• Journal of the Korean Society of Marine Environment & Safety
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• v.24 no.7
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• pp.907-915
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• 2018

With the increase of metal usage in various industries, metal pollution and ecological toxicity in the environmental system have become a significant concern. A geo-statistical index has been widely used to determine contamination level with normalization through a background value. In this study, geo-statistical indexes such as an enrichment factor, accumulation index, and potential ecological risk index were used to assess metal pollution in soil at locations associated with shipbuilding manufacturing industries. Metal contamination, especially of Cu and Pb, was observed in some samples located closer to manufacturing sites. Enrichment factor and accumulation (IGEO) values were indicative of concerning levels of soil contamination in specific samples, and the soil contamination could be induced by anthropogenic sources. In further study, after more detailed sampling for soil and potential pollution sources, high interpretation techniques such as Pb isotope analysis and X-ray analysis will be needed to investigate source identification.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.94 no.1 s.158
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• pp.26-33
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• 2005

The study was carried out to provide information about growth and ecological characteristics by site types of natural deciduous forest in Pyeongchang, Gangwon Province. The data were collected from four aspects(the East, the West, the South, and the North) with three elevation(higher than 1.000 m, 700~1,000 m, lower than 700 m) and three topographical conditions(ridge, hill, and valley). Growth parameters by site types were evaluated based on the growth performances of dbh for the last 5 to 10 years; which were also estimated based on both Pressler and Schneider formulae. In addition, ecological characteristics such as Shannon-Wiener's diversity index, evenness index and richness index were analyzed by site types. The management methods by site types were suggested by considering stand density, growth patterns, and ecological characteristics. It was found that the stands on the South and the East are necessary the tending practices to improve growth and ecological characteristics. On the other hand, the West and the North needed the tending practices focusing on stand density management to increase growth rate rather than ecological management. It was also found that the area lower than 700 m in elevation showed Higher growth rate than other areas. As a management standard considered in terms of growth rate, it was suggested that tending practices should be applied to the stands of which growth rate for the last 5 to 10 years were lower than 2%. Considering topographical conditions, valley area showed better ecological characteristics than both ridge and hilly areas. Consequently, it was revealed that the valley areas were suitable for the ecological management.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Environmental Restoration Technology
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.1-14
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• 2019

The 1st Forest Health Management survey was conducted to examine the health of the forests in Korea. However, in order to understand the health of the forests, which account for 63.7% of the total land area in South Korea, it is necessary to comprehensively spatialize the results of the survey beyond the sampling points. In this regard, out of the sample points of the 1st Forest Health Management survey in Gyeongbuk area, 78 spots were selected. For these spots, the species diversity index was selected from the survey sections, and the spatial interpolation method was applied. Inverse distance weighted (IDW), Ordinary Kriging and Ordinary Cokriging were applied as spatial interpolation methods. Ordinary Cokriging was performed by selecting vegetation indices which are highly correlated with species diversity index as a secondary variable. The vegetation indices - Normalized Differential Vegetation Index(NDVI), Leaf Area Index(LAI), Sample Ratio(SR) and Soil Adjusted Vegetation Index(SAVI) - were extracted from Landsat 8 OLI. Verification was performed by the spatial interpolation method with Mean Error(ME) and Root Mean Square Error(RMSE). As a result, Ordinary Cokriging using SR showed the most accurate result with ME value of 0.0000218 and RMSE value of 0.63983. Ordinary Cokriging using SR was proven to be more accurate than Ordinary Kriging, IDW, using one variable. This indicates that the spatial interpolation method using the vegetation indices is more suitable for spatialization of the biodiversity index sample points of 1st Forest Health Management survey.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.29 no.5
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• pp.580-587
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• 2019

Benthic macroinvertebrates were analyzed in March, June, September, and December 2018 to evaluate water quality in the Songji River in Sacheon-ci, Korea. The identified benthic macroinvertebrates included 447 individuals belonging to 20 species, 18 families, 12 orders, 5 classes, and 3 phyla. Various ecological parameters were estimated for evaluation of the river status. The total ecological score of benthic macroinvertebrate community (TESB) varied from 17 (Station D) to 41 (Station A). The saprobic index and ecological score of benthic macroinvertebrate community (ESB) for the evaluation of river status revealed a water quality evaluation at Station A of II (oligosaprobic), indicating some satisfactory water protection. The benthic macroinvertebrate index (BMI) varied from 25.207 (Site C) to 39.348 (Station A). The evaluation of the river status at Stations C and D was polysaprobic, and sensitive taxa were absent. The mean Shannon-Weaver index (H') of diversity varied from 1.288 (Station D) to 2.250 (Station A). The classification of saprobity based on H' was ${\beta}$-mesosaprobic at Station A and ${\alpha}$-mesosaprobic at the other stations. The value of geometric density was varied from 1.229 (Station A) to 2.071 (Station D), with a mean of 1.582. An artificial load is being added to this river. One of load is the rectal river construction which flows straight through the river physics. Thus, the environment of living organisms deteriorates due to insufficient water. In order to secure the quality of the Songji River and a good environmental habitat, several low-height stepped-beam structures are required.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.21 no.5
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• pp.801-811
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• 2012

For biodiversity conservation, Biological Impact Assessment is very important. The focus of the study is to enhance efficient Environment Impact Assessment(EIA) based on collecting existing information of endangered species covering the status survey, estimation of effects and reducing methods. Habitat Suitability Index(HSI) can be applicable to Ecological Impact Assessment and finding various reducing methods based on estimating effects. For this study, the EIA report of Samjang - Sanchung highway construction was chosen as an example and Prionailurus bengalensis euptilura as an endangered species was chosen to assess the ecosystem impact on road construction. Water, road, ground coverage, slope, altitude as variables of habitat were weighted and final HSI map was calculated using Arc map and Arc view. Through comparing of before and after HSI, quantitative estimating on effects was possible to minimize impact of road construction to wildlife habitat.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.43 no.1
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• pp.24-34
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• 2010

This study was carried out to analyze some influences on ecological health conditions, threaten by various stressors such as physical, chemical and biological parameters. We collected samples in 2008 from three zones of upstream, midstream and downstream, Gap Stream. We applied multi-metric fish assessment index (MFAI), based on biotic integrity model to the three zones along with habitat evaluations based on Qualitative Habitat Evaluation Index (QHEI). We also examined fish fauna and compositions, and analyzed relations with MFAI values, QHEI values, and various guild types. Chemical parameters such as oragnic matter (BOD, COD), nutrients (TP, $NH_3$-N), coli-form number (as MPN), and suspended solids (SS) were analyzed to identify the relationship among multiple stressor effects. Using the sentinel species of Zacco platypus, the population structures and condition factors were analyzed along with DNA damages related with genotoxicant effects by comet assay. This study using all these parameters showed that stream condition was degraded along the longitudinal gradient from upstream to downstream, and the downstream, especially, was impacted by nutrient enrichment and toxicant exposure from the point source, wastewater treatment plant. Overall results indicated that our approaches applying various parameters may be used as a cause-effect technique in the stream health assessments and also used as a pre-warning tool for diagnosis of ecological degradation.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.26 no.6
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• pp.665-673
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• 2010

The role of remote sensing in phenological studies is increasingly regarded as a key in understanding large area seasonal phenomena. This paper describes the application of Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) time series data for vegetation classification using seasonal variation patterns. The vegetation seasonal variation phase of Seoul and provinces in Korea was inferred using 8 day composite MODIS NDVI (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index) dataset of 2006. The seasonal vegetation classification approach is performed with reclassification of 4 categories as urban, crop land, broad-leaf and needle-leaf forest area. The BISE (Best Index Slope Extraction) filtering algorithm was applied for a smoothing processing of MODIS NDVI time series data and fuzzy classification method was used for vegetation classification. The overall accuracy of classification was 77.5% and the kappa coefficient was 0.61%, thus suggesting overall high classification accuracy.

• Journal of the Korean Association of Geographic Information Studies
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.158-174
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• 2018

The leaf area index (LAI) is a major factor explaining the photosynthesis of vegetation, evapotranspiration, and energy exchange between the earth surface and atmosphere, and there have been studies on accurate and applicable LAI estimation methods. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between the actual LAI data, UAV image-based vegetation index, canopy height and satellite image (Sentinel-2) LAI and to present an effective LAI estimation method using UAV. As a result, among the six vegetation indices in this study, NDRE ($R^2=0.496$) and CIRE ($R^2=0.443$), which contained red-edge band, showed a high correlation. The application of the canopy height model data to the vegetation index improved the explanatory power of the LAI. In addition, in the case of NDVI, the saturation problem caused by the linear relationship with LAI was addressed. In this study, it was possible to estimate high resolution LAI using UAV images. It is expected that the applicability of such data will be improved if calibration and correction steps are carried out for various vegetation and seasonal images.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.40 no.3
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• pp.403-411
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• 2007

The purpose of the study was to evaluate fish community, based on conventional at Shannon-Weaver diversity index (H'), and ecological health, based on the Index of Biological Integrity (IBI) using fish assemblage in the eight sites of Nakdong River during June${\sim}$August 1999. Total number of species sampled was 19 species, and two sensitive species of Zacco temminckii (51%) and Rhynchocypris oxycephalus (28%) dominated the fish community. Also, trophic guild analyses showed that insectivore was 87% of the total and omnivore was rare, indicating that the ecological health is well maintained in the system. The pattern of spatial variation in the diversity index(H') was very similar to patterns of the species number and individual number, whereas the pattern of H' was not matched with the tolerance and trophic guild data. The diversity index (H') showed highest (1.56) in Site 6 where the proportion of sensitive species and tolerant species was minimum and maximum, respectively, and where the insectivore and omnivore were minimum and maximum. In other words, the diversity index was not matched at all with the trophic and tolerant guilds, indicating that the conventional index did not reflect the ecological characteristics of fish community in the system. In the mean time, the ecological health (IBI) averaged 33.5 (n=8), indicating "good${\sim}$fair condition" and the IBI values matched with trophic and tolerance guilds. Maximum IBI occurred in Site 2 where the sensitive and msectivore species were nearly maximum, and the tolerant and omnivore species were almost minima, indicating that IBI values were closely associated with the ecological functions and health conditions. Overall data suggest that the conventional diversity index may not effective for a evaluation of fish community, and that in contrast the IBI approach may be a useful tool for diagnosis of stream community.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.21 no.6
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• pp.841-857
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• 2012

Preliminary ecological environmental assessments including physico-chemical constituents, water quality, fish fauna analysis, physical habitat health, and ecological health assessment were conducted as a primary step for Jeungchon micro-habitat ecosystem restoration in 2012. Water chemistry analysis of conductivity, dissolved oxygen, chlorophyll-a and etc. indicated that there were no significant differences(p < 0.05) among 6 sites between the headwaters and downstream. Multi-metric model analysis of Qualitative Habitat Evaluation Index(QHEI) showed that brooklets were at "good condition" as a mean QHEI of 158.7(n = 6) and the longitudinal differences of the model values between the sites were minor(QHEI range: 153 - 165). Total fish species and the number of individuals were 12 and 481, respectively, and dominant species were Zacco platypus(49.5%) and Zacco koreanus(36.8%). Tolerance guild analysis showed that the proportion of sensitive species($S_S$) had a negative linear function[$S_S=86.35-0.31(D_H)$; $R^2$ = 0.892, p < 0.01] with a distance from the headwaters, while the proportion of tolerant species($T_S$) had a positive linear function($R^2$ = 0.950, F = 90.28, p < 0.001) with the distance. Trophic feeding guild analysis showed that the proportion of insectivore species($I_n$) had a negative linear function($R^2$ = 0.934, p < 0.01) with a distance from the headwaters, while the proportion of omnivore species($O_m$) had a positive linear function($R^2$ = 0.958, p < 0.001) with the distance. Index of Biological Integrity(IBI) model, based on fish assemblages, showed a "fair condition" as a mean IBI of 23(n = 6), and there was a distinct differences of ecological health between the headwaters(S1 = 30; "good condition") and the downstreams(S6 = 14; "poor condition"). Overall, the preliminary environmental impact assessments suggest that water quality, physical habitat conditions(QHEI model), and ecological health(IBI model) were maintained well, even if the state was not an excellent conditions.