• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.49 no.4
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• pp.296-307
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• 2016

Ecological restoration is an eco-technology, which heals the nature damaged by human activity by imitating organization and function of the integrate nature and thereby provide an inhabitable space for diverse organisms. Such an ecological restoration has to be carried out by applying restoration plan prepared based on the results of diagnostic evaluation discussed in the diversified respects. This study aims to prepare an ecological restoration plan of the damaged forest ecosystem in Mt. Moodeung National Park. To arrive at the goal, first of all, we diagnosed quality of forest landscape established in Mt. Moodeung National Park based on natural (topography, climate, and distribution of vegetation) and artificial (land use, linear landscape element) factors. In addition, we evaluated the integrity of each zone divided by linear landscape element quantitatively based on geometric property and land use intensity. As the result of analysis, topography of Mt. Moodeung National Park tended to be depended on weathering property of parent rock and vegetation zones were divided to three vegetation zones. Based on land use pattern, deciduous broad-leaved forest, evergreen needle-leaved forest, and mixed forest occupied about 90% of Mt. Moodeung National Park. Mean score of forest landscape quality was shown in $69.86{\pm}11.41$. As a result, forest landscape elements in Mt. Moodeung National Park were influenced greatly by human activity and the degree was depended on topographic condition. This study suggested the synthetic restoration plan to improve ecological quality of Mt. Moodeung National Park based on the results of diagnostic evaluation.

• Proceedings of the Plant Resources Society of Korea Conference
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• 2019.10a
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• pp.5-5
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• 2019

DMZ는 살아있는 생물다양성의 보고로 지난 60여년동안 자연적으로 재생이 일어나고 환경적인 강제 보존 영향으로 높은 생태학적인 가치가 유지되고 있으며, 최근에는 남북교류에 대한 활발한 의지로 DMZ생태자원의 남북공동활용 방안에 대한 이슈가 급부상하고 있다. 이에 본 연구진은 3년전부터 DMZ에서 자생하는 식물에 대한 조사를 진행하여 총 200여종 이상의 자생식물의 표본과 추출물들을 보유하고 있으며, 이 추출물들을 활용 in vitro 와 in vivo 평가를 통해 비임상 평가에서 유효한 효과를 나타내는 후보물질들을 다수 찾아낼 수 있었다. 그 중 조팝나무(Spiraea prunifolia var. simpliciflora)는 쌍떡잎식물 장미과에 속하는 낙엽활엽관목으로 동북아시아 지역에 널리 분포되며 우리나라에서는 중부지방에 주로 서식한다고 알려져 있다. 예로부터 해열 및 소염, 신경통완화 치료등에 이용해왔다고 알려져 있으며 그 속에는 다양한 terpenoids, flavonoid 및 phenolic 화합물이 다량 함유되어 있다고 알려져 있다. 본 연구에서는 조팝나무 추출물을 이용하여 전구지방세포에서의 지방세포분화 억제 및 관련 유전자들의 활성을 확인한 후 고지방식이로 유도된 high-fat diet mouse model을 이용하여 체지방 감소 및 내장지방감소, 간 조직내의 지방량 감소등을 확인하였으며, 혈액분석을 통해 총콜레스테롤과 고중성지방등 동맥경화와 심혈관계 질환을 유도시킬수 있는 지표들에서 억제 활성도 확인하였다. 특히 내장 지방의 경우는 Micro-CT를 통해 정밀한 분석을 진행하였고, 체지방뿐만 아니라 전체 체중감소도 나타나는 것을 확인하였다. 현재 실험을 통해 적출된 간 조직과 지방조직을 이용하여 항 비만 활성의 작용기전을 지속적으로 확인하고 있으며, 이 결과는 국제적인 연구저널에 보고되어 향후 체지방 감소 또는 항 비만 치료제로 개발되는 비임상 연구자료로 활용될 계획이다. 이미 조팝나무에 대한 연구결과는 특허로 출원이 완료되어 PCT출원까지 진행중에 있으며 개별인정형 건강기능식품 개발 기업에 기술이전이 될 예정이다. 또한 원활한 원료 수급을 위해 기초단체 소속 농업기술센터와 원료 재배 및 대량 수급에 관한 논의를 마친 상태로 접경지역 근처 농가소득 증대로도 이어지는 제품화 사례이기도 하다. 이는 접경지역에서 자생하는 원료의 활성을 과학적으로 검증하여 기업과의 연계를 통해 기초시군 단체의 농가 소득과도 연계한 우수한 제품개발 사례로 향후에도 이와 같은 연구성과가 지속적으로 도출되기를 기대해본다.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.25-31
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• 2011

In this study, model-based $NH_4-N$ predictive control algorithm by using influent pattern was developed and evaluated for effective control application in $A^2/O$ process. A pilot-scale $A^2/O$process at S wastewater treatment plant in B city was selected. The behaviors of organic, nitrogen and phosphorous in the biological reactors were described by using the modified ASM3+Bio-P model. A one-dimensional double exponential function model was selected for modeling of the secondary settlers. The effluent $NH_4-N$ concentration on the next day was predicted according to model-based simulation by using influent pattern. After the objective effluent quality and simulation result were compared, the optimal operational condition which able to meet the objective effluent quality was deduced through repetitive simulation. Next the effluent $NH_4-N$ control schedule was generated by using the optimal operational condition and this control schedule on the next day was applied in pilot-scale $A^2/O$ process. DO concentration in aerobic reactor in predictive control algorithm was selected as the manipulated variable. Without control case and with control case were compared to confirm the control applicability and the study of the applied $NH_4-N$control schedule in summer and winter was performed to confirm the seasonal effect. In this result, the effluent $NH_4-N$concentration without control case was exceeded the objective effluent quality. However the effluent $NH_4-N$ concentration with control case was not exceeded the objective effluent quality both summer and winter season. As compared in case of without predictive control algorithm, in case of application of predictive control algorithm, the RPM of air blower was increased about 9.1%, however the effluent $NH_4-N$ concentration was decreased about 45.2%. Therefore it was concluded that the developed predictive control algorithm to the effluent $NH_4-N$ in this study was properly applied in a full-scale wastewater treatment process and was more efficient in aspect to stable effluent.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Marine Environment & Safety
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.220-227
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• 2016

In this paper, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) were measured in surface sediments collected three times (June, October, December, 2013), inside Jeju Harbor as major harbors of Jeju Island. The concentration of PCBs inside Jeju Harbor was in the range of 1.62~4.45 (mean) ng/g on a dry weight basis and the levels were very low. In the analysis of PCBS homologue patterns, high-chlorinated PCB congeners were dominant in surface sediments inside Jeju Harbor, indicating that their sources were originated from shipping activity. In the relationships between PCBs concentrations and particle size (mud, sand and gravel) in surface sediments, PCBs concentrations were higher in the sediments with higher mud content, indicating that higher PCBs were distributed with increasing sediments of fine gradules. The PCBs concentrations in surface sediments in this study were very low, compared with ER-L (effect range-low) and TEL (threshold effects level) among sediment quality guideleines (SQGs) applied in foreign countries, such as USA, Canada, and Australia, etc), indicating that their biological effects on the bottom organisms in marine environment were expected to be very low.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.68-80
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• 1984

Garolim Bay is not only important fishing ground but also expected area for the tidal power plant. The construction and operation of tidal power plant will make change the ecosystem of this bay. Therefore, the actual fisheries stocks should be precisely understood for the effect estimation and overall utilization of the bay after the construction of the tidal power plant. During the study period from January through December in 1981, forty-six adult fishes species, 3 species of fish egg and 25 fishes larvae species have occurred in the bay. Considering the result on monthly distribution of eggs and larvae, the inner area of the bay seems to be important as nursing ground of larvae spawned at the outside bay in winter, e. g., Ammodytes personatus, and Enedrias sp. This inner bay is also major spawning ground for many species spawning in spring and summer, e. g., Gobiidae, Konosirus punctatus, Engraulis japonica, etc. Taking into consideration the annual mean production for three years($1978{\sim}1980$), there are two major fishing seasons. The one is in May-June for Enedrias larvae stock, and the another in October-November for big eyed herring stock. For the mariculture stocks, short necked clam, oyster and laver are important species. After construction of the tidal power plant, the migratory species, i. e., larvae of Enedrias and Ammodytes personatus, Mugil cephalus, Konosirus punctatus, etc. will be directly damaged by the interuption of migration route. On the otter hand, the change of physico-chemical factors of seawater will also affect the ecosystem of the bay. Consequently, for the overall utilization of the bay after construction, the actual ecosystem including the fisheries stocks, must bs precisely revealed, and the mechanical designs, e. g., sluice position and its demension, should be also considered with these biological characters of the bay.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.293-299
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• 2010

The aim of this study was to investigate the possible impact of Bt Chinese cabbage on the soil microbial community. Microbial communities were isolated from the rhizosphere of one Bt Chinese cabbage variety and four varieties of conventional ones and were subjected to be analyzed using both culture-dependent and molecular methods. The total counts of bacteria, fungi, and actinomycetes in the rhizosphere of transgenic and conventional Chinese cabbages were observed to have an insignificant difference. Denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) analysis of PCR-amplified 16S rRNA genes revealed that the bacterial community structures were very similar to each other and this genetic stability of microbial communities was maintained throughout the culture periods. Analysis of dominant isolates in the rhizosphere of transgenic and conventional Chinese cabbages showed that the dominant isolates from the soil of transgenic Chinese cabbage belonged to the Bacilli and Alphaproteobacteria, while the dominant isolates from the soil of conventional cabbage belonged to the Holophagae and Planctomycetacia, respectively. These results indicate that the Bt transgenic cabbage has no significant impact on the soil microbial communities.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.112 no.3
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• pp.340-351
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• 2023

Landslides are major natural geological hazards that cause enormous property damage and human casualties annually. The vulnerability of mountainous areas to landslides is further exacerbated by the impacts of climate change. Soil depth is a crucial parameter in landslide and debris flow analysis, and plays an important role in the evaluation of watershed hydrological processes that affect slope stability. An accurate method of estimating soil depth is to directly investigate the soil strata in the field. However, this requires significant amounts of time and money; thus, numerous models for predicting soil depth have been proposed. However, they still have limitations in terms of practicality and accuracy. In this study, 71 seismic survey results were collected from domestic mountainous areas to estimate soil depth on hill slopes. Soil depth was estimated on the basis of a shear wave velocity of 700 m/s, and a database was established for slope angle, elevation, and soil depth. Consequently, the statistical characteristics of soil depth were analyzed, and the correlations between slope angle and soil depth, and between elevation and soil depth were investigated. Moreover, various soil depth prediction models based on slope angle were investigated, and corrected linear and exponential soil depth prediction models were proposed.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.41 no.2
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• pp.109-125
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• 2023

This study was conducted to select target fish species as baseline research for accumulation analysis of major hazardous chemicals entering the aquatic ecosystem in Korea and to analyze the impact on fish community. The test bed was selected from a sewage treatment plant, which could directly confirm the impact of the inflow of harmful chemicals, and the Geum River estuary where harmful chemicals introduced into the water system were concentrated. A multivariable metric model was developed to select target candidate fish species for hazardous chemical analysis. Details consisted of seven metrics: (1) commercially useful metric, (2) top-carnivorous species metric, (3) pollution fish indicator metric, (4) tolerance fish metric, (5) common abundant metric, (6) sampling availability (collectability) metric, and (7) widely distributed fish metric. Based on seven metric models for candidate fish species, eight species were selected as target candidates. The co-occurring dominant fish with target candidates was tolerant (50%), indicating that the highest abundance of tolerant species could be used as a water pollution indicator. A multi-metric fish-based model analysis for aquatic ecosystem health evaluation showed that the ecosystem health was diagnosed as "bad conditions". Physicochemical water quality variables also influenced fish feeding and tolerance guild in the testbed. Eight water quality parameters appeared high at the T1 site, indicating a large impact of discharging water from the sewage treatment plant. T2 site showed massive algal bloom, with chlorophyll concentration about 15 times higher compared to the reference site.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.11-46
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• 2022

This study was carried out to examine vascular plants and invasive alien plants in Gyodong Island, located at the northwestern Civilian Control Line (CCL) of Ganghwa-gun, Incheon, and to use them as basic data for systematic management of identified plants and establishing biodiversity conservation measures. The survey was conducted 13 times from April 2019 to August 2021. The vascularflora in Gyodong Island was identified as 109 families, 378 genera, 641 species, 15 subspecies, 49 variants, 8 forma, a total of 713 taxa. This was found to be about 15.36% of the total 4,641 taxa of vascular plants in Korea. The northern linage plants on the Korean Peninsula appearing in the Gyodong Island area were identified in 83 classification groups, including Red-based leaf edge (Carex erythrobasis H.Lev. & Vaniot). Korea endemic plants were identified as 16 taxa such as Seoul wild-ginger [Asarum heterotropoides var. seoulense (Nakai) Kitag.], and a total of 20 taxa of rare plants designated by IUCN were observed, including the endangered grade Beardless iris (Iris ruthenica Ker Gawl.). Floristic target species were classified with a total of 99 taxa. For V grade, Beardless iris 1 taxon was found. and also IV grade and III grade were identified in 8 taxa and 20 taxa respectively. The invasive alien plants identified as 75 taxa, such as Verbesina alternifolia (L.) Britton ex Kearney. The naturalization rate was 10.51%, and the urbanization index was calculated as 23.29%. Since large-scale construction has been currently underway on Hwagae Mt. in Gyodong Island as the target of survey area, the influx of invasive plants will be expected to promote. Therefore, it is urgent to establish in-situ protection and conservation measures for notable plants such as Beardless iris and Water smartweed [Persicaria amphibia (L.) S.F.Gray].

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.40 no.1
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• pp.14-30
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• 2007

The purpose of this study was to evaluate trophic conditions of various Korean reservoirs using Trophic State Index (TSI) and predict the reservoir conditions by empirical models. The water quality dataset (2000, 2001) used here were obtained from the Ministry of Environment, Korea. The water quality, based on multi-parameters of dissolved oxygen (DO), biological oxygen demand (BOD), chemical oxygen demand (COD), total phosphorus (TP), total nitrogen (TN), suspended solid (SS), Secchi depth (SD), chlorophyll-${\alpha}$ (CHL), and conductivity largely varied depending on the sampling watersheds and seasons. In general, trophic conditions declined along the longitudinal axis of headwater-to-the dam and the largest seasonal variations occurred during the summer monsoon of July-August. Major inputs of TP occurred during the monsoon (r=0.656, p=0.002) and this pattern was similar to solid dynamics of SS (r=0.678, p<0.001). Trophic parameters including CHL, TP, SD, and TN were employed to evaluate how the water systems varies with season. Trophic State Index (TSI, Carlson, 1977), based on TSI (CHL), TSI (TP), and TSI (SD), ranged from mesotrophic to eutrophic. However, the trophic state, based on TSI (TN), indicated eutrophic-hypereutrophic conditions in the entire reservoirs, regardless of the seasons, indicating a N-rich system. Overall, nutrient data showed that phosphorus was a primary factor regulating the trophic state. The relationships between CHL (eutrophication index) vs. trophic parameters (TN, TP, and SD) were analysed to develop empirical models which can predict the trophic status. Regression analyses of log-transformed seasonal CHL against TP showed that the value of $R^2$ was 0.31 (p=0.017) in the premonsoon but was 0.69 (p<0.001) during the postmonsoon, indicating a greater algal response to the phosphorus during the postmonsoon. In contrast, SD had reverse relation with TP, CHL during all season. TN had weak relations with CHL during all seasons. Overall, data suggest that TP seems to be a good predictor for algal biomass, estimated by CHL, as shown in the empirical models.