• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
• /
• v.44 no.6
• /
• pp.548-555
• /
• 2018

Objectives: We conducted ecological risk assessment for cadmium, a heavy metal and carcinogen, to identify safety standards by environmental media and to determine its impact on ecosystems by estimating and evaluating exposure levels. Methods: Species sensitivity distributions (SSDs) were generated using ECOTOX DB. A hazardous concentration of 5% (HC5) protective of most species (95%) in the environment was estimated. Using this estimate, predicted no effect concentrations (PNECs) were calculated for aquatic organisms. Based on the calculated PNECs for aquatic organisms, PNEC values for soil and sediment were calculated using the partition coefficient. Predicted exposure concentrations (PECs) were also calculated from environmental monitoring data with hazard quotients (HQs) calculated using PNECs for environmental media. Results: Chronic toxicity data were categorized into four groups and 11 species. In species sensitivity distribution (SSD) analysis, HC5 was $0.340{\mu}g/L$. Based on this value, the PNEC value for aquatic organisms was calculated as $0.113{\mu}g/L$. PNEC values for soil and sediments using a partition coefficient were calculated as 15.02 mg/kg and 90.61 mg/kg, respectively. In an analysis of environmental monitoring data, PEC values were calculated as $0.017{\mu}g/L$ for water, 1.01 mg/kg for soil, and 0.521 mg/kg for sediment. Conclusions: HQs were 0.150, 0.067 and 0.006 for water, soil and sediment, respectively. HQs of secondary toxicity were 0.365 for birds and 0.024 for mammals. In principle, it is judged that an HQ above 1 indicates a high level of risk concern while an HQ less than 1 indicates an extremely low level of risk concern. Therefore, with HQs of cadmium in the environment being <1, its risk levels can be considered low for each media.

• Journal of People, Plants, and Environment
• /
• v.24 no.3
• /
• pp.245-256
• /
• 2021

Background and objective: The vitalization of urban agriculture has increased various forms of experience-based education using school gardens, which raised the importance of school gardens in terms of value as well as the need to develop an implementation system for education-based agricultural experience service using school gardens. Thus, we reset the evaluation indicators from the previous study to establish objective evaluation indicators that enable quantitative comparison of school garden education services. Methods: Analytic hierarchy process (AHP) and direct question (DQ) surveys were conducted on 20 experts from October 12 to 19, 2020 after establishing the purpose and subjects of evaluation, and then the weights were calculated using the Expert Choice 2010 program. Results: First, we analyzed the problems of the previous indicators by categorizing the performance indicators and comparing and verifying them with six requirements of valuation. Then, we added 'welfare values' and established sub-indicators accordingly. The importance of value indicator in AHP was in the order of education values (0.544), health values (0.182), welfare values (0.164), environmental values (0.062), and economic values (0.049). The importance of environmental and economic values was relatively low, less than 0.1. The importance of sub-indicators was highest in cultivating character (0.144), followed by enhancing ecological sensitivity (0.141) > promoting mental health (0.134) > cultivating agricultural literacy (0.120) > improving social skills (0.104). And mitigating climate change in environmental values was lowest (0.009). Increase in income was the lowest (0.036). This can be regarded as the expression of change to increase the educational effect based on collective life and the connotative meaning of 'school'. In the case of DQ, the AHP weight and order were the same, but the environmental and economic values were relatively low, and the result was different from AHP weight. For sub-indicators, the importance in DQ was highest in promoting mental health (0.136), followed by promoting physical health (0.085), ]cultivating character (0.082), social integration (0.072), and enhancing ecological sensitivity (0.071). After reviewing related experts, we came up with 5 evaluation indicators and 16 sub-indicators for school garden education service, which are objective evaluation indicators that enable quantitative comparison. Conclusion: In the future, we will validate the socioeconomic values of school garden education services and contribute to revitalizing school gardens by establishing policy alternatives for effective operation and management of school gardens.

• Journal of Korean Society of Rural Planning
• /
• v.21 no.1
• /
• pp.63-75
• /
• 2015

In analyzing the issues of ecotourism, collecting opinions of local residents and participants is an essential process because ecotourism needs to keep ecological sensitivity and respect local residents' ecological lives. Thus, the objective of this study is to analyze the local participants' attitude in resident-oriented ecotourism. Maha ecotourism site, as a study site, is located in Pyeongchang-gun, one of the twelve ecotourism sites designated by the Ministry of Environment. This site has drawn attention since the local government of Pyeongchang-gun transferred its management right on Maha ecotourism sit to the organization of local residents in 2013. This study uses Q methodology which is the most popular research method in analyzing people's subjectivity, that is, viewpoint and attitude. This study have found that there are four features in the subjectivities of participants toward ecotourism site: first group is the people who want more autonomous management right of local residents on Maha ecotourism site. Second group is the people who only want to stand by the ecotourism management. Third group is the people who focus on the migration of talented persons into their neighborhood owing to the program. Lastly, fourth group is the people who focus on the quality of the ecotourism program. In case of the second group, though they have negative opinions of the program, they have much interest in successful cases in other countries managed similar programs with Maha ecotourism. It would be effective for the group to have opportunities to experience successful ecotourism cases in other countries. On top of it, having seminars regarding ecotourism or holding community councils frequently would be very helpful for encouraging the second group of people to join in the ecotourism program actively like other groups of people. Supplying more manpower and developing various programs are also necessary in order to support other three groups.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Landscape Architecture
• /
• v.34 no.5 s.118
• /
• pp.39-51
• /
• 2006

This study was carried out to provide guidance to environmental policy makers when deciding which assessment fields (biotic, abiotic, qualitative, functional) should have priority for ecological preservation and to develop an objective and scientific methodology by introducing the engineering concept of the fuzzy integral. The grant of weights was used the eigenvalues calculated by factor analysis, and the converted values of indicators were obtained in multiplying the arithmetic values and eigenvalues. The results of the appropriateness and reliability of assessment fields were examined over 0.6, and the results showed that the design of questionnaire presented no great problems. When the fuzzy integral was calculated to determine the rankings at ${\lambda}$=1, 2, 3, 4, 5, respectively, they were 0.646, 0.630, 0.943, 1.423, and 1.167 for the biotic field, 1.298, 1.400, 0.901, 0.580, and 1.456 for the abiotic field, 0.714, 0.674, 0.346, 0.674, and 1.610 in the qualitative field and 1.000, 0.973, 0.943, 1.024, and 1.008 in the functional field. The sensitivity to ${\lambda}$ value showed that ${\lambda}=4$ was the most suitable. In comparison with ${\lambda}=0$ (the arithmetic mean), the range of change was narrow. Because the range for ${\lambda}=4$ was narrower than my other values, ${\lambda}=4$ was sure to be available in ranking-decision. The fuzzy integral is expected to be a method for analyzing and filtering human thoughts. In the future, in order to overcome linguistic uncertainty and subjectivity, other fuzzy integral models including Sugeno's method, AHP, and so forth should be used.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
• /
• v.54 no.3
• /
• pp.209-220
• /
• 2021

Pacific herring, Clupea pallasii, a keystone species with significant ecological and commercial importance, is declining globally throughout much of its range. While traditional fishing equipment methods remain limited, new sensitive and rapid detection methods should be developed to monitor fisheries resources. To monitor the presence and quantity of C. pallasii from environmental DNA (eDNA) extracted from seawater samples, a pair of primers and a TaqMan^® probe specific to this fish based on mitochondrial cytochrome b (COB) sequences were designed for the real-time PCR (qPCR) assay. The combination of our molecular markers showed high specificity in the qPCR assay, which affirmed the success of presenting a positive signal only in the C. pallasii specimens. The markers also showed a high sensitivity for detecting C. pallasii genomic DNA in the range of 1 pg~100 ng rxn^-1 and its DNA plasmid containing COB amplicon in the range of 1~100,000copies rxn^-1, which produced linear standard calibration curves (r²=0.99). We performed a qPCR assay for environmental water samples obtained from 29 sampling stations in the southeastern coastal regions of South Korea using molecular markers. The assay successfully detected the C. pallasii eDNA from 14 stations (48.2%), with the highest mean concentration in Jinhae Bay with a value of 76.09±18.39 pg L^-1 (246.20±58.58 copies L^-1). Our preliminary application of molecular monitoring of C. pallasii will provide essential information for efficient ecological control and management of this valuable fisheries resource.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural Science
• /
• v.49 no.4
• /
• pp.1001-1013
• /
• 2022

The purpose of this study is to build an oyster outlook model. In particular, by limiting oyster items, it was designed as a partial equilibrium model based on a panel analysis of a fixed effect model on aquaculture facilities. The model was built with a dynamic ecological equation (DEEM) system that considers aquaculture and harvesting processes. As a result of the estimation of the initial aquaculture facilities based on the panel analysis, the elasticity of the remaining facility volume in the previous month was estimated to be 0.63. According to Nerlove's model, the adjustment coefficient was interpreted as 0.31 and the adjustment speed was analyzed to be very slow. Also, the relative income coefficient was estimated to be 2.41. In terms of elasticity, it was estimated as 0.08% in Gyeongnam, 0.32% in Jeonnam, and 1.98% in other regions. It was analyzed that the elasticity of relative income was accordingly higher in non-main production area. In case of the estimation of the monthly harvest facility volume, the elasticity of the remaining facility volume in the previous month was estimated as 0.53, and the elasticity of the farm-gate price was estimated as 0.23. Both fresh and chilled and frozen oysters' exports were estimated to be sensitive to fluctuations in domestic prices and exchange rates, while Japanese wholesale prices were estimated to be relatively low in sensitivity, especially to the exchange rate with Japan. In estimating the farm-gate price, the price elasticity coefficient of monthly production was estimated to be inelastic at 0.25.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
• /
• v.33 no.6_2
• /
• pp.1119-1137
• /
• 2017

This study assessed the water provisioning and climate mitigation ecosystem services of the urban forest in Seoul and Gyeonggi-do. The ecosystem service assessment is conducted based on natural function, natural function and population, and natural function and the beneficiary of the ecosystem service. Then, the impact of climate change on ecosystem services is analyzed to figure out the sensitivity of the impact on the beneficiary when the natural function of forest destroys under climate change. Gyeonggi-do has higher function-based water provisioning ecosystem service than Seoul. And population-based water provisioning ecosystem service appears to be higher in the densely populated area. On the other hand, beneficiary-based water provisioning ecosystem service by applying both natural water supply function and beneficiary distribution appears different with the result of population-based water provisioning service assessment. In other words, regions with high beneficiary population show higher ecosystem service than those with a low beneficiary population even though they have the same water storage function. In addition, climate change has a negative impact on the water provisioning ecosystem service. Under climate change, water provisioning service is expected to decrease by 26%. For climate mitigation service, regions close to the forest seem to have a low temperature, which indicates their high climate mitigation service. The center of the city with high beneficiary population shows high beneficiary-based ecosystem service. The climate change impacts the forest growth to decrease which affect the beneficiary-based climate mitigation ecosystem service to decrease by 33%. From this study, we conclude that beneficiary-based function and ecosystem service assessment is needed as well as the supply-based classification of forest function suggested by Korea Forest Service. In addition, we suggest that not only supply-based function classification and ecosystem service assessment but also beneficiary-based function classification and ecosystem service assessment is needed for managing the urban forest, which has been destroyed by climate change. This will contribute to revaluing cases where a forest with low natural function but high beneficiary-based ecosystem service, which is not considered under the current forest function-based assessment system. Moreover, this could assist in developing a suitable management plan for the urban forest.

• Ocean Science Journal
• /
• v.40 no.1
• /
• pp.17-24
• /
• 2005

A series of experiments were conducted to develop standard test organisms and test protocols for measuring sediment toxicity using candidate amphipods such as Mandibulophoxus mai, Monocorophium acherusicum, Haustorioides indivisus, and Haustorioides koreanus, which are indigenous to Korea. The relevant association of test species with sediment substrates was one of the important factors in sediment bioassay. The indigenous amphipods M mai and M. acherusicum were well associated with test sediments when they were exposed to various sediment substrates from sand to mud. The tolerant limits to various physico-chemical factors affecting bioassay results such as temperature, salinity and ammonia, as well as sensitivities to reference toxicant and contaminated sediments, were investigated using M. mai and M. acherusicum in the present study. These amphipods were tolerant to relatively wide ranges of salinity $(10{\sim}30\;psu)$ and ammonia (<50 ppm), and displayed relevant sensitivity to temperature as well. They are more sensitive to Cd, the reference toxicant, when compared to the standard test species used in other countries. Field-sediment toxicity tests revealed that M. mai would be more sensitive to sediment-associated pollutants than M. acherusicum, while the sensitivity of M. acherusicum was comparable to that of Leptocheirus plumulosus, which has been used as a standard test species in the United States of America. Overall results of this first attempt to develop an amphipod sediment toxicity test protocol in Korea indicated that M. mai and M. acherusicum would be applicable in the toxicity assessment of contaminated sediments, following the further evaluation encompassing various ecological and toxicological studies in addition to test method standardization.

• Ocean and Polar Research
• /
• v.23 no.4
• /
• pp.389-394
• /
• 2001

During austral summer 1998 we examined the impacts of artificial UV-B and solar radiation on chlorophyll a content and fresh weight of four species of Antarctic red algae namely, Georgiella confluens, Iridaea cordata, Pantoneura plocamioides and Porphyra endiviifolium. These subject species were taken in consideration of clear demarcations of their vertical distribution and classified as shallow water group (Iridaea and Porphyra) and deep water group (Georgiella and Pantoneura). When irradiated with artificial UV-B at the irradiance of $2.0Wm^{-2}$ the shallow water inhabitants were much more resistant than the algae from deep water the fresh weight of which was reduced by 40-50% relative to control apart from loss of pigmentation. Direct solar radiation was lethal to the deep water group with a sign of complete bleaching whereas the shallow water group did not show any change in the physiological parameters. We were unable to discriminate difference in the algal sensitivity between UV-filtered and UV-transparent treatments since samples tested were either all unaffected or dead. Spectrophotometric measurements of methanolic extracts revealed a strong absorption peak in the UV range in the shallow water group of algae, Iridaea and Porphyra, but not in the deep water counterparts. Species difference in sensitivity to artificial UV-B and solar radiation is discussed in relation to biochemical and morphological characteristics and the role of the radiation in the algal vertical distribution is suggested from ecological perspective.

• KIEAE Journal
• /
• v.3 no.2
• /
• pp.37-44
• /
• 2003

The aim of this study was to analyze the thermal performance through Test-Cell of TI-wall in domestic climate. This study was carried out as follows: 1) The TI-wall was studied for ability to reduce heat loss through the building envelope and analyzed to TIM properties. 2) Test models of TI-wall were designed through the investigation of previous paper and work, measured for winter and spring, and the thermal effects were analyzed. The type of the TIM used in test model is small-celled(diameter 4mm and thickness 50mm) capillary and cement brick(density $1500kg/m^3$) was used by thermal mass. 3) Test-cell of TI-wall was calibrated from measured data and the dynamic simulation program ESP-r 9.0. In these simulations, the measured climate conditions of TaeJon were used as outdoor conditions, and the simulation model of Test-cell was developed. 4) The sensitivity analysis is executed in various aspects with standard weather files and ESP-r 9.0, and then most suitable system of TI-wall are predicted. Finally, The suitable system of TI-wall was analysed according to sizes of air gap, kinds, thickness, and the surface absorption of therm wall. The result is following. In TI-wall, Concrete is better than cement brick, at that time the surface absorption is 95%, and the most efficient thickness is 250mm. As smaller of a air gap, as reducer of convection heat loss, it is efficient for heating energy. However, ensuring of a air gap at least more than 50mm is desirable for natural ventilation in Summer.