• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.41 no.4
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• pp.499-511
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• 2008

The major focus of this study is to evaluate a newly developed stream naturalness index system 'Habitat-riparian Indexing System (HIS).' There have been many studies that have assessed stream naturalness in order to provide information required for restoration. The results of these studies were enough for the purpose of the studies; however, the methodologies were limited especially with respect to rapid measurement and the representation of ecological habitats. Therefore, we derived crucial variables from a popularly utilized method and merged them with other criteria obtained from overseas approaches, resulting in the development of the HIS method. The stability of HIS was evaluated by comparing the results with the Stream Naturalness Index (SNI) of Cho (1997). We monitored 100 stream sites in the Nakdong River system using the two different methods for two sampling periods (spring and autumn), and the results were compared using statistical analyses. The determination coefficients between the index values from two methods were c.a. 0.6 for both seasons, and statistics revealed that HIS had a relatively higher stability, providing index values for stream environments. The results of this work suggest a possibility of the utility of HIS for other stream habitats.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.42 no.4
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• pp.502-509
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• 2009

In this study a total of 27 stream sites, at 1 km intervals, were monitored for simple physicochemical water characteristics, land coverage patterns, and stream environment characteristics using the Habitat-riparian Indexing System (HIS), in the Yangsan Stream. The HIS has been tested in previous research, resulting in some identification of advantages in the application to the stream ecosystems data. Even though reliable stream environment characterization was possible using HIS, there was no information about the application of this tool to present continuity of environmental changes in stream systems. Also the necessity was raised to compare the results of HIS application with land coverage information in order to provide useful information in management strategy development. The monitoring results of this study showed that changes of environmental degradation were well represented by HIS. Especially, stream environment degradation due to construction was relatively well reflected in the HIS monitoring results, and the main causality of Yangsan Stream degradation was expansion of the urbanized area. In addition, there were significant relationships between the HIS scores and land coverage information. Therefore, it is necessary to prepare appropriate options in controlling or managing the expansion of the industrialized areas in this stream basin in order to improve the stream environment. For this purpose, ensemble utilization of HIS results, water quality, and geographical information, resulting in integration with remote sensing processes can be possible.