• Korean Journal of Heritage: History & Science
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• v.52 no.2
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• pp.196-219
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• 2019

According to the Samguk Yusa, the nine-story wooden pagoda at Hwangnyongsa Temple was built by a Baekje artisan named Abiji in 645. Until the temple was burnt down completely during the Mongol invasion of Korea in 1238, it was the greatest symbol of the spiritual culture of the Korean people at that time and played an important role in the development of Buddhist thought in the country for about 700 years. At present, the only remaining features of Hwangnyongsa Temple, which is now in ruins, are the pagoda's stylobate and several foundation stones. In the past, many researchers made diverse inferences concerning the restoration of the original structure and the overall architecture of the wooden pagoda at Hwangnyongsa Temple, based on written records and excavation data. However, this information, together with the remaining external structure of the pagoda site and the assumption that it was a simple wooden structure, actually suggest that it was a rectangular-shaped nine-story pagoda. It is assumed that such ideas were suggested at a time when there was a lack of relevant data and limited knowledge on the subject, as well as insufficient information about the technical lineage of the wooden pagoda at Hwangnyongsa Temple; therefore, these ideas should be revised in respect of the discovery of new data and an improved level of awareness about the structural features of large ancient Buddhist pagodas. This study focused on the necessity of raising awareness of the lineage and structure of the wooden pagoda at Hwangnyongsa Temple and gaining a broader understanding of the structural system of ancient Buddhist pagodas in East Asia. The study is based on a reanalysis of data about the site of the wooden pagoda obtained through research on the restoration of Hwangnyongsa Temple, which has been ongoing since 2005. It is estimated that the wooden pagoda underwent at least two large-scale repairs between the Unified Silla and Goryeo periods, during which the size of the stylobate and the floor plan were changed and, accordingly, the upper structure was modified to a significant degree. Judging by the features discovered during excavation and investigation, traces relating to the nine-story wooden pagoda built during the Three Kingdoms Period include the earth on which the stylobate was built and the central pillar's supporting stone, which had been reinstalled using the rammed earth technique, as well as other foundation stones and stylobate stone materials that most probably date back to the ninth century or earlier. It seems that the foundation stones and stylobate stone materials were new when the reliquaries were enshrined again in the pagoda after the Unified Silla period, so the first story and upper structure would have been of a markedly different size to those of the original wooden pagoda. In addition, during the Goryeo period, these foundation stones were rearranged, and the cover stone was newly installed; therefore, the pagoda would seem to have undergone significant changes in size and structure compared to previous periods. Consequently, the actual structure of the original wooden pagoda at Hwangnyongsa Temple should be understood in terms of the changes in large Buddhist pagodas built in East Asia at that time, and the technical lineage should start with the large Buddhist pagodas of the Baekje dynasty, which were influenced by the Northern dynasty of China. Furthermore, based on the archeological data obtained from the analysis of the images of the nine-story rock-carved pagoda depicted on the Rock-carved Buddhas in Tapgok Valley at Namsan Mountain in Gyeongju, and the gilt-bronze rail fragments excavated from the lecture hall at the site of Hwangnyongsa Temple, the wooden pagoda would appear to have originally been an octagonal nine-story pagoda with a dual structure, rather than a simple rectangular wooden structure.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.397-408
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• 2017

The purpose of this study is to identify the home range and habitat using pattern of the native species, Mauremys reevesii, and the exotic species, Trachemys scripta elegans, and to analyze the mutual competition relationship of the two species. This study was conducted at the Goldfish square pond, which is located in the upper part of the valley of Cheonggye mountain from August 2, 2010 to January 30, 2011. We used the three artificially proliferating M. reevesii and three T. scripta elegans which were inhabited in the ponds and reservoirs for monitoring study after attaching the transmitter to each of them. We measured the home range and the habitat utilization radius of three individuals of each species and the environmental factors such as temperature, humidity and soil and water temperature around the Goldfish square pond. As our results, it was analyzed that the M. reevesii and T. scripta elegans have a redundant ecological positions in various aspects such as limited sunbathing places, food resource utilization, hibernation place, etc. We also found that the relatively small M. reevesii was being pushed out of the competition by the relatively big. Further investigation of food competition and habitat utilization should be necessary for these two species for the natural habitats, their home range, food competition, and habitat utilization. The result of this study will be the basic data M. reevesii's restoration project.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Railway
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.76-84
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• 2017

Recently, the 'Ecological Network Restoration Project at Chupungnyeong' has been placed; this project is located at the center of the Baekdu mountain spine, the core of the ecological network of the Korean Peninsula. In the process of industrialization since the early 1900s, this area has been under railroad and road construction; as such, wildlife movements have been interrupted and many cases of road-kill have been found. The investment in railroads has increased because railroads are an environmentally sound means of transportation. Single track railways have been converted to double track electric railways and track reforming projects are underway in order to speed up the current railway system. This study suggests to take land use as a standard for assessing the ecological weaknesses of the domestic geo-spaces that are to be affected by rapid extension of railway lines. The land cover map issued by the Ministry of Environment was overlapped with the Korean Railway Line Map for analysis. The results showed that five items were high in sensitivity: paddy fields, fields, deciduous forests, bare land, and inland waters. It seems to be necessary to set weights for highly sensitive land use types; also, specific evaluation criteria need to be reestablished.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.37 no.3
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• pp.229-248
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• 2019

This study was carried out to investigate the flora of Mt. Jaamsan on the Gyeongsang supergroup, Korea. From the results of eight field surveys from March to October 2017, we have identified 530 total taxa, representing 483 species, eight subspecies, 35 varieties, two forms, and two hybrids, which were placed in 325 genera and 110 families. The plant formation of Mt. Jaamsan is the deciduous broad-leaved and conifer mixed forests, which are the common ones in the middle part of the Korean Peninsula. Most of the mountain is covered with young secondary forest, which is mainly composed of Quercus spp., and Pinus. Out of these 530 taxa, 12 are endemic to Korea, 17 taxa are listed on the Korean Red List of threatened species, 65 are floristic target species, and 55 are invasive alien species. The percentage of naturalized index(NI) and urbanization index (UI) were 10.4% and 17.2%, respectively. Mt. Jaamsan has a high plant diversity, including endemic and rare species, which consist of geomorphological landscapes. We considered that the composition and distribution of species are affected by the different environmental factors according to the sedimentary rocks, drying ridges, valleys, and streams. Together with the rocks and soils were the substrate type that play a major role in providing the unique habitats for sun plants in the area.

• Journal of Conservation Science
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.211-222
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• 2011

The Mireuksaji stone pagoda was built foundation in the reign of King Moo (AD 639) in the Baekje Kingdom of ancient Korea. The stone properties of the pagoda were quarried from Mountain Mireuk, which are medium to coarse-grained light gray biotite granite formed during the Jurassic, and are composed of quartz, feldspar, biotite, muscovite, apatite and allanite. It was strong relatively but became weak from prolonged weathering, and as a result its durability fell to $883kgf/cm^3$ (moderate weathering degree). In the process, cut-off (31%), deletion (57%) and crack (44%) occurred in foundation materials by the influence of bending, shear and compressive force. Hereat, the original materials were treated through a preservation process. As a result, approximately 74% of original materials have been able to be reused, inclusive of 55 materials that were to be partially replaced by new stones. On the other hand, it is inevitable that the other 26% including exterior stones and support-based stones have to be partially replaced by new stones. It implies that there is a need to find stones that are identical or similar to those of the pagoda. Consequently, a lithological study was conducted on stones in quarries located in Iksan and an investigation was made into their properties. The results showed that stones in the Hwangdeung area were most similar to those of the pagoda mineralogically and their properties were most stable.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.38 no.3
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• pp.371-387
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• 2020

This study was conducted to investigate the flora of Mt. Unbongsan in the basalt areas of Korea. From the results of eight field surveys undertaken from March to October 2017, we identified 404 total taxa, representing 364 species, seven subspecies, and 33 varieties, which were placed in 256 genera and 91 families. The plant formation of Mt. Unbongsan is a deciduous broad-leaved and conifer mixed forest, which is common in the middle part of the Korean peninsula. Most of the mountain is covered by a young secondary forest, which is mainly composed of Quercus monglica and Pinus densiflora. Out of these 404 taxa, 193 were the first records for the region, six were endemic to Korea, three were listed on the Korean Red List of threatened species, 34 were floristic target species, and 40 were invasive alien species. The naturalized index(NI) percentage was 9.9%. Mt. Unbongsan has plant diversity, which was associated with the geomorphological landscapes. We considered that the composition and distribution of the species were affected by different environmental factors according to the presence of granite, taluses, block streams, drying ridges, valleys, puddles, wetlands, and streams.

• Journal of Korean Society for Geospatial Information Science
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.11-18
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• 2012

Increasing concern about biodiversity has lead to a rise in demand on the spatial assessment of biological resources such as biodiversity assessment, protected area selection, habitat management and restoration in Korea. The purpose of this study is to create species richness map through data collection and modeling techniques for wildlife habitat assessment. The GAM (Generalized Additive Model) is easy to interpret and shows better relationship between environmental variables and a response variable than an existing overlap analysis and GLM (Generalized Linear Model). The study area delineated by a large watershed contains Jirisan national park, Mt. Baekun and Sumjin river with three kinds of protected areas (a national park, a landscape ecology protected area and an otter protected area). We collected the presence-absence data for wildlife (mammals and birds) using a stratified random sampling based on a land cover in the study area and implemented natural and socio-environmental data affecting wildlife habitats. After doing a habitat use analysis and specifying significant factors for each species, we built habitat suitability models using a presence-absence model and created habitat suitability maps for each species. Biodiversity maps were generated by taxa and all species using habitat suitability maps. Significant factors affecting each species habitat were different according to their habitat selection. Although some species like a water deer or a great tit were distributed at the low elevation, most potential habitats for mammals and birds were found at the edge of a national park boundary or near a forest around the medium elevation of a mountain range. This study will be used for a basis on biodiversity assessment and proected area selection carried out by Ministry of Environment.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.35-42
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• 2008

This study was conducted to provide basic information that can be used to restore habitats of Nannophya pygmaea. Nannophya pygmaea is an endangered species of wildlife fauna in Korea and its habitats are distributed very scarcely in Korea. Ten wetland sites throughout Korea, where N. pygmaea inhabited (2 sites in Incheon Muui-do, 1 site in Gokseong Singi-ri, 4 sites in Gokseong Wolbong-ri, and 3 sites in Mungyeong Yulsu-ri) were investigated from June 2006 to August 2007. Investigation was made on landscape properties, habitat sizes, vegetation types, water environments, and water sources. N. pygmaea was generally found in the abandoned paddy fields surrounded by mountains. The habitats ranged from $113.4m^2$ to $1,153.1m^2$ in area, and were mostly dominated by Juncus effusus and Persicaria thunbergii. The water level was $2.6\sim7.3cm$, and the water temperature ranged from $16^{\circ}C$ to $27.8^{\circ}C$. The elevation of the habitats ranged from 139 to 243 m above sea level, which was mostly lower than that of other high mountain wetland habitats. In conclusion, the habitats of N. pygmaea can be restored at wetlands, which have similar condition with field habitat such as abandoned paddy fields in the beginning stage of oligotrophy. Because N. pygmaea is sensitive to microtopography and other surrounding environments, the approach to restore the habitats for N. pygmaea should consider those microhabitat conditions shown in this study.

• Korean Journal of Plant Taxonomy
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• v.50 no.1
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• pp.56-79
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• 2020

Baekdudaegan, the largest mountain range in eastern Asia, is a biodiversity hotspot in Korea that may have served as a glacial refugium. This study presents the flora of vascular plants on Deok-chi upto the Yuk-sim-nyeong area of the Baekdudaegan conservation area. The survey area was divided into four subareas and fieldwork was conducted for a total of twelve days in 2015. Voucher specimens were collected during the survey and were deposited at Daejeon University. A list of vascular plants was prepared based on the voucher specimens. The results of the survey showed that a total of 441 taxa, consisting of 100 families, 265 genera, 398 species, 9 subspecies, 32 varieties, and 2 forms, were found in the survey area. There was one endangered species, Aconitum coreanum, in the Bonghwasan Mt. area. Sixteen endemic taxa, 74 floristic regional indicator plants, as designated by the Ministry of the Environment, and eleven naturalized plants were distributed. The results of this study can serve as basic information to establish conservation and management plans for the Baekdudaegan conservation area.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.109 no.4
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• pp.429-437
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• 2020

In this study we quantified the long-term change in discharge against precipitation in a forested watershed and investigated how the growth of forest trees influences these changes. We found a proportional relationship between precipitation and discharge for each year, and discharge decreased gradually with time. Precipitation and discharge were highest in July and August, and the changes in precipitation, discharge, and runoff rate did not always coincide, given that high runoff rate was shown in August and September. The monthly coefficient of variation (CV) for discharge was larger than that for precipitation, and the deviation between precipitation and discharge increased gradually. From 2011 to 2017, the gradient of the trend line for the change of total discharge and direct runoff against precipitation decreased, whereas the gradient of the base flow increased in this same time period. A possible explanation is that the water holding capacity of soil deposits increased as the forest soil of the Palgong Mountain watershed developed and the increase of base flow rose with groundwater level together with that of outflow quantity. The coefficient of flood recession was lower in the period 2011 to 2017 than in 2003 to 2010; thus, the reduction of discharge was mitigated and remained steady as time progressed. We conclude from these results that the discharge of surface runoff decreased as tree growth and base flow increased; however, the water yield function of the forest increased gradually.