• Journal of the Korean Institute of Traditional Landscape Architecture
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• v.36 no.1
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• pp.55-66
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• 2018

The cactus habitat in Jeju Island has a phytogeographically specific distribution in the East Asian region, and forms a unique landscape as the only native cactus (Opuntia ficus-indica (L.) Mill.) habitat in Korea. However, there has been no detailed investigation on the distribution of cacti in the habitat and no investigation on the diversity of the mixed composition of plants in the habitats and their correlation with the distribution of cactus populations. This study attempted to investigate the diversity of vascular plants in the Wollyeong-ri cactus habitat and record the actual distribution and trends of cactus distribution. In addition to the distribution characteristics of cacti, we also discuss the characteristics of species reflecting the characteristics of the habitat among the mixed population of plant species, as well as the biological and environmental factors that threaten the maintenance of cactus populations or require management for preservation of cacti. Considering the phenological character, we conducted the field surveys for flora identification six times between June 2015 and September 2017. The Engler classification system was used for the arrangement sequence and names of plants, and the Korean Plant Names Index was adopted for the Korean name of the species. The study results showed that the Wolryung-ri cactus habitat in Jeju Island has the characteristic physiognomy of an area dominated by cactus. For the vascular plants, a total of 125 taxa were identified, including 53 families, 104 genera, 109 species, 15 varieties and 1 forma. Endangered plants specified by the Ministry of Environment were not found. Two species, Cyrtomium falcatum and Asplenium incisum, were identified as the ferns, and no gymnosperms were found. In addition, 123 taxa of angiosperms, 91 taxa of dicotyledones and 32 taxa of monocotyledons were identified. The distributions of cacti were confirmed in 289 meshes corresponding to 59.3% of the total 487 meshes in the cactus protected area, which showed various coverage distributions ranging from 5% to 95%. Most of the meshes where no cacti were found are coastal areas with exposed basalt rocks where the soil depth has not developed or extremely restricted due to repeated waves, or areas where artificial facilities, grasslands, and observation paths have been constructed. On the other hand, there were 71 lattice points in 14.5% of the total area where the cactus showed 70% or higher dominance. Cacti are randomly distributed in these areas. They have adapted to the microhabitat environment and are found to be opportunistically distributed along the growable locations. Considering that the reproduction of cacti in the habitat is mostly dependent on parthenogenesis, the present distribution seems to reflect the potentially distributable regions of cacti in the habitat. Based on the results of field surveys, a management plan for conservation and protection of the protected areas has been proposed.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.40 no.3
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• pp.481-488
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• 2007

This study covers the relationship between land use and water quality items. The kinds of land used in this study were almost agricultural areas with paddy fields and mountains. We set up zones at intervals of 200 m along 48 watersheds all over the country. The analysis showed high relationship between the water quality and the land use specially on the areas in the 400 m radius from the stream so that the areas needed to have strict managements. In the cases of residential area and upland, the positive correlation had a tendency to be lower when they were farther away from the stream. It depended on the increase of rainfall during July and August which affected on the water quality of reservoirs. The correlation analysis of paddy fields resulted in negative relationship, which indicated that paddy fields did not have negative effect on the quality of the stream. Through adequate irrigation and Management, paddy fields may be led to have positive effect on the quality of the reservoirs. In the case of forest, it also resulted in negative correlation so it was concerned as a positive factor which helped to improve water quality. Furthermore more than 00% of the land used in this study is comprised of forest so that it would have a positive effect on the reservoir management.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.52 no.3
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• pp.245-265
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• 2019

Biotope, which represents the characteristic habitats of living organisms, need to be identified as essential for the efficient creation and sustainable management of urban ecosystems. This study was carried out to provide the basic information for ecological urban planning by analyzing types and attributes of the biotop established throughout the whole area of the Pohang city, a representative industrial city in Korea. The biotop established in Pohang city is composed of 12 types including forests (coniferous, deciduous, and mixed forests), agricultural fields (rice paddy and upland field), green facilities, river, reservoir, bare ground, residential area, public facilities, commercial area, industrial area, roads, and schools. As a result of analyzing the properties according to biotop types, industrial, commercial and residential areas, which represent urban areas, was dominated by introduced vegetation. Moreover the introduced vegetation is usually composed of exotic plants or modified forms for landscape architecture and horticulture rather than native plants, which reflects ecological property of both region and site. As the distance from the urban center increases, the agricultural field showed a form of typical farmland, whereas the closer it is, the more form of greenhouse farming. Natural green spaces were divided into riparian vegetation established along the stream and forest vegetation. Forest vegetation is consisted of secondary forests (seven communities) and plantations (three communities). The urban landscape of Pohang city is dominated by the industrial area. Among them, the steel industry, which occurs large amounts of heat pollution and carbon dioxide, occupies a large proportion. On the other hand, green space is very insufficient in quantity and inferior in quality. This study proposed several restoration plans and further, a green network, which ties the existing green spaces and the green space to be restored as a strategy to improve the environmental quality in this area.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Landscape Architecture
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• v.50 no.6
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• pp.1-14
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• 2022

To alleviate the urban heat island phenomenon, this study aims to quantitatively analyze the effects of neighborhood green spaces on the improvement of the thermal environment based on detailed scenarios of five types of green spaces, including parks, pocket parks, parking lot greening, roadside planting, and rooftop-wall greening. The ENVI-met 4.4.6v model, a microclimate simulation program, was used to analyze the effects of green spaces. As a result, it was found that the air temperature decreased as the planting density of the park increased, but the thermal comfort index PET, which is the degree of heat sensation felt by humans, was not directly proportional to temperature. The establishment of a pocket park reduced air temperature up to a radius of 56m, while the range of temperature reduction increased by about 12.5% when three additional pocket parks were established at 250m intervals. Unlike the air temperature, PET was only affected in the vicinity of the planted area, so there was no significant difference in the thermal comfort of the surrounding environment due to the construction of pocket parks. Changing the surface pavement from asphalt to lawn blocks and implementing rooftop or wall greening did not directly act as solar shading but positively affected air temperature reduction; PET showed no significant difference. Roadside planting showed a higher air temperature reduction effect as the planting interval was narrower, but PET was not directly proportional to tree density. In the case of shrub planting under trees, it did not significantly affect the air temperature reduction but positively affected the improvement of thermal comfort. This study can outline strategies for constructing neighborhood green spaces to solve the urban heat island phenomena and establish detailed strategies for efficient thermal environment improvements.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.280-291
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• 2019

A. antiquum, first observed in Jeju Samdo Island in 1949, was designated as the Natural Monument No. 18 in December 1962 in recognition of its academic value. In Korea, it grows in nature only in Samdo in Jeju Island. Although its natural habitat was greatly damaged and almost destroyed due to firewood, stealing, etc. After the emancipation, it has been maintained by the transplantation and restoration. The site observed by this study has been managed as a restricted area since 2011. Since it has been about 20 years since the restoration of the native site in the 2000s, it is necessary to check the official management history records, such as the origin of transplantation and restoration to monitor the changes in the growth status and to control the habitat. As the results of this study, we have secured the records of cultural property management history, such as the identification of native species and the transplantation and restoration records. We also examined the change of the growth and development of A. antiquum 20 years after the restoration. There are no official records of the individuals transplanted to the restored natural habitat of A. antiquum in the 1970s and 1980s, and there was a controversy about the nativeness of those individuals that were restored and transplanted in 1974 since they were Japanese individuals. The studies of identifying native as the results of this study, we have secured the records of cultural property management history, such as the identification of native species and the transplantation and restoration records. We also examined the change of the growth and development of A. antiquum 20 years after the restoration. There are two sites in natural habitat in Samdo Island. A total of 65 individuals grow in three layers on three stone walls in a site while 29 individuals grow in two columns in the other site. A. antiquum grows in an evergreen broad-leaved forest dominated by Neolitsea sericea, and we did not find any other individuals of naturally growing A. antiquum outside the investigated site. This study checked the distribution of A. antiquum seedlings observed initially after the restoration. There were more than 300 seedling individuals, and we selected three densely populated sites for monitoring. There were 23 A. antiquum seedlings with 4 - 17 leaves per individual and the leaf length of 0.5 - 20 cm in monitoring site 1. There were 88 individuals with 5 - 6 leaves per individual and the leaf length of 1.3 - 10.4 cm in monitoring site 2 while there were 22 individuals with 5 - 9 leaves per individual and the leaf length of 4.5 - 12.1 cm in monitoring site 3. Although the natural habitat of A. antiquum was designated as a restricted public area in 2011, there is a high possibility that the habitat can be damaged because some activities, such as fishing and scuba diving are allowed. Therefore, it is necessary to enforce the law strictly, to provide sufficient education for the preservation of natural treasures, and to present accurate information about cultural assets.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.37 no.4
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• pp.302-314
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• 2023

This study aims to explore the direction for Korea's effective response to Target 3 (30by30), which can be said to be the core of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (K-M GBF) of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), to find the direction of systematic OECM (Other Effective area-based Conservation Measures) discovery at the national level through a survey of global conceptual review and expert perception of OECM. This study examined ① the use of Korean terms related to OECM, ② derivation of determining criteria reflecting global standards, ③ deriving types of potential OECM candidates in Korea, and ④ considerations for OECM identification and reporting to explore the direction for identifying systematic, national-level OECM that complies with global standards and reflects the Korean context. First, there was consensus for using Korean terminology that reflects the concept of OECM rather than simple translations, and it was determined that "nature coexistence area" was the most preferred term (12 people) and had the same context as CBD 2050 Vision of "a world of living in harmony with nature." This study suggests utilizing four criteria (1. No protected areas, 2. Geographic boundaries, 3. Governance/management, and 4. Biodiversity value) that reflect OECM's core characteristics in the first-stage selection process, carrying out the consensus-building process (stage 2) with the relevant agencies, and adding two criteria (3-1 Effectiveness and sustainability of governance and management and 4-1 Long-term conservation) and performing the in-depth diagnosis in stage 3 (full assessment for reporting). The 28 types examined in this study were generally compatible with OECMs (4.45-6.21/7 points, mean 5.24). In particular, the "Conservation Properties (6.21 points)" and "Conservation Agreements (6.07 points)", which are controlled by National Nature Trust, are shown to be the most in line with the OECM concept. They were followed by "Buffer zone of World Natural Heritage (5.77 points)", "Temple Forest (5.73 points)", "Green-belt (Restricted development zones, 5.63 points)", "DMZ (5.60 points)", and "Buffer zone of biosphere reserve (5.50 point)" to have high potential. In the case of "Uninhabited Islands under Absolute Conservation", the response that they conformed to the protected areas (5.83/7 points) was higher than the OECM compatibility (5.52/7 points), it is determined that in the future, it would be preferable to promote the listing of absolute unprotected islands in the Korea Database on Protected Areas (KDPA) along with their surrounding waters (1 km). Based on the results of a global OECM standard review and expert perception survey, 10 items were suggested as considerations when identifying OECM in the Korean context. In the future, continuous research is needed to identify the potential OECMs through site-level assessment regarding these considerations and establish an effective in-situ conservation system at the national level by linking existing protected area systems and identified OECMs.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.40 no.1
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• pp.163-172
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• 2007

In this study, fish fauna and stream characteristics were surveyed during October-November 2003 in 31 small streams, which are small sub-tributaries of Geum River. The small streams were classified into 4 types of steep mountainous (SM), mountainous-flatland (MF), flat land (FL), and agricultural watercourse (AW) streams, and their types were categorized by features of stream width, water depth, bottom substrate, riparian vegetation, and landuse patterns. The fishes collected during this survey were identified 4 families and 8 species. Dominant family was Cyprinidae, and the most dominant species was Rhynchocypris oxycephalus with 73% (419 individuals) of the total. Only one species of R. oxycephalus was observed in the all five steep mountainous streams, which was surrounded by 100% forest area and had no point-and non-point pollution sources. The observed frequency of R. oxycephalus (as a relative proportion of species) showed a significant positive correlation (r=0.754, p<0.001, n=31) with the substrate composition of bedrock and boulder, indicating that the species prefer the bedrock and boulder rather than the sand or small pebble. Evidently, all five steep mountainous streams were judged as excellent condition (1st rank) according to the criteria of biological water quality, the Ministry of Environment, Korea. This result was accord with a general tendency of the species in most upper stream of the Koreas streams. One family and one species were found at the steep mountainous types and 4 families 6 species were at the mountainous-flatland. Four families 8 species were found at the flat land, which showed most diverse habitat, and 2 families 2 species were collected agricultural watercourse. These study results of 1st-order streams suggest that R. oxycephalus was considered as one of 1st rank ecological indicator species, and that the dominant area should be protected from various pollutions and disturbances.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.237-245
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• 2006

Changes of the biomass, net primary productivity and P/B ratio during abandoned field succession after shifting cultivation were investigated in Pyoungchang, Gangwon-Do, Korea. Aboveground standing biomass of herb species showed the maximum value (3.8 ton/ha) in the 5 year old-field, and decreased thereafter. Litter dry weight was depicted as a parabola form showing the gradual increment during the first 50 years and slight decrease thereafter. Basal area tended to increase logarithmically during abandoned field succession. Tree density showed the gradual increment during the first 15 years and decreased thereafter by the self-thinning process. In the later successional stage (80 years old-field), the shoot density distribution of the tree species by DBH class showed the reverse J shaped curve and Quercus mongolica dominated. Total standing biomass increased slowly in the earlier successional stages and later successional stages, and increased rapidly during the mid-successional stages ($10{\sim}50$ years old-field). Total standing biomass in the 5, 10, 20, 50 and 80 years old-fields were estimated 5, 14, 75, 251 and 373 ton/ha, respectively. Annual net primary productivity were depicted as a parabola form showing the gradual increment during the first 35 years and declined thereafter. The increment rates of the annual net primary productivity in the earlier successional stages showed the higher value than mid-successional stages. The annual net primary productivities in the 5, 10, 20, 35, 50 and 80 years old-field were estimated 8.6, 9.3, 12.9, 15.1, 13.7 and 3.6 ton/ha/yr, respectively. The estimated P/B ratio tended to decrease exponentially during abandoned field succession. The estimated P/B ratio in the 5, 10, 20, 50 and 80 years old-field were 0.60, 0.39, 0.19, 0.06 and 0.01, respectively. These results were fairly in accordance with the bioenergetics model during the forest succession projected by Odum(1969).

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.49 no.2
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• pp.102-109
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• 2016

The sustainability of Iris koreana, a rare and endemic plant designated by the Korea Forest Service, is threatened due to artificial factors such as habitats loss and climate change etc. and internal factors such as changes in biological properties of the habitats etc. but conservation biology research has not been performed in South Korea. The objective of this study is to establish the species conservation strategies by analyzing the characteristics of their habitats, including: 1) Population characteristics, and 2) habitat analysis of the vegetation and abiotic environments. From April to May, 2015, population characteristics [density (stems $m^{-2}$), flowering rate (%) and leaf area size ($cm^2$)] in I. koreana habitats such as Buan1~6 (BA1~6), Jangseong1~2 (JS1~2) and vegetation characteristics (phytosociological research and ordination analysis), and abiotic environments [soil temperature ($^{\circ}C$), soil humidity (%), transmitted light ($mol{\cdot}m^{-2}{\cdot}d^{-1}$) and canopy openness (%)] were measured. I. koreana was mainly distributed at elevation 50 to 150 m and 2 to $11^{\circ}$ slope. Slope direction was shown as 90 to $193^{\circ}$. The average degree of canopy openness was 11.9%. It showed the highest at BA2 (17.5) and the lowest at JS1 (7.7). The average degree of transmitted light was $6.3mol{\cdot}m^{-2}{\cdot}d^{-1}$. It showed the highest at BA2 (10.1) and the lowest at JS1 (3.6). Population density showed average 25.8 (stems $m^{-2}$). It showed the highest at JS2 (19.7) and the lowest at JS1 (9.3). flowering stems showed average 16.9 (stems). It showed the highest at BA3 (35) and the lowest at BA5 (4). Leaf area size was average $94.1cm^2$.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.45 no.1
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• pp.110-122
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• 2012

This study examined the benthic diatom community distribution, land cover/use and water quality in relation to stream shape complexity (SSC) in the Seom River watershed. SSC showed a significant relation to the riparian land cover/use pattern and also water quality variables of the studied streams. Streams with high stream shape complexity (HSC) appeared to have a high proportion of forest and farmland, while streams having a low stream shape complexity (LSC) appeared to have high proportion of city. Streams with lower SSC showed higher nutrients concentration in the stream waters. Benthic diatom species composition and dominant species appeared to be similar regardless of SSC differences among the studied streams, while the variation of diatom density was manifested with SSC. The relative abundance of dominant benthic diatoms varied with SSC. Saprophilic diatoms were dominant in the streams of LSC, while saproxenic diatoms were dominant in the streams of HSC. During the evaluation of biological water quality using the benthic diatom indices, Trophic Diatom Index (TDI) and Diatom Assemblage Index to organic water pollution (DAIpo), the streams of LSC generally showed poorer water quality than those of MSC (Middle stream shape complexity) and HSC. In particular, BOD, TP, and $PO_4$-P showed significant relationships with DAIpo. In conclusion, shape complexity of streams in the Seom River watershed showed a close relation with benthic diatom distribution. This relation seemed to primarily be resulted from the effect of proximate factors, such as water quality, which might be affected by the land use types determining the degree of SSC.