• Ecology and Resilient Infrastructure
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.179-193
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• 2021

This study examines the use of satellite images for river classification and determination of stream reach, which is the first priority in the river environment assessment system. In the river environment assessment system used in South Korea, it is proposed to set a stream reach by using 10 or 25 times the width of the river based on the result of river classification. First, river classification for the main stream section of Cheongmi stream was performed using various river-related data. The maximum likelihood method was applied for land cover classification. In this study, Sentinel-2 satellite imagery, which is an open data technology with a resolution of 10 m, was used. A total of four satellite images from 2018 was used to consider various flow conditions: February 2 (daily discharge = 2.39 m³/s), May 23 (daily discharge = 15.51 m³/s), June 2 (daily discharge = 3.88 m³/s), and July 7 (daily discharge = 33.61 m³/s). The river widths were estimated from the result of land cover classification to determine stream reach. The results of the assessment reach classification were evaluated using indicators of stream physical environments, including pool diversity, channel sinuosity, and river crossing shape and structure. It is concluded that appropriate flow conditions need to be considered when using satellite images to set up assessment segments for the river environment assessment system.

• Ecology and Resilient Infrastructure
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• v.2 no.4
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• pp.305-310
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• 2015

In 2014, the city of Seoul revised the ordinance regarding water-cycle restoration in the Seoul Metropolitan areas by incorporating the 'Low Impact Development (LID)' policy. The new ordinance plan will utilize 630 mm or almost 45 to 50% of annual rainfall until 2050 by means of providing a rainwater management system consisting of infiltration, retention and vegetation. The LID is believed to be the key to achieving the target requirements, specifically in development projects. This research was performed to evaluate the stormwater runoff and pollutant reduction performance of three different LID facilities (water circulation facilities) including an infiltration inlet, bioretention swale, and permeable pavement constructed in Seoul City. Results show that among the water circulation facilities, the permeable pavement achieved the highest runoff reduction as it was able to entirely capture and infiltrate the runoff to the ground. However, in order to attain a long-term performance it is necessary to manage the accumulated sediment and trapped pollutants in the landscape areas through other water circulation techniques such as through soil erosion control. In terms of pollutant reduction capability, the infiltration inlet performed well since it was applied in highly polluted areas. The bioretention facility integrating the physico-chemical and biological mechanisms of soil, microorganisms and plants were able to also achieve a high runoff and pollutant reduction. The water circulation facilities provided not only benefits for water circulation but also various other benefits such as pollutant reduction, ecological restoration, and aesthetic functions.

• Ecology and Resilient Infrastructure
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• v.2 no.4
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• pp.284-290
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• 2015

In this study, two hypotheses were examined to preliminarily verify for the vegetation recruitment and establishment on riparian bars in unregulated rivers; hydrologic regime change and nutrients influx into streams. In order to preliminarily verify the first hypothesis, precipitation patterns were analyzed during a period from March through to May when reeds, the most common riparian vegetation in Korea, germinate and start to grow in riparian areas. The results show that during the last 35 years, the total precipitation during the three-month period decreased by about 15 %, while the total annual one increased by about 15% in Korea. In order to verify the second hypothesis, a preliminary experiment was conducted with a set of two-vegetative flumes for one year. In this experiment, a stream flow with reeds on the riparian sand bars was simulated with a flume with reeds planted on the sand bed and water with a concentration of 3.5 mg of N flowing in the flume for four hours. For comparison, clean water was circulated in the same way in another flume for simulating a stream flow without N. The experimental results show that the growth rate of reeds in N-mixed flow exceeds that in clean water flow by about 30%. The above two results could explain the phenomenon of change in unregulated rivers from white river to green river in Korea, although they were obtained through limited extents of analysis and experiment.

• Ecology and Resilient Infrastructure
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.1-14
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• 2020

In fluvial and riparian ecosystems, biogeomorphological research has considered the complex, multi-way relationships between biological and hydro-geomorphological components over a wide range of spatial and temporal scales. In this review, we discussed the scope and processes of fluvial biogeomorphology by explaining (1) the multi-lateral interactions between organisms and hydrogeomorphic conditions, (2) the relationships between biodiversity and habitat heterogeneity, and (3) the effects of disturbance on ecosystem patterns. Over time, an organism-landform complex along streams transitions in the sequences of geomorphic, pioneer, biogeomorphic, and ecological stages. Over space, water flow and sediment distributions interact with vegetation to modify channel topography. It is the habitat heterogeneity in streams that enhances riparian biodiversity. However, in the areas downstream of a dam, habitat types and conditions are substantially damaged and biodiversity should be reduced. In South Korea, riparian vegetation flourishes in general and, in particular, invasive species actively colonize in accordance with the changes in the fluvial conditions driven by local disturbances and global climate change. Therefore, the importance of understanding reciprocal relationships between living organisms and hydrogeomorphic conditions will ever increase in this era of rapid climate change and anthropogenic pressure. The fluvial biogeomorphic framework reviewed in this article will contribute to the ecological management and restoration of streams in Korea.

• Ecology and Resilient Infrastructure
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.83-89
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• 2020

This hydraulic study analyzed the scour effect at fixed downstream weirs based on the changes in the upstream bed slope. The study was performed using six different bed slopes, that is, 0%, 2%, 3%, 4%, 7%, and 10% at 0.117 ㎥/s in all cases. The scour depth, scour length, and scour volume were measured using a broadband laser scanner to quantitatively analyze the scour at the downstream weir. This study also examined the adequacy of the designed apron length by comparatively analyzing the results of the scour experiments and the apron length calculated using conventional design standard formulas. The analysis of the local scour effect at the downstream weir showed that scour length and scour depth increased as the bed slope became steeper. A comparison between the results of the scour experiment and that of the conventional design formulas showed that both formulas of the National Construction Research Institute and the Bligh were distributed within the allowable values when there was no upstream bed slope. However, as the bed slope upstream of the weir gradually increased, the scour lengths of the apron deviated slightly from the values obtained from the conventional design formulas.

• Ecology and Resilient Infrastructure
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• v.6 no.4
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• pp.250-257
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• 2019

Recently, 357 water-friendly space were established near the main streams of the country through the Four Major Rivers Project, which was used as a resting and leisure space for the citizens, and the river environment and ecological health were improved. We are working hard to reduce the number of points and plan and manage the water-friendly space. In particular, attempts are being made to utilize mobile big data to make more scientific and systematic research on the number of users. However, when using mobile big data compared to the existing method of conducting field surveys, it is possible to easily identify spatial user movement patterns, but it is different from the actual amount of use, so various verifications are required to solve this problem. Therefore, this study evaluated the accuracy of estimating the number of users using mobile big data by comparing the number of visitors using mobile big data and the number of visitors using drone for Samrak ecological park located in the mouth of Nakdong River. As a result, in the river hydrophilic district, it was difficult to accurately estimating the usage pattern of each facility due to the low precision of pCELL, and it was confirmed that the usage patterns in the park could be distorted due to the signals stopped at roads and parking lots. Therefore, it is necessary to improve the number of pCELLs in the water-friendly space and to estimate the number of visitors excluding facilities such as roads and parking lots in future mobile big data processing.

• Ecology and Resilient Infrastructure
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.147-153
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• 2015

Various adverse effects can occur due to direct exposure from toxic substances when toxic materials are used to restore river ecosystems. Thus, this study performed analysis on the development of toxicity in terms of survival and abnormality rates using embryos of Bombina orientalis living in Korea to analyze the toxicity of materials used in the river projects. The results showed that the toxicity in cement (C group) was the strongest whereas the toxicity in plant-based polyurethane (P1 group) was the weakest. Survival rates of B. orientalis embryos were 100%, 94 - 95%, 66 - 89% and 0% in control, P1, polyurethane (P2) and C groups, respectively. Abnormalities of embryos were 10.5%, 5.3 - 10.5%, 26.3 - 27.8% and 35.7% in control, P1, P2 and C groups, respectively. Furthermore, we verified that having a sufficient curing time reduced toxic substances that were extracted. The above result suggest that cement and polyurethane hamper the early development of amphibians. In conclusion, it is highly important to review biological safety with respect to the selection of materials used to restore rivers. This study shows the importance of the selection of eco-friendly materials and processes.

• Ecology and Resilient Infrastructure
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.108-117
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• 2015

This study was carried out to assess problems related to legislative regulations and guidelines concerning some biological assessment systems applied to stream corridor in Korea. We comparatively reviewed the law of stream corridors and the guidelines for master plan concerned, and the law of water quality and health assessment criteria for the aquatic ecosystem concerned. Stream environments were not managed effectively due to the absence of detail regulations and the criteria for stream assessment. A biological assessment system was not equivalently integrated within the management of water resources in process implementation of projects resulting from the dualistic management system for stream corridors in Korea. The current biological assessment system was reflected to mainly physical habitats or only oriented to some aquatic species correlated with water quality. This system was also recognized as part of environment impact assessment based on an intensive survey method of most biological taxa. Conclusively rapid and quantitative assessment techniques based on advanced organisms, such as vegetation, fish and birds, etc. should be urgently provided for considering as representative indicators of stream conditions in Korea.

• Ecology and Resilient Infrastructure
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.194-203
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• 2021

With the recent increase in maintenance works on water and sewer pipes as well as district heating supply pipes, pavement cutting work using pavement cutter is on the rise. The pavement cutting operation generates considerable dust (cutting sludge) as well as noise; therefore, it is necessary to apply eco-friendly technologies that have low noise and dust recovery capability. Thus far, various equipment for recovering dust have been developed; however, there is a limitation in that the environmental friendliness is not quantified. Therefore, in this study, we developed a low-noise, dust-recovery type pavement cutter that can fundamentally remove the causes of environmental hazards such as noise and dust and evaluated the eco-friendliness of the pavement cutting process performed by this cutter. To this end, an integrated water cooling-sludge recovery system composed of a vacuum device and a sludge suction unit was developed, and the developed system was applied to a pavement cutter. Subsequently, the developed equipment was applied to the test bed, and data related to its eco-friendliness were collected and evaluated. The results showed that the cutting sludge recovery rate of the developed equipment was greater than 83%, the noise level was approximately 82 - 83 dB, and the sound power level was 115 dB. The results of this study will be used as basic data to develop improved pavement cutters in the future with improved cutting sludge recovery performance and lower noise.

• Ecology and Resilient Infrastructure
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.89-100
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• 2019

We've reviewed existing studies on the interactions among vegetation, hydrology, and geomorphology in the stream corridors, adding one more factor of vegetation in the traditional area of hydro-geomorphology. Understanding of the interactions among those three factors is important not only academically but also practically since it is related intimately to the restoration of river corridor as well as management itself. Studies of this area started from field investigations in the latter part of the 20th century and focused on the flume experiments and then computer modelling in the 1990s and 2000s. Now, it has turned again to the field investigations of specific phenomena of the vegetative-hydrologic-geomorphologic interactions in detailed micro scales. Relevant studies in Korea, however, seem to be uncommon and far behind the international status quo in spite that practically important issues related directly to this topic have been emerged. In this study, we propose, based on the extensive literature review and authors' own knowledge and experiences, a conceptual diagram expressing the interactions among vegetation, flow (water), sediment, and geomorphology. Existing relevant studies in Korea since the 1990s are classified according to the categorization in the proposed diagrams and then briefly reviewed. Finally, considering the practical issues of riparian vegetation that have emerged recently in Korea, we propose areas of investigation needed in near future such as, among others, long-term and systematic field investigations and monitoring at multiple river corridors having different attributes on vegetative-hydrologic-geomorphologic interactions, including vegetative dynamics for succession.