• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.39 no.4 s.118
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• pp.445-449
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• 2006

Phenolic compounds are manufacturing by-products commonly found in industrial wastewater. The toxicity of high level phenolic compounds in wastewater threatens not only the aquatic organisms, but also many components of the adjacent ecosystem. One of the major light harvesting pigments in cyanobacteria is phycocyanin which can be rapidly and specifically degraded by external stimuli such as nutritional depletion or environmental stress. We employed the cyanobacterium Anabaena sp. PCC 7120 as an indicator organism in estimating the pollution level by phenolic compounds. The phycocyanin content of the cyanobacterium decreased without significantly altering the total chlorophyll as the phenol concentration in a medium increased. We examined the phenol contamination level using the correlation of the phycocyanin content and the phenol concentration. Our results indicated that no significant pollution by phenolic compounds was found in several waterbodies in the vicinity of Daegu, South Korea.

• Korean Journal of Medicinal Crop Science
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.139-145
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• 2017

Background: Invasion of these invasive plants in the ecosystem threatens the habitat of endemic species, reduces biodiversity, and causes a disturbance in the ecological system. Hypochaeris radicata L. (Asteraceae), the most invasive plant in Korea, particularly in Jeju Island, invades farmlands, and autochthonous forests, resulting in the establishment of monocultures and modification of the ecosystem structure. Methods and Results: In this study was, we evaluated the biological activity of 70% ethanolic extracts from different parts of Hypochaeris radicata L. The biological activities of 70% ethanolic extracts of different parts, such as flower, leaf, stem, and root, of H. radicata were investigated. The total polyphenol content was highest in flower extracts ($50.82{\pm}3.16mg{\cdot}QE/g$). In addition, the highest flavonoid content was observed in flower extract ($15.19{\pm}2.03mg{\cdot}QE/g$). The flower extract of H. radicata exhibited stronger DPPH radical-scavenging activities, ABTS radical scavenging activities, and reducing power than the other parts. The flower extract of H. radicata was observed to have the highest tyrosinase and ${\alpha}-glucosidase$ inhibitory activities. Conclusions: The flower extracts of H. radicata exhibited remarkable antioxidant activity as well as tyrosinase and ${\alpha}-glucosidase$ inhibitory effects. These activities might be related to the phenolic compounds present in the H. radicata flower extract.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.45 no.1
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• pp.42-53
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• 2019

Objectives: The Yongpung reservoir in Korea is a crucial facility that supplies water to farms in its surrounding $2km^2$ area. However, its water quality is not suited to the needs of current residents who wish for the availability of environmentally friendly agricultural products and desire to use the waterfront area. The aim of this research was to evaluate the reservoir's fish and benthic macroinvertebrate distributions and determine its water quality and the heavy metal content in its sediment. This basic data can be used to establish environmentally protective plans for the Yongpung reservoir. Methods: Six sites were selected for analysis in this investigation. Three points (YP-1, YP-2, and YP-3) were evaluated for water quality and metal content in sediments; they were located upstream, midstream, and downstream of the reservoir. Samplings of the fish and benthic macroinvertebrate populations were performed at three other sites: St. 1, St. 2, and St. 3. Results: Based on chemical oxygen demand (COD) and total nitrogen (T-N) data, the quality of the Yongpung reservoir water corresponds to Class VI (very poor) according to Korea's lake environmental standards. The lead levels measured in the sediment at the midstream and downstream points of the reservoir were 76.7 and 72.7 mg/kg, respectively, while 8 orders, 15 families, and 16 species of benthic macroinvertebrates were identified in the reservoir. The ecological score of the benthic macroinvertebrate community (ESB) was between 8 and 23, denoting poor to very poor environmental conditions. Further, 4 families and 7 species of fish were identified in the reservoir, with Cyprinidae accounting for 94.3% of all observed freshwater fish. Conclusion: Based on these findings, we conclude that management plans, including the removal of lead from the sediment, are necessary to improve the quality of the agricultural water in this reservoir. The T. japonica, which cover almost 30% of the water area, must also be removed.

• Journal of Legislation Research
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• no.41
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• pp.401-434
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• 2011

The discussion on the adoption of the horizontal regulatory framework is underway to overcome the problems regarding the vertical regulatory framework resulting from a convergence of broadcasting and telecommunications services. Recently, however, the horizontal regulatory framework shows its limitation to regulate the ecosystem established mainly by Google and Apple. The existing horizontal regulatory framework does not fully reflect the characteristics of the two-sided market and the change in the competition structure in the broadcasting and telecommunications sector. What is important to note is that if the existing horizontal regulatory framework is simply applied to the ecosystem, a regulatory imbalance can be caused among ecosystems. The existing horizontal regulatory framework, which is subject to a value chain structure, categorizes business entities into either contents layer or transmission layer and applies the same regulation to all business entities in the same category. However, in the ecosystem, a keystone-player can be categorized into different layers depending on its strategy. Therefore, if the existing horizontal regulatory framework is applied as it is, the regulatory imbalance between keystone-players located in less regulated areas and keystone-players located in more regulated areas occurs resulting in a distortion of competition. There are two possible ways to establish a new regulatory framework to prevent the distortion of competition likely to be caused by the adoption of a horizontal regulatory system. First, a new ecosystem regulatory framework different from the existing one can be established. Second, the horizontal regulatory framework can be modified to reflect the ecosystem elements. The first approach is hard to adopt given the current situation as the approach requires the analysis of all broadcasting and telecommunications ecosystems including mobile and wired services; currently research and study on the competition conditions in the ecosystems is not enough. Therefore, this paper supports the second approach proposing a modified horizontal regulatory framework through the improvement of institutions and remedies suitable for accommodating the ecosystem elements. This paper intends to propose a way to regulate broadcasting and telecommunications ecosystems taking into consideration the ecosystem elements on top of the Telecommunications Business Act, Broadcasting Act, IPTV Act, the competition condition evaluation system of the Basic Act on Broadcasting and Telecommunications Development, and regulation on common carriers under the Telecommunications Business Act.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.36 no.4 s.105
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• pp.463-466
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• 2003

This study was conducted to introduce the characteristics of the freshwater environment of Mulkol, considering that it is less known area about the ecosystem of the Tok Island. The salinity of freshwater in the Mulkol was less than 2.0 psu, while its periphytic algal biomass was thriving with 25.9 ${\mu}g\;chl-a/cm^2$. As for the nutrients in water, the content of $NH_4$ was higher than the rest of inorganic nitrogen components, and SRP and SRSi were much higher as 117.3 ${\mu}$g P/l and 4,104.6 ${\mu}$g Si/l respectively, than nitrogen components. Also, the ratio of N/P was found less than 1.0, revealing the condition that N was greatly limited. The high level of nutrient concentration and periphytic algal biomass at the Mulkol ecosystem could be explained as a result of natural pollution, but no full explanation was made in this study. It is a question that needs additional research in the future.

• The Journal of the Korea institute of electronic communication sciences
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.125-138
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• 2016

Currently, there is increasing demand for weather information, however, providing meteorology and climate information is limited. In order to improve them, supporting the meteorology and climate big data platform use and training the meteorology and climate big data specialist who meet the needs of government, public agencies and corporate, are required. Meteorology and climate big data requires high-value usable service in variety fields, and it should be provided personalized service of industry-specific type for the service extension and new content development. To provide personalized service, it is essential to build the collaboration ecosystem at the national level. Building the collaboration ecosystem environment, convergence of marine policy and climate policy, convergence of oceanography and meteorology and convergence of R&D basic research and applied research are required. Since then, demand analysis, production sharing information, unification are able to build the collaboration ecosystem.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.36 no.2 s.103
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• pp.117-123
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• 2003

The results of field experiments with mesocosms on Lake Baikal, containing natural plankton assemblage, and laboratory experiments with microcosms containing Daphnia magna and Chlorella vulgaris demonstrated decrease of the structural exergy of the communities after the addition of allochtonous compounds peptone, diesel oil, o-diphenol, $CdCl_2$ to mesocosmsassemblage, phenol, $CoCl_2$ and $CuSO_4$ to micro-cosms. Structural exergy changes were more expressed than changes of components biomasses and total biomass of the community. Comparison of exergy content for benthos in cleanand affected by the discharges of Baikalsk Pulp and Paper Combine also showed sufficient docrease of structural exergy in polluted area. It points to the possibility of the use of structural exergy as ecosystem health reflecting parameter.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.42 no.4
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• pp.155-162
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• 2018

Background: In ecosystem carbon cycle studies, distinguishing between $CO_2$ emitted by roots and by microbes remains very difficult because it is mixed before being released into the atmosphere. Currently, no method for quantifying root and microbial respiration is effective. Therefore, this study investigated the relationship between soil respiration and underground root biomass at varying distances from the tree and tested possibilities for measuring root and microbial respiration. Methods: Soil respiration was measured by the closed chamber method, in which acrylic collars were placed at regular intervals from the tree base. Measurements were made irregularly during one season, including high temperatures in summer and low temperatures in autumn; the soil's temperature and moisture content were also collected. After measurements, roots of each plot were collected, and their dry matter biomass measured to analyze relationships between root biomass and soil respiration. Results: Apart from root biomass, which affects soil's temperature and moisture, no other factors affecting soil respiration showed significant differences between measuring points. At each point, soil respiration showed clear seasonal variations and high exponential correlation with increasing soil temperatures. The root biomass decreased exponentially with increasing distance from the tree. The rate of soil respiration was also highly correlated exponentially with root biomass. Based on these results, the average rate of root respiration in the soil was estimated to be 34.4% (26.6~43.1%). Conclusions: In this study, attempts were made to differentiate the root respiration rate by analyzing the distribution of root biomass and resulting changes in soil respiration. As distance from the tree increased, root biomass and soil respiration values were shown to strongly decrease exponentially. Root biomass increased logarithmically with increases in soil respiration. In addition, soil respiration and underground root biomass were logarithmically related; the calculated root-breathing rate was around 44%. This study method is applicable for determining root and microbial respiration in forest ecosystem carbon cycle research. However, more data should be collected on the distribution of root biomass and the correlated soil respiration.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural Science
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• v.50 no.4
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• pp.749-758
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• 2023

An understanding of safety problems pursuant to environmental release of GM (Genetically Modified) crops is considered important. Among the recognized safety problems, the possibilities of weediness and ecosystem invasion are constantly being validated. We herein compared the growth characteristics and germination rate of soybeans formed by hybridization with vitamin A-enhanced soybeans carrying an introduced gene that increases β-carotene content. We also examined overwintering, survival, and weed competitiveness to evaluate hybrid ecological impact on long-term unmanaged cultivatable land. These studies revealed that the hybrid soybeans exhibited intermediate growth characteristics and germination rate compared with the vitamin A-enhanced soybeans and wild soybeans, or exhibited traits similar to those of the maternal strain. Overwintering experiments were conducted by planting seeds at depths of 0, 5, 10, and 20 cm and recovering them after three or five months. After five months, all seeds at depths more than 5 cm lost viability. Among seeds recovered after three months, only wild soybeans retained viability at depths of more than 5 cm. Survival and weed competitiveness were assessed by sowing each type of seed and performing no irrigation, or pest or weed control. Quantitative assessment of numbers of individual soybean plants that appeared in the experimental plot revealed that all plants germinated after sowing, but only wild type plants survived overwintering. These studies suggest that both GM soybeans and hybrid soybeans cannot survive in uncultivated land even if they are released into the environment, which indicates less possibility of ecosystem invasion and weediness.

• The Korean Journal of Ecology
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.503-512
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• 1995

The present paper describes partial results of the study on the activities of microbes in the soil of Quercus mongolica forest from July, 1994 to April, 1995. To determine the relationship between structure and function of soil microbial ecosystem, the author investigated the seasonal change of physical environmental factors, microbial population and soil enzyme activities. The changes of pH was not significant and the temperature of surface soil was 2℃ higher than lower soil through out the year. Moisture contents (％) of soil samples ranged from 7.64％ to 42.11％. However, soils of site 3 at Mt. Komdan in which vegetation is successional have higher moisture content than the others. The bacterial population increased in summer, but continuously decreased in autumn and winter, and then reincreased again in spring. Bacterial population of surface soil was higher than those of 30 cm depth all the year round. Dehydrogenase activity (DHA) was about two-fold higher throughout in surface soil compared to those of lower soil. And the correlation coefficient between DHA and bacterial population size was 0,713, It was suggested that DHA could be used as a primary index of soil microbial population and activity in soil ecosystem.