• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.30 no.6
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• pp.393-412
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• 2021

This study examines the assessment systems of LEED v4.1, an eco-friendly building evaluation system in the United States, and SITE v2, an assessment system for sustainable outdoor spaces, and then compares and examines them from the perspective ofrelevant laws and institutional guidelines and standards in Korea. The conclusion is as follows. First, the US eco-friendly certification system basically not only establishes an independent evaluation system according to the field of expertise, but also provides a sustainable city and community through response to the climate crisis and the comfort of the external space environment. It can be evaluated that securing the quality of life of healthy and happy city dwellers is the top priority. Second, Korea's Green Building Certification System (G-LEED) was basically based on the American LEED system, but it was judged that there was a fundamental difference. It was judged that there is a limitation in not being able to achieve an integrated approach through the participation of various expert groups and stakeholders, but also in the accumulation of more scientific and reliable data and information through the application of cutting-edge information and communication equipment. Third, in the case of external space in Korea, a sustainable assessment system has not been established, and not only is it dispersed in various legal and institutional guidelines, but also its effectiveness is judged to be very low. Therefore, it is judged that it is urgent to introduce and secure the applicability of SITES v2, a sustainable outdoor space assessment system in the United States. It was judged that the effectiveness should be secured through the upward adjustment of the minimum Ecological Area Ratio.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.1-12
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• 2021

This study focused on verifying the identification of freshwater fish species in Korea using Environmental DNA (eDNA) technique. The research of DNA is increasing in the field of ecology, since this is more sensitive of identify rather than traditional investigation method. Which is difficult to detect species hidden in water and be easily influenced by diverse factors (sites, bad weather, researchers and so on). We applied the pilot test in aquarium (Freshwater Fish Ecological Learning Center in Yangpyeong, Gyeonggi Do), where freshwater fish species are inhabits. We conducted to sampling and analyzing the sixteen water samples (50 species from 7 orders and 13 families) using MiFish primer set. The results showed that 45 species (90%) was investigated by eDNA. It highlight that eDNA with universal primer is possible to detect freshwater fish species of Korean. However, the errors on species identification seems to be caused by the primer that be not suited perfectly and the pollution such as aquarium, sampling collectors.

• Journal of Digital Convergence
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.469-482
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• 2022

The purpose of this study is to analyze regional variation factors of hypertension treatment rate in COVID-19 based on the analysis results based on ecological methodology. To this end, data suitable for ecological analysis were collected from the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's regional health statistics, local government COVID-19 confirmed cases, National Health Insurance Corporation, Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service's welfare statistics, and Korea Transport Institute's traffic access index. Descriptive statistics and correlation analysis were conducted using SPSS Statistics 23 for regional variation and related factors in hypertension treatment rate, and geographical weighted regression analysis was conducted using Arc GIS for regional variation factors. As a result of the study, the overall explanatory power of the calculated geo-weighted regression model was 27.6%, distributed from 23.1% to 33.4% by region. As factors affecting the treatment rate of hypertension, the higher the rate of basic living security medical benefits, diabetes treatment rate, and health institutions per 100,000 population, the higher the rate of hypertension treatment, the lower the number of COVID-19 confirmed patients, the lower the rate of physical activity, and the alcohol consumption. Percentage of alcohol consumption decreased due to COVID-19 pandemic. It was analyzed that the lower the ratio, the higher the treatment rate for hypertension. Based on these results, the analysis of regional variables in the treatment rate of hypertension in COVID-19 can be expected to be effective in managing the treatment rate of hypertension, and furthermore, it is expected to be used to establish community-centered health promotion policies.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.112 no.1
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• pp.11-22
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• 2023

This study was established to provide basic information necessary for ecological management to restore the naturalness of black locust (Robinia pseudoacacia L.) plantations located in the mountains of Gyeongbuk, Korea. Using vegetation data collected from 200 black locust stands, vegetation types were classified using the TWINSPAN method, the spatial arrangement status according to the environmental gradient was identified through DCA analysis, and a synoptic table of communities was prepared based on the diagnostic species determined by determining community fidelity (Φ) for each vegetation type. The vegetation types were classified into seven types, namely, Quercus mongolica-Polygonatum odoratum var. pluriflorum type, Castanea crenata-Smilax china type, Clematis apiifolia-Lonicera japonica type, Rosa multiflora-Artemisia indica type, Quercus variabilis-Lindera glauca type, Ulmus parvifolia-Celtis sinensis type, and Prunus padus-Celastrus flagellaris type. These types usually reflected differences in complex factors such as altitude, moisture regime, successional stage, and disturbance regime. The mean relative importance value of the constituent species was highest for black locust(39.7), but oaks such as Quercus variabilis, Q. serrata, Q. mongolica, Q. acutissima, and Q. aliena were also identified as important constituent species with high relative importance values, indicating their potential for successional trends. In addition, the total percent cover of constituent species by vegetation type, life form composition, species diversity index, and indicator species were compared.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.47 no.4
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• pp.282-289
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• 2023

Background: As wildlife habitats are being destroyed and growth environments are changing, the survival of animals and plants is under threat. Epilobium hirsutum L., a species that inhabits wetlands, has held legally protected status since 2012. However, no specific measures are currently in place to protect its habitat, leading to a decline in remaining populations as a result of land use change and human activities. Results: The growth environment (including location, climate, land use, soil, and vegetation) of the five habitat sites (Samcheok, Taebaek1, Taebaek2, Cheongsong, Ulleung) of E. hirsutum L. was investigated and analyzed. These habitats were predominantly situated in flat areas with gentle south-facing slopes, at an average altitude of 452.7 m (8-726 m) above sea level in Gangwon-do and Gyeongsangbuk-do. The average annual temperature ranged 11.5℃ (9.2℃-12.9℃), whereas the average annual precipitation ranged 1,304.5 mm (1,062.7-1,590.7 mm). The surrounding land use status was mainly characterized by mountainous areas, and human interference, such as agricultural land and roads, was commonly found in proximity to these natural habitats. Soil physicochemical analysis revealed that the soil was predominantly sandy loam with a slightly high sand content. The average pH measured 7.64, indicating an alkaline environment, and electrical conductivity (EC) averaged 0.33 dS/m. Organic matter (OM) content averaged 66.44 g/kg, available phosphoric acid (P₂O₅) content averaged 115.73 mg/kg, and cation exchange capacity (CEC) averaged 23.43 cmolc/kg. The exchangeable cations ranged 0.09-0.43 cmol⁺/kg for potassium (K), 10.23-16.21 cmol⁺/kg for calcium (Ca), 0.67-4.94 cmol⁺/kg for magnesium (Mg), and 0.05-0.74 cmol⁺/kg for sodium (Na). The vegetation type was categorized as E. hirsutum community with high numbers of E. hirsutum L., Persicaria thunbergii (Siebold & Zucc.) H. Gross, Phragmites japonica Steud., Humulus japonicus (Siebold & Zucc.), and Bidens frondosa L.. An ecological flora analysis, including the proportion of lianas, naturalized plants, and annual herbaceous plants, revealed that the native habitat of E. hirsutum L. was ecologically unstable. Conclusions: Analysis of the habitat of E. hirsutum L., a class II endangered wildlife species, provided essential data for local conservation and restoration efforts.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Environmental Restoration Technology
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.1-16
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• 2024

To achieve carbon neutrality and restore the national environment, there is growing interest in policies to transform national land areas into green space, such as expanding nature-based solutions, increasing biodiversity, and improving ecosystem service functions. In addition to complying with international agreements such as the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Convention on Biological Diversity, it is necessary to expand green spaces to achieve the 2050 Carbon Neutrality goal, which can be achieved by restoring the damaged land in an ecological way. However, it is challenging to implement green restoration in a systematic and active way due to conflicts of interest among landowners and lack of institutional support and advanced technology. Therefore, this study aims to develop a strategy to expand green restoration and implement it smoothly and systematically. This study examined the current status of green restoration in South Korea by investigating green restoration laws and systems and overseas trends, and by surveying the perceptions of 1,000 people selected from a pool of the public. The results of this study show that it is difficult to implement the green restoration efficiently because the laws related to restoration are scattered. According to the relevant legal plans, the perception and direction of restoration is to pursue a sustainable national land environment, allow people to benefit from nature, improve the quality of life, and nurture related industries and human resources. In the international community, it is mentioned that green restoration contributes to achieving the 2050 Carbon Neutrality goal, revitalizing green industries, developing and applying advanced technologies, maintaining consistency in restoration-related policies, expanding citizens' access to green spaces, and adopting nature-based solutions. Both experts and the public are aware of the seriousness of the damage to the natural environment and prefer restoration with human use rather than focusing on natural recovery. It is expected that this study will contribute to the future direction of green restoration and the implementation of tasks for the sustainable restoration of the national land environment and the zero-carbon era.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Environmental Restoration Technology
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.31-44
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• 2024

The coastal dune ecosystem is one of the ecosystems under the most development pressure in Korea. Therefore, it is necessary to study the ecological location and related ecological phenomena of coastal dune plants, but related studies are lacking. Through this study, we intend to conduct research on the structure and restoration of dune plants, focusing on the coastal dunes in Jeju Island, which are affected by artificial development pressure and the continuous increase in tourists among many coastal dunes in Korea. Ecosystems of coastal sand dunes for vegetation survey in Jeju Island are selected based on naturalness and preservation. In this study, 23 major coastal dunes on Jeju Island including Udo were selected. In the coastal dunes of Jeju Island, a whole species survey and quadrat survey were carried out. The vegetation survey at study sites were conducted on May to September 2022, when the vegetation is clearly visible. At the survey site, the dune area was identified at the beginning and the plant species were recorded until no more new species appeared. Vegetation survey in the field was performed by 103 quadrat establishments and was conducted using Braun-Blanquet method. A total of 277 species appeared, and the most common species were Vitex rotundifolia and Calystegia soldanella. The frequency of both Vitex rotundifolia and Calystegia soldanella was approximately over 90%. The proportion of woody and herbaceous in all emerging species was 7.2% and 92.8%, respectively. The total number of species found in the quadrat survey was 98. As a result of classifying plant communities based on species dominance in the quadrats, it was analyzed into 30 plant communities. The plant communities that appeared with a frequency of 2 or more on the main island of Jeju were Vitex rotundifolia, Imperata cylindrica var. koenigii, Ischaemum antephoroides, Wedelia prostrata, Elymus mollis, Calystegia soldanella, Artemisia scoparia, and Tetragonia tetragonoides. The DCCA(detrended canonical correspondence analysis) based on the vegetation and environment factor matrix showed that the height and covers of the dominant plant species explain significantly the variation and distribution of coastal sand dune species on Jeju island. Thus, we may propose a plan to restore the coastal dunes of Jeju island as helping colonization and establishment of mainly sand dune native perennials and trees, preserving native plant communities that are declining and preserving present tree strips of Pinus thunbergii, Litsea japonica, Pittosporum tobira and Vitex rotundifolia.

• The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.270-282
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• 2012

This study was conducted to investigate the impact of sand addition to an intertidal for the development of the Manila clam habitat on benthic community structure. For this, we focused on the spatio-temporal changes in the surface sediment condition and benthic community structure before and after the event. Study site was an sandbank in Gonam-myeon, Taean-gun where sand added to on July 2010. We set three stations at each of sand adding area (experimental plot) and non sand-adding area (control plot) and did sampling works ten times from June 2010 to October 2011. Directly after the event, surface sediments changed to very coarse sand, but the state was not maintained over four months because of seasonal sedimentation and finally got back to very fine sand in eight months. The number of species and density were temporarily reduced right after the event and crustacean species such as Apocorophium acutum, Photis sp. were most negatively affected by the event. However, the number of species recovered from the reduction in three months and density did in four months due to the recolonization by the existing species and species in the vicinity of the plot. During the study period, dominant species continuously changed from the species such as A. acutum, Photis sp. at the time before the event, through the species such as Heteromastus filiformis, Macrophthalmus japonicus at the time right after the event, to the species such as Musculista senhousia, Ruditapes philippinarum, Mediomastus californiensis in the latter part of the study period. Although surface sediment properties and ecological indices recovered within a certain period after the event, the recovery of community structure has never been observed up to the end of the study.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.159-169
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• 2008

This study was aimed to classify the intertidal macrozoobenthic community status after 2 years of Sea Prince oil spill, and oil spill effects along oil spreading track from heavily impacted to unaffected reference site. Field sampling was initiated in late February and continued through November 1998 seasonally, after 2.5 years of oil spill. 7 rocky sampling sites were selected among coastal regions coated and/or affected by the Sea Prince spilled oil. Identified species was 158 species, 65 family, 24 order, 9 class, 5 phylum. Mollusca was the dominant faunal group comprising 100 species (63.3%), and followed by 38 species of Crustacea (24.1%), 12 species of Echinodermata (7.6%), 5 species of Porifera (3.2%), and 3 species of Cnidaria (1.9%). On Dugpo of Sori Island, the fewest species was collected from 28 species to 35 species seasonally among sampling stations. But far away Dugpo toward Gamak Bay, the number of species increased, collecting the maximum on Sohwoenggan Island. At the wreck site of Sori Island, especially the species number of attached animals such as poriferans and anthozoans was very low compared to another site. The density and biomass on the higher tidal zone increased toward the low affected sites, but biomass on middle tidal zone decreased. The invertebrate biomass of study area was dependent on the sessile animals. The major dominant species were small-sized barnacles, Chthmallus challengeri, periwinkles, Littorina brevicula, mussels, Septifer virgatus, and so on. The biomass of C. challengeri and L. brevicula on the higher tidal zone was highest in the wreck site of Sori Island and decreased further and further. However, mussels on the middle tidal zone showed the inverse trends because of the larger individual size of mussel inhabited in Sori Island than those of another sites. As a result of community analysis, the effect of oil spill was not found distinctly. Several ecological indices and cluster analysis did not show the meaningful variation with oil track despite of the conspicuous differences among tidal heights. These indicate that the macrozoobenthic community level of oil spreaded zone recovered in some degree after the Sea Prince oil spill accident, but population or individual levels of dominant sessile animals took more recovery times.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.82 no.2
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• pp.139-151
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• 1993

The virgin forests on and around Sungin-bong in Ulreung-do, an island situated between the Korean peninsula and Japanese archipelago, were investigated phytosociologically. They were classified into two communities, i.e. Fagus crenata var. multinervis - Majanthemum dilatatum community and F. crenata var. multinervis - Sasa kuriensis community. The former was subdivided into several units ; Acer takesimense - Allium victorialis var. platyphyllum group, including Tsuga sieboldii - Taxus cuspidata var. tatifolia subgroup and a typical subgroup, and Acer mono var. savatieri - Rumohra standishii group, including Dystaenia takeshimana subgroup and a typical subgroup. The other was subdivided into two subunits ; Acer okamotoanum group and a typical group. It was estimated that this area was orginally covered with beech and maple dominated forest vegetation and with Machilus dominated forest or bamboo forest. However, in these days, The natural vegetation of it has been destroyed and in future, may also be disturbed gradually by human activities. Judging from the coincidence method, the structure and distribution of the forest communities was more related to altitude than to topography. The phytomass, based upon the basal area of each community to $100m^2$ showed that Acer mono var. savatieri - Rumohra standishii group ($BA=7574.1cm^2$, $P=9,882,058cm^3$) haved the largest value and Tsuga sieboldii - Taxus cuspidata var. latifolia subgroup($BA=2126.3cm^2$, $P=1,746,755cm^3$) showed the smallest value. The flora of the vascular plants collected from this area consists of 71 families, 187 genera, 243 species, 1 subspecies, 44 varieties, 6 forms and 294 taxa in total.