• Journal of Wetlands Research
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.51-65
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• 2006

Surface sediments for sedimentary analyses were sampled at 199 stations in the study area in August 2003. The surface sediments consisted of six sedimentary facies. Generally, sandy mud sediments dominated in the southern tidal flat of Ganghwa Island and sand sediments dominated in channel and subtidal zones of the western part of Ganghwa Island. The area of sandy mud sediment extended to eastward tidal flat compared to sedimentary facies in August 1997. In 30 surface sediment samples from the Ganghwa tidal flat and subtidal zone, 61 species were recorded in total assemblages, including 34 species of living population. Ammonia beccarii and Elphidium etigoense in living population and Ammonia beccarii, Elphidium etigoense, Jadammina sp. and Textularia earlandi in total assemblage were widely distributed. Generally, relatively large numbers of species and high values of species diversity occurred in the area of western part of tidal flat. Cluster analysis of total assemblages discriminates four biofacies. Biofacies 1 indicated eastern part of the tidal flat and biofacies 4 indicated western part of the tidal flat. Biofacies 3 were transitional zone between biofacies 1 and 4.

• Journal of Wetlands Research
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.375-384
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• 2012

The sedimentary processes of the Ganghwa tidal flat has been changed over 20 years because of the large-scale construction projects. The sedimentary environment of the Donggum tidal flat, located in the eastern part of Ganghwa tidal flat and in the lower reaches of Yeomha channel, was affected by changes the tidal current regime and estuarine circulation. These resulted an occurrence of rapid deposition in the tidal flat. The silt-clay laminated silt facies in the upper parts of two core sediments suggested that deposition had been relatively high in the tidal flat. The sedimentation rates from the cores using $^{210}Pb$ analysis were 3.25cm/year(st. 3) and 3.47cm/year(st. 5). However the short-term sediment accumulation rates from 2010 to 2012 were mostly less than 1cm/year, indicated that the sediments deposited relatively low rates. As a result, the sediment in the Donggum tidal flat rapidly accumulated during 2000s due to constructions of man-made structures. Recently, the increase of elevation in the tidal flat resulted to show relatively low sedimentation rate with seasonal variations.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.26 no.5
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• pp.497-510
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• 2010

In this study, comparisons of the backscattering coefficients and the coherence values which had been extracted from SAR (Synthetic Aperture Radar) images such as JERS-1, ENVISAT and ALOS satellites with surface roughness, surface geometric and soil moisture content were carried out. As the results of analysis using the backscattering coefficient and coherence values from SAR images, the coherence was shown high in the region containing more of mud fraction due to higher viscosity of fine grain-size. A lot of tidal channels were well developed in the Ganghwa tidal flat, affecting the drainage of seawater and subsequent soil moisture content by exposure time of tidal flat. The backscattering coefficient. consequently, appeared to be lower in sand flat and mix flat with decrease of soil moisture. In contrast, most mud flats were distributed at high elevation so that soil moisture was not much influenced by seawater. The backscattering coefficient in mud flat seemed to have a relationship with the density of tidal channel. In addition, lowering backscattering coefficients in the all Ganghwa tidal flat was observed when surface remnant water increased according to the amount of rainfall. The correlation between backscattering coefficient, coherence and sediment environment factors in the Ganghwa tidal flat was investigated. In the future, more quantitative spatial analysis will be helpful to well understand the sedimentary influence of various sediment environment factors.

• The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.56-68
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• 2005

We measured nitrate and other nutrients in sediment pore waters retrieved from three sites at the southern upper-tidal flats of the Ganghwa Island. Denitrification rate is estimated by applying a simple 1-D model to the nitrate profiles. Results from Jangwha and Dongmak sites are $7.8{\sim}9.4{\times}10^{-7}{\mu}mol{\cdot}cm^{-2}{\cdot}sec^{-1}$, and $1.4{\sim}3.6{\times}10^{-7}{\mu}mol{\cdot}cm^{-2}{\cdot}sec^{-1}$, respectively. Rates are comparable to those reported around the world in an order of magnitude. Denitrification was lower in summer. The rates were about 1.5 times higher at site where the surface sediments consist of relatively coarser particles. This implies that particle size would control the reactant supply to the subsurface sediment. One may claim the denitrification as an evidence of the biogeochemical purification function of tidal flat. However, the purification seems not a general attribute of a tidal flat when whole system is scrutinized by a thermodynamic criterion. Currently the term 'tidal flat' is used when describing the diverse coastal wetlands such as salt marshes, sandy tidal flats and muddy tidal flats, which exhibit quite different ecological functions. Thus it is worthy of mentioning that the classification of coastal wetlands on the basis of sedimentological characteristics and biogeochemical functions should facilitate our understanding.

• Journal of Microbiology
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• v.43 no.2
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• pp.144-151
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• 2005

During the past ten years, Archaea have been recognized as a widespread and significant component of marine picoplankton assemblages. More recently, the presence of novel archaeal phylogenetic lineages has been discovered in coastal marine environments, freshwater lakes, polar seas, and deep-sea hydrothermal vents. Therefore, we conducted an investigation into the archaeal community existing in tidal flat sediment collected from Ganghwa Island, Korea. Phylogenetic analysis of archaeal 16S rDNA amplified directly from tidal flat sediment DNA revealed the presence of two major lineages, belonging to the Crenarchaeota ($53.9\%$) and Euryarchaeota ($46.1\%$) phyla. A total of 102 clones were then sequenced and analyzed by comprehensive phylogenetic analysis. The sequences determined in our samples were found to be closely related to the sequences of clones which had been previously obtained from a variety of marine environments. Archaeal clones exhibited higher similarities ($83.25 - 100\%$) to sequences..from other environments in the public database than did those ($75.22 - 98.46\%$) of previously reported bacterial clones obtained from tidal flat sediment. The results of our study suggest that the archaeal community in tidal flat sediment is remarkably diverse.

• Journal of Wetlands Research
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.37-52
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• 2005

Vertical distribution of bacterial population and activities were compared between the muddy and sandy sediment of the tidal flat located in southern area of Ganghwa Island. The average of bacterial number and activities in mud flat was slightly higher than that in sand flat. Bacterial number was markedly increased at the sandflat during the investigation period, which seemed to be the result of increase of mud content. The number and activities of microorganisms in mudflat was comparable to that of the mangrove sediments. There was no differences in bacterial number with the depth, but the aminopeptidase activity and bacterial productivity were decreased markedly within 3~5cm depth of sediment due to the availability of carbon sources and molecular oxygen in pore water. The number and activities of microorganisms in mudflat did not correlated with the distribution of benthic microalgae; however, those in sand flat were closely correlated with the distribution of benthic microalgae. The distribution of marsh plant in the mudflat area might be the reason of the difference.

• Journal of Wetlands Research
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.117-132
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• 2004

Despite its significance in understanding ecological structure and biogeochemical element cycles, there have been few studies on the microbial mineralization of organic matter and mineralization pathway in the intertidal flat of Korea. We measured anaerobic mineralization of organic matter and sulfate reduction rate, and evaluated the significance of sulfate reduction in total anaerobic carbon respiration at the southern part of Ganghwa Island. Depth-integrated carbon mineralization rate down to 6 cm depth ranged from 41.9 to $89.4mmol\;m^{-2}d^{-1}$, which accounted for approximately 216 tons of organic matter mineralization in entire intertidal flat area of Ganghwa($300km^2$). The results indicated that capacity for the organic matter mineralization in the Ganghwa tidal flat is comparable to highly productive salt marsh environments. Mineralization rates in the sediment amended with acetate were 2~5 times higher than in unamended sediment. The results implied that microbial mineralization was limited by the availability of organic substrates, and the organic matter mineralization capacity seems to be higher than estimated at ambient organic substrate level. Depth-integrated sulfate reduction rates within 6 cm depth of the sediment ranged from 20.7 to $45.1mmol\;SO{_4}^{2-}m^{-2}d^{-1}$, and sulfate reduction was mostly responsible for organic matter remineralization. It should be noticed that the increase of $H_2S$ in the sulfate reduction dominated tidal flat may result in the decrease of biological diversity.

• The Korean Journal of Ecology
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.73-77
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• 2004

Movement of shorebirds for roosting was studied to find their response to insufficient roosting area on Ganghwa Island. It was taken from two kinds of aspects of population fluctuation and direct observation of movement from March to October in 2002. Based on the data from their weekly fluctuation and flight observation, shorebirds on Ganghwa Island moved to roosts located far away. Shorebirds feeding at southern Ganghwa Island moved to Yeongjong Island for roosting during the spring tide period. High tide count showed that the number of shorebirds on Yeongjong Island increased strikingly, while the number of birds on Ganghwa Island decreased. As the tide level increased, the number of shorebirds on Ganghwa Island decreased in the fall migrating season (r$_{s}$= -0.81, p＜0.001), whereas that on Yeongjong Island was not correlated significantly. Direct observation showed that some of the birds on the upper tidal zone of Ganghwa Island moved directly to the northern mudflat of Yeongjong Island during the flowing tide or dropped by flat zone on Seondu-ri. Insufficient coastal wetlands on Ganghwa Island induced them to move away from the island for roosting place and to endure costly flight energy expenditure. The development of wetlands on the southern Yeongjong Island would make them have no place available to roosts. Therefore this study proposes that shorebird roosts on Ganghwa Island should be created to conserve their habitat.t.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.205-211
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• 2004

A 16S rDNA clone library was generated to investigate the bacterial diversity in tidal flat sediment in Ganghwa Island, Republic of Korea. A total of 103 clones were sequenced and analyzed by comprehensive phylogenetic analyses. No clones were identical to any of known 16S rRNA sequences in public databases. Sequenced clones fell into thirteen lineages of the domain Bacteria: the alpha, beta, gamma, delta, and epsilon Proteobacteria, Actinobacteria, CFB group, Chloroflexi, Acidobacteria, Planctomycetes, Verrucomicrobia, and known uncultured candidate divisions (OP11, BRC1, KSB1, and WS1). Two clones were not associated with any known bacterial divisions. The majority of clones belonged to the gamma and delta Proteobacteria (46.7%). Clones of Actinobacteria were distantly related to known taxa. It is evident from 16S rDNA-based community analysis that the bacterial community in tidal flat sediment is remarkably diverse and unique among other marine environments examined so far.

• KCID journal
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.62-72
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• 2003

Tideland reclamation has been known to begin in 13th century in the eastern coast of Ganghwa Island during the Mongolian Invasion in Korea. Traditionally, the tidal reclamation projects have been developed in the coastal with nearly flat inter-tidal zone