the Republic of Korea provide key breeding and wintering habitats, while coastal wetlands provide nutrient-rich habitats for stopover sites for East Asia/Australasia Flyway(EAAF) migrants. However, since the 1960's, Korea has reclaimed these coastal wetlands gradually for agriculture and urban expansion. The habitat loss has rippled across global populations of migrant shorebirds in EAAF. To protect a similar loss, the United States, specifically Missouri, developed the moist-soil management technique. Wetland impoundments are constructed from levees with water-flow control gates with specific soils, topography, available water sources, and target goals. The impoundments are subjected to a combination of carefully timed and regulated flooding and drawdown regimes with occasional soil disturbance. This serves a dual purpose of removing undesirable vegetation, while maximizing habitat and forage for wildlife. Flooding and drawdown schedules must be dynamic with constantly shifting climate conditions. Korea's latitude ($N33^{\circ}25^{\prime}{\sim}N38^{\circ}37^{\prime}$) is comparable to Missouri ($N36^{\circ}69^{\prime}{\sim}N40^{\circ}41^{\prime}$); as such, moist-soil management could prove to be an effective wetland restoration technique for Korea. In order to meet specific conservation goals (i.e. shorebird staging site restoration), it is necessary to test the proposed methodology on a site that can meet the required specifications for moist-soil management. Moist-soil management has the potential to not only create key habitat for endangered wildlife, but also provide valuable ecosystem services, including water filtration.

• Journal of the Korean Geographical Society
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.1-13
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• 1995

One of the oldest fossil of conifers and taxads in the Korean peninsula includes Elatocladus, Ullmannia, Walchia and dates back to the Permian period of the Palaeozoic era. The only conifer which successfully survived since the Cretaceous period is Pinus and still thrives in Korea. The extinction of Miocene conifers, such as Sciadopitys, Taxodiaceae, Metasequoia and Cryptomeria may due to the climatic deteriorations during the late Pleistocene period. However, the cryophilous conifers and taxads, e.g..Pinus, Juniperus, Abies, Picea, Cupressaceae, Larix and Taxus continued to exist from the Miocene to the late Pleistocene and became major vegetational elements in the mountainous areas of Korea. As the temperature ameliorates in the late Holocene period, thermophilous Pinus (Diploxylon) gradually had increased in numbers and became a dominant vegetation in the lowland and montane areas since 2,000 years B.P. in korea. Out of various Korean conifers and taxads, Pinus which surviving since the Cretaceous period of Mesozoic era, ranges spatially from southern coastal area to northern alpine belt of the Korean peninsula. Pinus which contains largest species number in conifers is one of the most well-adapted genus to the Korean environment. The next important conifer Juniperus dates back to the Miocene period of Cenozoic era and continuously maintains speciation and expansion of distributional range. Other major conifers and taxads of Korea include Picea, Abies, Lorix and Taxus. The restriction of distributional range of Cephralotaxus and Tsuga may due to the climatic deterioration during the Pleistocene period of Cenozoic era. The patterns of the temporal and spatial distribution of Korean conifers and taxads may provide invaluable informations for the better understanding of present-day distributional range and ecology.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Marine Environment & Safety
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.338-346
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• 2017

Natural seaweed beds and habitat environments were investigated using quantitative and qualitative methods from May to December 2015 at 3 sites in Gangneung, Uljin, and Busan along the eastern coast of Korea. In total, 9 green, 23 brown, and 64 red algal taxa were identified. The biomass of the seaweed at Gangneung was 173.2 to $613.8wet\;wt.g/m^2$ of Dictyota divaricata, 360.8 to $520.4wet\;wt.g/m^2$ of Symphyocladia linearis, and 25.9 to $470.8wet\;wt.g/m^2$ of Undaria pinnatifida. At Uljin, these numbers were 5.5 to $256.2wet\;wt.g/m^2$ of Plocamium telfarirae and 46.8 to $241.5wet\;wt.g/m^2$ of Agarum clathratum. The biomass of Sargassum coreanum and Ecklonia cava were 388.1 to $6,972.4wet\;wt.g/m^2$ and 194.9 to $958.5wet\;wt.g/m^2$, respectively, at Busan. S. coreanum and E. cava showed higher biomass compared to other seaweed at Busan. The biomass rate represented an average of 19.2 percent of the total population, ranging from 0.0 to 55.5 percent in Gangneung. In Uljin, the average was calculated as 63.8 percent, and this figure was 48.5 percent in Busan. The percentage of barren ground averaged 46.7 percent in Gangneung and 91.1 percent in Uljin. Uljin showed the highest percentage of barren ground compared to other regions. Sea urchin density appeared to be $6.0ind./m^2$ in Gangneung, $7.0ind./m^2$ in Uljin, and $2.0ind./m^2$ in Busan, with the lowest sea urchin density being that of Busan. In conclusion, the composition of species, appearance ratio, and abundance of vegetation found were similar to previous studies, but it is thought that continuous monitoring is needed due to concerns about physical and chemical pollution caused by global warming, climate change, and coastal development.

• Journal of Appropriate Technology
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.136-143
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• 2021

Pacific island countries, including Kiribati, are suffering from a shortage of essential resources as well as a reduction in their living space due to sea level rise and coastal erosion from climate change, groundwater pollution and vegetation changes. Global activities to solve these problems are being progressed by the UN's efforts to implement SDGs. Pacific island countries can adapt to climate change by using abundant marine resources. In other words, seawater plants can assist in achieving SDGs #2, #6 and #7 based on SDGs #14 in these Pacific island countries. Under the auspice of Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA), Korea Research Institute of Ships and Ocean Engineering (KRISO) established the Sustainable Seawater Utilization Academy (SSUA) in 2016, and its 30 graduates formed the SSUA Kiribati Association in 2017. The Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries (MOF) of the Republic of Korea awarded ODA fund to the Association. By taking advantage of seawater resource and related plants, it was able to provide drinking water and vegetables to the local community from 2018 to 2020. Among the various fields of education and practice provided by SSUA, the Association hope to realize hydroponic cultivation and seawater desalination as a self-support project through a pilot project. To this end, more than 140 households are benefiting from 3-stage hydroponics, and a seawater desalination system in connection with solar power generation was installed for operation. The Association grows and supplies vegetable seedlings from the provided seedling cultivation equipment, and is preparing to convert to self-support business from next year. The satisfaction survey shows that Tarawa residents have a high degree of satisfaction with the technical support and its benefits. In the future, it is hoped that SSUA and regional associations will be distributed to neighboring island countries to support their SDGs implementations.