• Journal of Wetlands Research
• /
• v.23 no.4
• /
• pp.317-326
• /
• 2021

The present study was carried out with a view to understand the distribution and ecology of Clihton retropictus (Martens, 1879), a class II endangered wildlife designated and protected by the Ministry of Environment, Republic of Korea, and to suggest the effective conservation and management measures for this species and its habit. First, the distribution of Clihton retropictus was investigated nationwide, and environmental factors such as salinity and substratum were analyzed in consideration of the ecological characteristics of this species. In addition, the individual size, density, and movement of Clihton retropictus per each district surveyed were analyzed. Due to its nature of inhabiting in the brackish water zone, the analysis showed that the salinity of this species was 0.7 ~ 16.6‰ at low tide and 1.0 ~ 17.3% at high tide. It was learned from the analysis of substratum that its composition in each river under investigation was slightly different, but most of substratum had a higher composition ratio than gravel (pebble, 16 ~ 64 mm). On the other hand, the size of each individual was checked by measuring the length of its diameter, and there was almost no change in the individual when the inhabited range of Clihton retropictus was short. However, there was tendency that the longer the habitat range, the bigger the individual size. From surveying the population density by season, it was made clear that, during the summer (July to August) and fall (September to October), the density was relatively higher while the number of individuals decreased significantly during winter (November to December) when the water temperature was lowered. In an effort to effectively establish conservation and management measures, the moving distance was measured, and it became known that, during the surveys in summer and fall when the individuals were active, the individuals moved in more distances than during the winter survey. The results of this study are expected to be utilized as basic data for establishing effective management plans such as creation of habitats for Clihton retropictus, its migration projects and selection of migration destinations which get unavoidable due to development projects.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
• /
• v.35 no.5
• /
• pp.480-489
• /
• 2021

Climate change poses great threats to wildlife populations by decreasing their number and destroying their habitats, jeopardizing biodiversity conservation. Asiatic salamander (Hynobiidae) species are particularly vulnerable to climate change due to their small home range and limited dispersal ability. Thus, this study used one salamander species, the Korean clawed salamander (Onychodactylus koreanus), as a model species and examined their habitat characteristics and current distribution in South Korea to predict its spatial distribution under climate change. As a result, we found that altitude was the most important environmental factor for their spatial distribution and that they showed a dense distribution in high-altitude forest regions such as Gangwon and Gyeongsanbuk provinces. The spatial distribution range and habitat characteristics predicted in the species distribution models were sufficiently in accordance with previous studies on the species. By modeling their distribution changes under two different climate change scenarios, we predicted that the distribution range of the Korean clawed salamander population would decrease by 62.96% under the RCP4.5 scenario and by 98.52% under the RCP8.5 scenario, indicating a sharp reduction due to climate change. The model's AUC value was the highest in the present (0.837), followed by RCP4.5 (0.832) and RCP8.5 (0.807). Our study provides a basic reference for implementing conservation plans for amphibians under climate change. Additional research using various analysis techniques reflecting habitat characteristics and minute habitat factors for the whole life cycle of Korean-tailed salamanders help identify major environmental factors that affect species reduction.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Landscape Architecture
• /
• v.49 no.5
• /
• pp.79-96
• /
• 2021

Green infrastructure planning represents landscape planning measures to reduce particulate matter. This study aimed to derive factors that may be used in planning green infrastructure for particulate matter reduction using text mining techniques. A range of analyses were carried out by focusing on keywords such as 'particulate matter reduction plan' and 'green infrastructure planning elements'. The analyses included Term Frequency-Inverse Document Frequency (TF-IDF) analysis, centrality analysis, related word analysis, and topic modeling analysis. These analyses were carried out via text mining by collecting information on previous related research, policy reports, and laws. Initially, TF-IDF analysis results were used to classify major keywords relating to particulate matter and green infrastructure into three groups: (1) environmental issues (e.g., particulate matter, environment, carbon, and atmosphere), target spaces (e.g., urban, park, and local green space), and application methods (e.g., analysis, planning, evaluation, development, ecological aspect, policy management, technology, and resilience). Second, the centrality analysis results were found to be similar to those of TF-IDF; it was confirmed that the central connectors to the major keywords were 'Green New Deal' and 'Vacant land'. The results from the analysis of related words verified that planning green infrastructure for particulate matter reduction required planning forests and ventilation corridors. Additionally, moisture must be considered for microclimate control. It was also confirmed that utilizing vacant space, establishing mixed forests, introducing particulate matter reduction technology, and understanding the system may be important for the effective planning of green infrastructure. Topic analysis was used to classify the planning elements of green infrastructure based on ecological, technological, and social functions. The planning elements of ecological function were classified into morphological (e.g., urban forest, green space, wall greening) and functional aspects (e.g., climate control, carbon storage and absorption, provision of habitats, and biodiversity for wildlife). The planning elements of technical function were classified into various themes, including the disaster prevention functions of green infrastructure, buffer effects, stormwater management, water purification, and energy reduction. The planning elements of the social function were classified into themes such as community function, improving the health of users, and scenery improvement. These results suggest that green infrastructure planning for particulate matter reduction requires approaches related to key concepts, such as resilience and sustainability. In particular, there is a need to apply green infrastructure planning elements in order to reduce exposure to particulate matter.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
• /
• v.33 no.1
• /
• pp.9-15
• /
• 2019

Artiodactyla, which is an even-toed mammal, widely inhabits worldwide. In recent years, wild Artiodactyla species have attracted public attention due to the rapid increase of crop damage and road-kill caused by wild Artiodactyla such as water deer and wild boar and the decrease of some species such as long-tailed goral and musk deer. In spite of such public attention, however, there have been few studies on Artiodactyla in Korea, and no studies have focused on the trend analysis of Artiodactyla, making it difficult to understand actual problems. Many recent studies on trend used text-mining and co-occurrence analysis to increase objectivity in the classification of research subjects by extracting keywords appearing in literature and quantifying relevance between words. In this study, we analyzed texts from research articles of three countries (Korea, China, and Japan) through text-mining and co-occurrence analysis and compared the research subjects in each country. We extracted 199 words from 665 articles related to Artiodactyla of three countries through text-mining. Three word-clusters were formed as a result of co-occurrence analysis on extracted words. We determined that cluster1 was related to "habitat condition and ecology", cluster2 was related to "disease" and cluster3 was related to "conservation genetics and molecular ecology". The results of comparing the rates of occurrence of each word clusters in each country showed that they were relatively even in China and Japan whereas Korea had a prevailing rate (69%) of cluster2 related to "disease". In the regression analysis on the number of words per year in each cluster, the number of words in both China and Japan increased evenly by year in each cluster while the rate of increase of cluster2 was five times more than the other clusters in Korea. The results indicate that Korean researches on Artiodactyla tended to focus on diseases more than those in China and Japan, and few researchers considered other subjects including habitat characteristics, behavior and molecular ecology. In order to control the damage caused by Artiodactyla and to establish a reasonable policy for the protection of endangered species, it is necessary to accumulate basic ecological data by conducting researches on wild Artiodactyla more.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
• /
• v.34 no.6
• /
• pp.530-542
• /
• 2020

This study surveyed the central mountain area of Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) from March to October 2018 to reveal the appearance patterns of freshwater fish. We collected 7,744 individuals of 43 species in 12 families with skimming nets and cast nets in 12 stations during the survey. The dominant species was Zacco koreanus (30.3%), and the subdominant species was Z. platypus (18.5%), followed by Rhynchocypris oxycephalus (10.0%), R. steindachneri (6.7%), Microphysogobio yaluensis (5.9%), Acheilognathus signifer (4.5%), Pungtungia herzi (4.2%), and Orthrias nudus (2.6%). Among the collected species, four were legally protected. They included Hemibarbus mylodon, which was a natural monument, and Lethenteron reissneri, A. signifer, and Pseudopungtungia tenuicorpa, which were class II endangered wildlife designated by the Ministry of Environment. Twenty Korean endemic species (46.5%) and one exotic species, Micropterus salmoides, were also collected. Additionally, three climate-change sensitive species, R. kumgangensis, Ladislavia taczanowskii, and Cottus koreanus, and three landlocked species, L. reissneri, C. koreanus, and Rhinogobius brunneus appeared. The dominant species in each station were Z. koreanus (15 stations), Z. platypus (four stations), R. oxycephalus (four stations), and C. koreanus (one station). The species dominance index decreased from upstream to downstream (mainstream of Gimhwanamdae Stream), while the species diversity index and the species richness index increased. The community structure of the rivers was divided into the uppermost stream, upper stream, Han River, and Imjin River. Compared to antecedent surveys, this study collected the highest number of species. Two new species (Sarcocheilichthys variegatus wakiyae and Micropterus salmoides) were caught, while six species (Siniperca scherzeri, Leiocassis ussuriensis, Brachymystax lenok tsinlingensis, Rhodeus ocellatus, Abbottina springeri, Aphyocypris chinensis) did not appear. Gimhwanamdaecheon Stream has high biological value with the inhabitation of many species, including species under legal protection and high diversity and richness index scores. This paper also discussed a protection plan for this area.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
• /
• v.35 no.3
• /
• pp.256-264
• /
• 2021

Rapid urbanization around the world has negatively affected wildlife habitats, including birds. Wild birds settled in the city are adapting to the changed surroundings, and are typically known to make nests using materials that are easy to find around the city. This study was conducted for the purpose of analyzing the nesting materials on the Paridae using artificial bird nests installed in cities. In this study, the researchers established a total of 33 artificial bird nests in urban parks (22) and forests (11) in Cheonan-si, Chungcheongnam-do. Then we collected 4 artificial bird nests in urban parks (18.19%) and 5 in urban forests (45.46%) to compare the characteristics of bird nest materials by the nest, species, and urban green area types. Eight nests, excluding a nest abandoned by a pair of Paridae, were used for the material analysis. The collected nests were dried, and classified into natural materials (vegetable materials, animal materials, moss, and soil) and artificial materials (cotton, paper pieces, plastics, vinyl, and synthetic fibers), and then each nest was weighed. The classification result shows that the portion of moss (50.65%) was the highest in all nests, followed by soil (21.43%), artificial material (13.95%), vegetable material (5.78%), animal material (4.57%), and others (3.59%) in that order. Artificial materials were used in all nests in urban green areas. Moreover, although the Paridae used about 5.16% more vegetable material than the Parus varius, it was not significant (t=2.17, p=0.07). Plant materials and soil were most preferred in urban forests, and moss, animal, and artificial materials were widely used in that order in urban parks. There was a significant difference in the use of vegetable materials between urban parks and urban forests (t=3.07, p<0.05^*). In the habitats like urbanized and dry areas, where artificial materials are highly accessible, artificial materials replaced some roles of natural materials. This study is a basic study for the analysis of the types of materials used in artificial bird nests to understand the habitat system of urban ecosystems. It can be used as the basic data for ecological studies and conservation of the Paridae species.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
• /
• v.30 no.1
• /
• pp.13-23
• /
• 2021

In this study, we performed a Random Walker analysis to predict the Major Movement Paths of otters. The scope of the research was a simulation analysis with a radius of 7.5 km set as the final range centered on the Ansim-wetland in Daegu City, and a field survey was used to verify the model. The number of virtual otters was set to 1,000, the number of moving steps was set to 1,000 steps per grid, and simulations were performed on a total of 841 grids. As a result of the analysis, an average of 147.6 objects arrived at the boundary point under the condition of an interval of 50 m. As a result of the simulation verification, 8 points (13.1%) were found in the area where the movement probability was very high, and 9 points (14.8%) were found in the area where the movement probability was high. On the other hand, in areas with low movement paths probabilities, there were 8 points (13.1%) in low areas and 4 points (6.6%) in very low areas. Simulation verification results In areas with high otter values, the actual otter format probability was particularly high. In addition, as a result of investigating the correlation with the otter appearance point according to the unit area of the evaluation star of the movement probability, it seems that 6.8 traces were found per unit area in the area where the movement probability is the highest. In areas where the probability of movement is low, analysis was performed at 0.1 points. On the side where otters use the major movement paths of the river area, the normal level was exceeded, and as a result, in the area, 23 (63.9%), many form traces were found, along the major movement paths of the simulation. It turned out that the actual otter inhabits. The EN-Simulator analysis can predict how spatial properties affect the likelihood of major movement paths selection, and the analytical values are used to utilize additional habitats within the major movement paths. It is judged that it can be used as basic data such as to grasp the danger area of road kill in advance and prevent it.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
• /
• v.35 no.1
• /
• pp.24-36
• /
• 2021

Countries around the world, including the Republic of Korea, are participating in efforts to preserve biodiversity. Concerning species, in particular, studies that aim to find potential habitats and establish conservation plans by conducting habitat suitability analysis for specific species are actively ongoing. However, few studies on mid- to long-term changes in suitable habitat areas are based on accumulated information. Therefore, this study aimed to analyze the time-series changes in the habitat suitable area and examine the otters' changing pattern (Lutra lutra) designated as Level 1 endangered wildlife in Gangwon-do. The time-series change analysis used the data on otter species' presence points from the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th national natural environment surveys conducted for about 20 years. Moreover, it utilized the land cover map consistent with the survey period to create environmental variables to reflect each survey period's habitat environment. The suitable habitat area analysis used the MaxEnt model that can run based only on the species presence information, and it has been proven to be reliable by previous studies. The study derived the habitat suitability map for otters in each survey period, and it showed a tendency that habitats were distributed around rivers. Comparing the response curves of the environmental variables derived from the modeling identified the characteristics of the habitat favored by otters. The examination of habitats' change by survey period showed that the habitats based on the 2nd National Natural Environment Survey had the widest distribution. The habitats of the 3rd and 4th surveys showed a tendency of decrease in area. Moreover, the study aggregated the analysis results of the three survey periods and analyzed and categorized the habitat's changing pattern. The type of change proposed different conservation plans, such as field surveys, monitoring, protected area establishment, and restoration plan. This study is significant because it produced a comprehensive analysis map that showed the time-series changes of the location and area of the otter habitat and proposed a conservation plan that is necessary according to the type of habitat change by region. We believe that the method proposed in this study and its results can be used as reference data for establishing a habitat conservation and management plan in the future.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
• /
• v.36 no.2
• /
• pp.165-176
• /
• 2022

This study surveyed the characteristics of fish communities in Hwapocheon Wetland, Korea, from May to September 2020. The survey collected 735 objects in 21 species belonging to 7 families from 8 survey stations. The dominant and subdominant species were Hemiculter eigenmanni(23.8%) and Micropterus salmoides(10.3%), respectively. The next most abundant species were Zacco platypus(9.5%), Carassius auratus(9.4%), Pseudorasbora parva(9.0%), Squalidus chankaensis tsuchigae(6.7%), Acheilognathus macropterus(5.4%), Lepomis macrochirus(5.2%), Pseudogobio esocinus(4.1%), Opsariichthys uncirostris amurensis(3.7%), and Carassius cuvieri(3.3%). Among the fish species collected, one species, Culter brevicauda, was class II endangered wildlife designated by the Ministry of Environment, and one species,S. c. tsuchigae(4.8%), was endemic to Korea.Additionally, three exotic species (M. salmoides, L. macrochirus, and C. cuvieri) and one landlocked species (Rhinogobius brunneus) were collected. Compared to previous studies, the proportion of fish living in the running water area tended to decrease, the proportion of fish living in the water purification area tended to increase, and ecosystem-disturbing species (M. salmoides and L. macrochirus) tended to increase gradually. Results of fish community analysis showed that the mainstream stations (St. 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 8) had low dominance, but high diversity and richness, and other stations (St. 2 and 7) had high dominance but low diversity and richness. The river health (index of biological integrity) evaluated using fish was assessed as bad (6 stations), normal (1 station), and very bad (1 station). The water quality grade was assessed as slightly bad due to the chemical oxygen demand (COD), total organic content (TOC), suspended solid (SS), and total coliforms (TC). The annual water quality showed a gradually increasing trend of biological oxygen demand (BOD), COD, SS, and chlorophyll-a. The stable life of fish and the improvement of river health in Hwapocheon Wetland require water quality improvement and the systematic management of ecosystem-disturbing species (M. salmoidesand L. macrochirus).

• Ecology and Resilient Infrastructure
• /
• v.9 no.1
• /
• pp.68-76
• /
• 2022

In this study, the Habitat Suitability Index (HSI) was calculated in the Miho stream of the Geum river system, and the environmental ecological flow by point was evaluated. Two points (St.3 and St.8) representing the up and downstream of Miho Stream were selected, in order to calculate the Habitat Suitability Index, the depth and velocity at point where each species is appeared were investigated. The Habitat Suitability Index (HSI) was calculated by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) method using the number collected by water depth and velocity section and the results of the flow rate survey. Two target species were selected in this study; dominant species and swimming species sensitive to flow. In the case of a single species of Zacco platypus, the water depth was 0.1 - 0.5 m and the velocity was 0.2 - 0.5 m/s. For species of swimming fish, the water depth was 0.2 - 0.5 m and the velocity was 0.2 - 0.5 m/s. The discharge-Weighted Useable Area (WUA) relationship curve and habitat suitability distribution were simulated at the Miho Stream points St.3 and St.8. At the upstream St.3 of Miho Stream, the optimal discharge was simulated as 4.0 m³/s for swimming fishes and 2.7 m³/s for Zacco platypus. At the downstream point of St.8, species of swimming fish were simulated as 8.8 m³/s and Zacco platypus was simulated as 7.6 m³/s. In both points, the optimal discharge of swimming fish was over estimated. This is a result that the Habitat Suitability Index for swimming fish requires a faster flow rate than the habitat conditions of the Zacco platypus. In the calculation of the minimum discharge, the discharge of Zacco platypus is smaller and is evaluated to provide more Weighted Useable Area. In the case of swimming fishes, narrow range of depth and velocity increases the required discharge and relatively decreases the Weighted Useable Area. Therefore, when calculating the Habitat Suitability Index for swimming fishes, it is more advantageous to calculate the index including the habitat of all fish species than to narrow the range.