• Journal of Wetlands Research
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.59-73
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• 2012

The importance of rice paddy wetland has been raised since the 10th Ramsar Convention in 2010. However, there is shortage of study on the evaluation of rice paddy wetland and also of the study on the effect of organic agriculture on the vegetation characteristics. Accordingly, this study examined the vegetation characteristics of organic rice paddy for the basic resources of evaluating value of rice paddy wetland. 6 places of organic rice paddy and conventional rice paddy were chosen as research targets. It analyzed the function of 'Floral Diversity and Wildlife Habitat' among the revised RAM, an existing wetland evaluation system. As to the factor affecting the analysis result, simple land-use result was proved to determine the evaluation. As a result of vegetation investigation total 176 taxa, 53 families, 146 generics, 148 species, 26 varieties and 1 forma. When the difference of appearance of life form between organic area and conventional area was examined, organic paddy had higher appearance of life form in Therophyte and Megaphanerophyte. For the distribution of Naturalized plants, organic rice paddy had lower naturalized rate and urbanization index than conventional rice paddy. As to the Pearson correlation analysis between growing condition and vegetation characteristics, variety of rice paddy vegetation showed it was not heavily influenced by the land use. However, the organic rice paddy area had more variety in vegetation than conventional rice paddy. There was about 1% correlation with types of Cyperaceae, which means that the classification group of Cyperaceae can be utilized in evaluating rice paddy wetland later on. It is determined that the wetland evaluation has been widely influenced by soil environment, water environment and surrounding natural and artificial landscape as well as vegetation characteristics. Accordingly, further research seems to be required with minute investigation to an extensive area.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.219-229
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• 2013

This research is performed in order to suggest seasonal effective research time that is applied to wild birds research which lives in a forest. The subject area of this research is Mulgun-ri village forest in Samdong-Myeon, Namhe-gun. To investigate suitability of the project, existing land-use, existing vegetation, vegetational structure, and etc. of the subject and whole area are figured out. To suggest adequate research time, based on seasonal sun rise and set time for 3days, repetitive research is performed at hourly intervals. The subject area is connected with a forest and is possible for forest wild birds to flows in and provides various habitats and feeding areas. And also the subject area is a appropriate area for wild birds research and is like a natural forest in that a layer structure development of the forest itself, a distribution of Zelkova serrata and Aphananthe aspera and so on. 105 species which is observed in subject area are categorized and mountain birds are classified. After time-based peak value is selected in each season, hourly species richness, diversity, and index of similarity are analyzed as compared with the appearing number of species and individual bird. As a result, 7~11 hour is the most effective time in spring, and 8~9 hour is the best time. In summer, 6~9 hour is the most appropriate time when whole appearing species are similar to species structure. In fall, 7~11(30~60 minutes after sun rise) when wild birds movements are vigorous is analyzed easy to observe and 8~9 hour is the most appropriate research time because each analysis shows the best values. In winter, 7~12 hour is the most effective time although 10~11 hour is the best time but it is decided that similar results are drawn because hourly deviation is not so big except 1 hour before sun rise. In every four season, it is decided that 30~60 minutes after sun rise is appropriate to research a group of wild birds in the subject area.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.32 no.5
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• pp.469-477
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• 2018

Hanabusaya asiatica is an endemic species whose distribution is limited in the mid-eastern part of the Korean peninsula. Due to its narrow range and small population, it is necessary to protect its habitats by identifying it as Key Biodiversity Areas (KBAs) adopted by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). In this paper, we estimated potential natural habitats for H. asiatica using maximum entropy model (MaxEnt) and identified candidate sites for KBA based on the model results. MaxEnt is a machine learning algorithm that can predict habitats for species of interest unbiasedly with presence-only data. This property is particularly useful for the study area where data collection via a field survey is unavailable. We trained MaxEnt using 38 locations of H. asiatica and 11 environmental variables that measured climate, topography, and vegetation status of the study area which encompassed all locations of the border region between South and North Korea. Results showed that the potential habitats where the occurrence probabilities of H. asiatica exceeded 0.5 were $778km^2$, and the KBA candidate area identified by taking into account existing protected areas was $1,321km^2$. Of 11 environmental variables, elevation, annual average precipitation, average precipitation in growing seasons, and the average temperature in the coldest month had impacts on habitat selection, indicating that H. asiatica prefers cool regions at a relatively high elevation. These results can be used not only for identifying KBAs but also for the reference to a protection plan for H. asiatica in preparation of Korean reunification and climate change.

• Journal of Conservation Science
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• v.33 no.6
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• pp.399-416
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• 2017

The 'Wat Phou and Associated Ancient Settlements within the Champasak Cultural Landscape' of Laos was designated as a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage in 2001. The uppermost structure of the Sanctuary in Wat Phou has been destroyed and being variably damaged, maintenance is required through scientific and systematic diagnosis. The Sanctuary of Wat Phou was constructed mainly using sandstones and bricks. There are physical damages including fracture, break out, exfoliation and interval as well as biological damages by lichen, mosses and weeds. According to the ultrasonic velocity measurement and property evaluation of the sandstones of the Sanctuary in Wat Phou, weathering index of the eastern side sandstones is 0.10 to 0.74 (mean 0.36), showing MW grade. Southern and northern side sandstones have relatively higher properties with average weathering indices of 0.30 and 0.32. The results of slope analysis of the Sanctuary, indicated that the 4th spot in the southern side has the largest slope of $5^{\circ}W$, seemingly due to the unstable ground around the Sanctuary. Based on the relative level measurement and past drawings, the Sanctuary is verified to have been located on ground with a certain slope rather than flatland. The ground of the southern side is inclined $1.51^{\circ}$ more than that of the northern side, which will affect the structural stability of the temple. The interval width of the selected southern spot is the largest with an average width of 159.5 mm, and the largest width is 328.3 mm at the top, since the width increases above rather than below, seemingly due to the unequal subsidence of the ground. Constant maintenance for conservation is required for the structural stability of the Sanctuary in Wat Phou, which was partly collapsed and has also suffered physical damage.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.244-251
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• 2018

The present study aimed to identify the influence of climate change on mating songs of Cicadidae in a phenological perspective. The research sites were located in the central part of the Korean peninsula in which phenological observations by the Meteorological Office are made. The material provided by the Meteorological Office was used for long term phenological analysis. The findings demonstrated, First, the phenological monitoring of cicada is an effective index to detect ecological changes due to climate change, thus indicating the importance of long term phenological investigations for future studies. Second, the analysis on the phenological changes of H. fuscata presented a trend in which the first songs were made at increasingly earlier and later dates, respectively. The phenological data on H. fuscata and average temperatures exhibited a significant negative correlation between the initial mating song period and the average temperatures of June. Furthermore, there was also a significant negative correlation for precipitation in October with the end time and total duration of H. fuscata song. Third, in the regression analysis of the start of H. fuscata song and meteorological factors in Seoul, increasing average air temperature in spring (March to June), which includes June, was associated with an earlier start time of H. fuscata song, with calling starting approximately 3.0-4.5 days earlier per $1^{\circ}C$ increase. Fourth, in the regression analysis of the end of H. fuscata song and meteorological factors in Seoul, increased mean precipitation in October was associated with an early end time and an overall reduction in the length of the song period. The end time of song decreased by approximately 0.78 days per 1mm increase in precipitation, and the total length of the song period decreased by 0.8 days/1mm. This research is important, as it is the initial research to identify the phenological changes in H. fuscata due to climate change.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.604-619
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• 2012

According to the concept of woodland aesthetic in Germany and forest design in United Kingdom, artificial forest should be restore ecologically step by step in National Park, Korea. This study was carried out to provide the density criterion of thinning for the inducement of the ecological succession by analysing of vegetational structure in Artificial Forest, National Parks. Eleven plots(size is $20m{\times}20m$) were set up in the artificial forest such as Pinus koraiensis forest, Abies holophylla forest, Chamaecyparis obtusa forest, Populus tomentiglandulosa forest, and Larix kaempferi forest and in the natural forest such as Pinus densiflora community, Pinus densiflora-Quercus serrata community, and Quercus serrata community in Chiaksan, Songnisan, Deogyusan, and Naejangsan National Parks, Korea. We classified the artificial forest into undeveloped type of succession, type of alien young trees developing, and early phase type of succession based on the vegetational structure. According to the index of Shnnon's diversity(unit: $400m^2$), undeveloped type of succession was ranged from 0.9681 to 1.1323, type of alien young trees developing was ranged from 1.0192 to 1.1870, early phase type of succession was ranged from 1.3071 to 1.3892, and natural vegetation was ranged from 1.2202 to 1.3428, therefore early phase type of succession forest and natural vegetation are more higher than simple-layered artificial forest with one needle leaf tree species. The limit for the step-by-step thinning was in the range of 30~60%. In case of undeveloped type of succession, we should thin out from large trees throughout three phases, because alien species dominated high value 88~90% in canopy layer. In case of type of alien young trees developing, we should thin out from alien young trees such as Populus tomentiglandulosa throughout one or two phases, because alien species dominated high value 60~97% and young trees with saplings growing up in understory and shrub layer. In case of early phase type of succession, we should thin out from alien trees that compete with native species throughout one or two phases, because alien species dominated less than value 30%.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural and Forest Meteorology
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.121-131
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• 2008

This study was conducted to delineate temporal and spatial patterns of potential risk of cold injury by combining the short-term cold hardiness of Campbell Early grapevine and the IPCC projected climate winter season minimum temperature at a landscape scale. Gridded data sets of daily maximum and minimum temperature with a 270m cell spacing ("High Definition Digital Temperature Map", HD-DTM) were prepared for the current climatological normal year (1971-2000) based on observations at the 56 Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA) stations using a geospatial interpolation scheme for correcting land surface effects (e.g., land use, topography, and elevation). The same procedure was applied to the official temperature projection dataset covering South Korea (under the auspices of the IPCC-SRES A2 and A1B scenarios) for 2071-2100. The dormancy depth model was run with the gridded datasets to estimate the geographical pattern of any changes in the short-term cold hardiness of Campbell Early across South Korea for the current and future normal years (1971-2000 and 2071-2100). We combined this result with the projected mean annual minimum temperature for each period to obtain the potential risk of cold injury. Results showed that both the land areas with the normal cold-hardiness (-150 and below for dormancy depth) and those with the sub-threshold temperature for freezing damage ($-15^{\circ}C$ and below) will decrease in 2071-2100, reducing the freezing risk. Although more land area will encounter less risk in the future, the land area with higher risk (>70%) will expand from 14% at the current normal year to 23 (A1B) ${\sim}5%$ (A2) in the future. Our method can be applied to other deciduous fruit trees for delineating geographical shift of cold-hardiness zone under the projected climate change in the future, thereby providing valuable information for adaptation strategy in fruit industry.