• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.307-317
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• 2011

Ground beetle fauna of Mt. Bangtaesan in Inje-gun, Gangwon-do was investigated from June to October in 2010. Ground beetles were collected by pitfall trapping. A total of 34 species of 18 genera belonging to 7 families were identified from 1,041 collected ground beetles. Species richness was high in Pterostichinae (15 species, 44.1%), Carabinae (7 species, 20.6%), Harpalinae (4 species, 11.8%), Nebriinae (3 species, 8.8%) and others (5 species, 14.7%). Dominant species were Synuchus spp. (260 individuals, 25.0%), Aulonocarabus semiopacus (218 individuals, 20.9%), and Pterostichus audax (205 individuals, 19.7%) in order. Korean endemic species were collected 564 individuals belonging to 10 species. By principal component analysis (PCA), species distribution and abundance of ground beetles were different depending on habitat characteristics of vegetation, surrounding environment and feeding habitat. Carabinae and Pterostichinae which live in the forest were preferred in hardwoods and coniferous in the Bangtansan Natural Recreation Forest, while Callistinae and Harpalinae were collected in forest adjacent to grasslands. Overall, differences of habitat environments within forest are important factors associated with distribution of ground beetles. This result will provide useful informations with establishment of conservation program and long-term monitoring against environmental change within mountain by using ground beetles.

• Clean Technology
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.355-369
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• 2013

Economic feasibility is one of the most important factors in energy production from regenerative biomass. From the aspect, biogas from anaerobic digestion of wastewater sludge is regarded as the most economical because of its cheap substrate and additional income from the disposal of waste sludge. Sludge hydrolysis has been regarded as the rate limiting step of anaerobic digestion and many sludge pre-treatment technologies have been developed to accelerate anaerobic sludge digestion for enhanced biogas production. Various sludge pre-treatment technologies including biological, thermo hydrolysis, ultrasonic, and mechanical methods have been applied to full-scale systems. Sludge pre-treatment increased the efficiency of anaerobic digestion by enhancing hydrolysis, reducing residual soilds, and increasing biogas production. This paper introduces the characteristics of various sludge pre-treatment technologies and the energy balance and economic feasibility of each technology were compared to prepare a guideline for the selection of feasible pre-treatment technology. It was estimated that thermophilic digestion and thermal hydrolysis were most economical technology followed by Cell rupture$^{TM}$, OpenCEL$^{TM}$, MicroSludge$^{TM}$, and ultrasound. The cost for waste sludge disposal shares the biggest portion in the economic analysis, therefore, water content of the waste sludge was the most important factor to be controlled.

• Weed & Turfgrass Science
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• v.4 no.4
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• pp.315-320
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• 2015

Burcucumber (Sicyos angulatus) is an annual invasive plant species originated from North America. This species grows by twining around tree trunks, and blocks other plants from photosynthesis. Thus, it has caused the destruction of the ecosystem and biological diversity by threatening native plants. This study was performed to find out the effect of different soil water content (20%, 13%, 10%, 3%) and various shading degrees (0%, 60%, 80%) on the growth and photosynthesis-related activity of burcucumber. In the responses of burcucumber to soil water content, plant height (PH), leaf length (LL), leaf width (LW) and photosynthetic efficiency (PE) were lower at 20% water content than 10% reflecting that burcucumber plant grow well in the less dry soil and shows poor growth under wet soil condition. In shading experiment, PH, LL, LW and PE were lower at 80% than 60% shading and in general, the growth characteristics were lowered as the shading intensity increased. The improved growth of burcucumber under highly or moderately shaded condition implies that the plant can grow well without growth retardation and can be adapted to shading condition with other tall plant species including tree. Further study on the combination effects of above factors should be conducted in future for effective ecological control of burcucumber.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.41 no.6
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• pp.152-164
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• 2017

Background: Natural regeneration of seedlings as well as saplings of Korean fir has been significantly impacted by the browsing from the early stages of their development, potentially, by roe deer for the last two to three decades at the study site since late 1980s. This study was carried out to investigate current status of the disturbance in the seedling development of Korean fir (Abies koreana) on Mt. Hallasan, Jeju Island, Korea. Methods: Field survey was carried out during June and August in 2016 to measure the characteristics of study site and understory vegetation by applying systematic sampling to 125 plots of $5m{\times}5m$ quadrat located on eastern slope of the mountain. Correlation and regression analyses were applied to the variables quantified from the data sets using the SAS software. Results: No saplings with their diameters at breast heights smaller than 5.0 cm were found at the study site indicating the serious disturbance in the natural regeneration of Korean fir at the study site. No seedlings with their heights taller than 36.0 cm were found at the study site indicating even more serious disturbance during earlier stage of the natural regeneration of Korean fir at the study site. A total of 616 individuals of the seedlings of Korean fir were found at 54 out of 125 sampling plots. One hundred thirty-eight seedlings (22.4%) out of 616 individual seedlings have the vestiges for being grazed, potentially, by roe deer. Conclusions: Due considerations should be given to the effects of browsing of the seedlings by roe deer to promote the natural regeneration of Korean fir, ultimately to restore Korean fir. It is needed for the managers of the forest to install fences around the forest area. Exclosure experiments as well as enclosure experiments of different densities of browsing should be carried out. In addition, treatment with different densities of Jeju dwarf bamboo should also be included in the experiment on Mt. Hallasan National Park, Jeju Island, Korea.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.47 no.spc
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• pp.10-18
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• 2014

The habitat characteristic of the Gammarus sobaegensis which is one of the Amphipoda kinds has been found inhabiting in the inter mountain stream at Ganseong stream. From the investigation, the main inhabitant area of the G. sobaegensis maintained the water temperature under $10^{\circ}C$ during the spring and autumn season, and the electric conductivity was also maintaining under $40{\mu}Scm^{-1}$. For the precipitation, for this year when the monthly accredited rainfall did not exceed 800 mm, it did not affect maintaining the population of the G. sobaegensis but when the monthly accredited rainfall exceeded 1,000 mm it was found to be working as a unfavorable condition for maintaining the population. The effect especially from this kind of rainfall created the flow of G. sobaegensis as well as the flow of the fallen leaves which are the food resources and affected the population of the G. sobaegensis as a multiple interruption reason. Among the Functional Feeding Groups (FFGs) distribution depending on the use of the food resources the shredders showed up in the ratio of 20% in the site 1~3, and showed a big difference with the site 4~7 as it showed up in the ratio near 10%. Also, after comparing the variation of the individual number among the G. sobaegensis and shredders at the site 1~3 where G. sobaegensis mainly shows up, it showed the same variation pattern except for 2009.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.31 no.10
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• pp.960-968
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• 2021

Since microalgae research started on late 18 century, they have been recognized as one of the most important bioresources used in bioindustry. Owing to the large efforts paid to industrial application of this microorganisms, their importance on food/feed and bioactive compounds has been further extending into the environmental research areas including alternative energy resources, mitigation of the carbon emission, and waste-water treatment. However, despite the importance on their industrial application, the fundamental research field related to the long-term preservation of microalgae culture has not received much attention. However, a less labor intensive and cost-efficient preservation technology enabling biologically active and stable microalgae-culture provides a key success factor in the biotechnological application. Therefore, this study investigated various cutting-edge microalgae cryopreservation technologies currently developed so far, mainly targeting Chlorophyta, which occupies the largest taxon in the classification system of microalgae. In addition, for the development of successful cryopreservation technique, the key factors such as temperature control effect and preservative effect during cryopreservation of microalgae culture were investigated. In addition, the problems with current preservation technology that is being used in Korean domestic biological resource banks and the international microalgal resource banks are described. According to our investigation, currently no standard method for long-term preservation of microalgae is available due to their various morphological and physiological characteristics. To overcome such issues, much more efforts on fundamental research area on the identification of specific biomarker used for microalgae taxonomical classification and further systemic approaches based on strain-specific cryopreservation methods needed.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.31 no.7
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• pp.641-653
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• 2021

The purpose of this study was to confirm the antifungal activity, plant growth-promoting activity, and mineral solubilizing activity of 18 types of bacteria isolated purely from rhizosphere soil. The potential of isolates of the genus Bacillus and Pseudomonas as biocontrol agents was confirmed through the antifungal activity of these isolates. This activity has been determined to be due to various hydrolytic enzymes on the cell wall of plant pathogenic fungi and the production of siderophores in isolates. In addition, most of the isolates have been found to have aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylate deaminase production activity, indole-3-acetic acid production activity, and nitrogen fixation activity. These characteristics are believed to have a positive effect on root development, growth, and the productivity of crops via a reduction in the concentration of ethylene under conditions of environmental stress, to which plants are commonly exposed. In addition, on testing for the solubilizing activity of the isolates for phosphoric acid, silicon, calcium carbonate, and zinc, some isolates were found to have mineral solubilizing activities. Inoculation of these isolates during plant growth is expected to assist plant growth by converting nutrients necessary for growth into usable forms that can be absorbed by plants. The 18 isolated strains can be used as biocontrol agents due to their antifungal activity, plant growthpromoting activity, and mineral solubilizing activity.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.42 no.4
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• pp.272-277
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• 2018

Background: Studying the ecosystem carbon cycle requires analysis of interrelationships between soil respiration (Rs) and the environment to evaluate the balance. Various methods and instruments have been used to measure Rs. The closed chamber method, which is currently widely used to determine Rs, creates a closed space on the soil surface, measures $CO_2$ concentration in the inner space, and calculates Rs from the increase. Accordingly, the method is divided into automatic or manual chamber methods (ACM and MCM, respectively). However, errors of these methods and differences in instruments are unclear. Therefore, we evaluated the characteristics and difference of Rs values calculated using both methods with actual data. Results: Both methods determined seasonal variation patterns of Rs, reflecting overall changes in soil temperature (Ts). ACM clearly showed detailed changes in Rs, but MCM did not, because such small changes are unknown as Rs values are collected monthly. Additionally, Rs measured using MCM was higher than that using ACM and differed depending on measured plots, but showed similar tendencies with all measurement times and plots. Contrastingly, MCM Rs values in August for plot 4 were very high compared with ACM Rs values because of soil disturbances that easily occur during MCM measurements. Comparing Rs values calculated using monthly means with those calculated using MCM, the ACM calculated values for monthly averages were higher or lower than those of similar measurement times using the MCM. The difference between the ACM and MCM was attributed to greater or lesser differences. These Rs values estimated the carbon released into the atmosphere during measurement periods to be approximately 57% higher with MCM than with ACM, at 5.1 and $7.9C\;ton\;ha^{-1}$, respectively. Conclusion: ACM calculated average values based on various Rs values as high and low for measurement periods, but the MCM produced only specific values for measurement times as representative values. Therefore, MCM may exhibit large errors in selection differences during Rs measurements. Therefore, to reduce this error using MCM, the time and frequency of measurement should be set to obtain Rs under various environmental conditions. Contrastingly, the MCM measurement is obtained during $CO_2$ evaluation in the soil owing to soil disturbance caused by measuring equipment, so close attention should be paid to measurements. This is because the measurement process is disturbed by high $CO_2$ soil concentration, and even small soil disturbances could release high levels into the chamber, causing large Rs errors. Therefore, the MCM should be adequately mastered before using the device to measure Rs.

• Ecology and Resilient Infrastructure
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.79-88
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• 2019

In order to study the water quality status and its causal environmental factors, the water quality variables of chemical oxygen demand (COD), chlorophyll a (Chl a), Total phosphorus (TP), and total nitrogen (TN), the hydrogeomorphologic variables of water level fluctuation, total water storage, dam elevation, watershed area, and shoreline development index, and the land cover variables of forest, agricultural area, and urbanized area in the watershed were investigated in total 73 reservoirs with various operational purposes, water level fluctuation and geographical distribution in South Korea. The water quality was more eutrophic in the reservoirs of the more urbanized and agricultural area in the watershed, the low altitude, the narrow water level fluctuation, the narrowed watershed area, and the more circular shape. In terms of the purposes of reservoir operation, the reservoirs for agricultural irrigation were more eutrophic than the reservoirs for flood control. The results of the variable selection and path analysis showed that COD determined by Chl a and TP was directly affected by water level fluctuation and the shoreline development of the reservoirs. TP was directly affected by the urbanized area of the watershed which was related to the elevation of the reservoir. TP was also influenced by the water level fluctuation and the shoreline development. In conclusion, the eutrophication of the reservoirs in Korea would be influenced by the land use of the watershed, hydrological and geographical characteristics of the reservoir, water level fluctuation by the anthropogenic management according to the reservoir operation purpose, and the location of the reservoirs.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.54 no.4
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• pp.291-302
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• 2021

The phytoplankton community in the estuarine system is affected by changes of physicochemical factors easily. The present study analyzed phytoplankton community distribution and similarity, in addition to exploring factors influencing variations in phytoplankton community structure in three lakes located in the Yeongsan River estuary from March 2014 to November 2017. We carried out non-multidimensional scaling (NMDS) and random forest analysis (RF) for comparing the pattern of phytoplankton distribution and the relationship between phytoplankton distribution and environmental variables. Similarity Percentage (SIMPER) and Analysis of Similarity (ANOSIM) were performed to figure out the similarity of phytoplankton community at each site of three lakes. From NMDS, Phytoplankton community distribution differed between Yeongsan and Gumho lakes, and the factors influencing the distribution of phytoplankton communities across the three lakes were water temperature, dissolved oxygen, total nitrogen (T-N), nitrate-N (NO₃-N), and conductivity. NO₃-N was a key factor influencing phytoplankton community structure in the three lakes based on RF. A total of 24 species were identified as indicator species in the three lakes studied, with the highest species numbers observed in Yeongsan Lake (13) and the lowest observed in Yeongam Lake (2). According to SIMPER and ANOSIM results, the phytoplankton community in Yeongsan and Yeongam lakes were similar, and they differed from those in Gumho Lake. In addition, the phytoplankton community structure varied across the study sites in the three lakes, indicating that water channels across the lakes a minor influence phytoplankton community distribution.