• The Korean Journal of Ecology
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.171-183
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• 1994

Soil condition, total number of bacteria, soil amylase activity and microbial biomass $(CO_2-C)$ were measured at soil of different forest types. And the difference of the allelopathic effect was determined between fresh leaf extract of Quercus acutissima and Pinus rigida to the bacteria isolated from soil of different forest types. 1. Total number of bacteria in Carpinus laxiflora forest soil was 4~7 times larger than that in pinus desiflora forest soil. 2. Soil amylase activity was positively correlated with total number of soil bacteria and soil organic matter content. The amylase activity at F layer was 4~5 times larger than that at H layer, and that at H layer was 2~4 times larger than that at A layer. 3. Seasonal changes of microbial biomass showed a peak in summer, and vertical distribution of microbial biomass decreased with increasing soil depth. The microbial biomass in Pinus densiflora forest soil was larger than that in Quercus serrata forest soil. 4. Fresh leaf extract of Pinus rigida and Quercus acutissima showed an acceleration or inhibition effect on the growth of soil bacteria, and that of !. acutissima inhibited larger number of soil bacterial strains than that of P. rigida. 4.2% and 25% of soil bacterial strains isolated from soil of P. rigida and Q. acutissima forests were inhibited by fresh leaf extract of P. rigida and Q. acutissima, respectively.

• Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.62-69
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• 2018

In the present study, long-term heavy metals (HMs) contaminated soil samples from a well-known Pb/Zn smelting area in the southwest of China were collected, and physicochemical and biological characteristics of these samples were evaluated. Soil samples contained different concentrations of HMs, namely Pb, Zn, Cu, and Cd. Enzyme activity analyses combined with microcalorimetric analysis were used for soil microbial activity evaluation. Results showed that two soil samples, containing almost the highest concentrations of HMs, also shared the greatest microbial activities. Based on correlation coefficient analysis, high microbial activity in heavily HMs contaminated soil might be due to the high contents of soil organic matter and available phosphorus in these samples. High-throughput sequencing technique was used for microbial community structure analysis. High abundance of genera Sphingomonas and Thiobacillus were also observed in these two heavily contaminated soils, suggesting that bacteria belonging to these two genera might be further isolated from these contaminated soils and applied for future studies of HMs remediation. Results of present study would contribute to the evaluation of microbial communities and isolation of microbial resources to remediate HMs pollution.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.19 no.5
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• pp.375-381
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• 2000

Quantifying the changes of soil microbial biomass and activity of enzymes are important to understand the dynamics of active soil C and N pools. The dynamics of soil microbial biomass C and N and the activity of enzymes over entire growth period of soybean-(Glycine max (L) Merr.)-wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) sequence on a Typic Haplustert as influenced by organic manure and inorganic fertilizer N were investigated in a field experiment. The application of farmyard manure at 4 to 16 $Mg{\cdot}ha^{-1}\;y^{-1}r^{-1}$ along with fertilizer nitrogen at 50 or 180 $kg{\cdot}ha^{-1}$ increased the mean soil microbial biomass from 1.12 to 2.05 fold over unmanured soils under soybean-wheat system. Irrespective of organic and chemical fertilizer N application, the soil microbial biomass was maximum during the first two months at active growing stage of the crops and subsequently declined with crop maturity. The mean annual microbial activity was significantly increased when manure and chemical fertilizer at 8 $Mg{\cdot}ha^{-1}$ and 50/180 N $kg{\cdot}ha^{-1}$, respectively were applied. The C turnover rate decreased by 47 to 72 % when the level of farmyard manure was increased from 4 to 8 and 16 $Mg{\cdot}ha^{-1}$. There were significant correlations between biomass C, available N, dehydrogenase, phosphatase and yield of the crops.

• Journal of Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.48 no.4
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• pp.187-192
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• 2005

Influence of herbicide oxadiazon on soil microbial activity and nitrogen dynamics was evaluated. Soil samples were treated with oxadiazon at field and tenfold field rates and incubated. Organic amendment was added as an additional substrate for soil microorganisms. Tenfold field rate oxadiazon stimulated substrate-induced respiration (SIR) and dehydrogenase activity (DHA) in amended soil as compared to unamended soil and control treatment. Soil urease activity was not affected by oxadiazon treatment. In both amended and unamended soils, treatment of the herbicide at higher rate had not significant influence on $NH_4$-N and $NO_3$-N concentrations. Higher dose of oxadiazon was degraded in both soils, but dissipation rate in amended soil was higher than unamended soil, with half-lives ($t_{1/2}$) of 23.1 and 138.6 days, respectively. Recommended field rate did not affect microbial activity and nitrogen dynamics in soil ecosystem. Results showed influence of oxadiazon on cycling processes of nitrogen in soil was not significant however its effect on microbial activity was a tendency depending on addition of organic amendment to soil.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.28 no.5
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• pp.68-77
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• 2023

The effect of soil damage on the physicochemical characteristics and activity of the soil microbial community is not well known. This study investigates this relationship by analyzing 11 soil samples collected from various points of soil damage across Gyeonggi-do. Soil damage resulted from forest fires, landslides, and development areas, with their impacts most severe on the topsoil layer (0-30 cm). Dehydrogenase and β-glucosidase activities were notably higher at locations damaged by forest fires compared to other sites. While enzyme activities in soils influenced by landslides and development areas were relatively low, sites with a pollution history exhibited elevated dehydrogenase activity, likely due to past microbial response to the pollution. Additionally, an assessment of carbon substrate usability by soil microorganisms indicated higher substrate availability in areas impacted by forest fires, contrasting with lower availability in landslide and development sites. Statistical analysis revealed a positive correlation between organic content of sand and clay and microbial activity. These findings provide valuable insights into soil damage and associated restoration research, as well as management strategies.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.147-156
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• 1985

Seasonal and vertical variations of abiontic soil carboxymethylcellulase (CMCase) activities were assessed every other month for a year in two contrasting forest soils and evaluated the relationships between soil CMCase activity and environmental parameters. In climax deciduous soil, variations in CMCase activities caused by differences in sampling time were greater than those caused by differences in soil depth. On the other hand, counter phenomenon was obserned in coniferous soil at the stage of development. Correlation analyses showed that soil CMCase activities were significantly (p>0.01) correlated with microbial respiration rates ($O_2$ uptake) and all of the microbial population sizes. From these results, it is suggested that determination of abiontic soil CMCase activity is an useful additional index for evaluating the overall microbial growth and activity in soils.

• Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.29-35
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• 2020

The aim of this study was to estimate the microbial metabolic activity of indigenous soil microbes under the radon exposure with different intensity and times in the secured laboratory radon chamber. For this purpose, the soil microbes were collected from radon-contaminated site located in the G county, Korea. Thereafter, their metabolic activity was determined after the radon exposure of varying radon concentrations of 185, 1,400 and 14,000 Bq/㎥. The average depth variable concentrations of soil radon in the radon-contaminated site were 707, 860 and 1,185 Bq/㎥ from 0, 15, and 30 cm in deep, respectively. Simultaneously, the soil microbial culture was mainly composed of Bacillus sp., Brevibacillus sp., Lysinibacillus sp., and Paenibacillus sp. From the radon exposure test, higher or lower radiation intensities compared to the threshold level attributed the metabolic activity of mixed microbial consortium to be reduced, whereas the moderate radiation intensity (i.e. threshold level) induced it to the pinnacle point. It was decided that radon radiation could instigate the microbial metabolic activity depending on the radon levels while they were exposed, which could consequently address that the certain extent of threshold concentration present in the ecosystem relevant to microbial diversity and population density to be more proliferated.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.20 no.6
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• pp.37-45
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• 2015

This study was conducted to determine the toxic effect of TNT and RDX on indigenous soil microbes by measuring enzymatic activity. Denitrification activity, dehydrogenase activity, phosphatase activity, and fluorescein diacetate hydrolytic activity were determined for military firing range, field, and paddy soils exposed to TNT, and RDX from 0 to 1,000 mg/kg and 0 to 4,000 mg/kg, respectively, for 2, 4, and 8 weeks. Soil microbial enzymatic activities decreased with higher TNT and RDX concentration and longer exposure time. Microbial enzymatic activities of firing range soil were higher than field and paddy soils, indicating that indigenous microbes in firing range might have been adapted to TNT and RDX due to pre-exposure of the explosives. In addition, the toxicity of TNT and RDX decreased with higher organic matter because TNT and RDX tend to absorb to soil organic matter. No Observable Effect Concentration (NOEC) values of each microbial enzymatic activity were derived by the geometric mean of NOECs from exposure times (2, 4, and 8 weeks) and soil types (firing range, field, paddy soil). The derived NOECs ranged from 45.3 to 55.2 mg/kg for TNT and 286 to 309 mg/kg for RDX.

• The Korean Journal of Ecology
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.191-198
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• 1993

The relationships between microbial activity and disturbance level of soil were investigated from 15 parks in Seoul and undisturbed area. The physico-chemical characteristics of soil and dehydrogenase activity(DHA) as an index of soil microbial activity were analysed. There were ranges of 3.84~7.37 in pH, 9.63~40.33% in moisture content, 3.41~21.49% in organic matter, 0.36~0.79g/g in water holding capacity and 0.03~0.53% in total nitrogen investigated sites. DHA values of soil were 8.64~$146.76{\mu}g/g$ in park soil and 545.14~$1, 198.80{\mu}g/g$ in undisurbed area. DHA of park soil with high traffic density and contamination source from human activities was much lower than that of undisturbed area. DHA was positively correlated with moisture content, organic matter, water holding capacity and total nitrogen.

• The Korean Journal of Ecology
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.503-512
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• 1995

The present paper describes partial results of the study on the activities of microbes in the soil of Quercus mongolica forest from July, 1994 to April, 1995. To determine the relationship between structure and function of soil microbial ecosystem, the author investigated the seasonal change of physical environmental factors, microbial population and soil enzyme activities. The changes of pH was not significant and the temperature of surface soil was 2℃ higher than lower soil through out the year. Moisture contents (％) of soil samples ranged from 7.64％ to 42.11％. However, soils of site 3 at Mt. Komdan in which vegetation is successional have higher moisture content than the others. The bacterial population increased in summer, but continuously decreased in autumn and winter, and then reincreased again in spring. Bacterial population of surface soil was higher than those of 30 cm depth all the year round. Dehydrogenase activity (DHA) was about two-fold higher throughout in surface soil compared to those of lower soil. And the correlation coefficient between DHA and bacterial population size was 0,713, It was suggested that DHA could be used as a primary index of soil microbial population and activity in soil ecosystem.