• Journal of the Korean Society of Environmental Restoration Technology
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.123-132
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• 2008

The problems caused by new biological organisms in Ogasawara Island of Japan include : (1) loss of native species' habitats and extinction of native species due to the multiplication of invasive species; (2) reduction of native species and confusion in the food chain in result of invasive species' predation; (3) confusion in genes due to hybridization of new and native plants; and (4) destruction of ecosystem and erosion of earth due to rapid increase of invasive species. The natural ecosystem of preserved areas in Korea is constantly confused and destroyed by new animals and plants, but Korea does not has any solutions because new animals and plants rarely affect human lives. Invasive species are manually introduced by humans and are considered disasters caused by humans. Korea is in desperate need of campaigns as the general public does not understand the seriousness of the destruction and confusion of natural ecosystem caused by new biological organisms and their indirect/direct influences on humans. It is necessary to evaluate the biological characteristics, ecological influence, and harms of invasive species in preserved areas to establish a system to manage invasive species and plan the priority removal of species that are highly harmful and locally distributed. Manual removal and suppression of new biological organisms that cause problems is effective, but it takes cost, effort, and time. Therefore, we would need to research and develop the most efficient and effective techniques and measures to manage invasive species in our ecosystem.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.115-120
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• 2010

The Asian cultural landscape is a mirrored ecosystem of great complexity, formed by the interaction of man and nature, coupled with a host of ecological processes. The human dependencies on and environmental adaptation of the bio-organisms and the surrounding landscape constitute the typical cultural landscape. Islands are a good example of a cultural landscape, and each mosaic pattern of marine and coastal ecosystems reflects bio-cultural diversity. Along with land-use patterns, wise use of biological organisms and indigenous knowledge has expanded to islands in the Asia-Pacific region in several ways (sea current and human impact, etc.). Loss in biodiversity and landscape diversity as well as cultural diversity owing to global warming and rapid urbanization are emerging issues for island ecosystems all over the world. In order to sustain the historical coexistence between man and natural systems, we ecologists must continue to search for a holistic solution for academic consilience. In this paper, I present the vision and practical characteristics of island ecology with a view toward the conservation of the traditional landscape and bio-cultural diversities in the seascape.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.229-239
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• 2015

The southwestern islands of Japan, especially southward from Amamioshima Island, have distinguished sets of nature and culture. However, various problems are arising on those islands. This report first introduces island characteristics as well as, their status briefly. Then it introduces conservation efforts. Since nature and culture are closely connected in the island system, conservation of the set of nature and culture is essentially important. From this point of view, this report focuses on two efforts. The first example is the effort for designation of a new national park with a new concept of "environmental culture type" and "ecosystem management type" in the Amami Gunto Islands. This effort is a new challenge to focus on the importance of cultural aspects. The second example is the unique effort of the national park visitor center to conserve as one set of integrated nature and culture with an alliance of all stakeholders in Taketomijima Island, Iriomote-Ishigaki National Park. The visitor center serves not only visitors, but also islanders. These two cases are good models that suggest hints for future conservation measures.

• Ecology and Resilient Infrastructure
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.161-170
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• 2023

We attempted to estimate the carbon accumulation of Hibiscus hamabo and Paliurus ramosissimus, semimangroves native to Jeju Island, by remote sensing and to build an artificial intelligence model that predicts its spatial variation with climatic factors. The aboveground carbon accumulation of semi-mangroves was estimated from the aboveground biomass density (AGBD) provided by the Global Ecosystem Dynamics Investigation (GEDI) lidar upscaled using the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) extracted from Sentinel-2 images. In Jeju Island, carbon accumulation per unit area was 16.6 t C/ha for H. hamabo and 21.1 t C/ha for P. ramosissimus. Total carbon accumulation of semi-mangroves was estimated at 11.5 t C on the entire coast of Jeju Island. Random forest analysis was applied to predict carbon accumulation in semi-mangroves according to environmental factors. The deviation of aboveground biomass compared to the distribution area of semi-mangrove forests in Jeju Island was calculated to analyze spatial variation of biomass. The main environmental factors affecting this deviation were the precipitation of the wettest month, the maximum temperature of the warmest month, isothermality, and the mean temperature of the wettest quarter. The carbon accumulation of semi-mangroves predicted by random forest analysis in Jeju Island showed spatial variation in the range of 12.0 t C/ha - 27.6 t C/ha. The remote sensing estimation method and the artificial intelligence prediction method of carbon accumulation in this study can be used as basic data and techniques needed for the conservation and creation of mangroves as carbon sink on the Korean Peninsula.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.36 no.4 s.105
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• pp.463-466
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• 2003

This study was conducted to introduce the characteristics of the freshwater environment of Mulkol, considering that it is less known area about the ecosystem of the Tok Island. The salinity of freshwater in the Mulkol was less than 2.0 psu, while its periphytic algal biomass was thriving with 25.9 ${\mu}g\;chl-a/cm^2$. As for the nutrients in water, the content of $NH_4$ was higher than the rest of inorganic nitrogen components, and SRP and SRSi were much higher as 117.3 ${\mu}$g P/l and 4,104.6 ${\mu}$g Si/l respectively, than nitrogen components. Also, the ratio of N/P was found less than 1.0, revealing the condition that N was greatly limited. The high level of nutrient concentration and periphytic algal biomass at the Mulkol ecosystem could be explained as a result of natural pollution, but no full explanation was made in this study. It is a question that needs additional research in the future.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.23 no.5
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• pp.676-682
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• 2007

The bacterial number, extracellular enzyme activities and structure of bacterial community which are major constituent of aquatic ecosystem within the artificial vegetation island (AVI) were compared to those of the nearby pelagic lake waters in order to evaluate the possibility of the AVI as a eco-technological measure for water quality improvement and restoration of littoral zone in man-made reservoirs. There was not a significant difference in the total number of bacteria, but the number of active (viable) bacteria within the AVI was about 0.7 to 4.1 times higher than nearby pelagic lake water. The ratio of the number of active bacteria versus the total number of bacteria was also higher in the AVI than nearby pelagic lake water. The activities of ${\beta}$-glucosidase and phosphatase were 1.0 to 13.1 and 0.8 to 7.3 times higher respectively in the AVI than nearby pelagic lake water, showing that microorganisms were more active within the AVI. The bacterial communities of the two waters, examined by FISH method, did not indicate a clear difference in the springtime when the growth of macrophytes was immature, but during summer and fall it showed a clear difference indicating the formation of distinct bacterial community within the AVI compared to nearby lake water. From the results of this study, we conclude that AVI can contribute to make up the littoral ecosystem which show rapid cycling of matters through active detritus food chain in the dam reservoirs which have unstable aquatic ecosystem due to short hydraulic residence time and to strengthen the self-purification capacity of the lake.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.43 no.4
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• pp.390-399
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• 2019

Background: The Northern Hemisphere forest ecosystem is a major sink for atmospheric carbon dioxide, and the subalpine zone stores large amounts of carbon; however, their magnitude and distribution of stored carbon are still unclear. Results: To clarify the carbon distribution and carbon budget in the subalpine zone at volcanic Jeju Island, Korea, we report the C stock and changes therein owing to vegetation form, litter production, forest floor, and soil, and soil respiration between 2014 and 2016, for three subalpine forest ecosystems, namely, Abies koreana forest, Taxus cuspidata forest, and Juniperus chinensis var. sargentii forest. Organic carbon distribution of vegetation and NPP were bigger in the A. koreana forest than in the other two forests. However, the amount of soil organic carbon distribution was the highest in the J. chinensis var. sargentii forest. Compared to the amount of organic carbon distribution (AOCD) of aboveground vegetation (57.15 t C ha^-1) on the subalpine-alpine forest in India, AOCD of vegetation in the subalpine forest in Mt. Halla was below 50%, but AOCD of soil in Mt. Halla was higher. We also compared our results of organic carbon budget in subalpine forest at volcanic island with data synthesized from subalpine forests in various countries. Conclusions: The subalpine forest is a carbon reservoir that stores a large amount of organic carbon in the forest soils and is expected to provide a high level of ecosystem services.

• Journal of Korean Society of Rural Planning
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.115-128
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• 2019

The A1B scenario predicts that the mean air temperature of South Korea will rise up to $3.8^{\circ}C$ by 2071. However, the effects of ecosystem services are declining because of various environmental problems, including climate change, land use change, stream intensification, non-point pollution, and untreated garbage. Moreover, horticultural sites which have various ecosystem services suffer highly absorbed heat from the heat island phenomenon associated with climate change. Therefore, we analyzed the heat island phenomenon occurring in an protected horticulture estimated area in Saemanguem, South Korea. Using an advanced measurement method, we examined the air temperature change derived from water channels as well as open spaces. The CFD analysis of coverage ratio 85% design showed wind speed of 2.09 m/s and temperature of $38.07^{\circ}C$. At a coverage ratio of 70%, the wind speed was improved to 2.61 m/s and the temperature was improved to $36.89^{\circ}C$. In Alternative 2 with wetlands and trees, the wind speed was 2.71 m/s and the temperature was $35.90^{\circ}C$. When the coverage ratio decreases to 55%, the wind speed increases showing 3.06 m/s and the temperature decreases showing $35.18^{\circ}C$.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.43 no.1
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• pp.40-46
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• 2007

For restoration of disturbed ecosystem in Lake Paro, artificial floating island (AFI) was installed. Even though the lake water was oligo-mesotrophic, the macrophytes, such as Iris ensata, Iris pseudoacorus, Phragmites communis were growing well in the rubberized coconut fiber media. For elucidating this process, total bacterial numbers, active bacterial numbers and exoenzymatic activities of ${\beta}-glucosidase$ and phosphatase of pore water of media and lake water were analyzed. The average of total bacterial numbers, active bacterial numbers and exoenzymatic activities of ${\beta}-glucosidase$ and phosphatase were $28.6{\times}10^{6}\;cells/ml,\;22.7{\times}10^{6}\;cells/ml,\;452.9nM/L/hr,\;and\;16381.9nM/L/hr$ which were 10, 15, 22 and 38 times higher than those of lake water, respectively. Moreover, the total phosphorus and total nitrogen concentration of media showed high values of 0.82 mg/L and 7.0 mg/L, respectively, while those of lake water 0.07 mg/L and 2.3 mg/L. This results suggest that the bacteria was playing an important role for restoration of disturbed ecosystem with newly created microbial ecosystem in media of artificial floating island.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Marine Environment & Energy
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.52-61
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• 2000

The field surveys and the seawater analyses were conducted over the southern waters of Cheju island every month from July 1997 to June 1988. The distributions of dissolved inorganic nitrogen(DIN), dissolved inorganic phosphorus(DIP), chemical oxygen demand(COD) and dissolved oxygen(DO) in the southern water area of Cheju island were simulated and reproduced by an ecosystem model. In order to estimate the environmental capacity of the southern coastal area of Cheju island, the simulations for predicting the situation of unfavorable environment in which marine water quality might not be satisfied with Korean standards were performed with an ecosystem model by controlling quantitatively the pollution loads of discharge sources including streams flowing into the sea. The more the loads of 4 major pollution sources flowing into model region increase, the more evident appear the increases of COD, DIN and DIP concentrations around the water areas adjacent to pollution sources. In case the pollution loads of all 4 discharge sources including streams become 3 times as high as the present loads, the concentration of DIN at near-shore waters appears to be increased to about 14.5mmol/m³(=0.20mg/ℓ) which is the third class criterion of Korean standards for marine water quality. In case of 10 times as high as the present loads, COD at near-shore waters appears to be increased to about 1.0mg/ℓ which is the first class criterion of Korean standards. In case of 20 times as high as the present loads, DIP at near-shore waters appears to be increased to about 0.50mmol/m³(=0.015mg/ℓ) which is the second class criterion of Korean standards.