• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.51 no.1
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• pp.71-85
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• 2018

A recent topic of interest within ecology is ecosystem services that are importantly connected with biodiversity. Biodiversity is a fundamental component of ecological studies and has been the subject of many studies worldwide. However, studies on the diversity and distribution of freshwater fish were not undertaken in earnest until 2000, and the number of internationally available studies is therefore still limited. In this study, we used data from "The Survey and Evaluation of Aquatic Ecosystem Health (hereafter SEAEH)" within the framework of which whole water systems on the Korean peninsula are annually monitored to investigate and determine the current status of the diversity and distribution of freshwater fish, as well as to elucidate major factors impacting freshwater fish. A total of 130 species from 28 families were identified at around 953 sites in the SEAEH investigation of 2014. The species Zacco platypus (relative abundance: 28.2%) and Z. koreanus (19.3%) were identified as the most abundant species on the Korean peninsula, and besides these 20 endangered species, 51 endemic species and 4 exotic species were also collected. Highest (96 species) and lowest (72 species) diversity were identified in the Han River Watershed and the Yeongsan/Seomjin River Watershed, respectively. The mean endemic rate was 32.7%, which is higher than the previous rate determined in 1995. The exotic species Micropterus salmoides, Lepomis macrochirus and Carassius cuvieri were found in the whole river system except north Yeongdong, whereas Oreochromis niloticus occurred only at three sites due to the cold water temperatures in winter. Totally, 28 species were found to be translocated to different water systems not connected with known original habitats, most translocations occurring in the Nakdong River and the Yeongdong region. Among the translocated species, Opsariichthys uncirostris amurensis, and Erythroculter erythropterus were dominantly distributed in the mid- to lower reaches of Nakdong River where they may be harmful to the native fish assemblages due to their strong predation. The construction of weirs in connection with the "4 River Project" generated changes in fish assemblages before, during and after the project, resulting in altered habitat condition. Especially, a decrease in the number of endemic species and an increase in the abundance of lentic species were seen. Human-induced global warming will allow exotic species requiring high water temperatures to adapt to the environmental conditions of the Korean peninsula, which may enhance the diversity of native fishes and create changes in distribution. For the establishment of realistic and efficient management and protection strategies for Korean freshwater fish, SEAEH, which produces fundamental and quantitative data for Korean streams, is an important and necessary tool.

• Spatial Information Research
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.223-239
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• 2009

The low fow analysis for small-mid sized river basins is very difficult because of insufficient flow data or ungauged basins. The objective of this study is to suggest effective method of low flow using area function method for calculating Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDL) by considering environmental carrying capacity. Two watersheds which are Juchon watershed having $606km^2$ areas and ungauged watershed having $4,551km^2$ areas were selected for this study. As a result of application, the low flow in the downstream of Juchon River and the Han River after confluence of Okdong River were $1.9m^3/s$ and $20.7m^3/s$, respectively. Then we consider the target BOD of 1.0-1.2mg/l in Youngwol prefecture, the TDML was estimated 164-197kg/day and 1,788-2,146kg/day, respectively. This approach will useful for estimating TDML to insufficient watershed of flow data and ungauged watershed of flow data.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.24 no.6
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• pp.750-757
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• 2008

This study is conducted to characterize and evaluate delivered pollutant loads of point and nonpoint source on the upper watershed of lake paldang. The study area consists of 12 watersheds in Namhan-river and Kyungahcheon, which are approximately 80% of total area of Namhan-river and Kyungahcheon. Based on daily delivered loads from watersheds, 61% of $BOD_5$, 81% of T-N and 70% of T-P were from nonpoint sources, suggesting that delivered loads of nonpoint pollutants be crucial to water quality. On the other hand, 78% of $BOD_5$, 92% of T-N and 87% of T-P as delivered load were from nonpoint sources in an upper watershed of Namhan-river, while 48% of $BOD_5$, 70% of T-N and 57% of T-P as delivered load were from nonpoint sources in a lower watershed of Namhan-river, suggesting higher dependency of point sources than upper watershed of Namhan-river. In the characteristic of delivered loading pollutants from point and nonpoint pollution sources, delivered load of nonpoint pollutants differed significantly by seasonal flow, and as though discharged load of point pollutants were yearly uniform, delivered load of point pollutants was found to be flow-dependent because its delivery ratio was changed.

• Journal of Korea Water Resources Association
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• v.37 no.11
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• pp.915-927
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• 2004

The purpose of this paper is to estimate the instream flow of the South Han River Basin to ensure an adequate supply of suitable quality of water for preservation and enhancement of aquatic ecosystems. Proposed methods is Physical Habitant Simulation System of Instream Flow Incremental Methodology. Accurate estimation on a water depth and a velocity distribution was acquired by applying a two dimensional hydrodynamic model for a simulation of a hydraulic parameter necessary for the habitat evaluation to be used in a physical habitat simulation system. The Habitat Suitability Criteria with the application of univariate curve on zacco platypus as a representative fish was able to be established by conducting a field investigation. The establishment of a hydrological materialistic balance between upper and lower streams was confirmed by conducting a simulation simultaneously together with a mainstream section, which was excluded from the considered sections for the inhabitation evaluation of fish.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.20-27
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• 2005

The seasonal variation of water quality was studied in the Hwabongcheon. It runs though a small catchment where shallow groundwater was contaminated with $NO_3-N$ by intensive livestock facilities. A direct inflow of animal waste and incoming of contaminated groundwater affected its water quality. In the dry season, an important factor of water quality in the Hwabongcheon was direct inflow of animal waste. In the wet season, concentrations of $NO_3-N$ in the Hwabongcheon were elevated in spite of being diluted by precipitation. It could be explained by the effect of increased incoming of contaminated groundwater and showed by oxygen and hydrogen isotope values. $NO_3-N$ concentration in the Cheongmicheon was lower than that in the Hwabongcheon, so it increased next a junction. This effect was intense in wet season because $NO_3-N$ concentration in the Hwabongcheon was high.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers
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• v.62 no.5
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• pp.15-26
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• 2020

There are fifteen non-point pollution management areas in Korea and three of them (Doam lake, Daegi district and Golji-cheon) are located in the upstream of the Namhan river watershed. Many efforts to reduce non-point sources (NPS) pollution have been conducted, however, water quality pollution in the watershed is still serious. To solve these problems, it is a priority to grasp water quality using statistical techniques. In this study, a trend analysis was conducted to evaluate the effect of NPS management in the watershed. The long-term trends from 1996 to 2018 of water quality properties were analyzed using data collected from the water environment information system. Seventeen monitoring stations were selected along the main stream in Namhan river basin. Monthly water quality properties (BOD, COD, TN, TP, TN/TP ratio, Conductivity, SS and Chlorophyll-a) were collected and analyzed by Mann-Kendall test and LOWESS. The results showed that the Conductivity tended to increase in all regions and was the highest level in Jijangcheon. Organic pollution such as BOD and COD tended to increase in the Jungseon area. SS did not show a large tendency, but it showed high concentration in the Doam watershed. In all regions, 40% of water quality properties showed a tendency to 'UP', 15% of water quality properties tended to 'DOWN', and 46% indicated no tendency. In order to determine the cause of this, additional research and measures for improvement are necessary. This study will be used for the establishment of water quality policy in the future.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.27 no.6
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• pp.905-913
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• 2011

This study was conducted to characterize the discharge feature of pollutant load from the upper and lower watershed influencing on the water quality of South Han River using the empirical equation and Factor Analysis. The results of regression analysis between flow rate and pollutant load were as follows. In the streams of the upper watershed of South Han river, $BOD_5$ and $COD_{Mn}$ were increased as the flow rate was increased. Also, steep increases in SS and TP were observed with positive correlation with the flow rate while change in TN was slightly shown. On the other hand, in the streams of the lower watershed of South Han river, $BOD_5$ was negatively correlated with the flow rate, being decreased with the increase in the flow rate. However, changes in $COD_{Mn}$, TN, SS, and TP showed a similar trend with those observed in the upper watershed. With Factor Analysis of the water quality and various components, it was appeared that the flow rate, SS, and TP were significantly correlated each other and they were indicated as the principal component influencing on water quality in the streams of the upper watershed. In contrast, $BOD_5$, $COD_{Mn}$ and TOC were significantly correlated each other and they were included as the principal pollution component of the streams in the lower watershed. From these results, it was conclusive that the upper watershed of South Han River was mainly affected by non point source pollutants while the lower watershed was influenced by point source pollutants from the developed areas.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.51 no.4
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• pp.331-344
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• 2018

Lotic organisms in streams are affected by natural and anthropogenic disturbances such as increase of heavy rainfall event caused by climate change and flow regime change caused by weir constructions. Based on domestic and foreign literature, 157 Korean benthic macroinvertebrate taxa were selected species as potential lotic candidates. Three shoreline sites (total 54 samples) were surveyed consecutively before ('08~'09), during ('10~'12) and after ('13~'16) the construction of the weirs (Gangcheon, Yeoju and Ipo weir) in the Namhan-River for tracing changes of lotic communities. As a result, water flow of the Ipo-wier and water quality variables such as T-N, T-P, BOD5, etc. of the weir section revealed no significant changes. Physical habitat conditions such as the flow velocity and streambed substrate evidently changed. Particulary, flow velocity measured at sampling points along with each microhabitat drastically decreased and particle size of streambed substrate steadily decreased after weir constructions. Lotic organisms also decreased after construction, especially Hydropsychidae (insecta: Trichoptera) acutely decreased from $3,526ind.\;m^{-2}$ to $2ind.\;m^{-2}$ As a result of CCA, lotic species such as Hydropsyche valvata, Hydropsyche kozhantschikovi, Cheumatopsyche brevilineata, Cheumatopsyche KUa, Macrostemum radiatum, etc. correlated with the flow velocity, streambed substrate. Therefore, the decrease of the flow velocity and substrate size after weir construction seemed to be closely related to the decrease of the individual abundances of the lotic organisms independently of water quality. In order to evaluate the influence of the ecosystem on the flow regime change more accurately, it is necessary to study the indicator species based on the resistance or preference of the flow.

• Journal of Korea Water Resources Association
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• v.47 no.11
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• pp.1017-1026
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• 2014

To investigate the effect of upstream dam operation and river water use on the downstream flows, SWAT-K watershed model was applied to the Paldang Dam watershed of the Han River basin. Analysis results from 2001 to 2009 showed that outflows from the multi-purpose dams such as the Soyanggang Dam and Chungju Dam much have a strong influence on the downstream flows during both the low- and high-flow seasons. This resulted an increase of low-flow at the Paldang Dam, the end of Pukhangang, and the Yangpyeong stage station by $100.57m^3/s$, $33.01m^3/s$, and $49.66m^3/s$, respectively. Whereas, the impact of river water use was hardly found in the Pukhangang, and also was not significant in the (Nam)hangang. Therefore, the effect of small dam such as the Hoengseong Dam or river water use would be able be excluded for long-term runoff analysis. But, in the case of the areas with a large amount of water use, a sufficient information such water-intake and water movement also must be taken into account like this study.

• Analytical Science and Technology
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• v.29 no.6
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• pp.293-299
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• 2016

$^{137}Cs$ was investigated in river bottom sediments located in South-Han River basin and it was compared with international case studies to estimate the concentration level of $^{137}Cs$ in river sediment of Korea. The obtained values of $^{137}Cs$ which was analyzed by gamma-ray spectrometry were in the range of <$MDA{\sim}3.80{\pm}0.14Bq/kg{\cdot}dry$ and similar to the $^{137}Cs$ activities in soil of Korea. According to international case studies, $^{137}Cs$ activities were between 3.7 to $15,396Bq/kg{\cdot}dry$, when pollutants such as nuclear power plant accidents and radiation leaks were present near the rivers. The $^{137}Cs$ activities showed a variety of distribution depending on the country, when pollution occurs and survey time. Also, $^{137}Cs$ activities of river sediments without pollution sources were mostly less than $10Bq/kg{\cdot}dry$ in other countries. It was comparable with the obtained $^{137}Cs$ activities in this study. The obtained values provide useful information on the background concentration of $^{137}Cs$ in river sediment and will be able to use a basis for determining contamination of $^{137}Cs$ in the river.