• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.22 no.5
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• pp.757-767
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• 2006

Biological assessments are the primary tool for evaluating the biological condition of a water body and makes it possible to understand accumulative and long-term effect of stressors. They also provide reliable biological information for which disturbed systems are to be restored. Sustainable water environment is not enough with attaining only the clean water, but it should sustain healthy and diverse aquatic life. Aquatic organisms are affected by various factors, including not only water quality but also habitat condition and stressors, and thus good condition of both physical and chemical water quality is prerequisite for sustaining healthy organisms. Therefore, biological assessment, along with other physical and chemical assessments, are crucial for evaluating the health of a water body. Overall, sustainability of water environment demands the attainment and maintenance of ecological integrity, which is resulted from the combination of physical, chemical and biological integrity. The biological criteria will play very important role in the water resource management and policy issues, and thus bioassessment program should be fully implemented and supported eventually by the law. To keep ecosystem health of water environment safely from the toxic pollutants and other stressors, the following suggestions need to be considered in environmental quality standards in Korea. For the first step, the biological indicators need to be introduced in evaluating river quality condition; they provide a qualitative description of biological condition of water body. Secondly, the biological water quality standards using biotic indices should be developed and implemented under the consideration of characteristics of Korean river systems. Lastly, the ecological status classification regime (ESCR) should be developed and introduced; it could be used in quality assessment of the water environment in general. In developing ESCR, integration of physico-chemical, biological, and habitat parameters should be taken into account.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.42 no.4
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• pp.476-486
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• 2009

Major objective of our study was to introduce initial researches of national long-term ecological monitoring studies on Daechung Reservoir, as one of the representative lentic reservoir ecosystems in Korea. For the long-term ecological research (LTER), we conducted preliminary field monitoring during 2008~2009 and analyzed biological parameters such as phytoplankton, zooplankton, and freshwater fish along with chemical water quality and empirical model analysis. According to phytoplankton surveys, major taxa have varied largely depending on seasons and sites sampled. Overall phytoplankton data showed that cyanophyta dominated in the summer period and diatoms dominated in the winter. In zooplankton analysis, 25 species including 20 rotifers, 3 cladocerans and 2 copepods were collected during the survey. The relative abundance of rotifers (86.5%) was always greater than that of cladocerans (6.3%) or copepods (5.1%). There were distinct spatial and inter-annual changes in the abundance of zooplankton in the reservoir, displaying similar patterns in three sites with the exception of S3 during the study. According to fish surveys, 8 families and 39 species were observed during 2008~2009. The most dominant fish was an exotic species of Lepomis macrochirus (23%), indicating an severe influence of exotic species to the ecosystem. TP averaged $17.9\;{\mu}g\;L^{-1}$ ($6{\sim}80\;{\mu}g\;L^{-1}$), which was judged as a mesotrophy, and showed a distinct longitudinal gradients. TN averaged $1.585\;{\mu}g\;L^{-1}$ during the study and judged as hypereutrophic condition. Unlike TP, TN didn't show any large seasonal and spatial variations. Under the circumstances, nitrogen limitation may not happen in this system, indicating that nitrogen control is not effective in the watershed managements. These data generated in the LTER station will provide key information on long-term biological and water quality changes in relation to global warming and some clues for efficient reservoir ecosystem managements.

• Journal of the Architectural Institute of Korea Planning & Design
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.3-14
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• 2018

An apartment complex is a building use with great potential to contribute to solving problems related to urban ecological environment and climate change. The first goal of this study is to grasp the current situation of application and limitations of the ecological area rate, which is a representative evaluation index used to evaluate the environmental performance of the external space of an apartment complex in Green Standard for Energy and Environmental Design (G-SEED). The second goal is to propose a prototype of the evaluation index for evaluating greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction performance in order to supplement the evaluation index for the environmental performance of the external space in terms of response to climate change. We analyzed 43 cases of apartment complexes certified according to G-SEED, which was enforced since July 1, 2010, and found application characteristics of each space type and the limitations of ecological area rate. We analyzed overseas green building certification systems such as LEED and BREEAM that derived implications for supplementing the limitations of ecological area rate, which is focused on the evaluation of soil and water circulation function, and set up a development direction of complementary measures. Through analysis of previous studies, relevant regulations and standards, and technical documents of the manufacturer, the heat island mitigation performance of the pavement and roof surfaces of the apartment complex and the carbon uptake performance of the trees in the apartment complex was selected as parameters to yield the GHG reduction performance of the external space of the apartment complex. Finally, a quantitative evaluation method for each parameter and a prototype of the evaluation index for the GHG reduction performance were proposed. As a result of applying the prototype to an apartment complex case, the possibility of adoption and applicability as an evaluation index of G-SEED were proved.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.43 no.3
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• pp.390-399
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• 2010

Non-photochemical quenching (NPQ) values for utilizing them to detect osmotic tolerance in plants were examined with two different soybean cultivars, an osmotic tolerant soybean (Shinpaldalkong 2) and a control soybean (Taekwangkong). Two different stresses were applied to the cultivars as the restricted irrigations of 200 and 50 ml water $pot^{-1}\;d^{-1}$ for 5 days for a control and a drought stress, respectively, and a sodium chloride solution of 200 mmol for 6 days for a salt stress. The intact leaves of the two cultivars after treatment were used to measure chlorophyll fluorescence parameters, maximum efficiencies of photosystem II photochemistry (Fv/Fm), efficiencies of photosystem II photochemistry (${\Phi}_{PSII}$), $CO_2$ assimilation rate ($P_N$), and NPQ. Leaf water potentials of the two cultivars decreased from - 0.2 to - 0.8MPa by a drought treatment and from - 0.7 to - 1.7MPa by a salt treatment. Leaf water content of Shinpaldalkong 2 after a salt treatment was less decreased than that of Taekwangkong. $F_v/F_m$ values of both cultivars were not changed, while ${\Phi}_{PSII}$ and $P_N$ were decreased proportionally to leaf water potential decrease. The response of NPQ was occurred in Shinpaldalkong 2 under the drought and salt stresses. With Taekwangkong cultivar, only drought stress referred NPQ response. The cultivar differences on chlorophyll fluorescence parameters were found in the relationships between ${\Phi}_{PSII}$ and $P_N$, and between NPQ and ${\Phi}_{PSII}$. Although the positive relationships between ${\Phi}_{PSII}$ and $P_N$ were established on all treatments of both cultivars, the decreasing rate of ${\Phi}_{PSII}$ to $P_N$ was smaller in Shinpaldalkong 2 than Taekwangkong. The NPQ was increased according to the decrease of ${\Phi}_{PSII}$ by osmotic treatments in Shinpaldalkong 2. The complementary relationships between NPQ and ${\Phi}_{PSII}$ were well maintained at all treatments in Shinpaldalkong 2, while these relationships were lost at a salt treatment in Taekwangkong. Taken together, the results suggest that analysis of complementary relationships between ${\Phi}_{PSII}$ and NPQ could be more valuable and applicable for determining osmotic tolerance than single analysis of each parameter such as $F_v/F_m$, ${\Phi}_{PSII}$ and NPQ.

• The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.170-186
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• 2019

The marine ecosystem survey investigates and analyzes multi-parameters at various times from various sites. Therefore, it is very difficult to analyze the complex ecological data of multi-items effectively, and it is more difficult to identify the current status and diagnose the problems of ecosystem through data analysis. Therefore, this paper aims to provide an example of interpretation of complex ecological data through analysis of distribution characteristics and outliers of ecological survey data. The main contents of the study are to elucidate the background levels of coastal ecosystem parameters considering the distribution characteristics of data, and to establish ecosystem monitoring indicators and an adaptive management system for the coastal waters in Korean Peninsula. The data used in this paper are based on the coastal ecosystem survey of the National Marine Ecosystem Monitoring Program conducted by the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries (MOF) and the Korea Marine Environment Management Corporation (KOEM), and the major citations are from year 2015 to 2017. This article is a preliminary study to establish the above processes and the final result will be derived in 2020 when the coastal ecosystem survey is completed three times along the Korean coast.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.264-271
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• 2016

The objective of this study was to determine the growth and light utilization efficiency of garden plants in shade area through chlorophyll fluorescence reaction analysis. Ten garden plants was grown for 75 days under 50% and 80% shading conditions. Under shading, $ET2_O/RC$, the fluorescence parameter related to electron-transport in photosystem II, was effectively enhanced. However, the electron transport flux until PSI acceptors per reaction center ($RE1_O/RC$) was reduced. These changes in photochemical parameters evoked a decrease in performance index (PI) and driving force (DF) of electron transport flux. In addition, some photochemical parameters such as $F_V$, $FV/F_O$, $RE1_O/RC$, $ET2_O/RC$, $PI_{TOTAL\;ABS}$, and $DF_{TOTAL\;ABS}$ were found to be important for shade tolerance. Three species (Pachysandra terminalis Siebold & Zucc, Physostegia virginiana L., and Carex maculata Bott) were found to be shade tolerant. Based on these results, shading factor index (SFI) deduced from photochemical parameters is useful for evaluating of shading stress of garden plants.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural and Forest Meteorology
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.121-131
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• 2007

Despite the close linkage in changes between the ecological and hydrological processes in forest ecosystems, an integrative approach has not been incorporated successfully. In this study, based on the vegetation and hydrologic data of the Gwangneung headwater catchment with the Geographic Information System, we attempted such an integrated approach by employing the Regional Hydro-Ecologic Simulation System (RHESSys). To accomplish this, we have (1) constructed the input data for RHESSys, (2) developed an integrated calibration system that enables to consider both ecological and hydrological processes simultaneously, and (3) performed sensitivity analysis to estimate the optimum parameters. Our sensitivity analyses on six soil parameters that affect streamflow patterns and peak flow show that the decay parameter of horizontal saturated hydraulic conductivity $(s_1)$ and porosity decay by depth (PD) had the highest sensitivity. The optimization of these two parameters to estimate the optimum streamflow variation resulted in a prediction accuracy of 0.75 in terms of Nash-Sutcliffe efficiency (NSec). These results provide an important basis for future evaluation and mapping of the watershed-scale soil moisture and evapotranspiration in forest ecosystems of Korea.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.45 no.1
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• pp.32-40
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• 2009

To understand contribution of thermophilic microorganisms in decomposition of litter deposits on shore of lakes, we surveyed a lakeshore litter deposit for bacteria growing at $60^{\circ}C$. Ten thermophilic isolates were selected for in-depth characterization, based on their high capacity to degrade high molecular weight organic compounds. Based on phylogenetic analysis on their 16S rRNA gene sequences, all isolates were identified as Geobacillus. The optimal growth temperature and pH of the strains ranged $55{\sim}60^{\circ}C$ and 6.0${\sim}$8.0, respectively. Salinity was inhibitory to the growth of the isolates, showing marked decrease of growth rates at 3% salinity. Based on activities of hydrolytic enzymes and profiles of carbohydrate utilization (determined by API 50 CHB kit), three G. stearothermophilus strains showed patterns clearly distinctive from other isolates. Two G. kaustophilus strains also demonstrated distinctiveness in their metabolic pattern and ecological parameters. However, ecological and metabolic profiles of the other five isolates were more variable and showed some degree of digression from their phylogenetic classification. Therefore, it could be concluded that endospore-forming thermophilic bacteria in lakeshore litter deposits contribute to degradation of organic materials with diverse ecological niches while having successions similar to microbial flora in compost. We propose that the thermophilic isolates and/or their thermo-tolerant enzymes can be applied to industrial processes as appropriate mixtures.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.29 no.5
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• pp.580-587
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• 2019

Benthic macroinvertebrates were analyzed in March, June, September, and December 2018 to evaluate water quality in the Songji River in Sacheon-ci, Korea. The identified benthic macroinvertebrates included 447 individuals belonging to 20 species, 18 families, 12 orders, 5 classes, and 3 phyla. Various ecological parameters were estimated for evaluation of the river status. The total ecological score of benthic macroinvertebrate community (TESB) varied from 17 (Station D) to 41 (Station A). The saprobic index and ecological score of benthic macroinvertebrate community (ESB) for the evaluation of river status revealed a water quality evaluation at Station A of II (oligosaprobic), indicating some satisfactory water protection. The benthic macroinvertebrate index (BMI) varied from 25.207 (Site C) to 39.348 (Station A). The evaluation of the river status at Stations C and D was polysaprobic, and sensitive taxa were absent. The mean Shannon-Weaver index (H') of diversity varied from 1.288 (Station D) to 2.250 (Station A). The classification of saprobity based on H' was ${\beta}$-mesosaprobic at Station A and ${\alpha}$-mesosaprobic at the other stations. The value of geometric density was varied from 1.229 (Station A) to 2.071 (Station D), with a mean of 1.582. An artificial load is being added to this river. One of load is the rectal river construction which flows straight through the river physics. Thus, the environment of living organisms deteriorates due to insufficient water. In order to secure the quality of the Songji River and a good environmental habitat, several low-height stepped-beam structures are required.

• Animal Bioscience
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.29-38
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• 2022

Objective: The objective of this study was to compare the feeding value, meat nutrients and associative effects of a diet comprised of various corn silages inclusion with peanut vine or wheat straw in finishing beef cattle. Methods: One hundred and eighty Simmental crossbred beef steers were blocked and assigned to the follow treatments: i) whole plant corn silage-based diet (control, WPCS), ii) mixed forages-based diet (replacing a portion of corn silage with wheat straw, WPCSW), iii) corn stalklage-based diet (CS), and iv) sweet corn stalklage-based diet (SCS). Each group consisted of 5 repeated pens with 9 steers/pen. The diets were formulated to be isonitrogenous and isoenergetic with same forage to concentrate ratio. Experimental diets were fed for 90 d. Results: The effective ruminal degradability of dry matter and crude protein were highest for WPCS diet (p<0.05), for neutral detergent fiber was highest in SCS diet (p<0.05). The average daily gain was greater for cattle offered the WPCS diet, intermediate with WPCSW and SCS and lowest with CS (p<0.001). The concentration of non-esterified fatty acid in serum was higher for steers fed with CS and SCS diets than those offered WPCS and WPCSW steers (p<0.001). The treatments did not affect the general nutritional contents and amino acids composition of Longissimus dorsi of steers (p>0.05). Conclusion: The corn silage-based diet exhibited the highest feeding value. The sweet corn stalklage and wheat straw as an alternative to corn silage offered to beef cattle had limited influence on feeding value and meat nutrients. However, the value of a corn stalklage-based diet was relatively poor. To sum up, when the high quality forage resources, such as corn silage, are in short supply, or the growth rate of beef cattle decreases in the later finishing period, the sweet stalklage and wheat straw could be used as a cheaper alternative in feedlot cattle diet without sharp reducing economic benefits.