• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.177-186
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• 2009

In the flora of the whole area of Jakeundang at Byeonsanbando National Park, a total of 105 taxa were identified including 50 families, 88 genera, 98 species, 6 varieties and 1 form. These were again divided into 31 taxa (29.5%) of woody plants and 74 taxa (70.5%) of herbaceous plants. In addition, 4 taxa of the Korea Forest Service, designated rare plants in the flora were identified to grow there including Phacelurus latifolius (Preservation priority order: No. 194), Aristolochia contorta (No. 151), Koelreuteria paniculata (No. 115), and Glehnia littoralis (No. 203). Indigofera koreana, Viola seoulensis that are on the list of Korean endemic plants were also identified and the plants approved for export were identified similarly to rare plants. In addition, among the floral region-based specific plants, the plant group belonging to class V, class IV and II didn't appear and a total of 16 taxa 3 taxa including Elymus mollis, Salsola collina and Koelreuteria paniculata in class III, and 13 taxa including Ischaemum anthephephoroides, Phacelurus latifolius, Asparagus cochinchinensis, Melandryum oldhamianum for. roseum, Calystegia soldanella, Messerschmidia sibirica, Scutellaria strigillosa and Aster spathulifolius, etc. in class I were identified. Among the naturalized plants in the surveyed sites, 6 families, 10 genera, and 10 taxa were identified to grow, such as Bromus unioloides, Phytolacca americana, Lepidium apetalum, Robinia pseudoacacia, Oenothera biennis and Xanthium canadense, etc. and the naturalization rate was analyzed to be 9.5% of all 105 taxa of vascular plants. This research analyzed the coverage ratio and importance value by dividing the community into a sand dunes and back swamp and divided the sand dune area into Vitex rotundifolia community and the back swamp into Phacelurus latifolius community. Jakeundang is designated as a sand dune plants observation area and managed by the office of Byeonsanbando National Park. To preserve this place, it is desirable to take a systematic management measure, such as a visit to this place on a subscription basis or education and publicity on sand dune plants.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.352-366
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• 2015

The purpose of this study is to offer the basic data to the habitat conservation and management by surveying and analysing the ecological characteristics such as the flora, vegetation structure and soil of Rhodotypos scandens habitat. The flora were summarized as 131 taxa including 57 families, 99 genera, 107 species, 1 subspecies, 17 varieties and 6 forms. The life forms grouped as in the follows; the megaphanerophytes(MM) were 21 taxa, 24 taxa of the microphanerophytes(M), 30 taxa of nanophanerophytes(N), 6 taxa of chamaiphytes(Ch), 20 taxa of hemicryptophytes(H), 17 taxa of geophytes(G), 12 taxa of therophytes(Th) and 1 taxa of hydrophytes(HH). The present conditions of communities were 8 types including Zelkova serrata, Quercus aliena, Ulmus parvifolia, Rhamnella frangulioides, Castanea crenata, Albizia julibrissin, Celtis sinensis and Robinia pseudoacacia. In case of the dominant species by layers, the tree layer species were Zelkova serrata, Quercus aliena, Ulmus parvifolia, Castanea crenata, Albizia julibrissin, Celtis sinensis and Robinia pseudoacacia, and the subtree layer species were Rhamnella frangulioides, Q. aliena, Z. serrata, A. julibrissin, U. parvifolia and Broussonetia kazinoki. The shrub layer species was Rhodotypos scandens. In the results of analyzing the diversity index, $H^{\prime}{_{max}}$ from 1.691 to 2.610, from 2.197 to 3.466 in H'max, from 0.646 to 0.903 in J' and from 0.097 to 0.354 in D. In the results of analysing the soil, there showed that acidity was 5.6, 0.5dS/m of electrical conductivity(EC), 59.1mg/kg of available $P_2O_5$, 49.7% of organic matter content, $0.4cmol^+/kg$ of exchangeable $K^+$, $13.5cmol^+/kg$ of exchangeable $Ca^{2+}$, $3.3cmol^+/kg$ of exchangeable $Mg^{2+}$.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.157-169
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• 2020

The purpose of this study is to investigate the ecological characteristics and vegetation structures of Eurya japonica in Busan. As a result of the TWINSPAN and DCA analysis, 89 plots of 100㎡ each were divided into 3 communities: Quercus serrata-Pinus densiflora-E. japonica community, Pinus thunbergii-E. japonica community, and P. thunbergii-Camellia japonica community. Community I consisted of the Quercus serrata-Pinus densiflora-E. japonica which was mainly located in the high altitude inland. While Q. serrata and P. densiflora competed in the tree layer, the dominant species of the understory layer was E. japonica. Since Carpinus tschonoskii, one of the climax species, was distributed evenly from shrub to tree layers, it was likely that deciduous oak trees or Carpinus tschonoskii would become dominant species in community I. In community I, E. japonica was found in higher altitude than the other evergreen broad-leaved tree and was expected to maintain their tree vigor even if the vegetation structure is converted into the deciduous forest. Community II, the P. thunbergii-E. japonica community, was predicted to maintain its tree vigor unless there were unexpected disturbance factors. Community III, consisting of P. thunbergii-C. japonica and located in Dongbaek Island, was under artificial management. In community III, P. thunbergii was the only species in the tree layer, while C. japonica was predominant in the understory layer. E. japonica and various evergreen broad-leaved tree species were present in the understory layer and shrub layer, which were unmanaged areas. Therefore, it is expected that unless C. japonica is continuously managed, E. japonica is likely to become the dominant species. There were also various evergreen broad-leaved species, such as Machilus thunbergii and Pittosporum tobira, present in the shrub layer. If the temperature continues to rise, the habitat is expected to become evergreen broad-leaved forests in the future as P. thunbergii community declines. The result of Pearson's correlation coefficient analysis of E. japonica and species appearing in 89 plots showed that 9 species were had a statistically significant relationship (p<0.05). Four species, including P. tobira and Q. dentata, had a positive correlation. Five species had a negative correlation, and C. japonica, which had the same ecological position as E. japonica, showed the most negative correlation at -0.384.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.24-36
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• 2021

Countries around the world, including the Republic of Korea, are participating in efforts to preserve biodiversity. Concerning species, in particular, studies that aim to find potential habitats and establish conservation plans by conducting habitat suitability analysis for specific species are actively ongoing. However, few studies on mid- to long-term changes in suitable habitat areas are based on accumulated information. Therefore, this study aimed to analyze the time-series changes in the habitat suitable area and examine the otters' changing pattern (Lutra lutra) designated as Level 1 endangered wildlife in Gangwon-do. The time-series change analysis used the data on otter species' presence points from the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th national natural environment surveys conducted for about 20 years. Moreover, it utilized the land cover map consistent with the survey period to create environmental variables to reflect each survey period's habitat environment. The suitable habitat area analysis used the MaxEnt model that can run based only on the species presence information, and it has been proven to be reliable by previous studies. The study derived the habitat suitability map for otters in each survey period, and it showed a tendency that habitats were distributed around rivers. Comparing the response curves of the environmental variables derived from the modeling identified the characteristics of the habitat favored by otters. The examination of habitats' change by survey period showed that the habitats based on the 2nd National Natural Environment Survey had the widest distribution. The habitats of the 3rd and 4th surveys showed a tendency of decrease in area. Moreover, the study aggregated the analysis results of the three survey periods and analyzed and categorized the habitat's changing pattern. The type of change proposed different conservation plans, such as field surveys, monitoring, protected area establishment, and restoration plan. This study is significant because it produced a comprehensive analysis map that showed the time-series changes of the location and area of the otter habitat and proposed a conservation plan that is necessary according to the type of habitat change by region. We believe that the method proposed in this study and its results can be used as reference data for establishing a habitat conservation and management plan in the future.

• Journal of Wetlands Research
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.465-473
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• 2016

This study was carried out to evaluate restoration process of a few wetlands in the National Institute of Ecology (NIE). Wetlands were composed of the former rice paddies that passive restoration was led through only natural process and by creating waterway, and an ecological pond, a reservoir that restorative treatment was practiced. As the result of analysis on landscape change in the current wetland space, existing wetland in NIE was usually from the former rice field and some parts were from the residential area or forest. Change of species composition was progressed from crops or ruderals resistant to human interferences to plant species, which has removed artificially for cultivation and grow usually in the typical wetland. Both species diversity and occurrence of exotic plants were the highest when restoration project is in progress and stages after and before restoration were followed. In an ecological pond that restorative treatment was done, vegetation introduced as riparian buffer was established successfully and thereby it was expected that it could contribute to buffer environmental stress comming from the outside. Synthesized the above mentioned results, change of wetland vegetation established in NIE resembled the typical trend of early successional stage occurring in the abandoned rice paddy and consequently, it was estimated that successful restoration is under progress. Restoration under progress in an ecological pond where artificial aid in the least level was added, could be evaluated in successful as well. In particular, successful establishment of buffering vegetation, which can play diverse ecological functions, could be evaluated as significant restoration effect. But adaptive management to improve ecological quality for the section that buffering vegetation is insufficient, is required.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.204-216
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• 2024

Understanding the trade-off effect in ecosystem services and measuring the interrelationships between services are crucial for managing limited environmental resources. Accordingly, in this study, we identified the dominant trends and increases and decreases in ecosystem services derived from changes in land cover over about 30 years and tracked changes in the relationships between ecosystem services that occurred over time. Through it, we determined the relationship between land cover changes and ecosystem service changes, as well as the distinct characteristics of service changes in different areas. The research primarily utilized the InVEST model, an ecosystem service assessment model. After standardizing the evaluation results between 0 and 1, it went through principal component analysis, a dimensionality reduction technique, to observe the time-series changes and understand the relationships between the services. According to the research results, the area of urbanized regions dramatically increased between 1989 and 2019, while forests showed a significant increase between 2009 and 2019. Between 1989 and 2019, the national ecosystem service supply witnessed a 13.9% decrease in water supply, a 10.5% decrease in nitrogen retention, a 2.6% increase in phosphorus retention, a 0.9% decrease in carbon storage, a 1.2% increase in air purification, and a 3.4% decrease in habitat quality. Over the past 30 years, South Korea experienced an increase in urbanized areas, a decrease in agricultural land, and an increase in forests, resulting in a trade-off effect between phosphorus retention and habitat quality. This study concluded that South Korea's environment management policies contribute to improving ecosystem quality, which has declined due to urbanization, and maximizing ecosystem services. These findings can help policymakers establish and implement forestry policies focusing on sustainable environmental conservation and ecosystem service provision.