• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.28 no.5
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• pp.574-587
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• 2014

In this study, vertical distribution patterns of Quercus mongolica Fisch. ex Ledeb. and Q. serrata Murray in Korea were recognized and possibility of introgressive hybridization and gene flow between Q. mongolica and Q. serrata in Mt. Jiri was inferred by flavonoid analyses. The most critical factor on distribution patterns was the altitude in accordance with temperature condition. A zonal distribution was recognized: Quercus mongolica zone in the upper area and Q. serrata zone in the lower area. In Central Korea, the range of vertical distribution of Q. mongolica was above alt. 100m, almost everywhere, whereas that of Q. serrata was from alt. 0 m to alt. 500(-700) m, and the species is rare above that altitude. But in Southern Korea, Q. serrata is found up to above alt. 1,000 m, whereas frequency of Q. mongolica reduces as elevation in decline and the species is rare below alt. 300 m, even though pure stands being formed on higher mountain slope. Altitudinal distribution of the two species, however, overlaps, where the two species occur together. Thirty-seven individuals of Q. mongolica and Q. serrata in Mt. Jiri and other area were examined for leaf flavonoid constituents. Twenty-three flavonoid compounds were isolated and identified; they were glycosylated derivatives of the flavonols kaempferol, quercetin, isorhamnetin, myricetin, and four compounds among the flavonoid compounds were acylated. Kaempferol 3-O-glucoside, quercetin 3-O-glucoside, quercetin 3-O-galactoside and its acylated compounds were major constituents and present in all individuals. Quercus mongolica is distinguished from Q. serrata by the presence of quercetin 3-O-arabinosylglucoside and by high concentration of three acylated compounds, acylated kaempferol 3-O-glucoside, quercetin 3-O-glucoside, quercetin 3-O-galactoside, and by relatively low concentration or lacking of rhamnosyl flavonol compounds. There are intraspecific variations in flavonoid profiles for Q. mongolica and Q. serrata, the flavonoid profiles for individuals of two species in hybrid zone (sympatric zone) tend to be similar to each other, qualitatively and quantitatively. These findings strongly suggest that gene exchange or gene flow occurs through the introgressive hybridization between Q. mongolica and Q. serrata in Mt. Jiri. Therefore, Quercus crispula, occupying morphologically intermediate position between Q. mongolica and Q. serrata, is suspected of being a hybrid taxon of two putative parental species.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.381-396
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• 2017

Understanding species distribution plays an important role in conservation as well as evolutionary biology. In this study, we applied a species distribution model to predict hotspot areas and habitat characteristics for endangered herpetofauna species in South Korea: the Korean Crevice Salamander (Karsenia koreana), Suweon-tree frog (Hyla suweonensis), Gold-spotted pond frog (Pelophylax chosenicus), Narrow-mouthed toad (Kaloula borealis), Korean ratsnake (Elaphe schrenckii), Mongolian racerunner (Eremias argus), Reeve's turtle (Mauremys reevesii) and Soft-shelled turtle (Pelodiscus sinensis). The Kori salamander (Hynobius yangi) and Black-headed snake (Sibynophis chinensis) were excluded from the analysis due to insufficient sample size. The results showed that the altitude was the most important environmental variable for their distribution, and the altitude at which these species were distributed correlated with the climate of that region. The predicted distribution area derived from the species distribution modelling adequately reflected the observation site used in this study as well as those reported in preceding studies. The average AUC value of the eigh species was relatively high ($0.845{\pm}0.08$), while the average omission rate value was relatively low ($0.087{\pm}0.01$). Therefore, the species overlaying model created for the endangered species is considered successful. When merging the distribution models, it was shown that five species shared their habitats in the coastal areas of Gyeonggi-do and Chungcheongnam-do, which are the western regions of the Korean Peninsula. Therefore, we suggest that protection should be a high priority in these area, and our overall results may serve as essential and fundamental data for the conservation of endangered amphibian and reptiles in Korea.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.409-419
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• 2017

Although Korean red pine (Pinus densiflora) forests near temples are valuable as forests of the cultural landscape, they are likely to be deteriorated because of vegetation succession and climate changes. The purpose of this study is to investigate the vegetation structure, the pine vitality, and the site environmental characteristics of the pine forests near temples to identify the correlation between pine tree growth and location environment. We selected Chuneunsa, Wonhyosa, Jeungsimsa, and Taeansa Temples since these four areas still had the healthy pine forests. In all four studied area, the pine trees dominate the canopy layers while the deciduous broadleaf trees mostly inhabited appeared in the lower layers. The growth of pine trees in Jeungsimsa and Wonhyosa areas was not as good as Chuneunsa area where the pine trees tended to be older. We found higher total nitrogen content in soil in Jeungsimsa area than other areas, maybe because of increase in total nitrogen caused by the development of low vegetation in the area. This peculiarity may have led to the pine trees in the area to fall behind the deciduous broadleaf trees in competition for nitrogen nutrient and thus to show deteriorated growth. The altitude and the twig length showed a negative correlation as did the degree of slope and the mean importance percentage of the pine tree. In other words, the growth environment such as soil became poorer when the altitude and the degree of slope increased, and thus the growth amount and dominance of the pine trees were lower. The degree of slope showed a positive correlation with the twig length of the pine tree. Within boundaries of location environment where the pine tree forests were dominant, it seemed that growth of the pine trees was more favorable as the slope was steeper because the trees could avoid competition with deciduous broadleaf trees. On the other hand, the growth of pine trees deteriorated as the electrical conductivity of soil increased; increase in soil nutrients might have accelerated vegetation development of deciduous broadleaf trees and thus aggravated the growth environment of pine trees to negatively affect maintaining the health of the pine tree forests.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.29 no.6
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• pp.895-906
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• 2015

This study was carried out to the structure of plant community from Sinseongam to Jungdaesa in Odaesan National Park, furthermore, it seeks to curate the basic data for planning of the Abies holophylla's forest management in Odaesan National Park. In order to identify the current ecological environment, this study explored the actual vegetation as primary research and set to twenty plots(i.e. $400m^2$) for analysing detailed structure of plant communities. The research methodology was qualitative analysis, therefore it used TWINSPAN and DCA analysis tools. Especially, TWINSPAN performed well in several comparisons of classification techniques, DCA is one of the ordination technique showed that the plant communities. The plant community was analysed classification and ordination by TWINSPAN and DCA, moreover it was analysed the structure of plant community such as importance percentage of woody species, DBH class distribution, the index of diversity and rate of sample tree growth. The main vegetation was A. holophylla-Quercus mongolica forest and Deciduous broad-leaved forest in the communities where located in low altitude and valley, whereas main vegetation where located in high altitude and slope was Q. mongolica forest. The research site's plant communities were classified four groups. In all of communities, A. holophylla was dominant species in main canopy layer, furthermore, the three communities (community I, II, III) are growing up next generation of A. holophylla excluding community IV. The communities (community I, II, III) can be sustained current status which dominates the A. holophylla communities, simultaneously, there might be expanded the Deciduous broad-leaved communities by Carpinus cordata, Betula schmidtii and so on. While, it showed that the community IV tended to be weaken the forces of A. holophylla, therefore the community IV can be transferred to C. cordata-Deciduous broad-leaved communities in the future. The age of sample trees was 79~128(i.e. A. holophylla), 75~87(i.e. Pinus koraiensis) and 190 years(i.e. Ulmus davidiana var. japonica). The index of Shannon's Species diversity (H') were ranged from 0.3889 to 1.3332 in the communities.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.361-368
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• 2002

The valley forests located at the east-facing slope and the west facing slope in Hambaeksan area were studied to investigate forest structure in relation to aspect and altitude of the slope. There was little difference in density. mean DBH and basal area of the tree layer between east-facing slope and west-facing slope. The importance percentages of Tilia amurensis and Betula costata in west-facing slope were higher than those in east-facing slope. However, the importance percentages of Quercus mongilica and Fraxinus rhynchophylla in the west facing slope were lower than those in east-facing slope. Species diversity of the west-facing slope was 1.415 and that of the east-facing slope was 1.328. Elevation trends were also found for forest structure. As elevation Increased basal area and mean height of the tree layer decreased in both of east-facing slope and west-facing slope. There was a tendency that number of species, species diversity and evenness decreased with increasing elevation. The importance percentage of Quercus mongolica increased with increasing elevation while those of Betula costata and Maackia amurensis decreased. The result of cluster analysis for the tree and subtree layer indicated that the studied forests were classified into the mixed forest community of broad-leaved tree species at west-facing slope and the low and middle elevation belts of east-facing slope and Quercus mongolica community at the high elevation belt of east-facing slope. Quercus mongolica was significantly and positively correlated with Symplocos chinensis for. pilosa, Acer tschonoskii var. rubripes and deutzia glabrata. Betula costata was significantly and negatively correlated with Quercus mongolica and Acer pseudo-sieboldianum.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Surveying, Geodesy, Photogrammetry and Cartography
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• v.40 no.2
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• pp.69-77
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• 2022

The 3D spatial model is an analysis framework for solving urban problems and is used in various fields such as urban planning, environment, land and housing management, and disaster simulation. The utilization of drones that can capture 3D images in a short time at a low cost is increasing for the construction of 3D spatial model. In terms of building a virtual city and utilizing simulation modules, high location accuracy of aerial survey and precision of 3D spatial model function as important factors, so a method to increase the accuracy has been proposed. This study analyzed location accuracy of aerial survey and precision of 3D spatial model by each condition of aerial survey for urban areas where buildings are densely located. We selected Daerim 2-dong, Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul as a target area and applied shooting angle, shooting altitude, and overlap rate as conditions for the aerial survey. In this study, we calculated the location accuracy of aerial survey by analyzing the difference between an actual survey value of CPs and a predicted value of 3D spatial Model. Also, We calculated the precision of 3D spatial Model by analyzing the difference between the position of Point cloud and the 3D spatial Model (3D Mesh). As a result of this study, the location accuracy tended to be high at a relatively high rate of overlap, but the higher the rate of overlap, the lower the precision of 3D spatial model and the higher the shooting angle, the higher precision. Also, there was no significant relationship with precision. In terms of baseline-height ratio, the precision tended to be improved as the baseline-height ratio increased.

• Journal of Space Technology and Applications
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.118-143
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• 2023

Space is becoming more commercialized. Despite of its delayed start-up, space activities in Korea are attracting more nation-wide supports from both investors and government. May 25, 2023, KSLV II, also called Nuri, successfully transported, and inserted seven satellites to a sun-synchronous orbit of 550 km altitude. However, Starlink has over 4,000 satellites around this altitude for its commercial activities. Hence, it is necessary for us to constantly monitor the collision risks of these satellites against resident space objects including Starlink. Here we report a quantitative research output regarding the conjunctions, particularly between the Nuri satellites and Starlink. Our calculation shows that, on average, three times everyday, the Nuri satellites encounter Starlink within 1 km distance with the probability of collision higher than 1.0E-5. A comparative study with KOMPSAT-5, also called Arirang-5, shows that its distance of closest approach distribution significantly differs from those of Nuri satellites. We also report a quantitative analysis of collision-avoiding maneuver cost of Starlink satellites and a strategy for Korea, being a delayed starter, to speed up to position itself in the space leading countries. We used the AstroOne program for analyses and compared its output with that of Socrates Plus of Celestrak. The two line element data was used for computation.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.37 no.6
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• pp.429-438
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• 2023

The forest in the lower Tumen River serves as an important ecosystem spanning the territories of North Korea, Russia, and China, and it provides habitat and movement corridors for diverse mammals, including the endangered Amur tiger (Panthera tigris) and Amur leopard (Panthera pardus). This study focuses on the Mijiang area, situated as a potential ecological corridor connecting North Korea and China in the lower Tumen River, playing a crucial role in conserving and restoring the biodiversity of the Korean Peninsula. This study aimed to identify mammal species and estimate their relative abundance, occupancy, and distribution based on the 48 camera traps installed in the Mijiang area from May 2019 to May 2021. The results confirmed the presence of 18 mammal species in the Mijiang area, including large carnivores like tigers and leopards. Among the dominant mammals, four species of ungulates showed high occupancy and detection rates, particularly the Roe deer (Capreolus pygargus) and Wild boar (Sus scrofa). The roe deer was distributed across all areas with a predicted high occupancy rate of 0.97, influenced by altitude, urban residential areas, and patch density. Wild boars showed a predicted occupancy rate of 0.73 and were distributed throughout the entire area, with factors such as wetland ratio, grazing intensity, and spatial heterogeneity in aspects of the landscape influencing their occupancy and detection rates. Sika deer (Cervus nippon) exhibited a predicted occupancy rate of 0.48, confined to specific areas, influenced by slope, habitat fragmentation diversity affecting detection rates, and the ratio of open forests impacting occupancy. Water deer (Hydropotes inermis) displayed a very low occupancy rate of 0.06 along the Tumen River Basin, with higher occupancy in lower altitude areas and increased detection in locations with high spatial heterogeneity in aspects. This study confirmed that the Mijiang area serves as a habitat supporting diverse mammals in the lower Tumen River while also playing a crucial role in facilitating animal movement and habitat connectivity. Additionally, the occupancy prediction model developed in this study is expected to contribute to predicting mammal distribution within the disrupted Tumen River basin due to human interference and identifying and protecting potential ecological corridors in this transboundary region.

• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.181-198
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• 2008

Designing satellite constellations providing partial coverage of certain regions becomes more important as small low-altitude satellites receives an increasing attention due to its cost-effectiveness analysis. Generally, Walker's method is a standard constellation method for global coverage but not effective for partial coverage. The purpose of this study is to design optimal constellation of satellites for effective observation in Korean peninsula regions. In this study, a new constellation design method is presented for partial coverage, using direct control of satellites' orbital elements. And also, a ground repeating circular orbit is considered for each satellite's orbit with the Earth oblateness effect. As the results, at least four satellites are required to observe the Korean peninsula regions effectively when minimum elevation angle is assumed as 12 degrees. The results from new method are better than those from the best Walker method. The proposed algorithm will be useful to design satellite constellation missions of Korea in future.

• Journal of the Korean Association of Geographic Information Studies
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.12-21
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• 2006

Recently, Very large and high resolution geological data from aerial or satellite imagery are available. Many researches and applications require to do realtime visualization of interest geological area or entire planet. Important operation of wide-spreaded terrain realtime visualization technique is the appropriate model resolution selection from pre-processed multi-resolution model hierarchy depend upon participant's view. For embodying such realtime rendering system with large geometric data, Preprocessing multi-resolution hierarchy from large scale geological information of interest area is required. In this research, recent Cubic multiresolution 4-8 tile hierarchy is selected for global planetary applications. Based upon the tile hierarchy, It constructs the selective terminal level tile mesh for original geological information area and starts to sample individual generated tiles for terminal level tiles. It completes the hierarchy by constructing intermediate tiles with low pass filtering in bottom-up direction. This research embodies series of efficient cubic 4-8 tile hierarchy construction mechanism with out-of-core storage. The planetary scale Mars' geographical altitude data and image data were selected for the experiment.