• Journal of the Korean Society of Environmental Restoration Technology
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• v.17 no.5
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• pp.29-41
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• 2014

Ecosystem services provide various benefits to human beings, but are considered to be free of cost. To protect ecosystems in an economically sustainable way, several developing countries have adopted a policy known as the Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) that compensates upstream services with monetary incentives collected from service users. Vietnam is one of the countries that have enacted a nationwide PES policy. However, the policy in Vietnam requires further development in order to evaluate the spatial priority zones based on the quantification of ecosystem services. To obtain a recent and high-quality land cover map, we first classified the land cover in the Da River basin, in northern Vietnam, using Landsat dataset. We then applied a water balance theory and an USLE equation to assess hydrological ecosystem services concerning water supply and sediment retention. Following the assessment, we identified the priority areas for hydrological ecosystem services exclusively for forest environments. We found that the quantity and distribution of services from forests varied, due to the topography, climate, and land cover. According to a quantile distribution, Mt. Phu Luong, Mt. Fansipan, and Hoang Lien National Park were evaluated as high service areas in terms of both water yield and sediment retention. As a result, this assessment method can help construct spatial priority zones concerning ecosystem service distribution, and can also contribute to benefit sharing by indicating which forest and landowners require compensation.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.175-189
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• 2015

The objective of this study was to analyze characteristics of distribution of amphibian species and the affecting ecological factors. For the study, habitat environment factors were determined and applied to a habitat suitability model for the data collected from the Seom River in Hoengseong County and Wonju City, Gangwon Province, Korea between March 2013 to October 2013. The analyzed amphibian species were Rana nigromaculata, Hyla japonica, Rana dybowski, and Rana rugosa Temminck and Schlegel, and a logistic regression model was used with the pseudo-absence data. The result of the model analysis suggests that the major factors for Rana nigromaculata are distance to vegetation and rock and that for Hyla japonica is waterway. Rana dybowski and Rana rugosa Temminck and Schlegel have similar habitat characteristics, but the latter is shown to be dominant due to its wider habitat preference. According to the species richness model, the analyzed amphibian species are shown to have tendency to move between valleys or streams. This study quantitatively analyzed habitat environment characteristics using species distribution model, however, there is a limitation in terms of analysis on food factor and connectivity with other species. Combined with additional density or habitat analysis on birds or fish, this study can lead to more comprehensive analysis on biological environment factors.

• Ecology and Resilient Infrastructure
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.69-76
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• 2019

Ecosystem services are contributing to human welfare by enabling us to maintain our survival and quality of life. A metod of quantifying ecological functions is needed. We discussed the introduction and applications of ecosystem services to applied ecological engineering. The concept and assessment system of ecosystem services were applied to the economic valuation of river, the construction of blue-green-white network in urban area, ecological restoration, and integrated water management in Korea. The conceptual framework and assessment of ecosystem services can be used to promote value of ecological protection and restoration, helping stakeholders understand the benefits of ecosystems and increasing applications of the applied ecological engineering.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.50 no.1
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• pp.46-56
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• 2017

The Youngsan River estuary was physically changed by the construction of a sea embankment at near the mouth of estuary. Weirs were also constructed recently in the freshwater zone and it was reported that algal blooms occur more frequently. The freshwater introduced into saltwater zone from sluice gates of the embankment affects water quality but it has not been addressed that how the freshwater inputs influence the health of marine ecosystem. In this study, we used the data of water properties and phytoplankton communities collected at three stations for 4 days including before the freshwater discharge, during the discharge and after 1 and 2 days of discharge events. WQI(water quality index), TRIX (trophic status index) and P-IBI(phytoplankton index of biotic integrity) were used to evaluate the ecosystem health and long-term data were also utilized to determine the criteria for P-IBI. The results showed that grades of the ecosystem health assessed by the indices were low at the station near the gates and increased as downstream. However, the temporal pattern of grades was different depending on methods. Grades of WQI and TRIX decreased during the discharge and restored after the discharge whereas the grades of P-IBI decreased slightly even after the discharge. This suggests that P-IBI is more applicable to estuarine systems where experience extreme change of water properties than WQI and TRIX since P-IBI includes phytoplankton that can respond quickly to the change.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.47-56
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• 2008

Total Maximum Daily Load(TMDL) is a core basin management system to assign total emissions of pollutants to unit basin and emission source within a limit of the target water quality and to secure sustainability. considering "Environment and development" together. By current technical guidance of TMDL, the water quality in the riverbed of which the target water quality is noticed, must achieve the target; and the water quality standard for evaluating achievement of the target should be prescribed as non-excessive probability quality of water on the basis of the pertinent water quality documents. Therefore, the study calculated the target water quality by each unit basin which the target water quality must be noticed through the analysis of probability for water quality documents in rivers at the time of establishing a plan, and the study evaluated the achievement possibility of the target water quality by analyzing and comparing the target water quality plan with the standard water quality to evaluate the achievement of the target water quality. As the result, applying the proposed method to Mihocheon River system, it is concluded that selected the target water quality (Each BOD 3.3mg/1 and BOD 3.0mg/1) in Miho A and Musim A is available. Of course, it showed that the target water quality: BOD 2.5mg/1 in Miho A and BOD 3.0mg/1 in Musim A, could be achieved if the small reduction in B unit area was implemented.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.43 no.2
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• pp.232-241
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• 2010

Epilithic diatom communities and water quality were monitored to evaluate the ecological impact of the inflow of Wonju-stream passing through the urban area in the Seom River Watershed. We selected the 14 sampling stations (5 main stream sites and 9 tributary sites), and collected diatom and water samples between October 2007 and September 2008, on the seasonal basis. The results indicate that most water quality parameters showed the site-specific patterns over the study, except for water temperature and dissolved oxygen. The levels of water quality parameters were highest at the site of Wonju stream, whereas the lowest in the upstream sites, and intermediate or gradually decreased in the downstream sites of the Seom river. One species, Achnanthes convergens, showed the highest biomass and frequency over the sites, while three saprophilous species-Navicula goeppertiana, Navicula subminuscula, Nitzschia palea were appeared only in Wonju Stream and other polluted sites. According to trophic diatom index (TDI) values, which were highly correlated with nutrients and EC, the study sites were classified into three classes: upstream and tributary (Class A and B), Wonju Stream (Class D), and mixed zone and downstream (Class C). A cluster analysis supported the result of TDI classification. Therefore, Wonju-stream located in populated urban area exerted the adverse ecological effects on the epilithic diatom community and water quality of the lower Seom River System, although its severity gradually decreased downstream.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.45 no.3
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• pp.322-328
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• 2012

To estimate the population size of Miho spine roach (Cobitis choii), one of national monument species in Korea, multiple mark-recapture experiments (Jolly-Seber model) by VIE tagging were conducted in the upper region of the Backgok Stream located in the Kum-River system, Korea. Fish sampling was conducted at four different times from October 5 to October 26, 2011. A total of 335 sampling points were sampled, where the species was determined in 217. The population size was estimated to be 6,143 in this study. Compared to a previous report conducted by the Korean Ministry of Environment (2009), the population size of this species has decreased by 41%. The reasons for population decline are thought to be due to loss of microhabitat, sedimentation, water pollution. Consequently, a habitat restoration program is required to protect the microhabitat and recover the population size in this area.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Marine Environment & Safety
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.267-273
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• 2008

The purpose of this study is to investigate the distributive property of organic pollutants in effluents of argo/industrial wastewater treatment plants in Jeonnam using simultaneous analysis method of 310 chemicals. The numerous organic pollutants were detected in four sampling sites and the major chemicals were pesticides, CH type chemicals such as polycyclic compounds, CHO type chemicals such as phthalates, and CHO(N) type chemical such as aromatic amines. Moreover, 17 kinds of endocrine disrupters which include diethylptbalate were detected in each sampling sites. TU (Toxic unit) indicated cytotoxicity of samples using XTT assay, it appeared highly at A point(27.2) and D point(24.4). Also, the results from the correlation between total concentration of pollutants and TU did not correspond to the results of chemical and biological analysis.

• Ecology and Resilient Infrastructure
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.59-67
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• 2022

The purpose of this study is to provide essential data necessary to assess ecological flow requirements by understanding habitat conditions for fish species through monitoring an ecological environment in the Korea stream (Dal Stream) and building related database. On-site surveys were conducted for identifying ecological and habitat conditions at the four monitoring sites. Fish sampling was carried out at the selected four sites (St.) during the period ranging from September, 2008 to September, 2009. At the four sampling sites, we measured water surface elevation, depth and velocity at the cross-sections. Optimal Ecological Flowrates (OEFs) were estimated using the Habitat Suitability Index (HSI) established for four fish species Zacco koreanus (St.1), Pungtungia herzi (St.2), Coreoleuciscus splendidus (St.3), and Zacco platypus (St.4) selected as icon species using the Physical HABitat SIMulation system (PHABSIM). Eighteen species (56.3%) including Odontobutis interrupta, Coreoperca herzi and C. splendidus were found endemic out of the 32 species in eight families sampled during this study period. The endangered species was collected Acheilognathus signifier, Pseudopungtungia tenuicorpa and Gobiobotia macrocephala, and this relative abundance was 9.4%. The most frequently found one was Z. platypus (31.3%) followed by C. splendidus (17.6%) and Z. koreanus (15.7%). The estimated IBI values ranged from 27.3 to 34.3 with average being 30.3 out of 50, rendering the site ecologically poor to fair health conditions. For C. splendidus (St.3), the dominant fish species in the stream, the favored habitat conditions were estimated to be 0.3-0.5 m for water depth, 0.4-0.7 m/s for flow velocity and sand-cobbles for substrate size, respectively. An OEFs of 8.5 m³/s was recommended for the representative fish species at the St.3.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.28 no.6
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• pp.536-548
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• 2019

In order to quantify the effect of the newly established the Total Water Load Management System in Sapgyo watershed, this study predicted the achievement of the target water quality at each unit watershed and the water quality according to the flow section. The HSPF model, which is the watershed runoff model, was constructed and operated based on 2015, and the water quality was predicted by inputting the loads in final target year(2030). The Load Duration Curve (LDC) was created using the simulated results of base year and target year. As a result of plotting water quality by flow conditions, it was simulated to be close to the BOD target with a difference of 0.1 ~ 0.2 mg/L in all three watersheds during the mid-range flow interval (40 ~ 60%). In case of T-P, although the target water quality was not set, the water quality was improved by Cheonan A 46%, Kokgyo A 29% and Namwon A 25%. The Muhan and Sapgyo river basins meet the target grade of middle-watershed standards. The improvement effect will be positive, as water quality, which achieves the target of Total Load Management System and the target grade of the middle-watershed standards will be expected to flow into the Sapgyo lake.