• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.46 no.3
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• pp.250-258
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• 2022

Background: To assess the carbon sequestration capacity and net ecosystem productivity (NEP) of Quercus glauca forests, we analyzed the net primary productivity (NPP), carbon storage, and carbon emission of soil in a Q. glauca forest on Jeju Island (South Korea) from 2016 to 2018. Results: The average carbon stock in the above- and below-ground plant biomass was 223.7 Mg C ha^-1, while the average amount of organic carbon fixed by photosynthesis was 9.8 Mg C ha^-1 yr^-1, and the average NPP was 9.6 Mg C ha^-1 yr^-1. Stems and branches contributed to the majority of the above- and below-ground standing biomass and NPP. The average heterotrophic carbon emission from the soil was 8.7 Mg C ha^-1 yr^-1, while the average NEP was 1.1 Mg C ha^-1 yr^-1. Although the carbon stock, carbon absorption, and soil respiration values were higher than those reported in other oak forests in the world, the NEP was similar or lower. Conclusions: These results indicator that Q. glauca forests perform the role of a large carbon sink through the CO₂ absorption in the plants in terms of carbon balance. And it is judged to be helpful as data for assessment of carbon storage and flux in the forests and mitigation of elevated CO₂ in the atmosphere.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.42 no.4
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• pp.155-162
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• 2018

Background: In ecosystem carbon cycle studies, distinguishing between $CO_2$ emitted by roots and by microbes remains very difficult because it is mixed before being released into the atmosphere. Currently, no method for quantifying root and microbial respiration is effective. Therefore, this study investigated the relationship between soil respiration and underground root biomass at varying distances from the tree and tested possibilities for measuring root and microbial respiration. Methods: Soil respiration was measured by the closed chamber method, in which acrylic collars were placed at regular intervals from the tree base. Measurements were made irregularly during one season, including high temperatures in summer and low temperatures in autumn; the soil's temperature and moisture content were also collected. After measurements, roots of each plot were collected, and their dry matter biomass measured to analyze relationships between root biomass and soil respiration. Results: Apart from root biomass, which affects soil's temperature and moisture, no other factors affecting soil respiration showed significant differences between measuring points. At each point, soil respiration showed clear seasonal variations and high exponential correlation with increasing soil temperatures. The root biomass decreased exponentially with increasing distance from the tree. The rate of soil respiration was also highly correlated exponentially with root biomass. Based on these results, the average rate of root respiration in the soil was estimated to be 34.4% (26.6~43.1%). Conclusions: In this study, attempts were made to differentiate the root respiration rate by analyzing the distribution of root biomass and resulting changes in soil respiration. As distance from the tree increased, root biomass and soil respiration values were shown to strongly decrease exponentially. Root biomass increased logarithmically with increases in soil respiration. In addition, soil respiration and underground root biomass were logarithmically related; the calculated root-breathing rate was around 44%. This study method is applicable for determining root and microbial respiration in forest ecosystem carbon cycle research. However, more data should be collected on the distribution of root biomass and the correlated soil respiration.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural and Forest Meteorology
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.259-266
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• 2014

Understanding the forest fire patterns is necessary to comprehend the stability of the forest ecosystems. Thus, researchers have suggested the simulation models to mimic the forest fire spread dynamics, which enables us to predict the forest damage in the scenarios that are difficult to be experimentally tested in laboratory scale. However, many of the models have the limitation that many of them did not consider the complicated environmental factors, such as fuel types, wind, and moisture. In this study, we suggested a simple model with the factors, especially, the geomorphological structure of the forest and two types of fuel. The two fuels correspond to susceptible tree and resistant tree with different probabilities of transferring fire. The trees were randomly distributed in simulation space at densities ranging from 0.5 (low) to 1.0 (high). The susceptible tree had higher value of the probability than the resistant tree. Based on the number of burnt trees, we then carried out the sensitivity analysis to quantify how the forest fire patterns are affected by the structure and tree density. We believe that our model can be a useful tool to explore forest fire spreading patterns.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.101 no.3
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• pp.480-487
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• 2012

This study was conducted to search the effects of debris barrier on the benthic macroinvertebrate. Gimcheon was selected as the survey site as it has relatively stable ecosystem with constantly running water. The survey was conducted 6 times before and after the construction of debris barrier from February in 2009 to October in 2010. In the first survey before construction, the identified species were 36 species belonged to 22 families, 9 order, 4 class, and 4 phylum. The figure slightly decreased to 30 species belonged to 18 families, 7 order, 2 class, and 2 phylum in the sixth survey after construction. Before construction, occupation ratio of EPT taxa was showed in the following order: Ephemeroptera (50.0%, 85.0%), Trichoptera (35.3%, 10.0%), and Plecopteran (14.8%, 5.0%). After construction, it was showed in the following order: Trichoptera (50.3%, 68.0%), Ephemeroptera (42.1%, 29.4%), and Plecopteran (7.5%, 2.7%). Ephemeroptera was the highest before construction. Trichoptera increased rapidly after construction. The Diversity, Richness, Evenness, and Dominance indices were all turned low in the second survey right after the construction. However, each index tended to increase with the course of time. In Functional Feeding Groups, GC type was the highest of 60.7% before construction. After construction, SC(53.1%) and FC(35.4%) increased rapidly and they became stabilized since the third survey. The result of this study reveals that debris barrier greatly affects the Aquatic Ecosystem right after its construction, but the system becomes stable and returns to normal with the course of time (about 18 months). Therefore, the study considering various influence factors such as time is required to recover completely through further long-term monitoring.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.96 no.5
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• pp.503-509
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• 2007

The major objective of this study was to analyze the difference of the chemical characteristics of acid deposition in Quercus forests in Korea and Japan. The pH values of rainfall at the experimental forest of Kangwon National University (KS site) were higher than those at the Foresta Hills in Japan (JP site), and all chemical contents of throughfall and stemflow were much higher than those of rainfall in Quercus forest stands at the KS and JP site. The pH values, $Ca^{2+}$, $NO_3{^-}$ and $SO{_4}^{2-}$ concentration of throughfall and stemflow at the KS site showed seasonal variation. While at the JP site, the same pattern was shown in the pH values of throughfall and stemflow, however, did not show any difference among seasons. Also, the annual input of all nutrients in these two contrasting forests varied seasonally. These results can be used to predict the amounts of air pollutant that are washed off and leached by the rainfall and Yellow Sand (Asian dust), including NOx and SOx acid pollutants transported easterly from China in the spring. Therefore, it is necessary to quantify the inputs of dry and wet deposition throughout a full year to gain a more complete understanding of the effects of acid deposition on the nutrient cycles in these forest ecosystems.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Environmental Restoration Technology
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• v.13 no.6
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• pp.97-106
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• 2010

Earthworm, a prominent ecosystem engineer within many terrestrial ecosystems, can exert profound influences on various abiotic/biotic environments through bioturbation processes such as burrowing, casting and mixing of litter and soil. In this study, we investigated how the presence or absence of earthworm (Oligochaeta) can alter the soil physico-chemical conditions and ultimately the distribution and abundance of Collembola which constitutes a large proportion of the soil fauna. During September 2010, soil organisms along with soil samples were collected from randomly installed 20 plots in Mt. Gwan-ak. We examined the differences in the abundance of Collembola among plot samples in respect to the presence/absence of earthworm and soil physico-chemical conditions (i.e., pH, $PO_4^{3-}$, $NO_3^{2-}$, organic matter (OM), electrical conductance and water content). Analysis of soil physico-chemical environment revealed a significantly higher organic matter content and electrical conductance in plots with earthworm compared to plots without earthworm. Abundance of Collembola were not only higher in plots with earthworm than in plots without earthworm, but were also positively correlated with availability of OM present in the environment. The results suggest that positive impacts of earthworm on the abundance of Collembola in this study may have been due to their ability to effectively modify soil physico-chemical conditions favored by Collembola. Such conspicuous influence of earthworm's activity on below-ground community suggests their potential significance in forest restoration or revegetation process.

• Journal of the Korean Association of Geographic Information Studies
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.1-15
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• 2016

The study of ecosystem service assessment has been actively researched and developed from Millennium Ecosystem Assessment(MA) and The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity(TEEB). However, current assessments are limited to monetary assessments of ecosystem function and do not account for the effects of environmental factors and socioeconomic status. This study proposes methods to evaluate ecosystem service based on environmental and socioeconomic factors. The study assesses water yield function through the water yield model in InVEST Tool, and evaluates the overall ecosystem service of water yield as reflected by the amount of precipitation and population of the area. Results show that a difference exists between spatial distributions of the ecosystem function of water yield derived from natural conditions such as land cover and soil, and the spatial distribution of the ecosystem service that accounts for climate and socioeconomic factors. The value of ecosystem service increases for an area of higher population and lower precipitation with similar water yield. Thus, the ecosystem service of water yield should be evaluated not only by the water yield function, but also by climate and socioeconomic factors. The evaluation process described for this study should also be applicable to the evaluation of ecological services in other sectors.

• Korean Journal of Weed Science
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.24-33
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• 2011

Wingstem, Verbesina alternifolia of North America origin, was introduced in 1981 into the Korea terrestrial ecosystem. It scattered in a number of places with limited population size in most cases. Its population has spread into the forest at the Chiaksan National Park and occupied the natural vegetation. Distributions of wingstem were the most popular along the 12 road sites, especially in Route 453, Seohwa-myeon, Inje-gun, Gangwon-do and in Route 31, Yeongyang-gun, Gyeongsangbuk-do with 60% coverage of wingstem. It was also distributed in the 5 forest sites and 5 riversides. Despite of its attractive yellow flower, it is recommended to limit cultivation in the nature reserve or other ecosystem of conservation value.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.237-247
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• 2009

This study was conducted to determine the carbon (C) contents in different mixed stands of P. dens if/ora and deciduous oak species in Gwangneung, central Korea. Five mixed stands with different ratios of P. densiflora and deciduous oak species were chosen based on the basal area of all trees ${\geq}\;5cm$ DBH: pure P. densiflora (P100D0), 70% P. densiflora + 30% deciduous oak species (P70D30), 44% P. densiflora + 56% deciduous oak species (P50D50), 37% P. densiflora + 63% deciduous oak species (P40D60), and 10% P. densiflora + 90% deciduous oak species (P10D90). Total C contents in the overstory (aboveground and belowground) vegetation were higher in the mixed stands (P70D30, P50D50, P40D60) than in the pure stands (P100D0, P10D90). Moreover, except for P40D60, C contents of forest floor (litter and coarse woody debris) were larger in the mixed stands (P70D30, P50D50) than in the pure stands. However, total soil C contents up to 30cm depth were highest in the pure deciduous oak stand than in the pure P. densiflora stand and mixed stands. Total ecosystem C contents (Mg/ha) were 163.3 for P100D0, 152.3 for P70D30, 188.8 for P50D50, 160.2 for P40D60, and 150.4 for P10D90, respectively. These differences in total ecosystem C contents among the different mixed stands for P. densiflora and deciduous oak species within the study stands were attributed by the differences in vegetation development and forest management practices. Among the five study stands, the total ecosystem C contents were maximized in the 1:1 mixed ratio of P. densiflora and deciduous oak species (P50D50).

• The Journal of the Convergence on Culture Technology
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• v.5 no.3
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• pp.251-256
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• 2019

With the fast development of modern society, the interests concerned about the significance of nature and environment become major issue nowadays. Especially, threats for our health due to severe environmental pollution and fine dusts become serious problem with the fast industrialization of our society, and extra attention is focused on interests about conservation of nature and management of forest resources. Precious forest resources, however, are not properly managed and destroyed vainly due to frequent fire, damage by storms and floods, and unplanned land development. So systematic and scientific construction and management of forest resources are required in order to solve these problems efficiently. Furthermore, implementation of the forest resource information database that contains information of trees, Topography, ecosystem of the forest is urgently needed. In this paper, we design and implement the forest resource information database based on the information of location based forest resources and Topography using forest images taken by a drone, that enables us to manage forest resources efficiently, make decision for logging, and construct a future tree-planting project easily.