• Korean Journal of Agricultural and Forest Meteorology
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.233-245
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• 2014

Nighttime correction of $CO_2$ flux is one of the most important and challenging tasks in eddy covariance measurements over a complex mountainous terrain. In this study, we have scrutinized the quality and the credibility of the $CO_2$ flux datasets which were produced by employing three different methods of nighttime correction, i.e., (1) friction velocity ($u^*$) correction, (2) light response curve (LRC) correction, and (3) advection-based van Gorsel (VG) correction. The whole year datasets used in our analysis were collected at the two KoFlux tower sites (i.e., GDK deciduous forest site at the upper hill and GCK coniferous forest site at the lower hill) located in the valley of Gwangneung National Arboretum in central Korea. The resultant magnitudes and patterns of ecosystem respiration ($R_E$), gross primary productivity (GPP), and net ecosystem exchange (NEE) of $CO_2$ showed marked differences among the datasets produced with three different correction methods, which were also site-specific. The examination from micrometeorological and ecological perspectives suggests that the major cause of some inconsistency seems to be associated with the advection of $CO_2$ along the sloping terrain and the inappropriate selection of the correction data that might have been already affected by advective flows. The comparison with the results from other studies indicated that the overall characteristics of the corrected $CO_2$ fluxes at GDK and GCK (except those with LRC correction) were well within the ranges reported in the literature for various ecosystems in East Asia in similar latitudes. However, our study also implies that there will be always a room for further improvement in the present datasets. Therefore, caution must be exercised for the data users in order to properly use the updated version of datasets through transparent, open and participatory communication with data producers.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Landscape Architecture
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• v.45 no.6
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• pp.126-136
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• 2017

Gardeners have a desire to not only enjoy a garden but to create the garden themselves and play the role of garden designer. However, they express a great difficulty in gardening activities such as planting and managing plants, the main materials of the garden, due to lack of expertise. Therefore, in order to encourage hobby gardening activities, it is necessary to understand the preferences of the gardeners so that they can easily experience and create a garden, and to provide information on gardening know-how and preferred plants according to places given high preference. This study analyzed the preference for places and plants characteristics according to the purpose of creating a garden. To this end, a questionnaire survey was conducted with visitors to the Korea Landscape and Garden Expo, expected to have been attended primarily by gardening enthusiasts. As a result, gardeners were divided into three groups: appraisal - purposed type, multifunctional type, and participation - purposed type. The group of appraisal purposed type preferred porches and terraces, and private home front yards as well as favored indoor places rather than outdoor places compared with other types. In selecting plants, they prefer plants that can be easily managed in an indoor environment and appreciate natural colors through the colors of flowers and leaves. The multifunctional type group preferred a private home front yard as a garden creation space. Compared with the other types, it showed a high preference for 'unoccupied land in urban housing' and 'community garden' and was analyzed as a group having a high understanding of garden activities. In selecting plants, this group preferred fruit trees or productive plants such as homegrown crops. The participation purposed type group preferred porches and terraces as well as private home front yards as a gardening space. For plants, they preferred plants that are easy to manage. It is meaningful that this study provided preferences for places and plant characteristics according to the creative purpose of the gardener and provided basic data for selecting the place and the plant characteristics of the garden according to the gardener's type.

• Journal of the Korean Association of Geographic Information Studies
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.1-19
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• 2023

In Korea, excessive vegetation in rivers made up of sand and gravel is emerging as a nationwide problem, which is attributed to increased spring precipitation and decreased annual precipitation. Therefore, this study was conducted for the purpose of identifying the effect of changes in precipitation patterns on river vegetation in Namcheon, Gyeongju, and analyzing the area of vegetation and ecological characteristics. As a result of the study, the amount of monthly precipitation in the summer of Namcheon decreased after 2007, and the area of vegetation increased continuously compared to the area of the sandbank. The proportion of naturalized plants increased steadily when precipitation continued to a level that did not cause flooding, but the area occupied by naturalized plants was small. Also, when the water level is maintained, the species diversity is low due to the dominance of a single species, and the dominant species was mainly native plants. Dominance of native plants inhibited the growth of naturalized plants, but the vegetation area increased even more. Therefore, it is necessary to manage the spread of vegetation itself rather than the division of native plants and naturalized plants in order to eliminate the active growth and prosperity of river vegetation. High water levels and continuous flooding caused by torrential rains in summer disturbed the plant communities, and vegetation formed afterwards was mainly native plants. Such flooding in river ecosystems is a positive factor for the emergence of native plants and over-formed vegetation communities, so it should be considered when establishing a vegetation management plan.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.32 no.5
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• pp.469-477
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• 2018

Hanabusaya asiatica is an endemic species whose distribution is limited in the mid-eastern part of the Korean peninsula. Due to its narrow range and small population, it is necessary to protect its habitats by identifying it as Key Biodiversity Areas (KBAs) adopted by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). In this paper, we estimated potential natural habitats for H. asiatica using maximum entropy model (MaxEnt) and identified candidate sites for KBA based on the model results. MaxEnt is a machine learning algorithm that can predict habitats for species of interest unbiasedly with presence-only data. This property is particularly useful for the study area where data collection via a field survey is unavailable. We trained MaxEnt using 38 locations of H. asiatica and 11 environmental variables that measured climate, topography, and vegetation status of the study area which encompassed all locations of the border region between South and North Korea. Results showed that the potential habitats where the occurrence probabilities of H. asiatica exceeded 0.5 were $778km^2$, and the KBA candidate area identified by taking into account existing protected areas was $1,321km^2$. Of 11 environmental variables, elevation, annual average precipitation, average precipitation in growing seasons, and the average temperature in the coldest month had impacts on habitat selection, indicating that H. asiatica prefers cool regions at a relatively high elevation. These results can be used not only for identifying KBAs but also for the reference to a protection plan for H. asiatica in preparation of Korean reunification and climate change.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.35 no.2
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• pp.164-180
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• 2021

Plants Social Network(PSN) analysis combines the plant sociological method and the social network analysis to understand plant society focusing on environmental-to-plant and plant-to-plant relationships. PSN is at an early stage of research and require comparing plant society analyses in various environments and existing interspecies binding analysis. This study conducted a vegetation structural analysis of Mudeungsan National Park and compared the existing interspecies connection analysis with the PSN. A total of 60 plots were established for a survey on the Old Trail. The TWINSPAN and DCA analysis showed that the 60 survey plots were divided into the Quercus serrata-Pinus densiflora community (Community I) and the Quercus mongolica community (Community II) based on an altitude of 800 meters. We performed the interspecies correlation with more than 30% emergence frequency and the DCA analysis and compared the results with a focus on the major species in each colony. The results showed that Quercus serrata had a correlation of -0.450^** and -0.375^** with Pinus densiflora and Quercus mongolica, respectively. The DCA analysis also confirmed that Quercus serrata was located close to Pinus densiflora and far from Quercus mongolica along one axis. For the PSN analysis of PSN, 40 survey plots were added to investigate the species appearing in a total of 100 survey plots. The network structural analysis showed 378 links and a species having an average of 6 interspecies bindings. The density was 0.097, the diameter was 7, and the average path distance was 2.788, similar to the PSN analysis results of the Busan Metropolitan City. The plant social network analysis showed similar results to the existing interspecies combination analysis, enabling analyzing more data than the existing methods and observing the structure of plant society.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.440-446
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• 2019

This study examined the growth and fruiting characteristics and the acorns biomass allometric equation of Quercus acuta to provide reference data related to the growth and seed supply during the restoration of evergreen forest in the warm temperate zone in Wando Island, Korea. For the growth survey, we selected and cut three sample trees having a mean diameter at breast height (DBH) to investigate the growth analysis through a stem analysis. We then developed the allometric equation (Y=aX+b) of DBH and tree height growth characteristic (Y) according to the average tree age (X) of sampled trees and estimated the DBH and tree height according to the age of Quercus acuta. For the fruiting survey, we selected and cut three sample trees with full fruit in August when, they are at the early mature fruiting stage, for the analysis. To develop the acorns/tree biomass allometric equation of Quercus acuta, we selected and cut ten sample trees of evenly divided diameters. The acorns biomass allometric equation ($Y=aX^b$) was derived by analyzing the biomass (Y) and the growth characteristics (X), such as the DBH, tree height, crown width, and crown height. The allometric equations of average tree age according to DBH and tree height were Y=0506X-2.064 ($R^2=0.999$) and Y=0.321X+0689 ($R^2=0.992$), respectively. The developed allometric equations estimated that the DBH were 3.0cm, 8.1cm, 13.1cm and 18.2cm while the tree heights were 3.9m, 7.1m, 10.3m, and 13.5m when the tree ages were 10, 20, 30, and 40 years, respectively. The analysis results of fruiting characteristics showed that the length, the diameter, the number of fruits, and the number of acorns per fruiting branch had the statistically significant difference and tended to decrease from the upper part to the lower part of crown downward. The total number of acorns was 1,312 acorns/tree in the upper part, 115 acorns/tree in the middle part, and 5 acorns/tree in the lower part of the crown. The allometric equation for the amount of acorns with DBH as an independent variable was $Y=0.003X^{4.260}$ with the coefficient of determination at 0.896. Although the coefficient of determination of the allometric equation using only DBH as the independent variable was lower than that using DBH and tree height ($D^2H$), it would be more practical to consider only DBH as the independent variable because of measurement errors.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Landscape Architecture
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• v.49 no.6
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• pp.1-15
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• 2021

This study considered Forest Specialists, who are nurtured by the legal system through the analysis of laws and regulations under the jurisdiction of the Korea Forest Service. In particular, the transition process of forest-related laws and laws to train forest specialists were identified. In addition, changes and characteristics regarding the cultivation of professional forestry talents according to forestry policy were investigated. As a result, it was found that Forest Specialist on policy dealt with forestry success for forestry promotion, and forestry engineers dealt with technical skills for forestry industry development. In addition, according to the revision of the laws for the sustainable use of timber, wood-structural engineers, timber grade evaluators, and timber education specialists are trained separately. Forest Specialists concerned with forest welfare policies were found to train forest experts and complete specialized training courses to provide various services for forest cultural and recreation facilities, healing forests, and forest leisure sports facilities. There is an instructor for forest leisure sports. Forest welfare experts are divided into forest education experts and forest healing instructors; forest education specialists are further divided into forest interpreters, forest guides for children, and forest trekking guides. Forest Specialists on forest protection policy were found to train arboretum and garden experts for the efficient management and exhibition of arboretums. Gardens and tree doctors and tree treatment technicians for arboretums wer also trained. A tree doctor and a tree treatment technician were found to have the necessary qualifications to run a tree hospital business, diagnosing and treating tree damage. Therefore, it is thought that the Korea Forest Service is nurturing Forest Specialists with technical capabilities for forestry promotion, forest industry development, and tree treatment; and the Forest Specialists can provide education and welfare services at culture, recreation, treatment, and conservation sites in forests.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.37 no.3
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• pp.182-191
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• 2023

This study was carried out to identify the distribution and growth characteristics and evaluate the conservation status of the Michelia compressa Maxim., a rare and endangered wild plant II, in the habitats in Korea. A total of 314 individuals were found in the natural habitats of Heuksan Island and Jeju Island and were divided into four populations. About 45.9% (144 individuals) were distributed in the range of 401m~500m above sea level. The average height of trees was 2.7(±4.8)m, the diameter at breast height was 12.6(±13.9)cm, and the number of branches was 1.0(±0.5) on average. 54.3% of the sapling individuals of M. compressa were distributed within a radius of 30 m from the mother tree, 25.8% were distributed between 31 m through 40 m, and most (90.1%) were distributed within a radius of 60 m. The fact that sapling individuals of M. compressa are not identified even around some mature individuals and appear only in extremely limited areas is estimated to be closely related to the growth conditions as well as the environment of the natural habitats. The dispersal of M. compressa is presumed to be related to the birds and natural seedlings because water puddles, a resting place for birds beyond the range of natural seedlings, characterize its habitats. The IUCN Red List evaluation criteria at the regional and national level of M. compressa corresponds to the Critically Endangered category, and the domestic population under the category of "CR B2ab(v); C2a(i); D."

• Korean Journal of Plant Resources
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.60-78
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• 2010

To clarify the distribution of vascular plants and their usefulness in Heoninlleung, Ecological Landscape Conservation Areas of Seoul, we investigated it from April, 2006 to June, 2009. Total 313 taxa; 68 families, 191 genera, 264 species, 41 varieties and 8 forma were distributed in Heoninlleung. Among them, 37 taxa were highly abundant everywhere (3A), 16 taxa were highly abundant locally (3B), 70 taxa were moderately abundant everywhere (2A), 96 taxa were common in certain regions locally (2B), 9 taxa were rare but observed everywhere with low frequency (2A) and 85 taxa were rare and observed locally (1B). The economic plants were 293 taxa. There were 156 taxa of edible source, 223 taxa of medicinal source, 141 taxa of ornamental source, 69 taxa of pastoral source, 12 taxa of industrial, and 8 taxa of timber source. Twelve Korean endemic plants were collected. Based on the list of rare plants by the Korea National Arboretum and Ministry of Environment, 2 rare species were found. The specific species of I~V grades by phytogeography were 19 taxa. And twentyfour taxa of naturalized plant species were distributed. Naturalization Index was 7.7% and Urbanization Index was 8.4% in the investigated area.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.36 no.2
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• pp.177-201
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• 2022

Following the adoption of the global plant conservation strategies at the Conference of the Parties for Biodiversity Conservation, diligent actions to achieve each targets are actively carried out. In particular, the need for ecological conservation research to achieve targets 2 and 7 of GSPC-2020 has increased. The priority taxa to accomplish the objectives of GSPC-2020 are rare and endemic plants. In particular, endemic plants with limited distribution in specific regions are evaluated to face a high risk of extinction. To address the necessity to preserve endemic plants, we investigated the distribution of Prunus choreiana H. T. Im, a Korean endemic plant. After that, we examined the vegetational environment of the habitat of P. choreiana and evaluated its population structure. The productivity of its fruits and the effects of pollinators on fruit production were evaluated as well. The fruiting ratio was calculated based on the number of flowers produced. Lastly, we observed the annual growth characteristics of P. choreiana. The habitats of P. choreiana did not show a specific type of vegetation. All of them were located in a limestone area of Gangwon-do in the central Korean Peninsula and occupied a site where the coverage of the tree layer and the sub-tree layer was not high or did not exist. The population structure of P. choreiana contained a high proportion of mature plants capable of producing fruits and a low proportion of seedlings and Juvenile plants. We found that the production of fruits required pollinators and was affected by the performance of each plant. Although P. choreiana produces many flowers, only a maximum of 20% and only 2-6% on average bear fruits. These flowering characteristics may be due to pollinators' low abundance and activity during the flowering season (between mid-March and early April), suggesting that many flowers are needed to attract more pollinators. We rarely observed the re-establishment of seedlings in the population of P. choreiana. Despite that, we predict the population to persist owing to its long lifespan and periodic production of numerous fruits. However, if the tree layer and sub-tree layer in competing status with P. choreiana increase their crown density, they are expected to inhibit the growth of P. choreiana and affect the risk of its extinction. Therefore, the current changes in the vegetational environment of the habitats are expected to decrease the number and extent of P. choreiana in the long term. The results of this study may serve as primary and important data necessary for the achievement of GSPC-2020 objectives.