• Journal of Wetlands Research
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.363-369
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• 2018

One of the recent environmental problems is climate change due to the increase of atmospheric $CO_2$, which causes ecological changes and various environmental problems. Therefore, various studies are being carried out to reduce $CO_2$ in the world in order to solve various environmental problems caused by increase of $CO_2$. The $CO_2$ reduction using microalgae is an environmentally friendly method by using photosynthesis reaction of microalgae. However, most studies using single species. There is no study on the $CO_2$ fixing efficiency of microalgae in natural rivers. Therefore, this study was to identify the microalgae in the Sum river and to analyze the growth characteristics of microalgae in the river to obtain optimal culture conditions. And the changes of biomass and chlorophyll-a of microalgae were analyzed according to $CO_2$ concentration and injection rate. The purpose of this study was to investigate the fixing efficiency of carbon dioxide in microalgae in natural rivers. Six kinds of dominant species were observed as a result of the identification of microalgae in Sum river(Ankistrodesmus falcatus, Scenedesmus intermedius, Selenodictyum sp., Xanthidium apiculatum var. laeve, Cosmarium pseudoquinarium, Dictyosphaerium pulchellum). All of these species were green algae. Biomass and chlorophyll-a increased with the increase of $CO_2$ concentration and biomass and chlorophyll-a increased faster flow rate at the same $CO_2$ concentration. Also, the quantity of $CO_2$ fixation on the microalgae tended to be higher when the flow rate of injected gas was faster. This study can be referred as being significant in the micro-algae in river. In addition, the optimal conditions for $CO_2$ fixation of microalgae in rivers and the quantification of the quantity of $CO_2$ fixation from microalgae in rivers can be used as basic data for future policy of $CO_2$ reduction.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.55 no.1
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• pp.35-48
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• 2022

Fish assemblage of total 325 of Korean peninsula estuaries were surveyed to analyze the characteristics of community structure and diversity by sea areas for three years from 2016 to 2018. The scale (stream width) of Korean estuaries were various (14~3,356 m), and 68.9% of all estuaries showed salinity of less than 2 psu. Total 149 species classified into 52 families of fish were identified, and the dominant and sub-dominant species were Tribolodon hakonensis (relative abundance, RA, 12.5%) and Mugil cephalus (RA, 9.5%), respectively. The estuary of the Korean Peninsula had different physical and chemical habitat environments depending on the sea area, and accordingly, fish community structure also showed statistically significant differences (PERMANOVA, Pseudo-F=26.69, P=0.001). In addition, the NMDS (nonmetric multidimensional scaling) results showed the patterns that indicating fish community difference by sea areas, even though low community similarity within sea area (SIMPER, 21.79~26.39%). The estuaries of east sea areas were distinguished from the others in the aspects of which, the higher importance of migratory fishes and endangered species, and that of brackish species were characterized at south sea estuaries. However, the estuaries of west sea showed higher importance of species that have a relation with freshwater (primary freshwater species, exotic species), which is the result that associating with the lower salinity of west sea estuaries because of the high ratio of closed estuaries(78.2%). The SIMPER analysis, scoring the contribution rates of species to community similarity, also showed results corresponding to the tendency of different fish community structures according to each sea area. So far, In Korea, most studies on fish communities in estuaries have been conducted in a single estuary unit, which made it difficult to understand the characteristics of estuaries at the national level, which are prerequisite for policy establishment. In present study, we are providing fish community structure characteristics of Korean estuaries in a national scale, including diversity index, habitat salinity ranges of major species, distribution of migratory species. We are expecting that our results could be utilized as baseline information for establishing management policies or further study of Korean estuaries.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.39 no.1
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• pp.119-135
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• 2021

Korea has stepped up efforts to investigate and catalog its flora and fauna to conserve the biodiversity of the Korean Peninsula and secure biological resources since the ratification of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in 1992 and the Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits (ABS) in 2010. Thus, after its establishment in 2007, the National Institute of Biological Resources (NIBR) of the Ministry of Environment of Korea initiated a project called the Korean Indigenous Species Investigation Project to investigate indigenous species on the Korean Peninsula. For 15 years since its beginning in 2006, this project has been carried out in five phases, Phase 1 from 2006-2008, Phase 2 from 2009-2011, Phase 3 from 2012-2014, Phase 4 from 2015-2017, and Phase 5 from 2018-2020. Before this project, in 2006, the number of indigenous species surveyed was 29,916. The figure was cumulatively aggregated at the end of each phase as 33,253 species for Phase 1 (2008), 38,011 species for Phase 2 (2011), 42,756 species for Phase 3 (2014), 49,027 species for Phase 4 (2017), and 54,428 species for Phase 5(2020). The number of indigenous species surveyed grew rapidly, showing an approximately 1.8-fold increase as the project progressed. These statistics showed an annual average of 2,320 newly recorded species during the project period. Among the recorded species, a total of 5,242 new species were reported in scientific publications, a great scientific achievement. During this project period, newly recorded species on the Korean Peninsula were identified using the recent taxonomic classifications as follows: 4,440 insect species (including 988 new species), 4,333 invertebrate species except for insects (including 1,492 new species), 98 vertebrate species (fish) (including nine new species), 309 plant species (including 176 vascular plant species, 133 bryophyte species, and 39 new species), 1,916 algae species (including 178 new species), 1,716 fungi and lichen species(including 309 new species), and 4,812 prokaryotic species (including 2,226 new species). The number of collected biological specimens in each phase was aggregated as follows: 247,226 for Phase 1 (2008), 207,827 for Phase 2 (2011), 287,133 for Phase 3 (2014), 244,920 for Phase 4(2017), and 144,333 for Phase 5(2020). A total of 1,131,439 specimens were obtained with an annual average of 75,429. More specifically, 281,054 insect specimens, 194,667 invertebrate specimens (except for insects), 40,100 fish specimens, 378,251 plant specimens, 140,490 algae specimens, 61,695 fungi specimens, and 35,182 prokaryotic specimens were collected. The cumulative number of researchers, which were nearly all professional taxonomists and graduate students majoring in taxonomy across the country, involved in this project was around 5,000, with an annual average of 395. The number of researchers/assistant researchers or mainly graduate students participating in Phase 1 was 597/268; 522/191 in Phase 2; 939/292 in Phase 3; 575/852 in Phase 4; and 601/1,097 in Phase 5. During this project period, 3,488 papers were published in major scientific journals. Of these, 2,320 papers were published in domestic journals and 1,168 papers were published in Science Citation Index(SCI) journals. During the project period, a total of 83.3 billion won (annual average of 5.5 billion won) or approximately US $75 million (annual average of US $5 million) was invested in investigating indigenous species and collecting specimens. This project was a large-scale research study led by the Korean government. It is considered to be a successful example of Korea's compressed development as it attracted almost all of the taxonomists in Korea and made remarkable achievements with a massive budget in a short time. The results from this project led to the National List of Species of Korea, where all species were organized by taxonomic classification. Information regarding the National List of Species of Korea is available to experts, students, and the general public (https://species.nibr.go.kr/index.do). The information, including descriptions, DNA sequences, habitats, distributions, ecological aspects, images, and multimedia, has been digitized, making contributions to scientific advancement in research fields such as phylogenetics and evolution. The species information also serves as a basis for projects aimed at species distribution and biological monitoring such as climate-sensitive biological indicator species. Moreover, the species information helps bio-industries search for useful biological resources. The most meaningful achievement of this project can be in providing support for nurturing young taxonomists like graduate students. This project has continued for the past 15 years and is still ongoing. Efforts to address issues, including species misidentification and invalid synonyms, still have to be made to enhance taxonomic research. Research needs to be conducted to investigate another 50,000 species out of the estimated 100,000 indigenous species on the Korean Peninsula.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.412-425
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• 2012

This study investigated the actual vegetation and plant community structure of Geumsun valley and Weonjeok valley of Naejangsan(Mt.) National Park to provide the data for park management. As a result of analysis of actual vegetation, Quercus variabilis community(47.3%) and Quercus serrata community(17.0%) are widely distributed but Carpinus tschonoskii community(7.5%) and Zelkova serrata community(6.9%) are distributed in valley forests. Plant communities were divided into 6 communities of Fraxinus mandshurica, Carpinus tschonoskii, Carpinus tschonoskii-Platycarya strobilacea-Zelkova serrata, Zelkova serrata, deciduous broad-leaved mixture(Zelkova serrata-Lindera erythrocarpa-Acer palmatum), and Lindera erythrocarpa-Cornus walteri according to the analysis of TWINSPAN of classification using 20 plots($400m^2$). Geumseon valley is composed of boulder stone area of average slope $20^{\circ}$, and there were distributed Fraxinus mandshurica community of 86 years old, Carpinus tschonoskii community in age from 56 to 79, and Carpinus tschonoskii-Platycarya strobilacea-Zelkova serrata community in age from 48 to 71. Weonjeok valley is composed of boulder stone area of average slope $11^{\circ}$, and there were distributed Zelkova serrata community in age from 52 to 71, deciduous broad-leaved mixture community in age from 49 to 70, and Lindera erythrocarpa-Cornus walteri community in age from 43 to 51. Ecological succession of each community was predicted to maintain same state. The Shannon's species diversity showed from 0.8220(Fraxinus mandshurica community) to 1.3850(Carpinus tschonoskii community) per unit area of $400m^2$.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.58-70
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• 2016

An investigation was carried out to study the diversity of aquatic insects, functional feeding groups (FFGs), habitat oriented groups (HOGs), and species-specific distribution in the Taean area in Korea from June to August, 2015. As a result, a total of 72 species belonging to 30 families and six orders were identified in all the investigated regions. Odonata (22 spp.: 30.56%) was the largest group in species richness followed by Coleoptera (21 spp.: 29.16%), Hemiptera (17 spp.: 23.61%) and Diptera (8 spp.: 11.11%) while for Ephemeroptera and Trichoptera, only two species (2.78%) were found. In addition, Plecoptera and Megaloptera inhabiting clean and flowing waters were not found. In the FFGs, predators (48 spp.: 66.67%) were relatively larger as represented by Odonata, Coleoptera, and Hemiptera, whereas shredders and scrapers were lower in proportion. The dominant groups of HOGs were swimmers (24 spp.: 33.33%), climbers (18 spp.: 25.0%), and sprawlers (12 spp.: 16.67%), which were characterized as aquatic insects community of island. Four species: Cybister lewisianus Sharp, Helophorus auriculatus Sharp, Agrypnia pagetana Curtis, Diplonychus esakii Miyamoto & Lee that are designated as Endangered, Near Threatened, and Vulnerable (Korean Red List) have been found to inhabitthe Taean area. Also, two species belonging to the exportable species group (Ceriagrion auranticum Fraser, Paracercion melanotum (Selys)) and one species belonging to the climate-sensitive biological indicator group (Ischnura elegans (Van der Linden)) were identified. In this study, four significant species including the Endangered are presented on the Korean distribution map based on the information in the national ecosystem survey accumulated for 7 years (2006-2012) by the Ministry of Environment.

• Journal of Wetlands Research
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.53-61
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• 2015

Habitat creation for endangered species Menyanthes trifoliata L. using planting module represents a habitat type such as the rhizome grows horizontally to open water at the margin of the lake. The objectives of this mesocosm experiment are habitat creation with easy construction and low management effort, and to investigate the potential of providing a habitat for aquatic macroinvertebrates. Planting modules had three different substrates of bed soil, perlite and K-SOIL (artificial lightweight soil using bottom ash). These modules were established in two different size of the tub($1170{\times}2250{\times}300mm^3$, $900{\times}1360{\times}190mm^3$). According to the monitoring results, number of leaves and coverage of M. trifoliata showed significant difference with substrate and tub size. The number of leaves showed similar growth responses in bed soil (mean 22.979) and K-SOIL (mean 28.042) substrates but growth was poor in perlite substrate (mean 1.667). The number of leaves in the large tub was more than small tub (p=0.015). Similar responses were obtained with the coverage, the length of rhizome and the number of rhizome in M. trifoliata. A total of 21 taxa of aquatic macroinvertebrates including 1,145 individuals was found in the mesocosm. The Shannon diversity index and colonization index in the mesocosm were similar to the previous studies. These results suggest that the experimental mesocosm could provide sufficient habitats for aquatic macroinvertebrates. If planting modules use bed soil or K-SOIL by planting substrate, establish that taking into account open water surfaces for M. trifoliata growth and manage about 30cm of water depth control, then habitat creation for M. trifoilata will be successful.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.34-44
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• 2015

Fish fauna, difference of stable isotope ratio between freshwater and seawater, and trophic guilds of freshwater fishes were investigated in the lower Geum River. The study was conducted in 2011, and total study area was about 30 km of 20 km upstream and 10 km downstream from the Geum River estuary barrage. Only freshwater fishes were used for analyzing trophic guilds, and discriminant function analysis (DFA) was utilized to reclassify trophic guilds based on stable isotope ratio. Fish fauna in freshwater and seawater areas were entirely different each other, but small number of migratory species such as Coilia nasus and Chelon haematocheilus occurred both areas. Other species were not collected in the different areas because they did not have physiological ability to adapt different salinity concentrations. Stable isotope ration of two areas were different considerably due to food sources. Estuary and seawater fishes uptake food sources originated from marine, and freshwater fishes were from freshwater and terrestrial. Some migratory species showed reverse stable isotope ratio. Even though they collected in freshwater, they showed stable isotope ratio of seawater. This is because ecological characteristics of each species. Trophic guilds of freshwater fishes were reclassified by DFA, and showed slight difference with literatures. However, because this result is related with ontogenetic shift of species, more studies are needed to explain exact and correct trophic guilds. Stable isotope ratio can be changed among regions, seasons and ontogenetic stage, thus we always consider these aspects when analyzing results to get a right answer.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.63-71
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• 2020

This study characterized the spatial and seasonal patterns of light pollution in the Deogyusan National Park and examined the potential effects of light pollution on ecosystems in the park using light intensities derived from VIIRS (Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite) DNB (Day and Night Band) nightlight images collected in January and August 2018. Results showed that the Muju Deogyusan resort had the greatest light intensity than other sources of light pollution in the park, and light intensity of the resort was much higher in January than in August, suggesting that artificial lights in ski slopes and facilities were the major source of light pollution in the park. An analysis of an urban-natural light pollution gradient along a neighboring urban area through the inside of the park indicated that light radiated from a light pollution source permeated for up to 1km into the adjacent area and contaminated the edge area of the park. Of the legally protected species whose distributions were reported in literature, four mammals (Martes flavigula, Mustela nivalis, Prionailurus bengalensis, Pteromys volans aluco), two birds (Falco subbuteo, Falco tinnunculus), and nine amphibians and reptiles (Onychodactylus koreanus, Hynobius leechii, Karsenia koreana, Rana dybowskii, Rana huanrenensis, Elaphe dione, Rhabdophis tigrinus, Gloydius ussuriensis, Gloydius saxatilis) inhabited light-polluted areas. Of those species inhabiting light-polluted areas, nocturnal species, such as Prionailurus bengalensis and Pteromys volans aluco, in particular, were vulnerable to light pollution. These results implied that protecting ecosystems from light pollution in national parks requires managing nighttime light in the parks and surrounding areas and making a plan to manage nighttime light pollution by taking into account ecological characteristics of wild animals in the parks.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.3 no.3
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• pp.273-284
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• 1994

The primary objective of this study was to examine the toxic effects of PCP on activated sludge and to analyze its metabolic responses while treating wastewater containing pentachlorophenol (PCP) in a sequencing batch reactor (SBR) system operating under different control strategies. This study was conducted in two phases 1 and 2 (8-hr and 12-hr cycles). Each phase was operated with two control strategies I and II. Strategy I (reactor 1) involved rapid addition (5 minutes to complete) of substrate to the reactor with continuous mixing but no aeration for 2 hours. Strategy ll (reactor 2) involved adding the feed continuously during the first 2 hours of the cycle when the system was mixed but not aerated. During both phases each reactor was operated at a sludge age of 15 days. The synthetic wastewater was used as a feed. The COD of the feed solution was about 380 mg/l. After the reference response for both reactors was established, the steady state response of each system was established for PCP feed concentrations of 0.1 mg/l, 1.0 mg/l, and 5.0 mg/l in SBR systems operating on both 8-hr and 12-hr cycles. Soluble COD removal was not inhibited at any feed PCP concentrations used. At 5.0 mg/l fined PCP concentration and in SBR systems operating on phase 2, the concentrations of MLVSS were decreased; selective pressure on the mixed biomass might be increased, narrowing the range of possible ecological responses; the settleability of activated sludge was poor; the SOURS were increased, showing that the systems were shocked. Nitrification was made to some extent at all concentrations of feed PCP in SBR systems operating on phase 2 whereas in SBR systems operating on phase 1 little nitrification was observed. Then, nitrification will be delayed as much as soluble COD removal is retarded due to PCP inhibition effects. Enhanced biological phosphorus removal occurring in the system operating with control strategy I during phase 1 of this work and in the presence of low concentrations of PCP was unreliable and might cease at anytime, whereas enhanced biological phosphorus removal occurring in the system operating with either control strategy I or II during phase 2 of this work and in the Presence of feed PCP concentrations up to 1.0 mg/l was reliable. When, however, such processes were exposed to 5.0 mg/l PCP dose, enhanced phosphorus removal ceased and never returned.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.102 no.4
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• pp.578-586
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• 2013

This study was performed in Pinus rigida and Larix kaempferi plantations which occupy approximately 60% of artificial forest area in Korea. The objective of this study was to know the differences in soil physical and chemical properties between both plantations. Soil physical and chemical properties from published literature and analyzed soil data in national forest in 2010 and 2011 were analyzed by plantation regions and stand age of 5 years unit. Jeollanamdo in Pinus rigida plantations and Gyeongsangbuk-do in Larix kaempferi plantations showed higher soil chemical properties than those of other regions. Soil texture in both plantations was almost loam and sandy loam. Mean soil pH in Pinus rigida and Larix kaempferi plantations were 4.86 and 4.87, respectively and there was no relationship between soil pH and stand age. The mean concentrations of total nitrogen (%) and available phosphorus (mg $kg^{-1}$) were 0.21 and 11.00 for Pinus rigida plantation and 0.28 and 13.32 for Larix kaempferi plantation. In Larix kaempferi plantation, total nitrogen, available phosphorus and organic matter concentrations and C.E.C. were higher than those in Pinus rigida plantation and showed positive relationship with stand age. This positive relationship was also revealed between the exchangeable cations and soil pH. The results of this study provide an informative data in selecting tree species for planting and contribute to the establishing forest management plan for the maintenance of sustainable forests resources.