• Journal of the Korean Society of Environmental Restoration Technology
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.55-75
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• 2017

The purpose of this study is to present the basic data for restoration of physical stream environment by analyzing habitat variables because habitat environment is changed due to the construction of waterfront space in urban streams. Assessment results of 10 habitat variables(three divisions) were almost same as optimal condition, in the reach of reference stream where there are no stream crossing structures and channel alteration. Assessment results of reaches in urban rivers, where streams were improved on water-friendly recreation activities, appeared to be marginal condition. Because habitat environment got worse due to stream improvement works such as construction of weir for water landscape, stepping stones for walking, low water revetment and high water revetment, and high water channel. In addition, in the case of mid gradient stream, the frequency of riffles was small or not existed because the intervals of the river crossing structures was short. In the case of mild stream types, the diversity of the pool was damaged due to the deposition of sludge in the upstream pool of weir and the installation of low water revetment.

• Proceedings of the National Institute of Ecology of the Republic of Korea
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.1-6
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• 2022

Among the 13 species of otters in the world, only one Eurasian otter (Lutra lutra) is found in South Korea. In the Korean Peninsula, otter pelts were historically valuable and expensive commodities used for international trade, and otters have long been poached as hunting animals. Recent rapid economic development in South Korea has increased habitat fragmentation and loss, creating a continuing threat to the natural environment. Otters live only in the area of rivers and streams as a family group and are territorial (linear habitat). Due to these limited conditions of otter habitat, the population size of otter is lower than that of onshore mammals. According to recent research, DNA analyses using microsatellite markers have shown that only approximately 7-21 otter individuals inhabit river systems for a length of 50-230 km. Korea's urban streams are associated with many threats that hinder otters from inhabiting them. Many areas around the urban streams are surrounded by high concrete riverbanks, and the risk of roadkill is also high. Nevertheless, ecological restoration projects in the urban rivers will contribute greatly to the stable inhabitation of otters. Detailed otter conservation strategies, such as the elimination of threat factors, improvement of habitat environment, and restoration of food resources and shelter, will provide a positive restoration effect on otter and river ecosystems as well.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Landscape Architecture
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.34-41
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• 2003

Connectivity is a quantitative indicator of landscape structure, and connectivity of urban green areas is an indicator of ecological integrity in urban landscapes. The purposes of this study are to assess the connectivity of urban green areas in Seoul, and to develop a method of siting new green areas for better connectivity. Diverse methods for connectivity assessment and indices of connectivity are reviewed and applied to the connectivity assesment of green areas in Seoul. The indices of connectivity of green areas in Seoul turned out to be higher than expected, maybe because many of them are rather evenly distributed, serving as stepping stones, and because there are many riparian corridors, including the Han River. Analysis also shows the optimum location of new green space patches or corridors will be those spots that would link the mainland, or large green areas outside the city, and existing green areas in the city. Restoration of urban streams as ecological corridors will significantly enhance connectivity. Three different scenarios with increasing numbers of new green areas in the city were then prepared. The changes of connectivity were measured and the possible success rates of animal dispersal were simulated. The results revealed that restoration of streams will increase the connectivity and success rates of animal dispersal.

• Journal of Wetlands Research
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.94-99
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• 2016

Non-point source control has been issued and intensively studied for the control of water quality in streams and rivers. In this study, non-point source pollutants monitoring was conducted at the end of five small streams which were connected to a main stream in three stages including Phase I (one hr before the rainfall), Phase II (one hr after the rainfall), and Phase III (six hrs after the rainfall). For all five small streams, the concentrations and loading rates of non-point source pollutants significantly increased due to the rainfall. As a result of this, priority control streams and priority pollutants were suggested to prepare for future plans of the non-point source control.

• Journal of Wetlands Research
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.133-139
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• 2008

Urban streams are degrading functional role due to development and pollution. This study chose the representative stream of Do-rim and identified flora and fauna. The ecological survey aimed at identifying indicator of urban streams for measuring urban healthiness and we discussed the possibility of wetland conservation area. From the beginning of Dorim stream to An-yang mixture we were successfully identified 113 species of plants, 9 of mammals, 23 of birds, 4 of amphibians, 2 of reptiles and 2 of fish species. Terrestrial insects were 71 species. The wetland vegetation is quite various and we suggested 4 different vegetation zones (aquatic vegetation zone, emergent zone, riparian-meadow zone, riparian-woodland zone) depending on distance from the flowing water stream and vegetation characteristics for urban stream management.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Landscape Architecture
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• v.30 no.5
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• pp.98-106
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• 2002

This study was designed to present a river model with the aim of restoring the ecosystem and improving the landscape along the urban rivers on the basin of the Namhanl river, a core life channel for the National Capital regin. The revelation of botanical status, transition trend and correlation of plants might lead to providing the urban river restoration projects and ecological river formation projects with basic data for a model of ideal aquatic ecology and landscape. The outcomes of this study could be summed up as follows: 1. The plant communities of river flora found on the basin of the Namhan river could be categorized largely into 39 plant communities 2. Most diverse plants were distributed in the rivers lower reaches such as Unsim-ri where the protected zone of Paldang reservoir for city water borders the body of Jodae swamp where natural streams flow nearby. 3. One of the greatest threats to the biomass of the River Namhan is that the communities of such invasive alien plants as Panicum dichotomiflorum and Ambrosia artemisiifolia var. elatior dominate most parts of the area, a fact that has resulted in a reduced variety of plants and will, sooner or later, be likely to cause an ecological imbalance in the hitherto healthy Aquatic plant life. It is highly advisable to gradually diversify the species of trees and to return the plants bark to their original state since, besides the naturalized plants, plantations afforested with Erigeron canadensis and Erigeron annuus stocks in buckwheat field, Robinia Pseudo-accacia in riverside forest, Pinus rigida in terrestrial forest on the river basin and Larix leptolepis are anticipated to act as interceptors of normal migrations of the fluvial and terrestrial ecosystems. Finally, it seems also desirable to continue to explore the relationship between fluvial and terrestrial ecologies with the purpose of building up a model of natural streams in urban areas based on the surveyed factors for plant life, soil and landscape and, moreover, on the forecasting for overall influences derived from the rotation upon the ecosystem.

• Journal of Species Research
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.249-258
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• 2019

Owing to a distinct environmental regime and anthropogenic effects, freshwater bacterial communities of urban streams are considered to be different from those of large freshwater lakes and rivers. To obtain unrecorded, freshwater bacterial species in Korea, water and sediment samples were collected from various urban streams of the Han River watershed in 2018. After plating the freshwater samples on R2A agar, approximately 1000 bacterial strains were isolated from the samples as single colonies and identified using 16S rRNA gene sequence analyses. A total of 26 strains, with >98.7% 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity with validly published bacterial species but not reported in Korea, were determined to be unrecorded bacterial species in Korea. The unrecorded bacterial strains were phylogenetically diverse and belonged to four phyla, six classes, 12 orders, 16 families, and 21 genera. At the generic level, the unreported species were assigned to Nocardioides, Streptomyces, Microbacterium, Kitasatospora, Herbiconiux, Corynebacterium, and Microbacterium of the class Actinobacteria; Paenibacillus and Bacillus of the class Bacilli; Caulobacter, Methylobacterium, Novosphingobium, and Porphyrobacter of the class Alphaproteobacteria; Aquabacterium, Comamonas, Hydrogenophaga, Laribacter, Rivicola, Polynucleobacter, and Vogesella of the class Betaproteobacteria; Arcobacter of the class Epsilonproteobacteria; and Flavobacterium of the class Flavobacteriia. The details of the 26 unreported species, including Gram reaction, colony and cell morphology, biochemical properties, and phylogenetic position are also provided in the strain descriptions.

• Korean Journal of Plant Resources
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.66-72
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• 2008

RAPD analyses were performed from twenty-four populations of Persicaria thunbergii(Sieb. & Zucc.) H. Gross ex Nakai. The length of amplified DNA fragments ranged from 200 to 1,900bp. 184 scorable RAPD markers were found from PCR reactions with sixteen random oligoprimers. Based on the results, populations of Persicaria thunbergii were classified into disturbance streams of urban and rural streams as well as natural streams. And the populations from natural streams showed having higher genetic similarites than those from highly disturbed streams, Also, the heterogenetic differences between the populations from natural and disturbed areas could be represented the results of the stream environmental changes.

• Proceedings of the Korea Water Resources Association Conference
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• 2005.09b
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• pp.1449-1450
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• 2005

• Journal of Wetlands Research
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.317-328
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• 2013

The aim of this study is to compare the effects of the maintenance water supply methods on the ecological restoration of 5 urban streams such as Mugeo cheon, Yaksa cheon, Yeocheon cheon, Myeongjeong cheon and Cheokgwa cheon in Ulsan metropolitan city. Water quality of the streams have been innovatively improved and the ecosystems have gradually been restored by supplying maintenance water constantly. However, we found that if the maintenance water was in a state of higher salinity or low quality, even enough supply was not helpful and even harmful for ecological restoration. We confirmed that the most important things to create or maintain from the urban stream to the ecological stream are that facilities like a walkway construction should be installed at least, supplying appropriate maintenance water, and a connection with the main stream.