• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.26 no.6
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• pp.952-959
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• 2012

This study examined habitat fragmentation that has occurred in Paju and Yeoncheon, the two border municipalities between North and South Korea in Gyeonggi-do (province) during the last 17 years using various landscape metrics. We 1) classified grass and agricultural habitats and forest habitats from two Landsat TM images collected in 1990 and 2007, and 2) compared the percentage of class area, patch density, mean patch area, and mean perimeter area ratio for the two habitat types between the two time points. Both types of habitats has been severely fragmented due to urban development in the last 17 years. The increased patch density and decreased mean habitat area are attributed to the construction of roads and railroads that separate a large habitat to many small pieces. The increased mean perimeter area ratio also indicates that the habitat fragmentation extended areas that are affected by the edge effect and so less suitable for interior species. A habitat conservation plan is urgently needed to minimize habitat fragmentation from developments that are expected to soon occur in the north and south Korean border.

• Journal of Wetlands Research
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.1-9
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• 2016

Areas around of National Park have been severed eco-corridor of wildlife due to urban expansion and development. Habitats have been fragmented into small pieces. Habitat fragmentation reduces the biodiversity of organisms because the exchange loss and inbreeding of wild fauna and flora. The main cause of the fragmentation of ecological networks in areas around of Moodeungsan National Park are are that the cemetery, cutting of mountain, roads, public parking lots, mountain encroachment by land, urban infrastructure, electric transmission towers, urban area. Area around of National Park must be equipped with ecological networks through an ecological design that can communicate with each other in the national park and urban areas.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.26 no.6
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• pp.941-951
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• 2012

The changes of forest habitats and maeulsoops(village forests) in Jinan-gun, Jeollabuk-do, South Korea are examined using landscape indices and morphological pattern analysis, and their landscape-ecological implications on conserving biological diversity are presented. We used FRAGSTATS and GUIDOS software, as well as land cover maps(of 1989 and 2006) to analyze the spatial and temporal patterns of habitat composition and configuration in surrounding landscapes of 34 representative maeulsoops and Jinan-gun. The results showed decreases in the amount of core habitats and corridors and habitat connectivity at a regional scale since 1989. In addition, multi-scale habitat analysis at a focal scale revealed that the structural and functional connectivity between forest habitats surrounding maeulsoops of the year 2006 was lower than that of the year 1989. In order to reduce forest fragmentation and to enhance the connectivity among habitats, it is necessary to provide the additional habitat corridors as well as preserving existing corridors and surrounding landscapes of maeulsoops. We also suggest that a combination of landscape indices and morphological spatial pattern analysis can provide an effective tool to assess the habitat functions and configuration in a rapidly changing landscape.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.170-178
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• 2020

There are few landscape ecological analyses of Khingan fir (Abies nephrolepis) and other habitats of the sub-alpine zone in South Korea. In this study, we tried to quantitatively interpret and assess the habitat characteristics by analyzing 15 landscape indices according to the differences in tree layer coverage, in the Khingan fir habitat growing naturally in the sub-alpine zone of Seoraksan National Park. It was difficult to identify the tendency of landscape ecology to increase and decrease the tree layer coverage in the study site, which was the entire Khingan fir habitat in Seoraksan National Park. However, the Khingan fir habitat was found to be generally low in coverage, and population density as the tree layer coverage of less than 50 percent accounts for 85 percent of the total habitat. Moreover, the Khingan fir habitat in the 10 to 50 percent range was fragmented into a total of 286 patches, making it relatively less connected to the habitat. The total edge length and edge density, which could determine the edge effect of the main part according to the physical form, were the highest in the habitat of 26 to 50 percent coverage, indicating a relatively high impact from outside than habitats of other coverages. The shape with the tree layer coverage of between 10 and 50 percent was more complex even with patches of the same size, and it is believed that these characteristics make it more susceptible to habitat fragmentation and external confounding. We expect that the results of this study can be useful for time series analysis of spatial expansion or reduction of the Khingan fir habitat in Seoraksan National Park and provide the reference data for the morphological change and movement of patches and the connectivity and break-off between forests.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Landscape Architecture Conference
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• 2009.03a
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• pp.111-113
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• 2009

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.287-299
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• 2015

If the Nakdong River estuary is to be sustainable, land use management practices need to consider bird habitat requirements, especially given that the area serves as an important migratory bird sanctuary. In this study, bird habitats found in the Nakdong River estuary were classified into 11 different types including Phragmites australiss, mud flat, farmland, open surface in freshwater, sand bar, riparian forest, Scirpus planiculmis, waterway, construction, grasslands, and open surface in sea or brackish water. Taking into consideration the regional characteristics, habitat properties, and landscape indices, a total of 12 study sites were analyzed. Mud flat, construction, farmland, and P. australis account for 80% of the total land area. The high area ratio of construction and farmland to other types of habitat revealed a high amount of historical human activity and intervention in the area. Both patch numbers as well as patch density were high in West Nakdong River, Samrak Waterfront, Maekdo River, and Daejeo Floodgate, with these areas showing the greatest fragmentation as well. Total numbers of species and individuals had a positive correlation with the area and the number of habitat types. Findings suggest that protecting the habitat area, especially in S. planiculmis, is the most important factor for bird habitat management and that future development could result in habitat loss, having a profoundly adverse impact on bird populations. Therefore, it is important that the total area should be carefully protected by land use regulations in order to ensure that the Nakdong River estuary maintains its functional integrity as a migratory bird sanctuary.

• Journal of the Korean Association of Geographic Information Studies
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• v.2 no.3
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• pp.16-22
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• 1999

The various spatial structure of biological habitat has tighten relationship with biodiversity. Due to increasing of population, development of agriculture and urban structure, various change of landscape has became these days. These change of landscape has raised the decrease of habitat and landscape fragmentation. This paper summarizes research to analysis vegetation index according to P/A ratio, Shape Index, and Fractal dimension using Landsat Thematic Mapper(TM). The analysis of landscape fragmentation using NDVI(Normalized Difference Vegetation Index) 0.5~1 has the most profitable for detection of vegetation fragmentation. The analysis of vegetation index of Seoul and Kyunggi province has also showed that Fractal dimension has the most fragmentation index. In near future, time series analysis is needed for fragmentation of vegetation on the same area, and for various landuse of fragmentation analysis. These researches were carried out for preservation strategy of vegetation and biodiversity.

• Ecology and Resilient Infrastructure
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• v.3 no.3
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• pp.169-176
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• 2016

Roads are widely accepted to be as a major cause of habitat fragmentation. The wildlife road-crossing structure is one of the most acceptable alternatives among the solutions to provide connectivity between patches isolated by roads. We investigated noise disturbance, vegetation structure and wildlife crossing and habitation at a wildlife road-crossing structure located at the Jingmaei-Pass in Incheon, Korea, to monitor and evaluate its conservation value and ecological performance and to propose measures for their adaptive management. From the result of noise measurement, the noise disturbance from the road traffic was not properly blocked out at the wildlife crossing structure. The survey results of vegetation structure showed that the early-successional plant species such as Ambrosia trifida, Erigeron annuus, Pueraria lobata, Rosa multiflora invaded widely on the crossing structure. An efficient management of the vegetation should be necessarily considered for the facilitation of vegetation succession and the improvement of animal habitat. The crossing structure was used by limited mammal species: Apodemus agrarius, Nyctereutes procyonoides, Mogera wogura and Sciurus vulgaris coreae as the results of the monitoring using footprints and closed-circuit television. In conclusion, The Jingmaei-Pass wildlife crossing structure is unable to function properly as a biological corridor because of the interference of noise and flourishing disturbed vegetation. Therefore, proper alternatives are required for improving animal habitats and mobile environments to enhance the ecological function of a wildlife corridor.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.22-33
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• 2002

This study was conducted to investigate the effects of fragmentation on the bird community in Seongduck-ri and Hanggum-ri agricultural landscapes of Kangha-myon, Yangpyong-gun, Kyonggido. We analyzed the composition of tree species, forest environmental structures, structures of agricultural landscapes, avifaunas and guild structures. Number and density of tree species ranging from 6 to 10cm in D.B.H. were high in Seongduck-ri, but basal area was high in Hanggum-ri. Coverages of foliage layers under two meters and over 12 meters were high in Hanggum-ri. Meanwhile, Seongduck-ri agricultural landscapes consisted of twelve patches, dominated by Larix leptolepsis and Robinia pseudoacacia Hanggum-ri landscapes was composed of eleven patches, and dominated by Pinus rigida, Castanea crenate, Larix leptolepsis and paddy field. Dominant bird species showed the same order in two study areas, thirty-six species of birds were observed in Hanggum-ri landscapes, but twenty species were in Seongduck-ri landscapes. Number of species and density belonging to hole-, bush-, ground-nesting and water-, bush-, ground-foraging guild were high in Hanggum-ri landscapes. Number of species and density belonging to hole-nesting guild showed the high value in Hanggum-ri landscapes that was not fragmented. It could be attributed to the low human disturbance and relative high density of medium and large trees in D.B.H. Also, number of species and density belonging to bush-, ground- and water- foraging guild showed the high value in Hanggum-ri landscapes that had the high foliage amounts in the foliage layer under two meters. It will be related with the paddy field, dry field and brook, which patches covered the 28.4% of Hanggum-ri landscapes. Therefore, road not only dominate the heterogeneous patch in agricultural landscapes, but also easily cause the human disturbance. Thus, road construction would decrease the natural patch diversity and edge effects that are important for sustaining the diverse avifauna in agricultural landscapes.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.40 no.3
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• pp.307-315
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• 2022

In terms of habitat conservation, it is essential to develop a habitat assessment system that can evaluate not only the suitability of the current habitat, but also the health and stability of the habitat. This study aimed to develop a methodology of habitat quality assessment for endangered species by analyzing various existing habitat assessment methods. The habitat quality assessment consisted of selecting targeted species, planning of assessment, selecting targeted sites, assessing performance, calculating grade, and expert verification. Target sites were selected separately from core and potential habitats using a species distribution model or habitat suitability index. Habitat assessment factors were classified into ecological characteristic, landscape characteristic, and species-habitat characteristic. Ecological characteristic consisted of thirteen factors related to health of tree, vegetation, and soil. Landscape characteristic consisted of five factors related to fragment and connectivity of habitat. Species-habitat characteristic consisted of factors for evaluating habitat suitability depending on target species. Since meanings are different depending on characteristics, habitat quality assessment of this study could be used by classifying results for each characteristic according to various assessment purposes, such as designation of alternative habitats, assessment of restoration project, and protected area valuation for endangered species. Forest habitat quality assessment is expected to play an important role in conservation acts of endangered species in the future through continuous supplementation of this system in regard to quantitative assessment criteria and weighting for each factor with an influence.