• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.38 no.4
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• pp.451-459
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• 2015

We investigated the pattern of floral diversity including naturalized plant species and three ecological factors (area, elevation and distance from mainland) of plant species on 53 uninhabited islands in Gyungsangnam-do, southeastern South Korea. A total of 206 taxa in 67 families were observed, and the species of Compositae was most common. Thirteen taxa in eight families of the naturalized plants were observed on 33 islands. The numbers of total plant species, area and elevation were significantly correlated, but no relationship with distance from the mainland was observed. In addition, no relationship was found among the numbers of naturalized plants, area and elevation. However, the average rate of naturalization on islands with different elevations differed significantly, indicating the smallest proportion of naturalized plant species was on high islands. Multiple regression of total species richness identified elevation as a significant factor, while no significant variables were correlated with naturalized plant species. Nonmetric multidimensional scaling (NMS) ordination identified three major variables, distance from mainland, number of naturalized plant species and elevation. These findings indicate that the geography of islands such as area and elevation affected the species richness of plants on uninhabited islands, while human disturbance had a greater effect than geography on the species richness of naturalized plants on islands in southeastern South Korea.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Environmental Restoration Technology
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• v.18 no.6
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• pp.85-95
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• 2015

Recent years, nationwide projects for ecological restoration are implemented with emerging issues on the stream ecosystem. In order to enhance effectiveness of the ecosystem restoration and reduce negative impact, the appraisal of effectiveness through the follow-up monitoring and the adaptive management process are executed in consecutive phase. In this study, planning phase, monitoring and adaptive management in Hakui stream which is part of An Yang stream restoration project is introduced as representative ongoing case of effective adaptive management. The aim of this study is to verify the adaptive management process and suggest direction of effective restoration. Restoration project of Hakui stream resulted in increasing number and diversity of species (vegetation, fish, bird, invertbrates, amphibian and reptilia) according to monitoring from 2004 to 2013, and enhancing natural river landscape by evaluation of river naturalness among 2001(before restoration), 2007 (after), 2015 (recent). However, excessive vegetation expansion or sediment deposition on channel over time caused unexpected results such as terrestrialization or degradation of habitats. Adaptive management action such as removing disturbance species (Humulus japonicus)(2007), coppicing willow (2007), release of march snail (2007), creation of wetland (2014) were implemented based on monitoring results. And then appraisal of management action was discussed.

• The Korean Journal of Ecology
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.305-320
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• 1996

It is necessary to obtain information about the productivity of the human-influenced forest and to understand the consumption of biomass resources in secondary forest in order to examine the resource flux by human activity in rural landscape. Thus the aims of this study were to elucidate the biomass and their use of secondary Pinus densiflora forests and to discuss sustainable utilization of secondary forests in rural landscape system. This study was carried out in Yanghwa-ri, Kongjugun, Chungcheongnam-do, central Korea. The changes of growth rate and aboveground biomass of a pine forest for 2 years were analyzed to understand forest management regimes in rural pine forests. Through allometric equations deduced from 25 sample trees, biomass was estimated. The biomass increase of pine forest was approximately 16.36 t/ha/yr in the unexploited stand and 12.24 t/ha/yr in the exploited stand. These were nearly equal to those of natural pine forests in central Korea. This result proved that human-influenced pine forest in rural landscape as well as the natural one has high potentiality to provide forest products. Making graveyard in forest-land was the important disturbance and land-use which currently occurring in rural landscape in the study area. Finally, we presented some forest management for stutainable and positive uses of secondary forests as one of the local energy resources in terms of the holistic landscape-ecological view.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.347-356
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• 2007

The structure and dynamics of Korean red pine stands established in the riparian zone were studied in the Tsang stream in Mt. Seorak National Park, in east-central Korea. Pine stands were classified into four successional stages, the initial, establishing, competitive, and stabilizing stages, based on the age distribution of a dominant tree, Pinus densiflora, the vegetation stratification, and the microtopography of the riverine environment. The stages usually corresponded to disturbance frequencies, depending on the horizontal and vertical distances from the watercourse. Stands of the initial and establishing stages lacked tree or subtree layers, or both. As stands progressed through the developmental stages, soil particle size became finer and moisture retention capacity was improved. The stand ordination reflected the developmental stage, and the species ordination differentiated species specializing in relatively dry and wet habitats. The results of the analysis of vegetation dynamics provided ecological information which will be useful for understanding the developmental processes of vegetation established in riparian zones. Species diversity indices usually increased across developmental stages, following the typical pattern for successional processes. We discuss the importance and necessity of riparian vegetation in Korea, where most riparian forests have disappeared due to excessive human land use.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.11 no.11
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• pp.1149-1156
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• 2002

The ecological characteristics of Dolbae trees, a valuable genetic resource for native pyrus fruit trees, were investigated at four naturally inhabited areas on Mount Kaya, Gyeongsangnam-Do. Most Dolbae trees were found on the southwest side of an old hiking path to a mountain valley at altitudes of 610∼670 m. The surrounding flora consisted of 46 families, 69 genera, 75 species, and 10 varieties. The natural habitat of the Dolbae trees was basically a deciduous broad-leaved forest with a predominance of Quercus serrata and ligneous plants(xylophytes) from the Fagaceae and Betulaceae families. The habitat was also found to be in a second transition resulting from forest disturbance and exhibited a degree of diversity of 2.901-5.065, based on Shannon-Weiner's index. Examination of the Dolbae trees found in Mount Kaya revealed diameter breast heights(DBHs) ranging from 10 to 60 cm, including six old and large Dolbae trees with a DBH of 50∼60 cm, which will be particularly valuable as a genetic resource. Accordingly, the current results suggest that the study areas are a secondary forest in a typical mid-temperate zone resulting from forest damage about 10 years earlier.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.40 no.4
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• pp.546-552
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• 2007

The objectives of this study were to analyze fish compositions, based on trophic guilds and tolerance guilds and determine community characteristics structure at five sampling sites of Yeongsan Lake during July 2006-May 2007. Total number of species sampled was 30 species and the number was 1350. Cyprinidae (77%) and Centrarchidae (15.7%) dominated the community and then followed by Cobitidae(2.7%), Gobiidae(2.4%), Mugilidae (0.5%), and others (0.1%). The relative abundance of tolerant and omnivore species at all sites was 63% and 77% of the total, respectively, suggesting an ecological degradations in the Lake. Exotics species such as large mouth bass (Micropterus salmoides), which is a top-carnivore in the water distributed at all sampling sites, implying that ecological disturbance was severe based on previous reference of US EPA (1991). Also, we found external anomalies such as external deformities, bleeding and tumors and not found migratory fish. Analysis of fish community structure showed that species diversity index and richness index was the highest in Site 1 and the dominance index was the highest in Site 2. In this study, high proportions of tolerant species and omnivore species, widespread exotic species, and frequent observations of abnormal fish. Such problems may be directly or indirectly associated with high nutrient enrichments and the reduced flow velocity by the dam construction. The ecosystem restoration by dam removal or removal of exotic top-carnivore fish may be one of the best strategies for better lak management.

• Korean System Dynamics Review
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.61-79
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• 2014

This paper deals with system thinking in the resilience of the SES (Social-Ecological Systems) around Mt. Gariwang, located in Jeongseon County, Gangwon Province, in particular with the disturbance that a new ski slope is planned to be built for the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympic. It first performs a literature survey and newspaper article search to summarize the controversy with regards to credible environmental and socio-economical impacts of the plan, and then elaborates a series of CLDs (Causal Loop Diagrams) to infer the dynamics of the impacts. The results imply that the natural restoration seems to be hard because the development activities can cause a great deal of damage to the ecosystem mainly due to soil degradation and the mitigation of icy valley effects with water exploitation for making artificial snow and so on. Moreover most of the households near the planned site seem to leave with land compensation, thus more policy efforts are needed to enhance the resilience of the ecosystem and the nearby society based on ecotourism.

• Journal of Plant Biology
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.49-61
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• 1976

A survey was conducted on the vegetation of Judo and Gamagseum in warm temperate zone of Southern Korea. They are covered with natural vegetation, evergreen forest dominated with Castanopsis cuspiadata in Judo and Machilus thunbergii in Gamagseum. Judo is a small island, ca. 1.75 ha, located within the Wando port. Since the flora of Wando including the Judo was reported in 1924, some investigator have reported evergreen trees of Judo. But the list of plant species of Judo is still unavailable. Gamagseum, located at the 15km morth of Judo, is a small island, ca. 1.45 ha, cosisting of two islands, Dae-o-do and So-o-do in low tide, and the report of its flora and any other survery on its is almost none. The vegetatons of Judo and Gamagseum are an example of natural forest vegetation occured rarely in warm temperate zone because of human disturbance in the southern coast zone of the Korean Peninsula. However, the ecological study of those vegetation has not ever been made, and the ecological or plant geographical situations of their vegetation is not clear. To determine the vegetation type, listing of plant species in the islands, calculation of basal area of trees over DBH=4.5cm, Raunkiaer's life form, leaf size class, Pte.-Q and etc., were studied. Total plant species of Judo was 110 species and that of Gamagseum was 99 species. In Judo, Castanopsis cuspidata was 1384 individuals among 2359 individuals over DBH=4.5cm, and in Gamagseum, Machilus thunbergii was remarkably abundant and Castanopsis cuspidata could not be found.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Landscape Architecture
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• v.44 no.2
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• pp.1-10
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• 2016

The purpose of this study is to analyze the change of environmental capacity in Yong-in City, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea through calculation of ecological footprint indices and analysis of their changes, and to suggest implications for urban development and planning. In this study, we analyzed ecological footprints of 1993, 2003, and 2013 to understand the patterns of land use changes and development in Yong-in City. We also compared the GIS land cover maps and ecological footprint indices to figure out land cover changes associated with resource consumption in Yong-in City. As a result, we found the following three lessons. First, the ecological footprint indices of Yong-in City are 3.20(gha) in 1993, 6.50(gha) in 2003, and 11.15(gha) in 2013. This implies that the ecological footprint of Yong-in City is much larger than 1.80(gha), the globally required ecological footprint per capita and 3.56(gha), the average ecological footprint of South Korea. Second, the forest ecological footprint of Yong-in City was calculated as the largest, followed by the ecological footprints of energy, food, and built environment. In particular, the forest ecological footprint was the most rapidly increased from 0.002(gha) in 1993 to 7.32(gha) in 2013, followed by energy ecological footprint from 0.87(gha) to 2.38(gha). This implies that the provision and consumption of timber are seriously unbalanced, and energy consumption is unsustainable because of the rapid increase of residential and commercial land development in the city. Third, our analysis of the rapid increase of forest ecological footprint indicates that the disturbed forest areas are concentrated in the increased built environment areas. We also observed that the increase of energy ecological footprint indices was caused largely by the increase of the commercial and road areas. This implies that Yong-in City should minimize forest disturbance and expand green areas for future in the city. In addition, this may provide a reasonable ground that the city should reduce the use of fossil fuels and facilitate the use of renewable energy.

• 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.