• Journal of the Korean Institute of Traditional Landscape Architecture
• /
• v.34 no.4
• /
• pp.57-65
• /
• 2016

Maeul-soop(Village forest) is a key element of Korean traditional village landscape historically and culturally. However, a number of Maeul-soops have been lost or declined due to various influences since the modern age. For this Maeul-soop that has a variety of conservation values including historical, cultural and ecological ones, attention and efforts for a systematic conservation and restoration of Maeul-soop are needed. The purpose of the present study is to provide information on ecological restoration and sustainable use and management of Maeul-soops based on component plant species, habitat and location characteristics of 499 Maeul-soops spread throughout Korea. Major six categories of threat factors to Maeul-soop ecosystem were identified and the influence of each factor was evaluated. For the evaluation of weight by threat factors for the influence on the vulnerability of Maeul-soop ecosystem, more three-dimensional analysis was conducted using Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) analysis method. In the results of evaluation using AHP analysis method, reduction of area, among six categories, was spotted as the biggest threat to existence of Maeul-soops. Next, changes in topography and soil environment were considered as a threat factor of qualitative changes in Maeul-soop ecosystem. Influence of vegetation structure and its qualitative changes on the loss or decline of Masul-soop was evaluated to be lower than that of changes in habitat. Based on weight of each factor, the figures were converted with 100 points being the highest score and the evaluation of vulnerability of Maeul-soop was conducted with the converted figures. In the result of evaluation of vulnerability of Maeul-soops, grade III showed the highest frequency and a normal distribution was formed from low grade to high grade. 38 Maeul-soops were evaluated as grade I which showed high naturality and 10 Maeul-soops were evaluated as grade V as their maintenance was threatened. Also in the results of evaluation of vulnerability of each Maeul-soop, restoration of Maeul-soop's own area was found as top priority to guarantee the sustainability of Maeul-soops. It was confirmed that there was a need to prepare a national level ecological response strategy for each vulnerability factor of Maeul-soop, which was important national ecological resources.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Landscape Architecture
• /
• v.52 no.2
• /
• pp.79-95
• /
• 2024

The purpose of this study was to find the changes in the habitat of wild birds caused by climate change in urban rivers and protected areas that greatly require ecological functions. In the future, this study can be used as a management index to protect the urban river ecosystem and maintain the health of sustainable urban rivers, thereby ensuring biodiversity. The Tancheon Ecological and Landscape Conservation Area, selected as a target site, has been affected by climate change. The four seasons of Korea have a distinct temperate climate, but the average annual temperature in Seoul has risen by 2.4-2.8℃ over the last 40 years. Winter temperatures tended to gradually increase. Precipitation, which was concentrated from June to August, is now changing into localized torrential rain and a uniform precipitation pattern of several months. Climate change causes irregular and unforeseen features. Climate change has been shown to have various effects on urban river ecosystems. The decrease in the area of water surface and sedimentary land impacted river shape change and has led to large-scale terrestrialization. Plants showed disturbance, and the vegetation was simplified. The emergence of national climate change indicator species, the development of foreign herbaceous plants, the change of dry land native herbaceous species, and wet intelligence vegetation were developed. Wild birds appeared in the territory of winter-summer migratory. In addition, species change and the populations of migratory birds also occurred. It was judged that fluctuations in temperature and precipitation and non-predictive characteristics affect the hydrological environment, plant ecology, and wild birds connecting with the river ecosystem. The results of this study were to analyze how climate change affects the habitat of wild birds and to develop a management index for river ecological and landscape conservation areas where environmental and ecological functions in cities operate. This study can serve as a basic study at the level of ecosystem services to improve the health of urban rivers and create a foundation for biodiversity.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
• /
• v.44 no.3
• /
• pp.126-142
• /
• 2020

Background: Most of the Pinus densiflora forests, occupying the largest area, have been restored in South Korea since the 1970s. As young pioneer forests, the succession process is under way. Since the forests are distributed nationwide and are vulnerable to disturbances, the process may differ depending on the geography and/or site conditions. Therefore, we reviewed the direction, the seral communities, and the late-successional species of progressive and disturbance-driven succession nationwide in the cool-temperate zone through meta-analysis and empirical observations. Main text: As a result of a meta-analysis of the direct succession and vertical structure, we found that the P. densiflora forest is in a directionally progressive succession, changing to the broadleaved forest after forming a mixed forest with its overwhelming successor, Quercus species (particularly Q. mongolica and Q. serrata). In dry stands in a relative sense, the Quercus species was favored occupying over 80% of the abundance of the succeeding species. Therefore, in dry stands, it is presumed that Quercus-dominated stage would last for a long time due to the current dominance and long life span, and eventually, it settles as Quercus-broadleaved forest with a site change. Contrary to this, it is presumed that in mesic stands where Quercus species do not occur or have low abundance, the late-successional broadleaved species settle early to form a co-dominant forest with multiple species. Due to geographical limits, the species composition of the two late-successional forests is different. Disturbances such as insect pests and fire retrogressed vulnerable P. densiflora forest for a while. However, it was mostly restored to the Quercus forest and is expected to be incorporated in the pathway of the dry stand. Conclusions: We revealed the succession process of P. densiflora forests according to geography and moisture and found that stand moisture had a decisive effect on the species and abundance of the successor. Although the P. densiflora forest is undergoing structural changes, the forest is still young; so within a few decades, physiognomy is not likely to change. Therefore, the decrease in the forest area may be due to other causes such as disturbances and forest conversion rather than due to succession.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
• /
• v.2 no.1
• /
• pp.50-65
• /
• 1988

Trail and campground deteriorations and their environmental changes of soil and vegetation were studied in Guryong district of Mt. Chiak National Park in 1988. The Widths of both the entire trail and the bare portion as the trail condition were significantly greater on the more heavily used trail. and regressions showed the significant positive relationship between slope along the trail and maximum depth of the trail($R^2$=0.35). Deterioration types of trail which had higher frequency for a total of 63 observations were rock exposure(48%), trail deepening(29%) and root exposure(27%) in the high order. And occurence of trail deterioration was considerably influenced by slope along the trail Ecological changes of soil and vegetation of trailsides were not found at a uniform tendency but could be grouped, by the types of user's disturbance. On campsites. tree damage types and their frequencies were basic as a means of which grasp the limits of user's impact. The area with damaged trees on campsite in pine forest were larger than that in mixed forest and the frequency by damage type of trees varied according to the distance from the core of campsite and to the crown layer. Water content, pH and hardness of soil. coverage of lower trees, species and individuals per 100$m^2$, basal areas of upper and middle layer of trees had significant relationship with the distance from campsite to forest. The range influenced by user's disturbance was more than 70-80m, md Staphylea bumalda, Morns bombycis, Stephanandra incisa and Securinega suffruticosa were considered as tolerant species to user's impact.

• Ecology and Resilient Infrastructure
• /
• v.6 no.4
• /
• pp.267-276
• /
• 2019

The Gonggeomji Reservoir is a historical irrigation facility built in the 8th century and designated as a wetland protected area by Ministry of Environment, Korea. In order to collect the baseline data necessary for developing a sustainable conservation strategy, we investigated the classification of actual vegetation, the vegetation distribution and the floristic structure of the vegetation in the Gonggeomji Wetland Protection Area. In the whole protection area, a total of 26 plant communities were classified including the wetland, riparian, grassland, forest, farmland, and orchard vegetation. According to the results of detrended correspondence analysis, the structure of wetland vegetation was mainly affected by water depth and human disturbance. In reservoir wetlands, floating vegetation such as Utricularia vulgaris var. japonica, Trapa japonica, and emergent vegetation such as Nelumbo nucifera, Typha spp. completely covered the water surface. Since 2014, the reservoir wetland has been terrestrialized with the expansion of emergent and hygrophytic plants. For the sustainable conservation and restoration of wetland protected areas, it is necessary to naturalize the topography and wetland vegetation, recovery the hydrologic system, and restore ecosystem connectivity from wetlands to forests.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
• /
• v.29 no.6
• /
• pp.907-916
• /
• 2015

The purpose of this study was to identify characteristics of vegetation structure, vegetation succession, and species diversity of artificially planted Chamaecyparis obtusa (CO) stands. The study was carried out by performing vegetation survey for eight CO stands located in Jeollanam-do Province, Korea. Analysis on vegetation classification and ordinations of the stands was conducted using the data from the vegetation survey, and as a result, the stands were classified into five types of communities. Community I showed a considerably lower index of species diversity when compared to other communities because the canopy of the dominant CO was so highly dense that the low-height vegetation was not able to develop or the low-height vegetation almost disappeared due to elimination of weed trees. Meanwhile, the Community II - IV had relatively higher indices of species diversity because various native tree species mixed with the low-height vegetation and competed with each other in the understory and shrub layers to some degree of stability or in their early stage of vegetation development. Community V, lastly, showed higher use intensity as a recreational forest, thus developing simpler vegetation structure on account of artificial intervention. There was positive correlation between photosynthetically active radiation entering the forest floor, number of observed species and index of species diversity. Such characteristics of vegetation structure in CO stands are closely associated with forest management and prescription for planting reforestation, thinning, and brush cutting in the past. There was a slight difference in vegetation structure and species diversity by communities, based on rotation time of the vegetational succession, process of disturbance frequency and disturbance, development, and maturity by planting CO stands. However, when compared to natural forests, the CO stands showed simpler vegetation structure. Because artificial forests are vulnerable in ecosystem service with lower species diversity, a drive for ecological management is needed for such forests to change into healthy ecosystems that can display functions of public benefit.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
• /
• v.23 no.4
• /
• pp.333-345
• /
• 2009

Carpinus laxiflora communities are known as the climax forest community of the temperate zone of Korea. There are three Carpinus laxiflora communities in Seoul. The purpose of this research is to analyze the characteristics of Carpinus laxiflora communities of Seoul and supply basic data for establishing of a management plan. The research sites are Sahmyook University, Mountain Dobong and Jinkwandong. This study considers investigation and the analysis of communities structure, soil characteristics and the growth increment of trees. As the result of study, we could know that the growth increment of the Carpinus laxiflora trees of Seoul is decreasing recently because of soil acidification and so on. Also the vegetation disturbance is increasing because of naturalized plant. Oak wilt disease has appeared in the oak forest around Sahmyook University that is the largest Carpinus laxiflora communities area in Seoul. For that reason the open gap was appeared in forest, and the spread of naturalized plants has been increasing in the gap. Furthermore, the Carpinus laxiflora trees are affected by the Platypus koryoensis which is a kind of oak wilt disease. And so, Unless there is a specific management plan, the survival of Carpinus laxiflora communities are uncertain in Seoul. Therefore the management plan of Carpinus laxiflora communities is necessary such as precise investigation, annual monitoring, etc. For the conservation of the Carpinus laxiflora communities, it is necessary to establish the management plan of the biodiversity for Seoul area.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
• /
• v.35 no.5
• /
• pp.503-524
• /
• 2021

A largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides) is an ecosystem disturbance fish species at the highest rank in the aquatic ecosystem, causing a serious imbalance in freshwater ecosystems. Although various attempts have been made to eradicate and control largemouth bass, no effective measures were found. Therefore, it is necessary to find an approach to maximize the effective population reduction based on the unique characteristics of largemouth bass. This study used the transcriptome analysis to derive 182,887 unigene contigs and select 12 types of final target sequences for applying the CRISPR/Cas9 system in the genes of IZUMO1 and Zona pellucida sperm-binding protein, which are proteins involved in sperm-egg recognition. After synthesizing 12 types of sgRNA capable of recognizing each target sequence, 12 types of Cas9-sgRNA ribonucleoprotein (RNP) complexes to be used in subsequent studies were prepared. This study searched the protein-coding gene of sperm-egg through the Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) and edited genes through the CRISPR/Cas9 system to induce infertile individuals that produced reproductive cells but could not form fertilized eggs. Through such a series of processes, it successfully established a composition development process for largemouth bass. It is judged that this study contributed to securing the valuable basic data for follow-up studies to verify its effect for the management of ecological disturbances without affecting the habitat of other endemic species in the same water system with the largemouth bass.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
• /
• v.44 no.4
• /
• pp.275-285
• /
• 2020

Background: In Korea, Symplocos prunifolia Siebold. & Zucc. is only found on Jeju Island. Conservation of the species is difficult because little is known about its distribution and natural habitat. The lack of research and survey data on the characteristics of native vegetation and distribution of this species means that there is insufficient information to guide the management and conservation of this species and related vegetation. Therefore, this study aims to identify the distribution and vegetation associated with S. prunifolia. Results: As a result of field investigations, it was confirmed that the native S. prunifolia communities were distributed in 4 areas located on the southern side of Mt. Halla and within the evergreen broad-leaved forest zones. Furthermore, these evergreen broad-leaved forest zones are themselves located in the warm temperate zone which are distributed along the valley sides at elevations between 318 and 461 m. S. prunifolia was only found on the south side of Mt. Halla, and mainly on south-facing slopes; however, small communities were found to be growing on northwest-facing slopes. It has been confirmed that S. prunifolia trees are rare but an important constituent species in the evergreen broad-leaved forest of Jeju. The mean importance percentage of S. prunifolia community was 48.84 for Castanopsis sieboldii, 17.79 for Quercus acuta, and 12.12 for Pinus thunbergii; S. prunifolia was the ninth most important species (2.6). Conclusions: S. prunifolia can be found growing along the natural streams of Jeju, where there is little anthropogenic influence and where the streams have caused soil disturbance through natural processes of erosion and deposition of sediments. Currently, the native area of S. prunifolia is about 3300 ㎡, which contains a confirmed population of 180 individual plants. As a result of these low population sizes, it places it in the category of an extremely endangered plant in Korea. In some native sites, the canopy of evergreen broad-leaved forest formed, but the frequency and coverage of species were not high. Negative factors that contributed to the low distribution of this species were factors such as lacking in shade tolerance, low fruiting rates, small native areas, and special habitats as well as requiring adequate stream disturbance. Presently, due to changes in climate, it is unclear whether this species will see an increase in its population and habitat area or whether it will remain as an endangered species within Korea. What is clear, however, is that the preservation of the present native habitats and population is extremely important if the population is to be maintained and expanded. It is also meaningful in terms of the stable conservation of biodiversity in Korea. Therefore, based on the results of this study, it is judged that a systematic evaluation for the preservation and conservation of the habitat and vegetation management method of S. prunifolia should be conducted.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Environmental Restoration Technology
• /
• v.27 no.2
• /
• pp.55-65
• /
• 2024

This study aimed to figure out diel activity patterns of water deer and wild boar, whose habitat is disturbed by human activity in a suburban area. Photographic data of water deer and wild boar collected by 18 camera traps from January 2021 to November 2022 was categorized into four diel periods (dawn, day, dusk, and night), and converted into frequencies per 100 CTD (Camera Trap-Days) for seasonal and spatial diel activity pattern analysis. Water deer exhibited intense nocturnality in fall, and wild boar did in fall and winter. During the fall, water deer's night-time capture rate was the highest (61.9%), and day-time photographic rate was the lowest (13.9%) among other seasons. During the fall and winter, wild boar's night-time photographic rate was relatively high (77.6%, 78.0%, respectively), and day-time photographic rate was relatively low (0.7%, 1.8%) in comparison with other seasons. In spatial diel activity analysis, both water deer and wild boar showed a tendency to avoid humans, especially near trails during day-time hours. The day-time photographic rate of water deer in trail-near group was 12.1% and trail-far group was 24.6%. The day-time photographic rate of wild boar was 3.4%, 5.7%, respectively. Because the diel activity patterns of wildlife reflect human disturbance, this study provides useful ecological information for developing appropriate management plans for the coexistence of water deer and wild boar in suburban areas.