• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.281-286
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• 2014

This study was conducted to investigate the individual size and age of Kaloula borealis, a pair in amplexus. In June 2013, the total 23 pairs of Kaloula borealis were captured in the wetland located in Seongsan-eup and Daejeong-eup, Jeju Island. Size and age of each individual have been examined and as a result of analyzing SVL (snout-vent length), weight, length of forelimb and hindlimb of the collected 23 pairs, the females were shown to have the heavier weight and the longer SVL and hindlimb compared to males. No significant difference in the length of forelimb has been found between the female and the male. The average age of the male of the pair in amplexus was shown to be $5.17{\pm}0.26$, whereas the female was shown to be $6.22{\pm}0.28$, which indicates the higher average age in female compared to the male. The age range of Kaloula borealis was distributed from at least 3 years to 10 years at the maximum. A positive correlation was shown between age of the male and SVL; however, no significant difference was found in female. This study result expected to be utilized as an important base data in establishing the preservation and restoration strategy of endangered species, Kaloula borealis.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.340-344
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• 2006

The objective of this paper was to investigate the potential of road-crossing structures as biological corridors that can overcome wildlife habitat fragmentation caused by road construction. Snow tracking on animal trace adjacent to and under bridges, underpasses, and culverts of eight rural highways in Korea was carried out. A total 89 structures were monitored and the results follow. First, the probability of road crossing increases with the increasing cross sectional size of crossing structures. Second, small to medium sized carnivores such as raccoon dog, leopard cat, and Siberian weasel use all types of structures. Finally, water deer, or large herbivore crossed only under bridges. Consequently, further studies are necessary to identify suitable types of road crossing structures that can mitigate the probability of road-kills and habitat fragmentation of water deer.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Landscape Architecture
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• v.48 no.3
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• pp.45-53
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• 2020

With the increasing attention of the international community on climate change and biodiversity promotion programmes, the Korean government and public agencies are trying to protect and restore the ecosystem of areas protected by law, such as waterfronts, by acquiring private land. However, the inadequate purchase system has caused various problems. In this study, an efficient and systematic land purchase system was developed through ecological evaluation, focusing on the ecological and landscape conservation areas of the Donggang basin. The ecological evaluation was developed by integrating parcel-level evaluation and regional-specific evaluation, and the overall level of ecological function was established and finalized through on-site verification. As a result of verifying the purchase land of 88 parcels, it showed a relatively high agreement of more than 85.2%, and the rest of parcels (non-agreement) were considered to have had an impact on vegetation, crop harvesting, etc. due to seasonal differences in ecological evaluation and field verification. The purchasing system was ranked according to the ecological evaluation grade based on the endangered species and the distance from the core ecosystem. As a result, the purchase priority was systematically drawn up to the 5th rank for a total of 68 parcels for the private lands of Geoeun-ri, Munsan-ri, Deokcheon-ri, Unchi-ri, Gumam-ri, and Suji-ri. This study is expected to contribute to the preservation, restoration and ecological management of purchased land in the protected area in the future by establishing and proposing a systematic land purchase system based on ecological evaluation.

• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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• v.44 no.2
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• pp.171-177
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• 2017

A callus-mediated regeneration protocol for sea-milkwort, an endangered coastal plant species in South Korea, is reported here. The explants of in vitro-plantlets generated from a node culture revealed distinguishable responses in callus induction depending on genotype, explant source, light condition, and 2,4-D concentration. Especially, continuous darkness exclusively facilitated callus induction from explants prior to other treatments. The calli initiated on the media with 2,4-D ranging from 0.1 mg/L to 3.0 mg/L in the dark vigorously proliferated when subcultured on the same media in continuous darkness. Given 1.0 mg/L zeatin in addition to darkness to the calli of the 'Pistachio' genotype, normal adventitious shoots were only regenerated from nodular structures that formed earlier from the calli at the frequency of 24.4 percent. Regenerated shoots easily grew into plantlets with roots and green color on a phytohormone-free MS medium under lighted condition, that were used for node culture as plant materials. Node culture effectively multiplied plantlets in accordance with protocol by Bae et al. (2016). Acclimatized plantlet clusters developed mature plant clusters under inland environment, followed by flowering the following April. Results were merged with node culture protocol suggested by Bae et al. (2016), which, as an in vitro propagation system for sea-milkwort, may contribute to natural habitat restoration.

• The Korean Journal of Malacology
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.307-314
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• 2015

This study sampled endangered species, Lamprotula coreana, and surveyed its habitat at the Guem River with three times from June to August 2013. To assess the habitat, this study conducted field survey considering diverse physical conditions of stream, such as pool, run and riffle, and measured transect, water depth, water velocity, substrate structure, and habitat type. When L. coreana collected, length, weight and age were measured. Water velocity, water depth and substrate structure were recorded to develop HSI (habitat suitability index) and performed PHABSIM (physical habitat simulation) to estimate the optimum flow discharge. Water level, flow discharge and transect data were used for habitat assessment, and PHABSIM was applied to calculate WUA (weighed usable area). Shell length was $73.1{\pm}18.4mm$ (28.5-102.0 mm), shell weight was $131.6{\pm}72.3g$ (28.0-281.0 g) and age was two to seven years from L. coreana collected at the upstream of the Guem River. Developed HSI indicated that the optimal habitat for L. coreana was 0.4-0.5 m for water depth, 0.3-0.5 m/s for water velocity and sand to boulder for substrate structure. The optimum ecological flow discharge for L. coreana was 2.1 cms and WUA was $3,730m^2$/1000 m by the result of PHABSIM. Recently, river construction work and habitat disturbance have caused negative impact on the distribution of L. coreana. The result of this study would provide fundamental data for habitat restoration and management of L. coreana.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.22 no.5
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• pp.481-504
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• 2008

This study was carried out to investigate the flora of Mt. Biseul. The vascular plants collected 10 times(from May 2006 to October 2007) were identified as 468 taxa in total, including 89 families, 302 genera, 397 species, 1 subspecies, 59 varieties and 11 forms. Korean endemic plants of this area were identified as 17 taxa including Thalictrum uchiyamai, Coreanomecon hylomeconoides, Lonicera subsessilis, etc.; the Ministry of Environment-designated plants, which should be protected by the wildlife protection law, were identified as one taxon including Aconitum austrokoreense; the Office of Forestry-designated rare & endangered plants were identified as 6 taxa including Viola albida, Lloydia triflora, Streptopus ovalis, etc.; the naturalized plants were identified as 34 taxa, and their naturalization ratio and urban index were found to be 7.3%, and 12.2% respectively. This study newly identified about 160 taxa of the plants, among which 17 taxa were newly added to the list of naturalized plants, such as Phytolacca americana, Dicentra spectabilis, Lepidium apetalum, Medicago lupulina, Euphorbia supina, Ambrosia artemisiifolia, Cosmos bipinnatus, Crassocephalum crepidioides, Galinsoga ciliata, Rudbeckia bicolor, Sonchus oleraceus, Tagetes minuta, Taraxacum officinale, Chloris virgata, Festuca arundinacea, Lolium perenne, Tradescantia reflexa, etc. There existed many kinds of plants resources having conservational value like Aconitum austrokoreense etc. in this area, but there remains a fear of nature destruction's acceleration due to indiscriminate human development and access of a lot of visitors, so it is judged that there should be a management plan, such as a limit on the number of visitors or rest-year-system for restoration of nature.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.22 no.5
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• pp.564-594
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• 2008

For this study, which was conducted in summer from $2006{\sim}2007$, 25 places of stream area in Korea, which were not affected by human, were selected by considering variable environmental factors. Plant surveys were performed in five qaudrats per each place of stream area(stream length=about 1km) on the basis of Braun-Blanquet(1964) and in four belt(length=20m) per each place of stream area by using belt-transect method in order to study the vegetation of the present-day potential natural state of water. In the results of the plant survey, the common plant communities in the mid-northern district(latitude$37^{\circ}37.9^{\circ}N$) were Quercus mongolica community and Fraxinus rhynchophylla community(with Quercus mongolica and Quercus aliena), and the common plant communities in the southern district(latitude$35^{\circ}35.9^{\circ}N$) were Quercus serrata community, Styrax japonica community and Quercus variabilis community. The common plant communities in the central district(latitude$36^{\circ}36.9^{\circ}N$) were Quercus serrata community, Fraxinus rhynchophylla community and Quercus aliena community, which have the middle characteristic between mid-northern and southern district. Also, in the results of correlation analysis between environmental factors and appearance of plant species in the survey places of stream area, Eco region showed the most significant correlation, but for the plan to restore flood plain, it is necessary to clarify the vegetation of potential natural stream by increasing the number of study cases considering variable environmental factors, in the future.

• The Korean Journal of Ecology
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• v.26 no.5
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• pp.223-236
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• 2003

The vegetation in this study area was divided into 10 plant communities: Pinus thunbergii, P. densiflora, Quercus acutissima, Q. mongolica, Q. serratea, Q. variabilis, Q. aliena, Q. dentata, Carpinus coreana, Betula davurica and 3 afforestations; Pinus rigida, Robinia pseudo-acacia, Castanea crenata. The dominant species in each stratum as determined by R-NCD appeared to be Q. acutissima, P. densiflora, Platycarya strobilacea, Sorbus alnifolia and Q. aliena in the tree-2 layer, Rhododendron mucronulatum, P. strobilacea, Q. serrata, Q. aliena and Q. acutissima in the shrub layer, and Carex lanceolata, C. humilis, R. mucronulatum, Mischanthus sinensis var. purpurascens and Oplismenus undulatifolius in the herb layer. The distribution of diameter at breast height(DBH) showed the highest percentage (56%) in the range of 2∼10㎝ in the study area and it was investigated as being in the restoration phase after disturbance. The average of the age of trees was under 40-years-od. The pH of soil collected at each site appeared to be within the range between 4.53 and 5.10(the average of 4.73) in each community, organic matters appeared higher than the value in Q. mongolica, P. rigida, C. crenata communities compared to P. thunbergii, P. densiflora communities. And soil organic matters and total nitrogen were highly correlated with their contents.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Landscape Architecture
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• v.37 no.6
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• pp.96-105
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• 2010

This study identified the dynamic process of sandbar and vegetation distribution of the sandbar on the Tan-cheon River. The study area is located in the lower reaches of the Tan-cheon River that has been managed as an Ecosystem Reserve Area since 2002. For the study, the geomorphological process was analyzed through mapping analysis using a satellite image followed by analysis of the vegetation distribution through an on-site survey. The major findings were as follows : First, In the fluvial geomorphic process, various kinds of sandbars were developed in 1990s, the morphologic characteristics changing continuously. Second, In the distribution of vegetation on the sandbar, the sandbar shore was covered with bare sand substrate or intermittent annual vegetation because of the periodic fluctuation of the water-level due to intensive disturbances. Third, In the relationship between the sandbar formation and vegetation, four types of sandbars were classified: channel-shore stable bar, channel-shore unstable bar, mid-channel stable bar and mid-channel unstable bar, according to the fluvial disturbance & vegetation process. The study verifies that the vegetation distribution is reciprocally related to the geomorphological process. Accordingly, it is meaningful in the selection of plant species and the planting area of the sand bar. However, it is limited to the planting guidelines on river restoration projects. More diverse on-site experimental studies should be conducted.

• Herbal Formula Science
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.179-191
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• 2017

Objectives : Increased oxidative stress by reactive oxygen species (ROS) has been suggested as a major cause of muscle fatigue. Although several studies have demonstrated the various biological properties of Sophora flavescens Aiton, Glycyrrhiza uralensis Fischer and Dictamnus dasycarpus Turcz, but the antioxidative potentials have not been clearly demonstrated. The present study was designed to investigate the protective effects of their water and ethanol extract mixtures (medicinal herbal mixtures, MHMIXs) on hydrogen peroxide ($H_2O_2$)-induced cell damage and apoptosis in C2C12 myoblasts. Methods : Cytotoxicity was assessed by an MTT assay. Quantitative evaluation of apoptosis induction and ROS production was evaluated by flow cytometry analysis. Expression levels of apoptosis regulatory and DNA-damage proteins were detected by Western blotting. Result : The inhibition of $H_2O_2$-induced cell proliferation was effectively blocked in extracts of 3: 1: 1 (EMHMIXs-1) or 2: 2: 1 (EMHMIXs-2) of S. flavescens, G. uralensis and D. dasycarpus Turcz, ethanol extracts from various complex extracts in C2C12 myoblasts. EMHMIXs-1 and EMHMIXs-2 also effectively attenuated $H_2O_2$-induced C2C12 cell apoptosis, which was associated with the restoration of the upregulation of Bad and death receptor 4, and downregulation of XIAP and cIAP-1 induced by $H_2O_2$. In addition, these herbal mixtures significantly blocked the $H_2O_2$-induced ROS generation and phosphorylation of $p-{\gamma}H2A.X$, which suggests that they can prevent $H_2O_2$-induced cellular DNA damage. Conclusions : The results suggest that EMHMIXs-1 and EMHMIXs-2 could block the DAN damage and apoptosis of C2C12 myoblasts by oxidative stress through blocking ROS generation.