• 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 Ecology and Environment
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.269-278
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• 2011

Carabid beetle community changes in paddy fields, abandoned paddy fields, and mountains were investigated to understand differences in species diversity and composition of different habitat types in small agricultural landscapes in South Korea. A total of 2,938 individuals from 37 species were identified and classified from the studied habitats. Diversity in the mountains was higher than that in abandoned paddy fields. As the number of years since abandonment increased, the diversity and stability of the carabid beetle community also increased. Abandoned paddy fields in some paddy field areas and adjoining mountainous areas, left with preconditions for management and control, have provided the opportunity to improve the diversity and habitat of small agricultural landscapes. Species composition changed continuously from the paddy fields to the mountains, in accordance with individual species habitat preferences. Abandoned paddy fields in small agricultural landscapes are believed to play an important role as transitional buffer zones between paddy fields and the adjacent mountainous areas.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.514-520
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• 2006

An abandoned mandarin orange orchard in southwestern Japan was set-stocked by Japanese Black cows at two stocking rates (1.0 and 2.0 animals/ha), and vegetation dynamics and diet selection by cattle were monitored for two years, in an effort to obtain information on effective use of abandoned agricultural fields for low-cost animal production and environmental conservation. Two dominant species at the commencement of grazing, kudzu (Pueraria lobata Ohwi) and tall goldenrod (Solidago altissima L.), showed different responses to grazing during the two years; the composition of kudzu decreased, contrasting with that of tall goldenrod which increased at both stocking rates. This was caused by high preference for kudzu and avoidance or low preference for tall goldenrod by cattle. Retrogression of vegetation due to cattle disturbances occurred at both stocking rates, with the high stocking rate leading to a lower degree of succession than the low stocking rate. It was shown that cattle grazing, particularly at a high stocking rate, was effective in the management of vegetation of an abandoned orchard.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.213-223
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• 2008

The increasing area of abandoned rice fields could provide new opportunities for wetland restoration in Asia. However, it is unknown how quickly or completely abandoned rice fields will recover from agricultural disturbances. We assessed water quality and plant community succession in abandoned rice fields with different hydrology in a mountain valley to understand the effects of hydrological regime on recovery. Water level, soil redox potential, water quality, plant composition, and primary production were measured. The sites, coded as D6, N13, and N16, had been recovering for 6, 13, and 16 years by 2006. N13 and N16 have been recovering naturally whereas D6 has been drained with a nearby dike and was tilled in 2001. The typical hydroperiods of D6, N13, and N16 were no surface water, permanently flooded, and seasonally flooded, respectively. The major change in vegetation structure of both D6 and N13 was the replacement of herbaceous species by woody species. Drawdown accelerated this change because Salix koreensis grew better in damp conditions than in flooded conditions. Phragmites japonica reduced plot-level plant species richness. The removal efficiency of $NH_4-N$, $NO_3-N$, and $PO_4-P$ from water varied seasonally, ranging between -78.8 to 44.3%, 0 to 97.5%, and -26.0 to 44.4%, respectively. In summary, abandoned rice fields quickly became suitable habitat for native wetland plant species and improved regional water quality. Variation among our sites indicates that it is likely possible to manage abandoned rice fields, mostly through controlling hydrology, to achieve site-specific restoration goals.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.199-206
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• 1996

Vegetation succession and changes in soil chemical properties were investigated in 10 abandoned rice fields in Kyunggi Province in 1995. Annual weeds were dominant at the first year of abandonment, later on Perennial weeds became dominant as the period of abandonment progressed. The number of Salicaceae(willow family) increased rapidly as the abandonment period further progressed. In cultivated fields, soil pH and cation contents are slightly higher in subsurface layer than surface layer. In abandoned fields, however, pH of surface layer was getting higher than subsurface soil layer with the lapse of time. Similar trends were observed in case of exchangeable Ca and Mg contents.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.38 no.4
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• pp.219-224
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• 2019

BACKGROUND: Soil bacteria play important roles in organic matter decomposition and nutrient cycling during the non-growing season. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of soil management and chemical properties on the utilization of carbon sources by soil bacteria in paddy fields. METHODS AND RESULTS: The Biolog EcoPlate was used for analyzing community-level carbon substrate utilization profiles of soil bacteria. Soils were collected from the following three types of areas: plain, interface and mountain areas, which were tested to investigate the topology effect. The results of canonical correspondence analysis and Kendall rank correlation analysis showed that soil C/N ratio and NH₄⁺ influenced utilization of carbon sources by bacteria. The utilization of carbohydrates and complex carbon sources were positively correlated with NH₄⁺ concentration. Cultivated paddy fields were compared with adjacent abandoned fields to investigate the impact of cultivation cessation. The level of utilization of putrescine was lower in abandoned fields than in cultivated fields. Monoculture fields were compared with double cropping fields cultivated with barley to investigate the impact of winter crop cultivation. Cropping system altered bacterial use of carbon sources, as reflected by the enhanced utilization of 2-hydroxy benzoic acid under monoculture conditions. CONCLUSION: These results show that soil use intensity and topological characteristics have a minimal impact on soil bacterial functioning in relation to carbon substrate utilization. Moreover, soil chemical properties were found to be important factors determining the physiological profile of the soil bacterial community in paddy fields.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.49 no.1
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• pp.81-86
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• 2016

Heavy metal pollution in agricultural fields at the abandoned metal mines has been serious problems in Korea. In order to manage heavy metal pollution in surface water and soil, numerous remediation strategies have been established. Therefore, main purpose of this research was to examine feasibility of ecological toxicity assessment for establishing management strategy in heavy metal polluted agricultural fields. Heavy metal concentration in surface water and soil was monitored along with ecotoxicity experiment with Daphnia magna and Eisenia fetida. Result showed that high toxicity was observed in heavily polluted agricultural field with heavy metals. In case of mortality of Daphnia magna (85%) and Eisenia fetida (6.7%), the highest ratio was observed when heavy metal concentration in surface and soil was high. Calculated ecotoxicity index (EI) ranged 0.06-0.30 and the highest EI was observed in heavily polluted sites among 5 abandoned metal mines. Overall, ecological toxicity assessment is necessary to evaluate heavy metal pollution in agricultural fields near at the abandoned metal mines along with chemical concentration analysis.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural and Forest Meteorology
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.110-115
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• 2003

The iufluence of abandonment of agricultural fields on soil carbon and nitrogen dynamics is rarely addressed due to lack of appropriately paired sites. In this study, we identified three sites that have native forest and abandoned rice and crop fields at Mt. Kumdan near Seoul. Currently the vegetation of indigenous forest and the abandoned rice field is deciduous hardwood forest, while that of the abandoned crop field is deciduous shrub. We measured soil $CO_2$ evolution and inorganic N availability for the three sites from 25 July 2002 through 24 January 2003. Soil $CO_2$ evolution tracked seasonal soil temperature. Mean soil $CO_2$ evolution (g $CO_2$/$m^2$/hr) for the study period was 0.42 for the rice field to forest, 0.50 for the crop field to shrub, and 0.41 for the indigenous forest, respectively. Soil $CO_2$ evolution and soil temperature were not different among the sites; however, soil water content was significantly different. Soil water content had a very weak influence on soil $CO_2$ evolution. Inorganic resin N availability differed among the three sites and seemed to be related to soil moisture.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.185-192
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• 2013

BACKGROUND: As a result of rural exodus, aging of rural population, development of high-yield rice varieties and so on, abandoned paddy fields of South Korea have generally increased. The phytosociological studies are needed to recommend the effective vegetation management methods of abandoned paddy fields. The current study performed an analysis of vegetation characteristics by classifying plant communities for abandoned paddy fields in South Korea. METHODS AND RESULTS: A comparative analysis of syntaxonomy, synecology, and syndynamics was performed by using the Z.-M. method of phytosociology and vegetation survey which was obtained from an enumeration district of total 203 phytosociological releves of 5 regions in Gangwon-do, 5 regions in Gyeonggi-do, 2 regions in Chungcheong-do, 18 regions in Gyeongsang-do, and 10 regions in Jeolla-do. Alopecurus aequalis community, Juncus effusus var. decipiens community and Salix koreensis community were, respectively, identified as successional plant communities of the early stage, the middle stage, and the late stage in the vegetation of abandoned paddy field. Sere of abandoned paddy field can be classified, developmentally, into annual plant stage, perennial plant stage, shrub plant stage, and forest tree stage. Several kinds of dominant species rather than a distinct species were found in the middle stage of abandoned paddy field. CONCLUSION(S): In this study, changing pattern in vegetational communities of abandoned paddy field were understood. These results will provide important information for restoring and conserving the ecology of fallow ground.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Environmental Restoration Technology
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.52-66
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• 2009

The increase of rice productivity, the decrease of rice demand, aging farmers, and the market-opening of rice along with the domestic and international conditions changes have been led to the increase of the abandoned rice paddy fields. Such abandoned rice paddy fields have been left in many areas and most of them have become wetlands. The purpose of this study is methodology of selection to the wetland for development in the abandoned rice paddy fields along with surroundings. The selection of habitat suitability index assessment study to conservation and restoration was done through hydrology, wild animals habitation, wetland vegetation, outside disturbance, and natural purification capacity assessment. In addition, the same method was applied to assessment items and standards for both the restoration site selection and the type of restoration. Both assessment items and standards were applied to the sites, drawn on the maps, and overlayer for the comprehensive map, and then the wetland suitability index was applied to the suitable site. The development technique was applied to 10 sites near the Banwol Stream watershed in Gunpo, Gyeonggi province. The selection of conservation, restoration, and the optimal sites can lead to not only the biodiveristy increase in agricultural or semi natural areas but also to the establishment of ecological networks in national level.