• Ocean and Polar Research
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• v.42 no.1
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• pp.21-31
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• 2020

Shorebirds migrating along the East Asian-Australasian Flyway (EAAF) have been drastically decreasing due to continuous area loss and quality degradation of intertidal mudflats in the Yellow Sea. Evaluating the current habitat quality by means of habitat carrying capacity estimation could be effective in predicting the magnitude of impacts caused by habitat loss and provide better understanding to improve management strategies. In this study, we estimated the total biomass of Macrophthalmus japonicus, a main prey item of curlews in the Korea peninsular as habitat carrying capacity of the southern intertidal mudflat of Ganghwa Island, one of the key stopover sites for curlews in the EAAF. The result of the estimation took into account spatial differences of prey biomass and the available foraging time by tide patterns. Accordingly, it was found that curlew populations account for 30.26% of the habitat carrying capacity. When we calculated the mean biomass of the area and extrapolated it to the whole area to calculate the total biomass, it was found that the curlews have consumed 10.92% of the total biomass. The results show that the habitat carrying capacity of the southern intertidal mudflat of Ganghwa Island has decreased by 7.8% compared to a study conducted twenty years ago employing the same method. This study shows that there can be considerable differences in the results of habitat carrying capacity estimation between different methods, indicating that various environmental factors that affect the estimation results of habitat carrying capacity must be considered to achieve a more precise analysis and assessment.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.27 no.6
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• pp.822-829
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• 2011

The purpose of the present study is to estimate the ecological instream flow for conservation and restoration of fish habitat in running water ecosystem which has very important status for stream environment. Estimation of the ecological instream flow in the present study was carried out by application of a two-dimensional depth averaged model of river hydrodynamics, River2D model. It can model fish habitat in natural streams and rivers and assess the quality of physical habitat accoriding to the species preferences for habitat suitability. Zacco platypus and Zacco temmincki were selected as target fish species in the study area of the Seomjin river. The Habitat Suitability Criteria (HSC) developed by Sung et al. (2005) were used for target fish species, life stages and habitat conditions in the study. Weighted usable area (WUA) was computed by the River2D model considering preferences of target fish species for velocity, depth, and channel substrate. The result revealed that the ecological instream flow of $10.0m^3/s$ is needed to maintain the target fish habitat at each life stage in the river.

• Journal of Forest and Environmental Science
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.61-68
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• 2019

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the natural habitat of Hotaria unmunsana Doi, which was first discovered at Mt. Unmun also represents a landscape indicator species for Daegu and Gyeongbuk provinces, and Luciola lateralis Motschulsky, which is the object of experiential activation at festivals in some cities in the region. The spatial range of this study is limited by Daegu City and Gyeongbuk province, and is used to predict the preference of firefly for altitude, slope, direction, shaded relief, riparian buffer zone, river environment, and farmland to analyze the area that best matches the habitat of fireflies. As a result, fireflies are highly influenced by altitude and there may be no large-scale habitats in some areas through the Nakdong and the Baekdu mountain ranges, which occur at high altitude. In most of the cities, we found major habitats around the streams and wetlands. By region, the sites were widely distributed around the cities focused on Nakdong River, and many habitats emerged around the Nakdong River tributary and gentle slopes. In order to preserve and spread the habitat of fireflies, the physical environment as well as their relationship with food chains and symbiotic organisms should be established, and excessive use of pesticides and herbicides in agricultural areas should be avoided.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.31 no.2B
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• pp.147-154
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• 2011

Physical habitat assessment models based on Instream Flow Incremental Methodology have been developed as a decision making tool to estimate appropriate discharge for environmental flow and water use management. These models, however, require extensive knowledge on various academic disciplines, complicated input data, and empirical data. We propose a Simplified Habitat (SIMHAB) simulation model for the estimation of physical structure of fish habitat and environmental flow at the planning stage. SIMHAB is applied to a river system for which physical and ecological data are available, and its applicability is investigated. Simulated results appeared to be similar to field survey data and those of such models as PHABSIM and River2D. However, SIMHAB requires much less input data. As such, the proposed model, SIMHAB can easily be applicable to river restoration projects including designing of physical habitat, estimation of environmental flow, and water resource management.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.31 no.2B
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• pp.193-203
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• 2011

With the recent growth of environmental and ecological interests, various river restoration and habitat environment creation projects are being carried out. For this, the estimation of the habitat flow discharge is important. In U.S. and Europe nations, The instream flow incremental methodology (IFIM) has been used to estimate the habitat discharge. IFIM is the method that can be applied to evaluate the flow discharge for the suitable habitat. To use the IFIM in river, a habitat suitability index(HSI) for the target organism is needed. However, HSIs for only two species of Zacco platypus and Zacco temminckii were proposed from the field monitoring. Thus, for the estimation of the ecological flow rate for a group of fish, the development of the HSIs for various fish are necessary. In this study, physical data such as water level and flow rate, chemical data such as acidity and dissolved oxygen, and life data such as fish types and population are collected in Keum river watershed. Based on the 2,736 field data, HSIs for the following 6 fish are developed: Zacco platypus, Zacco temminckii, Microphysogobio yaluensis, Coreoleuciscus splendidus, Pungtungia herzi, Pseudogobio esocinus. Through the comparison with HSIs in the literature, the developed HSIs are modified. Also, the limits of Froude number, pH, and DO for 6 fish are proposed. The HSIs developed in this study can be utilized as a essential data for performing river project evaluations.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers
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• v.63 no.6
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• pp.89-100
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• 2021

The conservation of stream habitats has been gaining more public attention and fish habitat suitability index (HSI) is an important measure for ecological stream habitat assessment. The fish habitat preference is affected not only by physical stream conditions but also by water quality of which HSI was not available due to the lack of field data. The purpose of this study is to estimate the HSI of Zacco platypus for water quality parameters of water temperature, dissolved oxygen (DO), and biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) using the water environment monitoring data provided by the Ministry of Environment (ME). Fish population data merged with water quality were constructed by spatio-temporal matching of nationwide water quality monitoring data with bio-monitoring data of the ME. Two types of the HSI were calculated by the Instream Flow and Aquatic Systems Group (IFASG) method and probability distribution (Weibull) fitting for the four major river basins. Both the HSIs by the IFASG and Weibull fitting appeared to represent the overall distribution and magnitude of fish population and this can be used in stream fish habitat evaluation considering water quality.

• Journal of Korea Water Resources Association
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• v.37 no.11
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• pp.915-927
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• 2004

The purpose of this paper is to estimate the instream flow of the South Han River Basin to ensure an adequate supply of suitable quality of water for preservation and enhancement of aquatic ecosystems. Proposed methods is Physical Habitant Simulation System of Instream Flow Incremental Methodology. Accurate estimation on a water depth and a velocity distribution was acquired by applying a two dimensional hydrodynamic model for a simulation of a hydraulic parameter necessary for the habitat evaluation to be used in a physical habitat simulation system. The Habitat Suitability Criteria with the application of univariate curve on zacco platypus as a representative fish was able to be established by conducting a field investigation. The establishment of a hydrological materialistic balance between upper and lower streams was confirmed by conducting a simulation simultaneously together with a mainstream section, which was excluded from the considered sections for the inhabitation evaluation of fish.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.26 no.2B
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• pp.153-160
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• 2006

To recommend ecological flow for major tributaries in Han River basin, the Instream Flow Incremental Methodology (IFIM) have been applied. In particular physical habitat simulation using PHABSIM have been selected for microhabitat variables and QUAL2E model have been used to implement macrohabitat simulation. Habitat Suitability Criteria (HSC) for different life stages in accordance with different hydraulic variables (depth and velocity) have been presented by the field surveying data. We review IFIM procedures and discuss limitations of habitat simulation with specific reference to Han River basin. The results of this research can be used as reference flow for estimation of instream flow in Han River.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.10-25
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• 2018

This study was conducted to estimate the habitat suitability of 17 benthic macroinvertebrate taxa in the Hwayang stream. Habitat Suitability Index (HSI) of benthic macroinvertebrates from the Hwayang stream was developed based on three physical habitat factors which include current velocity, water depth, and the substrate. The Weibull model was used as a probability density function to analyze the distribution of individual abundance by physical factors. The number of species and the total individual abundance increased along with the increase in current velocity. By means of Canonical Correspondence Analysis (CCA), the relative importance of each factor was determined in the following order: current velocity, water depth, and the mean diameter. The results depicted that, the most influential factor in the growth of benthic macroinvertebrates in the Hwavang system was current velocity. After comparing the analyzed results from the Hwayang stream with the resukts from the Gapyeong stream, the integrated HSI was drawn. The results indicated that current velocity and substrate had similar distributions of HSI in the two streams. This was due to the addition of unmeasured data from previous surveys, or the fact that benthic macroinvertebrates adapted to deeper waters in the Hwayang Stream. Most taxa showed a clear preference for a fast current velocity, deep water depth and coarse substrate except Baetiella, Epeorus, (mayflies), and Hydropsyche (caddisfly).

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.21 no.5
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• pp.801-811
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• 2012

For biodiversity conservation, Biological Impact Assessment is very important. The focus of the study is to enhance efficient Environment Impact Assessment(EIA) based on collecting existing information of endangered species covering the status survey, estimation of effects and reducing methods. Habitat Suitability Index(HSI) can be applicable to Ecological Impact Assessment and finding various reducing methods based on estimating effects. For this study, the EIA report of Samjang - Sanchung highway construction was chosen as an example and Prionailurus bengalensis euptilura as an endangered species was chosen to assess the ecosystem impact on road construction. Water, road, ground coverage, slope, altitude as variables of habitat were weighted and final HSI map was calculated using Arc map and Arc view. Through comparing of before and after HSI, quantitative estimating on effects was possible to minimize impact of road construction to wildlife habitat.