• Proceedings of the National Institute of Ecology of the Republic of Korea
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.114-119
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• 2021

To restore the Gold-spotted pond frog (Pelophylax chosenicus), a Korean endangered frog, 600 captive-reared individuals were reintroduced between August and September 2019 into an aquatic garden in the National Institute of Ecology where P. chosenicus had previously inhabited. After reintroduction, six post-release monitoring sessions were conducted from August 2019 to May 2020. Monitoring was performed using three methods (counting calls, observation, and capture) from sunset to midnight near release sites, eliminating potential threat factors. Snout-vent lengths and body weights of recaptured individuals were measured before they were released immediately. We noted that both snout-vent lengths and body weights of recaptured individuals were slightly higher than those before. The average recapture rate was 4.66%. Reintroduced frogs were recaptured at the last monitoring session conducted in May 2020, indicating that these reintroduced frogs hibernated during the winter successfully. We found that these reintroduced frogs successfully settled after release. This result will be useful for establishing management strategies for endangered frogs in Korea. Particularly, post-release monitoring could be an essential approach in the restoration program of a target species.

• Proceedings of the National Institute of Ecology of the Republic of Korea
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• v.3 no.3
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• pp.129-138
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• 2022

Reintroduction programs have been promoted across the world to recover and rehabilitate endangered birds through ex situ captive breeding and releasing to the nature. The ultimate aims of these reintroduction programs are recovery of sustainable populations in natural habitats. To ensure the success of the reintroduction programs, it is necessary to examine the followings in order to increase the success rate of releasing along with the development of captive breeding techniques: 1) Adequate habitat provision, 2) adaptability of captive-bred individuals, 3) survivability of released individuals, and 4) social interest and will. Before releasing captive-bred individuals, it should be reviewed whether there are habitats in which the limiting factor is removed, and assessed their long-term safety. The quantity and quality of the released individuals must be considered to increase the chances for mate selection, maintain genetic diversity, and acquire the ability to adapt to the wild. The release method must be decided in consideration of characteristics of the target habitats and individuals, and rational means such as careful observation, evaluation, and feedback must be provided throughout the release process. For the long-term success of recovery projects, social awareness, sustainable support, and related experts are needed. Satisfying these criteria can help to increase the success rates of reintroduction programs. For the bird reintroduction program in the future, the feasibility of the methods and procedures must be closely reviewed before starting.

• Hwankyungkyoyuk
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.82-96
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• 2010

Currently, biodiversity conservation is regarded as one of the most important environmental issues in the 21st century. However, The educational approaches on biodiversity conservation is not actively developed. This study was conducted to develop the educational program on biodiversity conservation related with endangered species conservation for improving elementary and middle school girl students' knowledge on biodiversity, inspiring the value and importance of biodiversity, and improving the attitude toward the conservation of biodiversity. Because the biodiversity loss of wetlands such as rice-fields, rivers, marshes has made the breeding population of Oriental White Stork(Ciconia boyciana) endangered in Korea, this subject was very effective for students to learn the cause and effect of biodiversity loss realistically. The education program was conducted to 68 local elementary and middle girl students from 2007 to 2009 and consists of three main activities such as feeding on storks in captivity, sampling living organisms in rice-fields, and designing the future stork living village. The results didn't show a positive effect on improving the knowledge on the biodiversity, but a positive effect on improving the attitude toward the conservation of biodiversity. And the number of taxa that students noticed in rice-fields has increased significantly. In conclusion, this educational program promoted students to concern about and take up a positive attitude on the biodiversity conservation issue.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.97 no.5
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• pp.525-529
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• 2008

The purpose of this paper is to examine willingness to pay (WTP) for endangered species, the Korean goral, of Woraksan National Park in South Korea. The median of the WTP is adopted to estimate the value because it will not be affected by the extreme values. The estimated household median WTP using a logit model for Korean goral conservation in Woraksan National Park was 15,221 won. The estimated value of the WTP in relation to the Korean goral has some policy implications. especially in terms of implementing policy to protect the Korean goral. The result shows that the public conservation program does have a positive WTP for the conservation of the Korean goral. This implies that the Korean goral is an important species that needs to be maintained, the government has been expended a large sum of money in an attempt to protect it.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.56 no.4
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• pp.406-413
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• 2023

Captive breeding and reintroduction are crucial strategies for conserving endangered species populations. However, fish raised in predator-free environments, show a lack of recognition of predationrelated stimuli such as chemical and visual signals. It is critical to recognize chemical signals from injured conspecifics, also known as alarm signals, and the order or shape of predators to indicate the spread of predation risk in the habitat. We conducted a laboratory experiment to determine and adjust the optimal exposure period to induce appropriate anti-predator behavior response to different types of stimuli (Chemical, Visual and Chemical+Visual) for the endangered species Microphysogobio rapidus. Our results demonstrate that predator avoidance behavior varies depending on the types of stimuli and the duration of predation risk exposure. First, the results showed captive-breed M. rapidus show lack of response against conspecific alarm signal (Chemical cue) before the predation risk exposure period and tend to increase response over predation risk exposure time. Second, response to predator (visual cue) tend to peak at 48 hours cumulative exposure, but show dramatic decrease after 72 hours cumulative exposure. Finally, response to the mixed cue (Chemical+visual) tend to peak prior to the predation risk exposure period and show reduced response during subsequent exposure periods. This experiment confirms the lack of responsiveness to conspecific alarm signals in captive-bred M. rapidus and the need for an optimal nature behavior enhancement program prior to release of endangered species. Furthermore, responsiveness to predator visual signal peak at 48 hours cumulative exposure, suggest an optimal predation risk exposure period of up to 48 hours.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.417-428
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• 2013

The red fox (Vulpes vulpes), listed as a Class I endangered species by the Ministry of Environment of Korea, has been considered to be extinct in South Korea since the 1980s, and an intensive restoration project has been underway in Sobaeksan national park. This study was carried out to develop a suitable model for the red fox reintroduction program based on Population viability analysis (PVA) by using the VORTEX program. If 10 animals (5 females and 5 males) were continuously released into the initial zero population every year for 10 years, population growth rate and extinction probability over the next 50 years after the introduction of the population were $0.018{\pm}0.204$ and 0.354, respectively; the maximum population size was 116.34 at the 16th year after the first release, and a reduction rate of 1.22 every year from the 17th year was inferred. We found that additional releases would be needed from the 17th year after the initial release to maintain a positive growth rate and to prevent the extinction of the released red foxes, and releasing more than 12 individuals every year would be needed for the long-term, continuous existence of red foxes. By contrast, if fewer than 6 red fox individuals were released the extinction probability over the next 50 years was more than 80%. To maintain the minimum population growth rate, the release of more than 8 individuals were needed for positive population growth. The population growth rate was more stable when 10 animals in the change of their sex rate every year from the set value were released as the female-to- male sex ratio of 6:4 rather than 1:1. However, if the female-biased sex ratio was increased by more than 7:3, a negative population growth was expected. The occurrence rate of roadkill and poaching are important factors in the red fox restoration project. The extinction probability was decreased to 30% if each factor was decreased to 3% based on the standard baseline; however, if each factor was increased to more than 3%, an extinction rate of about 90% was reached over the next 50 years.