• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.37-46
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• 1995

This study was carried out to find the problems of assessment on terrestrial ecosystem part in environmental impact analysis(EIA) and to suggest the proper amelioration measures by analyzing 19 environmental impact statements(EIS) published during the period from 1991 to 1994. The results obtained from this study were as follows. Field survey for the investigation of fauna and flora in project areas should be conducted at least 3 times a year and name of investigator should be written on the EIS clearly. Increase or decrease in degree of green naturality and productivity cannot be an absolute criteria for expressing the amount of changes in ecosystem. Evaluation for the ecosystems and their composition in project area is more important than presenting merely the increase or decrease in degree of green naturality and productivity. Alleviation measures in 19 EISs analyzed in this study were summarized into 6 types: They are establishment of landscape plan, transplanting of useful trees preservation of big tree and protected species, restoration and preservation of existent vegetation, establishment of soil conservation measures and diminution of the impact on animal. However, they were somewhat insufficient because they wouldn't suggest the alleviation measures in detail. The more positive counter-proposals are needed to decrease the impact of the project on terrestrial ecosystem.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Environmental Restoration Technology
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.177-194
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• 2011

In order to assess ecologically for the restored detention basin in Joogyo creek, this study carried out a monitoring on the ecosystem of the detention basin. The study site was a small detention basin with an area $6,350m^2$, which had been established in March, 2004. The monitoring started in August and November, 2007. Terrestrial, riparian, and aquatic plants species have increased about 2 times at detention basin compared to that of streamside. Mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, aquatic insects and crustaceans were found more in species at detention basin, and especially there were a lot of more fish species. From the results, it seemed that various terrestrial, riparian, and aquatic ecosystem were made in the small detention basin.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.45 no.1
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• pp.16-25
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• 2020

Background: To investigate radiological effects on biota, it is necessary to assess radiation dose for flora and fauna living in a terrestrial ecosystem. This paper presents a dynamic model to assess radioactivity concentration and radiation dose of terrestrial flora and fauna after a nuclear accident. Materials and Methods: Litter, organic soil, mineral soil, trees, wild crops, herbivores, omnivores, and carnivores are considered the major components of a terrestrial ecosystem. The model considers the physicochemical and biological processes of interception, weathering, decomposition of litter, percolation, root uptake, leaching, radioactive decay, and biological loss of animals. The predictive capability of the model was investigated by comparison of its predictions with field data for biota measured in the Fukushima forest area after the Fukushima nuclear accident. Results and Discussion: The predicted radioactive cesium inventories for trees agreed well with those for evergreens and deciduous trees sampled in the Fukushima area. The predicted temporal radioactivity concentrations for animals were within the range of the measured radioactivity concentrations of deer, wild boars, and black bears. The radiation dose for the animals were, for the whole simulation time, estimated to be much smaller than the lower limit (0.1 mGy·d^-1) of the derived consideration reference level given by the International Commission on Radiological Protection for terrestrial flora and fauna. This suggested that the radiation effect of the accident on the biota in the Fukushima forest would be insignificant. Conclusion: The present dynamic model can be used effectively to investigate the radiological risk to terrestrial ecosystems following a nuclear accident.

• Proceedings of the National Institute of Ecology of the Republic of Korea
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.58-67
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• 2020

Terrestrial ecosystems influence climate change via their climate regulation function, which is manifested within the carbon, water, and energy circulation between the atmosphere and surface. However, it has been challenging to quantify the climate regulation of terrestrial ecosystems and identify its regional distribution, which provides useful information for establishing regional climate-mitigation plans as well as facilitates better understanding of the interactions between the climate and land processes. In this study, a land surface model (LSM) that represents the land-atmosphere interactions and plant phenological variations was introduced to assess the contributions of terrestrial ecosystems to atmospheric warming or cooling effects over East Asia over the last half century. Three main climate-regulating components were simulated: net radiation flux, carbon exchange, and moisture flux at the surface. Then, the contribution of each component to the atmospheric warming or cooling (negative or positive feedback to the atmosphere, respectively) was investigated. The results showed that the terrestrial ecosystem over the Siberian region has shown a relatively large increase in positive feedback due to the enhancement of biogeochemical processes, indicating an offset effect to delay global warming. Meanwhile, the Gobi Desert shows different regional variations: increase in positive feedback in its southern part but increase in negative one in its eastern part, which implies the eastward movements of desert areas. As such, even though the LSM has limitations, this model approach to quantify the climate regulation is useful to extract the relevant characteristics in its spatio-temporal variations.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.113-127
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• 2009

This study was designed to present a river model with an aim at restoring the ecosystem and improving the landscape along the urban rivers on the basin of the Namhan river, a core life channel for the National Capital region. The revelation of botanical status, transition trend and correlation of plants might lead to providing the urban river restoration projects and ecological river formation projects with basic data for a model of ideal aquatic ecology and landscape. The outcomes of this study could be summed up as follows: 1. Communities of Juglans mandshurica, Cornus controversa and Fraxinus mandshurica constitute the main portion of flora at or around uppermost branch streams of the River Namhanis harbored mainly in and around small brooks 2. Typical terrestrial forest communities formed around the River Namhan are composed mainly of Larix leptolepis, Pinus rigida, planned forestation of Pinus koraiensis, Quercus acutissima, Quercus variabilis and Pinus densiflora. 3. The analysis into terrestrial environment of plant communities showed a high content of $P_2O_5$, typical communities found in the artificially disturbed land Finally, it seems also desirable to continue to make every exertion to explore the relationship between fluvial and terrestrial ecologies with a purport of building up a model of natural streams in urban area based on the surveyed factors for plant life, forest communities, soil and landscape and, moreover, on the forecasting for overall influences derived from the relation upon the ecosystem.

• Proceedings of the Korea Water Resources Association Conference
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• 2021.06a
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• pp.204-204
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• 2021

Terrestrial water storage (TWS) includes all components of water (e.g., surface water, groundwater, snow and ice) over the land. So accurately predicting and estimating TWS is important in water resource management. Although many land surface models are used to predict the TWS, model output has errors and biases in comparison to the observation data due to the model deficiencies in the model structure, atmospheric forcing datasets, and parameters. In this study, Gravity Recovery And Climate Experiment (GRACE) satelite TWS data is assimilated in the Community Land Model version 5 with a biogeochemistry module (CLM5.0-BGC) over East Asia from 2003 to 2010 by employing the Ensemble Adjustment Kalman Filter (EAKF). Results showed that TWS over East Asia continued to decrease during the study period, and the ability to simulate the surface water storage, which is the component of the CLM derived TWS, was greatly improved. We further investigated the impact of assimilated TWS on the vegetated and carbon related variables, including the leaf area index and primary products of ecosystem. We also evaluated the simulated total ecosystem carbon and calculated its correlation with TWS. This study shows that how the better simulated TWS plays a role in capturing not only water but also carbon fluxes and states.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Landscape Architecture
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• v.30 no.5
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• pp.98-106
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• 2002

This study was designed to present a river model with the aim of restoring the ecosystem and improving the landscape along the urban rivers on the basin of the Namhanl river, a core life channel for the National Capital regin. The revelation of botanical status, transition trend and correlation of plants might lead to providing the urban river restoration projects and ecological river formation projects with basic data for a model of ideal aquatic ecology and landscape. The outcomes of this study could be summed up as follows: 1. The plant communities of river flora found on the basin of the Namhan river could be categorized largely into 39 plant communities 2. Most diverse plants were distributed in the rivers lower reaches such as Unsim-ri where the protected zone of Paldang reservoir for city water borders the body of Jodae swamp where natural streams flow nearby. 3. One of the greatest threats to the biomass of the River Namhan is that the communities of such invasive alien plants as Panicum dichotomiflorum and Ambrosia artemisiifolia var. elatior dominate most parts of the area, a fact that has resulted in a reduced variety of plants and will, sooner or later, be likely to cause an ecological imbalance in the hitherto healthy Aquatic plant life. It is highly advisable to gradually diversify the species of trees and to return the plants bark to their original state since, besides the naturalized plants, plantations afforested with Erigeron canadensis and Erigeron annuus stocks in buckwheat field, Robinia Pseudo-accacia in riverside forest, Pinus rigida in terrestrial forest on the river basin and Larix leptolepis are anticipated to act as interceptors of normal migrations of the fluvial and terrestrial ecosystems. Finally, it seems also desirable to continue to explore the relationship between fluvial and terrestrial ecologies with the purpose of building up a model of natural streams in urban areas based on the surveyed factors for plant life, soil and landscape and, moreover, on the forecasting for overall influences derived from the rotation upon the ecosystem.

• Journal of Wetlands Research
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.408-416
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• 2023

The IUCN Red List of Ecosystems serves as a global standard for assessing and identifying ecosystems at high risk of biodiversity loss, providing scientific evidence necessary for effective ecosystem management and conservation policy formulation. The IUCN Red List of Ecosystems has been designated as a key indicator (A.1) for Goal A of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. The assessment of the Red List of Ecosystems discerns signs of ecosystem collapse through specific criteria: reduction in distribution (Criterion A), restricted distribution (Criterion B), environmental degradation (Criterion C), changes in biological interaction (Criterion D), and quantitative estimation of the risk of ecosystem collapse (Criterion E). Since 2014, the IUCN Red List of Ecosystems has been evaluated in over 110 countries, with more than 80% of the assessments conducted in terrestrial and inland water ecosystems, among which tropical and subtropical forests are distributed ecosystems under threat. The assessment criteria are concentrated on spatial signs (Criteria A and B), accounting for 68.8%. There are three main considerations for applying the Red List of Ecosystems assessment domestically: First, it is necessary to compile applicable terrestrial ecosystem types within the country. Second, it must be determined whether the spatial sign assessment among the Red List of Ecosystems categories can be applied to the various small-scale ecosystems found domestically. Lastly, the collection of usable time series data (50 years) for assessment must be considered. Based on these considerations, applying the IUCN Red List of Ecosystems assessment domestically would enable an accurate understanding of the current state of the country's unique ecosystem types, contributing to global efforts in ecosystem conservation and restoration.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.47 no.4
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• pp.228-240
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• 2023

Growing complexity in ecosystem structure and functions, under impacts of climate and land-use changes, requires interdisciplinary understandings of processes and the whole-system, and accurate estimates of the changing functions. In the last three decades, observation networks for biodiversity, ecosystems, and ecosystem functions under climate change, have been developed by interested scientists, research institutions and universities. In this paper we will review (1) the development and on-going activities of those observation networks, (2) some outcomes from forest carbon cycle studies at our super-site "Takayama site" in Japan, and (3) a few ideas how we connect in-situ and satellite observations as well as fill observation gaps in the Asia-Oceania region. There have been many intensive research and networking efforts to promote investigations for ecosystem change and functions (e.g., Long-Term Ecological Research Network), measurements of greenhouse gas, heat, and water fluxes (flux network), and biodiversity from genetic to ecosystem level (Biodiversity Observation Network). Combining those in-situ field research data with modeling analysis and satellite remote sensing allows the research communities to up-scale spatially from local to global, and temporally from the past to future. These observation networks oftern use different methodologies and target different scientific disciplines. However growing needs for comprehensive observations to understand the response of biodiversity and ecosystem functions to climate and societal changes at local, national, regional, and global scales are providing opportunities and expectations to network these networks. Among the challenges to produce and share integrated knowledge on climate, ecosystem functions and biodiversity, filling scale-gaps in space and time among the phenomena is crucial. To showcase such efforts, interdisciplinary research at 'Takayama super-site' was reviewed by focusing on studies on forest carbon cycle and phenology. A key approach to respond to multidisciplinary questions is to integrate in-situ field research, ecosystem modeling, and satellite remote sensing by developing cross-scale methodologies at long-term observation field sites called "super-sites". The research approach at 'Takayama site' in Japan showcases this response to the needs of multidisciplinary questions and further development of terrestrial ecosystem research to address environmental change issues from local to national, regional and global scales.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.37 no.3
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• pp.209-220
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• 2023

Over the past few centuries, widespread changes to natural ecosystems caused by human activities have severely threatened biodiversity worldwide. Understanding changes in ecosystems is essential to identifying and managing threats to biodiversity. In line with this need, the IUCN Council formed the IUCN Global Ecosystem Typology (GET) in 2019, taking into account the functions and types of ecosystems. The IUCN provides maps of 10 ecosystem groups and 108 ecological functional groups (EFGs) on a global scale. According to the type classification of IUCN GET ecosystems, Korea's ecosystem is classified into 8 types of Realm (level 1), 18 types of Biome (level 2), and 41 types of Group (level 3). GETs provided by IUCN have low resolution and often do not match the actual land status because it was produced globally. This study aimed to increase the accuracy of Korean IUCN GET type classification by using land cover maps and producing maps that reflected the actual situation. To this end, we ① reviewed the Korean GET data system provided by IUCN GET and ② compared and analyzed it with the current situation in Korea. We evaluated the limitations and usability of the GET through the process and then ③ classified Korea's new Get type reflecting the current situation in Korea by using the national data as much as possible. This study classified Korean GETs into 25 types by using land cover maps and existing national data (Territorial realm: 9, Freshwater: 9, Marine-territorial: 5, Terrestrial-freshwater: 1, and Marine-freshwater-territorial: 1). Compared to the existing map, "F3.2 Constructed lacustrine wetlands", "F3.3 Rice paddies", "F3.4 Freshwater aquafarms", and "T7.3 Plantations" showed the largest area reduction in the modified Korean GET. The area of "T2.2 Temperate Forests" showed the largest area increase, and the "MFT1.3 Coastal saltmarshes and reedbeds" and "F2.2 Small permanent freshwater lakes" types also showed an increase in GET area after modification. Through this process, the existing map, in which the sum of all EFGs in the existing GET accounted for 8.33 times the national area, was modified so that the total sum becomes 1.22 times the national area using the land cover map. This study confirmed that the existing EFG, which had small differences by type and low accuracy, was improved and corrected. This study is significant in that it produced a GET map of Korea that met the GET standard using data reflecting the field conditions.