• Journal of the Korean Society of Environmental Restoration Technology
• /
• v.19 no.6
• /
• pp.1-17
• /
• 2016

The study was aimed to understand the ecological status of the Maebongsan urban forest in Cheongju-si through investigating the vegetation, soil characteristics, and soil microarthropods. Phytosociological analysis for twenty plots revealed that the plant communities were classified into Pinus rigida community, Robinia pseudoacacia community, Castanea crenata community, Quercus acutissima community, Pinus strobus community, Pinus koraiensis community, and Larix kaempferi community. The importance value showed that afforestation tree species like Castanea crenata, Robinia pseudoacacia, and Pinus rigida dominate the urban forest. DBH analysis indicated that although the plant communities seem to be under the succession to Quercus forest, the dominance of Castanea crenata and Robinia pseudoacacia might still persist for several more decades. The properties of soils from the plant communities showed that loamy sand and sandy loam in soil texture, low organic matters, and severe acidification. The abundance of soil microarthropods were not different among the plant communities except Castanea crenata community and Pinus koraiensis community. The two communities showed especially low abundance of collembola and acarina. Thus, we can say that Castanea crenata community and Pinus koraiensis community seem to have been influenced strongly by anthropogenic activities.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
• /
• v.48 no.1
• /
• pp.36-43
• /
• 2015

Excess use of chemical fertilizer causes soil acidification and accumulation of salt, and thus might bring to desertification of soil. To overcome this problem, it needs limited usage of chemical fertilizer and increased usage of natural fertilizer as an alternative. In this study, dry soil-borne Bacillus sp. SHL-3, which was isolated from arid and barren soil, with plant growth promoting activity was isolated for identification and to determine optimal culture condition. A bacterial strain SHL-3 had the IAA productivity ($5.16{\pm}0.10mg\;L^{-1}$), ACC deaminase activity ($0.36{\pm}0.09$ at 51 hours) and siderophore synthesis. It was identified as genus Bacillus sp.. Also, optimal culture condition of SHL-3 were $20^{\circ}C$ and pH 7 in LB medium. Bacillus sp. SHL-3 had up to 4% salt tolerance in the medium. We evaluated the plant growth promotion ability of SHL-3 using yam (Dioscorea japonica Thunb.). As a result, Bacillus sp. SHL-3 was effective on the increase of the shoot length (202.4% increase for 91 days). These results indicate that Bacillus sp. SHL-3 can serve as a promising microbial resource for the biofertilizers of soil.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
• /
• v.26 no.1
• /
• pp.34-44
• /
• 2021

Acid mine drainage (AMD) resulting from pyrite oxidation in mining areas, subsequently leads to soil acidification accompanied by lowering pH and high concentration of metals and metalloids in its surrounding environment. Regarding to this, the microbial amelioration has been considered as a promising option for a more cost-effective and eco-friendlier countermeasure, compared to the use of alkaline chemicals. This study was aimed to evaluate influencing factors in microbially-mediated amelioration of acidic soil spiked by simulated AMD. For this, microcosm experiments were conducted by acid-neutralizing bacterial consortium (dominated by Klebsiella sp. and Raoultella sp.) under the various conditions of AMD spikes (0-2,500 mg SO42-/L), together with acidic mine soil (0-100 g) or sphagnum peat (0-5 g) in the 200 mL of nutrient medium. The employed bacterial consortium, capable of resisting to high level of sulfate concentration (up to 1,500 mg SO42-/L) in low pH, generated the ammonium while concomitantly reduced the sulfate, subsequently contributing to the effective soil stabilization with an evolution of soil pH up to neutral. Furthermore, it demonstrates that suitable condition has to be tuned for successful microbial metabolism to facilitate with neutralization during practical application.

• The Korean Journal of Soil Zoology
• /
• v.1 no.1
• /
• pp.37-47
• /
• 1996

This research was carried out to investigate soil mictoarthropods fauna in Namsan and Kwangreung which were considered to receive different degreeds of environmental pressures. In basic environmental data, Namsan where under rather accelerated acidification by air contamination and acidic rain showed low pH, tardy decomposition and turnover rate. Population density of soil microarthropods was high in Kwangreung 17,169.8/\ulcorner\ulcorner(coniferous forests), 17,892.6/$\textrm{m}^2$(deciduous forests) than in Namsan, 12,143.8/$\textrm{m}^2$ (coniferous forests), 14,216$\textrm{m}^2$(deciduous forests). Biomass of soil microarthropods was 2,020.219mg/$\textrm{m}^2$ at coniferous forests and 4,270.172mg/$\textrm{m}^2$ at deciduous forests in Namsan, and 3,287.326mg/$\textrm{m}^2$ at coniferous forests and 4326.1mg/$\textrm{m}^2$ at deciduous forests in Kwangreung. Population density constantly showed high in spring, and seasonal fluctuations were correlated with seasonal precipitation. As far as vertical distribution is concerned, population density was concentrated in litter layer as 70% while 30% are in soil layer and also decreased with increasing depth.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
• /
• v.109 no.2
• /
• pp.157-168
• /
• 2020

The sensitivity of forest soil to acidification in the Republic of Korea (ROK) was evaluated based on pH_H2O, cation exchange capacity (CEC), and base saturation (BS). Sensitivity to acidification was categorized into three grades: adequate level (AL, pH ≧ 4.2, CEC ≧ 15cmol/kg, BS ≧ 15%), caution level (CL, at least one indicator is below AL), and severe Level (SL, all three indicators are below AL). Soil samples were collected from the 65 stationary monitoring plots (40 × 40 ㎢), distributed throughout ROK. Only 19% of soil samples were classified as AL, while 66% and 15% were CL and SL, respectively. The median of pH_H2O, CEC, BS, and Ca/Al indicator in AL soils was pH 4.64, 20.7cmol/kg, 29%, and 6.3, respectively. Moreover, BC_ex (K⁺, Mg²⁺, Ca²⁺) and available phosphorus (AP) concentration compared with a threshold value and molar ratio of BC_ex and AP to total nitrogen (TN) was high. This indicates that AL soils have a good nutrient condition. The molar Ca/Al ratio, an indicator for toxicity of exchangeable aluminum (Al_ex), was more than 1, indicating no negative impact of Al_ex on plant growth. On the contrary, the median of pH_H2O, CEC, and BS in SL soils was pH 4.02, 13.2cmol/kg, and 10%, respectively. The Ca/Al index was less than 0.6, which indicates that negative impacts of Al_ex on plants were high. Furthermore, both the concentration of BC_ex in SL soils and the BC_ex/TN ratio were the lowest among the three acidity degrees. This shows that SLsoils can be degraded by soil acidification compared with less acidic soils.

• The Korean Journal of Ecology
• /
• v.26 no.3
• /
• pp.143-150
• /
• 2003

Korea has plentiful precipitation but rainfall events concentrate on several months of rainy season in her weather condition. Korea, therefore, experiences drought for a given period every year. Moreover the soil has usually low water holding capacity, as it is composed coarse particles originated from the granite. Response of several oaks and the Korean red pine (Pinus densiflora) on water stress showed that water budget was significant factor determining vegetation distribution. In addition, dehydration level due to cold resistance mechanism of several evergreen plants during the winter season was closely related to their distribution in natural condition. Experimental result under water stress showed that the Korean red pine was very tolerant to desiccation but the seedlings showed high mortality during the dry season. The mortality tended to proportionate to soil moisture content of each site. A comparison between soil moisture content during June when it is severe dry season and moisture content of the culture soil when the pine seedlings reached the permanent wilting point due to water withheld proved that high mortality during the dry season was due to water deficit. Water potential of sample plants measured during the exposure experiment to the air pollutant showed a probability that water related factors would dominate the occurrence of visible damage and the tolerance level of sample plants. In both field survey and laboratory experiment, plants exposed to air pollution showed more rapid transpiration than those grown in the unpolluted condition. The result would due to injury of leaf surface by air pollutants. Aluminum (Al/sup 3+/) increased in the acid soil not only inhibits root growth but also leads to abnormal distribution of root system and thereby caused water stress. The water stresses due to air pollution and soil acidification showed a possibility that they play dominating roles in inducing forest decline additionally to the existing water deficit due to weather and soil conditions in Korea. Sludge, which can contribute to improve field capacity, as it is almost composed of organic matter, showed an effect ameliorating the retarded growth of plant in the acidified soil. The effect was not less than that of dolomite known in widely as such a soil ameliorator. Litter extract contributed also to mitigate the water stress due to toxic Al/sup 3+/. We prepared a model showing the potential interaction of multiple stresses, which can cause forest decline in Korea by synthesizing those results. Furthermore, we suggested restoration plans, which can mitigate such forest decline in terms of soil amelioration and vegetation restoration.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
• /
• v.27 no.3
• /
• pp.344-356
• /
• 2013

This study is a continuation of the 22 year consecutive study (1972~1993) to monitor community dynamics of forest in Mt. Kwanak. This study was intended to provide basic data for urban forest management in the future by analyzing actual changes in vegetation structure of forest in Mt. Kwanak caused by urban environmental changes. For the past 39 years (1972~2010), average temperature increased by approximate between 1.1 and $1.7^{\circ}C$ and soil acidification (pH $5.40{\rightarrow}4.50$) and contents of $K^+$ ($0.67{\rightarrow}0.25$) and $Ca^{{+}{+}}$ ($3.20{\rightarrow}0.87$) apparently tended to decrease. According to analysis importance percentage and DBH class of community types classified based on DCA, the succession stopped at Quercus mongolica for 39 years. In addition, the succession was expected to be held at Q. mongolica or to shift from Pinus densiflora to Q. mongolica and from Q. acutissima to Q. serrata. Size of trees growing in forest of Mt. Kwanak increased but the number of species and population of trees showed a downward trend for the 39 years and Styrax japonica and Sorbus alnifolia, which are indicator species, increased their dominance continuously. Decrease in contents of $K^+$, $Ca^{{+}{+}}$, and $Mg^{{+}{+}}$ and soil acidification for the past 39 years was found to affect degradation of vegetation structure in Mt. Kwanak.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural and Forest Meteorology
• /
• v.4 no.1
• /
• pp.49-57
• /
• 2002

This study was conducted to find out buffer capacities of forest soils by the treatment of simulated acid rain(SAR) of four forests(Q. spp., P. rigida, P. koraiensis, L. leptolepis) in Kyunghee university's practice forest. All soils of each forest stand were treated by simulated acid rain at the level of pH 3.0, 4.0, 5.0 respectively. The result obtained from this study can be summarized as follows: Soil pH was measured by soil depth of each forest stand. The deeper soil depth was, the higher soil pH was. Also it was appeared that base saturation of sample soils was the highest as 17.42% in P. rigida stand and cation exchange capacity(C.E.C) was the highest as 29.87 me/100 g in Q. spp. stand. for responses of soil leachates to acidification treatment with pH 3.0 simulated acid rain(SAR), as simulated acid rain(SAR)-input was increased, pH value of soil leachates appeared high temporarily, but soon pH value of soil leachates had been low gradually. At the rest of pH 4.0, pH 5.0 treatment, pH value of soil leachates was high proportionably. The amounts of TBC of primary stage had a difference as pH level of simulated acid rain and forest stands. But as simulated acid rain(SAR)-input was increased. Amount of TBC was diminished. Also the amounts of TBC of primary stage in acidification treatment with pH 3.0, 4.0 simulated acid rain(SAR) was higher that of acidification treatment with pH 5.0 simulated acid rain(SAR). These trend showed obvious difference at low soil acidity and high TBC. The amounts of activity Al of primary stage appeared high as increasing the input acidity of simulated acid rain(SAR). Also, by soil depth, the amounts of Activity Al was different between A layer(0-15 cm) and AB layer(0-30 cm). There was considerable the correlation between simulated acid rain-input and activity Al change. But this was oppositional trend in soil leachates of pH 4.0, 5.0 treatment and total base cations(TBC).

• Journal of the Korean Professional Engineers Association
• /
• v.34 no.2
• /
• pp.46-51
• /
• 2001

It Is not uncommon to see some reports that livestock wastes are discharged into land, streams or seas without any treatment in the protective area of water resource. This study reports the development of the technique of protecting water resources through making use of treated livestock in organic farming after the procedures of collecting livestock wastes in 100% water tight PDF tanks, mixing Pedac, etc and fermenting. This techinque makes organic farming products possible without experiencing soil acidification caused by chemical fertilizer.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
• /
• v.85 no.1
• /
• pp.84-95
• /
• 1996

Environmental pollution has recently been progressed in the metropolitan and industrial areas of Korea and concerns have been evolved against the chronic effects of the pollution on natural ecosystem. This study was carried out to investigate the environmental pollution impacts on ion input into forest ecosystems and soil environmental changes. Study plots were established at Seoul, Ulsan, Yeochon, and Seosan for pollution sites and at Pyungchang for a non-pollution site. Atmospheric deposition was measured with rain, throughfall, and stem flow samples collected in the forest areas. Soil chemical properties were investigated to compare the pollution impacts on the sites. Precipitation acidity in the metropolitan and industrial areas ranged from pH 4.5 to 5.5, showing the levels lower than pH 5.8 of mountain area. Ion concentrations in the precipitation had increased significantly while passing the crown layer in the metropolitan and industrial areas, showing the increase by 4 times at the maximum. Total ion input in the metropolitan and industrial areas was greater than that in mountain area by approximately 2-3 times. Soil acidification caused by acidic ion input seemed to be greatest at Seoul, showing pH 1 decrease compared to that of Pyungchang. Soil canon contents were relatively high in the metropolitan and industrial areas. Although the canon leaching loss was not apparent, soil acidification process seemed to be continued by acidic ion input. Environmental pollution in the metropolitan and industrial areas exerted changes in ion input into the forest ecosystems and soil conditions. The chronic effects of environmental pollution should be monitored and investigated further to explain the processes of ecosystem change and the impacts on plant growth.