• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
• /
• v.35 no.3
• /
• pp.223-236
• /
• 2021

This study aims to provide basic data for the systematic conservation and efficient management of forest ecosystems by analyzing changes in understory vegetation of temperate broad-leaved deciduous forests. One-hectare permanent survey plot, consisting of 100 subplots sized 10 × 10 meters, was installed in Gwangneung forest in Pocheon, Gyeonggi-do in 2003. The state of stands and the understory vegetation in the permanent survey plot were examined at a 5-year interval from 2003 to 2018. The vascular plants found in the survey area were 56 families, 128 genera, 176 species, 18 variants, 4 varieties, and 1 subspecies, for a total of 199 taxa. The number of species in both the shrub layer and the herbaceous layer showed a tendency to decrease with time. The MRPP-tests showed a significantly differing species composition of the shrub layer in all years except 2008-2013, whereas significant differences were found in all years concerning the herbaceous layer. As for the average importance value, Euonymus oxyphyllus (18.23%), Acer pseudosieboldianum (16.48%), and Callicarpa japonica (13.85%) were dominant in the shrub layer, while Ainsliaea acerifolia (23.41%), Disporum smilacinum (9.45%), and Oplismenus undulatifolius (5.62%) were dominant in the herbaceous layer. In the shrub layer, the richness of Smilax china, Lonicera subsessilis, and Philadelphus schrenkii was high when the basal area and the stand density of an upper layer were high. By contrast, smaller basal area and stand density were associated with the richness of Acer pseudosieboldianum, Deutzia glabrata, Morus bombycis, and Cornus kousa. Furthermore, it was found out that the impact of the basal area and the stand density on the herbaceous layer decreased over time, while the herb layer's species composition was greatly affected by cover degrees of Euonymus oxyphyllus and Acer pseudosieboldianum in the shrub layer. In conclusion, the number of species in the understory vegetation in Gwangneung forest is continuously decreasing, thus implying that species diversity, basal area, and stand density of an upper layer can influence the species composition in understory vegetation.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
• /
• v.36 no.2
• /
• pp.118-138
• /
• 2022

This study was conducted to identify the vegetation structure of major vegetation by region and elevation in the subalpine zone of Seoraksan National Park and prepare an inventory of flora. We reviewed the results of the previous subalpine studies and, through a preliminary survey, determined that the first appearance point of subalpine vegetation was about 800 m based on the south. Then we conducted a site survey by installing a total of 77 plots, including 12 plots on the northern Baekdamsa-Madeungnyeong trail (BD), 13 plots on the west Hangyeryeong-Kkeutcheong trail (HG), 13 plots on the east side of Sinheungsa-Socheongbong trail (SA), and 39 plots in the southern Osaek-Kkeutcheong, Osaek-Daecheongbong trail (OS), in an interval of 50 m above sea level. The analysis classified 7 communities, including Qercus mongolica-Abies holophylla-Acer pseudosieboldianumcommunity, Q. mongolica-Tilia amurensiscommunity, Q. mongolica-Pinus koraiensiscommunity, Q. mongolica-A. pseudosieboldianumcommunity, Betula ermanii-A. nephrolepiscommunity, P. koraiensis-A. nephrolepiscommunity, and mixed deciduous broad-leaf tree community according to the species composition based on the appearance of the major subalpine plants such as Quercus mongolica, Betula ermanii, and Abies nephrolepis, region, and elevation. 10.68±2.98 species appeared per plot (100 m²), and 110.87±63.89 individuals were identified. The species diversity analysis showed that the subalpine vegetation community of Seoraksan National Park was a mixed forest in which various species appeared as important species. Although there was a difference in the initial elevation for the appearance of major subalpine plants by region, they were distributed intensively in the elevation range of 1,100 to 1,300 m. In the Seoraksan National Park, 322 taxa, 83 families, 193 genera, 196 species, 1 subspecies, 26 varieties, and 4 forms of vascular plants were identified. One taxon of Trientalis europaeavar.arcticawas identified as the protected species. The endemic plants were 19 taxa, and 58 taxa were identified as subalpine plants.

• Korean Journal of Heritage: History & Science
• /
• v.57 no.2
• /
• pp.80-100
• /
• 2024

This paper investigated the major history and reality of iconological composition for Jagyeongjeon Hall's flowered wall in Gyeongbokgung Palace, which was controversial in terms of preservation and management of cultural heritage. While analyzing the moment and cause of the flowered wall's renovation as it is now, modified or disappeared patterns were identified, and meaningfully misinterpreted congratulatory phrases were reviewed. The research results can be used as meaningful basic data when discussions are made for the restoration of the wall in the future. Jagyeongjeon Hall's flowered wall has reached the present day with large and small changes, but the inflection point that had a significant impact was the Joseon Expo (朝鮮博覽會) held at Gyeongbokgung Palace in 1929. This is because the wall that remained in the Jagyeongjeon Hall area was demolished to build an exhibition hall while preparing for the expo, and it was restored after the end of the event. It is highly likely that the modification or disappearance of the patterns constituting Jagyeongjeon Hall's flowered wall was also due to the restoration process carried out after the expo. There is a view that was transformed into its current state in the process of repair work carried out after the Korean War, but it is difficult to find any meaningful circumstances and evidence. Currently, character patterns known as 'Seongnidori(聖人道理)' are arranged on the inner wall of the section from Gyeongdomun Gate(擎桃門) to Yeogangmun Gate(如岡門), but considering the design form and example, it can be read as 'Seongjasinson(聖子神孫)'. The inner wall of the section from Yeogangmun Gate to Yeonsumun Gate(燕壽門) was originally made in the form of a flowered wall, and the phrases presumed to be 'Gyegyeseungseung(繼繼繩繩)' and 'Cheonse(千世)' were arranged. In the case of the section from Yeonsumun Gate to Hamgyumun Gate(含奎門), the inner wall where the pattern has disappeared is originally composed of geometric and character patterns, and there were also phrases specified as 'Cheonsu(千壽)' and 'Mansemansu(萬世萬壽)'. On the outer wall of the section from Yeonsumun Gate to Hamgyumun Gate, there is a possibility that the phrase known as 'Nakgangmanse(樂彊萬歲)' can be read as 'Cheonsemanse(千歲萬歲)'. In addition, the current outer wall was composed of one drawing board, but in the past, two drawing boards were composed separately.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
• /
• v.48 no.1
• /
• pp.61-67
• /
• 2015

This study, which was conducted from Apr. 2013 to Jan. 2014, was carried out as part of a project of making a more detailed ecological zoning map with 1/5,000 scale. The necessity of electronic vegetation map with large scale has arisen in order to make the best use of basic research findings on resource monitoring of National Parks and to enhance efficiency in National Park management. In order to improve accuracy and speed of vegetation research process, the data base for vegetation research was categorized into five groups, namely broad-leaved forest, coniferous forest, mixed forest, rock vegetation and miscellaneous one. And then a vegetation map for vegetation research was created for the research on the site. What is in the database for vegetation research and the vegetation map reflecting findings from vegetation research showed similar distribution rate for broad-leaved forest with 71.965% and 71.184%, respectively. The distribution rate of coniferous forest (16.010%, 15.747%), mixed forest (10.619%, 12.085%), and rock vegetation (0.015%, 0.002%) did not have much difference. In a detailed vegetation map reflecting vegetation research findings, the broad-leaved mountain forest was the most widely distributed with 60.096% based on the physiognomy classification. It was followed by mountain coniferous forest (16.332%), mountain valley forest (15.887%), and plantation forest (3.558%) As for vegetation conservation classification evaluated in the national park, grade I and grade II areas took up 200.44 km2, 61.80% and 108.80 km2, 33.55% respectively. The combined area of these two amounts to 95.35%, making this area the first grade area in ecological nature status. This means that this area is highly worth preserving its vegetation. The high rate of grade I area such as climax forests, unique vegetation, and subalpine vegetation seems to be attributable to diverse innate characteristics of Odaesan National Park, high altitude, low level of artificial disturbance, the subalpine zone formed on the ridge of the mountain top, and their vegetation formation, which reflects climatic and geological characteristics, despite continuous disturbance by mountain climbing.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Traditional Landscape Architecture
• /
• v.30 no.1
• /
• pp.135-145
• /
• 2012

Traditional village forests called Dangsan forests and Bibo forests in Korea represent an unique cultural landscape with a history of more than several hundred years. Feng-shui forest in China, Satoyama and Shinto shrine forest in Japan are recognized internationally as 'traditional ecological landscapes'. Dangsan forests and Bibo forests have been preserved through generations in the villages, and are no less valuable than Feng-shui forest, and Satoyama. However, the names of Dangsan forest and Bibo forest have not been well recognized worldwide. Dangsan forest in Seoseong-ri, Wando-gun is located on a mountain slope at a riparian forest. It consists of an evergreen broadleaf forest and Carpinus laxiflora forest. The characteristics of Dangsan forest in Seoseong-ri could be found at 10 sacrifice offering places. Two Dangsan trees on the coastal area are included in the sacrifice offering places. Cultural heritage can retain their value when they are fully sustained. Additional construction, demolition or modification should be banned. Furthermore, all means must be taken to facilitate the preservation of monuments and the value and meanings pertaining to them should not be distorted. In a respect of authenticity, Dangsan forest in Seoseong-ri, Wando-gun seems to have original Dangsan culture based on animism with a philosophic background, where a religious service for the mountain god is held at rock of mountain god, and Dangsan ritual is held at shrine on January 8 at 4:00 am by lunar calendar. Relating to the conservation and management of cultural heritage in international discussion, the importance is that whether there is sustainability on the right to the enjoyment of cultural heritage. Dangsan forest in Seoseong-ri is leaved alone to the public. The forest need a social mechanism to support the recovery of deformed shrine and to heighten public awareness of Dangsan forest in order to claim the value as a unique traditional ecological landscape in Korea.

• Journal of Wetlands Research
• /
• v.25 no.4
• /
• pp.335-344
• /
• 2023

Brachydiplax chalybea flavovittata, a climate-sensitive biological indicator species, was first observed and recorded at Jeju Island in Korea in 2010. Overwintering was recently confirmed in the Yeongsan River area. This study was aimed to predict the potential distribution patterns for the larvae of B. chalybea flavovittata and to understand its ecological characteristics as well as changes of population under global climate change circumstances. Data was collected both from the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) and by field surveys from May 2019 to May 2023. We used for the distribution model among downloaded 19 variables from the WorldClim database. MaxEnt model was adopted for the prediction of potential and future distribution for B. chalybea flavovittata. Larval distribution ranged within a region delimited by northern latitude from Jeju-si, Jeju Special Self-Governing Province (33.318096°) to Yeoju-si, Gyeonggi-do (37.366734°) and eastern longitude from Jindo-gun, Jeollanam-do (126.054925°) to Yangsan-si, Gyeongsangnam-do (129.016472°). M type (permanent rivers, streams and creeks) wetlands were the most common habitat based on the Ramsar's wetland classification system, followed by Tp type (permanent freshwater marshes and pools) (45.8%) and F type (estuarine waters) (4.2%). MaxEnt model presented that potential distribution with high inhabiting probability included Ulsan and Daegu Metropolitan City in addition to the currently discovered habitats. Applying to the future scenarios by Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), it was predicted that the possible distribution area would expand in the 2050s and 2090s, covering the southern and western coastal regions, the southern Daegu metropolitan area and the eastern coastal regions in the near future. This study suggests that B. chalybea flavovittata can be used as an effective indicator species for climate changes with a monitoring of their distribution ranges. Our findings will also help to provide basic information on the conservation and management of co-existing native species.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
• /
• v.57 no.1
• /
• pp.39-50
• /
• 2024

In ecosystems within limited resources, interspecific competition is inevitable, often leading to the competitive exclusion of inferior species. This study aims to provide foundational information for the conservation and restoration management of Microphysogobio rapidus by evaluating species' ecological response to biological factors within its habitat. To understand this relationship, we collected food web organisms from site where M. rapidus coexist with Microphysogobio yaluensis, a specie ecologically similar to M. rapidus, and evaluated the trophic levels (TL), isotopic niche space (INS), and the overlap of INS among fishes within the habitat using stable isotope analysis. Our analysis revealed that the M. rapidus exhibited a higher TL than M. yaluensis, with TL of 2.6 and 2.4, respectively. M. yaluensis exhibited a broad INS, significantly influencing the feeding characteristics of most fish. Conversely, M. rapidus showed a narrow INS and asymmetric feeding relationships with other species, in habitats with high competition levels. This feeding characteristics of M. rapidus indicate that the increase in competitors sharing the similar resources lead to a decrease in available resources and, consequently, is expected to result in a decrease in their density.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
• /
• v.38 no.3
• /
• pp.230-245
• /
• 2024

Amphibians, sensitive to external environmental changes, serve as bioindicator species for assessing alterations or disturbances in local ecosystems. It is known that one-third of amphibian species within the order Anura are at risk of extinction due to anthropogenic threats such as habitat destruction and fragmentation caused by urbanization. To develop effective protection and conservation strategies for anuran amphibians, species surveys that account for population characteristics are essential. This study aimed to investigate the potential for citizen participation in ecological monitoring using the mating calls of anura species. We also proposed suitable quality control measures to mitigate errors and biases, ensuring the extraction of reliable species occurrence data. The Citizen Science project was carried out nationwide from April 1 to August 31, 2022, targeting 12 species of anura amphibians in Korea. Citizens voluntarily participated in voice signal monitoring, where they listened to anura species' mating calls and recorded them using a mobile application. Additionally, we established a quality control process to extract reliable species occurrence data, categorizing errors and biases from citizen-collected data into three levels: omission, commission, and incorrect identification. A total of 6,808 observations were collected during the citizen participation in anura species vocalization monitoring. Through the quality control process, errors and biases were identified in 1,944 (28.55%) of the 6,808 data. The most common type of error was omission, accounting for 922 cases (47.43%), followed by incorrect identification with 540 cases (27.78%), and commission with 482 cases (24.79%). During the Citizen Science project, we successfully recorded the mating calls of 10 out of the 12 anuran amphibian species in Korea, excluding the Asian toads (Bufo gargarizans Cantor), Korean brown frog (Rana coreana). Difficulties in collecting mating calls were primarily attributed to challenges in observing due to population decline or discrepancies between the breeding season of non-emergent individuals and the timing of the citizen science project. This study represents the first investigation of distribution status and species emergence data collection through mating calls of anura species in Korea based on citizen participation. It can serve as a foundation for designing future bioacoustic monitoring that incorporates citizen science and quality control measures for citizen science data.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
• /
• v.34 no.1
• /
• pp.6-13
• /
• 2015

BACKGROUND: Most of the tailings have been left without any management in abandoned metalliferous mines and have become the main source of heavy metal contamination for agricultural soils and crops in the these areas. METHODS AND RESULTS: This experiment was carried out to investigate the assessment of the heavy metal contamination in paddy soils located on downstream of the closed metalliferous mine. The average total concentrations of cadmium (Cd), copper (Cu), lead (Pb), zinc (Zn), and arsenic (As) in paddy soils were 8.88, 56.7, 809, 754, and 37.9 mg/kg, respectively. Specially, the average concentrations of Cd, Pb and Zn were higher than those of warning criteria for soil contamination(4 mg/kg for Cd, 200 mg/kg for Pb, and 300 mg/kg for Zn) in agricultural soil established by Soil Environmental Conservation Act in Korea. The proportions of 0.1 M HCl extractable Cd, Cu, Pb, Zn, and As concentration to total concentration of these heavy metals in paddy soils were 27.7, 21.3, 35.1, 13.8 and 10.5%, respectively. The pollution index of these five metals in paddy soils ranged from 0.42 to 11.92. Also, the enrichment factor (EFc) of heavy metals in paddy soils were in the order as Cd>Pb>Zn>Cu>As, and the enrichment factor in paddy soil varied considerably among the sampling sites. The geoaccumulation index (Igeo) of heavy metals in soils were in the order as Cd>Pb>Zn>Cu>As, specially, the average geoaccumulation index of Cd, Pb, and Zn (Igeo 2.49~3.10) were relatively higher than that of other metals in paddy soils. CONCLUSION: Based on the pollution index, enrichment factor, and geoaccumulation index for heavy metal in paddy soils located on downstream of closed metalliferous mine, the main contaminants are mine waste materials and mine drainage including mine activity.

• Korean Journal of Heritage: History & Science
• /
• v.55 no.2
• /
• pp.102-111
• /
• 2022

Termites are a group of social insects that are one of the primary causes of damage to wooden architectural heritage. Since termite damage impairs the authenticity and structural stability of cultural heritage, it is imperative to prevent it. This study examines the extent of termite damage to wooden architectural heritage as part of efforts to prevent termite damage to nationally designated wooden architectural heritage sites across the country. The extent of termite damage to each cultural heritage was assessed qualitatively and quantitatively and comparatively analyzed by region using the results of the "Investigation on Biological Damage to Wooden Architectural Heritages" conducted by the National Research Institute of Cultural Heritage from 2016 to 2019. It involved 362 nationally designated wooden architectural heritages(25 national treasures, 157 treasures, 180 national folklore cultural heritages) and 1,104 buildings. The results were as follows: termite detection dogs reacted at 317(87.6%) of the 362 wooden heritages, with visible termite damage observed in 185 cases(51.1%). Furthermore, termite damage was confirmed using one of two methods(detection dogs or visual inspection) in 324 cases(89.5%). Of the 1,104 buildings, termite detection dogs reacted at 668(60.5%), while 339(30.7%) showed visible termite damage. Employing one of the two methods, damage was confirmed in 702 buildings(63.6%). The country was categorized into nine regions(Seoul Metropolitan Area, Gangwon, Chungbuk, Chungnam, Jeonbuk, Jeonnam, Gyeongbuk, Gyeongnam, and Jeju) to examine the termite damage rate and the degree of damage to each cultural heritage according to location. Termite detection dogs reacted to more than 70% of the cultural heritage in all regions. Visible damage was minimal in the Seoul metropolitan area(32.1%) and Gangwon(21.4%) but severe in Chungnam(65.6%), Jeonnam(67.3%), and Gyeongnam(68.2%). By quantifying the degree of termite damage of each cultural heritage as a ratio of the absence of termite damage among the total absence, the average termite damage of the cultural heritage across the country was 9.2%. Regional variance analysis showed that the cultural heritage in Jeonbuk and Jeonnam showed a statistically significantly higher degree of termite damage than the cultural heritage in the Seoul metropolitan area, Chungbuk, and Gyeongbuk. This paper comprehensively analyzed termite damage to nationally designated wooden architectural heritage. The findings are expected to be valuable in establishing policies for the preservation and management of cultural heritage sites in the future.