• Journal of the Korean Society of Environmental Restoration Technology
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• v.22 no.6
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• pp.97-114
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• 2019

This study aims to analyze the effect of urban ecosystem restoration projects by evaluating the short-term restoration performance of the project sites, from both qualitative and quantitative evaluations. In this study, for the qualitative evaluation, we derived the evaluation frame from previous studies and literature. For the quantitative evaluation, the changes in ecological connectivity after the restoration project were described using landscape permeability and network analysis. In addition, changes in habitat quality after the restoration project were evaluated by using InVEST Habitat Quality Model. These evaluations were applied to the three natural madang (ecological restoration) projects and two ecosystem conservation cooperation projects. As a result, three categories, 10 indicators, and 13 sub-indicators were derived from literature as the evaluation frame for this study. In the case of quantitative evaluation of restoration performance, habitat quality increased by 45% and ecological connectivity by 37% in natural-madang, and habitat quality by about 12% and ecological connectivity by about 19% in ecosystem conservation cooperation projects. This implies that the ecological restoration project can increase the ecological connectivity and the habitat quality of degraded sites even in a short period of time by improving the land-cover and land use. The results by applying the evaluation frame indicated that ecological and environmental factors and the ecological functions were improved by the restoration works, even though the magnitude of performances were diverse depending on the specific evaluation items, project type, and site characteristics. This study clarified that the success of ecological restoration project should be assessed by both of the short-term and long-term goals, which can be achieved by the maintenance and sustainable management, respectively.

• Ecology and Resilient Infrastructure
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.137-146
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• 2015

Lateral connectivity between a main channel and a former channel plays an integral role in maintaining ecological functions of stream-floodplain ecosystems. This study virtually restored the connectivity of the former channel, which is currently isolated by channelization, in the Mangyeong River, Korea. Fish habitat improvement after the connectivity restoration was evaluated using River2D, two-dimensional depth-averaged hydraulic modeling, depending on normal and flood flow conditions. Target fish species were crucian carp (Carassius auratus), which are known as lentic species, and pale chub (Zacco platypus), known as lotic species. The weighted usable area (WUA) of the two species was increased after the connectivity restoration: the two-way connection between the main and formal channels was more effective than the one-way connection. The result of the physical habitat simulation at a flood flow condition demonstrated an increased rate of the WUA than during a normal flow condition. In particular, the WUA of pale chub increased about four times on the two-way connectivity restoration. This result suggests that habitat availability of both lentic and lotic fish species will increase after a connectivity restoration, and a two-way connectivity restoration may be more effective. In addition, the restored formal channel would function as a shelter for fish during the flood season.

• International Journal of Advanced Culture Technology
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.356-362
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• 2023

Identifying the distribution of species and specific factors related to it is very important because it is habitat conservation that is greatly linked not only to ecological research but also to human health. After all, protecting each one's habitat will protect wildlife and further maintain a healthy ecosystem. Therefore, in this study, data were collected, compared, and analyzed through existing studies and field-oriented surveys. The results of the survey confirmed high species diversity in agricultural areas and forest areas that can reduce moisture supply and moisture loss, and the non-segmental environment, that is, ecological connectivity, was largely influenced by amphibian species diversity. It was confirmed that the non-fragmented environment, that is, ecological connectivity, was greatly affected by amphibian species diversity. In addition, the three factors that affect amphibian survival are: It was identified as the effect of not establishing a buffer space, the effect on the ecological transformation around the habitat during the summer rainy season, and the effect on the disconnected ecological environment.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.133-141
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• 2008

The loss, alteration, and fragmentation of habitat have led to a reduction of biodiversity. The growing awareness of the negative effects of habitat fragmentation on natural systems has resulted in conservation strategy that is concerned with not only population and habitat level but also ecosystem and landscape level. Especially, ecological network to link core areas or major habitat patches is one of the most important issues. Recently, landscape connectivity is increasingly used in decision making for fragmented landscape management in order to conserve the biodiversity in the regional scale. The objective of this study was to find potential forest as a ecological corridor in Go-yang city, Gyung-gi province using cost-distance modelling method that can measure connectivity based on animal movement. 'Least cost-distance' modelling based on functional connectivity can be useful to establish ecological network and biodiversity conservation plan. This method calculates the distance modified with the cost to move between habitat patches based on detailed geographical information on the landscape as well as behavioural aspects of the animal movement. The least cost-distance models are based on two biologically assumptions: (1) dispersers have complete knowledge of their surroundings, and (2) they do select the least cost route from this information. As a result of this study, we can find wildlife moving route for biodiversity conservation. The result is very useful for long-term aspect of biodiversity conservation plan in regional scale, because this is reflection of geographical information and behavioural aspects of the animal movement.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural Science
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.325-330
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• 2011

In order to revive the ecological function of degraded rivers, a total restoration plan for riverbeds and riparians needs to be developed. Previous evaluations for rivers were mainly focused on the river's physical structures. Therefore, this research has developed indicators to evaluate a riparian restoration considering biodiversity. Through literature and previous cases review, 4 fields and 13 indicators are selected for the evaluation. Four fields are biodiversity, habitat diversity, connectivity and habitat functionality. In the biodiversity field, 4 indicators of the exuberant extent of herbaceous vegetation and their diversity, the exuberant extent of shrub and woody plants and their diversity, the number of plant communities and naturalized plants are included. Habitat diversity are comprised of 4 indicators of the longitudinal continuity of vegetation, the mixture of plant communities, the extent of plant type color fruit abundance and the distribution of vegetation. Connectivity includes 3 indicators of target distribution, the shore slope of low water channels and the extent of artificial embankment materials. Habitat functionality has 2 indicators of the status of food supply plants and the habitat functionality. The value weighting for the fields and indicators has been calculated based on the AHP(Analytic Hierarchy Process) method. 50 experts were surveyed with quantifiable questionnaire, among them 43 experts have more than 10 yesrs experiences in the nature restoration field. The selected and weighted indicators have been tested to the 12 sections in Gap stream located in Daejeon. In conclusion, the indicators are feasible and the selected indicators could be used to establish the direction and objectives of riparian restoration.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.219-230
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• 2013

Species distribution modeling is one of the most effective habitat analysis methods for wildlife conservation. This study was for evaluating the suitability of species distribution to distance between forest patches in Seoul city using tits. We analyzed the distribution of the four species of tits: varied tit (Parus varius), marsh tit (P. palustris), great tit (P. major) and coal tit (P. ater), using the landscape indexes and connectivity indexes, and compared the resulting suitability indexes from 100m to 1,000m. As factors affecting to the distribution of tits, we calculated landscape indices by separating them into intra-patch indices (i.e. logged patch area (PA), area-weighted mean patch shape index (PSI), tree rate (TR)) and inter-patch indices (i.e. patch degree (PD), patch betweenness (PB), difference probability of connectivity (DPC)), to analyze the internal properties of the patches and their connectivity by tits occurrence data using logistic regression modeling. The models were evaluated by AICc (Akaike Information Criteria with a correction for finite sample sizes) and AUC (Area Under Curve of ROC). The results of AICc and AUC showed DPC, PA, PSI, and TR were important factors of the habitat models for great tit and marsh tit at the level of distance 500~800m. In contrast, habitat models for coal tit and varied tit, which are known as forest interior species, reflected PA, PSI, and TR as intra-patch indices rather than connectivity. These mean that coal tit and varied tit are more likely to find a large circular forest patch than a small and long-shaped forest patch, which are higher rate of forest. Therefore, different strategies are required in order to enhance the habitats of the forest birds, tits, in a region that has fragmented forest patches such as Seoul city. It is important to manage forest interior areas for coal tit and varied tit, which are known as forest interior species and to manage not only forest interior areas but also connectivity of the forest patches in the threshold distance for great tit and marsh tit as adapted species to the urban ecosystem for sustainable ecosystem management.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.391-407
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• 2012

The loss of connectivity and fragmentation of forest landscapes are seriously hindering dispersal of many forest-dwelling species, which may be critical for their viability and conservation by decreasing habitat area and increasing distance among habitats. For understanding their environmental impacts, numerous spatial models exist to measure landscape connectivity. However, general relationships between functional connectivity and landscape structure are lacking, there is a need to develop landscape metrics that more accurately measure landscape connectivity in whole landscape and individual patches. We reviewed functional and structural definition of landscape connectivity, explained their mathematical connotations, and applied representative 13 indices in 3 districts of Seoul having fragmented forest patches with tits, the threshold distance was applied 500m by considering the dispersal of tits. Results of correlation and principal component analysis showed that connectivity indices could be divided by measurement methods whether they contain the area attribute with distance or not. Betweenness centrality(BC), a representative index measuring distance and distribution among patches, appreciated highly stepping stone forest patches, and difference of probability of connectivity(dPC), an index measuring including area information, estimated integrated connectivity of patches. Therefore, for evaluating landscape connectivity, it is need to consider not only general information of a region and species' characteristics but also various measuring methods of landscape connectivity.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.263-278
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• 2015

This study is intended to evaluate the value of functional aspect from the viewpoint of habitat. The indicators that are used in biotope evaluations are various, but most of them use the criteria to evaluate the naturality. This evaluation method cannot appropriately reflect the functional characteristics coming from relation to the surrounding biotope. In this study, the connectivity, cohesion and diversity between individual biotope are quantitatively measured by a landscape index. It is hard to draw the functional value of individual biotopes because the landscape index related to connectivity, cohesion and diversity comes from a landscape having a number of biotopes. The concept of contribution was used to overcome this limitation. The concept of contribution is to quantify how much each individual biotope contributes to the connectivity, cohesion, and diversity in a certain range of landscape by deriving the amount of change in the landscape index according to the presence or absence of each individual biotope. In order to understand the characteristics of evaluation results in functional aspect, this research has done a comparative analysis of the previous research findings in the same target area. According to the result of the research, individual biotopes such as artificial forests, fragmented natural forests, and small planting sites were highly rated.

• Journal of Korea Water Resources Association
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• v.54 no.3
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• pp.191-201
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• 2021

Rivers have been damaged due to rapid urbanization, and river management has been carried out focusing on flow and flood control functions. Recently, interest in river restoration, emphasizing the environmental aspects of rivers, is increasing, but the beginning of river restoration requires an appropriate evaluation of the environmental flow required for the ecosystem. This study analyzed the effects on the habitat of the river ecosystem by estimating the changes in flow regime and environmental flow following the construction of the Buhang dam in Gamcheon, the first tributary of the Nakdong River. To evaluate the environmental flow, the dominant species of Gamcheon, Zacco Platypus, and the protected species Squalidus gracilis majime, and riparian vegetation were selected, and the environmental flow was calculated using the HEC-EFM (Ecosystem Function Model). The evaluated environmental flow was linked with hydraulic analysis and GIS platform, and habitat area change and habitat connectivity analysis before and after dam construction were performed by spatial habitat analysis in the river. Based on the results of this study, it can be used as a river restoration project and a dam operation plan considering the river environment through the calculation of environmental flow and habitat connectivity analysis to improve the habitat of the river ecosystem.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.229-236
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• 2010

We conducted field surveys of amphibians and reptiles over a two-year period in 16 lagoons along the eastern coastline of South Korea, and determined the habitat characteristics correlated with the number of amphibian and reptilian species and individuals. We documented 11 amphibian species and 8 reptilian species. The dominant amphibian species was the black-spotted pond frog (Rana nigromaculata), and the dominant reptilian species was the red-eared turtle (Trachemys scripta elegans), an invasive species. Among the 14 habitat characteristics, connectivity to mountainous area significantly affected the number of amphibian and reptilian individuals. Other factors, including emerged plant cover, salinity, pH, the number of birds for amphibians and connectivity to agricultural land, lagoon perimeter length for reptiles also influenced the number of species or individuals of them. Our results demonstrate that these lagoons are home to more amphibians and reptiles than has been previously known. To effectively conserve herpetofauna in the lagoon ecosystem, lagoons as well as surrounding wetlands, grasslands, and mountainous areas should be protected.