• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.41 no.4
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• pp.431-440
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• 2008

Turbid water or suspended sediment is associated with negative effects on aquatic organisms; fish, aquatic invertebrate, and periphyton. Effects of turbid water on fish differ depending on their developmental stage and a level of turbidity. Low turbid water may cause feeding and predation rates, reaction distance, and avoidance in fish, and it could make fish to die under high turbidity and long period. Therefore, it is very important to find out how turbid water or suspended sediment can affect fish in domestic watersheds. The objectives of this study were 1) to introduce international case studies and their standards to deal with suspended sediment, 2) to determine acute toxicity in 4 major freshwater fishes, and 3) to determine in relation to adverse effect of macroinvertebrates and fish. Impacts of turbid water on fish can be categorized into direct and indirect effects, and some factors such as duration and frequency of exposure, toxicity, temperature, life stage of fish, size of particle, time of occurrence, availability of and access to refugia, etc, play important role to decide magnitude of effect. A review of turbidity standard in USA, Canada, and Europe indicated that each standard varied with natural condition, and Alaska allowed liberal increase of turbidity over natural conditions in streams. Even though acute toxicity with four different species did not show any fatal effect, it should be considered to conduct a chronic test (long-term) for more detailed assessment. Compared to the control, dominance index of macroinvertebrates was greater in the turbid site, whereas biotic index, species diversity index, species richness index, and ecological score were smaller in the turbid site. According to histopathological analysis with gills of macroinvertebrate and fishes, morphological and physiological modification of gills due to suspended sediments can cause disturbance of respiration, excretion and secretion. In conclusion, in order to maintain good and healthy aquatic ecosystem, it is the best to minimize or prevent impact by occurrence of turbid water in stream and reservoir. We must make every effort to maintain and manage healthy aquatic ecosystem with additional investigation using various assessment tools and periodic biomonitoring of fish.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.20 no.6
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• pp.845-856
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• 2011

In order to establish fundamental data for stream restoration and environmental flow, we investigated inhabitation and species diversity of fish to substrate size in the typical streams of Geum River Basin. Field monitoring including fish sampling was conducted from October 2007 to October 2009. Substrate size was determined according to six different : silt (Si), sand (Sa), fine gravel (Fg), coarse gravel (Cg), cobbles (Co) and boulders (Bo). A total number of fish caught in the 18 sites was 7,649 representing 10 families 50 species, and Si, Sa, Fg, Cg, Co and Bo stations occupied 30, 29, 38, 30, 27 and 17 species, respectively. The most frequently found species in number was pale chum (Zacco platypus, 29.7%, n=2,275) followed by Z. koreanus (22.5%, n=1,720) in total stations. Biological diversity with increase of substrate size from the dominance of part species showed higher values as dominance index, lower and diversity, richness and evenness index. Index of biological integrity (IBI) and qualitative habitat evaluation index (QHEI) scores decreased with increase of substrate size. Therefore, it is necessary to make an effort on stream rehabilitation with evaluation of physical habitat condition by indicator species in order to maintain biodiversity and perform ecological restoration.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.35-47
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• 1999

The purpose of this study is to research the environmental amenity factors of a city to devise the strategies to preserve the factors. For this study, the area of Masan city in Korea was chosen, and questionnaires, field studies, and statistical researches were used. Based on the results, the research showed the city surveyed had expanded by 1,069%, and the population of the city had increased by 272% from 1970 to 1995. In the city-life environment, the traffic was not smooth and the streets were not safe. The number of cars increased by 40,797% from 1970 to 1995, but the total length of roads increased only by 333%. The number of traffic accidents increased by 850%. Buildings were not preserved or maintained and did not have any traditional value. Additionally, buildings were not harmonious with environmental surroundings. Land allocation for utilization was not mixed well with tradition. In relation with the surroundings, there were not enough spaces for old people, and parking spaces were limited. In the field of public policy and finance, economic support and fundamental facilities were not enough. The survey of the household environment and the neighborhood environment showed that the room temperature, sunshine, air condition, and space were medial in the household environment. Public social facilities and entertainment culture had the lowest quality in the neighborhood environment. The city-life environment, the neighborhood environment, and the household environment affected the quality of life in order. The above results showed that cities should be planned upon sustainable development with the idea of emphasizing ecological harmony and considering people first, that citizen should be planned upon sustainable life by the harmony between people and the environment. Cities should be places where all people can live together pleasantly and cooperate with each other.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.19 no.6
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• pp.527-537
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• 2010

This study are Geumjung mountain fortress of the Busan Metropolitan City in the north gate of the East gate around the trail to identify the vegetation structure importance value, dominance, species diversity, similarity index analysis. Results of the study, plot on the western slopes elevation 423-636m, slopes of $15{\sim}20^{\circ}$ slope areas, Pinus densiflora, Pinus thunbergii, Quercus acutissima, Pinus thunbergii, Pinus rigida, Carpinus coreana, Quercus mongolica are fulfilling a community. Trees layer a height 8~12m, coverage 40~70%, sub-trees layer the height 3~7m, coverage 10~80%, shrubs layer the height 0.8~1.5m, coverage 20-30%, herb layer the height 0.1~0.5m, coverage 5-10% were in the range of plot in the east slope elevation 452-647m, slopes in the slope of $5-30^{\circ}$ and Pinus rigida, Pinus thunbergii, Pinus densiflora, Quercus mongolica, Quercus dentata, Carpinus coreana is fulfilling a community. The trees layer height 8~13m, coverage 0~70%, sub-trees layer the height 2~6m, coverage 0~80%, shrubs layer the height 0.8~1.5m, coverage 20-40%, herb layer the height 0.1-0.5m, coverage 5-40% were in the range. The survey showed to be in relatively good vegetation, but in some areas of Pinus rigida, Quercus acutissima, as was predicted in succession, the shrub layer in the plot of some dominated vine plants and vegetation management will be needed for this purpose respectively.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.323-330
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• 2006

We investigated the impact of watermelon grafted onto Cucumber Green Mottle Mosaic Virus (CGMMV)-resistant transgenic watermelon rootstock on insects as non-target organisms in a greenhouse in 2005. We quantitatively collected insect assemblages living on leaves and flowers, and we used sticky traps to collect alate insects. We compared the patterns of insect assemblages and community composition, cotton aphid (Aphis gossypii Glover) on watermelon leaves and western flower thrip (Frankliniella occidentalis Trybom) on watermelon male flowers, between CGMMV-resistant transgenic watermelon (TR) and non-transgenic watermelon (nTR). Non-parametric multidimensional scaling (NMS) ordination verified that insect assemblages on leaves and sticky traps were different between TR and nTR (P<0.05). The insect assemblages on male flowers were not statistically significant. Multi-response permutation procedures proofed our results from NMS results (P>0.05). Conclusively, TR watermelons appear to have some adverse effects on the population of cotton aphids on leaves and sticky traps, but watermelon male flowers do not show an adverse effect. Further research is required to assess the effect of TR on the aphid and western flower thrip. Life table experiments might support the specific reason for the adverse effects from leaf assemblages. Assessment of non-target impacts is an essential part of the risk assessment of non-target insects for the impact of transgenic organisms.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.19-28
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• 2010

Industrial Safety and Health Law (ISH Law) of Japan requires abnormalities identified in evaluations of worker health and working environments are reported to occupational physicians, and employers are advised of measures to ensure appropriate accommodations in working environments and work procedures. Since the 1980s, notions of a risk assessment and occupational safety and health management system were expected to further prevent industrial accidents. In 2005, ISH Law stipulated workplace risk assessment using the wording "employers shall endeavor." Following the amendment, multiple documents and guidelines for risk assessment for different work procedures were developed. They require ISH Laws to be implemented fully and workplaces to plan and execute measures to reduce risks, ranking them from those addressing potential hazards to those requiring workers to wear protective articles. A governmental survey in 2005 found the performance of risk assessment was 20.4% and common reasons for not implementing risk assessments were lack of adequate personnel or knowledge. ISH Law specifies criminal penalties for both individuals and organizations. Moreover, under the Labor Contract Law promulgated in 2007, employers are obliged to make reasonable efforts to ensure employee health for foreseeable and avoidable risks. Therefore, enterprises neglecting even the non-binding provisions of guidelines are likely to suffer significant business impact if judged to be responsible for industrial accidents or occupational disease. To promote risk assessment, we must strengthen technical, financial, and physical support from public-service organizations, encourage the dissemination of good practices to reduce risks, and consider additional employer incentives, including relaxed mandatory regulations.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.41 no.11
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• pp.310-317
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• 2017

Background: Many studies about climate-related range shift of plants have focused on understanding the relationship between climatic factors and plant distributions. However, consideration of adaptation factors, such as dispersal and plant physiological processes, is necessary for a more accurate prediction. This study predicted the future distribution of marlberry (Ardisia japonica), a warm-adapted evergreen broadleaved shrub, under climate change in relation to the dispersal ability that is determined by elapsed time for the first seed production. Results: We introduced climate change data under four representative concentration pathway (RCP 2.6, 4.5, 6.0, and 8.5) scenarios from five different global circulation models (GCMs) to simulate the future distributions (2041~2060) of marlberry. Using these 20 different climate data, ensemble forecasts were produced by averaging the future distributions of marlberry in order to minimize the model uncertainties. Then, a dispersal-limited function was applied to the ensemble forecast in order to exam the impact of dispersal capacity on future marlberry distributions. In the dispersal-limited function, elapsed time for the first seed production and possible dispersal distances define the dispersal capacity. The results showed that the current suitable habitats of marlberry expanded toward central coast and southern inland area from the current southern and mid-eastern coast area in Korea. However, given the dispersal-limited function, this experiment showed lower expansions to the central coast area and southern inland area. Conclusions: This study well explains the importance of dispersal capacity in the prediction of future marlberry distribution and can be used as basic information in understanding the climate change effects on the future distributions of Ardisia japonica.

• Proceedings of the Korean Environmental Health Society Conference
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• 2004.06a
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• pp.173-177
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• 2004

The acute toxicities of two major anti-pathogenic veterinary medicines, i.e., ciprofloxacin and enrofloxacin, and six benzimidazole anthelmintics, i.e., albendazole, thiabendazole, flubendazole, febantel, fenbendazole, and oxfendazole, were evaluated with a marine bacterium, Vibrio fischeri, and invertebrate Daphnia magna. These veterinary medical products have been widely used for farm animals, but their impact on aquatic fauna has seldom been investigated. In general, daphnids responded as much as 3 orders of magnitude more sensitively to the tested pharmaceuticals than the microbes. For Daphnia, the most toxic product among the tested anthelmintics was fenbendazole, followed by flubendazole > albendazole ${\approx}$ febantel > thiabendazole > oxfendazole. Daphnids' EC50 values obtained from 48 to 96 hrs of fenbendazole exposure ranged from 2.7 to 6.3 ug/L. The mixture toxicity of the test pharmaceuticals was generally additive in nature and was well predicted by a concentration addition model. Using the predicted no effect concentrations (PNECs) of the benzimidazole derivatives estimated from this study, and predicted environmental concentrations (PECs) of these pharmaceuticals, the risk quotients of each anthelmintics were calculated. Most of the test anthelmintic compounds resulted in risk quotients greater than 1. Especially, risk quotient for fenbendazole was 2,791, which strongly indicates this compound might cause severe ecological consequences, should no future action be taken. This study is the first report on the aquatic toxicities and potential ecological risk of major anthelmintic and antimicrobial veterinary products in Korea. The result of this study provides information necessary for conducting more detailed ecological risk assessment of pharmaceutical products in ambient water and guiding proper management decision.

• Journal of Climate Change Research
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• v.6 no.3
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• pp.223-231
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• 2015

Although a considerable part of climate change can be explained by temperature change, hydrological change such as precipitation, evapotranspiration, and runoff impact more on society. For the ascertain a hydrological change in agriculture sector, this study estimate evapotranspiration of cropland in the Korean peninsula, and then to assess the drought severity in the past 30 years through the estimated potential evapotranspiration and observed precipitation. The potential evapotranspiration is estimated by EPIC model and Penman-Monteith method and the drought severity in cropland of the Korean peninsula is assessed using Normalized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index (NPEI) based on the difference in precipitation and potential evapotranspiration. In North Korea, the estimated evapotranspiration tends to increase even though a significant change is not found due to the change of climate. Although a time series change in drought severity in the past 30 years is not pronounced, a deviation by year and difference between South and North Korea is certain. One reason of this is difference in precipitation and evapotranspiration change according to the latitude. The result including expansion of facilities for water management in North Korea can be used for agricultural decision making, as well as base data of climate change adaptation.

• Journal of Climate Change Research
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.223-234
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• 2018

Estimation of future land cover based on climate change scenarios is an important factor in climate change impact assessment and adaptation policy. This study estimated future land cover considering Shared Socioeconomic Pathways (SSP) using Scenario Generators. Based on the storylines of SSP1-3, future population and estimated urban area were adopted for the transition matrix, which contains land cover change trends of each land cover class. In addition, limits of land cover change and proximity were applied as spatial data. According to the estimated land cover maps from SSP1-3 in 2030, 2050, and 2100, respectively, urban areas near a road were expanded, but agricultural areas and forests were gradually decreased. More drastic urban expansion was seen in SSP3 compared to SSP1 and SSP2. These trends are similar with previous research with regard to storyline, but the spatial results were different. Future land cover can be easily adjusted based on this approach, if econometric forecasts for each land cover class added. However, this requires determination of econometric forecasts for each land cover class.