• 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.

• 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.