• Mycobiology
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• v.50 no.5
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• pp.326-344
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• 2022

The fungal-like family Saprolegniaceae (Oomycota), also called "water mold," includes mostly aquatic saprophytes as well as notorious aquatic animal pathogens. Most studies on Saprolegniaceae have been biased toward pathogenic species that are important to aquaculture rather than saprotrophic species, despite the latter's crucial roles in carbon cycling of freshwater ecosystems. Few attempts have been made to study the diversity and ecology of Saprolegniaceae; thus, their ecological role is not well-known. During a survey of oomycetes between 2016 and 2021, we investigated the diversity and distribution of culturable Saprolegniaceae species in freshwater ecosystems of Korea. In the present study, members of Saprolegniaceae were isolated and identified at species level based on their cultural, morphological, and molecular phylogenetic analyses. Furthermore, substrate preference and seasonal dynamics for each were examined. Most of the species were previously reported as animal pathogens; however, in the present study, they were often isolated from other freshwater substrates, such as plant debris, algae, water, and soil sediment. The relative abundance of Saprolegniaceae was higher in the cold to cool season than that in the warm to hot season of Korea. This study enhances our understanding of the diversity and ecological attributes of Saprolegniaceae in freshwater ecosystems.

• Mycobiology
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• v.51 no.5
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• pp.343-353
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• 2023

Lichens play crucial roles in the ecosystems, contributing to soil formation and nutrient cycling, and being used in biomonitoring efforts to assess the sustainability of ecosystems including air quality. Previous studies on heavy metal accumulation in lichens have mostly relied on manipulated environments, such as transplanted lichens, leaving us with a dearth of research on how lichens physiologically respond to heavy metal exposure in their natural habitats. To fill this knowledge gap, we investigated lichens from two of South Korea's geographically distant regions, Gangwon Province and Jeju Island, and examined whether difference in ambient heavy metal concentrations could be detected through physiological variables, including chlorophyll damage, lipid oxidation, and protein content. The physiological variables of lichens in response to heavy metals differed according to the collection area: Arsenic exerted a significant impact on chlorophyll degradation and protein content. The degree of fatty acid oxidation in lichens was associated with increased Cu concentrations. Our research highlights the value of lichens as a bioindicator, as we found that even small variations in ambient heavy metal concentrations can be detected in natural lichens. Furthermore, our study sheds light on which physiology variables that can be used as indicators of specific heavy metals, underscoring the potential of lichens for future ecology studies.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.83 no.4
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• pp.460-472
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• 1994

This study has been conducted to give some ideas for reasonable ecological management of Taejon city and its adjacent forest ecosystem against the effect of acid rain. Rain monitoring points to analyse its components represented 1 point in industrial area, 4 points in commercial area, 4 points in residential area, and 5 points in suburban area and forest survey was done in 7 forest sites adjacent to rain monitoring points. Transformed vegetation index(TVI) based on Landsat TM data was analysed for forest area. Taejon area was seriously contaminated by air pollutants and average concentration of anions in precipitation were 20.16mg/l for $SO_4{^{2-}}$, 3.65mg/l for $NO_3{^-}$, and 3.09mg/l for $Cl^-$. Anion in precipitation were $1.09mg/m^2/month$ for $SO_4{^{2-}}$, $0.23mg/m^2/month$ for $NO_3{^-}$, and $0.20mg/m^2/month$ for $Cl^-$. Cation in precipitation were $0.14mg/m^2/month$ for $Ca^{2+}$, $0.10mg/m^2/month$ for $NH_4{^+}$, $0.08mg/m^2/month$ for $Na^+$, $0.07mg/m^2/month$ for $K^+$, and $0.08mg/m^2/month$ for $Mg^{2+}$. The region with the highest concentration of $SO_4{^{2-}}$, $NO_3{^-}$, and $Cl^-$ in rain was industrial area. $SO_4{^{2-}}$, $NO_3{^-}$, and $Cl^-$ concentrations in industrial area were 43.08, 3.88, and 3.64ppm, respectively. Forest soil showed strongly acidic ranging pH4.16-4.94. Transformed vegetation index(TVI) were 3.11 in Dangsan, 4.00 in Kyechoksan, 4.13 in Bomunsan, 4.18 in Kabhasan, 3.34 in Bongsan, 4.13 in Sikchangsan, and 4.20 in Seongchisan. Dangsan forest located near in industrial area showed the lowest TVI.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural and Forest Meteorology
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.162-173
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• 2009

Information on the expected geographical shift of suitable zones for growing crops under future climate is a starting point of adaptation planning in agriculture and is attracting much concern from policy makers as well as researchers. Few practical schemes have been developed, however, because of the difficulty in implementing the site-selection concept at an analytical level. In this study, we suggest site-selection criteria for quality Fuji apple production and integrate geospatial data and information available in public domains (e.g., digital elevation model, digital soil maps, digital climate maps, and predictive models for agroclimate and fruit quality) to implement this concept on a GIS platform. Primary criterion for selecting sites suitable for Fuji apple production includes land cover, topography, and soil texture. When the primary criterion is satisfied, climatic conditions such as the length of frost free season, freezing risk during the overwintering period, and the late frost risk in spring are tested as the secondary criterion. Finally, the third criterion checks for fruit quality such as color and shape. Land attributes related to these factors in each criterion were implemented in ArcGIS environment as relevant raster layers for spatial analysis, and retrieval procedures were automated by writing programs compatible with ArcGIS. This scheme was applied to the A1B projected climates for South Korea in the future normal years (2011-2040, 2041-2070, and 2071-2100) as well as the current climate condition observed in 1971-2000 for selecting the sites suitable for quality Fuji apple production in each period. Results showed that this scheme can figure out the geographical shift of suitable zones at landscape scales as well as the latitudinal shift of northern limit for cultivation at national or regional scales.

• The Korean Journal of Ecology
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.1-7
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• 2001

This study was carried out to examine the recovery of forest ecosystem by changes of soil chemical properties and soil microorganism at the burned areas of coniferous (Mt. Chocdae) and broad leaved forest (Samsinbong in Mt. Chiri). In the soil chemical properties of the burned area of Samsinbong, pH was 5.8, and contents of organic matter, total nitrogen, available P₂O/sub 5/, exchangeable K/sup ＋/, exchangeable Ca/sup ＋＋/ and exchangeable Mg/sup ＋＋/ were 7.42%, 0.73%, 28.5 ㎎/㎏, 1.3 me/100g, 13.3 me/100g and 2.2 me/100g, respectively. But they showed a tendency to decrease with time. In the soil chemical properties of the burned area of Mt. Chocdae, pH was 5.3, and contents of organic matter, total nitrogen, available P2O5, exchangeable K/sup ＋/, exchangeabe Ca/sup ＋＋/ and Exchangeable Mg/sup ＋＋/ were 6.42%, 0.25%, 24.4 ㎎/㎏, 0.7 me/100g, 3.7 me/100g and 2.1 me/100g, respectively, and they also showed a tendency to decrease with time. In contrast, they were not changed with time at the unburned areas. At the burned area of Samsinbong, soil microorganism showed to order of fungi (69×10⁴ CFU), actinomycetes (523×10⁴ CFU) and aerobic bacteria (291×10⁴ CFU), and at the unburned area, showed to order of actinomycetes (745×10⁴ CFU), fungi (594×10⁴ CFUU), and aerobic bacteria (160×10/sup 4/ CFU). At the burned area of Mt. Chocdae, soil microorganism showed to order of fungi (676×10⁴ CFU), actinomycetes (434×10⁴ CFU) and aerobic bacteria (350×10⁴ CFU), and at the unburned area, showed to order of fungi (461 ×10⁴ CFU), aerobic bacteria (328×10⁴ CFU) and actinomycetes (319×10⁴ CFU). Soil microorganisms of the aerobic bacteria, actinomycetes and fungi appeared at the burned areas were much more abundant than unburned areas. The aerobic bacteria appeared at the coniferous forest were also much more than the broad-leaved forest. The actinomycetes and fungi appeared at the broad-leaved forest were much more abundant than the coniferous forest.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.111 no.4
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• pp.473-481
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• 2022

Environment-friendly harvesting is practiced to maintain ecosystem, landscape, and forest protection functions. The present study was conducted at Simgok-ri, Sinbuk-myeon, Pocheon, Gyeonngi-do, where a 41-50-year-old Japanese larch forest was harvested in an environment-friendly manner from 2017 to 2019. The dynamics of organic matter in this forest were investigated at three years after the harvest. Specifically, organic matter content was measured on the forest floor and in overstory biomass, litterfall, and soil up to 30 cm in depth from June 2020 to January 2021. Owing to the harvest, the amount of overstory biomass of the Japanese larch stands decreased from 142.22 to 44.20 t ha^-1. On the forest floor, the amount of organic matter was 32.87 t ha^-1 in the control plots and 23.34 t ha^-1 in the harvest plots. Annual litterfall was 4.43 t ha^-1 yr^-1 in the control plots and 1.16 t ha^-1 yr^-1 in the harvest plots. Soil bulk density in the B horizon was 0.97 g cm^-3 in the control plots and 1.06 g cm^-3 i n the harvest plots. Soil organic matter content was 11.5% in the control plots and 12.8% in the harvest plots. The total amount of soil organic matter did not differ significantly between the control plots (245.21 t ha^-1) and harvest plots (263.92 t ha^-1), although the amount of soil organic matter tended to be higher in the harvest plots. The total amount of organic matter in the forest was estimated to be 406.48 t ha^-1 in the control plots and 338.21 t ha^-1 in the harvest plots. In the harvest plots, the ratio of aboveground organic matter decreased to 13.1% and soil organic matter increased to 78.0%, indicating that the distribution of organic matter changed significantly in these plots. Overall, the carbon accumulated in aboveground biomass was substantially reduced by environment-friendly harvesting, whereas the soil carbon level increased, which played a role in mitigating the reduction of system carbon in the forest. These results highlight one possible resolution for forest management in terms of coping with climate change. However, given that only three years of environment-friendly harvesting data were analyzed, further research on the dynamics of organic matter and tree growth is needed.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.344-356
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• 2013

This study is a continuation of the 22 year consecutive study (1972~1993) to monitor community dynamics of forest in Mt. Kwanak. This study was intended to provide basic data for urban forest management in the future by analyzing actual changes in vegetation structure of forest in Mt. Kwanak caused by urban environmental changes. For the past 39 years (1972~2010), average temperature increased by approximate between 1.1 and $1.7^{\circ}C$ and soil acidification (pH $5.40{\rightarrow}4.50$) and contents of $K^+$ ($0.67{\rightarrow}0.25$) and $Ca^{{+}{+}}$ ($3.20{\rightarrow}0.87$) apparently tended to decrease. According to analysis importance percentage and DBH class of community types classified based on DCA, the succession stopped at Quercus mongolica for 39 years. In addition, the succession was expected to be held at Q. mongolica or to shift from Pinus densiflora to Q. mongolica and from Q. acutissima to Q. serrata. Size of trees growing in forest of Mt. Kwanak increased but the number of species and population of trees showed a downward trend for the 39 years and Styrax japonica and Sorbus alnifolia, which are indicator species, increased their dominance continuously. Decrease in contents of $K^+$, $Ca^{{+}{+}}$, and $Mg^{{+}{+}}$ and soil acidification for the past 39 years was found to affect degradation of vegetation structure in Mt. Kwanak.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.75-87
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• 2014

In order to analyze environmental impact of livestock manure and organic fertilizers, this study investigated livestock-breeding and pollution loads, the status of individual and public livestock manure treatment facilities, and the status of production, supply and components of compost and liquid fertilizers in the Nonsan area. Also, on a trial basis, this study investigated the life cycle of the environmental impact of livestock manure and its organic fertilizers on stream, groundwater, and agricultural soil. The results are as follows. Firstly, were detected the range of $0.13{\sim}1.32{\mu}g/L$ of As, $0.004{\sim}0.467{\mu}g/L$ of Cd and $0.5{\sim}9.2{\mu}g/L$ of Pb as a harmful substances which show lower concentrations than person preservation criteria of water qualities and aquatic ecosystem. However, it is not clear that heavy metals affect environment such as stream, groundwater and agricultural soil. Secondly, this influence could change according to investigation time and treatment efficiency. As were detected large amounts of persistent organic pollutants(e.g. $14.24{\sim}38.47{\mu}g/L$ of acetylsalicylic acid, $1.17{\sim}2.96{\mu}g/L$ of sulfamethazine, and $2.25{\sim}174.09{\mu}g/L$ of sulfathiazole) in effluent from livestock farms and small amounts of sulfathiazole($ND{\sim}1.63{\mu}g/L$) in the stream, it is necessary to monitor POPs at individual and public livestock manure treatment facilities. However, significant environmental impact did not appear at groundwater and agricultural soil in the test area supplied with liquid fertilizers. These results could be applied to investigate the environmental impact of livestock manure through a comprehensive livestock manure management information system.

• The Korean Journal of Quaternary Research
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.167-168
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• 2003

The Upo wetland, the largest natural wetland in Korea, is located in Changnyeong-gun, Gyeongsannam Province ($35^{\circ}33'$ N, $128^{\circ}25'$ E), and 70 km upstream from the Nakdong River estuary. Unlike most other Korean wetlands that have been destroyed under the name of economic development, the Upo wetland has been able to preserve its precious ecosystem throughout the years. Thanks to increased public awareness about natural wetlands and environmental conservation, the Korean Ministry of Environment designated the Upo wetland an 'Ecological Conservation Area' on July 26th, 1997. On March 2nd of the following year, the Upo wetland (8.54 $\textrm{km}^2$) was designated a 'Protected Wetland' in accordance with the international Ramsar Treaty. A 4.49m long (from 9.73 to 5.24 m in altitude) UP-1 core ($35^{\circ}33'05"N$, $128^{\circ}25'17"E$), recovered in the marginal part of the Upo wetland, is divided into eight buried paleosol units of different ages on the basis of the abundance of color mottles and vertical color variations (Aslan et al., 1998). Radiocarbon datings suggested that the paleosol profile represent the last 5700 years. The entire section of the core was more or less subjected to pedogenetic processes, and shows very weak to moderate soil profile development. These Holocene paleosols are therefore regarded as synsedimentary soils of deluvium (deposits formed by floods) origin (Sycheva et al., 2003). Unit 1 to 5 paleosols are generally silt-rich and exhibit moderate profile development. The boundaries between the units are somewhat distinguishable, but not so clear cut. This is due to variable repeated combination of accumulation, denudation and soil forming processes within various periods. Mottle textures gradually decrease in abundance with increasing clay content in Unit 6, which results in weak profile development. The lower boundary of Unit 6 lies around about 2000 yrBP, the beginning of Subatlantic in Korea (Kim et al., 2001). Abrupt sediment textural change is detected in Unit 7, which is interpreted to indicate the human activities on the Upo wetland. Unit 8 represents the recent soil forming processes. The preliminary results of this ongoing study imply the primary factor for pedogenetic processes is the water table fluctuations related to the sedimentary textures like grain size distributions, and the geomorphological stability of the Upo wetland.o wetland.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural and Forest Meteorology
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.66-77
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• 2005

We have investigated microclimatic controls on the spatiotemporal variations of net primary production (NPP) of a rugged forested watershed using the process-based biogeochemical model (BIOME-BGC). To validate the model simulation of water and carbon cycles at the plot scale, we have conducted field survey over deciduous broadleaf forest (DBF) and evergreen needleleaf forest (ENF) since 2000. The modeled values of soil temperature, soil moisture and soil respiration showed high correlation with those from the field measurements. The modeled seasonal changes of NPP showed high correlation with air temperature but no significant correlation with water related parameters. The precipitation frequency turned out to be the best climatic factor to explain the annual variation of NPP. Furthermore, NPP of ENF was more sensitive to precipitation frequency than that of DBF. With changes in vegetation cover and topography, the spatial distribution of NPP was of great heterogeneity, which was negatively correlated with the magnitude of NPP. Despite the annual precipitation of 1,400mm, NPP at the study site was constrained by the amount of water available for the vegetation. Such a modeling result should be verified by the field measurements.