• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.247-256
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• 2012

We evaluated the landscape ecological value of selected minefields and wetland patches as a habitat of the forest bird community. The avian fauna of three minefields of 8.5ha, 17.4ha, and 40.6ha were evaluated by comparing that of three control sites of mountain area. Average number of forest bird species, number of individuals, species diversity index, species richness, and species evenness were analyzed according to the size of patch and environmental characteristics such as the presence of wetland and connectivity. Community similarity was evaluated between test and control plots. Avian fauna can be summarized as follows. First, 63 species were recorded, and the sum of maximum counts was 828 individuals. Species diversity index was 3.8, and the species richness was 9.2. Species evenness was 93.3. Second, small, isolated forest patch had a low average number of species and individuals as expected. But, small forest patches with streams had higher bird density than patches without water surface. Third, forest patches with marsh wetland were evaluated as lower habitat quality than forest patches with stream wetland in terms of the number of bird species per unit area, number of individuals per unit area, species diversity index, species richness index, and species evenness. Finally, Community similarity of the small forest patches with streams was similar with large connected forest. As a result, lowland forest patch was shown the good quality for the forest bird community in spite of small extents, and community structure was similar with mountain forest bird community. Thus, riparian forest restoration could improve the biodiversity of the forest bird community.

• Journal of Forest and Environmental Science
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.176-179
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• 2018

To restore the connectivity of fragmented habitats, 415 wildlife crossings have been built between 1998 and 2014 in South Korea. However, their effect on wildlife conservation is still in doubt. As a first step to examine the effectiveness, our study aims to assess compliance with the guideline for wildlife crossing construction and management, developed by the Ministry of Environment Korea that provides fundamental information to understand the status and the problem of wildlife crossings in Korea and thus to provide practical guidance for the improvement. According to our survey, the Korea National Park Service complied with the guideline best (62.5%) while local government followed the guideline least (46.1%). In addition, the compliance rate was the highest for wildlife crossings in national roads (53.6%) followed by highways (53.2%) and local and municipal roads (52.2%). For the overpass wildlife crossings, the compliance rates for installation of an escaping facility in the drainage and prevention of pedestrian and vehicle access were particularly low. In case of underpass wildlife crossings, small ditches for amphibians and reptiles were not sufficient, and the linkage between wildlife fences and underpass were weak. In order to ensure the effectiveness of wildlife crossings, the effort to increase the compliance rate with the guideline is critical, and mandating the guideline could be a practical way to enforce the compliance.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Environmental Restoration Technology
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.135-151
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• 2015

DMZ is considered as an ecologically sensitive landscape and one of the highest biodiversity regions in the Republic of Korea. There have been, albeit the significant value, increased interests in developing this region for a variety of purposes including tourism and commemorative events. As this region has been already facing a range of problems derived from previous development, natural disaster and invasive species, the necessity for active management of ecological health within this region has been increased, which weighs the importance of executing ecological restoration. The objective of this study was to develop evaluation indices as an effective management means of properly evaluating ecological restoration and sustainably maintaining the restored conditions on a long-term scale. Through literature review existing evaluation indices related to restoration were collected, and then the most suitable indices were selected based upon two interviews and one questionnaire survey targeting experts in the relevant field to ecological restoration. They were categorized by two major division and their subclasses (Ecological base - vegetation structure & composition, habitat characteristics, soil environment; landscape ecology - connectivity, landscape patch, boundary & surrounding) and 40 indices. These indices were considered helpful to comprehensively evaluate ecological restoration on degraded environments within ecologically sensitive areas, and sustainably manage target areas by employing a long-term monitoring approach. As this result played a meaningful role in providing the fundamentals of evaluating ecological restoration, it should develop a suitable evaluation system through further research.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Environmental Restoration Technology
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• v.11 no.5
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• pp.12-24
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• 2008

With recent emphasis on the creation of environment-friendly new towns, introduction of ecological facilities for habitation and migration of wild animal's species is requested when developing new towns. In order to introduce such facilities, building an eco-network within the site based on the connectivity of the source area and habitats is essential in new town development. Therefore, this study mainly aimed at selecting species targeted for building an eco-network in Pangyo new town, which is intended to be an environment-friendly city. Therefore, criteria for selecting target species were generated. Then, species observed within the site through field surveys and literature review was evaluated based on the selection criteria and items. By totaling the score, a list of appropriate targeted species was finalized. Among species surveyed and observed in the site, appropriate target species that may be selected for Pangyo new town's eco-network include Falco tinnunculus interstinctus, Accipiter soloensis, Picus canus, Paradoxornis webbiana, Parus palustris, Parus ater, Parus major and Passer montanus Egretta in birds, Asiatic chipmunk, Nyctereutes procyonoides in mammals. For Pangyo new town, it is essential to create living environment and build a network for major wild animal species within the site based on target species. This will play a crucial role in building a reasonable ecological network enabling harmonious co-existence between mankind and nature. In order to build an ecological network successfully, follow-up studies need to be conducted on restoration technology and methods required for creating habitats appropriate to target species.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.144-155
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• 2020

This research developed an approach to identify ecologically important areas at local scales and explained how the results of this approach could contribute to extend the protected areas in the Republic of Korea (ROK). While most developed countries have considered various biotic and abiotic factors, ecological processes, migration routes, habitat connectivity, ecosystem services, and etc. to determine the protected areas, ROK has considered a few factors focusing on biodiversity, landscape, and the habitats of endangered organisms. However, for sustainable management of our nature, we need comprehensive understanding of various ecosystem factors and interactions among them at local scales in designating protected areas. Forthis, we developed a conceptual model based on the ecological engineering approach and then explained how the results of this approach could contribute to extend the protected areas. In particular, we considered future land-use and climate change in determining the priority areas for novel protected areas. Our research suggested an effective methodology 1) to include various ecosystem factors and 2) to consider future environmental changes as well as current environmental conditions in finding the ecologically important areas and prioritizing these areas. However, our approach has limitations on the real-world applications due to the lack of fundamental information and data on our ecosystems. To improve the effectiveness of our approach in the real-world applications, we need various long-term ecological research results, environmental and ecological monitoring data, and both current and future spatial environmental data.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.14-20
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• 2015

We created species richness maps of mammals, birds and plants using "Nnational Ecosystem Survey" data and identified correlations between species richness maps of each taxa. We examine the distribution of species richness of each taxa and calculated conservation priority rank through plotting species-area curves using an additive benefit function in Zonation. The conclusions of this study are as follows. First, plant showed high species richness in Gangwon province and Baekdudaegan, and mammals showed high species richness at eastern slope of Baekdudaegan in Gangwon province unusually and the species richness of mammals distributed equally except Gyeonggi and Chungnam province. However, birds showed high species richness in the west costal because the area is the major route of winter migratory birds. Second, correlation of each taxa's distribution is not significant. Correlation between mammals and birds is positive but correlations between birds and others are negative. Because mammals inhabit in forest but birds mostly live in coastal wetlands and rivers. Therefore, bird's habitats are not shared with other habitats. Third, the probability of mammals occurrence is very low under 25% in species-area curve, others increase proportionally to area. Birds increase dramatically richness at 10% because bird's habitat is concentrated in coastal wetlands and rivers. Plants increased gently species richness due to large forest in Gangwon province. We can calculate the predicted number of species in curves and plan various conservation strategies using the marginal number of species. Finally, high priority ranks for conservation distributed mainly in Gangwon province and Baekdudaegan. When we compared with priority map and terrestrial national parks, the parks were evaluated as high priority ranks. However, the rank of parks away from Baekdudaegan was low. This study has the meaning of selecting conservation priority area using National Ecosystem Survey. In spite of the omission of survey data in national parks and Baekdudaegan, the results were good. Therefore, the priority rank method using species distribution models is useful to selecting protected areas and improving conservation plans. However, it is needed to select protected areas considering various evaluation factors, such as rarity, connectivity, representativeness, focal species and so on because there is a limit to select protected area only using species richness.

• Journal of Wetlands Research
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.16-26
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• 2019

Wetlands that provide diverse ecosystem services, such as habitat provision and hydrological control of flora and fauna, constitute ecosystems through interaction between wetlands existing in a wetlandscape. Therefore, to evaluate the wetland functions such as resilience, it is necessary to analyze the ecological connectivity that is formed between wetlands which also show hydrologically dynamic behaviors. In this study, by defining wetlands as ecological nodes, we generated ecological networks through the connection of wetlands according to the dispersal model of wetland species. The characteristics of these networks were then analyzed using various network metrics. In the case of the dispersal based on a threshold distance, while a high local clustering is observed compared to the exponential dispersal kernel and heavy-tailed dispersal model, it showed a low efficiency in the movement between wetlands. On the other hand, in the case of the stochastic dispersion model, a low local clustering with high efficiency in the movement was observed. Our results confirmed that the ecological network characteristics are completely different depending on which dispersal model is chosen, and one should be careful on selecting the appropriate model for identifying network properties which highly affect the interpretation of network structure and function.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.55 no.3
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• pp.231-243
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• 2022

Anthropogenic disturbances on freshwater ecosystem are known to degrade biodiversity, especially on fish assemblage. In this study, we have conducted fish surveys to identify impact of a bridge construction on fish assemblages. A total of eight study sites were surveyed in the Danjang and the Dong Stream in southern part of South Korea from June to November in 2021. The fish samplings were carried out five times, using cast-nets(10×10 mm mesh size), scoop-nets(4×4 mm, 5×5 mm mesh size), set-nets (10×10 mm mesh size), and fish traps (3×3 mm mesh size), along with the Stream/River Ecosystem Survey and Health Assessment by the Ministry of Environment of Korea and basic water quality measurement. Also, we applied the species diversity index and length-weight relationship regressions on certain species to identify interspecific growth rate differences in accordance with study sites. As a result, a total of 782 individuals, 23 species and 10 families were collected. The dominant species was Zacco Koreanus and relative abundance was 50.89%. When applying the length-weight relationship regressions on certain species, the 'b' value for Z. Koreanus was lower at the downstream points than at the upstream points of the construction site. In addition, when comparing to the results of the past survey, relative density of demersal fish at the upstream and downstream points decreased from 26% to 1.4%, and from 18% to 6.3%, respectively. In conclusion, it is considered that bridge construction negatively affects the habitat of fishes, especially on demersal fishes. Therefore, appropriate conservation efforts such as installation of silt protector and sand sedimentation pond are needed to alleviate the disturbance in habitat such as occurrence of turbidity and destruction of micro-habitats.

• Journal of Korean Society for Geospatial Information Science
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.101-111
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• 2015

Stream restoration projects have become threats to riparian ecosystem in Rep. of korea. Riparian wildlife becomes isolated and the animals are often experience difficulties in crossing riparian corridors. The purposes of this study is to select suitable wildlife passages for wild animals crossing riparian corridors. Maximum entropy model and snow tracking data on embankment in winter seasons were used to develop species distribution models to select suitable wildlife passages for water deer. The analysis suggests the following. Firstly, most significant factors for water deer's habitat in area nearby riparian area are shown to distance to water, age-class, land cover, slope, aspect, digital elevation model, tree density, and distance to road. For the riparian area, significant factors are shown to be land cover, size of riparian area, distance to tributary, and distance to built-up. Secondly, the suitable wildlife passages are recommended to reflect areas of high suitability with Maximum Entropy model in riparian areas and the surrounding areas and moving passages. The selected suitable areas are shown to be areas with low connectivity due to roads and vertical levee although typical habitats for water deer are forest, grassland, and farmland. In addition, the analysis of traces on snow suggests that the water deer make a detour around the artificial structures. In addition, the water deer are shown to make a detour around the fences of roads and embankment around farmland. Lastly, the water deer prefer habitats around riparian areas following tributaries. The method used in this study is expected to provide cost-efficient and functional analysis in selecting suitable areas.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.43 no.1
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• pp.44-54
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• 2010

In this study, a comprehensive exploration and evaluation of washland candidate locations by means of field monitoring as well as spatial analysis in six major river system (Han, Nakdong, Nam, Geum, Youngsan, and Seomjin Rivers). Washland(in other words, river detention basin) is an artificial wetland system which is connected to streams or rivers likely to riverine wetlands. Major purpose of washland creation is to control floodings, water supply and purification, providence of eco-cultural space to human and natural populations. Characteristics and functions of riverine wetlands can be expected as well, thus it is believed to be an efficient multi-purpose water body that is artificially created, in terms of hydrology and ecology. Geographical information and field monitoring results for the washland candidate locations were evaluated in 2009, with respect to optimal location exploration, ecosystem connectivity and educational-cultural circumstances. A total of $269\;km^2$ washland candidate locations were found from spatial analysis (main channel of Rivers South Han, 71.5; Nakdong 54.1; Nam, 2.3; Geum, 79.0; Youngsan 46.4; Seomjin 15.7), and they tended to be distributed in mid- to lower part of the rivers to which tributaries are confluent. Field monitoring at 106 sites revealed that some sites located in the Rivers Nam and Geum is appropriate for restoration or artificial creation as riverine wetlands. Several sites in the Nakdong and Seomjin Rivers were close to riverine wetlands (e.g., Upo), habitats of endangered species (e.g., otters), or adjacent to educational facility (e.g., museums) or cultural heritages (e.g., temples). Those sites can be utilized in hydrological, ecological, educational, and cultural ways when evidence of detailed hydrological evaluation is provided. In conclusion, determination of washland locations in the major river basins has to consider habitat expansion as well as hydrological function (i.e. flood control) basically, and further utility (e.g. educational function) will increase the values of washland establishment.