• Journal of Wetlands Research
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.161-172
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• 2018

A mixed farming system that includes organic rice production and freshwater fish farming is being called into attention in Korean agricultural industry and rural areas in order to improve farm management and environmental conservation. This study was conducted to evaluate the environmental and ecological value of such mixed farming practices. Expert assessment and rapid assessment method (RAM) of wetland evaluation were employed for this study. Experts have responded that biodiversity conservation including amphibian and reptile habitat (2.39), aquatic insect habitat (2.36), Fishery habitat (2.34), vegetation diversity (2.13), avian habitat (2.05), and experience and education were the most important function of mixed farming. The wetland function evaluation conducted using modified RAM indicated that rice-fish mixed system showed improvements in most of the evaluated functions, compared to the conventional rice paddies. The overall wetland function of rice paddies in rice-fish mixed system was greatly improved as compared with the conventional rice paddies. Rice paddies are known to play an important role in biodiversity maintenance, and provide ecosystem services such as climate modulation and carbon reduction. Rice-fish mixed system of farming may not only improve various ecosystem services of rice paddies, but may increase farm income through value added fish farming, as well as promotion of social services such as education and maintenance of tradition. Additional research is needed for quantitative analysis of the values gained from the most improved wetland function when mixed farming system is actually put into practice, and to utilize the results in advertising of the organic rice, and in various sectors such as food, education and direct payment policy.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.43 no.3
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• pp.314-319
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• 2019

Background: The dramatic worldwide decline in the butterfly species Leptalina unicolor (Bremer & Grey) is largely the result of continuous habitat decline and disturbance by humans. The discovery of a narrow habitat in riverside wetlands utilized by L. unicolor raises the hope that such restricted key areas could be rather easily protected. Results: Here, we explain the environmental variables and habitat characteristics that primarily influence the distribution of L. unicolor discovered at the riverside areas along the Geum River. L. unicolor larvae were found at 9 of 13 study sites, and their abundance was strongly positively correlated with plant biomass. Our investigation showed that among four plant species (Miscanthus sinensis, Spodiopogon cotulifer, Setaria viridis, and Imperata cylindrica), L. unicolor larvae were the most abundant on the leaves of M. sinensis. They were not abundant on the leaves of S. cotulifer, S. viridis, or I. cylindrica. Interestingly, the number of L. unicolor larvae was positively correlated with the coverage area ($m^2$) of M. sinensis (F = 41.7, $r^2=0.74$, P < 0.0001). Conclusions: It appears that water (e.g., wetlands, ponds, and watersides) located along the riverside areas along the Geum River is important for the constant maintenance and conservation of L. unicolor. This is based on the habitat characteristics (water preference) of M. sinensis, which is used as a habitat by L. unicolor larvae. However, the waterside is dry and terrestrialization is in progress owing to the decreased water levels and water supply caused by an opened weir. Hereafter, this area will likely require management to secure a stable habitat for L. unicolor.

• Journal of Korea Water Resources Association
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• v.50 no.6
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• pp.429-440
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• 2017

A series of multispectral high-resolution Korean Multi-Purpose Satellite (KOMPSAT) images were analyzed to detect the geographical changes in four different tidal flats in the west coast of South Korea. The method of unsupervised classification was used to generate a series of land use/land cover (LULC) maps from the satellite images, which were used as the input of the temporal trajectory analysis to detect the temporal change of coastal wetlands and its association with natural and anthropogenic activities. The accurately classified LULC maps extracted from the KOMPSAT images indicate that these multispectral high-resolution satellite data is highly applicable to generate good quality thematic maps for extracting wetlands. The result of the trajectory analysis showed that, while the tidal flat area of Gyeonggi and Jeollabuk provinces was estimated to have changed due to tidal effects, the reductive trajectory of the wetland areas belonging to the Saemangeum province was caused by a high degree of human-induced activities including large reclamation and urbanization. The conservation of the Jeungdo Wetland Protected Area in Jeollanam province revealed that the social and environmental policies can effectively protect coastal wetlands from degradation. Therefore, monitoring for wetland change using high resolution KOMPSAT is expected to be useful to coastal environment management and policy making.

• 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 Climate Change Research
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.401-414
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• 2017

Vegetation and landscape characteristics at the three highest summits of Republic of Korea, i.e. Seoraksan, Jirisan and Hallasan, are analyzed on the basis of species composition, physiognomy, vegetation distribution and structure of alpine plants, along with landform, geology, soil and habitat conditions. Dominant high mountain plants at three alpine and subalpine belts contain deciduous broadleaved shrub, Rhododendron mucronulatum var. ciliatum (31.6%), and evergreen coniferous small tree, Pinus pumila (26.3%) at Seoraksan, deciduous broadleaved tree, Betula ermanii (35.3%), evergreen coniferous tree, Picea jezoensis (23.5%) at Jirisan, and evergreen coniferous tree, Abies koreana (22.6%), deciduous broadleaved shrub, Rhododendron mucronulatum var. ciliatum, and Juniperus chinensis var. sargentii (19.4%) at Hallasan, respectively. Presence of diverse landscapes at the peak of Seoraksan, such as shrubland, grassland, dry land along with rocky areas, and open land may be the result of hostile local climate and geology. High proportion of grassland and wetland at the top of Jirisan may related to gneiss-based gentle topography and well developed soil deposits, which are beneficial to keep the moisture content high. Occurrence of grassland, shrubland, dry land, conifer vegetation, and rocky area at the summit of Hallasan may due to higher elevation, unique local climate, as well as volcanic origin geology and soil substrates. Presences of diverse boreal plant species with various physiognomy at alpine and subalpine belts, and wide range of landscapes, including rocky, grassland, shrubland, wetland, and conifer woodland, provide decisive clues to understand the natural history of Korea, and can be employed as an relevant environmental indicator of biodiversity and ecosystem stability.

• The Journal of Fisheries Business Administration
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• v.42 no.3
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• pp.41-61
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• 2011

Marine protected Areas(MPAs) are specially designated zones of the sea that are designed to secure operation of ecosystem function and to restore marine ecosystem to the original state by excluding all detrimental human activities. MPAs have been proposed in many countries as means of realizing sustainable fisheries and recently MPAs are newly receiving attention as precautionary measure for global warming and climate change. The purpose of this paper is to examine the possibility of MPAs as fisheries management tools through a wide range of literature analysis and to suggest necessity of fisheries purpose of MPAs in Korea. Establishment of marine protected area can accompany various economic benefits such as restoration of marine environment, preservation of habitats, promotion of marine tourism and so on. Especially, a lot of case studies suggested that MPAs may bring out benefits to the fishing industry as a result of enhanced stocks. Fisheries benefits of MPAs on targeted species include increased abundance, increased mean individual size and age, increased reproductive output, enhanced recruitment inside and outside refuge, maintenance of genetic diversity of stocks, and enhanced fishery yields in adjacent fishing grounds, so called spill-over. MPAs for ecosystem conservation and protection of coastal wetland have been applied appropriately and effectively, however, the Korean MPAs system is still detective due to absence of fisheries purpose MPAs. Finally, suggestions for Korean MPAs can be summarized as following four recommendations; to establish number of small-scale MPAs rather than few large MPAs, to designate island and its surrounding areas as reserve, to consider MPA design with stock enhancement program, and to undertake co-management with Eochon-Gye, the traditional coastal community in Korea.

• Ocean and Polar Research
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• v.44 no.3
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• pp.249-260
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• 2022

This mini review examines the habitat connectivity and effectiveness of Korean Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) in the Yellow Sea Large Marine Ecosystem (YSLME) region. We first reemphasize that the Korean region of the YSLME is a single ecosystem (ecoregion) given the biophysical distribution patterns. The MPAs within the YSLME contribute about 50% to the total MPAs in Korea, accounting for about 10% of the territorial sea waters of Korea and 20% of the waters of YSLME on the Korean side. By area, national parks account for nearly 45% of the MPAs, followed by the wetland protected areas at 25%, with other types of MPA comprising the remaining 30%. Large MPA (> 100 km²) is the dominant type of MPA, accounting for 90% of the total area. We find that MPAs in the region are connected physically and perhaps also genetically. However, the level of protection was found to be low, and a no-take zone is rarely implemented. In addition, interrupted freshwater discharge caused by river-mouth dams poses a major hindrance to the physical connectivity of the MPAs. Restoration of the river-mouth dams and strengthened regulation on MPAs, with further expansion of MPAs in line with the current development of post-2020 global biodiversity frameworks, should be priorities for better management of marine resources. The newly revised law incorporating the concept of "Marine Ecosystem Axis Management" would reinforce the processes, and their effectiveness together with overall management of MPAs in Korea should be evaluated by designing appropriate measurement tools.

• 한국방재학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2007.02a
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• pp.211-214
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• 2007

The purpose of this study was to establish the basic information for natural drainage capacity assessment in urban area. We sorted midium watershed of Han river and Nak-dong river, and selected 30 rainfall events during 1995 to 2000 according to high level of damage. The inundated area showed high watershed slope about 25% and it indicated the greatest damage around the watershed located in 200-300m of altitude. Besides, the great damage by inundation was occurred in the mountainous agriculture region, where the forest scale was high and the urbanization was being progressed gradually. However, inundated area was small in case of grassland, water tone such as riparian area, bare ground and wetland. Moreover, the inundated area was different according to river shape and characteristics of river distribution such as the density of the stream order, conservation constant of the river system, and the number of undulations in the watershed. Therefore, it showed that land use, river shape and distribution characteristics of stream influence on inundation.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.28 no.12
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• pp.1123-1131
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• 2019

In this study, we investigated the spatial range, distribution pattern, temporal appearance, sex ratio, seasonal pattern, and size of the population of Leptalina unicolor locally inhabiting the wetland protection area in the Jaeyaksan Mountain. We found that the butterfly was distributed across four areas at 750 m above sea level and in an area of 96,000 ㎡. in the southeastern slope of the mountain. The discontinuous distribution of the butterflies in the meadow. According to our survey conducted from 2012 to 2014, L. unicolor occurred in May (spring) and July (summer) each year, with the male population more than three times higher than that of the female population. The population size estimated using the mark and recapture method on the back of the hind wing in the two years was as follows: 877±502 and 1243±800 individuals in the spring and summer of 2012, respectively, and 783±429 and 506±365 individuals in the spring and summer of 2014, respectively, suggesting no specific seasonal pattern. The findings of this study are expected to be useful for the conservation of the populations and habitats of L. unicolor, which are currently distributed locally due to a decrease in population size.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Environmental Restoration Technology
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.25-34
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• 2017

The objective of this study is to seek for improvement measures to make the Ecosystem and Nature Map by analyzing causes for grade changes and distributional characteristics of areas with public objections to the Ecosystem and Nature Map notified by e-official gazette from 2014 to June 2016. The receipt of public appeals has been recently increased from average 23 cases a year(2007-2013) to average 33 cases a year(2014-June 2016) while there were 42 areas with public appeals for less than the minimum area($62,500m^2$) for the evaluation of grade of the Ecosystem and Nature Map. Most of the public appeals focused on the 1st grade zone of the Ecosystem and Nature Map. Before grade changes by public appeals, the 1st grade zone of the Ecosystem and Nature Map were 76.0% of the whole areas with public appeals. However, after grade changes by public appeals, it was rapidly decreased to 25.2%, which means that a lot of the 1st grade zone with public appeals were lowered. In the results of analyzing the distributional characteristics of areas with public appeals, they were mostly distributed in lowland(less than 250m altitude), section with $10{\sim}20^{\circ}$ slope, and areas close to or within 100m from built-up area. Regarding areas with public appeals, the biggest time difference between the period of the existing research by National Ecosystem Survey and the period of notice after completing the treatment of public appeals was 18 years while areas showing 6-15 years of time difference were about 70%. Thus, there were huge differences in time of research and notice. Also, the biggest causes for grade changes were boundary errors caused by small-scale survey, and then followed by changes in evaluation of endangered species and occurrence of built-up area and damaged land. Analyzing areas with public appeals in each evaluation item of the Ecosystem and Nature Map, vegetation part was 73.0%, and endangered species area was 23.1% while topography and wetland was less.