• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.42 no.3
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• pp.128-138
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• 2018

Background: This study investigated the variation of soil organic carbon in four land cover types: natural and mixed forest, cultivated land, Eucalyptus plantation and open bush land. The study was conducted in the Birr watershed of the upper Blue Nile ('Abbay') river basin. Methods: The data was subjected to a two-way of ANOVA analysis using the general linear model (GLM) procedures of SAS. Pairwise comparison method was also used to assess the mean difference of the land uses and depth levels depending on soil properties. Total of 148 soil samples were collected from two depth layers: 0-10 and 10-20 cm. Results: The results showed that overall mean soil organic carbon stock was higher under natural and mixed forest land use compared with other land use types and at all depths ($29.62{\pm}1.95Mg\;C\;ha^{-1}$), which was 36.14, 28.36, and 27.63% more than in cultivated land, open bush land, and Eucalyptus plantation, respectively. This could be due to greater inputs of vegetation and reduced decomposition of organic matter. On the other hand, the lowest soil organic carbon stock under cultivated land could be due to reduced inputs of organic matter and frequent tillage which encouraged oxidation of organic matter. Conclusions: Hence, carbon concentrations and stocks under natural and mixed forest and Eucalyptus plantation were higher than other land use types suggesting that two management strategies for improving soil conditions in the watershed: to maintain and preserve the forest in order to maintain carbon storage in the future and to recover abandoned crop land and degraded lands by establishing tree plantations to avoid overharvesting in natural forests.

• Journal of Forest and Environmental Science
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.249-256
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• 2013

The aim of the study was to reveal the scope and benefits derives from establishing carbon forests in a country like Bangladesh. Carbon forestry is the modernized forestry practice that evolves no cutting of trees or vegetation rather conserves them in the wood. Trees might be the source of carbon sink at large scale by establishing carbon forests. To find out how and in what extent forests of Bangladesh could contribute to global emission reduction, tree species of economic importance were taken into account about their carbon sequestration potential. Data source was a secondary one. Bangladesh has subtropical evergreen and deciduous forest tree species. Here trees can sequester almost 45-55 percent organic carbon in their biomass. On an average, trees in different types of stands can sequester 150-300 tC/ha. Carbon value of these forests might be 7,500-15,000 USD per hactre (assuming 50 USD per equivalent $tCO_2$). Thus, accounting tree carbon credits of total forested lands of Bangladesh, there might be a lump sum value of $1.89{\times}10^{10}-3.79{\times}10^{10}$ USD. If soil carbon is added, this amount would jump. Alternatively, there are two times higher spaces as marginal lands than this for starting carbon forestry. However, carbon forestry concept is still a theoretical conception unless otherwise their challenges are addressed and solved. Despite of this, forests of Bangladesh might be the key showcase for conserving biodiversity in association with carbon capture. Protected areas in Bangladesh are of government wealth, however, degraded and denuded waste and marginal lands might be the best fit for establishing carbon forests.

• Journal of Microbiology
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• v.44 no.2
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• pp.177-184
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• 2006

The characteristic biodegradation of monomeric styrene by Phanerochaete chrysosporium KFRI 20742, Trametes versicolor KFRI 20251 and Daldinia concentrica KFRI 40-1 was carried out to examine the resistance, its degradation efficiency and metabolites analysis. The estrogenic reduction effect of styrene by the fungi was also evaluated. The mycelium growth of fungi differentiated depending on the concentration levels of styrene. Additionally P. chrysosporium KFRI 20742 showed superior mycelium growth at less than 200 mg/l, while D. concentrica KFRI 40-1 was more than 200 mg/l. The degradation efficiency reached 99 % during one day of incubation for all the fungi. Both manganese-dependent peroxidase and laccase activities in liquid medium were the highest at the initial stage of incubation, whereas the lowest was after the addition of styrene. However, both activities were gradually recovered after. The major metabolites of styrene by P. chrysosporium KFRI 20742 were 2-phenyl ethanol, benzoic acid, cyclohexadiene-1,4-dione, butanol and succinic acid. From one to seven days of incubating the fungi, the expression of pS2 mRNA widely known as an estrogen response gene was decreased down to the level of baseline after one day. Also, the estrogenic effect of styrene completely disappeared after treatment with supernatant of P. chrysosporium KFRI 20742 from one week of culture down to the levels of vehicle.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.25-45
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• 2008

This review was made to discuss the issues of ecological restoration and environmental impact assessment (EIA) related to the preservation of natural environment, the central theme expressed in the National Anthem of Korea. The authors notice that the key word or the central philosophy contained in the verses of the National Anthem of Korea is the preservation of national land and eternal identity for future generations, which is thought to be pursued through the attainment of ecological sustainability. A conceptual model for the sustainable management of natural ecosystems was suggested for the efficient utilization and the preservation of them, whose activities should be promoted by those of conservation and restoration instead of destructive development and negligence, respectively. Here, the preservation of natural environment can be directly pursued through the restoration of degraded ecosystems and landscapes and the utilization of natural environment can be directly pursued through the conservation of natural resources and wise management of natural ecosystems and landscapes. After reviewing the major characteristics and activities of the restoration of degraded ecosystems and landscapes, discussion was further extended to points for the promotion of the EIA activities. To point out some of them, it is needed for the public to better understand the nature of sustainable management of natural environment, for the society to put extensive energy and resources in the restoration of degraded ecosystems and landscapes, and for the government to install higher levels of ministries than that of the Ministry of Environment in dealing with the issues related to the 'preservation' of national land, people, culture and the security of the sustainability for future generations, where EIA and strategic environment assessment (SEA) can directly contribute to the sustainability of the country and future generations.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Illuminating and Electrical Installation Engineers
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.138-144
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• 2005

In order to understand the effect of the mountain fire on the polymeric insulator for transmission lines, the author observed the deformation of the sheds of the polymeric insulators and the change of the discs of the porcelain insulators under fire, and investigated the electrical and mechanical characteristics of the insulators after the ignition test As the result the following conclusions were obtained. First, the porcelain insulator was degraded in electrical characteristics when the insulator was subjected to the fire for approximately 5 minutes; whereas, the polymeric insulator was not degraded though there were some damage on its sheds. Second, after 20 minutes exposure to the fire, the polymeric insulator lost a lot of parts of sheds, but the electrical characteristics was lowered by around $20(\%)$, but the porcelain insulators were electrically degraded by more than $80(\%)$.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.38-45
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• 2000

This research has been done to investigate influence of soil physical and chemical properties on forest environmental change by fired pine forest in Koseong, Kangwondo. The sample sites were divided by not-fired sites(NF), not-cutting site after fired(FNC), cutting and planting sites after fired(FCP) and cutting and not-planting sites after fired(FC). Soil texture of whole sites was sandy clay loam. Sand content of NF top soil were lower than those of sub soil and clay content were higher, while FNC, FCP and FC sand content of top soil were higher than those of sub soil. Total porosity didn't differ between the sites. Coarse porosity and permeability had the increasing order as NF> FNC> FCP> FC, but fine porosity and bulk density had the opposite trends. Because forest fire removed the vegetation and then soil erosion was accelerated, forest environmental changes by forest fire greatly degraded soil porosity and permeability which were indices for forest water retention, so that soil physical properties were deteriorated. Both top and sub soil pHs of NF and FNC were higher than those of FCP and FC. Organic matter content and total nitrogen content of top and sub soils were high in order as NF> FNC> FCP> FC. Cation exchange capacities and exchangeable cation(K+, Na+, $Ca^2$+, $Mg^2$+) content in top soils were higher than those in sub soils, and in order as NF> FNC> FCP> FC, to be compared by the sites. Those mean that forest fire result from the erosion of top soil layers.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.95 no.1
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• pp.60-72
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• 2006

The aim of this paper is to identify and evaluate relations for forest greening and the firewood substitution for home use after 1945 Liberation of Korea. Korea faced serious forest degradation by the early 1960s due to the enormous firewood consumption, which was about ten million cubic meters annually, for home use. If the trend of firewood consumption was maintained until 1955's, the total forest area in Korea could be thoroughly degraded within 10 years. The firewood substitution for home use had to be solved as soon as possible. For this purpose, energy sector by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry carried out the substitution policy for home using the briquettes which was the only natural resources for energy produced in Korea. Firewood was prohibited being carried in the major cities by forestry sector, the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, from 1958. Only 5.2% of household in the cities used the forest products consumed as a fuel in 1970 because these inter-sectoral substitution measures of firewood for home use turned out a success gradually. After the 1970s, firewood consumption for home use was naturally decreased due to rural people's explosive move to cities, who were major consumers of firewood for home use at that time. Firewood for cooking was substituted by LPG gas after 1985 and firewood for house heating was substituted by coal and oil after 1980. Finally, on the basis of the firewood substitution for home use, the forest degradation that lasted over one hundred years was put a period.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.112 no.4
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• pp.554-560
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• 2023

To prevent illegal timber distribution, DNA markers have been used to identify the species and origin. However, extracting high-quality DNA from timber is difficult because of its physical and chemical properties. In this study, we investigated whether the age of timber tissue influences the yield of DNA extraction and the success rate of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to understand the relationship between the establishment time of the wood annual ring and the extracted DNA concentration (ng/μl), purity (A260/A280), and PCR success rate (%) from pinewood, a major Korean domestic species. According to the results, it was observed that as the distance from the cambium increased, indicating that the tissue was older, the concentration and purity of the extracted DNA decreased significantly. For the trnM-trnV (285 bp) and rpoC1 (298 bp) regions, the PCR success rate was 100%. However, for the rbcL (1.3 kb) region, the PCR success rate was 66.67%. Moreover, PCR amplification of the rbcL region failed at all points older than 30 years. Thus, it is deduced that as time passes, along with the decay of timber cells, DNA is degraded, leading to a decrease in DNA concentration, purity, and PCR success rate. The results of this study are expected to be beneficial for future applications, such as the species identification of timber, providing valuable insights and potential utilization in this field.

• Journal of Korea Technical Association of The Pulp and Paper Industry
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• v.47 no.4
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• pp.151-159
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• 2015

Paper records were generally degraded by some factors from atmospheric environments, like temperature, relative humidity or air pollutants. In this study, the degradation behavior of paper records by single or mixed gases of $NO_2$, $SO_2$, HCHO and TVOC was evaluated. The mechanical, optical and chemical properties of 4 kinds of paper (acid and neutral-based printing paper, traditional Hanji, and filter paper) were directly and indirectly affected by gaseous harmful materials. The brightness and $L^*$ value in all papers were slightly increased by accelerated aging under gaseous HCHO and TVOCs, but highly decreased by conditions under gases $NO_2$ and $SO_2$. The optical properties of paper records were most vulnerable in acid-based paper and high stable in filter paper and traditional Hanji by air pollutant degradation. The aging treatments under mixed gas pollutants including $NO_2$ resulted in decrease of physical, mechanical and optical properties of paper, so it was supposed that the concentration of $NO_2$ gas would be strictly controlled for optimum indoor air quality management in domestic storage centers for paper records.

• Journal of agriculture & life science
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• v.45 no.4
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• pp.47-58
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• 2011

The forest of Korea had been severely degraded since early 1900s until 1950s. Korean Government has successfully accomplished the reforestation works since 1960s. However, some plantations showed poor survival and growth caused by ignoring site characteristics in selecting plantation species and lack of tending works such as thinning. The natural regeneration of indigenous species, such as Quercus species and Pinus densiflora Siebold & Zucc., were examined in the plantations of Pinus koraiensis Siebold & Zucc. and Larix kaempferi Fortune ex Gordon. Quercus species regenerated mainly by sprouting while P. densiflora regenerated naturally from a few mother trees that remained in the plantations. P. koraiensis showed poor survival ($IVI{\leq}25%$) and suppressed growth (height ${\leq}3m$ and $DBH{\leq}3cm$ at 20 year-old) by Quercus species or P. densiflora in the plantation areas, however had high survival ($IVI{\geq}70%$) and growth (8 m height and 14.1 cm DBH at 20 year-old) in areas where silvicultural practices were conducted. L. kaempferi showed good survival ($IVI{\geq}40%$) and growth (17.2 m height and 16.3 cm DBH at 30 year-old) mostly in valley areas, while it was nearly dead ($IVI{\leq}10%$) in ridge or ridge-slope areas and was replaced by indigenous species such as Quercus species ($IVI{\geq}25{\sim}55%$) or P. densiflora ($IVI{\geq}18{\sim}50%$).