• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.41 no.10
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• pp.290-301
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• 2017

Background: Forest edges create distinctive ecological space as adjacent constituents, which distinguish between different ecosystems or land use types. These edges are made by anthropogenic or natural disturbance and affects both abiotic and biotic factors gradually. This study was carried out to assess edge effects on disturbed landscape at the pine-dominated clear-cut area in a genetic resources reserve in Uljin-gun, eastern Korea. This study aims to estimate the distance of edge influence by analyzing changes of abiotic and biotic factors along the distance from forest edge. Further, we recommend forest management strategy for sustaining healthy forest landscapes by reducing effects of deforestation. Results: Distance of edge effect based on the abiotic factors varied from 8.2 to 33.0 m. The distances were the longest in $Mg^{2+}$ content and total nitrogen, $K^+$, $Ca^{2+}$ contents, canopy openness, light intensity, air humidity, $Na^+$ content, and soil temperature followed. The result based on biotic factors varied from 6.8 to 29.5 m, coverage of tree species in the herb layer showed the longest distance and coverage of shrub plant in the herb layer, evenness, species diversity, total coverage of herb layer, and species richness followed. As the result of calculation of edge effect by synthesizing 26 factors measured in this study, the effect was shown from 11.0 m of the forest interior to 22.4 m of the open space. In the result of stand ordination, Rhododendron mucronulatum, R. schlippenbachii, and Fraxinus sieboldiana dominated arrangement of forest interior sites and Quercus mongolica, Vitis amurensis, and Rubus crataegifolius dominated spatial distribution of the open area plots. Conclusions: Forest interior habitat lies within the influence of both abiotic and biotic edge effects. Therefore, we need a forest management strategy to sustain the stability of the plant and further animal communities that depend on its stable conditions. For protecting forest interior, we recommend selective logging as a harvesting method for minimizing edge effects by anthropogenic disturbance. In fact, it was known that selective logging contributes to control light availability and wind regime, which are key factors affecting microclimate. In addition, ecological restoration applying protective planting for the remaining forest in the clear-cut area could contribute to prevent continuous disturbance in forest interior.

• The Korean Journal of Quaternary Research
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.23-34
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• 2010

The purpose of this study is to clarify the characteristics of geomorphic surfaces and investigate their geomorphological development at Sinsong-ri archaeological sites by the classification of geomorphic surfaces. The sedimentary facies of trench 1, 2 and 3 were identified and pollen analysis was performed at site 3. The geomorphic surfaces are classified by hillslope, valley plain, alluvial fan and river terrace. Most of the study area is located on low hillsides and valley plains are connected with tidal flats extended from small river valley. Also, alluvial fans are distributed over the piedmont and narrow, long river terraces are developed downstream along the Sojeong-stream flowing between valley plain and hillsides. River valleys were deeply eroded during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) periods, responded to the lowest sea level among the hillslopes and valley plains are formed during the Holocene. The sedimentary facies are identified composed of basal gravel layers with coarse gravels and sands, relatively thick culture layer of the Bronze Age and thin layer during the early Iron Age in upper part study area. Thus, land uses during the Bronze Age people was performed more intensively comparing to the early Iron Age by deforestation for habitation.

• Proceedings of the Korea Water Resources Association Conference
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• 2011.05a
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• pp.14-14
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• 2011

Groundwater in the Waikatoregion is a valuable resource for agriculture, water supply, forestry and industries. The 434,000 ha study area comprises the upper Waikato River catchment from the outflow of Lake Taupo (New Zealand's largest lake) through to Lake Karapiro (a man-made hydro lake with high recreational value) (Figure 1). Water quality in the area is naturally high. However, there are indications that this quality is deteriorating as a result of land use intensification and deforestation. Compounding this concern for decision makers is the lag time between land use changes and the realisation of effects on groundwater and surface water quality. It is expected that the effects of land use changes have not yet fully manifested, and additional intensification may take decadesto fully develop, further compounding the deterioration. Consequently, Environment Waikato (EW) have proposed a programme of work to develop a groundwater model to assist managing water quality and appropriate policy development within the catchment. One of the most important and critical decisions of any modelling exercise is the choice of the modelling platform to be used. It must not inhibit future decision making and scenario exploration and needs to allow as accurate representation of reality as feasible. With this in mind, EW requested that two modelling platforms, MODFLOW/MT3DMS and FEFLOW, be assessed for their ability to deliver the long-term modelling objectives for this project. The two platforms were compared alongside various selection criteria including complexity of model set-up and development, computational burden, ease and accuracy of representing surface water-groundwater interactions, precision in predictive scenarios and ease with which the model input and output files could be interrogated. This latter criteria is essential for the thorough assessment of predictive uncertainty with third-party software, such as PEST. This paper will focus on the attributes of each modelling platform and the comparison of the two approaches against the key criteria in the selection process. Primarily due to the ease of handling and developing input files and interrogating output files, MODFLOW/MT3DMS was selected as the preferred platform. Other advantages and disadvantages of the two modelling platforms were somewhat balanced. A preliminary regional groundwater numerical model of the study area was subsequently constructed. The model simulates steady state groundwater and surface water flows using MODFLOW and transient contaminant transport with MT3DMS, focussing on nitrate nitrogen (as a conservative solute). Geological information for this project was provided by GNS Science. Professional peer review was completed by Dr. Vince Bidwell (of Lincoln Environmental).

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.43 no.1
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• pp.43-60
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• 2019

Background: Tropical montane forests played an important role in the provision of ecosystem services. The intense degradation and deforestation for the need of agricultural land expansion result in a significant decline of forest cover. However, the expansion of agricultural land did not completely destruct natural forests. There remain forests inaccessible for agricultural and grazing purpose. Studies on these forests remained scant, motivating to investigate biomass and soil carbon stocks. Data of biomass and soils were collected in 80 quadrats ($400m^2$) systematically in 5 forests. Biomass and disturbance gradients were determined using allometric equation and disturbance index, respectively. The regression modeling is employed to explore the spatial distribution of carbon stock along disturbance and environmental gradients. Correlation analysis is also employed to identify the relation between site factors and carbon stocks. Results: The result revealed that a total of 1655 individuals with a diameter of ${\geq}5cm$, representing 38 species, were measured in 5 forests. The mean aboveground biomass carbon stocks (AGB CS) and soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks at 5 forests were $191.6{\pm}19.7$ and $149.32{\pm}6.8Mg\;C\;ha^{-1}$, respectively. The AGB CS exhibited significant (P < 0.05) positive correlation with SOC and total nitrogen (TN) stocks, reflecting that biomass seems to be a general predictor of SOCs. AGB CS between highly and least-disturbed forests was significantly different (P < 0.05). This disturbance level equates to a decrease in AGB CS of 36.8% in the highly disturbed compared with the least-disturbed forest. In all forests, dominant species sequestrated more than 58% of carbon. The AGB CS in response to elevation and disturbance index and SOC stocks in response to soil pH attained unimodal pattern. The stand structures, such as canopy cover and basal area, had significant positive relation with AGB CS. Conclusions: Study results confirmed that carbon stocks of studied forests were comparable to carbon stocks of protected forests. The biotic, edaphic, topographic, and disturbance factors played a significant variation in carbon stocks of forests. Further study should be conducted to quantify carbon stocks of herbaceous, litter, and soil microbes to account the role of the whole forest ecosystem.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Traditional Landscape Architecture
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• v.37 no.1
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• pp.33-40
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• 2019

The purpose of this study is to analyze historical records of what the trees had been planted like by establishment and management of the Royal Tombs of the Joseon Dynasty so that it could be utilized for historical records to manage the trees in the Royal Tombs. The research method was to analyze the related keywords for 40 trees out of 42 trees in the Royal Tombs of the Joseon Dynasty reffering to "The Annals of the Joseon Dynasty(朝鮮王朝實錄)," and "Neungji(陵誌)". There are two types of planting called Jeongsik(定植) Bosik(補植) in the Royal Tombs. Jeongsik(定植) is a planting method by Salleungdogam(山陵都監), the office in charge of construction of the royal tomb when they were building the royal tomb. Every tree additionally planted after building up the royal tomb was called Bosik(補植). The types of tree planting the composition and management of the royal tombs of Joseon are as follows. First, the first planting for landscaping was carried out during the process of building the province. Second, after the formation of Shanung, all the plants were planted by Wangmyung as additional plants. Third, due to the deforestation in the late Joseon period, additional plants were planted in the fertile plains. Fourth, trees were damaged due to natural disasters, and trees were planted together with the construction of the botanical gardens. Fifth, in the 22nd year of King Jeongjo, all the royal families' graves were regularly planted. This study aims to investigate the history of forest landscape management for the restoration of the royal tombs of Joseon.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural and Forest Meteorology
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.190-200
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• 2022

In this study, the island's land-use and land-cover change (LULCC) is analyzed in South Korea using remotely sensed land cover data(Globeland 30) acquired from 2000 to 2020 to meet the requirement of providing practical information for forest management. Analysis of LULCC between the 2000 and 2020 images revealed that changes to agricultural land were the most common type of change (7.6% of pixels), followed by changes to the forest (5.7%). The islands forests maintain 157,246 ha (42.2% of the total island area). Land cover types that changed to the forest from grasslands were 262 islands, while reverse cases have occurred on 421 islands. These 683 islands have a possibility of transition and disturbance. The artificial land class was newly calculated in 22 islands. The forests, which account for 42.2% of the 22 island area, turned into grassland, and 27.8% of agricultural land and grassland turned into forests. The development of artificial land often affects developed areas and surrounding areas, resulting in deforestation, management of agriculture, and landscaping. This study can provide insights concerning the fundamental data for assessing ecological functions and constructing forest management plans in islands ecosystems.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.111 no.4
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• pp.667-675
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• 2022

Agroforestry is an ecological and economic land-use system that enables sustainable agriculture by combining forestry, agriculture, and livestock industries. North Korea chose agroforestry as a strategy for the restoration of sloping land and deforested land. Agroforestry was proposed for the inter-Korean forest cooperation subcommittee meeting and is currently highlighting carbon removal and promoting the '2050 Carbon Neutral Strategy' and 'Korea Peninsula Green Détente.' The study area, Suan-gun, Hwanghaebuk-do, is a constant deforestation monitoring area and a pilot site for management by the International Center for Research in Agroforestry. The requirements for agroforestry were analyzed through literature analysis. The agroforestry site-suitability map was visualized by applying GIS overlap analysis. Approximately 8,839 ha of sloping area was selected as suitable for agroforestry management, which is about 15% of Suan. We compared the map with Google Earth images and visually detected the land use status, such as agroforestry in Suan, to verify the results. As a future study, we will consider both natural-environment and socioeconomic factors and evaluate the relative importance of the factors to produce a high-accuracy agroforestry sitesuitability map at the national scale with the goal of producing basic data for the inter-Korea forest cooperation policy for long-term goals.

• Journal of Science Education
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• v.46 no.3
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• pp.278-292
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• 2022

Researchers in science education have recently focused on service learning as an important educational approach to address environmental challenges including climate change. However, there are a limited number of studies focused on service learning in science education in Korea. In this study, based on existing related literature, the theoretical background of service learning is introduced and a conceptual framework that can be applied in the science education environment in Korea as a new approach to address environmental challenges is proposed. Given this, 112 relevant academic documents collected by searching a global database were analyzed. As a result, the theoretical background of service learning rooted in Dewey's experiential learning is introduced. Specifically, service learning is defined as a form of experiential learning that supports students in helping communities with structured services related to learning content, while at the same time fostering their in-depth understanding of content and engaging in civic and social responsibility as members of their community. In addition, a conceptual framework for service learning to address environmental challenges that can be applied to the science education environment in Korea is proposed. The proposed framework classifies the members of service learning into schools, students, and communities, and presents knowledge, experience, and learning through critical reflection as its core elements. It is important to actively implement service learning in science education to address various environmental challenges including climate change, biodiversity loss, air pollution, and deforestation, as just a few pressing challenges. Therefore, based on the proposed conceptual framework for service learning, studies that apply and verify diverse forms of educational approaches to addressing environmental challenges in local communities at school sites are needed.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.42 no.2
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• pp.193-206
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• 2024

This study aimed to quantify changes in forest cover and carbon storage of Korean Peninsular during the last two decades by integrating field measurement, satellite remote sensing, and modeling approaches. Our analysis based on 30-m Landsat data revealed that the forested area in Korean Peninsular had diminished significantly by 478,334 ha during the period of 2000-2019, with South Korea and North Korea contributing 51.3% (245,725 ha) and 48.6% (232,610 ha) of the total change, respectively. This comparable pattern of forest loss in both South Korea and North Korea was likely due to reduced forest deforestation and degradation in North Korea and active forest management activity in South Korea. Time series of above ground biomass (AGB) in the Korean Peninsula showed that South and North Korean forests increased their total AGB by 146.4Tg C (AGB at 2020=357.9Tg C) and 140.3Tg C (AGB at 2020=417.4Tg C), respectively, during the last two decades. This could be translated into net AGB increases in South and North Korean forests from 34.8 and 29.4 Mg C ha^-1 C to 58.9(+24.1) and 44.2(+14.8) Mg C ha^-1, respectively. It indicates that South Korean forests are more productive during the study period. Thus, they have sequestered more carbon. Our approaches and results can provide useful information for quantifying national scale forest cover and carbon dynamics. Our results can be utilized for supporting forest restoration planning in North Korea

• Journal of the Korean Association of Geographic Information Studies
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.158-167
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• 2006

The object of this study is to detect of land-cover change in western DMZ and vicinity. This was performed as a basic study to construct a decision support system for the conservation or a sustainable development of the DMZ and Vicinity near future. DMZ is an is 4km wide and 250km long and it's one of the most highly fortified boundaries in the world and also a unique thin green line. Environmentalists want to declare the DMZ as a natural reserve and a biodiversity zone, but nowadays through the strengthening of the inter-Korean economic cooperation, some developers are trying to construct a new-town or an industrial complex inside of the DMZ. This study investigates the current environmental conditions, especially deforestation of the western DMZ adopting remote sensing and GIS techniques. The Land-covers were identified through the linear spectvral mixture analysis(LSMA) which was used to handle the spectral mixture problem of low spatial resolution imagery of Landsat TM and ETM+ imagery. To analyze quantitative and spatial change of vegetation-cover in western DMZ, GIS overlay method was used. In LSMA, to develop high-quality fraction images, three endmembers of green vegetation(GV), soil, water were driven from pure features in the imagery. Through 15 years, from 1987 to 2002, forest of western DMZ and vicinity was devastated and changed to urban, farmland or barren land. Northern part of western DMZ and vicinity was more deforested than that of southern part. ($52.37km^2$ of North Korean forest and $39.04km^2$ of South Korean were change to other land-covers.) In case of North Korean part, forest changed to barren land and farmland and in South Korean part, forest changed to farmland and urban area. Especially, In North Korean part of DMZ and vicinity, $56.15km^2$ of farmland changed to barren land through 15 years, which showed the failure of the 'Darakbat' (terrace filed) project which is one of food increase projects in North Korea.