• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.31 no.6
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• pp.409-422
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• 2022

Riverine wetlands are an important element of the river ecosystem and account for approximately 38% of the inland wetlands surveyed so far. The Shincheon Wetland located in Mangyeong River is also a channel wetland as the flow rate is slowed by the constructed weirs, leading to sediment accumulation. To identify the conservation value and ecological characteristics of Shincheon Wetland, its vegetation and plant diversity were identified using a phytosociological method, and a total of 45 vegetation-related datasets were collected. Overall, 24 plant communities, comprising a total of 153 taxa (49 families, 117 genera, 146 species, 2 subspecies, 5 varieties) were identified. The plant with the highest appearance rate in the communities was Humulus japonicus Siebold & Zucc. In addition, annual herb species, including Rumex crispus L., Bromusjaponicus Thunb., Erigeron annuus (L.) Pers., and Artemisia indica Willd. were frequently observed to be growing in the secondary grassland. Naturalized plants were surveyed in the 38 taxa; the urbanization index was 10.3% and the naturalized index was 24.8%. Plant communities were largely classified into submerged vegetation, floating and floating-leaved vegetation, annual and biennial vegetation, perennial herb vegetation, and woody vegetation. The distribution of plant communities reflecting various habitats, including the lentic and lotic zone maintaining a constant water depth, littoral zone experiencing intermittent water level fluctuations, and dry floodplain environment was also confirmed. Overall, plant community development plays an important role in the habitat for wild animals; therefore, it is expected to positively impact biodiversity enhancement.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.111 no.4
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• pp.538-547
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• 2022

In this study, the population and community structure of Berchemia berchemiaefolia stands located at Mt. Naeyon (Gyeongbuk, Korea) were quantified, and multivariate analysis was done to determine the correlations between vegetation group types and environmental factors and to have reference data for the conservation and restoration of this species. In total, there were 164 B. berchemiaefolia trees in Mt. Naeyon. The average DBH of the trees was 24.5 cm, forming a normal distribution. It rarely appeared in an understory vegetation height of 3 m. About37.1% of the trees were branched. B. berchemiaefolia stands were classified into two groups: B. berchemiaefolia-Quercus serrata community and B. berchemiaefolia-Carpinus laxiflora community. Canopy gap, organic matter, exchangeable Ca, and cation exchange capacity were the major site characteristics affecting the distribution pattern of the stands. Currently, B. berchemiaefolia trees dominate in Mt. Naeyon, but depending on different habitat positions, the species was in a natural successional stage to C. laxiflora or C. cordata, which is a shade-tolerant species.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.38 no.12
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• pp.125-134
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• 2022

The Global Expansion Roadmap published by the International Space Exploration Coordination Group, which is organized by space agencies around the world, presents future lunar exploration guidance and stresses a lunar habitat program to utilize lunar resources. The Moon attracts attention as an outpost for deep space exploration. Simulating lunar surface environments is required to evaluate the performances of various equipment for future lunar surface missions. In this paper, an experimental study was conducted to simulate high vacuum pressure and cryogenic temperature of the permanent shadow regions in the lunar south pole, which is a promising candidate for landing and outpost construction. The establishment of an efficient dirty thermal vacuum chamber (DTVC) operation process has never been presented. One-dimensional ground cooling tests were conducted with various vacuum pressures with the Korean Lunar Simulant type-1 (KLS-1) in DTVC. The most advantageous vacuum pressure was found to be 30-80 mbar, considering the cooling efficiency and equipment stability. However, peripheral cooling is also required to simulate a cryogenic for not sublimating ice in a high vacuum pressure. In this study, an efficient peripheral cooling operation process was proposed by applying the frost ratio concept.

• Korean Journal of Ichthyology
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.287-296
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• 2021

This study was conducted to investigate the species composition collected by fyke net and characteristics of the Erythroculter erythropterus population in the Asan Lake and Chungju Lake from June to September, 2021. The collected fish in Asan lake were identified as 4,977 individuals of 13 species from a total of six families and in Chungju lake were identified as 2,436 individuals of 18 species from a total of eight families. The dominant species in Asan lake, both the individuals and biomass were E. erythropterus with 4,470 (89.8%) and 498,424g (84.5%). The dominant species in Chungju lake, both the individuals and biomass were E. erythropterus with 1,327 (54.5%) and 301,818 g (77.5%). The results of the community analysis showed that a dominant index value of Asan lake was 0.93, higher than 0.71 of Chungju lake, and a diversity, evenness, and richness index value of Chungju lake were higher than of Asan lake. The frequency distribution of the total length analysis of the E. erythropterus population showed the appearance rate of 1~2 year olds was high in Asan lake, and the appearance rate of more than 2 years old were high in Chungju lake. The length-weight analysis of E. erythropterus in Asan Lake and Chungju Lake showed a regression coefficient b of 3.06 and 3.04, a condition factor (K) of 0.000128 and 0.000051 with a positive slope. This study could be served as baseline data for assessing habitat characteristics based on the species composition of fishes, and identifying health conditions of E. erythropterus in Asan Lake and Chungju Lake, artificial lakes.

• Korean Journal of Plant Resources
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• v.35 no.4
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• pp.471-501
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• 2022

This study was carried out on 455 forest wetlands of south Korea for which an inventory was established through value evaluation and grade. Correlation analysis was conducted to find out the correlation between the types and grades of forest wetlands and 23 evaluation factors in four categories: vegetation and landscape, material circulation and hydraulics·hydrology, humanities and social landscape, and disturbance level. Through the improvement of types and grades of forest wetlands, it is possible to secure basic data that can be used in setting up conservation measures by preparing standards necessary for future forest wetland conservation and restoration, and to found a systematic monitoring system. First, between the type of forest wetland and size and accessibility showed a positive correlation, but the remaining items were analyzed to have negative or no correlation. In particular, it was found that there was no negative correlation or no correlation with the grades of forest wetland. Moreover, it was found that there was a very strong negative correlation with the weighted four category items. Thus, it is judged that improvement is necessary because there is an error in the weight or adjust the evaluation criteria of the value evaluation item, add an item that can increase objectivity. Especially, in the case of forest wetlands, the ecosystem service function due to biodiversity is the largest, so evaluation items should be improved in consideration of this. Therefore, it can be divided into five categories: uniqueness and rarity (15%), wildlife habitat (15%), vegetation and landscape (35%), material cycle·hydraulic hydrology (30%), and humanities and social landscape (5%). It will be possible to propose weights that can increase effectiveness.

• Journal of Wetlands Research
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.155-160
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• 2022

The debate of South-North transboundary rivers must be expanded from the existing cooperation in water resources towards cooperation within ecosystem conservation. Regarding the Han and Imjin rivers confluence water system, the nature of the estuarine ecosystem must be conserved considering the aspect of climate change. Furthermore, the agenda of maintaining continuous inter-Korean communication and cooperation should focus on ecosystem conservation, including conserving migratory species that inhabit both Koreas. Notably, within the Han and Imjin rivers confluence, transboundary rivers are abundant legally protected species such as Grus vipio, Anser fabalis, Anser cygnoides, Platalea minor, Lutra lutra, Prionailurus bengalensis which suggests a strong need for a debate regarding habitat conservation. This study analyzed the ecosystem conditions and environmental aspects within the confluence of Han and Imjin rivers. In addition, this study provided step wise approach of ecosystem conservation that consider conditions for potential direct inter-Korean cooperation. The inter-Korean cooperation mentioned in this study will be developed into legitimate cooperation once the results from monitoring the ecosystem of transboundary rivers, awareness raising are exchanged.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.407-414
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• 1998

The rare and endangered plants in Naesorak area were investigated for four months during May to August in 1997, and the results were summarized as 35 taxa which is classified as 19 families, 32 species, and 3 varieties. At the level of families, 19 families such as Pinaceae(1 species), Taxaceae(1 species), Cupressaceae(1 species and 1 variety), Liliaceae(5 species and 1 variety), Aristolochiaceae(2 species), Ranunculaceae(4 species), Berberidaceae(1 species), Saxifragaceae(2 species), Rosaceae(1 species), Oleaceae(2 species and 1 variety), Solanaceae(1 species), Scrophulariaceae(1 species), Valerianaceae(1 species), Campanulaceae(1species), and Compositae(1 species) were recorded. The most of the habitats of the species was easily found along the major mountain trails, and a kind of destructions of these plants by human interferences is due to the fact that the illegal collections for food and medicine are occurred. Those species of Taxus caespitosa, Rhododendron aureum, Vaccinium bracteatum, Allium victoralis var. platyphullum and Leontice microryncha has a few individuals in habitats and also shows the unfavorable growing state, so the intensive and continuous habitat management of the habitats were inevitably dimanded.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.55 no.4
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• pp.368-375
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• 2022

Gut contents analysis is essential to predict the impact of organisms on food source changes due to variations of the habitat environment. Previous studies of gut content analysis have been conducted using traditional methods, such as visual observation. However, these studies are limited in analyzing food sources because of the digestive process in gut organ. DNA metabarcoding analysis is a useful method to analyze food sources by supplementing these limitations. We sampled marine fish of Pennahia argentata, Larimichthys polyactis, Crangon affinis, Loligo beka and Sepia officinalis from Gwangyang Bay and Yeosu fisheries market for analyzing gut contents by applying DNA metabarcoding analysis. 18S rRNA v9 primer was used for analyzing food source by DNA metabarcoding. Network and two-way clustering analyses characterized the relationship between organisms and food sources. As a result of comparing metabarcoding of gut contents for P. argentata between sampled from Gwangyang Bay and the fisheries market, fish and Copepoda were analyzed as common food sources. In addition, Decapoda and Copepoda were analyzed as common food sources for L. polyactis and C. affinis, respectively. Copepoda was analyzed as the primary food source for L. beka and S. officinalis. These study results demonstrated that gut contents analysis using DNA metabarcoding reflects diverse and detailed information of biological food sources in the aquatic environment. In addition, it will be possible to provide biological information in the gut to identify key food sources by applying it to the research on the food web in the ecosystem.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.55 no.4
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• pp.352-359
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• 2022

Recently, with the development of genetic technology, interest in environmental DNA (eDNA) to study biodiversity according to molecular biological approaches is increasing. Environmental DNA has many advantages over traditional research methods for biological communities distributed in the environment but highly depends on the established base sequence database. This study conducted a comprehensive analysis of the habitat status and classification at the genus level, which is mainly used in eDNA (12S rRNA, 16S rRNA, 18S rRNA, COI, and CYTB), focusing on Korean registration taxon groups (phytoplankton, zooplankton, macroinvertebrates, and fish). As a result, phytoplankton and zooplankton showed the highest taxa proportion in 18S rRNA, and macroinvertebrates observed the highest ratio in the nucleotide sequence database in COI. In fish, all genes except 18S rRNA showed a high taxon ratio. Based on the Korean registration taxon group, the gene construction of the top 20 genera according to bio density observed that most of the phytoplankton were registered in 18S rRNA, and the most significant number of COI nucleotide sequences were established in macroinvertebrates. In addition, it was confirmed that there is a nucleotide sequence for the top 20 genera in 12S rRNA, 16S rRNA, and CYTB in fish. These results provided comprehensive information on the genes suitable for eDNA research for each taxon group.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.55 no.3
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• pp.221-230
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• 2022

The spread of invasive alien plants is one of the most important causes of habitat and biodiversity loss. This research was conducted to secure basic data for the control of the invasive alien plant Solidago altissima. The following research objects were examined: the control; one-time mowing in June (1M6); two-time mowing in June and July (2M6M7); one-time mowing in Jun plus one-time Uprooting in July (2M6U7). The length growth in October, when the growth of S. altissima was completed, was in the order of control (199±19.96 cm), 1M6 (152±13.41 cm), 2M6U7 (54±3.17 cm), and 2M6M7 (45±19.96 cm). The 2M6M7 and 2M6U7 treatment was the most effective at inhibiting S. altissima of density, of 50.8% and 26.2% compared to the control, respectively. In contrast, one-time mowing (1M6) resulted in an increase in density compared to the control by 119.7%. In addition, this treatment also reduced flowering rate (%) of S. altissima. The most effective treatment among those tested was 2M6U7.