• Journal of Wetlands Research
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.44-53
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• 2021

Urban stormwater runoff contains heavy metals that accumulate in on-site treatment systems, thus resulting to facility deterioration and maintenance problems. In order to resolve these problems, low impact development (LID) technologies that promote natural materials circulation are widely used. LID facilities are capable of treating heavy metals in the runoff by means of plant uptake; however, the uptake or phytoremediation capabilities of plants have not been studied extensively, making it difficult to select the most suitable plant species for a certain LID design. This study investigated the vegetative components of an LID facility, roadside plants, and plants in landscape areas with different heavy metal exposure and frequency to determine the uptake capabilities of different plant species. The plants harvested inside the LID facilities and roadsides with high vehicular traffic exhibited greater heavy metal concentrations in their tissues as compared with the plants in landscape areas. Generally, the accumulation of heavy metals in the plant tissues were found to be influenced by the environmental characteristics (i.e. influent water quality, air pollution level, etc.). Dianthus, Metasequoia, Rhododendron lateritium, and Mugwort were found to be effective in removing Zn in the urban stormwater runoff. Additionally, Dianthus, Metasequoia, Mugwort, and Ginkgo Biloba exhibited excellent removal of Cu. Cherry Tree, Metasequoia, and mugwort efficiently removed Pb, whereas Dianthus was also found to be effective in treating As, Cr, and Cd in stormwater. Overall, different plant species showed varying heavy metal uptake capabilities. The results of this study can be used as an effective tool in selecting suitable plant species for removing heavy metals in the runoff from different land use types.

• Korean Journal of Plant Taxonomy
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• v.46 no.2
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• pp.129-148
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• 2016

Plant species on oceanic islands comprise nearly 25% of described vascular plants on only 5% of the Earth's land surface yet are among the most rare and endangered plants. Conservation of plant biodiversity on islands poses particular challenges because many species occur in a few and/or small populations, and their habitats on islands are often disturbed by the activity of humans or by natural processes such as landslides and volcanoes. In addition to described species, evidence is accumulating that there are likely significant numbers of "cryptic" species in oceanic archipelagos. Plant systematists, in collaboration with others in the botanical disciplines, are critical to the discovery of the subtle diversity in oceanic island floras. Molecular data will play an ever increasing role in revealing variation in island lineages. However, the input from plant systematists and other organismal biologists will continue to be important in calling attention to morphological and ecological variation in natural populations and in the discovery of "new" populations that can inform sampling for molecular analyses. Conversely, organismal biologists can provide basic information necessary for understanding the biology of the molecular variants, including diagnostic morphological characters, reproductive biology, habitat, etc. Such basic information is important when describing new species and arguing for their protection. Hybridization presents one of the most challenging problems in the conservation of insular plant diversity, with the process having the potential to decrease diversity in several ways including the merging of species into hybrid swarms or conversely hybridization may generate stable novel recombinants that merit recognition as new species. These processes are often operative in recent radiations in which intrinsic barriers to gene flow have not evolved. The knowledge and continued monitoring of plant populations in the dynamic landscapes on oceanic islands are critical to the preservation of their plant diversity.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.149-162
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• 2008

Aquatic and riparian vegetation of river ecosystems are very important both in ecological and management perspectives. Vegetation surveys were conducted to understand the characteristics of riparian vegetation in the mid and lower reaches of the Nakdong River, Korea. A total of 68 families and 260 species were identified at eleven survey sites. The numbers of taxa were similar to those reported in a previous survey in 1996,but the percentage of naturalized plants increased more than two times compared to that in the previous survey. Survey sites near Yangsan Bridge and Nambu Park in Yangsan showed the highest percentage of naturalized plant species. Urbanization indices of the survey sites were high at 18.8% on average. Therophytes were the most dominant plant life form at the survey sites with 39.2% of total plants identified, followed by phanerophytes (19.2%), hemicryptophytes (18.9%), aquatic plants (13.9%), cryptophytes (5.8%), and chamaephytes (3.1%). The relative composition of hemicryptophytes decreased whereas those of therophytes and chamaephytes increased compared to those in the survey in 1996. This may be due to increase in dryness of riparian soils or degradation of riparian areas. Plant compositions at sites near Jeokpo Bridge and Hwoicheon suggest that the composition and distribution of riparian vegetation are affected by land use pattern surrounding riparian areas or human accessibility to the areas.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Environmental Restoration Technology
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.62-73
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• 2001

The riparian environments of urban streams in Korea have been disturbed through the channelization for flood control and artificial land use as well as water pollution and flow decrease due to industrialization and urbanization. The flora and vegetation structure were investigated and an implication of stream restoration was discussed for the conservation of biodiversity in the riparian area of the Seunggi stream in Incheon. Naturalized plants and ruderal plants were widely distributed in the riparian area which was disturbed from cultivating, trampling, dumping etc. Submerged and floating hydrophytes were not found in the stream due to channelization and water pollution. Some halophytes were remained in downstream and reservoir after reclamation and embankment. The communities of Humulus japonicus, Panicum dichotomiflorum, Digitaria sanguinalis, Artemisia montana, Amaranthus retroflexus, and Aster pilosus were distributed in the disturbed area of bank slope and floodplain in the stream. As a natural potential vegetation, Phragmites australis in the wet meadow, Typha latifolia, Typha angustifolia, Oenanthe javanica, Persicaria thunbergii, and Penthorum chinense in the marsh, and Salix babylonica and Salix matsudana for. tortuosa in the woodland appeared in the floodplain. The topography in the stream played an important role on the distribution of riparian vegetation in the Seunggi stream. Appropriate methods for conservation and restoration of the riparian ecosystems must be planned on the basis of the actual vegetation in the disturbed urban stream.

• Advances in Energy Research
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.179-205
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• 2017

This research presents an in-depth analysis of location planning of the solar-hydrogen power plants for electricity production in different cities situated in Kerman province of Iran. Ten cities were analyzed in order to select the most suitable location for the construction of a solar-hydrogen power plant utilizing photovoltaic panels. Data envelopment analysis (DEA) methodology was applied to prioritize cities for installing the solar-hydrogen power plant so that one candidate location was selected for each city. Different criteria including population, distance to main road, flood risk, wind speed, sunshine hours, air temperature, humidity, horizontal solar irradiation, dust, and land costare used for the analysis. From the analysis, it is found that among the candidates' cities, the site of Lalezar is ranked as the first priority for the solar-hydrogen system development. A measure of validity is obtained when results of the DEA method are compared with the results of the technique for ordering preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS). Applying TOPSIS model, it was found that city of Lalezar ranked first, and Rafsanjan gained last priority for installing the solar-hydrogen power plants. Cities of Baft, Sirjan, Kerman, Shahrbabak, Kahnouj, Shahdad, Bam, and Jiroft ranked second to ninth, respectively. The validity of the DEA model is compared with the results of TOPSIS and it is demonstrated that the two methods produced similar results. The solar-hydrogen power plant is considered for installation in the city of Lalezar. It is demonstrated that installation of the proposed solar-hydrogen system in Lalezar can lead to yearly yield of 129 ton-H2 which covers 4.3% of total annual energy demands of the city.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.37 no.2
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• pp.109-117
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• 2014

Microbiota in the niches of the rhizosphere zones can affect plant growth and responses to environmental stress conditions via mutualistic interactions with host plants. Specifically, some beneficial bacteria, collectively referred to as Plant Growth Promoting Rhizobacteria (PGPRs), increase plant biomass and innate immunity potential. Here, we report that Enterobacter sp. EJ01, a bacterium isolated from sea china pink (Dianthus japonicus thunb) in reclaimed land of Gyehwa-do in Korea, improved the vegetative growth and alleviated salt stress in tomato and Arabidopsis. EJ01 was capable of producing 1-aminocy-clopropane-1-carboxylate (ACC) deaminase and also exhibited indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) production. The isolate EJ01 conferred increases in fresh weight, dry weight, and plant height of tomato and Arabidopsis under both normal and high salinity conditions. At the molecular level, short-term treatment with EJ01 increased the expression of salt stress responsive genes such as DREB2b, RD29A, RD29B, and RAB18 in Arabidopsis. The expression of proline biosynthetic genes (i.e. P5CS1 and P5CS2) and of genes related to priming processes (i.e. MPK3 and MPK6) were also up-regulated. In addition, reactive oxygen species scavenging activities were enhanced in tomatoes treated with EJ01 in stressed conditions. GFP-tagged EJ01 displayed colonization in the rhizosphere and endosphere in the roots of Arabidopsis. In conclusion, the newly isolated Enterobacter sp. EJ01 is a likely PGPR and alleviates salt stress in host plants through multiple mechanisms, including the rapid up-regulation of conserved plant salt stress responsive signaling pathways.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.272-280
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• 2016

Changes in land use and increase in urban energy consumption influence urban life. This study analyzed the characteristics and patterns of urban heat and presents management schemes to generate a comfortable and sustainable urban environment. The study aimed to demonstrate the positive effects of artificial ground greening on improving the microclimate through evapotranspiration using perennial herbs. We have designed a chamber that could control constant temperature and humidity, measure temperature reductions in each plant and changes in sensible heat and latent heat. This study identified Sedum kamtschaticum as the most effective plant in controlling temperature. At $22^{\circ}C$, $3.2^{\circ}C$ temperature reduction was observed, whereas four other plants showed a $1.5^{\circ}C$ reduction. At $25^{\circ}C$, $2.0^{\circ}C$ temperature reduction was observed. On the other hand, the use of Sedum sarmentosum resulted in the lowest effect. Zoysia japonica is the most commonly used ground covering plant, although the temperature reduction of Lysimachia nummularia was more effective at high temperature conditions. Sensible heat and latent heat were calculated to evaluate the thermal performance of energy. At a temperature >$30^{\circ}C$, L. nummularia and S. sarmentosum emitted high latent heat. In this study, we analyzed the thermal performance of green roof perennial plants; in particular, we analyzed the evapotranspiration and temperature reduction of each plant. Since the substrate depth and types, plant species, and seasonal change may influence temperature reduction and latent heat of green roofs, further studies are necessary.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Landscape Architecture
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• v.33 no.6 s.113
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• pp.51-77
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• 2006

Pond management is a critical part of overall golf course management, both during growth and maintenance modes of turf care. This study investigated 48 ponds in nine 18- or 27-hole golf courses to analyze the environmental characteristics of ponds. The research process had three phases: (1) inventory and analysis of grading plans and drainage plans, (2) field verification and interviews with greenskeepers, and (3) analyses of water quality and statistics. All data were collected from May to August in 2004. The results of this study can be summarized as follows: 1. It is desirable to site a golf course in a small watershed with high watershed eccentricity to control storm water runoff efficiently and to minimize soil erosion during construction. 2. The siting and size of a pond should be determined through a land-use analysis of the watershed for the purpose of ecological management. The bigger the forest-to-golf course ratio, the better the water quality will be. 3. The size and capacity of each individual ponds varied and there were many somewhat longish rather than round ponds. 4. There were many differences among golf courses in naturalness of the ponds, and the correlation between naturalness and area of aquatic plants was very high. 5. Analyses of pond water quality indicated that the degrees of Dissolved Oxygen, Chemical Oxygen Demanded and Suspended Solids were relatively low values but Total Phosphorus and Total Nitrogen were too high. Therefore a systematic approach is needed to solve e problem. Pesticide residues were not detected in all ponds. 6. Water depth and area of hydrophyte should be considered when designing an ecological pond. 7. All ponds used storm water as a main source of water supply and added underground water. Aquatic plants and physical methods such as water aeration and spray fountains were the main choices for maintaining a healthy aquatic environment.

• Horticultural Science & Technology
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• v.32 no.5
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• pp.584-589
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• 2014

Jeffersonia dubia is a spring-flowering perennial found in rich forests in Korea and Northern China and has potential as an ornamental or medicinal plant. However, illegal picking and land use change have decreased the number of populations and overall population size of this plant in its natural habitat. Although J. dubia has been reported to be a shade-preferring plant, no study has determined the optimum light intensity for its growth. The objectives of this work were to observe the effects of various shading levels on the physiological responses of J. dubia and to determine the proper shading level for cultivation. Treatments consisted of four shading levels (0%, 50%, 75%, and 95% shade) imposed using black mesh cloth. The number of leaves and dry weight increased with decreased shading. The shoot-to-root ratio increased with increased shading, mainly due to decreased root dry weight under shading. Plants showed low net $CO_2$ assimilation rates and $F_v/F_m$ values combined with low dry matter levels when grown under 0% shade (full sunlight). These results indicate that J. dubia plants experience excessive irradiance without shading, resulting in damage to the photosynthetic apparatus. By contrast, the net photosynthesis rate increased as the shading level increased. $F_v/F_m$, the potential efficiency of PSII, was 0.8 under 95% shade, indicating that J. dubia is well-adapted under heavy shading. However, the low dry matter of plants in the 95% shade treatment indicated that the low light intensity under 95% shade led to a decline in plant growth. Thus, moderate light (50% shading) is recommended for cultivating J. dubia without physiological defects.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.12 no.11
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• pp.492-501
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• 2012

Recently, there has been a increasing interest in Sacred natural sites. Sacred natural sites areas defined as "areas of land or water having special spiritual significance to a specific ethnicity or community. This research studies theoretically about the concept and value, the management principle of Sacred natural sites. In addition, status of the domestic natural monument plants that can applicate the values of the Sacred natural sites were analyzed and its characteristics were scanned. In analysis, 63 natural monument plants could be corresponded also they have biodiversity value, landscape and aesthetic values, cultural values, tour resources values. These are same as the general values of sacred natural sites. This research will contribute as a basis to register of sacred natural sites in korea. This study has the importance that plant of natural monuments of view point that natural sacred sites out of the importance internationally conditions. A follow-up research is required to ascertain natural sacred sites would getting concertely and practical case study.