• Ecology and Resilient Infrastructure
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.64-78
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• 2021

This study was conducted to find out the effect of the construction and operation of river-crossing structures on the habitat landscape characteristics in the Geum-gang River, South Korea. A total of three study reaches were selected in the downstream of the Daecheong Dam: the Buyong-ri reach, which is a control that is not affected by the construction and operation of the weir of the Four Rivers Project and Sejong-bo Weir reach and Gongju-bo Weir reach of the upper and lower sections of each weir that are affected by the weir construction and operation. The habitat type was classified, and then the structural characteristics of the landscape were analyzed using aerial photographs taken before and after the construction of the Daecheong Dam, before and after the construction of the weir, and before and after the weir gate operation. After the construction of Daecheong Dam in Geum River, the area of the bare land greatly decreased, and the area of grassland and woodland increased in the downstream of the dam. In addition, the patch number in the river landscape increased, the patch size decreased, and the landscape shape index and the habitat diversity increased. Therefore, after the construction of the dam, the bare land habitat was changed to a vegetated habitat, and the habitat was fragmented and diversified in the downstream of the dam. After the construction of the weirs, the area of open water increased by 18% in the Sejong-bo reach and by 90% in the Gongju-bo reach, and the landscape shape index of the open water decreased by 32% in the Sejong-bo reach and by 35% in the Gongju-bo reach, and the habitat diversity index decreased to 25% in the Sejong-bo reach and to 24% in the Gongju-bo reach. Therefore, the open water habitat was expanded, the shape of the habitat was simplified, and the habitat diversity decreased according to the construction of the weirs. After water-gate opening of the weir, the bare land that disappeared after the construction of the weir reappeared, and the landscape shape index and habitat diversity index increased in both terrestrial and open water habitats. Therefore, it was found that the landscape characteristics of the river habitats were restored to the pre-construction of the weir by the operation of the weir gate. The effect of weir gate opening was delayed in the downstream than in the upstream of the weir. Although the characteristics of the landscape structure in the river habitat changed due to the construction of the river-crossing structures, it is thought that proper technology development for the ecological operation of the structures is necessary as the habitat environments can be restored by the operation of these structures.