• Journal of the Korean Society of Environmental Restoration Technology
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.15-24
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• 2021

This study was carried out to propose the functional assessment and a wise use strategy on the ecologically valuable 'village wetlands' distributed in living area in Geumsan gun, Chungnam province, Korea. The targets of the functional evaluation were 24 wetlands, selected from 123 village wetlands, where villages and agricultural lands or core ecosystems are located within living area near the wetland and wetlands with historical and cultural significance. The functional evaluation was carried out by RAM (Rapid Assessment Model) and the conservation strategies were suggested. As a result of the functional evaluation, 9 wetlands were rated 'high' (2 'absolute conservation' and 7 'conservation' strategies), 14 wetlands were rated 'medium' ('enhancement' strategies), and one wetland was rated 'low' ('restore or enhancement' strategy). In consideration of the results of the functional evaluation, interviews with village residents, and historic meaning, 6 important village wetlands were selected that require additional management strategies, such as conservation, enhancement, and restoration. 2 wetlands were from "absolute conservation" strategy and 4 wetlands derived from "conservation" and "enhancement" strategy wetlands in consideration of the ecological connectivity of wetlands, the use of surrounding land, and the function as a biological habitat. The wise use and conservation strategy was specifically proposed respectively.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Environmental Restoration Technology
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.67-90
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• 2024

The purpose of this study is to present the ecological data for conservation and management of three wetlands by surveying the vascular plants in Ganam reservoir, Ahnshim wetland and Jeomsae swamp. The whole taxa of vascular plants were 376 taxa including 90 families, 252 genera, 341 species, 7 subspecies, 24 varieties, 2 forms, 1 hybrid and 1 cultivar, and the planted species were 66 taxa including Ginkgo biloba and so on. The rare plants were 7 taxa including Euryale ferox(VU), Aristolochia contorta(LC), Koelreuteria paniculata(VU), Sagittaria trifolia(DD), Hydrocharis dubia(LC), Ottelia alismoides(LC) and Sparganium stoloniferum(VU). The Korean endemic plant was 1 taxon of Lespedeza maritima. In total, there were 21 taxa of floristic target species including 1 taxon of garde V, 2 taxa of grade IV, 6 taxa of grade III, 5 taxa of grade II and 7 taxa of grade I . The hydrophytes were 51 taxa including 36 taxa of emergent species, each 6 taxa of floating-leaved and submerged species and 3 taxa of free-floating species. The invasive alien plants were 79 taxa including 75 taxa of naturalized plants and 4 taxa of casual alien plant. The ecosystem disturbing species 6 taxa including Sicyos angulatus, Ambrosia artemisiifolia, Lactuca seriola, Symphyotrichum pilosum, Paspalum distichum and Humulus scandens.

• Proceedings of the National Institute of Ecology of the Republic of Korea
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.55-59
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• 2024

The remarkable economic growth achieved in the modern era has revitalized various industries, including pet trade. More than 2,000 species of non-native species have been introduced to South Korea and approximately 7.7 tonnes of alien turtles are imported annually. Turtles belonging to the family Kinosternidae. They are mostly small and popular pets, although they are designated as Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) species. In the present study, we present the first two species of musk turtles found in the wild in South Korea. On April 5, 2023 and July 8, 2023, an eastern musk turtle (Sternotherus odoratus) and a razorbacked musk turtle (Sternotherus carinatus) were captured in Ilsandong-gu, Goyang-si, Gyeonggi-do and Jung-gu, Daejeon, respectively. The carapace length was 88.6 mm for S. odoratus and 105.68 mm for S. carinatus. They were identified based on their morphological characteristics and mtDNA cytochrome b gene. These turtles were found in waterfront areas with over 1.4 million annual visitors. Both sites were found to have threatened amphibians and reptiles. There is an urgent need to continue monitoring and conducting risk assessments for the protection of endemic species in Korea.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.189-200
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• 2008

As a transition zone between terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, riparian areas of rivers and streams play significant roles in production and decomposition for river and stream systems. Understanding of the physical and ecological characteristics of riparian areas are, therefore, important for the management of river and stream systems. It is especially important to understand the characteristics of riparian areas for the Nakdong River in Korea which has a large watershed area and diverse land uses. This study aimed at collecting field data, according to stream types, which are essential for the management of riparian areas of the middle and lower reaches of the Nakdong River, Korea. Most riparian areas surveyed in this study had roads within 100 meters from river edges. Distances from water edge to banks were less than 1m for most riparian areas neighboring agricultural lands, indicating that those areas might be very vulnerable to pollutant inputs from non-point sources. Water quality data indicated that soil erosion in the riparian areas could be a major source of phosphorus input to the Nakdong River and land use patters might have a significant influence on nitrogen concentration in the river. Heavy metal concentrations in soils of the riparian areas of the river were below soil quality standards, except arsenic and chromium. Vegetation surveys showed that therophytes were the most frequently occurred riparian plants in the Nakdong River. Number of aquatic plant species increased downstream, with the most diverse aquatic plants observed in wetlands and irrigation canals of the West Nakdong River. Occurrence rate of naturalized plants and urbanization index were high in the survey sites adjacent to urban and agricultural areas.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.30 no.1B
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• pp.13-21
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• 2010

In recent, we have a growing interest in the washland construction as a measure of flood control and as a wetland with ecological function in the river. This study performed the flood control analysis and investigated the ecological effect for washland construction plan in Topyoung-cheon basin in Changyeong-gun, Gyeongnam. Several cases were considered for the washland construction on Topyoung-cheon basin, and we analyzed flood stage reduction and flood inundation for each case. From the result of flood control analysis, we found some significant results according to the combination of each washland case. We also found that the washland construction gave the positive results in biodiversity. Therefore, it will be desirable to consider various effects such as flood control, ecological aspects, and so on for the washland construction.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.249-257
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• 2010

The purpose of this paper is to weigh the possibility of endangered Jang-hang wetland at the estuary of Han River to be included on the Ramsar List of Wetlands of International Importance and come up with ways to manage the wetland depending on its biotope patterns. The target area is located between Gimpo bridge and Isanpo I.C. with about $2.7km^2$ area. Through the analysis of RIS(Information Sheet for Ramsar Wetlands), it was known that the wetland is located on the sedimentary topography and formed as a result of sediment at the estuary of the river owing to the concentration of rainfall during summer. The vegetation environment in the area is divided into brackish water and fresh water areas depending on salinity. Rhizosphere soil(RS) of the area was analyzed to be Silt loam while bottom RS to be Sand loam. The plant ecology was composed of 52 families 135 species and 11 varieties and 146 types. Among indigenous species found are Salix koreensis, Phragmites communis and Miscanthus sacchariflorus. The analyzed results of the actual vegetation showed that willow community accounts for 37% of the area and rice field is 13.5%. As for animal ecology, total of 62 species and 25,977 individual wild birds were observed. After comparing and analyzing the RIS we compiled with the Ramsar Site designation standards, it turns out that the Jang-hang wetland meets criteria 1(biographic region), criteria 2,3 and 4(species and ecological communities) and criteria 5 and 6(water birds). Thus, Jang-hang wetland is eligible for the Ramsar site. As a result of establishing and evaluating the biotope types for setting management areas, Jang-hang wetland has a total of 13 different types, and the grade I represents 75.4% of the area while the grade III 0.8% of the land status. We categorized four management zones for the wetland depending on the biotope patterns - preservation, restoration, use and buffer zones and suggested management methods for each zone.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.37 no.4 s.109
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• pp.436-447
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• 2004

Wetland plants have evolved specialized adaptations to survive in the low-oxygen conditions associated with prolonged flooding. The development of internal gas space by means of aerenchyma is crucial for wetland plants to transport $O_2$ from the atmosphere into the roots and rhizome. The formation of tissue with high porosity depends on the species and environmental condition, which can control the depth of root penetration and the duration of root tolerance in the flooded sediments. The oxygen in the internal gas space of plants can be delivered from the atmosphere to the root and rhizome by both passive molecular diffusion and convective throughflow. The release of $O_2$ from the roots supplies oxygen demand for root respiration, microbial respiration, and chemical oxidation processes and stimulates aerobic decomposition of organic matter. Another essential mechanism of wetland plants is downward water movement across the root zone induced by water uptake. Natural and constructed wetlands sediments have low hydraulic conductivity due to the relatively fine particle sizes in the litter layer and, therefore, negligible water movement. Under such condition, the water uptake by wetland plants creates a water potential difference in the rhizosphere which acts as a driving force to draw water and dissolved solutes into the sediments. A large number of anatomical, morphological and physiological studies have been conducted to investigate the specialized adaptations of wetland plants that enable them to tolerate water saturated environment and to support their biochemical activities. Despite this, there is little knowledge regarding how the combined effects of wetland plants influence the biogeochemistry of wetland sediments. A further investigation of how the Presence of plants and their growth cycle affects the biogeochemistry of sediments will be of particular importance to understand the role of wetland in the ecological environment.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Environmental Restoration Technology
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• v.15 no.5
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• pp.129-144
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• 2012

This study was conducted to understand the community characteristics of benthic macroinvertebrates according to Growth Environment at 6 Palustrine Wetlands in a rural area. As growth environment factors, size, water depth, water inlet and water outlet, land-use and water environment was analyzed. Two years' quantitative collection of benthic macroinvertebrate was carried out, and it executed community analysis and ESB index calculation and also carried out twinspan, MDS and correlation analysis. As a result, the collected benthic macroinvertebrate was 1254 individuals with 3 Phylums, 6 Classes, 14 Orders, 35 Families, 52 Genera and 61 Species. Odonata and Coenagreionidae had the highest species and individuals. Dominance Index was 0.252~0.698, Diversity Index was 1.661~2.902, Evenness Index was 0.414~0.724, and Species Richness Index was 1.990~6.224. As a result of community analysis, when correlation analysis was executed, Dominance Index had the opposite tendency with Diversity Index and Evenness Index, which had the same tendency with the previous studies. When ESB Index was calculated, Grade 2 (polluted) had the highest species with 48 species (78.7%). It is determined from the Environmental quality evaluation and saprobity evaluation result according to ESB index that there is a need to revise environmental evaluation system more specifically. As a result of MDS analysis, the subject spots A and D had the highest similarity, and the subject spot E and D had a relatively high similarity. The life environment that is the closest related with species diversity is estimated by the land-use. As for number of Individual, it seems to have the closest relation with inlet, which is to be determined as a characteristics of Palustrine Wetland. Through such investigation, this study is expected to be utilized for various types of habitats including ecological pond and to be utilized for the increase of species diversity in rural areas.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.36 no.2
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• pp.131-140
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• 2013

In Korea, many paddy fields in mountainous area have been abandoned because of their low accessibility and rice price and the abandoned paddy terraces have changed into natural lentic wetlands. To understand the relationship between characteristics of environmental conditions and early development of plant community in abandoned paddy terraces, we investigated at four well-maintained abandoned paddy terraces in 3 different climatic zones in Korea. Soil texture of abandoned paddy terraces was mostly kinds of loam and electric conductivity of soil was also similar among abandoned paddy terraces. On the other hand, contents of nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, sodium, magnesium, and calcium in soil were relatively low and significantly different among abandoned paddy terraces. Water depth was different within sites and inter-sites. Although environmental conditions including climate, soil condition and water depth were different among abandoned paddy terraces, the compositions of plant communities were relatively similar in all abandoned paddy terraces. 55 dominant taxa out of 141 recorded species were commonly recorded over sites and they were mostly perennial obligate wetland plants and facultative wetland plants. 8 taxa out of 55 dominant taxa occurred at all abandoned paddy terraces with over 10% coverage. Several site-specific species occurred at site, which have some area with deep water level. This result indicates that early development of plant community in abandoned paddy terraces of similar water regime is similar in the entire area of Korea even though environmental conditions such as climate, biogeographic history and soil are different.

• The Korean Journal of Ecology
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.179-189
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• 1996

Growth and nitrogen retention of Persicaria thunbergii were investigated in the wetland microcosms which contained the plants growing on soil bed. Nitrogen solution was supplied to the microcosms with the same amount of $NH_4^{+}-N\; and\; NO_3^{-}-N$ at the rates of 0.00, 0.78, 1.57, 3.14g $N{\cdot}m^{-2}{\cdor}wk^{-1}$ from May 1 to August 31, 1995. The solution was detained for 5 days to react with soil and plant and then allowed to leach. The contents of NH_4^{+}-N\;and\; NO_3^{-}-N$ in the leachate, total Kjeldahl nitrogen, plant biomass, and soil characteristics were determined. Nitrogen retained by plant was estimated as the increment of TKN in plant biomass. The addition of 0.78 and 1.57g $N{\cdot}m^{-2}{\cdot}wk^{-1}$ resulted in significant increase of plant biomass. However, plant growth was inhibited when nitrogen was added at the rate of 3.14g $N{\cdot}m^{-2}{\cdot}wk^{-1}$. Overall, the plant biomass was positively correlated with the amount of nitrogen retained by plant and soil system. The amounts of $NO_3^{-}-N$ leached from the microcosms were 5~10 times higher than those of $NH_4^{+}-N$. While total nitrogen added ranged from 143.2 to 576.5g $N/m^2$, total leaching loss of inorganic nitrogen and nitrogen retained by plant was as little as 1.04~22.71g $N/m^2$, and 5.46~12.91g $N/m^2$, respectively. Then, the plant seemed to contribute to KDICical and microbial immobilization of nitrogen in the soil. Finally, it is suggested that a large portion of nitrogen added was lost into the air by denitrification and volatilizaton, and / or leached in organic forms.