• Title/Summary/Keyword: environmental/ecological assessments

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Preliminary Ecological Environmental Assessments of a Brooklet in Jeungchon (증촌 도랑의 생태환경 조사와 평가)

  • Han, Jeong-Ho;An, Kwang-Guk
    • Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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    • v.21 no.6
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    • pp.841-857
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    • 2012
  • Preliminary ecological environmental assessments including physico-chemical constituents, water quality, fish fauna analysis, physical habitat health, and ecological health assessment were conducted as a primary step for Jeungchon micro-habitat ecosystem restoration in 2012. Water chemistry analysis of conductivity, dissolved oxygen, chlorophyll-a and etc. indicated that there were no significant differences(p < 0.05) among 6 sites between the headwaters and downstream. Multi-metric model analysis of Qualitative Habitat Evaluation Index(QHEI) showed that brooklets were at "good condition" as a mean QHEI of 158.7(n = 6) and the longitudinal differences of the model values between the sites were minor(QHEI range: 153 - 165). Total fish species and the number of individuals were 12 and 481, respectively, and dominant species were Zacco platypus(49.5%) and Zacco koreanus(36.8%). Tolerance guild analysis showed that the proportion of sensitive species($S_S$) had a negative linear function[$S_S=86.35-0.31(D_H)$; $R^2$ = 0.892, p < 0.01] with a distance from the headwaters, while the proportion of tolerant species($T_S$) had a positive linear function($R^2$ = 0.950, F = 90.28, p < 0.001) with the distance. Trophic feeding guild analysis showed that the proportion of insectivore species($I_n$) had a negative linear function($R^2$ = 0.934, p < 0.01) with a distance from the headwaters, while the proportion of omnivore species($O_m$) had a positive linear function($R^2$ = 0.958, p < 0.001) with the distance. Index of Biological Integrity(IBI) model, based on fish assemblages, showed a "fair condition" as a mean IBI of 23(n = 6), and there was a distinct differences of ecological health between the headwaters(S1 = 30; "good condition") and the downstreams(S6 = 14; "poor condition"). Overall, the preliminary environmental impact assessments suggest that water quality, physical habitat conditions(QHEI model), and ecological health(IBI model) were maintained well, even if the state was not an excellent conditions.

Improvement and Application for Environmental Conservation Value Assessment Map(ECVAM) of Nationwide Land in Korea

  • Lee, Moung-Jin;Jeon, Seong-Woo;Jo, Min-Jeong;Song, Won-Kyong;Kang, Byung-Jin
    • Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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    • v.23 no.5
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    • pp.335-346
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    • 2007
  • This study is aiming at improving the Environmental Conservation Value Assessment Map(ECVAM) of National Land in Korea. The ECVAM items are composed of legal and environmental/ecological assessments. A popular method applied to ECVAM is an overlay environmental/ecological assessment items. The purpose of this study is to offer complementary items of the ECVAM by examining assessment items. In this study we assessed the ECVAM by five methods. Method 1 is Grade 1 areas of each administrative district; Method 2 is comparing overlapped areas of each assessment items Grade 1, 2 and permission of each assessment items duplication; Method 3 is Grade 1, 2 areas by only singular assessment items; Method 4 is Grade 1 areas only of Method 2; and Method 5 is Grade 2 areas only of Method 2. Method 1 showed Seoul and other metropolitan cities revealed a large proportion of Grade I regions by the legal assessment items. Gang won-Do, showed a large proportion of Grade I regions by the environmental/ecological assessment item. Method 2 showed 93.4% of diameter Grade II(standard for stability); forest diameter item accounted for 99.9% by Method 3, Method 4 showed 95.7% of forest diameter, and forest density accounted for 66.4% by Method 5. This study contributes to reduce the complexity in the process of manufacturing ECVAM of National Land, and to raise the flexibility in the process of managing and updating this map.

Current Status and Perspective of Biological Assessments of Water Environment in Korea (우리나라 생물학적 물환경평가의 현황과 미래)

  • Hwang, Soon-Jin;Kim, Nan-Young;Won, Doo Hee;An, Kwang Kuk;Lee, Jae Kwan;Kim, Chang Soo;Shin, Jae-Ki
    • Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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    • v.22 no.5
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    • pp.757-767
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    • 2006
  • Biological assessments are the primary tool for evaluating the biological condition of a water body and makes it possible to understand accumulative and long-term effect of stressors. They also provide reliable biological information for which disturbed systems are to be restored. Sustainable water environment is not enough with attaining only the clean water, but it should sustain healthy and diverse aquatic life. Aquatic organisms are affected by various factors, including not only water quality but also habitat condition and stressors, and thus good condition of both physical and chemical water quality is prerequisite for sustaining healthy organisms. Therefore, biological assessment, along with other physical and chemical assessments, are crucial for evaluating the health of a water body. Overall, sustainability of water environment demands the attainment and maintenance of ecological integrity, which is resulted from the combination of physical, chemical and biological integrity. The biological criteria will play very important role in the water resource management and policy issues, and thus bioassessment program should be fully implemented and supported eventually by the law. To keep ecosystem health of water environment safely from the toxic pollutants and other stressors, the following suggestions need to be considered in environmental quality standards in Korea. For the first step, the biological indicators need to be introduced in evaluating river quality condition; they provide a qualitative description of biological condition of water body. Secondly, the biological water quality standards using biotic indices should be developed and implemented under the consideration of characteristics of Korean river systems. Lastly, the ecological status classification regime (ESCR) should be developed and introduced; it could be used in quality assessment of the water environment in general. In developing ESCR, integration of physico-chemical, biological, and habitat parameters should be taken into account.

THE WATERSHED MANAGEMENT AND ASSESSMENT USING GIS BASED ON HYDROLOGICAL AND LANDSCAPE ECOLOGICAL ANALYSIS

  • Lee, Ju-Young;Hopkins, James
    • Water Engineering Research
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    • v.7 no.1
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    • pp.9-20
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    • 2006
  • The watersheds are functional geographical areas that integrate a variety of environmental and ecological processes and human impacts on landscapes. Geographical assessments using GIS recognize the relationship between interdependence of resources and ecological/environmental components in watersheds. They are useful methodology for viable long term natural resource management. This paper performs through the using hydrological analyses, landscape ecological analyses, remote sensing, and GIS. Indicators are items or measures that represent key components of the small watersheds, and they are developed to be evaluated. Some indicators are described that they represent watershed condition and trend as well as focus on physical, biological and chemical properties of small watershed. Also, ecological functions such as stability, resilience, and sensitivity are inferred from them. The model implemented in GIS allows to reflect the ecological and hydrological functioning of watershed. Methodology from image analysis, landscape ecological analysis, spatial interpolation, and numerical process modeling are integrated within GIS to provide assessment for eco-logical/environmental condition. Results are described from the small watershed of Gwynns Falls in Baltimore County and Baltimore City, Maryland, an area of about 66.5 square miles. The small watershed within Gwynns Falls watershed are subject to a number of land-use. But it is predominantly urban, with significantly lesser amounts of forest and agriculture. The increasing urbanization is ass-coiated with ecological/environmental impacts and citizen conflicts.

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A Study on the Implication of Sustainability and Environmental Assessment (지속가능성과 환경평가의 연계에 관한 연구)

  • Hong, Sang-Pyo
    • Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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    • v.20 no.3
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    • pp.269-279
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    • 2011
  • Sustainability assessments tend to integrate ecological, social, and economic concerns. Sustainability assessment could be considered the highest rung in the assessment ladder. Broad strategies that seek to integrate individual SEA(Strategic Environmental Assessment) could be subjected to a sustainability assessment. Sustainability assessment could incorporate global and transboundary effects and priorities into SEA and project-level EIA(Environmental Impact Assessment). SEA could provide an environmental context and direction for project-level EIA. Procedural and substantive EIA requirements can be addressed through tiering such as sustainability assessment, SEA, project-level EIA. In Korea, PERS(Prior Environmental Review System) that has been utilized to evaluate administrative plans related with various kinds of development projects should be evolved not only to incorporate environmental impacts into early stage decision-making, but also to implicate sustainability assessments that include social equity and economic efficiency. Integration of SEA and sustainability assessment can be initiated through the application of DPSIR (Driving Force - Pressure - State - Impact - Response ) framework that was developed by European Environmental Agency.

New ecological health assessment approaches of an urban stream using molecular and physiological level biomarkers and bioindicators

  • Kim, Ja-Hyun;Yeom, Dong-Hyuk;Kim, Joon-Ha;An, Kwang-Guk
    • Animal cells and systems
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    • v.16 no.4
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    • pp.329-336
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    • 2012
  • This study evaluated ecological health, using various biomarkers and bioindicators, of pale chub (Zacco platypus) as a sentinel species, in Daejeon Stream, South Korea, during AprilMay 2011. The biomarkers and bioindicators were compared among three sites of control: Reference ($C_z$), transition ($T_z$), and the urban zones ($U_z$); and the 7-Ethoxyresorufin-O-deethylase (EROD) activity, DNA damage, acetylcholinesterase (AChE) activity, and vitellogenin (VTG) concentrations were more significantly increased in the $U_z$ than in the $C_z$. Also, physiological markers such as condition factor, liver somatic index, visceral somatic index, and gonad somatic index were significantly increased in the $U_z$ than in the $C_z$. For the health assessments, three categorized parameters of blood chemistry, molecular biomarkers, and physiological bioindicators were standardized and calculated as a star-plot, representing values of Integrated Health Response (IHR). Values of IHR had more significant (P<0.05) increases in the $U_z$ than any other zones, indicating an impairment of ecological health by organic matter, nutrients (N, P), and toxic chemicals. This study is based on low levels of biological organization approach of molecular and physiological biomarkers and bioindicators, so further study of high-levels of biological organization approach such as community and population is required for overall range of health assessments. The approach of IHR values, however, may be useful in providing early warning of future impacts on ecological health.