• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.47 no.4
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• pp.264-271
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• 2023

Environmental crises caused by climate change and human-induced disturbances have become urgent challenges to the sustainability of human beings. These issues can be addressed based on a data-driven understanding and forecasting of ecosystem responses to environmental changes. In this study, we introduce a long-term ecological monitoring system in Korean Long-Term Ecological Research (KLTER), and a plan for the Korean Ecological Observatory Network (KEON). KLTER has been conducted since 2004 and has yielded valuable scientific results. However, the KLTER approach has limitations in data integration and coordinated observations. To overcome these limitations, we developed a KEON plan focused on multidisciplinary monitoring of the physiochemical, meteorological, and biological components of ecosystems to deepen process-based understanding of ecosystem functions and detect changes. KEON aims to answer nationwide and long-term ecological questions by using a standardized monitoring approach. We are preparing three types of observatories: two supersites depending on the climate-vegetation zones, three local sites depending on the ecosystem types, and two mobile deployment platforms to act on urgent ecological issues. The main observation topics were species diversity, population dynamics, biogeochemistry (carbon, methane, and water cycles), phenology, and remote sensing. We believe that KEON can address environmental challenges and play an important role in ecological observations through partnerships with international observatories.

• Korean Journal of Childcare and Education
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• v.11 no.5
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• pp.55-72
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• 2015

This study investigated the relationship between the ecological literacy and the sense of happiness of child day care teachers. One hundred twenty -five child care teachers in the Incheon and Kyunggi areas were participated in this study. Data responses from day care teachers were analyzed sing SPSS 17. The results were as follows. First, generally, there was a significant difference in ecological literacy depending on child day care teachers' carre, experiences in early childhood, and in-service teacher program. However, there was no difference in ecological literacy except in ecological literacy attitude depending on child day care teachers' academic area. Second, there was a correlations between the ecological literacy and the sense of happiness of child day care teachers. This study will provide basic information to better understand the relationship between the ecological literacy and the sense of happiness of child day care teachers.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Environmental Restoration Technology
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• v.23 no.6
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• pp.15-28
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• 2020

Urbanization and industrialization have caused increasing damage to national lands, and ecological restoration has proceeded without any specific assessment of this damage. The purpose of this study is to select indices to assess damaged areas through literature review and panel discussions, and to derive the importance of damaged area assessment indices by analyzing them through the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP). This study has derived, via literature review, six types of damage and a total of 18 related assessment indices. A total of 51 responses were collected from surveys and given to experts, and an AHP analysis conducted. As a result of the analysis, "Landform change (0.268)" was of the highest importance, with associated damage types as follows: "Soil contamination (0.193)", "Vegetation damaged (0.149)", "Surface soil loss (0.143)", "Change in soil physiochemical property (0.125)", and "Vegetation decline (0.122)". The analysis determined that the item of the highest importance in the overall assessment of damage was "Slope occurred area (0.100)", and that "Conductivity (0.022)" was of the lowest importance. This study can be presented as a criterion in determining the type and degree of damage in setting priorities for future ecological restoration projects.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.47 no.4
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• pp.219-227
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• 2023

The US National Science Foundation's National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) is a continental-scale program intended to provide open data, samples, and infrastructure to understand changing ecosystems for a period of 30 years. NEON collects co-located measurements of drivers of environmental change and biological responses, using standardized methods at 81 field sites to systematically sample variability and trends to enable inferences at regional to continental scales. Alongside key atmospheric and environmental variables, NEON measures the biodiversity of many taxa, including microbes, plants, and animals, and collects samples from these organisms for long-term archiving and research use. Here we review the composition and use of NEON resources to date as a whole and specific to biodiversity as an exemplar of the potential of national research infrastructure to contribute to globally relevant outcomes. Since NEON initiated full operations in 2019, NEON has produced, on average, 1.4 M records and over 32 TB of data per year across more than 180 data products, with 85 products that include taxonomic or other organismal information relevant to biodiversity science. NEON has also collected and curated more than 503,000 samples and specimens spanning all taxonomic domains of life, with up to 100,000 more to be added annually. Various metrics of use, including web portal visitation, data download and sample use requests, and scientific publications, reveal substantial interest from the global community in NEON. More than 47,000 unique IP addresses from around the world visit NEON's web portals each month, requesting on average 1.8 TB of data, and over 200 researchers have engaged in sample use requests from the NEON Biorepository. Through its many global partnerships, particularly with the Global Biodiversity Information Facility, NEON resources have been used in more than 900 scientific publications to date, with many using biodiversity data and samples. These outcomes demonstrate that the data and samples provided by NEON, situated in a broader network of national research infrastructures, are critical to scientists, conservation practitioners, and policy makers. They enable effective approaches to meeting global targets, such as those captured in the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.

• Water Engineering Research
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• v.3 no.4
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• pp.259-267
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• 2002

South Africa has developed a policy and law that calls and provides for the equitable and sustainable use of water resources. Sustainable resource use is dependent on effective resource protection. Rivers are the most important freshwater resources in the country, and there is a focus on developing and applying methods to quantify what rivers need in terms of flow and water quality. These quantified and descriptive objectives are then related to specified levels of ecological health in a classification system. This paper provides an overview of an integrated and systematic methodology, where, fer each river, and each river reach, the natural condition and the present ecological condition are described, and a level/class of ecosystem health is selected. The class will define long term management goals. This procedure requires each ecosystem component to be quantified, starting with the abiotic template. A modified flow regime is modelled for each ecosystem health class, and the resultant fluvial geomorphology and hydraulic habitats are described. Then the water chemistry is described, and the water quality changes that are likely to occur as a consequence of altered flows are predicted. Finally, the responses to the stress imposed on the biota (fish, invertebrates and vegetation) by modified flow and water quality are predicted. All of the predicted responses are translated into descriptive and/or quantitative management objectives. The paper concludes with the recognition of active method development, and the enormous challenge of applying the methods, implementing the law, and achieving river protection and sustainable resource-use.

• Journal of Wetlands Research
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.196-204
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• 2023

Eleutherococcus gracilistylus is a designated rare plant by the Korea Forest Service, a deciduous broad leaf shrub native to the Gotjawal region, Jejudo. This study aimed to analyze the growth responses of E. gracilistylus to three environment factors such as light, moisture, and organic matter, and measure its ecological niche breadth. Based on these results, an attempt was made to identify suitable environmental conditions. E. gracilistylus exhibited increased above-ground length, leaf area, and plant leaf weight under intermediate conditions of light availability(L3, 50% of natural light), rather than very high or very low light conditions. Moisture availability and organic matter availability showed variations in growth responses in terms of leaf count and plant leaf weight. Under moisture availability, growth was favorable under or below intermediate conditions (M3, 240ml), while under organic matter availability, growth response was better above intermediate conditions (N3, 12%). Ecological niche breadth showed in the light factor(0.951), the moisture factor(0.977), and the organic matter content one(0.964). These results indicate that the preferred habitat of E. gracilistylus is somewhat shady, slightly dry, and has a lot of nutrients, and that the environmental factor that has the greatest impact on growth is the amount of light, which is considered to be a priority consideration for habitat management in its native area.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.251-257
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• 2011

The purpose of this study was to investigate the acclimation responses of Tamarix chinensis to cold stress. We evaluated the acclimation responses by measuring biomass, daily elongation rate, chlorophyll content, and total soluble carbohydrate content. The plant samples comprised leaves from seedlings of 2 different ages (8 and 12 weeks); the leaves were collected 0, 2, and 4 weeks after cold treatment. We found that the cold-treated samples showed reduced daily elongation rates and chlorophyll content. Further, these samples showed more than 8-fold increase in the total soluble carbohydrate content. However, the seedling ages did not have a significant influence on the growth of cold-treated seedlings. On the basis of these findings, we can conclude that T. chinensis seedlings aged less than 1 year old show acclimation to cold stress by accumulating soluble carbohydrates. This study may help us understand how T. chinensis seedlings acclimatize to their first cold season.

• Journal of Wetlands Research
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.169-180
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• 2012

Aster altaicus var. uchiyamae, endangered plants to grade II designated by the Ministry of Environment Korea, is only distributed in Gyeongsangbukdo, Chungcheongnamdo in Korea. In order to know the effects of elevated $CO_2$ concentration and temperature on ecological responses of A. altaicus var. uchiyamae, this study was carried out in the control(ambient $CO_2$ + ambient temperature) and treatment(elevated $CO_2$ + elevated temperature) at glasshouse. As a result, germination rate of A. altaicus var. uchiyamae was higher in control than in treatment. Period of alive leaf was longer in control than in treatment. Period of blooming and seed maturity was faster in control than in treatment. Shoot and root weight were heavier in control than in treatment. No. of inflorescence per plant and seed per inflorescence was higher in control than in treatment. Weight of inflorescence per plant, seed per inflorescence and one seed was heavier in control than in treatment. These results indicate that ecological responses of A. altaicus var. uchiyamae may be more negatively affected by elevated $CO_2$ and temperature except for phenological responses of that may be delayed under future global warming situation.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.419-429
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• 2022

American ginseng (Panax quinquefolium L.) is a perennial herbaceous plant widely cultivated in China, Korea, the United States, and Japan due to its multifunctional properties. In northwest China, transplanting after 2-3 years has become the main mode of artificial cultivation of American ginseng. However, the effects of the cultivation process on the chemical properties of the soil and bacterial community remain poorly understood. Hence, in the present study, high-throughput sequencing and soil chemical analyses were applied to investigate the differences between bacterial communities and nutrition driver factors in the soil during the cultivation of American ginseng. The responses of soil nutrition in different ecological niches were also determined with the results indicating that the cultivation of American ginseng significantly increased the soluble nutrients in the soil. Moreover, the bacterial diversity fluctuated with cultivation years, and 4-year-old ginseng roots had low bacterial diversity and evenness. In the first two years of cultivation, the bacterial community was more sensitive to soil nutrition compared to the last two years. Proteobacteria, Actinobacteria, Gemmatimonadetes, Acidobacteria, Firmicutes, and Bacteroidetes dominated the bacterial community regardless of the cultivation year and ecological niche. With the increase of cultivation years, the assembly of bacterial communities changed from stochastic to deterministic processes. The high abundance of Sphingobium, Novosphingobium, and Rhizorhabdus enriched in 4-years-old ginseng roots was mainly associated with variations in the available potassium (AK), total phosphorus (TP), total potassium (TK), and organic matter (OM).

• Asian Journal of Atmospheric Environment
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.104-110
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• 2012

We studied the effects of elevated ozone ([$O_3$]) and $CO_2$ concentrations ([$CO_2$]) on the growth and photosynthesis of the hybrid larch $F_1(F_1)$ and on its parents (the Dahurian larch and Japanese larch). $F_1$ is a promising species for timber production in northeast Asia. Seedlings of the three species were grown in 16 open top chambers and were exposed to two levels of $O_3$ (<10 ppb and 60 ppb for 7 h per day) in combination with two levels of $CO_2$ (ambient and 600 ppm for daytime) over an entire growing season. Ozone reduced the growth as measured by height and diameter, and reduced the needle dry mass and net photosynthetic rate of $F_1$, but had almost no effect on the Dahurian larch or Japanese larch. There was a significant increase in whole-plant dry mass induced by elevated [$CO_2$] in $F_1$ but not in the other two species. Photosynthetic acclimation to elevated [$CO_2$] was observed in all species. The net photosynthetic rate measured at the growing [$CO_2$] (i.e. 380 ppm for ambient treatment and 600 ppm for elevated $CO_2$ treatment) was nevertheless greater in the seedlings of all species grown at elevated [$CO_2$]. The high [$CO_2$] partly compensated for the reduction of stem diameter growth of $F_1$ at high [$O_3$]; no similar trend was found in the other growth and photosynthetic parameters, or in the other species.