• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.53 no.1
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• pp.80-90
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• 2020

In order to understand the stress responses, we measured the concentration of stress hormones by using the fresh feces of wild otters in the Gwangju stream and Seomjin river during summer and winter in 2018. We compared seasonal and regional number of spraints (=otters' feces), temperature, altitude, water width, land cover, and water quality with stress hormones. The stress hormone levels were higher in summer than in winter, and significantly different to season and region. In addition, the number of feces were different according to the season and region, and showed a negative correlation with stress hormone. This study suggested assessing stress hormones as another promising method for the analysis of status of wild otters and it will contribute to establish the management and conservation policy, especially in urban area.

• Journal of Korean Society of Rural Planning
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.1-7
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• 1998

This research is concerned with a comparative cognition of environmental issues in the countryside between socio-cultural groups. Environmental issues have been con연nod to litter, soil, sewage, wild life, noise, landscape, air, housing development, waste land and pesticides. Socio-cultural groups consisted of urban and countryside people who live in Korea and UK. The method of this study depended upon a standard questionnaire with a semantic scale. The cognition of Korean and British people are significantly different in every respect(p =.0001)except air issues. There is a significant similarity between Korean groups in 10 environmental issues(p > .03). Both Korean groups have generally recognized that their countryside environment has faced serious problems to be solved while British groups have not recognized serious problems in their countryside compared to the Korean groups. To both Korean and British groups the most worrying amongst the 10 environmental issues is the litter problem. In particular, there is a significant difference between British groups in soils(p = .0001), wildlife(p = .0009), air(p = .0001) and waste land(p = .0027). The existing policies (or countryside environment in Korea should be completely reconsidered and in Britain policies towards soils, wild life, air and waste land need to be reviewed. From the results it can be seen that cognition to countryside environment undergoes more cultural influences rather than social ones.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.35 no.3
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• pp.256-264
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• 2021

Rapid urbanization around the world has negatively affected wildlife habitats, including birds. Wild birds settled in the city are adapting to the changed surroundings, and are typically known to make nests using materials that are easy to find around the city. This study was conducted for the purpose of analyzing the nesting materials on the Paridae using artificial bird nests installed in cities. In this study, the researchers established a total of 33 artificial bird nests in urban parks (22) and forests (11) in Cheonan-si, Chungcheongnam-do. Then we collected 4 artificial bird nests in urban parks (18.19%) and 5 in urban forests (45.46%) to compare the characteristics of bird nest materials by the nest, species, and urban green area types. Eight nests, excluding a nest abandoned by a pair of Paridae, were used for the material analysis. The collected nests were dried, and classified into natural materials (vegetable materials, animal materials, moss, and soil) and artificial materials (cotton, paper pieces, plastics, vinyl, and synthetic fibers), and then each nest was weighed. The classification result shows that the portion of moss (50.65%) was the highest in all nests, followed by soil (21.43%), artificial material (13.95%), vegetable material (5.78%), animal material (4.57%), and others (3.59%) in that order. Artificial materials were used in all nests in urban green areas. Moreover, although the Paridae used about 5.16% more vegetable material than the Parus varius, it was not significant (t=2.17, p=0.07). Plant materials and soil were most preferred in urban forests, and moss, animal, and artificial materials were widely used in that order in urban parks. There was a significant difference in the use of vegetable materials between urban parks and urban forests (t=3.07, p<0.05^*). In the habitats like urbanized and dry areas, where artificial materials are highly accessible, artificial materials replaced some roles of natural materials. This study is a basic study for the analysis of the types of materials used in artificial bird nests to understand the habitat system of urban ecosystems. It can be used as the basic data for ecological studies and conservation of the Paridae species.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.170-187
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• 2006

The purpose of this study is to provide a basic datd for establishing a basic park management plan for Bulamsan Urban Nature Park. This research surveys very closely about the present condition of the natural ecosystem based on the examination and analysis of the present condition. This research suggests development and management methods for environment-friendly park by understanding damages on the ecosystem due to overuse, as well as park facilities and their effects on the surrounding environment, using quantative analysis. The three steps: researching the present condition research, ecosystem evaluation, and park management plan were taken in order. The present condition research is based on the general condition, natural environment, and natural ecosystem data. In the ecosystem evaluation, wildlife habitats evaluation, landscape evaluation, and biotope type research which is a materialized form of the plant ecosystem were excuted based on the present condition research data. In the park management plan step, 1) classified ecosystem and landscae preservation zone, ecosystem protection zone and ecosystem restoration zone as ecosystem and landscape preservation plan, 2) plannings for ecosystem, fine landscape preservation, damaged area restoration and recovery plan were established in order to suggest environment-friendly plan,

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.159-172
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• 2008

This study was carried out to obtain ecological information necessary for a conservation plan based on the distributional patterns, wetland types, and hydrophytic characteristics of urban wetlands in Seongnam City, Kyunggi Province where representing the various patterns of land use made by rapid urbanization since 1970s. Total 162 sites of four wetland types were identified as urban wetlands during the first survey. The sites were classified into 55 forested swamps, 4 riverine wetlands, 62 abandoned paddy fields, 37 small ponds, and 4 reservoirs, etc. The second survey targeted 107 sites which were identified as good wetlands. It showed that 42 sites(about 39%) were already degraded due to drainage, landfill, and crop cultivation at 6 months intervals. Both hydrologic conditions and hydrophytic characteristics of 27 good wetlands help maintain current ecological status, but most wetlands have been degraded by artificial impacts. Among 184 species identified, only 75 species(about 40.7%) were hydrophytes. Prevalence Index of hydrophyte based on three categories of OBL(obligatory wetland plant), FAC(facultitative plant), UPL(obligatory upland plant) was 3.7, indicating that vegetation data alone is inadequate to designate as wetlands. This study revealed that as critical habitats for wildlife they playa vital role in ecotone between both terrestrial and aquatic ecosystem with its proper distributional pattern in spite of their small areas compared to the entire geographic region of the City.

• Journal of the Korean Association of Geographic Information Studies
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.89-101
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• 2016

This study examined spatial disposition of wildlife highway mortality using road-kill GIS database and Naver panoramic 360 degree views to find out which habitat and road variables most influenced road-kill numbers for each mammal species and how the landscape and road elements are connected on highway. Road-kills on Yeongdong(YD) and Jungbu highway(JB) generally tended to be higher in natural barren, grassland and cropland due to its value of preferred habitats of nocturnal and multihabitat species like water deer(Hydropotes inermis argyropus), raccoon(Nyctereutes procyonoides) and hare(Lepus coreanus). Land cover in YD showed no difference between species (p=0.165) while JB did by species (p=0.001). This may be explained by disparate landscape between mountain and urban or the fact that YD in long term operation might have enabled consistent crossing pattern compared to JB experiencing continuous extension works which may in turn have deviated the road crossing. Although road-kill prevention effect of local topography alone was appreciable, compared to less significant or ineffective fence and guardrail, gentle slope declining in a direction to the road turned out to offset the preventive effect of juxtaposed fence. Furthermore, green patches on road near intersection were deemed a visual stepping stone facilitating wildlife attempted crossing and local roads juxtaposed with a highway were especially left defenceless to road-kill without road barriers.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.140-146
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• 2018

Wild boars have expanded their habitats in Korea in recent years and caused serious social problems such as crop damage and appearance in urban areas. This study was carried out from May to October 2012 to investigate the environmental factors that affect crop damage based on actual cases reported in Geochang County of Gyeongnam Province, Korea. The analysis showed that the damages by wild boars occurred mainly between August and September, and rice was damaged most often while sweet potatoes were damaged most intensely. The results indicated that the damages were related to the wild boars' preference of crop and the seasonal availability of crops. Other factors that affected the crop damage included the slope, the topographic relief, and the distances from forest, stream, road, and residential area. There was no significant difference of environmental factor according to damage intensity, suggesting that the wild boars tended to attack the same cropland repeatedly and thus accumulating the damage. Our study suggests that reducing crop damages by wild boars will require cultivating crops less preferred by wild boars, installing electric fences, and controlling wild boar population with hunting and trapping.

• Journal of Wetlands Research
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.428-435
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• 2015

Constructed wetlands (CWs) have been accepted as an attractive and economic alternative to a variety of pollution control and provided potentially valuable wildlife habitat in urban and suburban areas, as well as esthetic value within the local natural environment. CWs are known eco-friendly technology to solve the problem of the climate change and urbanization issues. Numerous studies have been published on the various aspects of a CW. However, there are current limitations about the CW operations such as few design guidelines, poor performance results regarding the simple construction. Therefore, the objective of this research was to suggest an appropriate design and maintenance guidelines for a CW by thorough investigation of site monitoring results. The research also concentrated in redefining and reclassifying CWs, based on literatures made by the Ministry of Environment (MOE) and other organizations. Investigation at 43 CWs in Korea was performed by using collected data and by performing site survey from 2013 to 2014. Based on the results, the best practices among the investigated CWs provided water treatment, wildlife habitat, environmental education, and leisure. Also these CWs conducted a regular maintenance such as vegetation, sediment dredging and cleaning of facilities. Results obtained are intended for use by academics and any organizations involved in CW management.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.35 no.4
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• pp.387-397
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• 2021

This study aims to present reference data necessary for developing evaluation indicators to analyze the actual resilience of purchased land by investigating the factors that affect the restoration of the purchased land in the riparian zone and quantitatively calculating its importance. The main results are as follows. Firstly, this study identified 34 potential resilience factors through a literature review encompassing domestic and overseas studies and derived seven ecological responsiveness factors, six physical responsiveness factors, and four managerial responsiveness factors through the Delphi survey. Secondly, reliability analysis and Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) analysis derived the following important factors: structural stability of the vegetation restored in the purchased land, species diversity of wildlife, structural stability of wildlife, the size of restored wetland after purchase, number of plant species, and the land cover status adjacent to the purchased land. The study results are expected to be helpful information for ecological restoration and management plans reflecting reinforcing factors for resilience at each stage of land purchase, restoration, and management.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.601-613
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• 2011

The purpose of this study is to provide an protected wildlife species and potential habitats in Seoul through the overall present status of the species which live in Seoul. This study was performed in Seoul, the entire area of which is 605.52 $km^2$. We analyzed a total of 57 studies, including academic papers and research reports, for the natural ecology in Seoul. As for the results from the study, it was found that a total 1,907 species from 5 taxa were inhabiting and growing within the area. Among the total, plants of 1,656 species accounted for 86.7%, 197 species of wild birds made up 10.3%, 29 species of amphibians and reptiles consisted of 1.5%, and 27 species of mammalia totaled 1.4%. A total of 440 species except foreign species and species legally preserved by the Ministry of Environment, common species and uncertain species were selected as primary candidates. By taxon, it shows 212 species of plants, 180 species of wild birds, 24 species of mammalia, and 24 species of amphibians and reptiles. For extensive research subjects and research data limited in certain insect family, analysis by literature for discovered insects was excluded. The selection criteria for the second candidate species was based on extinction crisis, rarity, historicity and locality, academic value, habitat specificity, etc. The second candidate species from the primary species were selected through taxon experts' evaluations. As for the results of the selection of the second candidates, a total 77 species were selected through the experts' evaluations. Each species by taxon was 25 species for plants, 21 species for wild birds, 5 for mammalia, 10 for amphibians and reptiles and 16 species for insects. A site investigation for the second candidates was conducted to select the final candidate species. For the target areas, the habitats of the second candidates given by the literature and 46 potential areas in Seoul, which show good natural resistance, were finally selected. From the result of the site investigation, it was found that 14 species of plants, 19 species of wild birds, 2 species of mammalia, 4 species of amphibians and reptiles, and 16 species of insects were actually inhabiting Seoul; thus, the final 55 protected species were selected.