• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.111 no.1
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• pp.81-99
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• 2022

The Baekdudaegan, spanning around 701 km from Hyangrobong to Cheonwangbong of Mt. Jirisan in South Korea, is rich in biodiversity and known as the main ecological axis of the Korean Peninsula. The Neuljae-Yuksimnyeong section of Marugeum in the southern part of the Baekdudaegan, particularly Mt. Deogyusan, is an area in which various types of vegetation appear depending on the environmental characteristics. The aims of this study were to investigate the current vegetation status at the Neuljae-Yuksimnyeong section of the Baekdudaegan and to provide basic data to aid systematic conservation and management through future classification of forest vegetation types. A vegetation survey was conducted using 637 plots from May to October 2019. Vegetation-type analysis showed that the vegetation units could be classified as a Quercus mongolica community group divided into seven communities: the Abies koreana community, Sanguisorba hakusanensis community, Persicaria hydropiper community, Quercus variabilis community, Quercus dentata community, Cornus controversa community, and Quercus mongolica community. The A. koreana community was subdivided into the Dryopteris expansa group and Picea jezoensis group. The Q. variabilis community was also subdivided into the Q. dentata group and Q. variabilis typical group. We concluded that special management plans for distinctive forest vegetation, including subalpine vegetation, grass or herb vegetation, and agricultural vegetation, should be prepared urgently to aid ecosystem preservation and enhancement.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.46 no.3
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• pp.259-272
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• 2022

Background: The Korean Peninsula exhibits a characteristic graded floral distribution, with northern (Manchurian flora) and southern (China-Japan-Korea flora) lineage species coexisting according to climatic and topographical characteristics. However, this distribution has been altered by climate change. To identify ecosystem changes caused by climate change and develop appropriate measures, the current ecological status of the entire Korean Peninsula should first be determined; however, analysis of the current floral distribution in North Korea has been hampered for political reasons. To overcome these limitations, this study constructed a database of floral distributions in both South and North Korea by integrating spatial information from the previously established National Ecological Survey in South Korea and geocoding data from the literature on biological distributions published in North Korea. It was then applied to analyze the current status and distribution characteristics of Manchurian and China-Japan-Korea plant species on the Korean Peninsula. Results: In total, 45,877 cases were included in the Manchurian and China-Japan-Korea floral distribution database. China-Japan-Korea species were densely distributed on Jeju-do and along the southern coast of the Korean Peninsula. The distribution density decreased as the latitude increased, and the distributions reached higher-latitude regions in the coastal areas compared with the inland regions. Manchurian species were distributed throughout North Korea, while they were densely distributed in the refugia formed in the high-elevation mountain regions and the Baekdudaegan in South Korea. In the current distribution of biomes classified according to the Whittaker method, subtropical and endemic species were densely distributed in temperate seasonal forest and woodland/shrubland biomes, whereas boreal species were densely distributed in the boreal forest biome Korean Peninsula, with a characteristic gradation of certain species distributed in the temperate seasonal forest biome. Factor analysis showed that temperature and latitude were the main factors influencing the distribution of flora on the Korean Peninsula. Conclusions: The findings reported herein on the current floral distribution trends across the entire Korean Peninsula will prove valuable got mitigating the ecological disturbances caused by ongoing climate change. Additionally, the gathered flora data will serve as a basis for various follow-up studies on climate change.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.103 no.3
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• pp.313-320
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• 2014

The purpose of this study was to provide basic data for preserving forest ecosystem with understanding forest wetland condition of Mt. Cheongok. It was found from this research that vascular plants of surveyed area were composed of 72 families, 167 genera, 209 species, and 2 subspecies, 27 varieties, 5 formae. totaling 243 taxa. Among the investigated vascular plants, Korea endemic plants were 9 species, rare plants 15 species, and naturalized plants 8 species, respectively. According to the occurrence frequency within the wetland investigated, obligate upland plants (OBU) accounted for 75.72% (184) among the total species investigated, wherea obligate wetland plant (OBW) were four species (4.65%). There were 26 of hygrophyte plants and 2 of emergent plants in the research area according to wet degree. According to habitat category, the most frequently occurred habitat was forest (136 species, 55.97%), and the others were in the order of meadow and shrubland (70 species, 28.81%), wet meadow (35 species, 14.40%), and aquatic environment (2 species, 0.82%), respectively. In the result of analysis of important value, Fraxinus rhynchophylla and Carex pseudosinensis was the highest as 22.17% and 10.40%. It was confirmed that the species diversity was relatively high. Shannon-Wiener's species diversity index was calculated as 2.507. Based on these results, long-term monitoring survey should be urgently needed for ecological restoration and recovery.

• Journal of Wetlands Research
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.9-15
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• 2019

The Daegi-cheon watershed is located in the upper part of the Han River, which has the representative highland vegetable growing complexes. This watershed has a large impact on the water quality and aquatic ecosystem in the upstream of the Han River by discharging a large amount of turbid water during rainfall season. For proposing an efficient turbid water management and policy, the analysis of the characteristics of flow rate and SS and its causes needs to be carried out preferentially. In this study, the relationship between flow rate and SS concentration was analyzed in the Daegi-cheon watershed, and in turn the turbidity characteristics were analyzed. As a result of the study, in the normal flood flow condition, it was shown that SS concentration changed arbitrarily due to various environmental factors. On the other hand, the SS concentration was considerably high in the very high flow condition. Based on the field survey, this could be the reason why the effects of the steep valley and slope collapse according to the very high flow rate as well as the source in the agricultural fields were greatly contributed. Therefore, it is necessary to develop a structural best management practice that can stabilize the steep slope and reduce river bed loss along with the typical source managements plans.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.108 no.1
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• pp.10-20
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• 2019

The purpose of this study is to identify the long-term area changes in the subalpine coniferous forests in Korea in order to understand the changes in the subalpine forest ecosystems vulnerable to climate change. We analyzed 20 years of time-series Landsat satellite images (mid 1990s, mid 2010s) for change detection of coniferous forests and compared with the long term changes of climate information to identify their relationship in the study area. As a result, the area of coniferous forests in the study region decreased by 25% over 20 years. The regions with largest changes are Seoraksan, Baegunsan-Hambaeksan-Jangsan, Jirisan, and Hallasan. The region with the largest decrease in area was Baegunsan (reduced area: 542 ha), and the region with large decrease in area and the largest rate of decrease was Hallasan (rate of decrease: 33.3%). As the Jeju region has the most rapid temperature rise, it is projected that Hallasan is the most vulnerable forest ecosystem affected by climate change. The result of this study shows that from a long-term perspective the overall coniferous forests in the subalpine region are declining, but the trend varies in each region. This national and long-term information on the change of coniferous forests in the subalpine region can be utilized as baseline data for the detailed survey of endangered subalpine coniferous trees in the future.

• Journal of Forest and Environmental Science
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• v.37 no.1
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• pp.52-61
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• 2021

Decay fungi can decompose plant debris to recycle carbon in the ecosystem. Still, they can also be fungal pathogens, which can damage living trees and/or wood material and cause a large amount of timber loss. We isolated and identified basidiomycetous fungi from the decayed bark of Mongolian oak wrapped with sticky roll traps. The degrading enzyme activities were then tested for all fungal isolates. The decay ability of selected isolates was assessed based on the weight loss of wood discs after inoculating with culture suspension of decay fungi under the different humidity levels. A total of 46 basidiomycetous fungal isolates belonged to 12 species, and 10 genera were obtained from Jong Myo (16 isolates), Chang Kyung palace (7 isolates), Cheong Gye (10 isolates), and Gun Po (13 isolates). Gymnopus luxurians was the most dominant fungus in the present study, and this species distributed in all survey sites with 9 isolates in Jong Myo, followed by 3 isolates in Chang Kyung palace, while Cheong Gye and Gun Po had only 1 isolate each. Among 46 isolates, 44 isolates secreted at least one enzyme, while 25 isolates produced both cellulase and phenol oxidase enzymes, and 2 isolates produced neither. The assessment of decay ability by artificial inoculation indicated that the weight loss of wood discs was significantly influenced by humidity conditions when inoculated with bark decay fungi. The percent weight losses by G. luxurians inoculation in RH of 90-100% and RH of 65-75% were 4.61% and 2.45%, respectively. The weight loss caused by Abortiporus biennis were 6.67% and 0.46% in RH of 90-100% and RH of 45-55%, respectively. The humidity reduction approach should be applied for further studies to control the growth and spread of bark decay fungi on the trunks wrapped with sticky roll traps.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Landscape Architecture
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• v.49 no.1
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• pp.31-41
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• 2021

This study targets the city of Paju, Gyeonggi-do, where many challenges are facing ecological assets management due to the increase in recent development. Using the survey data provided by the National Institute of Ecology in Korea, the study analysed the differences in the local residents' perception of local ecological assets. The Q methodology, which is useful for revealing differences in opinions, was applied to classify the narrative groups, which had different points of view in evaluating each asset. Next, the study compared the differences in perceptions of the vulnerability of ecological assets. As a result of the analysis, the city of Paju was divided into two main narrative groups: a 'Nature Conservation Group' and a 'Heritage Conservation Group'. The Nature Conservation Group wanted to prioritize ecologically valuable assets, such as wetlands, brackish zones, and forests. The Heritage Conservation Group preferred preserving ecological assets having a cultural contexts, such as royal tombs, graves, and the surrounding landscape. Evaluating the ecological assets, the two groups identified 23 ecological sites under threat from development among the 25 ecological sites considered. The Nature Conservation Group noted the importance of sites such as the Sannam Wetlands, Gongneungcheon, Gongneungcheon Brackish Zone, and Simhak Mountain. These were considered to be the most vulnerable ecological assets in the city. The study found differences in the perceived values for each ecological asset by residents. The results can serve as useful data for decision-making on ecological asset management in the city of Paju.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.45 no.4
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• pp.277-286
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• 2021

Background: As trade increases, the influx of various alien species and their spread to new regions are prevalent and no longer a special problem. Anthropogenic activities and climate changes have made the distribution of alien species out of their native range common. As a result, alien species can be easily found anywhere, and they have nothing but only a few differences in intensity. The prevalent distribution of alien species adversely affects the ecosystem, and a strategic management plan must be established to control them effectively. To this end, hot spots and cold spots were analyzed according to the degree of distribution of invasive alien plants, and major environmental factors related to hot spots were found. We analyzed the 10,287 distribution points of 126 species of alien plants collected through the national survey of alien species by the hierarchical model of species communities (HMSC) framework. Results: The explanatory and fourfold cross-validation predictive power of the model were 0.91 and 0.75 as AUC values, respectively. The hot spots of invasive plants were found in the Seoul metropolitan area, Daegu metropolitan city, Chungcheongbuk-do Province, southwest shore, and Jeju island. Generally, the hot spots were found where the higher maximum temperature of summer, precipitation of winter, and road density are observed, but temperature seasonality, annual temperature range, precipitation of the summer, and distance to river and sea were negatively related to the hot spots. According to the model, the functional traits accounted for 55% of the variance explained by the environmental factors. The species with higher specific leaf areas were more found where temperature seasonality was low. Taller species preferred the bigger annual temperature range. The heavier seed mass was only preferred when the max temperature of summer exceeded 29 ℃. Conclusions: In this study, hot spots were places where 2.1 times more alien plants were distributed on average than non-hot spots (33.5 vs 15.7 species). The hot spots of invasive plants were expected to appear in less stressful climate conditions, such as low fluctuation of temperature and precipitation. Also, the disturbance by anthropogenic factors or water flow had positive influences on the hot spots. These results were consistent with the previous reports about the ruderal or competitive strategies of invasive plants instead of the stress-tolerant strategy. The functional traits are closely related to the ecological strategies of plants by shaping the response of species to various environmental filters, and our result confirmed this. Therefore, in order to effectively control alien plants, it is judged that the occurrence of disturbed sites in which alien plants can grow in large quantities is minimized, and the river management of waterfronts is required.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.36 no.3
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• pp.220-256
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• 2022

The most important thing for conserving plant diversity in an area is to make an overall inventory of the plant species inhabiting the area. In particular, limestone areas are known for their high plant diversity and distribution of specific plants. Despite that, only a few have been designated as protected areas. This study investigated the vascular plants distributed in Goyangsan Mtn. and Munraesan Mtn., located in limestone areas of the central part of the Korean Peninsula. A field survey was conducted eight times from April to October 2021. As a result, we identified a total of 654 taxa comprising 113 families, 357 genera, 592 species, 15 subspecies, 44 varieties, and 3 formulas. They included four endangered wild plant species: Astilboides tabularis, Eleutherococcus senticosus, Cypripedium macranthos, and Epilobium hirsutum. Endemic plants in Korea were identified as 32 taxa. Floristic target plants were identified as 168 taxa, specifically 5 taxa of grade V, 41 taxa of grade IV, and 36 taxa of grade III. The red data plants included 2 taxa as "Endangered (EN)", 7 taxa as "Vulnerable (VU)", and 7 taxa as "Near threatened (NT)". A total of 41 taxa of naturalized plants were identified, and 4 of them were invasive alien plants. The surveyed vicinity of Goyangsan Mtn. and Munraesan Mtn. showed high plant diversity and contained core habitats for distribution of an endangered wild plant, Astilboides tabularis,in the limestone area. Moreover, both mountains contained a small population of Cotoneaster integerrimus. These findings confirm that the area has conservation values. Therefore, we propose to identify areas with high plant diversity and designate them as special protected areas.

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.1-12
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• 2018

During few decades, Korean economy has been growing with heavy and manufacturing industries. However, the economy meets limitations of growth rate, and employment rate. The Korean government has been trying to overcome these limitations using development of venture businesses and re-organization of industrial ecosystem. These efforts make high survival rate of recent venture companies. There are previous researches about relation between characteristics of entrepreneur and managerial performance, there are several limitations. Firstly, most of papers were based on survey with specific region or industry. Secondly, related researches were carried out with unable to distinguish among firm's survival periods. This paper uses the '2017 Survey of Korea Venture Firms' data that is approved by the Korean government. This data includes whole industries and survival periods. The aim of this research is finding the effect of characteristics of entrepreneur on managerial performance of venture firms by different survival periods using data envelopment analysis (DEA). If entrepreneur has doctoral degree, the firm's managerial performance is lower than bachelor degree. In addition, over 10 years of working career, and joint-venture have positive effect on firm's performance. This paper can provide valuable information to venture related policy makers and investment decision makers.