• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.57 no.3
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• pp.169-188
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• 2024

Recently, Korean government has incorporated the assessment and restoration of river continuity as a key component of its integrated water management policy. While, methodologies for evaluating discontinuities and degradation, as well as the procedures for assessment and restoration, have been developed and proposed, there is a need for further improvement. Therefore, further research is required to establish a conceptual framework for continuity specific to domestic river ecosystems and to formulate appropriate assessment methods and restoration strategies. In this study we conduct a comparative analysis of the concepts, restoration approaches, and comprehensive evaluation methods for river continuity as proposed by Japan, the United States, and the European Union (EU), all of which have long-standing frameworks for river continuity assessment and restoration projects. Each country demonstrates distinct objectives and guidelines: Japan emphasizes habitat continuity within the context of river and watershed continuity, the United States integrates continuity as a tool for watershed management, and the EU prioritizes biodiversity conservation by advocating for the removal of artificial barriers and promoting the restoration of free-flowing rivers (FFR). By investigating these international examples, this study provides insights that can guide the development of long-term strategies and evaluation criteria for securing aquatic ecosystem continuity in Korea.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Fisheries and Ocean Technology
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• v.59 no.4
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• pp.377-386
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• 2023

As discarded fishing gear settles or floats on the seabed, it destroys the spawning and habitat of fisheries resources that causes various safety accidents and adverse effects on the environment, such as generating microplastics and causing ship accidents. In order to solve this problem, this study is intended to present an implementation plan for establishing a fishing gear deposit system in order to use it as basic data for establishing policies for fishing gear management in Korea. In order to successfully implement the fishing gear deposit system, the deposit system must be established in the form of fishing gear completed at the production stage. It was found that the marking of the object should be easy, and that determining an appropriate deposit amount to motivate the return of waste fishing gear and establishing a convenient return procedure for returned waste fishing gear were important factors. In addition, transparent management of unreturned deposits and mandatory use of fishing gear subject to the deposit system for fishermen will be necessary. The role of a specialized organization to manage and operate all of these procedures is also very important. It is necessary to establish a new mandatory provision in the Fisheries Act to require fishermen who directly use fishing gear to use fishing gear with a deposit refund mark, and to ensure the implementation of the deposit system by linking it with the evaluation items of government policy projects. Since the main purpose of the deposit system is to collect discarded fishing gear, a support plan will be necessary in accordance with the purchase project for fishing waste salvaged by local governments in 2020.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.14-20
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• 2015

We created species richness maps of mammals, birds and plants using "Nnational Ecosystem Survey" data and identified correlations between species richness maps of each taxa. We examine the distribution of species richness of each taxa and calculated conservation priority rank through plotting species-area curves using an additive benefit function in Zonation. The conclusions of this study are as follows. First, plant showed high species richness in Gangwon province and Baekdudaegan, and mammals showed high species richness at eastern slope of Baekdudaegan in Gangwon province unusually and the species richness of mammals distributed equally except Gyeonggi and Chungnam province. However, birds showed high species richness in the west costal because the area is the major route of winter migratory birds. Second, correlation of each taxa's distribution is not significant. Correlation between mammals and birds is positive but correlations between birds and others are negative. Because mammals inhabit in forest but birds mostly live in coastal wetlands and rivers. Therefore, bird's habitats are not shared with other habitats. Third, the probability of mammals occurrence is very low under 25% in species-area curve, others increase proportionally to area. Birds increase dramatically richness at 10% because bird's habitat is concentrated in coastal wetlands and rivers. Plants increased gently species richness due to large forest in Gangwon province. We can calculate the predicted number of species in curves and plan various conservation strategies using the marginal number of species. Finally, high priority ranks for conservation distributed mainly in Gangwon province and Baekdudaegan. When we compared with priority map and terrestrial national parks, the parks were evaluated as high priority ranks. However, the rank of parks away from Baekdudaegan was low. This study has the meaning of selecting conservation priority area using National Ecosystem Survey. In spite of the omission of survey data in national parks and Baekdudaegan, the results were good. Therefore, the priority rank method using species distribution models is useful to selecting protected areas and improving conservation plans. However, it is needed to select protected areas considering various evaluation factors, such as rarity, connectivity, representativeness, focal species and so on because there is a limit to select protected area only using species richness.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.38 no.4
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• pp.634-649
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• 2020

Recently, stream longitudinal connectivity has been a topic of investigation due to the frequent disconnections and the impact of aquatic ecosystems caused by the construction of small and medium-sized weirs and various artificial structures (fishways) directly influencing the stream ecosystem health. In this study, the international and domestic research trends of the longitudinal connectivity in aquatic ecosystems were evaluated and the applicability of fish-based longitudinal connectivity models used in developed countries was analyzed. For these purposes, we analyzed the current status of research on longitudinal connectivity and structural problems, fish monitoring methodology, monitoring approaches, longitudinal disconnectivity of fish movement, and biodiversity. In addition, we analyzed the current status and some technical limitations of physical habitat suitability evaluation, ecology-based water flow, eco-hydrological modeling for fish habitat connectivity, and the s/w program development for agent-based model. Numerous references, data, and various reports were examined to identify worldwide longitudinal stream connectivity evaluation models in European and non-European countries. The international approaches to longitudinal connectivity evaluations were categorized into five phases including 1) an approach integrating fish community and artificial structure surveys (two types input variables), 2) field monitoring approaches, 3) a stream geomorphological approach, 4) an artificial structure-based DB analytical approach, and 5) other approaches. the overall evaluation of survey methodologies and applicability for longitudinal stream connectivity suggested that the ICE model (Information sur la Continuite Ecologique) and the ICF model (Index de Connectivitat Fluvial), widely used in European countries, were appropriate for the application of longitudinal connectivity evaluations in Korean streams.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.204-216
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• 2024

Understanding the trade-off effect in ecosystem services and measuring the interrelationships between services are crucial for managing limited environmental resources. Accordingly, in this study, we identified the dominant trends and increases and decreases in ecosystem services derived from changes in land cover over about 30 years and tracked changes in the relationships between ecosystem services that occurred over time. Through it, we determined the relationship between land cover changes and ecosystem service changes, as well as the distinct characteristics of service changes in different areas. The research primarily utilized the InVEST model, an ecosystem service assessment model. After standardizing the evaluation results between 0 and 1, it went through principal component analysis, a dimensionality reduction technique, to observe the time-series changes and understand the relationships between the services. According to the research results, the area of urbanized regions dramatically increased between 1989 and 2019, while forests showed a significant increase between 2009 and 2019. Between 1989 and 2019, the national ecosystem service supply witnessed a 13.9% decrease in water supply, a 10.5% decrease in nitrogen retention, a 2.6% increase in phosphorus retention, a 0.9% decrease in carbon storage, a 1.2% increase in air purification, and a 3.4% decrease in habitat quality. Over the past 30 years, South Korea experienced an increase in urbanized areas, a decrease in agricultural land, and an increase in forests, resulting in a trade-off effect between phosphorus retention and habitat quality. This study concluded that South Korea's environment management policies contribute to improving ecosystem quality, which has declined due to urbanization, and maximizing ecosystem services. These findings can help policymakers establish and implement forestry policies focusing on sustainable environmental conservation and ecosystem service provision.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.40 no.1
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• pp.130-142
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• 2007

This study was to examine impacts of turbid water on fish community in the downstream of Yongdam Dam during the period from June to October 2006. For the research, we selected six sampling sites in the field: two sites were controls with no influences of turbid water from the dam and other remaining four sites were the stations for an assessment of potential turbid effects. We evaluated integrative health conditions throughout applications of various models such as necropsy-based fish health assessment model (FHA), Index of Biological Integrity (IBI) using fish assemblages, and Qualitative Habitat Evaluation Index (QHEI). Laboratory tests on fish exposure under 400 NTU were performed to find out impact of turbid water using scanning electron microscope (SEM). Results showed that fine solid particles were clogging in the gill in the treatments, while particles were not found in the control. This results indicate that when inorganic turbidity increases abruptedly, fish may have a mechanical abrasion or respiratory blocking. The stream health condition, based on the IBI values, ranged between 38 and 48 (average: 42), indicating a "excellent" or "good" condition after the criteria of US EPA (1993). In the mean time, physical habitat condition, based on the QHEI, ranged 97 to 187 (average 154), indicating a "suboptimal condition". These biological outcomes were compared with chemical dataset: IBI values were more correlated (r=0.526, p<0.05, n=18) with QHEI rather than chemical water quality, based on turbidity (r=0.260, p>0.05, n=18). Analysis of the FHA showed that the individual health indicated "excellent condition", while QHEI showed no habitat disturbances (especially bottom substrate and embeddeness), food-web, and spawning place. Consequently, we concluded that the ecological health in downstream of Yongdam Dam was not impacted by the turbid water.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.303-320
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• 2019

Plants interact with various biotic and abiotic environmental factors. It requires much information to understand the traits of a plant species. A shortage of information would restrict the assessment, especially in the evaluation of what kind of factors influence a plant species to face extinction. Polygonatum stenophyllum Maxim. is one of the northern plants of which Korea is the southern distribution edge. The Korean Ministry of Environment had designated it to be the endangered species until December 2015. Although it is comparatively widespread, and a large population has recently been reported, it is assessed to be vulnerable due to the low population genetic diversity. This study evaluated the current distribution of Polygonatum stenophyllum Maxim. We investigated the vegetational environment, population structures, phenology, soil environment, and self-incompatibility based on the results. Lastly, we evaluated the current threats observed in the habitats. The habitats tended to be located in the areas where the masses at the edge of the stream accumulated except for those that were located on slopes of some mountainous areas. Most of them showed a stable population structure and had re-established or recruited seedlings. Polygonatum stenophyllum Maxim. had the difference in time when the shoots appeared above the ground depending on the depth of the rhizome located in the underground. In particular, the seedlings and juveniles had their rhizome located shallow in the soil. Visits by pollinator insects and success in pollination were crucial factors for bearing of fruits by Polygonatum stenophyllum Maxim. The threats observed in the habitat of Polygonatum stenophyllum Maxim. included the expansion of cultivated land, construction of new buildings, and construction of river banks and roads. Despite such observed risk factors, it is not likely that there would be rapid population reduction or extinction because of its widespread distribution with the total population of more than 2.7 million individuals and the new populations established by the re-colonization.

• Journal of Korean Elementary Science Education
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• v.40 no.1
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• pp.113-125
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• 2021

In this study, a problem-centered learning based STEAM field experience learning program was developed and the effects of applying it were investigated. The program was composed of 8 sessions by using problem-centered learning education method and integrating STEAM elements between disciplines. The contents of program are as follow. In the step of sharing problems and making a problem-solving plan, they understood the various examples and meanings of endangered species, explored the project activities, and made an inquiry plan. In the search and re-exploration phase, a smart device was used to investigate the appearance, habitat environment and cause of extinction for Clithon retropictus, and a site inquiry plan was established for each group. Then, they moved to the field to explore brackish-headed gallops and discuss ways to protect endangered species. In the step of creating a solution, a web-based report was produced as the final product using smart devices based on the results of the inquiry. In the presentation and evaluation stage, the produced web-based report was used to present each group, conduct mutual evaluation, and organize project activities. The developed program was applied to 6th grade 29 students enrolled in the J University Gifted Education Center. In order to find out the effectiveness of the program, tests of science process skill, creative problem-solving ability, and scientific attitude were conducted before and after of program learning, and the results were statistically analyzed by t-test. In addition, a STEAM program satisfaction test was conducted after project in order to find out the satisfaction of the class. As a result of application of the program, the results were significantly improved in openness, criticism, and creativity among the sub-factors of creative problem-solving ability and scientific attitude. Satisfaction with the STEAM program was also high, but no significant result was found in science process skill. Therefore, the program of this study could be influenced on improvement of creative problem-solving ability and scientific attitude of gifted students in elementary science.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.43 no.1
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• pp.44-54
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• 2010

In this study, a comprehensive exploration and evaluation of washland candidate locations by means of field monitoring as well as spatial analysis in six major river system (Han, Nakdong, Nam, Geum, Youngsan, and Seomjin Rivers). Washland(in other words, river detention basin) is an artificial wetland system which is connected to streams or rivers likely to riverine wetlands. Major purpose of washland creation is to control floodings, water supply and purification, providence of eco-cultural space to human and natural populations. Characteristics and functions of riverine wetlands can be expected as well, thus it is believed to be an efficient multi-purpose water body that is artificially created, in terms of hydrology and ecology. Geographical information and field monitoring results for the washland candidate locations were evaluated in 2009, with respect to optimal location exploration, ecosystem connectivity and educational-cultural circumstances. A total of $269\;km^2$ washland candidate locations were found from spatial analysis (main channel of Rivers South Han, 71.5; Nakdong 54.1; Nam, 2.3; Geum, 79.0; Youngsan 46.4; Seomjin 15.7), and they tended to be distributed in mid- to lower part of the rivers to which tributaries are confluent. Field monitoring at 106 sites revealed that some sites located in the Rivers Nam and Geum is appropriate for restoration or artificial creation as riverine wetlands. Several sites in the Nakdong and Seomjin Rivers were close to riverine wetlands (e.g., Upo), habitats of endangered species (e.g., otters), or adjacent to educational facility (e.g., museums) or cultural heritages (e.g., temples). Those sites can be utilized in hydrological, ecological, educational, and cultural ways when evidence of detailed hydrological evaluation is provided. In conclusion, determination of washland locations in the major river basins has to consider habitat expansion as well as hydrological function (i.e. flood control) basically, and further utility (e.g. educational function) will increase the values of washland establishment.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.71-80
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• 2016

The fauna of freshwater fish and water chemistry characteristics were investigated from June, 2014 to October, 2014 at 10 sites in Taebaeksan Provincial Park. A total of 7 species under three families were collected from the survey sites and among them one endangered species - Koreocobitis naktongensis - was identified. The endemic species of Korea were 2 species: Koreocobitis naktongensis, Iksookimia koreensis. Dominant species was Rhynchocypris oxycephalus(89%) and subdominant species was Orthrias nudus(8.9%). Water quality including conductivity, turbidity, pH and total dissolved solids(TDS) varied largely depending on the sampling locations. Values of ambient conductivity and TDS were greater in the upstream than in the downstream, and seasonal variabilities were also higher in the upstream. The pH decreased towards the downstream, and especially showed a sharp decrease in S5. This phenomenon was evident due to a dilution by the influx in the acid mine drainage(AMD) of S4. Physical habit conditions, based on qualitative habitat evaluation index(QHEI) model, indicated a "Sub-optimal" condition(mean: 157.3; range: 78 ~ 194) in the Sodo stream watersheds.