• The Korean Journal of Ecology
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• v.28 no.5
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• pp.305-320
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• 2005

Recently 64 species in Korea have been ranked as rare and endangered taxa by the Ministry of Environment using two categories, I and II. The original threat categories produced by the Ministry of Environment were developed to provide a standard for specifying animals and plants in danger of extinction and has been influential sources of information used in species conservation in Korea. However, the criteria by Ministry of Environment were applied to the whole taxa only by regional boundaries, especially in South Korea, rather than international context, and it also lacked an explicit framework that was necessary to ensure repeatability among taxa because of the absence of quantitative criteria to measure the likelihood of extinction. The World Conservation Union (IUCN) has developed quantitative criteria for assessing the conservation status of species. The threatened species categories, the 2000 IUCN Red List, proposed by SSC (Species Survival Commission) of IUCN have become widely recognized internationally. Details of threatened Korean plants, identified by applying the IUCN threat categories and definitions, were listed and analyzed. The number of species identified as threatened was only 34 out of 64 taxa (48.4%), while the rest of taxa were rejected from the original lists. Many of the species (51.6%, 33 taxa) excluded from the original list proposed by Ministry of Environment do not qualify as Critically Endangered, Endangered or Vulnerable because these taxa were widely distributed either in Japan or in China/far eastern Russia and there is no evidence of substantial decline in these countries. An evaluation of taxa in Korea has been carried out only based on subjective views and qualitative data, rather than quantitative scientific data, such as rates of decline, distribution range size, population size, and risk of extinction. Therefore, the national lists undermine the credibility of threatened species lists and invite misuse, which have been raised by other cases, qualitative estimate of risk, political influence, uneven taxonomic or geographical coverage. The increasing emphasis on international responsibilities means that global scale is becoming more significant. The current listings by Environment of Ministry of Korea should be challenged, and the government should seek to facilitate the resolution of disagreements. Especially the list should be flexible enough to handle uncertainty and also incorporates detailed, quantitative data. It is suggested that the highest priorities for the Red List should be given to endemic species in Korea first. After setting up the list of endemic species to Korea, quantitative data on population size and structure, distributional range, rated of decline, and habitat fragmentation should be collected as one of long term projects for the Red list categories. Transparency and accountability are the most important key factors. Also, species assessors are named and data sources referenced are required for the future objective evaluations on Korean plant taxa.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Environmental Restoration Technology
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.10-18
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• 2004

The urban ecosystem, unlike the natural ecosystem, has been affected by the urban environment, so the existences of normal creatures have been threatened and eventually the stability has declined to consist of those that have adapted to such. Therefore, by creating a list of such organisms, their number of variety can be found out and their ecological distinction can be understood. Because flora is known to be an ecological index reflecting region's effects of human and societal environments, weather, and climates, it is a useful method of finding out the ecological position and distinctiveness of that region. The study site is part of watershed at Yangjae Stream, Kahngnam-ku, Seoul. In this study, the difference of flora in each land use type are investigated by plant identification. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the city's plant surviving environment, and eventually to contribute to the restoration of urban green spaces by finding out the plants which are appropriate for the corresponding environment. After doing the study, it was found that the urban forest is the most stable urban ecosystem while the urban park is seriously disturbed, and ecologically unstable. The urban stream is also disturbed continuously.

• Korean Journal of Plant Taxonomy
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• v.47 no.1
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• pp.1-5
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• 2017

The population status of Hydrangea luteovenosa Koidz. in Korea was investigated, with an emphasis on its genetic diversity. From field surveys, we obtained the only locality record for a wild population in Jeju Island, which contained 285 individuals in total. Genotyping was performed using five microsatellite markers for the all extant plants in Korea. Three Japanese populations were also genotyped for the comparative analyses. The genotyping result showed that the Jeju population consisted of only two multilocus genotypes, including identical heterozygous genotypes at two loci; it had been maintained mostly by vegetative reproduction; and although the Jeju population is geographically far from Japanese populations, all alleles observed in the Korean population were shared with Japanese populations, suggesting the possibility that H. luteovenosa in the Jeju Island had been recently migrated or introduced from Japan. Future ecological and genetic studies associated with negative effects of low genetic variation will be essential for determining the conservation direction of the threatened Korean population of this species.

• Korean Journal of Plant Taxonomy
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• v.47 no.1
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• pp.6-10
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• 2017

Microsatellite markers were isolated for Daphne kiusiana var. kiusiana (Thymelaeaceae), an evergreen broad-leaved shrub endemic to Korea and Japan. Because its populations in Jeju Island are morphologically controversial, and consistently threatened by anthropogenic pressures, taxonomic delimitation and conservation effort are required at the genetic level. We developed 21 polymorphic microsatellite loci from Next Generation Sequencing data. The primer set included di-, tri-, and tetra-nucleotide repeats. Variability in the markers was tested for 80 individuals of D. kiusiana from three natural populations in Jeju Island and Japan. Among the 21 loci, three were unavailable for population JKJU of Japan. The Neighbor-Joining tree based on microsatellite markers described here classified the three populations into two groups according to geographical or morphological traits. These will be a powerful genetics tool for determining the taxonomic boundary and establishing suitable conservation strategies for D. kiusiana in Jeju Island.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.54 no.5
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• pp.1698-1711
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• 2022

A combined safety approach, which uses a best-estimate computer code and adopts conservative assumptions for safety systems availability, is developed and applied to the safety margin evaluation for the Loss of Condenser Vacuum (LOCV) of the 1000 MWe Korean Nuclear Power Plant. The Multi-dimensional Analysis of Reactor Safety-KINS standard (MARS-KS) code is selected as a best-estimate code and the PAPIRUS program is used to obtain different initial operational conditions through random sampling of control variables. During an LOCV event, fuel integrity is not threatened by the increase in Departure from Nuclear Boiling Ratio (DNBR). However, the high pressure in the primary coolant system and the secondary system might affect the system integrity. Thus, the peak pressure becomes a major safety concern. Transient analyses are performed for 124 cases of different initial conditions and the most conservative case, which results in the highest system pressure is selected. It is found the suggested methodology gives similar peak pressures when compared to those predicted from existing methodologies. The proposed approach is expected to minimize the time and efforts required to identify the conservative plant conditions in the existing conservative safety methodologies.

• Korean Journal of Organic Agriculture
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.369-379
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• 2018

This study examines consumers' perception of agricultural products using nuclear power plants waste heat. This study surveyed 348 consumers and found that presenting information about safety of waste heat utilization increased appropriacy of waste heat; after providing the information, the percentage of respondents in favor of using waste heat increased 27.5% point from 38.3% to 65.8%. The most important reason against using waste heat was because it threatened the safety of agricultural products, and the most important reason for its support was to reduce farm production costs. The purchase intention for agricultural products using waste heat had risen by at least 10% point after providing the information about safety of waste heat. Those means that it important provision of accurate and reliable information on the safety of waste heat to encourage the utilization of waste heat from nuclear power plants. Purchase intention for flowers using waste heat was most, followed by vegetables, fruits (including fruits and vegetables).

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.23 no.5
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• pp.911-942
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• 2014

This study was carried out to investigate the flora of indigenous habitat of Donghae-si and Samcheok-si in Gangwon-do, Korea. The vascular plants were collected 18 times (from March to October 2011), and were identified as 804 taxa; 127 families, 445 genera, 720 species, 8 subspecies, 69 varieties, 5 forms and 2 hybrids. In the flora of this area, the calcicolous plants were 55 taxa; Cheilanthes argentea, Clematis serratifoliam, Quercus variabilis. Epipactis papillosa, etc. The endangered plants designated and protected by the wildlife protection law, the Ministry of Environment, Korean were counted to one taxon; Cymbidium macrorhizum. The red list of vascular plants according to IUCN valuation basis were examined, endangered species (EN); Prunus yedoensis and Cymbidium macrorhizum, Vulnerable species (VU); Juniperus chinensis, Pulsatilla tongkangensis, Diarthron linifolium and Swertia wilfordii, Near Threatened species (NT); Paeonia japonica, Allium senescens, Epipactis papillosa and Pogonia minor, Least Concern species (LC); Asplenium ruta-muraria, Platycladus orientalis, Monotropa hypopithys and Eleutherococcus divaricatus var. chiisanensis, etc., Data Deficient species (DD); Paeonia lactiflora var. trichocarpa, and Not Evaluate species (NE); Prunus choreiana, Panax ginseng and Polygonatum infundiflorum etc. Korean endemic plants of this area were 26 taxa; Aconitum pseudolaeve, Corydalis hirtipes, Vicia chosenensis, Salvia chanroenica and Hemerocallis hakuunensis, etc. The floristic regional indicator plants found in this area were 130 taxa comprising 11 taxa of grade V, 15 taxa of grade IV, 33 taxa of grade III, 15 taxa of grade II, 56 taxa of grade I. The naturalized plants were identified as 67 taxa and the percent of naturalized index (NI) was 8.3% of total 804 taxa vascular plants.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.42 no.1
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• pp.30-42
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• 2018

Background: The southern and eastern parts of the Gobi Desert area are a unique dry ecosystem with a diverse regional desert, semi-desert, and mountain dry steppe flora. This area habitat is located at the overlap of different floristic regions; on its northeast side, Central Asian desert flora is dominating, and on the eastern side, East Asian flora is observed. The comprehensive survey was carried out to find the floral diversity of the medicinal plants on the region. Methods: All recorded species in this study were based on the collected voucher specimens between June and August in the year 2017. Results: We recorded 23 families, 57 genera, and 78 species of vascular plants. The families Asteraceae (15 species), Fabaceae (10 species), and Amaranthaceae (10 species) were represented most in the study area, while Caragana (5 species), Salsola (4 species), and Arnebia (3 species) were the most common genera found. Conclusion: Conservation status for remarkable species was also reviewed based on the literature. Around the study area, 24 species as "sub-endemic," 10 species as "very rare," 4 species as "rare," 1 species as "alien," 13 species as "relict," 10 species as "Red Book," 2 species as "endangered (EN)," 3 species as "vulnerable (VU)," 3 species as "near threatened (NT)," and 2 species as "least concern (LC)" plants are growing.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.42 no.4
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• pp.298-307
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• 2018

Background: Subalpine ecosystems at high altitudes and latitudes are particularly sensitive to climate change. In South Korea, the prediction of the species richness of subalpine plant species under future climate change is not well studied. Thus, this study aims to assess the potential impact of climate change on species richness of subalpine plant species (14 species) in the 17 mountain national parks (MNPs) of South Korea under climate change scenarios' representative concentration pathways (RCP) 4.5 and RCP 8.5 using maximum entropy (MaxEnt) and Migclim for the years 2050 and 2070. Results: Altogether, 723 species occurrence points of 14 species and six selected variables were used in modeling. The models developed for all species showed excellent performance (AUC > 0.89 and TSS > 0.70). The results predicted a significant loss of species richness in all MNPs. Under RCP 4.5, the range of reduction was predicted to be 15.38-94.02% by 2050 and 21.42-96.64% by 2070. Similarly, under RCP 8.5, it will decline 15.38-97.9% by 2050 and 23.07-100% by 2070. The reduction was relatively high in the MNPs located in the central regions (Songnisan and Gyeryongsan), eastern region (Juwangsan), and southern regions (Mudeungsan, Wolchulsan, Hallasan, and Jirisan) compared to the northern and northeastern regions (Odaesan, Seoraksan, Chiaksan, and Taebaeksan). Conclusions: This result indicates that the MNPs at low altitudes and latitudes have a large effect on the climate change in subalpine plant species. This study suggested that subalpine species are highly threatened due to climate change and that immediate actions are required to conserve subalpine species and to minimize the effect of climate change.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.36 no.3
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• pp.220-256
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• 2022

The most important thing for conserving plant diversity in an area is to make an overall inventory of the plant species inhabiting the area. In particular, limestone areas are known for their high plant diversity and distribution of specific plants. Despite that, only a few have been designated as protected areas. This study investigated the vascular plants distributed in Goyangsan Mtn. and Munraesan Mtn., located in limestone areas of the central part of the Korean Peninsula. A field survey was conducted eight times from April to October 2021. As a result, we identified a total of 654 taxa comprising 113 families, 357 genera, 592 species, 15 subspecies, 44 varieties, and 3 formulas. They included four endangered wild plant species: Astilboides tabularis, Eleutherococcus senticosus, Cypripedium macranthos, and Epilobium hirsutum. Endemic plants in Korea were identified as 32 taxa. Floristic target plants were identified as 168 taxa, specifically 5 taxa of grade V, 41 taxa of grade IV, and 36 taxa of grade III. The red data plants included 2 taxa as "Endangered (EN)", 7 taxa as "Vulnerable (VU)", and 7 taxa as "Near threatened (NT)". A total of 41 taxa of naturalized plants were identified, and 4 of them were invasive alien plants. The surveyed vicinity of Goyangsan Mtn. and Munraesan Mtn. showed high plant diversity and contained core habitats for distribution of an endangered wild plant, Astilboides tabularis,in the limestone area. Moreover, both mountains contained a small population of Cotoneaster integerrimus. These findings confirm that the area has conservation values. Therefore, we propose to identify areas with high plant diversity and designate them as special protected areas.