• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.247-256
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• 2012

We evaluated the landscape ecological value of selected minefields and wetland patches as a habitat of the forest bird community. The avian fauna of three minefields of 8.5ha, 17.4ha, and 40.6ha were evaluated by comparing that of three control sites of mountain area. Average number of forest bird species, number of individuals, species diversity index, species richness, and species evenness were analyzed according to the size of patch and environmental characteristics such as the presence of wetland and connectivity. Community similarity was evaluated between test and control plots. Avian fauna can be summarized as follows. First, 63 species were recorded, and the sum of maximum counts was 828 individuals. Species diversity index was 3.8, and the species richness was 9.2. Species evenness was 93.3. Second, small, isolated forest patch had a low average number of species and individuals as expected. But, small forest patches with streams had higher bird density than patches without water surface. Third, forest patches with marsh wetland were evaluated as lower habitat quality than forest patches with stream wetland in terms of the number of bird species per unit area, number of individuals per unit area, species diversity index, species richness index, and species evenness. Finally, Community similarity of the small forest patches with streams was similar with large connected forest. As a result, lowland forest patch was shown the good quality for the forest bird community in spite of small extents, and community structure was similar with mountain forest bird community. Thus, riparian forest restoration could improve the biodiversity of the forest bird community.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.332-341
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• 2018

This study aims to establish operating methods for value-oriented and competitive operation of Dalseong Wetland Ecological Learning Center in Daegu, Korea, which will open in 2018. For this purpose, we surveyed 77 Ecological learning facility managers nationwide using 22 questions on the subjects such as the operating method, volunteer, budget, and profit. The managers of 50 ecological learning facilities (Type A) responded, and we extracted the responses by the managers of 12 ecological learning facilities (Type B) that had the similar size as the Dalseong Wetland Ecological Learning Center and conducted an additional analysis. The results of the survey indicated that it was advisable for Daegu Metropolitan City to operate the Dalseong Wetland Ecological Learning Center and that the staff at least 3-5 managers were necessary while the number of volunteers to regularly work at the center was estimated to be 25-30. Excluding labor costs, the annual operating budget was estimated to be between 150 million won and 200 million won if Daegu Metropolitan City operates the facility directly. This study is meaningful in that it provides reference data to establish realistic and detailed management plan of the Dalseong Wetland Ecological Learning Center based on the opinions of the surveyed managers of ecological learning facilities in Korea.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.31 no.6
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• pp.409-422
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• 2022

Riverine wetlands are an important element of the river ecosystem and account for approximately 38% of the inland wetlands surveyed so far. The Shincheon Wetland located in Mangyeong River is also a channel wetland as the flow rate is slowed by the constructed weirs, leading to sediment accumulation. To identify the conservation value and ecological characteristics of Shincheon Wetland, its vegetation and plant diversity were identified using a phytosociological method, and a total of 45 vegetation-related datasets were collected. Overall, 24 plant communities, comprising a total of 153 taxa (49 families, 117 genera, 146 species, 2 subspecies, 5 varieties) were identified. The plant with the highest appearance rate in the communities was Humulus japonicus Siebold & Zucc. In addition, annual herb species, including Rumex crispus L., Bromusjaponicus Thunb., Erigeron annuus (L.) Pers., and Artemisia indica Willd. were frequently observed to be growing in the secondary grassland. Naturalized plants were surveyed in the 38 taxa; the urbanization index was 10.3% and the naturalized index was 24.8%. Plant communities were largely classified into submerged vegetation, floating and floating-leaved vegetation, annual and biennial vegetation, perennial herb vegetation, and woody vegetation. The distribution of plant communities reflecting various habitats, including the lentic and lotic zone maintaining a constant water depth, littoral zone experiencing intermittent water level fluctuations, and dry floodplain environment was also confirmed. Overall, plant community development plays an important role in the habitat for wild animals; therefore, it is expected to positively impact biodiversity enhancement.

• Journal of Wetlands Research
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.286-294
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• 2020

This study aims to economically evaluate rice production and various ecological services provided by organic rice paddy carrying out rice-fish mixed farming. It was also conducted to find a stable structure for increasing the income of rice-producing farmers and promoting ecological services by evaluating the economic feasibility of organic rice paddy for rice-fish mixed farming. As a result of the analysis of expected effects by ecological service functions according to the types of agriculture in the rice-fish mixed farming, general conventional paddy fields were evaluated to have an effect of continuously decreasing biodiversity such as amphibian reptiles, aquatic insects, bird habitats, experience and ecological education, and vegetation diversity, while the biodiversity of organic and rice-fish mixed paddy fields was assessed to increase. As a result of evaluating the economic value, as the area for fish production increases compared to the common practice and organic paddy fields, rice production decreases, but fish production increases and total income was analyzed to increase. In addition, if the value of ecosystem service functions is assessed in the future, it will increase further. It is hoped that these findings will be used as basic data for solving oversupply problems in the rice industry, preserving safe farm income, and improving sustainable farming and ecosystem service functions.

• Journal of Wetlands Research
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.1-24
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• 2022

This study was conducted to perform efficient conservation and management by classifying the types of wetlands distributed in forests of Korea and assigning grades according to the evaluation system from 2015 until 2019. From 2005 to 2014, 1,264 sites derived from the first national forest wetland survey and 16 additional excavated sites were classified and also evaluated 455 out of a total of 1,280 forest wetlands. Forest wetlands are divided into four types: natural type, abandoned paddy field type, man-made type, and modified type, and by reclassifying them in detail, a total of 11 detailed wetland types could be distinguished. Based on this, evaluation was performed according to various items such as plants and ecology, hydrology and hydrology, humanities and society, and the degree of disturbance was graded. As a result, the forest wetland value was sorted at 30 A- grade sites, high-value B-grade 201 sites, moderate C-grade 184 sites, and low-value D-grade 40 sites. Forest Genetic Resource Reserve (FGRR) and other effective area -based conservation measures (OECMs) were designated for 231 sites that received a high grade of A or B, and a long-term monitoring system should be established to systematically conserve forest biodiversity hotspot. It is judged that wetlands need to be managed more effectively and at the national level.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Environmental Restoration Technology
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.35-42
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• 2011

The current study analyzed appropriateness of abandoned rice paddy wetlands as habitats for the Amphibia by assessing functions and value of abandoned rice paddy wetlands within land development districts as a habitat for living creatures and researching into the Amphibia living in the subject districts. For this purpose, the study designated abandoned rice paddy wetlands within Hwaseong A District and Pangyo B District under land development as subject lands. Those wetlands went through succession after abandonment of farming. Detailed study results are as follows. From classification of wetland types and an analysis of their characteristics, it was found that herbaceous plants such as smartweed communities, horsetail communities and reed communities, and woody plants such as pussy willow communities appeared in both districts. These abandoned rice paddy wetlands shows typical characteristics of palustrine wetlands. As a result of a vegetation structure research, it was observed that succession has been progressed for at least over 2~3 years. In assessment of wetland functions by item, it was found that they are developing into fine wetlands in terms of functions because they are ranked over Moderate Class except separate distance from streams. Also from a research into animals living in the abandoned rice paddy wetlands, it was found that main inhabitants are Rana nigromaculata,Rana dybowskii, Hyla japonica, Bufo bufo gargarizans, etc. It can be confirmed that the abandoned rice paddy wetlands are providing appropriate conditions as habitats to the Amphibia in a view that those species have life cycles of inhabitation (shores and wetlands) - egg-laying (rice paddy, puddles and swampy places) - hibernation (rice field banks and swampy places). From this point of view, it was found that abandoned rice paddy wetlands that developed because of abandonment of farming can be used as means to improve structure and functions of habitats.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Environmental Restoration Technology
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.1-15
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• 2006

As the imports of foreign agricultural products are liberalized and the consumption of agricultural products declines, abandoned rice paddy fields continues to rise. However, such abandoned rice paddy fields has not been precisely surveyed yet. In this backdrop, a necessity to develop technology to utilize such abandoned rice paddy fields has emerged. Utilization of abandoned rice paddy fields as wetlands may be a good example. This study aimed to survey the current status and characteristics of wetlands created within abandoned rice paddy fields by selecting abandoned rice paddy fields throughout the nation and conducting field surveys on the sites that had transformed into wetlands. The abandoned rice paddy fields almost transformed into wetland and the types of wetlands transformed from abandoned rice paddy fields were mainly Inland/Moutain/Depression/Abandoned rice paddy fields/Marsh/Phragmites communis community and Inland/Moutain/Depression/Abandoned rice paddy fields/Swamp/Salix koreensis community. Abandoned rice paddy fields that had transformed into wetlands was depending heavily on waterways for water supply than other reservoirs and lakes do. Abandoned rice paddy fields transformed into wetlands was most observed in mountainous area. Abandoned rice paddy fields are because agricultural land is no longer profitable due to international and social changes and is not cultivated as government policy. Wetland period and dimension originated from abandoned rice paddy fields are very various and its surrounding land its mostly forest and the next largest follow roads and rural community. The abandoned rice paddy fields transformed into wetlands is mostly deserted currently. Despite their value as wetlands, no restoration and utilization efforts are made in Korea today. Therefore, it is imperative to conduct a precise current status survey on these areas and introduce management and restoration plans at the government level in the case of important habitats.

• Journal of the Korean Geographical Society
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• v.45 no.2
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• pp.275-292
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• 2010

This study investigated the land-cover changes in the tidal flat of the Taean peninsula due to man-made environmental changes between 1972 and 2008, through time-series analysis based on a modified post-classification comparison method and multi-temporal satellite images. The analysis revealed that the land-cover of the tidal flat has changed from tidal flat to wetland and from wetland to paddy field between 1972 and 2008. Also, the pattern of detailed land-cover changes is as follows: tidal flat to wetland; lake and saltpan to bare land and paddy field. The accurate classification of each image is needed for the application of the post-classification comparison method. The overall accuracy of the classified images was found to be 95.33% on average, and the Kappa value was 0.941 on average.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.211-222
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• 2015

This study focused on evaluating the efficiency of the removal of non-point source pollution by Daecheong Lake Juwon Stream constructed wetlands. The constructed wetland system is a surface flow type designed in the year 2007 for purifying eutrophic water of Daecheong Lake Juwon Stream. The value of conductivity, suspended solids(SS), chemical oxygen demand using a potassium permanganate($COD_{Mn}$), five-day biochemical oxygen demand($BOD_5$), total nitrogen(T-N), total phosphorous(T-P), and pH in inflow averaged 220.2, 2.46, 3.33, 1.34, 2.00, 0.04 mg/L and 7.24, respectively and in outflow averaged 227.9, 1.12, 3.34, 0.87, 1.16, 0.02 mg/L and 7.45, respectively. The average removal efficiency of constructed wetlands was 30 % for SS, 22 % for $BOD_5$, 45 % for T-N and 31 % for T-P. The removal rates of SS, $BOD_5$ and T-N in the spring, summer and autumn were higher than those in winter. The removal rate of T-P was not significant different in all seasons. The amounts of pollutants removal in the constructed wetlands were higher in the order of $3^{rd}$ < $2^{nd}$ < $1^{st}$ wetland for SS and T-P, $2^{nd}$ < $3^{rd}$ < $1^{st}$ wetland for $BOD_5$ and T-N. Therefore, our findings suggest that the constructed wetlands could well treat the eutrophic Daecheong Lake Juwon Stream waters.

• Journal of Wetlands Research
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.24-30
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• 2020

To assess the wetland systems' capability to reduce fine dust, we used an artificial wetland module of small-sized greenhouse (70cm W × 70cm L × 60cm H) which creates a closed system. Experiment was performed twice using four species in each experiment. Non-plantation, one species, or two species condition was created in each mesocosm. We measured air quality, primarily PM2.5 and PM10 at the initial open mesocosms and 1hr later since mesocosms were closed. The dry weight of vegetation was measured at the 2nd experiment. The decreased amount of PM2.5 and PM10 was 13.7±1.3 and 13.2±1.3 ㎍·m^-3hr^-1 in wetland condition and 15.0±1.4 and 13.8±1.5 ㎍·m^-3hr^-1 in dryland condition, respectively. In 2^nd experiment, the decreased amount of PM 2.5 and PM 10 in wetland condition was 13.7±1.3 and 9.2±1.5 ㎍·m^-3hr^-1, 15.0±1.4 and 8.8±1.4 ㎍·m^-3hr^-1 in dryland condition, respectively. Wetland showed higher removal effect due to its high productivity leading to more effective absorption of particulate matter. Furthermore, the aquatic characteristics of wetland system and high humidity helped purifying the air quality. This can be seen as another value of wetlands, which can be presented as one of the solutions to the problem of fine dust.