• Title/Summary/Keyword: traditional ecological knowledge

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The Ethnobotanical Investigation around National Parks in the Northern Area of Province Gyeongsangbuk-do, Korea

  • Lee, Ho-Young;Lee, Ji Yeon;Kang, Shin-Ho;Chung, Kyong-Sook
    • Korean Journal of Plant Resources
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    • v.30 no.6
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    • pp.623-639
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    • 2017
  • We investigated traditional knowledge about ethnobotanical uses around national parks in the northern areas of Province Gyeongsangbuk-do, with the focus on the Sobeaksan National Park area. Interviews were carried out to 138 residents at 42 places from 7 counties and/or cities, and verified species and usage information were categorized by taxonomic groups, usage, and used parts. The ethnobotanical species of the regions consisted of a total of 277 taxa: 244 species, 3 subspecies, 28 varieties, and 2 forma in 213 genera of 79 families. The significant native plants included one Endangered Species (Paeonia obovata Max.) and four endemic species (Salix hallaisanensis H. Lev., Aconitum pseudolaeve Nakai, Paulownia coreana Uyeki, and Cirsium setidens (Dunn) Nakai, Sasa coreana Nakai). About 17 Approved Species for Delivering Overseas designated by Korea Ministry of Environment have been also traditionally valuable in the regions. The main usage of the plants were edible (185 taxa) and medicinal (175 taxa). Leaves were most commonly used parts (109 taxa), followed by stems (73 taxa), fruits (69 taxa), roots (67 taxa), and wholes (57 taxa). The traditional usage of plants were diverse as those useful parts. Leaves, fruits and seeds were used as edible and medicinal; sprouts (young shoots) were mainly used as edible; but roots and flowers were used as medicinal. The study does not only provides examples of traditional uses of native plants, but also facilitates sustainable managements and developments of ethnobotanical knowledge for the contemporary society.

VBioindex: A Visual Tool to Estimate Biodiversity

  • Yu, Dong Su;Yoo, Seung Hwa
    • Genomics & Informatics
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    • v.13 no.3
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    • pp.90-92
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    • 2015
  • Biological diversity, also known as biodiversity, is an important criterion for measuring the value of an ecosystem. As biodiversity is closely related to human welfare and quality of life, many efforts to restore and maintain the biodiversity of species have been made by government agencies and non-governmental organizations, thereby drawing a substantial amount of international attention. In the fields of biological research, biodiversity is widely measured using traditional statistical indices such as the Shannon-Wiener index, species richness, evenness, and relative dominance of species. However, some biologists and ecologists have difficulty using these indices because they require advanced mathematical knowledge and computational techniques. Therefore, we developed VBioindex, a user-friendly program that is capable of measuring the Shannon-Wiener index, species richness, evenness, and relative dominance. VBioindex serves as an easy to use interface and visually represents the results in the form of a simple chart and in addition, VBioindex offers functions for long-term investigations of datasets using time-series analyses.

Cultural Ecology on the Village Fengshui (마을풍수의 문화생태 - 지리산권역의 마을을 사례로 -)

  • Choi, Won-Suk
    • Journal of the Korean association of regional geographers
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    • v.17 no.3
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    • pp.259-269
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    • 2011
  • The meaning of fengshui was another cultural ecological environment in the pre-modern in Korea. Village residents made interrelations with village natural environment by the medium of the geomantic landscape. The functions of cultural ecology through the village fengshui are as follows: the spatial location, the population inflow, the regulation of the community's production or construction or land-use, the adjustment of the environmental carrying capacity, the environmental management, the forming of the collective environmental perception and attitude. Village fengshui is a cultural adaptation strategy to the local environment for the village residents. Fengshui can be evaluated as a traditional cultural ecological way and knowledge system for keeping sustainable village environment in East Asia.

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Cyanobacterial Taxonomy: Current Problems and Prospects for the Integration of Traditional and Molecular Approaches

  • Komarek, Jiri
    • ALGAE
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    • v.21 no.4
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    • pp.349-375
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    • 2006
  • The application of modern ecological, ultrastructural and molecular methods, aided by the cultivation of numerous cyanobacterial morphotypes, has substantially changed our knowledge of these organisms. It has led to major advances in cyanobacterial taxonomy and criteria for their phylogenetic classification. Molecular data provide basic criteria for cyanobacterial taxonomy; however, a correct phylogenetic system cannot be constructed without combining genetic data with knowledge from the previous 150 years research of cyanobacterial diversity. Thus, studies of morphological variation in nature, and modern morphological, ultrastructural, ecophysiological and biochemical characters need to be combined in a “polyphasic” approach. Taxonomic concepts for generic and infrageneric ranks are re-evaluated in light of combined phenotypic and molecular criteria. Despite their usefulness in experimental studies, the limitations of using strains from culture collections for systematic and nomenclatural purposes is highlighted. The need for a continual revision of strain identification and proper nomenclatural practice associated with either the bacteriological or botanical codes is emphasized. Recent advances in taxonomy are highlighted in the context of prospects for understanding cyanobacterial diversity from natural habitats, and the evolutionary and adaptational processes that cyanobacteria undergo.

The Epistemological Understandings on Ecologism: Applications of Sung Confucianism and The Silhak (생태주의의 인식론적 비교: 성리학과 운화론을 중심으로)

  • Kim, Jeong-Tae;Lee, Seong-Woo
    • Journal of Korean Society of Rural Planning
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    • v.13 no.2
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    • pp.39-49
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    • 2007
  • The objective of this paper is to investigate the development of Silhak as a Korean epistemology, to investigate the implications of Silhak in Korean society, and to discover further environmental implications. The main discussion of this paper concerns with the epistemology of environmental philosophy. Epistemology is based on the justification of certain knowledge and social philosophy. Epistemology, from the Greek words episteme (knowledge) and logos (word/ speech) is the branch of philosophy concerned with theories of the sources, nature, and limits of knowledge. Since the seventeenth century, epistemology has been one of the fundamental themes of philosophers, who were necessarily obliged to coordinate the theory of knowledge with the development of scientific thought. It is a general belief that Western ideology is substantially embedded in Eastern ideology due to physical and metaphysical colonial involvement. We argue that ecological crisis may be resulted from western epistemological mechanical view, thus we suggests a Korean epistemology as an alternative. In this paper, we seek possibility of epistemological alternative of nature in the Korean traditional epistemology incorporating the epistemology of Sung confucianism and The Silhak.

Crossing Mythical Boundaries and Homing in Witi Ihimaera's The Whale Rider (위티 이히마에라의 『고래 타는 사람』에 그려진 신화적 경계 허물기와 귀향)

  • Cha, Heejung
    • Journal of English Language & Literature
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    • v.56 no.2
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    • pp.277-299
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    • 2010
  • This study explores Witi Ihimaera's The Whale Rider (1987) from ecological and postcolonial perspectives. Ihimaera is one of the prominent Maori writers who have critically voiced their concerns about the fragmentation of Maori tradition and the alienation of an environmentally friendly culture in New Zealand. Throughout the novel The Whale Rider, with his mythic imagination and cultural sensitivity, Ihimaera raises ecological awareness in terms of environmental justice and promotes critical consciousness regarding sociocultural and histo-political realities of the Maori people as alienated others in their ancestors' land. Revolving around the developmental process of a young Maori girl named after a mythical Maori ancestor Kahutia Te Rangi also known as the Whale Rider to inherit the Maori leadership, the novel describes the historical, cultural, emotional landscape of the Maori community in the white-centered society of New Zealand. In particular, this paper analyzes the leaving and homing process of narrator Rawiri which is deeply embedded in Maori myth and philosophy toward an eco-friendly culture and postcolonial reality. Indeed, Ihimaera skillfully juxtaposes young man Rawiri's experience outside the Maori community and young girl Kahu's life at the Maori home. In the end, while Kahu achieves her destiny in a mythical way to foster a new vision of harmonious co-existence that is rooted in Maori heritage and compatible with Western culture, Rawiri comes to understand the interrelatedness of all existence and embraces both the rational knowledge of scientific empiricism and the traditional knowledge of spiritual experiences. The novel The Whale Rider was also turned into a film by New Zealand's most influential female film director Niki Caro in 2002, and the film Whale Rider received international acclaim.

Perspectives on the Characteristics and Meanings as of a Traditional Ecological Landscape as Dangsan Forest and Dangsan Ritual Place in Seoseong-ri, Wando-gun (완도군 서성리 당산숲.당산제 공간의 전통생태경관적 특성 및 의미 고찰)

  • Choi, Jai-Ung;Kim, Dong-Yeob;Kim, Mi-Heui;Jo, Lock-Whan
    • Journal of the Korean Institute of Traditional Landscape Architecture
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    • v.30 no.1
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    • pp.135-145
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    • 2012
  • Traditional village forests called Dangsan forests and Bibo forests in Korea represent an unique cultural landscape with a history of more than several hundred years. Feng-shui forest in China, Satoyama and Shinto shrine forest in Japan are recognized internationally as 'traditional ecological landscapes'. Dangsan forests and Bibo forests have been preserved through generations in the villages, and are no less valuable than Feng-shui forest, and Satoyama. However, the names of Dangsan forest and Bibo forest have not been well recognized worldwide. Dangsan forest in Seoseong-ri, Wando-gun is located on a mountain slope at a riparian forest. It consists of an evergreen broadleaf forest and Carpinus laxiflora forest. The characteristics of Dangsan forest in Seoseong-ri could be found at 10 sacrifice offering places. Two Dangsan trees on the coastal area are included in the sacrifice offering places. Cultural heritage can retain their value when they are fully sustained. Additional construction, demolition or modification should be banned. Furthermore, all means must be taken to facilitate the preservation of monuments and the value and meanings pertaining to them should not be distorted. In a respect of authenticity, Dangsan forest in Seoseong-ri, Wando-gun seems to have original Dangsan culture based on animism with a philosophic background, where a religious service for the mountain god is held at rock of mountain god, and Dangsan ritual is held at shrine on January 8 at 4:00 am by lunar calendar. Relating to the conservation and management of cultural heritage in international discussion, the importance is that whether there is sustainability on the right to the enjoyment of cultural heritage. Dangsan forest in Seoseong-ri is leaved alone to the public. The forest need a social mechanism to support the recovery of deformed shrine and to heighten public awareness of Dangsan forest in order to claim the value as a unique traditional ecological landscape in Korea.

Current methodologies in construction of plant-pollinator network with emphasize on the application of DNA metabarcoding approach

  • Namin, Saeed Mohamadzade;Son, Minwoong;Jung, Chuleui
    • Journal of Ecology and Environment
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    • v.46 no.2
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    • pp.126-135
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    • 2022
  • Background: Pollinators are important ecological elements due to their role in the maintenance of ecosystem health, wild plant reproduction, crop production and food security. The pollinator-plant interaction supports the preservation of plant and animal populations and it also improves the yield in pollination dependent crops. Having knowledge about the plant-pollinator interaction is necessary for development of pesticide risk assessment of pollinators and conservation of endangering species. Results: Traditional methods to discover the relatedness of insects and plants are based on tracing the visiting pollinators by field observations as well as palynology. These methods are time-consuming and needs expert taxonomists to identify different groups of pollinators such as insects or identify flowering plants through palynology. With pace of technology, using molecular methods become popular in identification and classification of organisms. DNA metabarcoding, which is the combination of DNA barcoding and high throughput sequencing, can be applied as an alternative method in identification of mixed origin environmental samples such as pollen loads attached to the body of insects and has been used in DNA-based discovery of plant-pollinator relationship. Conclusions: DNA metabarcoding is practical for plant-pollinator studies, however, lack of reference sequence in online databases, taxonomic resolution, universality of primers are the most crucial limitations. Using multiple molecular markers is preferable due to the limitations of developed universal primers, which improves taxa richness and taxonomic resolution of the studied community.

Practical Strategies for Urban Regeneration through an Application of Landscape Urbanism (랜드스케이프 어바니즘 관점에서 본 도시재생 전략 연구)

  • Cho, Se-Hwan
    • Journal of the Korean Institute of Landscape Architecture
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    • v.38 no.2
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    • pp.109-118
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    • 2010
  • This study aims to propose practical strategies for the new urban ideal of regeneration. A book review highlights the emergence of new trends of urbanization in knowledge-information industrial society beyond the new town Ideal of the industrial society. The meaning of ‘landscape’ in landscape urbanism represents not the visual and decorative pictures, but the dynamic process in the context of changes and evolutions. Also, knowledge-information industrial society and landscape have a meaning in the same context of flow and process with changes of velocity. Finally, these key words convey a meaning with the new urban trends of urbanization in knowledge-information industrial society in the context of value-oriented characteristics of dynamics and process. Urban regeneration is emerging as the new urban ideal in the knowledge-information industrial society, beyond the new town ideal of industrial society. It is in the same context as landscape urbanism with respect to green infrastructure buildings and designs for the transformation of urban surfaces covered with concrete and asphalt into the ecological surface, and of the ecological surfaces into the cultural surface that could be communicated with human beings. This research revealed the six strategies for urban regeneration as follows. The First, the strategies for the transformation of urban surfaces into ecological surfaces, the second, the strategies for the transformation of ecological surfaces into cultural surfaces, the third, the introduction of mixed and convergence land use, the forth, the transformation of former sites(e.g. military and factory) into urban parks, the fifth, the introduction of waterfront park zones that have the function of ecological and park-oriented mixed land use and, the sixth, the building and design of green infrastructure in the residential and commercial complex in CBD. These strategies call for the reforms of development laws and regulations to restrict building coverage ratio, building heights, and the introduction of park-oriented mixed zoning regulations. Another method for implementating the above listed strategies was the introduction of a strategic planning system instead of the traditional master plan system. This system uses a value planning approach and brand making by imagery. It is able to construct the meaning of an image and its creativeness directly.

A Study on the Ordering Status of Traditional Landscape Design Service in Cultural Heritage (문화재의 전통조경설계용역 발주실태 연구)

  • Kim, Min-Seon;Kim, Choong-Sik;Lee, Jae-Yong
    • Journal of the Korean Institute of Traditional Landscape Architecture
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    • v.39 no.3
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    • pp.33-41
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    • 2021
  • This study identified the scale that traditional landscape design has taken up by analyzing a total of 1037 services for design of cultural heritage that had been ordered by the government agencies from 2018 to 2020, and has drawn characteristics of traditional landscape design focusing on major cases. The results are as follows. First, the number of order cases for traditional landscape design has shown differences annually in the services of design of cultural heritage, but the design amount has been found to have the similar average annually, which confirmed that the same level has been maintained each year. It was found that the number of cases of traditional landscape design requiring responsibilities or participations of landscape engineers for 3 years in the entire design had a high proportion of approximately 26%. Second, the traditional landscape design has required professional knowledge and experiences of landscape engineers that could not be replaced by the business operator for design of cultural heritage consisting of architects. The expertise has been shown differently depending on types of construction. First, the topographical design for the work to build a foundation has required understanding of ground shapes and its elevations and professional knowledge on calculation of the amount of the earth work and the remains maintenance technique etc. The plantation design has required basic knowledge on growth characteristics of trees and the environment for growth and understanding of the vegetation landscape of the past. Meanwhile, the design for traditional pavement and traditional landscape structures and facilities has required the expertise on traditional materials that are different from the modern ones and their processing and construction methods. The understanding of changes to water paths and ecosystem, the principles of fluids, and characteristics of each type of fluid was essential for the design for the ecological landscape work including the maintenance of a water system such as rivers etc. As such, the traditional landscape design has a scale accounting for approximately one fourth of the entire cultural heritage design and requires the expertise differentiated from other fields. This improves the provisions of the current law on limiting the actual design, suggesting the need for the establishment of a traditional landscape design company so that all traditional landscape designs can be carried out by landscape engineers.