• Journal of the Korean Institute of Landscape Architecture
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• v.37 no.1
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• pp.50-64
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• 2009

The freshwater lakes located at the fringe of urban cities are a habitat for diverse organisms. However, they are facing severe danger of environment deterioration and water pollution caused by reckless development of the area. In this study, an ecological management plan was suggested to promote the biodiversity through appointing management area based on the research and analysis data of flora and fauna as well as maintain biodiversity and harmonize utilization of freshwater lakes such as Duryang Reservoir at Sacheon, Gyeongsangnam-do. Base on the data of ecological research and analysis, this study conducted research on biotope assessment, wild life habitat assessment and presence of protected species. As a result, the ecosystem conservation area including multi-layer structured natural forests, waterside and wetland that are home to various species and the edge area with high habitat diversity were recognized as highly preservable regions. Management areas were ecologically disturbed region, highly polluted commercial district and damaged waterside caused by fishing. Proactive management must be implemented through vegetation management such as vegetation transition and shrub planting as well as establishing pollutant management system. The deterioration of waterside and forest vegetation of freshwater lake has a direct influence on biodiversity and water quality. Therefore, the conservation area and development area should be totally separated from each other, and the development area must be restored and managed strictly.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.307-317
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• 2011

Ground beetle fauna of Mt. Bangtaesan in Inje-gun, Gangwon-do was investigated from June to October in 2010. Ground beetles were collected by pitfall trapping. A total of 34 species of 18 genera belonging to 7 families were identified from 1,041 collected ground beetles. Species richness was high in Pterostichinae (15 species, 44.1%), Carabinae (7 species, 20.6%), Harpalinae (4 species, 11.8%), Nebriinae (3 species, 8.8%) and others (5 species, 14.7%). Dominant species were Synuchus spp. (260 individuals, 25.0%), Aulonocarabus semiopacus (218 individuals, 20.9%), and Pterostichus audax (205 individuals, 19.7%) in order. Korean endemic species were collected 564 individuals belonging to 10 species. By principal component analysis (PCA), species distribution and abundance of ground beetles were different depending on habitat characteristics of vegetation, surrounding environment and feeding habitat. Carabinae and Pterostichinae which live in the forest were preferred in hardwoods and coniferous in the Bangtansan Natural Recreation Forest, while Callistinae and Harpalinae were collected in forest adjacent to grasslands. Overall, differences of habitat environments within forest are important factors associated with distribution of ground beetles. This result will provide useful informations with establishment of conservation program and long-term monitoring against environmental change within mountain by using ground beetles.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Environmental Restoration Technology
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• v.7 no.3
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• pp.64-72
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• 2004

The research was carried out to define the environmental characteristics and vegetation structure of the evergreen fern habitat in Jejudo. The growth conditions of evergreen fern in various habitats was surveyed, including topographical features, vegetation structure, air temperature, humidity, intensity of light, water content and organic matter content in the soil. In the direction of the native habitat, 70% of research area was located in the southeast-facing slopes, 30% was located in southern slopes. The gradient ranged from $0^{\circ}$ to $30^{\circ}$. Temperature ranged from $16^{\circ}C$ to $28^{\circ}C$, and $22.3^{\circ}C$ was the average. Humidity ranged from 20 to 68%, and 36% was the average. In the native habitat, the highest light intensities reached 60,000 to 80,0001ux, but in general ranged from 300 to 40001ux. Water content in the soil ranged from 32% to 59%, organic matter content ranged from 8 to 13%. Within a unit of 25$m^2$, there were tall-tree layer such as Quercus galuca and Castanopsis cuspidata with a covering of rate 40~80%, a sub-tall-tree layer such as Camellia japonica, Staphylea bumalda and Sambucus williamsii with the covering rate of 3~5%, a shrub layer with the covering rate of 5~20%, and a grass layer with the covering rate of 40~95%. This research provides the basic data about the native habitat environment of the evergreen fern plant. Continuous monitoring and accumulation of data is necessary for the use of evergreen fern as vegetation materials.

• Journal of Wetlands Research
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.413-418
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• 2012

In this study, both habitat use analysis by rumen contents of Eurasian river otter (Lutra lutra) were carried out to investigate the preference of habitat environment and diet using their fecal samples. As the target sites, two streams (the Naechon-cheon and the Koonup-cheon) were selected in the upstream of the Hongcheon river, Hongcheon County, Gangwon Province. A total of 478 track samples (e.g., feces, scent and footprint) were found during the survey periods (May to November, 2009 and November, 2010). The dominant points, where the tracks of river otters were observed, were areas with the low depth(0.5-1m) and the slow flow velocity (5m/sec). Also, both rocks and rock-beds were preferred but artificial facilities were avoided. This ecological study of river otters using habitat use analysis and diet analysis by rumen contents will be useful fundamental information to conserve the river otter populations, and to protect their habitats.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.3-13
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• 2010

The Tsushima leopard cat, Prionailurus bengalensis euptilurus, a small felid, inhabits only the Tsushima Islands in Japan. Previous studies of the Tsushima leopard cat revealed that natural factors; including sex, reproductive activity, season, and prey distribution and abundance affect leopard cat home range variation and habitat use. In this study, we focused on clarifying how anthropogenic factors influenced home range variation and habitat use of a male Tsushima leopard cat living near a suburban area in January, March, May and September 2005 using radio-tracking. The home range size (100% MCP) of this cat was $0.78\;{\pm}\;0.26\;km^2$ (mean ${\pm}$ SD, n = 4 tracking sessions) across the whole study period. However, the cat did not use all parts of its home range uniformly; rather it used some habitat types selectively. The cat avoided agriculture areas and residential areas in all of the tracking-sessions. On the other hand, the cat showed a weak preference for artificial structures and a strong preference for baiting sites in January and March, while it avoided them in May, and no baiting site was included in its home range in September. These results suggest that anthropogenic factors influenced the ranging patterns and habitat use of the leopard cat living near a suburban area. Artificial structures might provided good resting spaces for the cat in bad weather. When the density of its main prey was low in the winter, the cat tended to rely on artificial prey and had a small home range size.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.133-143
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• 2015

Freshwater macrophytes improve the structural heterogeneity of microhabitats in water, often providing an important habitat for zooplankton. Some studies have focused on the overall influence of macrophytes on zooplankton, but the effects of macrophyte in relation to different habitat characteristics of zooplankton (e.g., epiphytic and pelagic) have not been intensively studied. We hypothesized that different habitat structures (i.e., macrophyte habitat) would strongly affect zooplankton distribution. We investigated zooplankton density and diversity, macrophyte characteristics (dry weight and species number), and environmental parameters in 40 shallow wetlands in South Korea. Patterns in the data were analyzed using a self-organizing map (SOM), which extracts information through competitive and adaptive properties. A total of 20 variables (11 environmental parameters and 9 zooplankton groups) were patterned onto the SOM. Based on a U-matrix, 3 clusters were identified from the model. Zooplankton assemblages were positively related to macrophyte characteristics (i.e., dry weight and species number). In particular, epiphytic species (i.e., epiphytic rotifers and cladocerans) exhibited a clear relationship with macrophyte characteristics, while large biomass and greater numbers of macrophyte species supported high zooplankton assemblages. Consequently, habitat heterogeneity in the macrophyte bed was recognized as an important factor to determine zooplankton distribution, particularly in epiphytic species. The results indicate that macrophytes are critical for heterogeneity in lentic freshwater ecosystems, and the inclusion of diverse plant species in wetland construction or restoration schemes is expected to generate ecologically healthy food webs.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.46 no.1
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• pp.10-17
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• 2013

History of Instream Flow Incremental Methodology (IFIM) Following the large reservoir and water development era of the mid-twentieth century in North America, resource agencies became concerned over the loss of many miles of riverine fish and wildlife resources in the arid western United States. Consequently, several western states began issuing rules for protecting existing stream resources from future depletions caused by accelerated water development. Many assessment methods appeared during the 1960's and early 1970's. These techniques were based on hydrologic analysis of the water supply and hydraulic considerations of critical stream channel segments, coupled with empirical observations of habitat quality and an understanding of riverine fish ecology. Following enactment of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) of 1970, attention was shifted from minimum flows to the evaluation of alternative designs and operations of federally funded water projects. Methods capable of quantifying the effect of incremental changes in stream flow to evaluate a series of possible alternative development schemes were needed. This need led to the development of habitat versus discharge functions developed from life stage-specific relations for selected species, that is, fish passage, spawning, and rearing habitat versus flow for trout or salmon. During the late 1970's and early 1980's, an era of small hydropower development began. Hundreds of proposed hydropower sites in the Pacific Northwest and New England regions of the United States came under intensive examination by state and federal fishery management interests. During this transition period from evaluating large federal reservoirs to evaluating license applications for small hydropower, the Instream Flow Incremental Methodology (IFIM) was developed under the guidance of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS).

• Journal of the Korean Society of Environmental Restoration Technology
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.63-72
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• 2005

Chirisan National Park, the first and largest one out of 20 national parks in Korea, is divided into five zones. They are composed of nature preservation zone, natural environment zone, natural residential zone, concentrated residential zone, and collective facility zone. However, the park is not a continuous habitat: roads, trails, local residences, and various facilities created the habitat mosaics severely fragmented. We investigated the fragmentation pattern of the park due to roads and mountain trails using GIS. Based on perimeter length, area, and the ratio of perimeter to area of each patch, we obtained landscape analysis indices which reflect the regularity of the patch shape. The 1 m-wide hiking trails divided the park into 491 fragments. The legal trails with 1.5 m - 3 m width which have been heavily used by hikers generate 58 fragments. Even the nature preservation zone, corresponding to a core zone comprising 31.8% of the park area, was divided into 37 fragments because of the roads and mountain trails. With the different widths of buffer applied, the core sizes of the fragments were reduced. When the 60 m buffer was applied, the patch interior areas ranged from 0.0001 to 47.77 $km^2$ with a mean of 7.08 $km^2$. The landscape shape indices were far greater than 1 for most of the cases with a maximum value of 25. These results clearly indicate that Chirisan National Park is not a continuous habitat, but mosaics of small, irregularly shaped habitat fragments. It is necessary to take the size and shape of the fragmented habitats into consideration when nature conservation is planned, especially for large wildlife such as brown bears.

• Journal of Wetlands Research
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.402-406
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• 2015

This study aims at favorable environmental conditions by river otter residing in Hongcheon river ecosystems using spraints along the river. Otter spraints were indicative of habitat use pattern and marking a territory in the areas. Nae-chon and Kuneob-chon river otter spraints were collected totaling 478 with 8 times during 2009-2011, and based on the number river use patterns were analyzed with the technique of index of dispersion. Results with larger than one indicated that river otter habitat use pattern were not random; instead they used preferred areas for habitat use. 'I' values greater than one indicate a clumped distribution and lower than one indicate random distribution. This study also demonstrated that we need a sophiscated linear model that should be developed to identify key habitat elements in river ecosystems.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.43 no.6
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• pp.771-775
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• 2010

This study was carried out to investigate soil and environment characteristics of Schizandra Chinensis Baillon habitat as a part of establishment of conservation plan for important medicinal crop resources in Jangsu-gun, Jeollabuk-do. These habitats are mostly located on the slopes of mountains facing northwest at an altitude of 500 m to 700 m with angles of inclination ranging from 17.6 to 36.4%. Average yearly precipitation and temperature of Schizandra Chinensis Baillon habitat were 1,493.4 mm and $16.9^{\circ}C$, respectively. The number of plant species growing in Schizandra Chinensis Baillon habitat was found 55 species. Salix gracilistyla, Lespedeza bicolor, and Artemisia princeps var. were shown higher density and coverage. Chemical quality of Schizandra Chinensis Baillon habitats soils was relatively higher than artificial cultivation soil.