• Journal of the Korean Society of Environmental Restoration Technology
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• v.14 no.6
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• pp.119-130
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• 2011

Land-use changes have made considerable impacts on humans and nature such as biodiversity and ecosystem services. It is recognized as important elements for land use planning and regional natural resources conservation to identify the major causes of land use changes and to predict a process of changes and effects. This study, by using a spatially explicit Dyna-CLUE model, analyzed correlations between driving factors, quantified location characteristics of different land use types using logistic regression analysis and examined future land use changes and its effects in Yangpyeong and Yeoju region. We expected land use changes based on the three scenarios with different future land demands and simulated future changes for spatial variations of land use for the 20 years. The outcomes shows that larger change was found in agricultural areas than forest areas, based on the change in built-up areas. The changes in forest areas, which were mainly occurred in edge area, were expected to affect a large impact on its ecotone. It was found to be the importance of the management of forest edge and the necessity of the environmentally sound and sustainable development in order to conserve natural resources of the region.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Environmental Restoration Technology
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• v.17 no.6
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• pp.29-37
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• 2014

The objective of this study is to estimate the cost and benefits of street trees for their planting types, specifically, single row, single row+bottom, double row, double row+bottom. Different planting types are compared and analyzed by using Net Present Value (NPV) and benefit-cost ratio (BCR). Existing data are collected from the literature reviews for the use of meta-analysis method for estimating cost and benefit. The elements for analyzing costs are management and planting costs, and benefits are air purification, energy saving and landscape view. The discount rate is applied at a minimum of 3% and a maximum of 5.5%. The unit used in this calculation is km/year. The result shows that the net benefit is highest in double row, followed by single row, double row+bottom, and single row+bottom. The BCR is the highest in double row, followed by single row, double row+bottom, and single row+bottom. The BCR reaches the break-even point from 9 to 17 years depending on the planting types.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.108 no.1
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• pp.77-87
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• 2019

While the expansion of protected areas in accordance with Korea's National Biodiversity Strategy contributions to the conservation of biological diversity, it incurs economic losses and poses threats to the livelihoods of local residents. Payment for ecosystem services (PES) compensates local residents for their economic damages in a sustainable manner. To assess feasibility of PES, there is a need to estimate the general public's benefits from biodiversity conservation in protected areas. This study attempted to estimate visitors' willingness to pay (WTP) for biodiversity conservation in Mt. Jiri using the contingent valuation method (CVM). The WTP of respondents for the expansion of protected areas to increase biodiversity conservation was estimated at 16,103 KRW per household per year and this equates to a total of 316.8 billion KRW for all the households in Korea. The higher a respondent's age, education level and household income level, the more willing he or she is to pay for biodiversity conservation. Likewise, respondents who are aware of Mt. Jiri's designation as an Ecosystem and Landscape Conservation Area are more willing to pay for biodiversity conservation. Moreover, the higher the importance placed on biodiversity conservation policy, the higher the willingness to pay for biodiversity conservation. To enhance the feasibility of PES schemes, it is necessary to improve the general public's knowledge and awareness of biodiversity by providing opportunities for education and more information on biodiversity and biodiversity policies.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Landscape Architecture
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• v.43 no.2
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• pp.56-72
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• 2015

This study area for this research was the Taereung of the 2009 World Heritage-listed Royal Tombs of the Joseon Dynasty. The Taereung space was divided into that of the royal tomb space, religious service space, transposition space and entry space. The original vegetation is assumed to have been planted at the right, left and backside of the tomb based on historical research literature. Regarding the original vegetation landscape of Taeneung, it was assumed that Pinus densiflora was distributed around the tomb lines and tomb space, Pinus densiflora was distributed in the religion services space and transposition and Alnus japonica was distributed in the entry space. By the present status of vegetation in Taeneung, the Pinus densiflora forest was the widest area with 50.3% with the broadleaf forest at 33.7%. Quercus aliena, Quercus acutissima, and Quercus mongolica were the main species found in Taeneung. The planting area was 7.9% and Pinus densiflora were the main species planted. To analyze the plant community structure of Taeneung, 108 plots were set and divided into four spaces. The importance of the percentage of those districts was analyzed on a spatial basis and it was found that the current dominant species of the tomb space was Pinus densiflora. However, as Pinus densiflora began dying out, the power of Quercus acutissima increased and an ecological succession from the Pinus densiflora forest to Quercus aliena forest was made. In the spaces of religious services and transposition, Pinus densiflora was decreasing and Quercus spp. was expanded. In the space of entry, the dominant species were Pinus densiflora and Quercus aliena, Pinus densiflora and Quercus aliena. As soil of this area is argillaceous, Pinus densiflora is expected to disappear in the end. The prior vegetation(assumed) and present vegetation of Taeneung were compared and analyzed and a goal of vegetation management and the way in which to manage vegetation were suggested. The goal of vegetation landscape management was to analyze ecological characteristics and vegetation changes, maintain and restore a landscape suitable for historical landscape forests by space. About the space of the tomb, Pinus densiflora forests and Pinus densiflora planting zones forests should be maintained and there should be efforts to restore and manage the Pinus densiflora forests, instead of the Quercus spp. forests. About the space of religious services, Pinus densiflora forests and Pinus densiflora planting zones should be maintained and managed and there should be efforts to restore and manage Pinus densiflora forests to replace Quercus spp. Pinus densiflora forests in the space of transposition should be maintained and managed and Pinus densiflora forests should be restored to replace Quercus spp. trees. Alnus japonica forests should be restored in the space of entry.

• Journal of Forest and Environmental Science
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.177-185
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• 2009

Dryland species and ecosystems have developed unique strategies to cope with low and sporadic rainfall. They are highly resilient and recover quickly from prevailing disturbances such as fires, herbivore pressure and drought. Dryland people have engineered pastoral and farming systems, which are adapted to these conditions and have sustained the livelihoods of dryland people for centuries. In this article, we present the status of potentials and threats to dryland biodiversity and explore options for its conservation and sustainable use. Findings of the research can be summarized as follows: (i) The ecosystem goods and services are highly valued by the community but mechanism for wise use of the resources has disappeared, (ii) forests are under the ownership of the government but the local community is the realistic custodian of the forests through village leaderships and environmental committees; (iii) the immediate major threat to dryland biodiversity held in the forests appears to be the degradation of ecosystems and habitats caused by new and powerful forces of environmental degradation such as large scale irrigation of rice farms, poverty-induced overexploitation of natural resources, and disappearance and ignorance of traditional institutions for management of dryland biodiversity. These new forms of disturbances often overpower the legendary resilience of dryland ecosystems and constitute potentially serious threats to dryland biodiversity. Forests, wetlands and oases all of which are micro hot spots of dryland biodiversity, appear to be particularly vulnerable hence the need to set up some rules and regulations for sustainable utilization of these resources.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.43 no.1
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• pp.43-60
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• 2019

Background: Tropical montane forests played an important role in the provision of ecosystem services. The intense degradation and deforestation for the need of agricultural land expansion result in a significant decline of forest cover. However, the expansion of agricultural land did not completely destruct natural forests. There remain forests inaccessible for agricultural and grazing purpose. Studies on these forests remained scant, motivating to investigate biomass and soil carbon stocks. Data of biomass and soils were collected in 80 quadrats ($400m^2$) systematically in 5 forests. Biomass and disturbance gradients were determined using allometric equation and disturbance index, respectively. The regression modeling is employed to explore the spatial distribution of carbon stock along disturbance and environmental gradients. Correlation analysis is also employed to identify the relation between site factors and carbon stocks. Results: The result revealed that a total of 1655 individuals with a diameter of ${\geq}5cm$, representing 38 species, were measured in 5 forests. The mean aboveground biomass carbon stocks (AGB CS) and soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks at 5 forests were $191.6{\pm}19.7$ and $149.32{\pm}6.8Mg\;C\;ha^{-1}$, respectively. The AGB CS exhibited significant (P < 0.05) positive correlation with SOC and total nitrogen (TN) stocks, reflecting that biomass seems to be a general predictor of SOCs. AGB CS between highly and least-disturbed forests was significantly different (P < 0.05). This disturbance level equates to a decrease in AGB CS of 36.8% in the highly disturbed compared with the least-disturbed forest. In all forests, dominant species sequestrated more than 58% of carbon. The AGB CS in response to elevation and disturbance index and SOC stocks in response to soil pH attained unimodal pattern. The stand structures, such as canopy cover and basal area, had significant positive relation with AGB CS. Conclusions: Study results confirmed that carbon stocks of studied forests were comparable to carbon stocks of protected forests. The biotic, edaphic, topographic, and disturbance factors played a significant variation in carbon stocks of forests. Further study should be conducted to quantify carbon stocks of herbaceous, litter, and soil microbes to account the role of the whole forest ecosystem.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Environmental Restoration Technology
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• v.18 no.5
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• pp.1-11
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• 2015

Jeju Island is managed intensively in terms of environmental and ecological aspect because of its extraordinary ecosystem types comprising numerous rare, protected flora and fauna. To depict rapid change of habitat status in Jeju Island, the InVEST Habitat Quality model has been operated and compared analytically with the Eco-Natural map. The Habitat Quality map of Jeju Island is turned out to have similar inclination with Eco-Natural map. We compared the average habitat quality value in each Eco-natural map class in Jeju Island and the habitat quality value of first second third grade and non-included area decreased as 0.95 0.76, 0.53 and 0.37 in eco natural map respectively. Compared to biodiversity map based on biological investigation, the result of the InVEST habitat quality model can be simply obtained by land cover map with threat and sensitivity data. Further studies are needed to make explicit coefficients for Jeju Island and Korean peninsula, then the Habitat Quality model could be applied to past and future scenarios to analyze extent of habitat degradation in time series to help decision makers.

• Korean Journal of Plant Resources
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.337-364
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• 2020

Mt. Taegi (1,261.4 m) located in Gangwon-do, is a geographically important region for plant biodiversity. But the biodiversity of Mt. Taegi has been seriously damaged by the invasion of foreign plants, the development of forests and so on. We conducted 21 field surveys between April and August in 2008 and March and October in 2018 to investigate the vascular flora in Mt. Taegi. Total 662 taxa were identified including 96 families, 338 genera, 580 species, 4 subspecies, 66 varieties and 12 formas. Among them, 28 taxa were Korean endemic plants and 8 taxa were rare plants designated by the Korea Forest Services, and 11 taxa were listed on the Red list of endangered plants and 127 taxa were designated as the floristic regional indicator plants according to the Ministry of Environment. The alien plants were 45 taxa, including R. acetosella that is the ecosystem disturbing species.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural and Forest Meteorology
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.241-263
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• 2010

KoFlux is a Korean network of micrometeorological tower sites that use eddy covariance methods to monitor the cycles of energy, water, and carbon dioxide between the atmosphere and the key terrestrial ecosystems in Korea. KoFlux embraces the mission of AsiaFlux, i.e. to bring Asia's key ecosystems under observation to ensure quality and sustainability of life on earth. The main purposes of KoFlux are to provide (1) an infrastructure to monitor, compile, archive and distribute data for the science community and (2) a forum and short courses for the application and distribution of knowledge and data between scientists including practitioners. The KoFlux community pursues the vision of AsiaFlux, i.e., "thinking community, learning frontiers" by creating information and knowledge of ecosystem science on carbon, water and energy exchanges in key terrestrial ecosystems in Asia, by promoting multidisciplinary cooperations and integration of scientific researches and practices, and by providing the local communities with sustainable ecosystem services. Currently, KoFlux has seven sites in key terrestrial ecosystems (i.e., five sites in Korea and two sites in the Arctic and Antarctic). KoFlux has systemized a standardized data processing based on scrutiny of the data observed from these ecosystems and synthesized the processed data for constructing database for further uses with open access. Through publications, workshops, and training courses on a regular basis, KoFlux has provided an agora for building networks, exchanging information among flux measurement and modelling experts, and educating scientists in flux measurement and data analysis. Despite such persistent initiatives, the collaborative networking is still limited within the KoFlux community. In order to break the walls between different disciplines and boost up partnership and ownership of the network, KoFlux will be housed in the National Center for Agro-Meteorology (NCAM) at Seoul National University in 2011 and provide several core services of NCAM. Such concerted efforts will facilitate the augmentation of the current monitoring network, the education of the next-generation scientists, and the provision of sustainable ecosystem services to our society.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Environmental Restoration Technology
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.49-65
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• 2022

Since trees in the city are green assets that create a healthy environment for the city, systematic management of trees improves urban ecosystem services. The sporadic urban tree information centered on the site is vast, and it is difficult to manage the data, so efforts to increase efficiency are needed. This paper summarizes tree data inventory based on data constructed by Seoul Green Trust activists and constructs and discloses online database maps using Tableau Software. In order to verify the utilization of the map, we divided into consumer and supplier aspects to collect various opinions and reflect feedback to implement tree database maps for each area and species of Seoul Forest. As a result, the utilization value of tree database in urban parks was presented. The technical significance of this study is to systematically record the process of constructing and implementing a dashboard directly using the Mapbox platform and Tableau Software in the field of landscaping for the first time in Korea. In addition, the implications and supplements of landscape information were derived by collecting user opinions on the results. This can be used as an exploratory basis in the process of developing online-based services such as web and apps by utilizing landscaping tree information in the future. Although the visualization database currently constructed has limitations that ordinary users cannot interact in both directions because it utilizes business intelligence tools in terms of service provision it has affirmed both the database construction and its usability in web public format. In the future it is essential to investigate the assets of the trees in the city park and to build a database as a public asset of the city. The survey participants positively recognized that information is intuitively presented based on the map and responded that it is necessary to provide information on the overall urban assets such as small parks and roadside trees by using open source maps in the future.