• Journal of Wetlands Research
• /
• v.11 no.1
• /
• pp.99-104
• /
• 2009

Gotjawal forest refers to the forest covering the rocky area of "AA Lava" on Jeju Island of South Korea. In this article it is shown that Gotjawal forest is an internationally important wetland under the Ramsar Convention. Gotjawal forest should be regarded as a wetland because it is a subterranean hydrological system, which is classified as wetland under the Ramsar Convention. And Gotjawal forest is an internationally important wetland because it is the representative wetland type of Jeju region with hydrological importance, and because it supports rare species of plants.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
• /
• v.22 no.9
• /
• pp.1141-1152
• /
• 2013

Insect fauna were surveyed in 2011 at Ungok wetland, Obeygol, located in Gochang, Jeonbuk, Korea. In total, 149 species belonging to 11 orders and 57 families were surveyed. Among them, Lepidopterans composed 23.5% (35 species) of the total insect numbers surveyed, comprising the most abundant group, and followed by Coleoptera, Hemiptera, and Odonata with a composition of 22.1% (33 species), 17.4% (26 species), and 10.1% (15 species), respectively. Bothrogonia japonica Ishihara was the most dominant species, and followed by Gastrophysa atrocyanea Motschulsky and Celastrina argiolus (Linnaeus). Phytophagous insects accounted for 60 percent of the total species. Dominance index was the highest in spring by 0.21. Diversity, richness, and evenness indices were the highest in summer by 4.07, 11.84 and 0.96, respectively. In the study area, the legally-protect species were grouped into five groups; 9 export-restricted species, 17 endemic species, 28 indicator species, 1 climate-sensitive biological indicator and 3 southern characteristic species. Additionally, twenty forest insect pest species were surveyed, belonging to 5 orders and 15 families. Therefore, it is required to conduct long-term monitoring and appropriate management based on the ecological characteristic of the habitats to continuously conserve and maintain of wetland.

• Journal of Wetlands Research
• /
• v.14 no.1
• /
• pp.101-120
• /
• 2012

We investigated the ecological characteristics of Jilmoe-neup conservation area which is one of wetlands designated as a Ramsar convention site in Mt. Odae from 2007 to 2011. Average out-flow of water was 0.80 $m^3/min$ during observation period. Average pH of water was 6.1, electric conductivity was 19 ${\mu}S/cm$ and contents of potassium, calcium and ammonium, nitrate and available phosphorus in water were recorded below average 2.0 mg/L. Peat layer was less developed than in other montane wetlands such as Yong-neup and Wangdeungjae-neup. Plants were recorded as 49 family, 118 genus, 163 species, 3 subspecies, 29 variety and 6 forma, total 163 taxa. Trientalis europaea L., which was designated in endangered level 2 by Ministry of Environment, inhabited at Sphagnum dominated area and Carex tussocks. Vegetation analysis showed that dominance value was changed as species distribution area were increased or decreased periodically. Although Jilmoe-neup deserved conservation value for Sphagnum fen which has diverse flora, it was affected from various factors such as ranch in the vicinity. Therefore, it must be monitored and managed continuously.

• Ecology and Resilient Infrastructure
• /
• v.8 no.2
• /
• pp.120-132
• /
• 2021

The ecosystem and landscape conservation areas of Seoul were designated according to the Natural Environment Conservation Act and the Natural Environment Conservation Ordinance. With the adoption of the "Rapid Assessment of Wetland Ecosystem Service (RAWES)" approach and the "wetland ecosystem service" for the Ramsar Wetland City Accreditation at the 13th Meeting of the Conference of the Contracting Parties to the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands in 2018, the need for data evaluating wetland ecosystem services has become a necessity. Therefore, in this study, we selected five wetlands from the ecosystem and landscape conservation areas in Seoul, having high ecological conservation values, and evaluated their carbon sequestration and economic value assessment using the InVEST model, which is an ecosystem service evaluation technique. The evaluation results for carbon storage in each wetland are as follows: Tancheon Wetland: 3,674.62 Mg; Bamseom Island in the Hangang River: 1,511.57 Mg; Godeok-dong Wetland: 5,007.21 Mg; Amsa-dong Wetland: 7,108.47 Mg; and Yeouido Wetland: 290.27 Mg. Particularly, the Tancheon Wetland showed the lowest carbon sequestration of 1,130.37 Mg, as compared to the results acquired in 2013, of 4,804.99 Mg. When the average effective carbon rate of $16.06 (US) was applied to the decreased carbon sequestration value, a loss of $15,910.58(US) was calculated. Furthermore, if the average social cost of carbon ($204 (US)) is considered, which includes the impact of climate change on productivity and ecosystems, the total loss is equivalent to $202,101.97 (US). This study aims to examine the natural resource value of urban wetlands by evaluating selected major wetlands in Seoul. This study can be utilized as basic data to plan for the protection and management of the ecosystem and landscape conservation areas. Additionally, because wetland value assessment is considered essential, the results of this study can be used in future research to provide measures for evaluating ecosystem services in the Ramsar Wetland City Certification System. Moreover, this study can be utilized for selecting important wetlands as Ramsar sites, and to raise awareness about the significance of conserving urban wetlands, and for expanding international exchange among the Ramsar Wetland sites.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
• /
• v.29 no.5
• /
• pp.453-460
• /
• 2006

Upo wetland is the largest inland wetland in Korea as Ramsar Convention Area. The purposes of the study were to investigate the levels of heavy metals (Cd, Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb and Zn) in the sediment and Cipangopaludina chinensis malleata from three sites of the wetland and to assess the potential of the gastropod as a bioindicator for heavy metal levels. The gastropods were dissected into shell and soft tissue without the digestive and excretive organs. The levels of Cd, Cu and Pb were below the guideline of Soil Environment Conservation Act and the heavy metals except Cr were slightly different among the sites. Cd was higher in Upo site ($0.32{\mu}g/g$) than Sajipo site ($0.28{\mu}g/g$). Cu and Zn showed the highest value in Sajipo as $43.5{\mu}g/g\;and\;39.8{\mu}g/g$, respectively while the concentrations of Pb and Zn were the highest in Upstream as $58.8{\mu}g/g\;and\;138{\mu}g/g$, respectively. In the soft tissues and shells of the gastropod, the overall common trend in the concentrations of the heavy metals was revealed with the following order: Zn > Cu > Cr > Ni > Pb > Cd and Ni > Zn > Cr > Cu > Pb > Cd, respectively. Although the soft tissues exhibited higher concentrations of the heavy metals except Ni than the shell in the gastropod, the levels of Cd and Pb in the gastropod were generally below the restrictive values set up by Korea Food & Drug Administration. From Duncan's Multiple Range Test (DMRT) results, the concentrations of Pb and Zn in the sediments among the sites were reflected on the soft tissue (Pb) and the shell (Pb and Zn) of the gastropod in the same order. The lower value of coefficient of variation (CV) in Pb concentration of the shell than in that of the soft tissue supports the usefulness of the shell as a bioindicator for Pb pollution. Although the CV value in the shell was a little higher than in the soft tissue, DMRT results and the stability of incorporated Zn into the shell support the use of the shell of the gastropod as a potential bioindicator for long-term contamination of Zn.

• Journal of Wetlands Research
• /
• v.15 no.4
• /
• pp.477-484
• /
• 2013

In 1999, Wetlands Conservation Act was enacted for the domestic implementation of the Ramsar Convention in Korea. According to the Act, wetlands have been managed by the Ministry of Environment and the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries(MOF). In the field of coastal wetland of which MOF is in charge, starting with the designation of Muan coastal wetlands as protected area in 2001, there are 12 wetland conservation areas up to $218.96km^2$. Even though there has been rapid growth of protected areas, it is time to give attention to the effective implementation of wetland conservation policies. This study aims to analyze institutional and operational problems related to wetland management and give some recommendations for the improvement of the wetland conservation policy and legal framework.

• Proceedings of the National Institute of Ecology of the Republic of Korea
• /
• v.2 no.1
• /
• pp.42-52
• /
• 2021

In order to secure basic data on biodiversity for wetland conservation and management used the data from Wetland Protected Area surveys conducted in South Korea (2015-2019) to analyze the distribution of fish from a total of 15 orders, 45 families, 134 species, and 12,972 individuals. The predominant species identified were Zacco platypus (Temminck and Schlegel) (19.47%) and Zacco koreanus (Kim, Oh and Hosoya) (8.16%). Of all emergent species, 52.9% (n=71 species) were freshwater species, 26.9% (n=36) were brackish species, 3.0% (n=4) were migratory species, 27% (n=36) were marine species, and 9.0% (n=12) were riffle benthic species. Overall, 5.2% (n=7 species) were endangered species, 3.0% (n=4) were exotic species, and 23.1% (n=31) were Korean endemic species. The eight identified Wetland Protected Areas (WPA) were classified based on their habitat characteristics and on the analysis of their emergent fish communities, as estuarine (n=2), coastal dune (n=1), marsh (n=2), stream (n=2), and stream-marsh (n=1) types. The environmental factors revealed to have the greatest influence on the species diversity of emergent fish were maintenance and repair, installation of reservoirs, and construction of artificial wetlands around them. The present study offers basic information on the diversity of fish species in different Wetland Protected Area types that can be used to inform conservation and management decisions for WPA.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
• /
• v.30 no.1
• /
• pp.81-86
• /
• 2007

Human activities have enhanced the influx of heavy metals to aquatic ecosystem and hanged the abiotic environment such as the sediments supporting benthic organisms. The levels of heavy metals (Cd, Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb and Zn) in the benthic gastropod Oxyloma hirasei and the sediments around their habitat were investigated to examine heavy metal levels and the potential of the gastropod as a bioindicator. We detected different levels of heavy metals in the sediments of two wetland areas, Upo and Mokpo, in the relatively well-conserved Upo wetland, Ramsar Convention Area. Oxyloma hirasei had higher concentrations of heavy metals except Cr and Ni in their soft tissues than in their shells (Cd: $2.10{\sim}3.16$, Cu: $19.73{\sim}28.66$, Pb: $0.67{\sim}1.17$, Zn: $216.1{\sim}285.7\;{\mu}g/g$ dry weight in the soft tissues; Cr: $1.19{\sim}2.58$, Ni: $0.47{\sim}1.16\;{\mu}g/g$ dry weight in the shells). Differences in the Cd, Cu, Ni and Pb concentrations in O. hirasei soft tissues reflected differences in heavy metal concentrations in the sediments at the sampling sites. The coefficients of variation for Cd, Cu and Pb were lower than those for other metals in the soft tissues. Levels of Cd in the tissues of O. hirasei were the highest among the metals examined in this study. Therefore, the soft tissue of O. hirasei appears to be a promising bioindicator particularly for Cd.

• Environmental Engineering Research
• /
• v.15 no.4
• /
• pp.197-205
• /
• 2010

Recent years have witnessed increasing interest in wetland constructions in Korea as a flood control measure during the flood season and for consideration of the ecology during the non-flood season. In this study, hydraulic and hydrologic analyses were performed on a wetland construction plan for use as an alternative sustainable flood defense during the flood season, as well as a wetland that can protect the ecosystem during the non-flood season. The study area was the basin of the Topyeong-cheon stream, which is a tributary of the Nakdong River, including the Upo wetland, which is registered in the Ramsar Convention and the largest inland wetland in Korea. Wetlands were to be constructed at upstream and downstream of the Upo wetland by considering and analyzing seven scenarios for their constructions to investigate the effect of flood control during the flood season; it was found the best scenario reduced the flood level by 0.56 m. To evaluate the usefulness of the constructed wetlands during the non flood season, the water balance in the wetlands was analyzed, with the best scenario found to maintain a minimum water level of 1.3 m throughout the year. Therefore, the constructed wetlands could provide an alternative measure for flood prevention as well as an ecosystem for biodiversity.

• Journal of Korean Society of Rural Planning
• /
• v.20 no.4
• /
• pp.13-24
• /
• 2014

The pond wetlands in agricultural landscape are important natural resources that carry out the function of bio-diversity conservation. However, recently, those have been gradually embedded as their utility value were disappeared. And, the assessment methods used for pond wetlands are insufficient. Therefore, this study was conducted to examine the conservation value of pond wetlands by using the modified RAM, and present the improvement of assesment methods. The study sites, a total of 32 pond of 4 types by land use, were selected on the basis of Ramsar Convention. Through the analysis of precedent studies, the weighted 8 functions were adjusted. According to the assessment results, pond wetlands made the largest contribution to Fishery and Herpetile Habitat function. In addition, it also made large contribution to Floral Diversity, Wildlife Habitat, and Water Quality Protection function. On the other hand, it made a small contribution to Aesthetics and Recreation, Runoff Attenuation, Shoreline /Stream Bank Protection, and Flood/Storm Water Storage function due to the characteristics of small-scale pond wetlands. In the assessment of 8 functions, house type showed the worst assessment result, and mountain type showed the best assessment result. It is thought that those are due to land use type in terms of vicinity. 10 items among 52 of the modified RAM showed the same assessment results in all land use types. Accordingly, it is required to be deleted and modified the assessment method. On the other hand, it is required to add age, interference, and water use to the assessment method. It is thought that these results can be utilized for the development and modification of assessment methods focused on pond wetlands in rural area.