• Journal of Wetlands Research
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.35-43
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• 2021

The application of nature-based solutions, such as low impact development (LID) techniques and green infrastructures, for stormwater management continue to increase in urban areas. Plants are usually utilized in LID facilities to improve their pollutant removal efficiency through phytoremediation. Plants can also reduce maintenance costs and frequency by means of reducing the accumulation of pollutants inside the facility. Plants have long been used in different LID facilities; however, proper plant-selection should be considered since different species tend to exhibit varying pollutant uptake capabilities. This study was conducted to investigate the pollutant uptake capabilities of plants by comparing the dry matter and nutrient contents of different plant species in roadsides, LID facilities, and landscape areas. The dry matter content of the seven herbaceous plants, shrubs, and arboreal trees ranged from 60% to 90%. In terms of nutrient content, the total nitrogen (TN) concentration in the tissues of herbaceous plants continued to increase until the summer season, but gradually decreased in the succeeding periods. TN concentrations in shrubs and trees were observed to be high from early spring up to the late summer seasons. All plant samples collected from the LID facility exhibited high TP content, indicating that the vegetative components of LID systems are efficient in removing phosphorus. Overall, the nutrient content of different plant species was found to be highly influenced by the urban environment which affected the stormwater runoff quality. The results of this study can be beneficial for establishing plant selection criteria for LID facilities.

• Journal of Wetlands Research
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.44-53
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• 2021

Urban stormwater runoff contains heavy metals that accumulate in on-site treatment systems, thus resulting to facility deterioration and maintenance problems. In order to resolve these problems, low impact development (LID) technologies that promote natural materials circulation are widely used. LID facilities are capable of treating heavy metals in the runoff by means of plant uptake; however, the uptake or phytoremediation capabilities of plants have not been studied extensively, making it difficult to select the most suitable plant species for a certain LID design. This study investigated the vegetative components of an LID facility, roadside plants, and plants in landscape areas with different heavy metal exposure and frequency to determine the uptake capabilities of different plant species. The plants harvested inside the LID facilities and roadsides with high vehicular traffic exhibited greater heavy metal concentrations in their tissues as compared with the plants in landscape areas. Generally, the accumulation of heavy metals in the plant tissues were found to be influenced by the environmental characteristics (i.e. influent water quality, air pollution level, etc.). Dianthus, Metasequoia, Rhododendron lateritium, and Mugwort were found to be effective in removing Zn in the urban stormwater runoff. Additionally, Dianthus, Metasequoia, Mugwort, and Ginkgo Biloba exhibited excellent removal of Cu. Cherry Tree, Metasequoia, and mugwort efficiently removed Pb, whereas Dianthus was also found to be effective in treating As, Cr, and Cd in stormwater. Overall, different plant species showed varying heavy metal uptake capabilities. The results of this study can be used as an effective tool in selecting suitable plant species for removing heavy metals in the runoff from different land use types.

• Ecology and Resilient Infrastructure
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• v.2 no.3
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• pp.237-246
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• 2015

Heavy metal pollution in soil, such as lead contamination, has become an area of interest in Korea because of urbanization and atmospheric deposition from neighboring countries. Therefore, in this research, eco-physiological responses such as chlorophyll contents, antioxidant enzyme activity, photosynthetic rate, biomass and phytoaccumulation abilities were investigated for 4 commonly used native roadside tree species to suggest suitable tree species to cope with lead contamination. The target species, Ginkgo biloba, Prunus yedoensis, Zelkova serrata and Chionanthus retusus showed lead toxicity by significant changes of chlorophyll contents and antioxidant enzyme activities on treatments over 200 mg Pb/kg. However, biomass and photosynthetic rates only showed significant responses of plants in the highest level (5,000 mg/kg) treatment. Especially, G. biloba did not show any significant changes of antioxidant enzyme activity, photosynthetic rate, and biomass even in the highest level treatment. In low level - environmentally realistic treatments, G. biloba and P. yedoensis showed the highest phytoaccumulation rate of lead from soil. Selecting and planting species like G. biloba which have good phytoaccumulation abilities and resistance to lead contamination by further research will be required to deal with emerging lead contamination.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.54 no.2
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• pp.142-150
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• 2021

To analyze the distribution characteristics of alien plants in various habitat types, 249 sites were selected from four administrative districts in the Gyeongsang region of Korea. The survey was conducted across nine different habitat types. A total of 115 species of alien plants were collected; comprising 23 families, 73 genera, 112 species, and 3 varieties. Species from the family Compositae were the most common at 33.0%. Raunkiaer's life forms had the highest occurrence rate with 70 species(60.9%) of therophytes(Th) followed by 30 species (26.1%) of hemicryptophytes (H) and 8 species (7.0%) of geophytes (G). The distributions of alien plant species per habitat type were: 81 species on the roadside; 80 species on vacant lots and artificial habitats; 67 species in streams; 53 species in grasslands; 47 species in cultivated lands; and 39 species on the coast. Since 2017, the number of alien plants has increased in Gyeongju-si, Cheongdo-gun, and Pohang-si, and decreased in Ulsan Metropolitan-si. In each region, 614 taxa were observed. The invasive alien species, Sicyos angulatus, Hypocaeris radicata, and Solanum carolinense, were observed for the first time and are expected to further increase the disturbance of the ecosystem.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural and Forest Meteorology
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.159-168
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• 2006

In order to screen for the best species for mitigating air pollutants by plants at an industrial complex area, we investigated antioxidant capacity, lipid peroxidation and nitrogen content in the leaves of 27 taxa of woody plants that are mostly utilized as roadside trees. Among 27 taxa, the highest value of antioxidant capacity was given by Cedrus deodara (91.4%) and the lowest one was by Firmiana simplex (56.9%). At lipid peroxidation level, little malondialdehyde (MDA) was observed in Lagerstroemia indica and Ginkgo biloba, but Platanus occidentalis, Castanoposis cuspidata var, sieboldii, Machilus thunbergii and Juniperus chinensis showed high MDA content. Antioxidant capacity of the deciduous woody plants was not significantly different in comparison with that of the evergreen ones. But MDA content of the deciduous woody plants was lower than that of the evergreen ones. The 27 taxa of woody plants appeared to be classified into four types: those of high antioxidant capacity and low lipid peroxidation, those of high antioxidant capacity and high lipid peroxidation, those of low antioxidant capacity and low lipid peroxidation, and those of low antioxidant capacity and high lipid peroxidation. The taxa included in these types are 7 (first type), 6 (second one), 8 (third one) and 6 (fourth one) taxa. first or second type species which have a high antioxidant capacity represented low nitrogen content in their leaves. However, third or forth type species which have low antioxidant capacity showed high nitrogen content in their leaves. Metasequoia glyptostroboides, Platycarya strobilacra and P. occidentalis which belong to the first or second type had extraordinarily high antioxidant capacity and high nitrogen content. Thus, three species are considered to be good phytoremediators for an industrial complex area.

• Journal of People, Plants, and Environment
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.445-453
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• 2020

Background and objective: Calcium chloride (CaCl₂) and sodium chloride (NaCl) are commonly used as a deicing agent in South Korea and penetrate the soil on the roadside, causing damage to plants. This study was conducted to investigate the salinity reduction effect of Pennisetum alopecuroides and the chemical characteristics of soil leachate. Methods: The plants were treated with five different concentrations of CaCl₂ (0, 1, 2, 5, and 10g·L^-1) and were grouped into the Cont., C1, C2, C5, and C10 groups. CaCl₂ of 200 m·L^-1 was sprayed to each plant once every two weeks. The growth of P. alopecuroides (plant height, leaf length, leaf width and the number of leaves) was measured. The level of EC and pH, and exchangeable cations (K⁺, Ca²⁺, Na⁺, and Mg²⁺) in the leachate of soil was monitored. Results: The pH of soil leachate decreased as the CaCl₂ concentration increased, and the EC increased significantly. The content of K⁺ did not change significantly until the concentration of CaCl₂ reached 5 g·L^-1, but the content of Ca²⁺, Na⁺, and Mg²⁺ significantly increased. The plant height, leaf length, and leaf width of P. alopecuroides showed the highest value in CaCl₂ 1 g·L^-1 followed by CaCl₂ 2 g·L^-1 and the control group. Root fresh weight was the highest in CaCl₂ 2 g·L^-1. On the other hand, there was no change in the shoot fresh weight, dry weight and root dry weight, and P. alopecuroides growth inhibition at the concentration of 5 g·L^-1 or higher in the plant height and leaf length. Conclusion: P. alopecuroides is relatively highly salt-tolerant and can improve the salt damaged soil by lowering the content of the salt-based exchangeable K⁺ ions.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.31 no.6
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• pp.471-477
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• 2022

This field experiment aimed to identify the optimal planting density for establishing a management plan for ground-cover plants under roadside trees. Liriope platyphylla and Hosta longipes both widely used for planting under trees were selected as the plant materials and planted under Prunus serrulata var. spontanea at different planting densities. Based on the distance between each plant, 4 planting densities were used: 11%, 25%, 49%, and 83% with three replications. To estimate plant growth, plant height, number of leaves and tillers, fresh and dry weight, and visual quality were investigated. Liriope platyphylla exhibited relatively better growth at the highest planting density of 83%. For Hosta longipes, however, the lower growth was positively correlated with high planting density. Therefore, the optimal planting density for Liriope platyphylla is 83% and for Hosta longipes is 11%.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.23 no.8
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• pp.1385-1394
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• 2014

Metcalfa pruinosa was considered to be a very harmful invasive species, due to its high species density in nature and wide range of its host plants. M. pruinosa was distributed in 28 sites among 143 sites. M. pruinosa has wide range and diverse host plants of 52 families 110 species including crop, fruits and forest trees. At present, the identified host plant of M. pruinosa are composed of 62 families and 145 species in total since their first appearance was reported. M. pruinosa was found in roadside 46.7%, followed by forests 33.3% and orchard 20%. Nymphs and adults cause damage to crop and orchard by sucking juice, outbreak of fungi through secretion of wax, and reduction of plant assimilation due to the nectar of nymphs. Also, it reduces the merchantable quality of fruits and thus causes economic damage. It is judged that M. pruinosa has been moved along major road via the traffic vehicles.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Environmental Restoration Technology
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.141-150
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• 1998

This study was conducted to find out the possibility of seeding of Zoysia japonica and woody plants for the revegetation of rock-exposed-cutslopes by Natural Topsoil Restoration Methods (NTRM). The 5cm thick layer of artificial soil was attached at rock-exposed cutslopes for the growth of Zoysia japonica and native woody plants by NTRM. The main results were summarized as follows. 1. Artificial soil attached at rock-exposed-slopes by NTRM was not eroded until recovered by Zoysia japonica and native woody plants. It shows extremely low soil erodibility. 2. One year later after seeding, woody plants show 100% ground coverage. But, in early stage, they grew more quickly at northwest slopes than at southeast slopes. 3. In seeding of Zoysia japonica, it grew more quickly at southeast slopes than at northwest slopes. Also, it grew better at lower part of the slopes than at middle part of the slopes. 4. After one year from seeding, the height of Lespedeza cyrtobotrya and Indigo/era pseudo-tinctoria were longer than any other plants. The next were Albizzia julibrissin, Lespedeza cuneata and wild flowers. The tree height of Rhus chinensis shows 28cm length, so it has enough possibility to be used for roadside revegetation works. 5. Lespedeza cyrtobotrya and Indigo/era pseudo-tinctoria show different importance values according to slope aspect. But, they show tendency to outweigh the other plants at all slope-aspects. 6. Most of the plants seeded by NTRM were germinated well and they covered rock-exposed-slopes so quickly and effectively. Thus it leads to conclusion that the revegetation methods used in this experiment was a very effective methods to recover rock-exposed-slopes by seeding of zoysia japonica and native woody plants.

• Journal of Plant Biology
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.23-30
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• 1974

The relations of the growth responses of plants, i.e. 4 species of crops, 12 species of roadside trees and 5 species of horticultural plants to cadmium (Cd) to which added soil were studied in pot culture. Growth in dry weight of corn, soybean, barley and wheat plant were decreased with increase of Cd concentration. Damage of corn plant caused by Cd treatment was more or less recovered when it was grown in soil with calcium, but that of other three crops was not recovered when it was with calcium. Although crop plants used here absorbed small amount of Cd through root, Cd content in the shoot was directly proportionate to the concentration of Cd treated to soil. Additions of calcium and sulfur to soil were effectively to change of soil pH, and only of calcium increased exchangeable calcium and cation exchange capacity of its soil. The chlorosis on leaves caused by Cd treatment was observed in 2 species such as Euonymus japonica and Rhododendron yedoense out of 5 species of the horticultural plants, especially at 50ppm of Cd concentration, Euonymus japonica occurred symptoms of chlorosis and difoliation, and at the higher concentration than that the symtoms were sever more and more. At 200 ppm of Cd feeble damage was observed in Pinus koraiensis and Ginkgo biloba but severe chlorosis observed in Robinia pseudoacacia and Sabina chinensis, Buxus koreana, Abies holophylla and Platanus orientalis. Nevertheless those plants had serious damage at 200 ppm of Cd, such symptom was weakened by adding calcium to soil with Cd. There were many Cd tolerant species out of the plants used in thies xperiment, such as Crassula falcata, Chrysanthemum morfolium, Hibiscus syriacus, Ligustrum ovalifolium, Liriodendron tulipeferia, Lespedeza crytobotrys.