• Journal of Life Science
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• v.28 no.11
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• pp.1262-1267
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• 2018

The patchiness of local environments within a habitat is assumed to be a primary factor affecting the spatial patterns of plants. In this study, a randomization procedure was developed to test the null hypothesis that only spatial association with patches determines the spatial patterns of plants. Oplismenus undulatifolius (Ard.) P. Beauv. var. undulatifolius is an herbaceous plant and a member of the genus Oplismenus in the family Poaceae. Oplismenus hirtellus subsp. undulatifolius occurs in temperate, subtropical, and tropical areas of the world. The spatial pattern of O. undulatifolius var. undulatifolius was analyzed using dispersion indices in different sizes of plots according to several patchiness indexes, population uniformity, or aggregation. Population densities (D) at Mt. Hanwoo varied from 0.453 to 4.375, with a mean of 2.387. The small and mid-sized plots ($2m{\times}2m$, $2m{\times}4m$, $4m{\times}4m$, $4m{\times}8m$, and $8m{\times}8m$) of O. undulatifolius var. undulatifolius were aggregated in the forest community. However, O. undulatifolius var. undulatifolius was uniformly distributed in three large plots ($8m{\times}16m$, $16m{\times}16m$, and $16m{\times}32m$). The greatest mean crowding ($M^*$) and patchiness index (PAI) showed positive values. Aggregation is mainly caused by environmental factors. Many plants on Mt. Hanwoo are being disturbed by climbers, which is preventing these plants from inhabiting their realized niches on Mt. Hanwoo.

• 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.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.227-233
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• 2023

The purpose of this paper was to describe a statistical analysis for the spatial distribution of geographical distances of Erythronium japonicum at Mt. Geumjeong in Korea. The spatial pattern of E. japonicum was analyzed according to the nearest neighbor rule, population aggregation under different plot sizes by dispersion indices, and spatial autocorrelation. Most natural plots of E. japonicum were uniformly distributed in the forest community. Disturbed plots were aggregately distributed within 5 m × 5 m of one another. Neighboring patches of E. japonicum were predominantly 7.5~10 m apart on average. If the natural populations of E. japonicum were disturbed by human activities, then the aggregation occurred in a shorter distance than the 7.5~10 m distance scale. The Morisita index (IM) is related to the patchiness index (PAI) that showed the 2.5 m × 5 m plot had an overly steep slope at the west and south areas when the area was smaller than 5 m × 5 m. When the patch size was one 2.5 m × 5 m quadrat at the west distributed area of Mt. Geumjeong, the cluster was determined by both species characteristics and environmental factors. The comparison of Moran's I values to a logistic regression indicated that individuals in E. japonicum populations at Mt. Geumjeong could be explained by isolation by distance.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.43 no.1
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• pp.21-32
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• 2023

Interrill erosion dominates in forest areas, and the erosion rate in surface-disturbed areas is significantly increased by the development and expansion of rill. In this study, soil erosion experiments using simulated rainfall and inflow were performed to understand the development and the micromorphological changes of rill on steep slopes. The characteristic factors of the micromorphology, such as the rill cross section, rill volume, rill density, rill order, and rill sharpness, were analyzed according to steepness and location (upper or lower) of slope. The head-cut of the simultaneous incised rills by rainfall simulation moved rapidly upslope, and the randomly developed rills expanded deeply and widely with their connection. The rill cross section evolved to downslope gradually increased. The rill volume occupied about 78 % of the sediment volume, confirming that the contribution of the sediment from the rill erosion is greater than that of the interrill erosion. Although the rate of increase in rill order slowed as the slope increased, the total length and density of the rill generally increased. As the slope increased from 15° to 20°, the bed incision of rills became larger than the sidewall expansion, and the rill sharpness increased by 1.6 times. The runoff coefficient on the lower slope decreased by 12.3 % than that on the upper slope. It was evaluated that the subsoil exposures and formation changes by the rill expansion increased the infiltration rate. Although the sediment accompanying the rills generally increased with slope increase, it was directly influenced by the hydraulic velocity of enhanced rill with the local convergence and expansion in the process of the rill evolution.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.49 no.3
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• pp.197-207
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• 2016

This study aims at providing basic data to objectively evaluate the areas suitable for reintroduction of the species of Asiatic black bear (Ursus thibetanus) in order to effectively preserve the Asiatic black bears in the Korean protection areas including national parks, and for the species restoration success. To this end, this study predicted the potential habitats in East Asia, Southeast Asia and India, where there are the records of Asiatic black bears' appearances using the Maxent model and environmental variables related with climate, topography, road and land use. In addition, this study evaluated the effects of the relevant climate and environmental variables. This study also analyzed inhabitation range area suitable for Asiatic black and geographic change according to future climate change. As for the judgment accuracy of the Maxent model widely utilized for habitat distribution research of wildlife for preservation, AUC value was calculated as 0.893 (sd=0.121). This was useful in predicting Asiatic black bears' potential habitat and evaluate the habitat change characteristics according to future climate change. Compare to the distribution map of Asiatic black bears evaluated by IUCN, Habitat suitability by the Maxent model were regionally diverse in extant areas and low in the extinct areas from IUCN map. This can be the result reflecting the regional difference in the environmental conditions where Asiatic black bears inhabit. As for the environment affecting the potential habitat distribution of Asiatic black bears, inhabitation rate was the highest, according to land coverage type, compared to climate, topography and artificial factors like distance from road. Especially, the area of deciduous broadleaf forest was predicted to be preferred, in comparison with other land coverage types. Annual mean precipitation and the precipitation during the driest period were projected to affect more than temperature's annual range, and the inhabitation possibility was higher, as distance was farther from road. The reason is that Asiatic black bears are conjectured to prefer more stable area without human's intervention, as well as prey resource. The inhabitation range was predicted to be expanded gradually to the southern part of India, China's southeast coast and adjacent inland area, and Vietnam, Laos and Malaysia in the eastern coastal areas of Southeast Asia. The following areas are forecast to be the core areas, where Asiatic black bears can inhabit in the Asian region: Jeonnam, Jeonbuk and Gangwon areas in South Korea, Kyushu, Chugoku, Shikoku, Chubu, Kanto and Tohoku's border area in Japan, and Jiangxi, Zhejiang and Fujian border area in China. This study is expected to be used as basic data for the preservation and efficient management of Asiatic black bear's habitat, artificially introduced individual bear's release area selection, and the management of collision zones with humans.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.28 no.6
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• pp.762-768
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• 2014

The purpose of this study is to analyze the soil $CO_2$ efflux and micro-climate of a preserved forest area located in a Mt. bulam urban nature park Quercus acutissima stand from June 2013 to May 2014. The research showed that the soil and heterotrophic $CO_2$ efflux were $28.14{\pm}7.99$ to $582.47{\pm}318.51$ and $12.32{\pm}8.04$ to $415.71{\pm}159.92mg\;CO_2{\cdot}m^{-2}{\cdot}h^{-1}$, respectively. In addition the seasonal soil $CO_2$ efflux of summer, autumn, winter, spring were 1169.1, 454.81, 72.08 and $494.23g\;CO_2{\cdot}m^{-2}{\cdot}month^{-1}$, respectively. On the other hand, the seasonal heterotrophic $CO_2$ efflux were 526.20, 340.09, 45.13 and $374.9g\;CO_2{\cdot}m^{-2}{\cdot}month^{-1}$, respectively. Moreover, the annual soil and heterotrophic $CO_2$ efflux was found to be 2190.22 and $1286.33g\;CO_2{\cdot}m^{-2}{\cdot}yr^{-1}$, respectively. The exponential function was also utilized for the regression analysis in order to correlate the environmental factors with the soil and heterotrophic $CO_2$ efflux. It was found out that both air and soil temperatures were positively correlated with the soil and heterotrophic $CO_2$ efflux. However, the amount of solar radiation and soil moisture has showed low correlation for both types of $CO_2$ efflux. Contribution of root $CO_2$ efflux to total soil $CO_2$ efflux in this Quercus acutissima stand was 33.60%.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Traditional Landscape Architecture
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.76-84
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• 2010

Darangyi paddy in Namhae Gachon village provides natural beauty with its distinct location. Darangyi is a traditional Korean landscape, shaping a circular form to serve continuous cultivation. Despite the paddy's landscape, it is difficult to preserve its natural scenery due to many factors such as inadequate visual analysis. Under the belief that there is a necessity to preserve Darangyi paddy, the research in visual features of the paddy began to illustrate the relevance between its viewpoint and landscape objects. First, we researched typical view structures. When considering the visual features, Darangyi paddy landscape objects has a viewpoint from the horizontality to its below, which its center area is about $-5^{\circ}{\sim}-30^{\circ}$. From the analyzed data, the scenary of Darangyi paddy, which most people agree its decency, is formed in a visually decent location. The above type of measure of visual structure in Darangyi paddy is expected to be applied in maintenance of foothold of views in the future. Second, the surrounding elements play important parts to form the whole landscape of Gachon Darangyi paddy. Although Darangyi paddy is the principal part of the scenary, the landscape analysis showed a high relevance with the paddy's identity, forest around the paddy, sky, ocean, settlements, and the roads in terms of visual perception. It was affirmed that those elements around the paddy play important parts in structuring and providing the beauty of the whole landscape. Various viewy objects are seen obvious especially in a long distance, and the splendid scenary proved that those viewy objects are in indispensable location. In order to preserve the paddy, it seems necessary to consider the surrounding envrionment of Darangyi paddy, not just the paddy's sole landscape form. Third, Darangyi paddy has a distinct seasonal characteristics. According to the survey analysis, the full heading time in spring and time when people can take a picture against the sun light proved magnificence of Darangyi paddy. Thus, it would be ideal to maintain Darangyi paddy by securing the sunlight condition with decent landscape view and the views from its surrounding environments or researching the ways to principally maintain the surrounding environments.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.378-401
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• 2019

This study generated a list of plants in eight sections from the Baekdansa ticket office (874m) to Cheonjedan (1,560m) divided in the interval of 100m above sea level to examine the species diversity patterns and distribution changes of the vascular plants at different altitudes in Taebaeksan National Park. Four site surveys found a total of 385 taxa: 89 families, 240 genera, 345 species, 5 subspecies, 34 varieties, and 1 form. A result of analyzing the change of species diversity along elevational gradients showed that it decreased with increasing elevation and then increased from a certain section. A result of analyzing habitat affinity types showed that the proportion of forest species increased with increasing elevation. On the other hand, the ruderal species appeared at a high rate in the artificial interference section. A result of comparing the proportion of woody and herb plants showed that the woody plants gradually increased with elevation and rapidly decreased in the artificial interference section. On the other hand, the herb plants showed the opposite trend. A result of analyzing the change of distribution of species according to altitude with the DCA technique showed that the vascular plants were divided into three groups according to the elevation in order on the I axis with the boundaries at 900m and 1,300m above sea level. The arrangement of each stand from right to left along the altitude on the I axis with a significant correlation with warmth index (WI) confirmed that the temperature change along the altitude could affect the distribution of vascular plants, composition, and diversity. Therefore, the continuous monitoring is necessary to confirm ecological and environmental characteristics of vegetation, distribution ranges, changes of habitat. We expect that the results of this study will be used as the basic data for establishing the measurement measures related to the preservation of biodiversity and climate change.

• Ecology and Resilient Infrastructure
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.163-173
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• 2022

Climate change is a key factor that greatly influences changes in the biological seasons and geographical distribution of species. In the ecological field, the BioClimatic predictor (BioClim), which is most related to the physiological characteristics of organisms, is used for vulnerability assessment. However, BioClim values are not provided other than the future period climate average values for each GCM for the Shared Socio-economic Pathways (SSPs) scenario. In this study, BioClim data suitable for domestic conditions was produced using 1 km resolution SSPs scenario detailed data produced by Rural Development Administration, and based on the data, a species distribution model was applied to mainly grow in southern, Gyeongsangbuk-do, Gangwon-do and humid regions. Appropriate habitat distributions were predicted every 30 years for the base years (1981 - 2010) and future years (2011 - 2100) of the Acer pictum subsp. mono. Acer pictum subsp. mono appearance data were collected from a total of 819 points through the national natural environment survey data. In order to improve the performance of the MaxEnt model, the parameters of the model (LQH-1.5) were optimized, and 7 detailed biolicm indices and 5 topographical indices were applied to the MaxEnt model. Drainage, Annual Precipitation (Bio12), and Slope significantly contributed to the distribution of Acer pictum subsp. mono in Korea. As a result of reflecting the growth characteristics that favor moist and fertile soil, the influence of climatic factors was not significant. Accordingly, in the base year, the suitable habitat for a high level of Acer pictum subsp. mono is 3.41% of the area of Korea, and in the near future (2011 - 2040) and far future (2071 - 2100), SSP1-2.6 accounts for 0.01% and 0.02%, gradually decreasing. However, in SSP5-8.5, it was 0.01% and 0.72%, respectively, showing a tendency to decrease in the near future compared to the base year, but to gradually increase toward the far future. This study confirms the future distribution of vegetation that is more easily adapted to climate change, and has significance as a basic study that can be used for future forest restoration of climate change-adapted species.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.18-26
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• 2020

Echinosophora koreensis (Nakai) Nakai an endemic plant with limited distribution in some parts of the Korean Peninsula, is designated as "Endangered" species on the IUCN Red List. The species is under the threat of deterioration in nature due to various environmental changes causing loss of natural habitats. We investigated the distribution pattern and population structure of E. koreensis to serve as a basic reference for identifying the dynamics and persistence of natural populations of this species in the future. To determine the characteristics of the E. koreensis population, we laid two to three large plots sized 20m×30m on the ridgeline as the reference in Yanggu, Chuncheon, and Hongcheon and laid four to seven small quadrats sized 1m×1m on the transect. A total of 530 plots were laid, 10 each at 2m interval, to measure the number of the stems, the number of fruiting, height, and other factors. The collected distribution information was compared with the existing IUCN assessed categories by applying IUCN Red List ver 3.1 Criteria B. The average population density of the three surveyed areas was 3.47 stem/㎡; the density of each area was 3.95 stems/㎡ in Yanggu, 3.37 stems/㎡ in Chuncheon, and 2.87 stems/㎡ in Hongcheon. The number of fruiting per stem was 0.0038, indicating only 7 fruits out of 1,837 stems and that vegetative reproduction is likely to be more dominant than sexual reproduction. The distribution tendency of population density in the small plots in three surveyed areas showed that the density of E. koreensis tended to decrease toward the center of the forest with low crown openness and around the mountain ridge with high crown openness. It indicated that the quantity of light could be a very important factor for the growth of individuals of this species. The analysis of the heights of individuals present in the surveyed plots showed a range of 2.3 ~ 68.5cm and an average of 20.1cm. An analysis on the stage-structure of the E. koreensis population based on the sieve height found that the appearance frequency decreased with increasing height above 15 ~ 20cm and that the percentage of individuals lower than 10cm, which were presumed to be seedlings, was severely low, indicating a necessity of study on the population sustainability based on the monitored data. The occupied area calculated with the collected species distribution information was 200㎢, indicating the EN category according to the IUCN Red List Reference B.