• Journal of Korean Society of Rural Planning
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.27-33
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• 2015

Forest ecosystem is considered as an important stepping stone to minimize the impact of climate change. However, the rapid urbanization has caused fragmentation of forest ecosystem. The fragmentation of forest patch results in edge effect which brings about adverse impacts on forest function and structure. Degradation of forest ecosystem decreases carbon sequestration because edge effect reduces productivity. Therefore, we analyzed the impact of forest edge effect on forest ecosystem carbon stock change in Seongnam-si, Gyeonggi-do. We used connectivity analysis to determine forest edge and core area. The field study sites were selected with considering forest age, density, class and soil type. Secondly, forest carbon stock was calculated with allometric equation. The soil carbon stock was derived from Walkely-Black method. Lastly, Mann-Whitney test was conducted to validate differences between carbon stock in edge and core area. As a result of study, the connectivity analysis was effective to determine forest edge and core. The core and edge of forest patch showed different composition of tree species and soil properties. Carbon stock per tree in the edge area was lower than that in the core area. However, the difference of soil organic carbon content between the edge and core were relatively small. This assessment can be applied for the conservation of forest patch as well as quantitative assessment on the forest carbon stock change caused by fragmentation.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.42 no.4
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• pp.163-173
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• 2018

Background: Deforestation and degradation are currently affecting the ecosystem services of forests. Among the ecosystem services affected by deforestation and degradation are the amount of soil organic carbon (SOC) and total nitrogen (TN) stored in forest soils which have greater impacts in global climate change. This study aimed at examining the amount of SOC and TN in the forest fragments which were separated from the continuous tracts of forests of Jibat and Chillimo through fragmentation processes over four decades. Methods: We have sampled soils from 15 forest fragments of Chillimo and Jibat in the central highlands of Ethiopia. The soil samples obtained in two separate soil depths (0-30 and 30-60 cm) were bulked, dried, and sieved for analysis. Results: Our results have shown that the two sites (Jibat and Chillimo forest fragments) differed in their SOC and TN contents. While the values for Jibat were found to be 29.89 Mg/ha of SOC and 2.84 Mg/ha for TN, it was 14. 06 Mg/ha of SOC and 1.40 Mg/ha for TN for Chillimo. When all forest fragment soil samples were bulked together, Jibat site had twice the value of SOC and TN than Chillimo. When disaggregated on the basis of each fragments, there existed differences in SOC (1.86 Mg/ha and 42.15 Mg/ha) and TN (0.24 Mg/ha and 4.23 Mg/ha) values. Among the forest fragments, fragment four ($F_4$) had the highest Relative Soil Improvement Index (RSII) value of 3826.82% and fragment fifteen ($F_{15}$) had the lowest RSII value (726.87%) which indicated that the former had a better quality of soil properties than the latter. Conclusion: SOC and TN differed across sampled fragments and sites. Variations in soil properties are the reflections of inherent soil parent material, aboveground vegetation, human interferences, and other physical factors. Such differences could be very important for identifying intervention measures for restoration and enhancing ecosystem services of those fragments.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.30 no.5
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• pp.491-502
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• 2014

As meteorology is the driving force for lake thermodynamics and mixing processes, the effects of climate change on the physical limnology and associated ecosystem are emerging issues. The potential impacts of climate change on the physical features of a reservoir include the heat budget and thermodynamic balance across the air-water interface, formation and stability of the thermal stratification, and the timing of turn over. In addition, the changed physical processes may result in alteration of materials and energy flow because the biogeochemical processes of a stratified waterbody is strongly associated with the thermal stability. In this study, a novel modeling framework that consists of an artificial neural network (ANN), a watershed model (SWAT), a reservoir operation model(HEC-ResSim) and a hydrodynamic and water quality model (CE-QUAL-W2) is developed for projecting the effects of climate change on the reservoir water temperature and thermal stability. The results showed that increasing air temperature will cause higher epilimnion temperatures, earlier and more persistent thermal stratification, and increased thermal stability in the future. The Schmidt stability index used to evaluate the stratification strength showed tendency to increase, implying that the climate change may have considerable impacts on the water quality and ecosystem through changing the vertical mixing characteristics of the reservoir.

• Journal of People, Plants, and Environment
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• v.24 no.5
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• pp.469-483
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• 2021

Background and objective: If the Nelumbo nucifera spreads in a wetland at a high density, it can have considerable positive and negative ecological effects on habitats. For this reason, it is necessary to precisely investigate the impacts of its rapid proliferation. This study was conducted to propose the distribution and management of N. nucifera, which can cause the degradation of wildlife habitats due to the rapid spread of internal and external environmental factors that may affect the Junam wetland ecosystem. Methods: For the investigation and analysis of physical and ecological characteristics, factors of the abiotic environment such as general weather conditions, topography and water depth structure, and soil and water quality analysis, and bioenvironment characteristics such as changes in the N. nucifera community distribution were evaluated. To assess whether the differences in the soil depth and physicochemical characteristics between the N. nucifera community and the aquatic plant community are statistically significant, a One-way ANOVA was executed. Results: N. nucifera was presumably introduced in approximately 2007 and observed at a prevalence of only 0.8% in 2009, but had expanded to 11.1% in 2014. After that, the area was increased to 19.3% in 2015 and 40.0% in 2017, about twice that of the previous survey year. The rapid diffusion of an N. nucifera colony can have adverse effects on wildlife habitats and biodiversity at Junam Wetland. To solve these problems, four management methods can be proposed; water level management, mowing management, installation of posts and removal of lotus roots. Control of the N. nucifera community using these methods was judged to be suitable for cutting and water level management when considering expansion rate, water level variation, and wildlife habitat impacts. Conclusion: As the biotic and abiotic environmental factors are different for each wetland, it is necessary to determine the timing and method of management through a detailed investigation.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.43 no.2
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• pp.202-211
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• 2019

Oceanic islands are biologically important for their unique assemblages of species and high levels of endemism and are sensitive to environmental change because of their isolation and small species source pools. Habitat destruction caused by human landscape development is generally accepted as the main cause of extinction on islands, with exotic species invasion a secondary cause of extinction, especially on tropical islands. However, secondary impacts of human development (e.g., general degradation through resource use and exotic species introduction) are understudied on temperate islands. To determine secondary impacts of human development on the understory vegetation community, 90 field sites on Ulleung Island, South Korea, were sampled during the summer of 2016. Understory vegetation was chosen as it is a proxy for ecosystem health. Diversity and percent cover of introduced, native, and endemic species were tested against proximity to developed areas and trail usage using a model selection approach. Diversity was also tested against percent cover of three naturalized species commonly found in survey plots. The main finding was that distance to development, distance to town, and trail usage have limited negative impacts on the understory vegetation community within best-supported models predicting native and introduced cover and diversity. However, endemic species cover was significantly lower on high usage trails. While there are no apparent locally invasive plant species on the island at the time of this study, percent cover of Robinia pseudoacacia, a naturalized tree species, negatively correlated with plot diversity. These findings indicate that forests on Ulleung Island are not experiencing a noticeable invasion of understory vegetation, and conservation efforts can be best spent preventing future invasions.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Environmental Restoration Technology
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.40-54
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• 2008

Small and large dams are installed in the course of a stream for maintaining the water level of the stream or obtaining agricultural water. Currently about 18,000 of them are installed in Korea to supply water. However, the environmental problems of small dams are well known : the interruption of stream eco-corridors, deterioration of water quality in the upper reaches of the small dam, changes in the habitats of riparian organisms, damages to the stream scenery. In a very few of these small dams artificial eco-corridors like fishways are installed, but the number is very minimal.Accordingly, to efficiently restore stream eco-corridors by removing these small dams, it will be necessary to closely examine physical impacts, such as changes in the riverbed and changes in the shape of the stream caused by the removal, chemical impacts, such as changes in water quality, and transport and accumulation of contaminated sediments and biological impacts, such as changes in the habitats of organisms, and develop related technologies in advance, and have these technologies verified through demonstration application in the sites. In this study, we analyzed the physical, chemical and ecological impacts of the removal of the above-mentioned small dams, and conducted a research on the demonstration small dam removal project for a spot investigation. As a result, the small dam removal will restore the eco-corridor, there by improving the habitat of fishes and crustaceans. The number of major underwater organisms inhabiting the Gokreungcheon, such as Korean spotted sleepers, Chinese minnows, Microphysogobio yaluensis, Abbottina rivularis, stone morokos, striped shinners, long-nosed barbels, and Chinese mitten crabs, is expected to increase, and the food chain in the ecosystem will improve so that species diversity will improve as well.

• Journal of Climate Change Research
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• v.7 no.3
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• pp.299-314
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• 2016

The aim of this paper is to review integrated assessment studies conducted to address the impacts of climate change sea-level rise on agricultural sector and to derive suggestions for improving the integrated assessment process to assist decision-makers in establishing climate change adaptation policy. We collect integrated assessment studies which are based on the impact-pathway analysis, compare their step-by-step procedures and identify main factors addressed in each step. The assessment process is typically carried out in the sequence of scenario development, determination of assessment scope, physical impact assessment, economic analysis and synthesis of the outcomes from each step. We identify two types of integrated assessment. The first one examines the impacts of changes in temperature and/or precipitation on the crop-cultivation patterns and/or agricultural productivity and resulting economic effects on agricultural sector. The other investigates the impacts of sea-level rise on land use/coverage and resulting economic damages in terms of land-value loss where the effects on agriculture is treated as one sector among others. To enhance integrated assessment, we suggest that 1) scenarios need to incorporate the effects of climate change and sea-level rise simultaneously, 2) scope of the assessment needs to be extended to include ecosystem services as well as crop production, 3) social and cultural aspects need to be considered in addition to economic analysis, and 4) synthesis of the outcomes from each step should be able to combine quantitative as well as qualitative information.

• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.20 no.12
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• pp.33-39
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• 2019

The upsurge of population, internal migration, economic activities and developmental works has brought significant land use and land cover (LULC) change over the period of 1990 and 2010 in the Bagmati basin of Nepal. Along with alteration on various other ecosystem services like water yield, water quality, soil loss etc. carbon sequestration is also altered. This study thus primary deals with evaluation of LULC change and its impact on the soil carbon storage for the period 1990 to 2010. For the evaluation, InVEST (Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Tradeoffs) Carbon model is used. Residential and several other infrastructural development activities were prevalent on the study period and as a result in 2010 major soil carbon reserve like forest area is decreased by 7.17% of its original coverage in 1990. This decrement has brought about a subsequent decrement of 1.39 million tons of carbon in the basin. Conversion from barren land, water bodies and built up areas to higher carbon reserve like forest and agriculture land has slightly increased soil carbon storage but still, net reduction is higher. Thus, the spatial output of the model in the form of maps is expected to help in decision making for future land use planning and for restoration policies.

• Ocean and Polar Research
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• v.44 no.2
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• pp.161-177
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• 2022

Microalgae can attach to the surface of ships and then spread to various areas by means of ship transport. The introduction of invasive species through ships is recognized as a marine problem worldwide. Identification of attached microalgae is necessary to investigate such movement between countries through ships. In the present study, through analytical methods we reviewed research data to identify the taxa of domestic attached microalgae and assess the ecological impacts of such microalgae. A total of 87 genera and 153 species (143 species of diatoms, 10 species of cyanobacteria, and 4 genera of dinoflagellates) were identified as native attached microalgae in Korea, and diatoms accounted for 93% of the total. Most of these attached microalgae were identified through research on natural substrates such as seaweeds and bedrock, and some were also identified through experiments using artificial adherent plates. To date, there is no information on microalgae attached to international ships and introduced into Korea. Molecular genetic analysis and systematic management through on-site sampling of international ships, microscopic analysis, and meta-barcoding are necessary to assess the inflow and spread path of hull-attached marine alien species and evaluate the risk they pose to the domestic ecosystem.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.20 no.11
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• pp.11-17
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• 2022

Purpose: This article explores the experiences of Research Universities (RU) on distribution-support technologies in commercialisation with a specific focus in the Malaysian context. Research design, data and methodology: A qualitative research was carried out, in which six RU were interviewed. A structured interview was conducted. To analyse and interpret the data was using an approach adopted in qualitative thematic strategy. The findings were transcribed using Atlas.ti software to analyse related themes through a thematic analysis approach to link theories. Results: The findings provide useful insights into the significant roles of distribution-support technologies on the commercialisation strategy and impacts on the ecosystem of innovation and commercialisation in providing the importance of Distribution-support Technologies to strengthen the role of university-industry-community relation to drive the economy towards a high-income nation. Conclusions: This study will contribute theory through commercialisation literature by adding new knowledge concerning the link between universities and distribution-support technologies in commercialisation. Therefore, the practical contributions are significant for universities; industries; research institutes; government and societies to develop and plan strategically for effective, strategic and sustainable distribution-support technologies in innovation and commercialisation ecosystem.