• Journal of Agricultural Extension & Community Development
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.69-84
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• 2019

Recently rural healing tourism has been attracting tourists' interest in relieving mental stress and restoring physical daily life with nature-friendly experience. The purpose of this study is to explore the urgent problems and challenges of rural healing tourism by conducting focus group interview(FGI) with experts. Fourteen experts were interviewed with a semi-structured questionnaire. From the interview data, six themes were identified for direction of healing tourism development. The results of the study are as follows; The area of rural healing tourism can be explained within the framework of health tourism. As for the difference between rural tourism and healing tourism, rural tourism is expected to enhance physical and mental relaxation, daily restoration, and health promotion if rural tourism expects the understanding and experience of agricultural and rural life, and educational effect. The core components of rural healing tourism were operators' expertise, program with rurality, ecological environment, and storytelling. The findings of this paper implicate the underlying dimension of rural healing tourism from a experts' perspective.

• Mycobiology
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• v.50 no.5
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• pp.317-325
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• 2022

Endophytic fungi occupy various ecological niches, which reinforces their diversity. As few studies have investigated the endophytic fungi of alpine conifers, we focused on four species of alpine conifers in this study-Abies nephrolepis, Pinus pumila, Taxus cuspidata var. nana, and Thuja koraiensis-and examined them for endophytic fungi. A total of 108 endophytic fungi were isolated. There were four taxa in A. nephrolepis, 12 in P. pumila, 18 in T. cuspidata var. nana, and 17 in T. koraiensis; these were divided into five classes: Agaricomycetes (3.2%), Dothideomycetes (29.0%), Leotiomycetes (15.0%), Sordariomycetes (41.9%), and Orbiliomycetes (1.6%). The most prevalent fungi were Sydowia polyspora (22.7%) and Xylariaceae sp. (22.7%) in P. pumila, Phomopsis juglandina (16.1%) in T. cuspidate var. nana, and Thuja-endophytes sp. 1 (70.0%) in T. koraiensis. However, there was no dominant species growing in A. nephrolepis. Some host plants were analyzed using next-generation sequencing. We obtained 4618 reads for A. nephrolepis and 2268 reads for T. koraiensis. At the genus level, the top three endophytic fungi were Ophiostomataceae_uc (64.6%), Nectriaceae_uc (15.5%), and unclassified organism (18.0%) in A. nephrolepis and Nectriaceae_uc (41.9%), Ophiostomataceae_uc (41.8%), and Magnaporthaceae_uc (9.2%) in T. koraiensis. Our results show that there are different communities of endophytic fungi among different host plants, even if the host plants are in the same region. Such ecological niches are important in terms of the ecological restoration of alpine conifers.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.261-269
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• 2001

The purpose of present study was to introduce a multimetric approach, so called the Index of Biological Integrity (IBI) as a tool for evaluations of water environments. We used 11 metric systems for the IBI to evaluate stream conditions, based on the fish community, and modified 5 original metric attributes suggested by Karr (1981). Overall IBI values in Kap Stream averaged 36 (n = 5) and ranged 17${\sim}$49, indicating a 'fair condition' according to the modified criteria of Karr (1981) and U.S. EPA (1993). However, there were distinct differences in the IBI values among 5 study sites. The IBI values at sites 1, 2, and 3 were 49, 45, and 41, which indicated 'good${\sim}$excellent', 'good', and 'fair' condition, respectively, while values at sites 4 and 5 were 17 and 29, which indicated 'very poor' and 'poor', respectively. The minimum IBI at site 4 was probably due to continuous inputs of wastewater from wastewater disposal plants. The condition at site 4 resulted in predominance of tolerant species (50%), omnivore species (50%), and high abnormalies (43%). In the mean time, the IBI value at site 5, located near 5km downstream from the site 4, increased compared to that of site 4, and this seemed to be a result of recovery of water quality as the polluted water goes downward. We believe that present bioassessment methodology of IBI applied in this study may be used as a key tool to set up specific goals for stream restoration plans and dentify recovery levels of lotic ecosystems after restoration activities(i.e., prevention of point-source pollutant input, restoration of physical habitats, construction of riparian vegetation) as well as a biological measure diagnosing current stream conditions.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.55 no.1
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• pp.49-59
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• 2022

Total of 325 estuaries in Korea were surveyed to analyze the effect of presence of sluice gate on the estuary environment and fish community from 2016 to 2018. Fish community in closed and open estuaries showed differences generally, and the relative abundance (RA) of primary freshwater species in the closed and migratory species in the open estuaries were high. The result of classifying species by habitat characteristics in closed and open estuaries showed similar tendencies at the estuaries of south sea and west sea. The relative abundances of primary freshwater species in the closed estuaries at the estuaries of south sea and west sea were the highest, but estuarine and migratory species were high in both closed and open estuaries at the estuaries of east sea. Primary freshwater species showed higher abundances in the closed estuaries with reduced salinity due to blocking of seawater since they are not resistant to salt. However, primary freshwater species in open estuaries at east sea was higher than that of the closed estuaries, which is considered to be the result of reflecting the characteristics (tide, sand bar, etc.) of the east sea. Korea Estuary Fish Assessment Index (KEFAI) was showed to be higher at open estuaries than closed in all sea areas (T-test, P<0.001), the highest KEFAI was observed in closed estuaries at south sea, and open estuaries in east sea. Fish community of closed and open estuaries in each sea areas showed statistically significant differences (PERMANOVA, East, Pseudo-F=3.0198, P=0.002; South, Pseudo-F=22.00, P=0.001; West, Pseudo-F=14.067, P=0.001). Fish assemblage similarity by sea areas showed a significant differences on fish community in closed and open estuaries at east sea, south sea, and west sea (SIMPER, Group dissimilarity, 85.85%, 88.36%, and 88.05%). This study provided information on the characteristics and distribution of fish community according to the types of estuaries. The results of this study can be used as a reference for establishing appropriate management plans according to the sea areas and type in the management and restoration of estuaries for future.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.331-341
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• 2014

The present study was to survey the site environment, vegetation structure and soil characteristics in the wild habitats of Wikstroemia ganpi in Goheung, Busan and Ulsan, and offers basic information for habitat conservation and restoration. Most of the wild habitats were located at altitudes between 28~242m with inclinations ranged as $0{\sim}40^{\circ}$. The canopy openness was 57.56%. The vegetation structure by the PC-ORD based on the Two Way Cluster Analysis were divided into three groups Community I(Castanea crenata-Pinus densiflora), Community II(Quercus dentata-Pinus thunbergii) and Community III (Pinus thunbergii). The species diversity was 1.3650, and evenness and dominance were found recorded as 0.8666 and 0.1333, respectively. The soil textures were silty loam and sandy loam. The average soil pH was 5.5, electric conductivity was 0.15dS/m, soil organic matter was 2.60% and available phosphorus was 4mg $kg^{-1}$. Correlation coefficients based on environmental factors, vegetation and soil analysis were showed that positive correlations between species diversity and evenness, organic matter and total nitrogen, whereas species slop degree and coverage of herb, diversity and dominance were showed negative correlations.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.25 no.6
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• pp.384-401
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• 2016

The vegetation assessment indicator has been developed recently as a biological part of the integrated assessment system for river environment to improve the efficiency of river restoration projects. This study carried out to test the vegetation assessment indicator and to reset its grade criteria on experimental streams. We classified and mapped vegetation communities at the level of physiognomic-floristic composition by each assessment unit. A total of 204 sampling quadrats were set up on the 68 assessment units at 5 experimental streams. By analyzing the vegetation data collected, we examined the appropriate numbers of sampling quadrats, the criteria of vegetation index score, classification of vegetation community, and grade criteria for vegetation assessment. The developed vegetation assessment indicator composed with the vegetation complexity index (VCI), the vegetation diversity index (VDI), and the vegetation naturalness index (VNI) was proved to reflect the current conditions of the streams sufficiently. The contribution of vegetation naturalness index to grading by vegetation assessment indicator was larger, but three indexes were closely correlated to each other. Also there was more clearer discrimination of grading with the application of adjusted criteria of vegetation assessment indicator and the standardized classification of vegetation community, but the stream segment type did not influence the vegetation assessment grade significantly.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.463-471
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• 2009

A study on vegetation in the Mangyeong River and Dongjin River basins and the surrounding regions of the Saemangeum Reclaimed Land was conducted in a series of efforts to determine the expected ecological changes in the salt marshes, to restore their vegetation, to explore the restoring force of halophyte, to examine the community mechanism and, ultimately, to rehabilitate marshy land vegetation along the lakeside, coastal dune and salt marshes of the Saemangeum Project Area. The findings of the study may be summed up as follows: Five species such as Suaeda japonica, Salicornia herbacea, Atriplex gmelini, Aster tripolium and Suaeda asparagoides that are mostly distributed in the estuary of the Saemangeum Reclaimed Land were analyzed to examine the mechanism of halophyte to maintain their community. To find out the strategies of plants for survival and the cause of forming community structure, a research was made as for appearance ratio of biomass, root lengths and germination. With regard to biomasses of halophyte, the biomass of Suaeda japonica increases rapidly, while Salicornia herbacea adopts a strategy of unstable growth pattern by which the biomass increases slowly in parallel with its slow speed of growth since initial appearance of young sapling. In contrast, Suaeda asparagoides, Atriplex gmelini and Aster tripolium choose to adapt themselves to environment promptly by being transformed into life form of annual or biennial plant, a pattern that is presumed to be favorable and stable for survival in the later stage of growth. In short, there is a sharp distinction among the 5 species: i.e. Suaeda japonica that begins to grow fast in the length of surface and underground section but slows down from the mid-stage on; Salicornia herbacea that grows slowly in the beginning step but starts to step up from the middle onward; Atriplex gmelini and Aster tripolium growing slowly in the initial stage but fast later on; and Suaeda asparagoides that turns from the constant growth in the beginning to rapid growth in the later period. The outcomes of the analysis into status of growth and influencing factors of Suaeda japonica in the sowing field that is most widely prevalent in the Saemangeum Reclaimed Land as a sort of ecological pioneer in the salt marshes showed that the average size of grass lands, density and number of individuals increase in the natural sowing field as well as in the plowing field regardless of their physical as well as physico-chemical features of the soil as the season progresses from June to October of a year.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.106 no.2
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• pp.130-149
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• 2017

The subalpine zone which is vulnerable to climate change could be functioning as a habitat for northern plant species especially in the Korean peninsula. In this study, classification of phytosociological community type and investigation on flora of vascular plants of Daecheongbong area in Mt. Seorak were carried out in order to provide a basic information for an ecological restoration and management of the vegetation through community ecological approach. Vegetation data were collected from 31 of quadrates from May to October, 2016. We analyzed vegetation types with phytosociological method, importance value with Curtis & McIntosh method, CCA using PC-ORD program tool, and flora of vascular plants. As a result, the forest vegetation was classified into Abies nephrolepis community. The community was divided 3 groups such as Pinus pumila group, Rhododendron brachycarpum group and Angelica decursiva group. Therefore, the vegetation had 3 kinds of units. The differential species group, it was classified into total of 7 species group units including Thuja koraiensis and Smilacina bicolor differential species group. The mean importance percentage (MIP) in VU 1 was shown Pinus koraiensis (24.1), A. nephrolepis (23.6) and Betula ermanii (10.5), and in VU 2, it was P. koraiensis (26.2), A. nephrolepis (20.8) and B. ermanii (10.5), and in VU 3, it was P. koraiensis (22.2), A. nephrolepis (16.4), B. ermanii (13.5) in the order, respectively. As for importance values of P. koraiensis and A. nephrolepis representative competition species, were different at each layers. The former (46.7) was higher than the latter (26.1) in tree layer, but the latter was higher than the former in subtree and, shrub and herb layers of VU 1. VU 2 and VU 3 also indicated the same tendency. P. pumila group and A. decursiva group were shown to have positive correlation with altitude and present species, respectively. The designated as the endemic plant was 11 taxa and, as the rare plant 24 taxa and 62.5% of vascular plant was northern plant species. It is necessary to continue further long-term monitoring of 3 vegetation units, IV of main competition species (P. koraiensis and A. nephrolepis) with stratum and main specific species (rare plants and endemic plants) considering vegetation science and, population and community ecology approaches.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Environmental Restoration Technology
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• v.6 no.4
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• pp.62-73
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• 2003

The study was to apply a mat style reed planting method at confluence to improve plants growth conditions by relaxing disturbed topographical base due to water flow and was intended to review the effect to build up a vegetation strip by monitoring process after the construction. First off, We've attempted to construct reed mats on selected sites as confluences of Tan and Gaehwa stream and then examined and analyzed characteristics of soil and vegetation community. As the results of the examination, the soil texture was proven to be a mix of sand and loamy sand and be 6.3 ~ 7.0 soil pH. In addition, it contained 1.0 ~ 4.6% of organic matter, 0.04 ~ 0.22% of T-N and 27.8 ~ 41.2% of water content. For its vegetation structure, the Tan stream confluence was first actually a point bar without plants prior to the construction but 8 kinds of hygrophytes including Persicaria hydropiper and 9 kinds of terrestrial plants such as Potentilla supina, Artemisia annua, and Alopecurus aequalis var. amurensis. On the other hand, the Gaehwa stream confluence contained 6 kinds of hygrophytes such as Bidens frondosa and other 11 kinds of terrestrial plants prior to the construction while it produced 7 kinds of hygrophytes including Ranunculus ternatus as well as Phragmites australis and 9 kinds of terrestrial plants such as Potentilla supina after the construction. For the Phragmites australis, almost of them was weathered away in early days just after planting because of development period passed, but on May, six months later from planting, it was investigated that its length was approximated as 65 ~ 85cm with 75% coverage and that the number of it was 437 ~ 633/$m^2$. The study was shown that reed mats can improve environmental conditions of disturbed topographical base, enabling natural growth of various riparian vegetation including the introduced plant, reed. In the meantime, it was supposedly judged that to recover or build up a vegetarian strip, supplementary materials should be prepared to help produce and grow plants because it is not probable to expect river drift by water flow at confluence and that corrosion, burying or inundation owing to changes of water lever should be considered.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Environmental Restoration Technology
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• v.7 no.6
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• pp.1-11
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• 2004

This study was conducted to investigate the plants status of the landscape plant species of 10 elementary schools in the Chungju city, and to obtain the fundamental informations for proper use of planting system in the elementary school landscape. The results are summarized as follows : 1. 199 species were planted in the 10 elementary schools, It was constituted 89 of woody plants, 108 of herbaceous plants and 2 of others. The average number of plants per school was about 60 species. The rate of plants species of Evergreen Trees to the Deciduous was 23 : 60 and the rate the trees to the shrubs was 59 : 24. 2. Almost the same species were planted in school landscaping zone. Juniperus chinensis var. kaizuka, Ginkgo biloba, Zelkova serrata were mainly planted in the species of trees. To improve the present conditions of school landscape should be considered for the purpose of function and the aspect of ecology. 3. To see the selected school trees and flowers, Zelcova serrata was selected to the school tree in the 4 of schools. Ginkgo biloba was selected 3 of schools, the others were Juniperus chinensis Pinus densiflora, etc. Rhododendron lateritium was appointed to the school flower in the 6 of schools, the others were Rosa spp., Forsythia koreana etc. To set the school tree and flower consider the preserved trees of the community.