• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
• /
• v.28 no.2
• /
• pp.209-220
• /
• 2009

Octachlorostyrene(OCS) has been persisted in environment because it has not been decomposed easily. And, it has been known as highly toxic compounds to the environment and human as well as accumulated as high concentrations in a biota through a food chain. Therefore, OCS was monitored for water, soil and fish sampled from the areas where were able to be contaminated with OCS. The recoveries of octachlorostyrene were 93.1${\sim}$98.6% in water, 90.4${\sim}$94.8% in soil and 81.5${\sim}$90.2% in fish and detection limits were 0.0004 mg $L^{-1}$ for water, and 0.002 mg $kg^{-1}$ for soil and fish, respectively. OCS was not detected in water, sediment, soil and fish samples from Ulsan, Yeosu, Daejeon and Sihwa industrial complex and in soil sampled nearby incineration plants in all parts of the country. Accordingly, we estimated that there is no risk from exposure of OCS.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
• /
• v.25 no.4
• /
• pp.589-596
• /
• 2009

The spectroscopic characteristics and chemical oxygen demand (COD) oxidation efficiencies were investigated for dissolved organic matters (DOM) from diverse sources, which may indirectly affect the concentrations and the quality of DOM found in watersheds. The DOM investigated for this study showed a wide range of the percent distributions of refractory organic matter (R-OM) from 8 to 100%. Relatively high R-OM distributions were observed for the DOM with the source of head water, sediments, paddy soils, field soils, and treated sewage whereas the DOM from livestock waste, reed, weeds, algae, and attached algae exhibited lower R-OM percent distributions. The percent distribution of R-OM had positive correlations with specific UV absorbance (SUVA) and humidification indices (HIX) of DOM. The investigated DOM was classified into four different source groups (i.e., biota, vegetables, soils, sediments) by comparing the synchronous fluorescence spectra. The DOM group from biota source was characterized by a prominent presence of protein-like fluorescence (PLF) whereas fulvic-like fluorescence (FLF) was additionally observed for vegetable-source DOM. FLF became significant for the DOM from both soils and sediments although no PLF was found for soil-derived DOM. A range of COD oxidation efficiency was observed for the various DOM, ranging from 36 to 94% and from 65 to 125% for $COD_{Mn}$ and $COD_{Cr}$, respectively. The results indicate that $COD_{Cr}$ reflects the higher OM concentration than $COD_{Mn}$. However, 95% confidence intervals of the COD oxidation efficiencies were similar for the two types of COD, suggesting that $COD_{Cr}$ may not be the superior OM index to $COD_{Mn}$ in terms of the variability of the oxidation efficiency. No significant correlations were obtained between COD oxidation efficiencies and the spectroscopic characteristics of DOM for this study.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
• /
• v.31 no.2
• /
• pp.197-203
• /
• 1998

Although biological metabolism in soil is very important for evaluating the soil properties, most of researches have concerned mainly about physical and chemical sides. In this study, biological characteristics were examined to demonstrate the biota in the plastic film house soils. Contents of organic matter and phosphate in soil were increased with cultivation period. ECs of soil cultivated spinach and melon were $3.59dS\;m^{-1}$ and $3.46dS\;m^{-1}$ respectively: these values were higher than that of rose and flower, which were $1.23dS\;m^{-1}$ and $1.32dS\;m^{-1}$ respectively. The population of fluorescent Pseudomonas strains of the soil cultivated flowers: $113.8{\times}10^4{\sim}129.7{\times}10^4cfu\;g^{-1}$ was higher than that of leafy vegetables: $40.7{\times}10^4{\sim}97.9{\times}10^4cfu\;g^{-1}$ and fruiting vegetables: $25.0{\times}10^4{\sim}91.7{\times}10^4cfu\;g^{-1}$. However the number of Fusarium strains of the soil cultivated with flowers: $3.8{\times}10^2{\sim}4.0{\times}10^2cfu\;g^{-1}$ was lower than that of leafy vegetables: $4.3{\times}10^2{\sim}16.3{\times}10^2cfu\;g^{-1}$ and fruiting vegetables: $7.6{\times}10^2{\sim}30.0{\times}10^2cfu\;g^{-1}$. In relation to the cultivation period, the habitation density of aerobic bacteria, mesophilic Bacillus, thermophilic Bacillus, and fluorescent Pseudomonas strains was the highest in the soil cultivated over 11 years, but diversity index showed negative correlation with cultivation period. Microbial biomass C in these soils had positive correlation with each number of microorganisms including aerobic bacteria, actinomycetes, and strains of mesophilic Bacillus as well as the total number of these microorganisms.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
• /
• v.12 no.1
• /
• pp.1-35
• /
• 2007

In the last decades, the decrease in biological or chemical availability of sorbed contaminants as contact time passed, is generally accepted. This phenomenon so called as "aging" or "sequestration" is known to directly affect risk of the contaminats. This was observed for mainly for hydrophobic organic contaminants (HOCs), but also reported for heavy metals. Aging is known to be directly related to sorption-desorption hysteresis, irreversible sorption, desorption-resistance, nonequilibrium sorption, etc. The decrease in bioavailability due to aging or sequestration indicates realistic decrease in risk potential. Recently a risk-based management concept by scientific evidences but not the simple measurement of contaminant concentration has been attempted to determine environmentally acceptable remedial endpoint. This is because selection of remedial endpoint based on not total concentration but the bioavailability and toxicity of contaminants can reduce both the treatment cost and remedial activities of the contaminated sites. The bioavailability and toxicity of the residual contaminants are highly affected by the fate and transport and also directly affect the exposure pathways and bioaccumulation of contaminants in the living biota. In this paper, scientific feasibility on the risk-based clean-up and management of contaminated sites is reviewed.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Environmental Restoration Technology
• /
• v.11 no.2
• /
• pp.75-86
• /
• 2008

The wetlands have functions those were retention of diverse biota, purification of water quality, control of climate and flood, eco-tourism and supply of agricultural water, and that was the ecosystem of high biodiversity as the zone of transition between inland and water. Therefore, this study showed the conservation and management plan by analyzing in the abiotic and biotic environment of forest swamp, Gyeongsangbuk-do. The results were as follows. Examining the management plan of the abiotic environment, there will need to establish the hydrological plan in continuous expediting the supply of water to maintain a humid soil of swamp, and to try to find the organic farming, use of low toxic agrichemicals and so on to prevent occurring a non-point source pollutants. To prevent changing the flowing of ground water and inflow of earth and sand in modifying the land character, there will be needed to restrict the construction of farmland and slope around swamp. To manage the biotic environment, there needed to offer the habitat by removing the regular interval and individual of a dead tree, and to improve the growth environment of vegetation. Because the naturalized plants disturb the natural vegetation, they will be removed. The afforested trees like Robinia pseudoacacia and Amorpha truticosa will be renewed to prevent the heterogeneity of landscape ecology, and the active conservation plan on wetland species will be established. As this study was carried out to study on the partial swamp, Gyeongsanbuk-do, the ecological environments distributing a swamp in Korea show a some problem. In the future, the study will accomplish to study the accurately and objectively ecological environment and management of a swamp by analyzing the extensive sites.

• Asian Journal of Atmospheric Environment
• /
• v.12 no.1
• /
• pp.1-16
• /
• 2018

Ground-level ozone ($O_3$) can be a menace for vegetation, especially in Asia where $O_3$ levels have been dramatically increased over the past decades. To ensure food security and maintain forest ecosystem services, such as nutrient cycling, carbon sequestration and functional diversity of soil biota, in the over-populated Asia, environmental standards are needed. To set proper standards, dose-response relationships should be established from which critical levels are derived. The predictor of the response in the dose-response relationship is an $O_3$ metric that indicates the dose level to which the plant has been exposed. This study aimed to review the relevant scientific literature and summarize the $O_3$ metrics used worldwide to provide insights for Asia. A variety of $O_3$ metrics have been used, for which we discuss their strengths and weaknesses. The most widely used metrics are based only on $O_3$ levels. Such metrics have been adopted by several regulatory agencies in the global. However, they are biologically irrelevant because they ignore the plant physiological capacity. Adopting AOT40 ($O_3$ mixing ratios Accumulated Over the Threshold of $40nmol\;mol^{-1}$) as the default index for setting critical levels in Asia would be a poor policy with severe consequences at national and Pan-Asian level. Asian studies should focus on flux-based $O_3$ metrics to provide relevant bases for developing proper standards. However, given the technical requirements in calculating flux-based $O_3$ metrics, which can be an important limitation in developing countries, no-threshold cumulative exposure indices like AOT0 should always accompany flux-based indices.

• Analytical Science and Technology
• /
• v.23 no.5
• /
• pp.477-484
• /
• 2010

Personal care products are a diverse group of synthetic organic chemicals such as antimicrobial compounds, UV filters and organo-phosphate flame retardants and derived from individual usages of soaps, toothpaste and cosmetics. It has been detected in municipal sewage effluent and various environmental samples such as surface water, marine, soil, sediment and aquatic biota in many countries. The occurrence of personal care products in environmental samples could negatively impact the health of the ecosystem and humans, due to persistent, long-term chronic exposure of aquatic organisms. In this study, fifteen personal care products in aquatic environmental samples were determined by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) with liquidliquid extraction (LLE). Method detection limits were in the range of $0.004\sim0.273\;{\mu}g/L$. Two compounds (TCEP, TCPP) were detected in surface waters and seven compounds (triclosan, 4-MBC, EHMC, BP-3, TCEP, TPP, TBEP) were detected in sewage treatment plants (STP) influents or effluents.

• The Korean Journal of Soil Zoology
• /
• v.5 no.1
• /
• pp.21-32
• /
• 2000

A faunistic study on the spiders (Arachnida: Araneae) from Mt. Jumbong Kangwon-do was carried out from 1996 to 1999. During the survey period, 144 species of 88 genera belonging to 27 families including 5 undetermined species were identified from 900 collecting individuals. The dominant families were Linyphiidae 21 species; 14.6% of total species), Araneidae (20 species, 13.9%), Theridiidae (16 species, 11.1%), and Salticidae 12 species, 8.3%). The composition of the species of web builders was richer than that of hunters. As for species commonness with adjacent countries, the numbers of common species between Mt. Jumbong and Japan, Mt. Jumbong and China, and Mt. Jumbong and Russia were 15 species (80.4%), 98 species (68.5%), and 48 species (33.6%), respectively. The number of common species among these four regions were 39 species (27.3%). So, the spider species composition in Mt. Jumbong seemed being much similar to those in neighbor countries. An outline of biogeographical distribution of spiders can be summarized as 1 Cosmopolitan species (0.7%), 16 Palearctic species (11.2%), 7 Holarctic species (4.9%), 25 Korean endemic species (17.4%) and no Oriental species. In the spider fauna at Mt. Jumbong, therefore, there are high level of occurrence of Korean endemic species with northern spiders as Palearctic and Holarctic species. The level and direction of man-made development may have negative effect on regional biota.