• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.292-302
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• 2019

This study conducted a hierarchy analysis based on a questionnaire survey of experts in park management, ecosystem survey, and ecological environment planning to establish evaluation items and a weighing value of each item to develop ecological connectivity in Baekdudaegan mountain range neighboring the Taebaeksan National Park using the AHP approach. We selected four high-level evaluation indexes and 13 low-level evaluation indexes through literature review and interview with the people in the field and calculated weights for each question through the consistency analysis. The analysis showed that increasing the ecological value was the most important item with the index of 0.474 among the high-level evaluation items, followed by the mitigation of human-nature conflict at 0.247, participation by local residents at 0.165, and the economic perspective at 0.114. Among the low-level evaluation indexes, the movement route of wildlife was the highest at 0.116, followed by the connectivity of landscape ecological patch at 0.112, and functional habitat at 0.099. The comparison of the evaluation items in each working group and the weight factors showed that the movement route of wildlife was the most important at 0.116 in ecosystem survey, the functional habitat was the most important at 0.110 in park management, and the regional preservation and distribution of resources was the most important at 0.123 in ecological environment planning. The results of this study is useful to identify evaluation items for developing ecological network with a diverse source of the actual environmental data in the Taebaeksan National Park.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.103 no.3
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• pp.510-518
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• 2014

Conflicts between humans and wild boars (Sus scrofa) have increased because of causing crop damage and appearing in downtown. Management to reduce population size has mostly been implemented on pests, but knowledges about ecological values are very rare. Rubbing trees by wild boar was investigated to figure out characteristics and for management ecologically from July to October 2013 in a mixed forest, Geochang, Gyeongnam Province, Korea. Pinus rigida was most frequently founded, and rubbing trees, both conifers and deciduous, were mainly located in 200~600 m above sea level. DBH was no significant difference between rubbing and control trees. The use intensity of conifers was higher than that of deciduous. The coverage of foliage layers and the number of woody plants within a radius of 2.5 m of trees (rubbing and control) were also investigated and compared to determine ecological characteristics. There were 1,332 individuals founded from 25 families. In the coverage of foliage layers, the understory and midstory showed statistically significant, but not in the subover and overstory. The number of Shrubs and saplings are higher in rubbing trees than those of control, but no difference in stems. Total individuals, the number of species, species diversity index(H') within a radius 2.5 m is considerably higher in rubbing trees with high intensity than those of low intensity and control. Our results show that wild boar mainly selected and used conifers more frequently as rubbing trees. Wild boar also modified the physical environments around rubbing trees. Consequently, the positive effects such as species diversity is increase. Thus the conservation policies is required after the intensive population reduction every 3-4 years for forest ecological management rather than annual sustainable hunting.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.103 no.2
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• pp.307-312
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• 2014

Wild boar have increased in recent years in Korea where damage to agricultural crops is considered as a social issue. The ecological studies on wild boar are essential for the effective management in the future. During May and December 2012, We collected 79 wild boar stomach samples from culling program implementation to reduce agricultural damage in Geochang County and analyzed stomach contents to figure out wild boar diet habit and which crop was preferred. There was seasonal variation in the diet. Plant foods represented up to 93.5% of the diet and were consumed more frequently than animal foods. Invertebrates occurred with high frequency but were underestimated in dry weight because they are rapidly digested. Agricultural crops consumed comprised mainly chestnuts(33%), rice(33%), and apples(24%). Agricultural crops are also a potentially important food resources for wild boar. The frequency of occurrence of earthworms was 50% of diet. Earthworm consumption generally increased in summer, and then decreased in winter. Our results show that wild boar can be considered an omnivore whose diet consists of plant and animal foods. To reduce wild boar agricultural damages, We have to focus on the prevention effort to rice paddy adjacent to chestnut forest and to apple orchard.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.140-146
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• 2018

Wild boars have expanded their habitats in Korea in recent years and caused serious social problems such as crop damage and appearance in urban areas. This study was carried out from May to October 2012 to investigate the environmental factors that affect crop damage based on actual cases reported in Geochang County of Gyeongnam Province, Korea. The analysis showed that the damages by wild boars occurred mainly between August and September, and rice was damaged most often while sweet potatoes were damaged most intensely. The results indicated that the damages were related to the wild boars' preference of crop and the seasonal availability of crops. Other factors that affected the crop damage included the slope, the topographic relief, and the distances from forest, stream, road, and residential area. There was no significant difference of environmental factor according to damage intensity, suggesting that the wild boars tended to attack the same cropland repeatedly and thus accumulating the damage. Our study suggests that reducing crop damages by wild boars will require cultivating crops less preferred by wild boars, installing electric fences, and controlling wild boar population with hunting and trapping.