• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.37 no.3
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• pp.221-231
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• 2023

Great tit (Parus major) is a bioindicator species that can measure environmental changes in urban ecosystems and plays an important role in maintaining health as a representative insectivorous bird. Researchers have utilized artificial nest box surveys to understand the reproductive ecology of the Paridae family of birds, including the Great tits, but it is difficult to conduct a macroscopic study due to spatial and temporal limitations. This study designed and applied a citizen-participatory monitoring of artificial nest boxes project to transcend the limitations of expert-centered monitoring methods. The Suwon Front Yard Bird Monitoring Team installed artificial nest boxes in green spaces in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province and observed the reproductive ecology of the Paridae family through the participation of voluntary citizen surveyors. Participants were recruited through an online survey from February 9 to February 22, 2021, and they directly performed from installation to observation of artificial next boxes from February 23 to August 31, 2021. Online education was provided to the volunteers for the entire monitoring process to lower the entry barrier for non-expert citizen surveyors and collect consistent data, and observation records were collected through a mobile app. A total of 98 citizen surveyors participated in the citizen-participatory monitoring of artificial nest boxes project, and 175 (84.95%) of the 256 distributed artificial nest boxes were installed in green spaces in Suwon City. Among the installed artificial nest boxes, the results of the citizen science project were confirmed for 173 (83.98%), excluding two boxes with position coordinate generation errors. A total of 987 artificial nest box observation records were collected from citizen surveyors, with a minimum of one time, a maximum of 26 times, and an average of 5.71±4.37 times. The number of observations of artificial birdhouses per month was 70 times (7.09%) in February, 444 times (44.98%) in March, 284 times (28.77%) in April, 133 times (13.48%) in May, 46 times (4.66%) in June, 6 times (0.61%) in July, and 4 times (0.41%) in August. Birds using the artificial nest boxes were observed in 57 (32.95%) of the 173 installed artificial nest boxes, and they included Great tit (Parus major) using 12 boxes (21.05%), Varied Tit (Parus varius) using 7 boxes (12.28%), and unidentified birds using 38 boxes (66.67%). This study is the first to consider citizen participation in the monitoring of artificial nest boxes, a survey method for the reproductive ecology of the Paridae family, including Great tits, and it can be utilized as basic data for the design of ecological monitoring combined with citizen science in the future.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.97 no.1
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• pp.83-87
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• 2008

This study was conducted to clarify the use of artificial nest boxes of tits in coniferous and deciduous forests from March to June 2006 and 2007. Tree species richness, tree species diversity and total basal area were higher in deciduous forest than in coniferous forest. Except the bush-ground layer (<1 m), the other vertical layers were more developed in deciduous forest. Varied tit Parus varius, marsh tit P. palustris, coal tit P. ater and major tit P. major used the artificial nest boxes in this study. Number of breeding pairs of tits were higher in deciduous than in coniferous forest. Clutch size, brood size and breeding success of coal tits were higher in coniferous forest. Brood size and breeding success of major tits were higher in deciduous forest. Characteristics of habitat and niche partition would be influenced on tits' use of artificial nest boxes. The more detailed researches on artificial nest boxes would be needed for management and conservation of birds.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.219-230
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• 2013

Species distribution modeling is one of the most effective habitat analysis methods for wildlife conservation. This study was for evaluating the suitability of species distribution to distance between forest patches in Seoul city using tits. We analyzed the distribution of the four species of tits: varied tit (Parus varius), marsh tit (P. palustris), great tit (P. major) and coal tit (P. ater), using the landscape indexes and connectivity indexes, and compared the resulting suitability indexes from 100m to 1,000m. As factors affecting to the distribution of tits, we calculated landscape indices by separating them into intra-patch indices (i.e. logged patch area (PA), area-weighted mean patch shape index (PSI), tree rate (TR)) and inter-patch indices (i.e. patch degree (PD), patch betweenness (PB), difference probability of connectivity (DPC)), to analyze the internal properties of the patches and their connectivity by tits occurrence data using logistic regression modeling. The models were evaluated by AICc (Akaike Information Criteria with a correction for finite sample sizes) and AUC (Area Under Curve of ROC). The results of AICc and AUC showed DPC, PA, PSI, and TR were important factors of the habitat models for great tit and marsh tit at the level of distance 500~800m. In contrast, habitat models for coal tit and varied tit, which are known as forest interior species, reflected PA, PSI, and TR as intra-patch indices rather than connectivity. These mean that coal tit and varied tit are more likely to find a large circular forest patch than a small and long-shaped forest patch, which are higher rate of forest. Therefore, different strategies are required in order to enhance the habitats of the forest birds, tits, in a region that has fragmented forest patches such as Seoul city. It is important to manage forest interior areas for coal tit and varied tit, which are known as forest interior species and to manage not only forest interior areas but also connectivity of the forest patches in the threshold distance for great tit and marsh tit as adapted species to the urban ecosystem for sustainable ecosystem management.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.80 no.2
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• pp.162-176
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• 1991

For the purpose of contributing to wild birds protection and propagation, distribution characteristics and ecological breeding habitats were surveyed in Mt. Chiri from September, 1986 to December, 1989 by the use of the nestboxes installed in four study sites by the altitude. The results were as follows ; 1. During the study period, observed birds were 2,403 individuals belong to 59 species, especially, at the 1,400m above altitude the rare species, Falco tinnunculus and the protecting bird species such as Ninox scutulata, Strix aluco and Prunella collaris were observed. 2. In the inhabitation structure of birds by the altitude, Fringilla montfringilla was the highest dominance (41.33%) among the inhabitated birds in the surveyed area. 3. Phasianus colchicus and Streptopelia orientalis which were mainly inhabited in hilly area were observed until the altitude of 900m. 4. The 92.5% of nest boxes was mainly used by the small birds, Parus spp. and Sitta europaea. These species preferred the nest boxes installed at the edge or along the mountaineering path, because they could get food and water easily from those places. 5. The utilization rate of the nest boxes was showed 86% at 500m, 96% at 900m, 98% at 1,400m and 90% at 1,700m above the altitude, respectively. 6. The breeding rate of birds in the nest boxes was showed from 6% to 46% by altitude. Parus varius was the highest breeding species in the surveyed area. These birds inhabited above 500m laid eggs from 15th, April to 22th, May(n=22), but those above 1,700m laid eggs from 28th, April to 27th, May(n=13), that 13 days were delayed at high altitude. 7. Food items of the chicks of the 5 species collected by the collar method were animal matters ; 91.3% of the food was forest insects such as Phalera asiimilis and Pleuroptya batteata except 8.7% of spiders.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.36 no.6
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• pp.566-574
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• 2022

Heavy metals are one of the dangerous pollutants that threaten urban biodiversity due to their accumulation over a long period without being decomposed in vivo. Accordingly, there is a need for biological monitoring to compare accumulation concentrations in living organisms according to the degree of heavy metal exposure to evaluate heavy metal contamination in the air in urban areas. This study aims to examine the possibility of using nesting materials as heavy metal monitoring samples and determine the effects of heavy metals on Paridae. We installed 54 artificial nest boxes in the research areas that included campus green spaces (14), urban forests (11), and urban parks (29) on a university campus in Cheonan City, Chungcheongnam Province. The birds' use rate of artificial nest boxes was 11/14 (78.57%) in campus green spaces, 8/11 (72.72%) in urban forests, and 6/29 (20.68%) in urban parks. Moss materials were collected from collected nests, and the heavy metal accumulation characteristics of each type of urban green space and the effects of heavy metals on the success of fledging of Paridae were compared through heavy metal analysis. The analysis showed that the average concentrations of zinc and lead were 228.08±209.62 ㎍/dry g and 17.67 ± 6.72 ㎍/dry g, respectively. There was no significant difference in zinc concentration for each type of urban green space (Kruskal-Wallis test, p-value=0.28), but lead concentration showed a significant difference (Kruskal-Wallis test, p<0.05^*). Of the 21 Paridae, nests analyzed for heavy metals, fledging of birds was observed in 11 nests (52.38%). Fledging of birds observed in each urban green space type was 7 campus green spaces (77.78%), 6 in urban forests (85.71%), and 1 in urban park (20%), mainly in urban forests and green spaces on campus. Heavy metal concentrations were compared to check the effect of heavy metal accumulation on the successful fledging of Paridae, but there was no statistically significant difference (Zn: W=44, p-value=0.74, Pb: t=0.64676, df =7.2422, p-value=0.54). This study is a basic study using the nesting materials of Paridae as heavy metal monitoring samples, and it is determined that it can be used as basic data for non-invasive biological monitoring.