Abstract
The Shihwa wetland, a newly developed constructed wetland prototype in Korea with an area of approximately 104 ha, was established to improve the water quality severely polluted inflow streams into Lake Shihwa. Because this wetland could play a role as an ecological park in addition to improving the water quality, an ecological impact of the Shihwa constructed wetland has been a national concern. This paper focused on reporting the survey results for fauna among the entire investigation results for 3 years. A total of 129 terrestrial insect species have been observed from August 2001 to June 2002. Among them, Ischnura asiatica (Brauer) (order Odonata), Scymnus species (order Coleoptera) and Orthopteran species were frequently found in the reed bushes. A total of 77 bird species were recorded in a seasonal count, the maximum number of species was 34 in winter and the maximum number of individuals was 4,599 in summer. For the freshwater fish, only 4 species were found in 2000, however in 2001 and 2002, 12 species and 459 individuals were collected at four survey points. Among these 12 species, the dominant species were Mugil cephalus(36%), followed by Carassius auratus (25%) and Rhinogobius brunneus (22%). Meanwhile,12 individuals of Oryzias latipes were observed nearby, mostly downstream of the wetland. For the Herpetofauna at four survey areas, 3 species of amphibians and 3 species of reptiles were recorded. Because of remaining salinity in the soil of the Shiwha constructed wetland, Herpetofauna inflow to the wetland was scanty and mainly inhabited the upstream area. A total of 8 mammal species were recorded. Small-sized species were the striped field mouse, the Ussurian harvest-mouse, the Manchurian reed vole and the brown rat. Middle- and large-sized species were Korean water-deer, Korean raccoon dogs, Korean yellow weasels and feral cats.