• Journal of the Korean Society of Environmental Restoration Technology
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.17-28
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• 2024

In order to achieve the management goals (30by30) mandated by the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, this study established the site-level assessment criteria for OECMs, tailored to domestic circumstances using the Delphi analysis. Subsequently, a site-level assessment was conducted on the National Gariwangsan Natural Recreation Forest. As a result of the study, the initial step involved presenting criteria for the site-level assessment of OECMs, with 'consent for the assessment and recognition of OECM by competent and management authority' proposed as a prerequisite. Subsequently, seven evaluation criteria were established, including 'other than a legally protected area', 'spatially separated area with defined boundaries', 'effective in-situ conservation of biodiversity', 'sustainable management based on the competent and management authority', 'long-term sustainability of conservation outcomes', and 'provision of ecosystem services'. The results of applying site-level assessment criteria to the National Gariwangsan Natural Recreation Forest indicate that six criteria were met, while one criterion (sustainable management based on the competent and management authority) requires further improvement. Specifically, the key competent and management authorities for the National Gariwangsan Natural Recreation Forest are the Korea Forest Service and the National Natural Recreation Forest Management Office, with competent and management organizations established. However, the management focus is primarily on providing forest recreation services centered on users and facilities, making it difficult to confirm the long-term biodiversity conservation plans and implementation by the competent and management authorities. Therefore, it is deemed necessary to improve the long-term biodiversity conservation plans and implementation for the recognition of the National Gariwangsan Natural Recreation Forest as an OECM.

• Journal of the Korean Association of Geographic Information Studies
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.80-96
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• 2023

The expansion of human activities and road development has led to the loss and fragmentation of ecological spaces, which is a negative factor for biodiversity. In particular, urban areas where land use and land cover have rapidly changed into urbanization zones are regions where ecological spaces are lost and isolated, making it difficult for wildlife to inhabit. Furthermore, the loss and fragmentation of ecological spaces due to urbanization can have a negative impact on ecosystem services. Therefore, to enhance biodiversity and ecosystem services in urban and national land, it is necessary to establish a practical ecological axis that reflects the current status of the city. Thus, this study analyzed the connectivity of ecological spaces and forest axis that can be used for spatial planning related to urban ecological axis of local governments in Daegu and Gyeongsangbuk-do. The ecological connectivity was analyzed by dividing the Daegu-Gyeongbuk region into 31 local government units, distinguishing between forests and natural areas using land cover data. Subsequently, the study area was divided into 20,483 hexagonal grids of 1 square kilometer each, and the restoration effects for ecological fragmentation within 100 meters were spatially clustered to visualize priority restoration areas. The forest axis was derived by considering regional conditions such as land cover, building area, slope, and others to connect 1,534 forests of 100 hectares or more. The research results are expected to be used as fundamental data for spatial planning, goal setting, and the selection of restoration areas for improving ecological connectivity.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.305-314
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• 2008

As forest land takes up 65% of the Korean peninsula, there have been continuing conflicts between the development and conservation of forest land. As the income level has changed over time, the usage of forest land in society has changed. There has been increasing demands for forest land for urban development and recreational use. On the other hand, a large proportion of the land is required to be preserved for the forest and the natural ecosystem in it. The existing management system for the forest land has been designed focusing on the management of the trees on the land, and not the land itself. Due to this limitation, the current management system of forest land has failed to protect the forest land from being developed indiscreetly, making it difficult to conserve and develop the forest land in an efficient way. A major question in forest land management is how to integrate economic use activities with the supporting ecosystems to maximize performance of the ecological-economic system. In order to promote sustainable use of forest resources, and to achieve efficient forest land management, it is prerequisite to evaluation on forest resources of natural ecosystems. Quantitative measures are needed that signify how necessary the services and products of forested ecosystems are to human endeavors. In this study, the natural wealth provided by forest land was quantified based on emergy synthesis. Emergy is a universal measure of real wealth of the work of nature and society made on a common basis. Thus, Calculations of emergy provide a basis for making choices about environment and economy following the general public policy to maximize real wealth. The goals of forest land management to achieve balance between the ecology and economy of its integrated system and to foster equity among the diverse outcomes of the forest land were assessed with emergy. Emergy was demonstrated to holistically integrated and quantify the interconnections of a coupled nature-human system allowing the goals of ecological balance and outcome equity to be measured quantitatively. Doing so will provide a better understanding of the basis of forest land wealth and the consequences of management decisions.

• Asian Journal of Atmospheric Environment
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.1-16
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• 2018

Ground-level ozone ($O_3$) can be a menace for vegetation, especially in Asia where $O_3$ levels have been dramatically increased over the past decades. To ensure food security and maintain forest ecosystem services, such as nutrient cycling, carbon sequestration and functional diversity of soil biota, in the over-populated Asia, environmental standards are needed. To set proper standards, dose-response relationships should be established from which critical levels are derived. The predictor of the response in the dose-response relationship is an $O_3$ metric that indicates the dose level to which the plant has been exposed. This study aimed to review the relevant scientific literature and summarize the $O_3$ metrics used worldwide to provide insights for Asia. A variety of $O_3$ metrics have been used, for which we discuss their strengths and weaknesses. The most widely used metrics are based only on $O_3$ levels. Such metrics have been adopted by several regulatory agencies in the global. However, they are biologically irrelevant because they ignore the plant physiological capacity. Adopting AOT40 ($O_3$ mixing ratios Accumulated Over the Threshold of $40nmol\;mol^{-1}$) as the default index for setting critical levels in Asia would be a poor policy with severe consequences at national and Pan-Asian level. Asian studies should focus on flux-based $O_3$ metrics to provide relevant bases for developing proper standards. However, given the technical requirements in calculating flux-based $O_3$ metrics, which can be an important limitation in developing countries, no-threshold cumulative exposure indices like AOT0 should always accompany flux-based indices.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.41 no.6
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• pp.165-172
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• 2017

Background: This study investigated the temporal variation in soil $CO_2$ efflux and its relationship with soil temperature and precipitation in the Quercus glauca and Abies koreana forests in Jeju Island, South Korea, from August 2010 to December 2012. Q. glauca and A. koreana forests are typical vegetation of warm-temperate evergreen forest zone and sub-alpine coniferous forest zone, respectively, in Jeju island. Results: The mean soil $CO_2$ efflux of Q. glauca forest was $0.7g\;CO_2\;m^{-2}\;h^{-1}$ at $14.3^{\circ}C$ and that of A. koreana forest was $0.4g\;CO_2\;m^{-2}\;h^{-1}$ at $6.8^{\circ}C$. The cumulative annual soil $CO_2$ efflux of Q. glauca and A. koreana forests was 54.2 and $34.2t\;CO_2\;ha^{-1}$, respectively. Total accumulated soil carbon efflux in Q. glauca and A. koreana forests was 29.5 and $18.7t\;C\;ha^{-1}$ for 2 years, respectively. The relationship between soil $CO_2$ efflux and soil temperate at 10 cm depth was highly significant in the Q. glauca ($r^2=0.853$) and A. koreana forests ($r^2=0.842$). Soil temperature was the main controlling factor over $CO_2$ efflux during most of the study period. Also, precipitation may affect soil $CO_2$ efflux that appeared to be an important factor controlling the efflux rate. Conclusions: Soil $CO_2$ efflux was affected by soil temperature as the dominant control and moisture as the limiting factor. The difference of soil $CO_2$ efflux between of Q. glauca and A. koreana forests was induced by soil temperature to altitude and regional precipitation.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.104 no.1
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• pp.1-13
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• 2015

Korea now boasts a vastly forested landscape resulting from a successful forest restoration projects carried out in the past several decades. However, Korea's forest now face new challenges, such as the rapidly increasing mature forests, climate change, and various novel forest disturbances with both natural and anthropogenic causes. Considering the extensive spatial and temporal scale of the forests and the challenges it face, it is necessary to utilize a tool that can properly tackle the issues with such nature. This brings our attention to Forest Landscape Models, which have been actively developed and used to improve our understanding of how forests respond to a variety of changes and to satisfy the society's demand on forests and its ecosystem services. A large variety of Forest Landscape Models exist, with a wide spectrum of algorithms, various selections of ecological processes they simulate, and the spatial and temporal scale they utilize, so that any researcher may find a model that fits one's use. However, it is important to properly understand the properties of such models so that the right model is used and the results are aptly interpreted. In this study, we describe and characterize the various Forest Landscape Models based on their historical roots, lineages, and development, ecological characteristics, and computational aspects, and discuss how they can be classified and what limits should be recognized to assist in model selection and utilization.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.112 no.1
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• pp.23-31
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• 2023

Predicting forest productivity is essential to evaluate sustainable forest management or to enhance forest ecosystem services. Ordinary least squares (OLS) and partial least squares (PLS) regression models were used to develop predictive models for forest productivity (site index) from the site characteristics and soil profile, along with soil physical and chemical properties, of 112 Quercus mongolica stands. The adjusted coefficients of determination (adjusted R²) in the regression models were higher for the site characteristics and soil profile of B horizon (R²=0.32) and of A horizon (R²=0.29) than for the soil physical and chemical properties of B horizon (R²=0.21) and A horizon (R²=0.09). The PLS models (R²=0.20-0.32) were better predictors of site index than the OLS models (R²=0.09-0.31). These results suggest that the regression models for Q. mongolica can be applied to predict the forest productivity, but new variables may need to be developed to enhance the explanatory power of regression models.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.45 no.4
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• pp.218-227
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• 2021

Background: Artificial light at night has recently been identified as a major factor adversely affecting global insect diversity. Here, we compared the insect diversity in Gwangneung Forest Biosphere Reserve, specifically in the Korea National Arboretum (with no artificial light at night), with that of three nearby urban sites with a gradient of artificial light at night (five locations at each site). We analyzed the effects of the artificial night lighting index, mean annual temperature, and field light intensity (lux) at night on the insect community structure. Results: The urban sites generally exhibited higher species richness and abundance as well as clear indicator species compared with the control site. The size distribution of the collected insects markedly differed between the control and the three urban sites. The abundance of herbivorous and omnivorous insects increased and decreased, respectively, with the increase in light intensity. Species richness of herbivorous and omnivorous insects was likely correlated with the field light intensity at night and artificial night lighting index, respectively. Conclusions: This study demonstrates the association between nighttime environment and marked changes in insect community structure and revealed consequent transition of ecosystem services by changes in trophic group composition.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.33 no.6_3
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• pp.1187-1196
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• 2017

Despite the continuing effort to estimate the value of function and services of ecosystem, most of the researches has used low and medium resolution satellite imagery such as MODIS or Landsat. It means that the researches to measure the ecosystem service value using VHR (Very High Resolution) satellite imagery have not been performed much, while the source of available VHR imagery is increasing. Thus, the aim of this study is to estimate and compare the result of ecosystem service value over Sejong city, S. Korea, which is one of the rapidly changed city, through the pixel-based and object-based classification analysis using VHR KOMPSAT-3 images, for more specific and precise information. In the result of the classification, forest and grassland were underestimated while agriculture and urban were overestimated in the pixel-based result compared to the object-based result. Furthermore, bare soil area was presented contrasting result that was increased in the pixel-based result, however, decreased in the object-based result. Using those results, ecosystem service values were estimated. The annual ecosystem service values in 2014 were $8.18 million USD(pixel-based) and $8.63 million USD(object-based), however, decreased to $7.80 million USD(pixel-based) and $8.62 million USD(object-based) in 2016. It is expected to use those results as a preliminary data when to make sustainable development plan and policy to improve the quality of life in the local level.

• KDI Journal of Economic Policy
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• v.44 no.4
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• pp.1-24
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• 2022

We investigate how reforestation contributed to stabilization of riverine water levels in South Korea. For the purpose, we estimate an equation capturing dynamic relationships among rainfall, upstream-area tree stock, and downstream water levels in three river systems of Hongcheon, Mangyeong, and Hyeongsan, using daily observations of precipitation and water levels for the period from 1985 to 2005. Simulation based on estimation results shows that increase in the tree stock in a river basin leads to a significantly suppressed peaking in riverine water levels in response to an abrupt and concentrated rain in the upstream area. For instance, an hour-long concentration of 100mm rain results in 0.7m rise in water level if the volume of growing stock is 1 million m³, whereas the rise in water level stays below 0.27m with 5 million m³ in the growing-stock volume.