• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
• /
• v.23 no.6
• /
• pp.603-612
• /
• 2009

This study was conducted to provide information which will be useful for establishing and implementing effective management policy for Baekdudaegan Trail and user satisfaction by investigating the characteristics of trail use and users' perceptions of the environmental impacts on the trail. For this purpose, a questionnaire survey was employed in Baekdudaegan trail by three topological types. With this classification, the characteristics of the way the trails used and users' perceptions of the impacts were analysed in terms of ecological, physical and social environments. The result showed that the Baekdudaegan trail was used mainly for mountaineering rather vacation or travel, and found no differences in the characteristics of the trail use by the types. Ecological environment showed no significant relation with user satisfaction, however changes in physical environmental factors such as a trail width functioned as a negative component to decrease use experience. In addition, the satisfaction of the users had little to do with social environment, when the level of using the trail was relatively low. To present, the levels of impacts on ecological, physical and social environments and the users' satisfaction level regarding the Baekdudaegan trail appear to be positive. However, the increase of use level is expected in the future, and therefore systematic managerial measures need to be implemented to monitor the changes of the trails and interactions of the environmental impacts.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
• /
• v.31 no.3
• /
• pp.167-176
• /
• 2008

Atmospheric N deposition has far-reaching impacts on forest ecosystems, including on-site impacts such as soil acidification, fertilization, and nutrient imbalances, and off-site environmental impacts such as nitrate leaching and nitrous oxide emission. Although chronic N deposition has been believed to lead to forest N saturation, recent evidence suggests that N retention capacity, particularly in the forest floor, can be surprisingly high even under high N deposition. This review aims to provide an overview of N retention processes in the forest floor and the implications of changing C-N interactions for C sequestration. The fate of available N in forest soils has been explained by the competitive balance between tree roots, soil heterotrophs, and nitrifiers. However, high rates of N retention have been observed in numerous N addition experiments without noticeable increases in tree growth and soil respiration. Alternative hypotheses have been proposed to explain the gap between the input and loss of N in N-enriched, C-limited systems, including abiotic immobilization and mycorrhizal assimilation, both of which do not require additional C sources to incorporate N in soil N pools. Different fates of N in the forest floor have different implications for C sequestration. N-induced tree growth can enhance C accumulation in tree biomass as observed across temperate regions. C loss from forests can amount to or outweigh C gain in N-saturated, declining forests, while another type of 'C-N decoupling' can have positive or neutral effects on soil C sequestration through hampered organic matter decomposition or abiotic N immobilization, respectively.

• The Korean Journal of Ecology
• /
• v.28 no.5
• /
• pp.255-260
• /
• 2005

We investigated interventions by mother Jeju ponies on Jeju Island, Korea, to determine whether mothers assisted their offspring to attain higher status within the dominance hierarchy. Because dominance rank is important within each gender, we predicted that mothers would be more likely to intervene when their foals were play-fighting with foals of the same gender. A total of 173 play-fighting events were recorded from March to October 1998 and from April to October 1999. Of these, foals were more likely to play-fight with a foal of the same gender as with a foal of the opposite gender (120 versus 53 occurrences, respectively). A mother of one of the foals that were play-fighting intervened in 17 of these interactions. Contrary to the prediction, a mare was more likely to intervene when opposite genders interacted than when the same gender interacted. Analyzing interactions between the opposite genders further, mothers were equally likely to intervene when a daughter was play-fighting with a male foal as when a son was play-fighting with a female foal. Hence, mothers were not more protective of daughters than sons. Mothers that were in the younger age class ($2\sim11$ years old) were as likely to intervene as those in the elder age class ($17\sim25$ years old). However, all foals that were harassed were offspring of mothers in the younger, more subordinate age class. intervention directly maintains the dominance rank of the intervening mother, and may indirectly assist the intervening mother's foal to achieve a higher dominance rank. By discouraging their foals from play-fighting with the opposite genders, dominant mothers may be encouraging their foals to play-fight with the same gender and participate in establishing its own dominance rank.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
• /
• v.51 no.1
• /
• pp.16-28
• /
• 2018

Although physiological and ecological characteristics of cyanobacteria have been studied extensively for decades, unknown areas still remain greater than the already known. Recently, the development of omics techniques based on molecular biology has made it possible to view the ecosystem from a new and holistic perspective. The molecular mechanism of toxin production is being widely investigated, by comparative genomics and the transcriptomic studies. Biological interaction between bacteria and cyanobacteria is also explored: how their interactions and genetic biodiversity change depending on seasons and environmental factors, and how these interactions finally affect each component of ecosystem. Bioinformatics techniques have combined with ecoinformatics and omics data, enabling us to understand the underlying complex mechanisms of ecosystems. Particularly omics started to provide a whole picture of biological responses, occurring from all layers of hierarchical processes from DNA to metabolites. The expectation is growing further that algal blooms could be controlled more effectively in the near future. And an important insight for the successful bloom control would come from a novel blueprint drawn by omics studies.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
• /
• v.44 no.5
• /
• pp.433-442
• /
• 2011

In Korea, groundwater management has been conducted based on the estimation of annual average of groundwater recharge. Since groundwater recharge and surface water-groundwater interactions show spatiotemporal variation, continuous monitoring and dynamic analysis must be carried out to evaluate the sustainability of groundwater resources. In this study, SWAT-MODFLOW, an integrated surface water-groundwater model was used to analyze surface-groundwater interactions for various groundwater pumping scenarios in Musimcheon watershed. When current usage is applied, the baseflow reduction is about 16%, and annual averaged storage reduction is about 27 mm for whole watershed. As a holistic approach to groundwater sustainability considers the hydrological, ecological, socioeconomic, technological aspects of groundwater utilization, the exploitable groundwater should be determined by physical analysis as well as social compromise in a community.

• Journal of Wetlands Research
• /
• v.11 no.3
• /
• pp.1-8
• /
• 2009

The groundwater dependent ecosystem associated with a natural stream is the area where mixing and exchange of surface water and groundwater occurs due to large chemical and hydraulic gradients. Surface-groundwater interactions play an important role in biogeochemical processes in groundwater dependent ecosystems and make this area a hydro-ecological hot spot. The objective of this study is to characterize the groundwater dependent ecosystem in a natural stream where nitrate contamination of stream water is observed by means of hydrogeological, chemical, and biological methods. In this study, vertical flow exchange(hyporheic flow) rates between stream and groundwater were estimated based on vertical hydraulic gradients measured at mini-piezometers of various depths. To investigate the biological natural attenuation potential, biological analyses using polymerase chain reaction(PCR)-cloning methods were performed in this study. Results show that the veritical hyporheic water fluxes affect nitrate concentrations and bacterial densities in groundwater dependent ecosystems to some degree. Also, denitrifying bacteria were identified in hyporheic soils, which may support the biodegradation potential of the groundwater dependent ecosystems under certain conditions.

• Proceedings of the Korean Environmental Health Society Conference
• /
• 2005.06a
• /
• pp.345-350
• /
• 2005

Acute toxicities of five pharmaceutical products were evaluated with aquatic microbes, invertebrates, and fish. The test pharmaceuticals, i.e., cimetidine, carbamazepine, diltiazem, acetaminophene, and metformin have been often detected in aquatic environment, but theire cological hazard on receptors of various trophic levels has seldom been evaluated. In the present study, we conducted acute toxicity assays with a marine bacterium, Vibrio fischeri, an invertebrate, Daphnia magna, and a fish, Japanese medake (Oryzias latipes). In general, D. magna, showed the most sensitive response to the test chemicals. Diltiazem exhibited the lowest EC50 value after 96 hr of exposure at 7.6 mg/L, followed by cimetidine >acetaminophen > metformin = carbamazepine in an order of decreasing susceptibility. With the fish, diltiazem and carbamazepine showed the 96 hr EC50 values at 14.1${\sim}$35.4 mg/L while acetaminophen, cimetidine, and metformin did not cause 50% mortality at 100 mg/L. Similar pattern was noted with the Microtox Assay, with which the median effective concentrations for acetaminophen, cimetidine, and metformin were found at the range between 301.8 and 755.4 mg/L. Carbamazepine and diltiazem exposure to the microbes resulted in EC50 values around 50 mg/L. Predicted no effect concentrations (PECs) of these pharmaceuticals derived from the EC5O values obtained from this study, and predicted environmental concentrations (PECs) obtained from available literatures were utilized to estimate ecological risks of the test compounds. No test pharmaceuticals resulted in risk quotients (PEC/PNEC) greater than 1, which suggests no serious potential ecological concerns. It should be noted however that further studies including the refinement of PEC derivation, identification and toxicity assessment of the metabolites and/or their interactions with other stressors may be warranted to better understand the environmental consequences of the residual pharmaceutical discharge to the waterway.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Environmental Restoration Technology
• /
• v.19 no.6
• /
• pp.19-30
• /
• 2016

The projection of climate-related range shift is critical information for conservation planning of Korean fir (Abies koreana E. H. Wilson). We first modeled the distribution of Korean fir under current climate condition using five single-model species distribution models (SDMs) and the pre-evaluation weighted ensemble method and then predicted the distributions under future climate conditions projected with HadGEM2-AO under four $CO_2$ emission scenarios, the Representative Concentration Pathways (RCP) 2.6, 4.5, 6.0 and 8.5. We also investigated the predictive uncertainty stemming from five individual algorithms and four $CO_2$ emission scenarios for better interpretation of SDM projections. Five individual algorithms were Generalized linear model (GLM), Generalized additive model (GAM), Multivariate adaptive regression splines (MARS), Generalized boosted model (GBM) and Random forest (RF). The results showed high variations of model performances among individual SDMs and the wide range of diverging predictions of future distributions of Korean fir in response to RCPs. The ensemble model presented the highest predictive accuracy (TSS = 0.97, AUC = 0.99) and predicted that the climate habitat suitability of Korean fir would increase under climate changes. Accordingly, the fir distribution could expand under future climate conditions. Increasing precipitation may account for increases in the distribution of Korean fir. Increasing precipitation compensates the negative effects of increasing temperature. However, the future distribution of Korean fir is also affected by other ecological processes, such as interactions with co-existing species, adaptation and dispersal limitation, and other environmental factors, such as extreme weather events and land-use changes. Therefore, we need further ecological research and to develop mechanistic and process-based distribution models for improving the predictive accuracy.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
• /
• v.41 no.8
• /
• pp.223-234
• /
• 2017

Background: Spatial structure of plants in a population reflects complex interactions of ecological and evolutionary processes. For dioecious plants, differences in reproduction cost between sexes and sizes might affect their spatial distribution. Abiotic heterogeneity may also affect adaptation activities, and result in a unique spatial structure of the population. Thus, we examined sex- and size-related spatial distributions of old-growth forest of dioecious tree Torreya nucifera in extremely heterogeneous Gotjawal terrain of Jeju Island, South Korea. Methods: We generated a database of location, sex, and size (DBH) of T. nucifera trees for each quadrat ($160{\times}300m$) in each of the three sites previously defined (quadrat A, B, C in Site I, II, and III, respectively). T. nucifera trees were categorized into eight groups based on sex (males vs. females), size (small vs. large trees), and sex by size (small vs. large males, and small vs. large females) for spatial point pattern analysis. Univariate and bivariate spatial analyses were conducted. Results: Univariate spatial analysis showed that spatial patterns of T. nucifera trees differed among the three quadrats. In quadrat A, individual trees showed random distribution at all scales regardless of sex and size groups. When assessing univariate patterns for sex by size groups in quadrat B, small males and small females were distributed randomly at all scales whereas large males and large females were clumped. All groups in quadrat C were clustered at short distances but the pattern changed as distance was increased. Bivariate spatial analyses testing the association between sex and size groups showed that spatial segregation occurred only in quadrat C. Males and females were spatially independent at all scales. However, after controlling for size, males and females were spatially separated. Conclusions: Diverse spatial patterns of T. nucifera trees across the three sites within the Torreya Forest imply that adaptive explanations are not sufficient for understanding spatial structure in this old-growth forest. If so, the role of Gotjawal terrain in terms of creating extremely diverse microhabitats and subsequently stochastic processes of survival and mortality of trees, both of which ultimately determine spatial patterns, needs to be further examined.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
• /
• v.14 no.10
• /
• pp.1483-1496
• /
• 2001

Small ruminants form an important economic and ecological niche in small farm systems and agriculture. Their current low level of contribution is dismal, and is not commensurate with the potential capacity for higher levels of production. The context for productivity enhancement and increased socio-economic contribution relates to large sizes of small ruminant populations; wide distribution across various agro-ecological zones and production systems; and diversity of breeds, where 66% of all goat and 57% of sheep breeds in Asia are found in China, India and Pakistan. The advantages and disadvantages of small ruminants over larger ruminants are enumerated with reference to adaptation and environment, small size, production systems and products and interactions with the environment. Discussion focuses especially on efficiency of meat production and niche markets for higher-priced goat meat, and inefficient marketing systems given an estimated 40-45% loss of income to farmers presently. Increasing the quantity of meat produced is related to live weight and the total number of animals at Slaughter, which in turn, depend on the total number of offsprings weaned and lifetime productivity. At the national level, priority attention is essential to build up numbers in concerted breeding programmes, selection for efficiency of reproduction and meat production, and improvements to make traditional markets and marketing systems to respond to the changing environmental and consumer preferences. Post-production systems are neglected and improvements are associated with collection, handling, marketing, slaughter facilities and consumer requirements. Potential opportunities to expand and benefit from integrating small ruminants into annual and perennial cropping systems remain largely unexplored. Important development imperatives include choice of species and better use of available breeds, appropriate production systems that match available feed resources, and linkages between production, products and by-products to markets. Affirmative action is necessary, backed by official policy support, institutional commitment and increased resource use, that can target poverty and directly benefit the poor, and shift subsistence production to a more market-oriented opportunity. These efforts together constitute the challenges for both the owners and producers of small ruminants in the immediate future, as also the will to accelerate increased productivity, improve their livelihoods and promote rural growth.