• Journal of the Korean Society of Environmental Restoration Technology
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.73-83
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• 2016

Forest degradation reduces ecosystem services provided by forest and could lead to change in composition of species. In North Korea, there has been significant forest degradation due to conversion of forest into terrace fields for food production and cut-down of forest for fuel woods. This study analyzed the phenological changes in North Korea, in terms of vegetation and moisture in soil and vegetation, from March to Octorber 2013, using MODIS (MODerate resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) images and indexes including NDVI (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index), NDSI (Normalized Difference Soil Index), and NDWI (Normalized Difference Water Index). In addition, marginal farmland was derived using elevation data. Lastly, degraded terrace fields of 16 degree was analyzed using NDVI, NDSI, and NDWI indexes, and marginal farmland characteristics with slope variable. The accuracy value of land cover classification, which shows the difference between the observation and analyzed value, was 84.9% and Kappa value was 0.82. The highest accuracy value was from agricultural (paddy, field) and forest area. Terrace fields were easily identified using slope data form agricultural field. Use of NDVI, NDSI, and NDWI is more effective in distinguishing deforested terrace field from agricultural area. NDVI only shows vegetation difference whereas NDSI classifies soil moisture values and NDWI classifies abandoned agricultural fields based on moisture values. The method used in this study allowed more effective identification of deforested terrace fields, which visually illustrates forest degradation problem in North Korea.

• Journal of Korea Technical Association of The Pulp and Paper Industry
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• v.46 no.5
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• pp.9-18
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• 2014

London Convention on the prevention of marine pollution by dumping of wastes and other matter prohibits the deliberate disposal of paper mill sludges at sea. In order to explore the alternative plan on the prohibition of sludge disposal at sea, the biodegradable seedling pot was developed by mixing the sludge with old newspaper (ONP) in appropriate mixing ratios. The C/N ratio of the mixed sludge was below 20, leading to rapid deterioration of the organic matters composing the seedling pot. The increased ONP contents in the seedling pot resulted in the increase of pot thickness and thereafter in the decrease of pot density. Cellulose fibers in ONP promoted water absorption of the pot but AKD addition helped the seedling pot to repel water during raising seedling. Breaking length and burst strength of the seedling pot were improved by addition of wet strength additives but air permeability was a little diminished. Biodegradable rate of the seedling pot in a soil was accelerated by the attack of soil microbes at the beginning, and finally the pot was completely degraded in 150 days in a soil.

• Proceedings of the Plant Resources Society of Korea Conference
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• 2019.04a
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• pp.90-90
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• 2019

This study was carried out to investigate the vegetation and vegetation structure of Mt. Man in Hwacheon Gun from April to October 2018. The survey site is located in the northern part of South Korea where the climate is similar to that of North Korea. The purpose of this study is to provide basic information for efficient ecological forest management after unification. A total of 341 vascular plant taxa are recorded, representing 221 genera, 4 subspecies, 42 varieties and 6 forms in 84 families. Rare species, including Crataegus komarovii and Amitostigma gracile are found across 10 taxa; 8 families, 10 genera, 9 species, 1 variety. Naturalized Plants, including Ambrosia artemisiifolia and Erigeron annuus found across 11 taxa; 6 families, 10 genera, 11 species. Dominant tree species of the tree layer based on the highest importance values were: Quercus mongolica (23.47%), Larix kaempferi (11.43%), Fraxinus rhynchophylla (8.30%), in the subtree layer were: Lindera obtusiloba (11.38%), Acer pictum subsp. mono (11.33%), Fraxinus rhynchophylla (9.80%) and in the shrub layer were: Lindera obtusiloba (10.22%), Fraxinus rhynchophylla (8.43%), Rubus crataegifolius (8.00%), in the herb layer Pteridium aquilinum var. latiusculum (5.67%), Oplismenus undulatifolius (5.00%), Lysimachia clethroides (3.49%) respectively. The species diversity of Mt. Man was 1.1764 in the tree layer, 1.2403 in the subtree layer, 1.4135 in the shrub layer, and 1.7416 in the herb layer. In conclusion, if we utilize the flora and vegetation structure surveyed in Mt. Man, we can effectively manage the degraded forests with similar altitudes and climate zones in North Korea.

• Journal of the Korean Wood Science and Technology
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• v.49 no.6
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• pp.591-601
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• 2021

Recently it is trend to increase wood use as carbon neutral materials, there is recognized to need necessarily durability improvement of wooden building. It is very rare to report existing on the identification of isolates causing discoloration in domestic weathered wooden building used for long period. The objective of this study was identification of fungi that cause discoloration on the exteriors of weathered domestic wooden buildings in the southern part of South Korea. Our findings can be helpful to establish protection technology for weather deterioration of domestic wooden buildings. Wood chip samples presumed to be contaminated with sapstain fungi were collected from the surface of wooden members used in wooden buildings at Jangheung, Jeollanam-do (two locations, #13 and #14), and Jeju Island (two locations, #31 and #33). The growth of microorganisms was confirmed by performing culture tests for the collected samples, and fungi were isolated, purified, and identified. The results indicated that the fungal strains isolated from wooden buildings #13 and #14 at Jangheung, Jeollanam-do, were 99.83% and 100% homologous to Aureobasidium melanogenum, respectively. For wooden building #31 at Jeju Island (two locations), the fungal strain isolated was 100% homologous to A. melanogenum, which is the same species isolated from the wooden buildings at Jangheung. The fungal strain isolated from wooden building #33 (Jeju Island) had 99.83% homology with A. pullulans, which is commonly found in wood degraded by weather or ultraviolet rays. Our findings can be utilized as a basis for establishing protection technology in domestic wooden buildings.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural and Forest Meteorology
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.327-336
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• 2016

The Bagan, the central part of Myanmar, is dry zone where the mean annual precipitation is less than 600 mm for the last ten years. Forest in this region has been degraded due to biotic and abiotic disturbances. While there have been various efforts to rehabilitate the degraded area, the information on growth and physiological characteristics of planting species and the impacts of planting trees in the region still lacks. Therefore, this study was conducted to determine the growth and physiological water use efficiency characteristics of five species (Azadirachta indica A. Juss., Acacia catechu Willd., Eucalyptus camaldulensis Dehn., Acacia leucophloea (Roxb.) Willd. and Albizia lebbek (L.) Willd.) which are utilized as rehabilitation species in the dry zone and to identify the impacts of tree planting on microclimate change in dry zone. The growth and the foliar carbon isotope composition of seedlings and the above mentioned five species planted in 2005 were measured. And from February 2015 to January 2016, microclimatic factors air temperature and relative humidity at 60 cm and 2 m above soil, soil temperature, soil water contents and precipitation were measured at every 30-minute interval from the two weather stations installed in the plantation located in Ngalinpoke Mt. Range. One was established in the center of A. indica plantation, and the other was in the barren land fully exposed to the sunlight. Among the five species, A. indica and A. lebbek which showed higher water use efficiency could be recommended as rehabilitation species in dry zone. Planting trees in the dry area was shown to affect the change of microclimate with shading effects, declining temperature of the land surface and aridity of the air, and to contribute to conserving more water in soil by preventing direct evaporation and containing more water with fine roots of trees.

• Journal of the Korean Wood Science and Technology
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• v.43 no.5
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• pp.628-640
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• 2015

Cellulase is the key enzyme in the use of cellulose-based biomaterials. Because of its structure, cellulose is difficult to be degraded by enzymes. In order to utilize cellulose-based biomaterials efficiently, evolutionary wisdom of how to use enzymes accurately and harmoniously in a biological system is needed, such as the cellulose digestive system in animals. In this study, the symbiotic bacteria from snails, Achatina fulica, were identified and their cellulase activity was evaluated. The 16S rRNA sequence analysis of 100 aerobic bacteria showed that they belonged to 9 genus and almost half of the bacteria were Lactococcus spp. Among 100 identified strains, only two Aeromonas sp. strains showed cellulase activity. Aeromonas sp. KMBS020 had both endo-${\beta}$-glucanase and ${\beta}$-glucosidase activities but Aeromonas sp. KMBS018 had ${\beta}$-glucosidase activity only. None of the 100 bacterial colonies had any cellobiohydrolase activity.

• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.15-19
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• 2004

The expression of a chimeric transgene (nos-npt II) has been examined in 9 years old transgenic poplars (Populus koreana x P. nigra) growing in a nursery. The expression of the gene in twenty six independentely transformed plants were examined by 1) enzyme (NPT II) assay, 2) RT-PCR, and 3) resistance to kanamycin. High NPT II activities in young leaves of all the transformed plants were found even without a selection pressure for antibiotics for 9 years. However, the activity varied with the positions of leaves in the stem in that young leaves showed higher activity than did mature tissues. When leaf segments were cultured in the presence of 150 mg/l kanamycin, only those from young leaves produced vigorously growing callus. However, as in the case of NPTII assay, the leaf segments from mature leaves did not form callus well on the media. RT-PCR with nptII specific primers also showed that amplification products were observed only when RNAs from young tissues were used. The total RNA gel showed that while RNA in young leaves are relatively stable and in a large quantity, those in old leaves were mostly degraded. All the above results suggest that the gene is transcriptionally active only in young tissue even though it is attached to a constituitive promoter. Therefore, the expression of foreign gene in poplar plants seemed to be affected by the metabolic state of the cells and thus vary greatly with the developmental stages and the age of tissue.

• Proceedings of the KSRS Conference
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• 2007.10a
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• pp.98-100
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• 2007

Tropical forests have variety of biodiversity values, which provide invaluable services to the living being on earth. In the recent years, tropical forests are regarded as valuable global resources that act as sink for carbon dioxide in order to mitigate global climatic change. In many parts of the world, tropical forests are being rapidly cleared by various means. Soil organic carbon (SOC) is concentrated in the upper 12 inches of the soil. So it is readily depleted owing to the degradation activities. In the present study, it was aimed to assess the magnitude of disturbance in the availability of SOC in a semi- evergreen forest, situated in the Eastern Ghats of Tamil Nadu, India. The forest density of this region was mapped with QuickBird satellite data. Intensive field soil sampling and floristic study were conducted to estimate the SOC status in different density classes and to identify the species availability. The SOC density ranged from 274.06 t/ha to 147.84 t/ha in the very dense and degraded semi-evergreen forest respectively. The SOC content was also varied from 3.70 to 1.83 % in the very dense semi-evergreen and medium semi-evergreen forests respectively. The species composition in different density classes was also varied considerably. As a result of this study, it was identified that the disturbance to forests by various means not only affect the density of forests but also affect the below ground SOC status proportionately.

• Proceedings of the KSRS Conference
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• 2009.03a
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• pp.354-359
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• 2009

Land cover types of Hustai National Park (HNP) in Mongolia, a hotspot area with rare species, were classified and their temporal changes were evaluated using Landsat MSS TM/ETM data between 1994 and 2000. Maximum likelihood classification analysis showed an overall accuracy of 88.0% and 85.0% for the 1994 and 2000 images, respectively. Kappa coefficients associated with the classification were resulted to 0.85 for 1994 and 0.82 for 2000 image. Land cover types revealed significant temporal changes in the classification maps between 1994 and 2000. The area has increased considerably by $166.5km^2$ for mountain steppe. By contrast, agricultural areas and degraded areas affected by human being activity were decreased by $46.1km^2$ and $194.8km^2$ over the six year span, respectively. These areas were replaced by mountain steppe area. Specifically, forest area was noticeably fragmented, accompanied by the decrease of $\sim400$ ha. The forest area revealed a pattern with systematic gain and loss associated with the specific phenomenon called as forest free-south slope. We discussed the potential environmental conditions responsible for the systematic pattern and addressed other biological impacts by outbreaks of forest pests and ungulates.

• Journal of Forest and Environmental Science
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.151-156
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• 2011

Seeds of Xanthoceras sorbifolia Bunge were collected from two plantations and two superior trees in Inner Mongolia: and one plantation and one superior tree in Liaoning, China in late August, 2011. Yellowhorn or goldenhorn is an important tree species, from the aspects of source of edible oil and biodiesel and pioneering capacity of degraded and desert land. Characteristics investigated were seed length, width, and weight: weight and volume of 1,000 seeds: and weight and volume of one-liter seeds. The seeds of Qingsonglingxiang No. 1, growing alone in an open space, showed the highest values in seed length (16.08 mm), width (14.48 mm) and weight (1.40 g), while those of Tree No. 160 in Ar Khorqin Banner were the lowest ones: that is, 11.48mm for length, 11.81 mm for width, and 0.73 g for weight, respectively. Traits of seeds varied quite much between trees and among areas; for example, Tree No. 38 and No. 160 produced quite different seeds in several traits, although they are adjacent to each other in the same farm. Weight of 1,000 seeds varied from 718.0 g to 1,010.1 g and volume from 0.76 L to 1.52 L. Weight of one-liter seeds were 522.3 g to 688.2 g, while the number of seeds were 603 to 935. Seeds which were soaked in the water at $4^{\circ}C$ for 2 days showed the highest germination rate (89%) in a 30-day test, which was about 10% to 40% higher than those of non-treatment and dipping treatment at $36^{\circ}C$ followed by keeping under room temperature for 2 days. 81% of seeds in the wet sand at room temperature germinated, while 23% of seeds deprived of seed coat germinated. It is necessary to understand seed traits to select superior clones or provenances for the increased, unfluctuating production of seed.