• Journal of Wetlands Research
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.160-167
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• 2024

The amphibians serve as environmental indicator species warning of threats from pollution and development, and information regarding their body condition and surrounding habitat can be utilized as crucial indicators for assessing ecosystem health. The objective of this study was to investigate the differences in body condition and the climate environments according to the season and sex of Class II endangered Kaloula borealis. A total of 53 surveys were conducted from June to October 2018, targeting frogs inhabiting the Godeok-dong area of Gangdong-gu, Seoul. Using the weight and length of each individual, the body condition index (SMI, Scaled mass index) was calculated. Results showed a total capture of 396 individuals, consisting of 235 males and 161 females. Females exhibited longer SVL and greater weight compared to males, with higher body condition indices. Monthly body condition indices were lower for males in June, while no differences were observed between males and females from July to September. Among the climate environments where females and males appeared, environmental variables related to precipitation and humidity showed differences. These research findings are deemed crucial for providing fundamental information to ascertain suitable habitats for Kaloula borealis and selecting alternative habitats due to developmental impacts in the future.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Marine Environment & Safety
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• v.27 no.7
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• pp.943-953
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• 2021

The purpose of this study is to investigate sediment recovery after the relocation of fish cage farms, by examining the changes in sediments and the benthic polychaete community. A preliminary survey was carried out in October 2017, before the relocation of the farms, and monthly surveys were conducted from November 2017 to October 2018 after the farms were moved. Subsequently, it was conducted every 2-3 months until October 2020. The survey was carried out at three stations (Farm1-3) at the location of the removed fish farms and at three control stations (Con1-3) without farms. The overall organic carbon content of the farm stations was higher than the control stations, but it gradually decreased after the farm was demolished, and there was no statistically significant difference about one year after the relocation of the farms (p<0.05). In the benthic polychaete community, abiotic community appeared at the farm stations in the summer, and consequently, the community transitioned to a low-diversity region with the predominant species Capitella capitata, which is an indicator of pollution. Until the abiotic period in the summer of the next year, the species diversity increased and the proportion of indicator species decreased, showing a tendency of recovering the benthic polychaete community, and these changes were repeated every year. In this study, the abiotic community appeared every year owing to the topographical characteristics, but as the survey progressed, the period of abiotic occurrence became shorter and the process of community recovery progressed expeditiously. Biological recovery of sediments after the relocation of the fish farms is still in progress, and it is imperative to study recovery trends through continuous monitoring.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Marine Environment & Energy
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.288-295
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• 2010

Metal exposure experiments using polychaete (Perinereis nuntia) as a bio-indicator of trace metals contamination were conducted to evaluate the bioaccumulation and the biomarkers responses such as metallothionein-like protein (MTLPs) and glutathione S-transferase (GST) which was simultaneously exposed to Cadmium (Cd) and Copper (Cu). Cu and Cd concentrations in polychaete were enhanced with increasing exposure time and their concentrations of aqueous medium. Initial accumulation of Cd was higher than that of Cu. Our results showed that the bioaccumulation of Cu and Cd were prohibited, especially at higher Cu levels, suggesting the different cellular uptake mechanisms when Cu and Cd are co-exist. Net accumulation rate of Cu was declined with exposure time but it did not show any significant change for Cd. Although the highest MTLPs concentration was observed at 6 hr of exposure time, it did not show any significant change related to exposure times and metals concentrations. An increase of GST activity tended to increase as a function of exposure time and metals concentrations. And GST activities in P. nuntia have similar tendency with bioconcentration factors in high concentration of Cu (treatment group IV) at post 24 h of exposure. Our results provide new information of the bioaccumulation and biomarker responses to understand the effects of co-existing contaminants (Cu and Cd) using polychaete. Further studies are required to elucidate the bioaccumulation and biomarkers responses for various contaminants.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.41-64
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• 1971

During the period from July 1st to the end of November 1970, a survey on air pollution and noise level was made in Seoul, Pusan and Taegu, the three largest cities in Korea. Each city was divided into 4-6 areas; the industrial area, the semi-industrial area, the commercial area, the residential area, the park area and the downtown area. Thirty eight sites were selected from each area. A. Method of Measurement : Dustfall was measured by the Deposit Gauge Method, sulfur oxides by $PbO_2$ cylinder method, suspended particles by the Digital Dust Indicator, Sulfur dioxide ($SO_2$) and Carbon Monoxide (CO) by the MSA & Kitakawa Detector and the noise levels by Rion Sound Survey meter. B. Results: 1. The mean value of dustfall in 3 cities was $30.42ton/km^2/month$, ranging from 8.69 to 95.44. 2. The mean values of dustfall by city were $33.17ton/km^2/month$ in Seoul, 32.11 in Pusan and 25.97 in Taegu. 3. The mean values of dustfall showed a trend of decreasing order of semi-industrial area, downtown area, industrial area, commercial area, residential area, and park area. 4. The mean value of dustfall in Seoul by area were $52.32ton/km^2/month$ in downtown, 50.54 in semi-industrial area, 40.37 in industrial area, 24,19 in commercial area, 16.25 in park area and 15.39 in residential area in order of concentration. 5. The mean values of dustfall in Pusan by area were $48.27ton/km^2/month$ in semi-industrial area, 36.68 in industrial area 25.31 in commercial area, and 18.19 in residential area. 6. The mean values of dustfall in Taegu by area were $36.46ton/km^2/month$ in downtown area, 33.52 in industrial area, 20.37 in commercial area and 13.55 in residential area. 7. The mean values of sulfur oxides in 3 cities were $1.52mg\;SO_3/day/100cm^2\;PbO_2$, ranging from 0.32 to 4.72. 8. The mean values of sulfur oxides by city were $1.89mg\;SO_3/day/100cm^2\;PbO_2$ in Pusan, 1.64 in Seoul and 1.21 in Taegu. 9. The mean values of sulfur oxides by area in 3 cities were $2.16mg\;SO_3/day/100cm^2\;PbO_2$ in industrial area, 1.69 in semi-industrial area, 1.50 in commercial area, 1.48 in downtown area, 1.32 in residential area and 0.94 in the park area, respectively. 10. The monthly mean values of sulfur oxides contents showed a steady increase from July reaching a peak in November. 11. The mean values of suspended particles was $2.89mg/m^3$, ranging from 1.15 to 5.27. 12. The mean values of suspended particles by city were $3.14mg/m^3$ in Seoul, 2.79 in Taegu and 2.25 in Pusan. 13. The mean values of noise level in 3 cities was 71.3 phon, ranging from 49 to 99 phon. 14. The mean values of noise level by city were 73 phon in Seoul, 72 in Pusan, and 69 in Taegu in that order. 15. The mean values of noise level by area in 3 cities showed a decrease in the order of the downtown area, commercial area, industrial area and semi-industrial area, park area and residential area. 16. The comparison of the noise levels by area in 3 cities indicated that the highest level was detected in the downtown area in Seoul and Taegu and in the industrial area in Pusan. 17. The daily average concentration of sulfur dioxides ($SO_2$) in 3 cities was 0.081 ppm, ranging from 0.004 to 0.196. 18. The daily average concentrations of sulfur dioxides by city were 0.092 ppm in Seoul, 0.089 in Pusan and 0.062 in Taegu in that order. 19. The weekly average concentration of carbon monoxides(CO) was 27.59 ppm. 20. The daily average concentrations of carbon monoxides by city were 33.37 ppm. in Seoul, 25.76 in Pusan and 23.65 in Taegu in that order. 21. The concentration of $SO_2$ and CO reaches a peak from 6 p. m. to 8 p. m. 22. About 3 times probably the daily average concentration of CO could be detected in the downtown area probably due to heavy traffic emission in comparison with that in the industial area. 23. As for daily variation of the concentration of $SO_2$ and CO it was found that the concentration maintains relatively higher value during weekdays in the industrial area and on the first part of the week in the downtown area.

• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.101-112
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• 2008

Systematic CCD observations of times of minimum lights for eclipsing binaries has been carried out from 2002 to 2007 at Campus Station of Chungbuk National University Observatory which is located in Cheongju city, Korea. As a by-product of our observations, photometric data for stars in CCD images taken from 2005 to 2007 were used to determine 1st order atmospheric extinction coefficient (hereafter AEC) and seasonal and yearly variations of the AECs were studied. Total nights used for determination of AECs were 57 days in 2005, 51 days in 2006, and 63 days in 2007. As a result the annual mean value of the AECs per air mass is calculated as $0.^m34{\pm}0.^m18$ for 2005, $0.^m38{\pm}0.^m19$ for 2006, and $0.^m45{\pm}0.^m20$ for 2007. These values show that the AECs and their standard deviations are two and four times, respectively, larger than those of normal observatories which are not located near large cities. Annual comparison between concentration of atmospheric fine dust and coefficient of atmospheric extinction show strong correlation between two quantities of which time variations show similar patterns. The AECs for the east sky show larger than those for the west sky. It can be easily understood by the reasonable possibility that air pollutants remain more in the east sky than in the west because the east area of Cheongju city has been more developed than the west one. In conclusion the atmospheric extinction of the night sky of Cheongju city has an annual trend of increase of $0.^m06\;airrnass^{-1}\; year^{-1}$ implying that it may take only about 13 years for Cheongju city to have 2 times brighter night sky than the present one. Our study highlights that variations of AEC can be used as an important indicator of air pollution to monitor night skies.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.46-69
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• 1996

The studies were conducted to obtain the basic information of the effects of pollutants on plant species and to select the plant species showing specific responses to the pollutants. For these purposes, paraquat, ammonium, and cadmium as a source of oxidative stress, nitrogen toxicity, and heavy metal toxicity respectively were treated to the plant species. Among the tested plants, Lamiaceae, Brassicaceae, and Caryophyllaceae were tolerant to paraquat, whereas Poaceae and Asteraceae were sensitive. Especially Mosla dianthera of Lamiaceae, Hemistepta lyrata and Aster pilosus of Asteraceae, and Paspalum thunbergii of Poaceae showed higher tolerance than others. Paraquat resistance was related with life style, overwintering capacity, so perennial and biennial species showed higher tolerance than annual species. In response to ammonium, Poaceae showed higher resistance while Fabaceae and Caryophyllaceae showed sensitiveness. Weed species having tolerance to ammonium were Echinochloa crus-galli var. praticola, Panicum dichotomiflorum, Setaria glauca, Chenopodium album, and Solanum nigrum, while Mosla dianthera, Arenaria serpyllifolia and Perilla frutescens var. japonica showed sensitiveness. In the response of plant species to cadmium, Digitaria sanguinalis, Amaranthus lividus showed higher resistance, whereas Galinsoga parviflora, Plantago asiatica, Ambrosia trifida, and Paspalum thunbergii showed sensitiveness. The injured degree on germination stage by pollutants did not related with injured degree on matured stage. During germination, the root elongation was more sensitive than shoot elongation by pollutants, paraquat, ammonium, and cadmium.

• 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.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.279-290
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• 2000

To alleviate the harmful effects from contamination, the Sihwa Lake waters have been regularly fluxed out into the ocean to mix and circulate with the oceanic waters, and then allowed to flow back into the lake. In the present study, eco-environmental impacts by the outflowing contaminated lake waters to the benthic communities of the coastal zones along Kyonggi Bay were examined at three separate areas. A total of 22 groups of meiobenthic animals were commonly found in the subtidal zones of the Bay. All groups of the meiobenthic animals on the 1st and 7th days after the outflow were remarkably reduced in numbers from the selected areas examined, as compared to those observed one day before the outflow. It was also found that the community structure of meiobenthos was changed drastically: At the station near the water gate, for example, where the immediate outflow of the lake water was encountered, the benthic harpacticoids, the group observed to be one of the predominant groups before the outflow, were found to have disappeared completely. For an area that was relatively far away from the water gate, the reduction rate of meiobenthos after the outflow events was slower and more gradual than the nearer sites. An area that is the farthest from the water gate, no reduction in any of the meiobenthos group was observed. The ratio between nematodes/copepods (N/C) was remarkably changed by the outflows at the station near the water gate: One day before the outflow, the ratio was 0.7 while the ratio was 19.0 at the station near the water gate. In contrast, at the stations relatively far from the water gate, the ratio decreased one day after the outflow event, but increasing trends were observed one week later. In the tidal flats, Station 1 exhibited the common observed regional values of the ratio whereas Station 2 showed a very high ratio of 191.3. The results suggested that the contaminated lake water outflows directly effect meiobenthos in a relatively short time period and thus the meiobenthos may be a good indicator animal group for examining the effect of pollution. [Lake Sihwa, contaminat water outflow, meiobenthic animals living]

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.243-258
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• 1977

1 The coastal area between Youngdo and Jodo was a common coastal water not much different from other coastal waters before the construction of the breakwater between them. 2. The breakwater between the two islands shuts off the tidal currents and divides the area . into the two small isolated bays to create quite different environments. 3. To understand the differences between then, present study examined some environmental factors such as water temperature, salinity, dissolved oxygen, transparency, and major nutrients, phosphates, sillicates and nitrites and the phytoand zooplankton. The samplings were carried out monthly from March 1976 to February 1977 at 4 stations: 2 stations in each bay. 4. Some differences were observed in the environmental factors such as water temperature, salinity, dissolved oxygen and transparency between the two bays. 5. The distribution and occurence of nutrient salts of the two bays were distinctly different each other. Northern Bay had $138\%$ of nutrients in comparison with Southern Bay. 6. Phytoplankton in Northern Bay was about $200\%$ plentier than in Southern Bay. 7. Zooplankton in Southern Bay was about $180\%$ richer than in Northern Bay. 8. One of the pollution indicator species, Synedra ulna, was observed in Northern Bay and the occurence of Euglena sp. and ciliates were much higher in Northern Bay than in Southern Bay, but, in contrast, Sagitta sp. was more abundant in Southern Bay than in the other. 9. The areas of the two bays seem to be in its way to eutrophication especially in Northern Bay. 10. The two bays have been differentiated enough to identify each other.

• Journal of Yeungnam Medical Science
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.103-113
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• 1993

This study was conducted to explore the feasibility of using the lead level in the hair of children as a screening test for lead intoxication of children and as an indicator for environmental pollution. Lead concentration of hair was measured for 268 seven to nine-year-old elementary school children in Taegu city (147 children) and Gampo town(121 children). The lead level in hair was measured by atomic absorption spectrophotometer equipped with a graphite furnace atomizer. The following information was obtained for all children: sex, age, father's occupation and smoking habits, kinds of hair cleaner, fingernail biting habits, and status of the child's hands and clothing. The mean lead level in hair was $8.7{\pm}2.9{\mu}g/g$ in the urban area and $7.7{\pm}2.2{\mu}g/g$ in the rural area. There were significant differences between two groups(p<0.01). The difference of lead levels in hair measured by cleanliness of the child's hands(clean: $7.4{\pm}2.7{\mu}g/g$, dirty: $8.2{\pm}2.6{\mu}g/g$) and child's clothing(clean: $8.0{\pm}2.5{\mu}g/g$, dirty: $9.3{\pm}2.6{\mu}g/g$) were statistically significant, but other factors were not significant. In multiple regression analysis, difference of residency and age were significant variables for lead level in the hair of children. These findings suggest that measurement of lead level in the hair is a useful method for the screening of the lead intoxication of children and monitoring environmental conditions.