Earticle

The needs to develop methods of sustainable management is important due to increasing forest land use. Relevant ecosystem qualities should be defined and measured to allow for monitoring and planning. The main objective of this study is to compare the composition and abundance of bird species in primary and logged forest in order to identify the potential bird species that can be used as indicators of forest ecosystem health. Bird survey was carried out using mist-nets at Sungai Lalang Forest Reserve, located in the state of Selangor, West Malaysia. The results indicated that a total of 20 families were captured, which were represented by 58 species (271 individuals), 62 species (288 individuals) and 61 species (386 individuals) in the primary, 5-year-old and 10-year-old logged forests respectively. The Pycnonotidae and Nectariniidae, which mostly comprised of secondary or colonizing species such as bulbuls and spiderhunters increased in number while the primary forest babbler species of Timaliidae and flycatcher species of Muscicapidae decreased when condition shifted from primary to logged forests. Results also indicated that insectivore, which includes sallying insectivore, terrestrial insectivore, foliage-gleaning insectivore and bark-gleaning insectivore, represented the highest number of species captured in primary forest. In contrast, more frugivore/insectivore and nectarivore/insectivore species were captured in logged than in primary forest. In general, edge or secondary species, many of which are frugivore/insectivore and nectarivore/insectivore guilds, had increased in number while interior forest species, in particular insectivore decreased in logged forests. This implies that the sensitivity of birds to the changes in the forest condition that they depend on may provide direct indication to the health of the forest ecosystem. In other words, the effectiveness at conserving the birds will also indicate the success in safeguarding ecosystem functions and biodiversity as a whole. As such, it means that the maintenance of the key components of biodiversity such as avifauna with respect to their significant ecological roles may be an option that aids in the sustainable management and the long-term productivity of forests.

Body size is an important issue in ecological studies because it affects not only the structure and dynamics of food webs but also the spatial distribution and life history traits of animals. Previous studies have showed that body size of animals varies along latitudes and altitudes (i.e. Bergmann’s rule), but the patterns in ectotherms (e.g. amphibians and reptiles) show ambiguous results and thus deserve further attention. I investigated the body size variation of three ranid frogs and revealed possible mechanism causing the differences. I sampled frogs from different altitudes (low: 0-800 m, mid: 1000-1800, and high: >2000 m), measured body length and clipped a toe for skeletochronology which revealed the life-history traits of each individual. Results showed that in R. latouhii (distributes 151-1130 m), there was no significant difference of body size and life-history traits along altitude gradients. However, the body size of R. swinhoana (distributes 151-1797 m) increased with altitude, which fits the Bergmann’s rule. In this species, age is the main factors affecting body size. On the other hand, the male and female R. sauteri (distributes 408-2546 m) showed different body size patterns. Body size of males and females showed negative and no correlation with altitudes, respectively, and the different patterns can be explained by the growth rate and sex-specific longevity. Overall, results indicate body size variation along altitudes varied among species, which can probably be explained by the species or sex-specific life history traits. A model with ultimate and proximate mechanisms has been proposed to explain body size variation of animals across altitudes and even latitudes

In drastically depopulating societies, such as Japan, it is becoming increasingly difficult to maintain farmland and other infrastructure. However, if human withdrawal from flood areas becomes possible by implementing optimal land use changes, such areas can be used as green/blue infrastructure to provide nature restoration areas for species adapted to colonize newly disturbed habitats. At the same time, these areas can be used as buffer zones to mitigate the increased risk of large-scale flooding expected to arise from global warming. This paper presents a conceptual framework for disaster prevention using a hybrid of green/blue infrastructure and conventional grey infrastructure as an adaptive strategy to climate change. I outline the historical changes of green/blue infrastructure in Japan and describe current problems in terms of sediment and flood disasters and loss of biodiversity. Then, we present a new strategy to protect human lives and assets from natural disasters and conserve river and wetland biodiversity using the hybrid infrastructure.

The chemical constituents of wood consist of cellulose, hemicellulose, lignin and extractive. Cellulose is approximately 40-45% of the dry weight in most wood species, hemicellulose 20-25%, lignin 25-30%, and extractive 5-10%. Celluloses belong to a group of homogeneous polysaccharides. However, in contrast to celluloses, hemicelluloses are hetero polysaccharides. Also more than 80% of wood extractives are saccharides. Therefore, more than approximately 70% of wood chemical constituents are carbohydrates. Today the behaviors of carbohydrates, including lignin, that consist of celluloses and hemicelluloses are well known in the chemical or functional aspects. However, the study of wood extracts has been left out so far and now has a growing interest. This presentation will include the overviews on the chemical constituents of wood, including wood extracts, the overall processes for the utilization of extracts such as isolation, structure elucidation, and evaluation of functionality, and finally the manufacture of several products using Korean red pine extracts.

Cellulose nanofibrils (CNF) can be divided into lignocellulose nanofibrils (LCNF), holocellulose nanofibrils (HCNF), and pure cellulose nanofibrils (PCNF), dependent upon their chemical compositions. The chemical composition can be adjusted by various chemical treatments such as acid treatment, sodium chlorite-acetic acid treatment, alkaline-peroxide treatment, alkaline treatment, hydrothermal treatment, which affects properties of CNF and CNF reinforced nanocomposites as well as defibrillation efficiency. In this study, the effect of chemical composition on properties of CNF and CNF/thermoplastic starch plastic (TPS) composite was investigated. The contents of lignin and hemicellulose in lignocellulose were adjusted by sodium chlorite-acetic acid treatment and NaOH treatment, respectively, and then defibrillated using a wet-disk mill. As the content of lignin and hemicellulose was decreased, the defibillation efficiency was improved, resulting a decrease in the average diameter and an increase in the specific surface area of CNFs. As the hydrophobic lignin was removed, the hydrophilicity of CNF　was increased, resulting in improved tensile properties of nanopapers and CNF/TPS composite. The presence of hemicellulose in HCNF without lignin can enhance the tensile properties of nanopaper and CNF/TPS composite due to the high hydrophilic property of hemicellulose, which can act as an adhesive between hydrophilic polymers.

Multi stimuli-sensitive drug delivery system using poly(ethyleneimine)(PEI) and cinnamic acid(CA) was prepared by self-assembly. PEI and CA are combined by electrostatic attraction to form a conjugate. Since PEI is hydrophilic and CA is hydrophobic, the conjugate exhibits amphipathic properties. Thus, the conjugate forms a self-assembly in aqueous solution. The formed self-assembly is characterized by its response to various stimuli (pH, temperature, UV). In the case of pH, PEI/CA forms a self-assembly at acidic pH. However, as the pH increases, the degree of ionization of PEI decreases, and the electrostatic attraction between PEI and CA decreases so that the self-assembly is disassembled. In the case of temperature, PEI/CA forms a self-assembly at room temperature, but when the temperature increases, the PEI/CA conjugate decreases in amphipathicity as the solubility of CA increases, self-assembly is disassembled. In the case of UV, when UV light is applied to the self-assembly, CA is isomerized from trans to cis and the self-assembly is disassembled. The self-assembly having the multi stimuli-sensitive characteristic can be applied to the cubic phase, which is a lipid structure. In addition, gold nanoparticle (GNP) representing the surface plasmon resonance phenomenon can be added to the cubic phase to give a response characteristic to NIR. The cubic phase consists of lipid bilayer and water channel. The self-assembly is contained on the water channel and the GNP is inserted into the lipid bilayer. When the NIR are irradiated on the cubic phase, the solubility of CA is increased because the GNP generates heat due to the surface plasmon resonance. As a result, the self-assembly which blocks the inside of the water channel of cubic phase is disassembled and the contents are released.

Valuable applications of lignin are restricted by its heterogeneous features such as structural heterogeneity, high polydispersity, complex functional group distribution, solubility and etc. Solvent fractionation of lignin is one of the useful ways to increase its utilization by taking more uniform lignin. In this study, the crude lignin extracted from Quercus mongolica as treated in supercritical water oxidation was subjected to sequential fractionation with four organic solvents and five lignin fractions (F1~F5) were obtained. The yields of five fractions F1, F2, F3, F4, and F5 were 30.6%, 4.3%, 41.7%, 2.0%, and 3.7%, respectively. As fractionation proceeded, the carbon content gradually increased from 57.6% (F2) to 67.0% (F5). In addition, molecular weights and polydispersity (PDI) of fractionated lignins gradually decreased from F2 to F5. However, the content of methoxyl groups tended to be opposite to the molecular weights. The FT-IR spectra of crude lignin and fractionated lignins were very similar. Additional chemical structures of lignin such as phenolic hydroxyl and aliphatic hydroxyl content were investigated by 1H NMR. Moreover, TGA/DSC was conducted to analyze thermal stabilities and degradation behavior of the fractionated lignins.

Nonviral gene carrier uses electrostatic interaction, encapsulation, or absorption to deliver nucleic acids into the cell. Although they show high transfection efficiency, various nonviral gene delivery systems suffer from the toxicity of the cationic nature of polymeric carriers because of large amount of polymer to achieve reasonable transfection efficiencies. In previous study, we demonstrated that nano-self-assembly of nucleic acids transfected itself into cells spontaneously, without any carriers. We also showed that functional peptides were directly incorporated into M-DNA through Ligand-to-Metal Charge Transfer (LMCT). In this study, we have developed a combination system to incorporate therapeutic recombinant protein into DNA without the need for chemical conjugation. This system was based on LMCT transition, which occurs between divalent metal ions and the sulfhydryl group in cysteine-containing protein. Protein with zinc/DNA complex retarded DNA migration in agarose gel and improved transfection efficiency into the cells. This system may be useful combination systems to treat various diseases.

Cellulosic biomass is a renewable source for biofuel productions as a non-edible biomass. In order to utilize cellulosic biomass efficiently, co-fermentation of mixed sugars (glucose and xylose) is required. Kluyveromyces marxianus is well known thermotolerent yeast which is capable of growing at 45℃ using glucose as a carbon source. However, xylose utilization is not efficient as a sole carbon source by K. marxianus. For improved xylose utilization, the mutant KmXYL1 gene coded for xylose reductase (XR) and the mutant KmXYL2 gene coded for xylitol dehydrogenase (XDH) were obtained from K. marxianus 36907-FMEL1 and K. marxianus 17694-DH1, respectively. The mutant XR from K. marxianus 36907-FMEL1 exhibited around 2 fold higher enzymatic activity that the wild type XR and the mutant XDH from K. marxianus 17694-DH1 exhibited around 65% higher enzymatic activity than the wild type XDH. When the mutant KmXYL1 was overexpressed, xylose consumption and xylitol production rates were highly increased. And the mutant KmXYL1 and KmXYL2 were overexpressed together, xylose consumption and ethanol production rates were highly increased.

Human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) are critical for numerous groundbreaking therapies in the field of regenerative medicine. Nanoscale topography of artificial substrates can greatly influence the fate of stem cells including adhesion, proliferation, and differentiation. Thus the design and manipulation of reduced graphene oxide (rGO)-based nanosheets and its electrical properties are of great importance to realize graphene-based electronics as a strategy in stem cells and tissue engineering applications. In this report, we propose that electro-conductive graphene oxide nanosheets with pulsed electromagnetic fields (PEMFs) are an efficient platform for modulating and enhancing structure and function of hMSCs. Using a self-assembly method, we successfully coated graphene oxide (GO) on glass for fabricating GO nanocomposite and had tunable electrical conductivity of graphene oxide sheets. The hMSCs grown on the rGO films under PEMFs showed increased adhesion, indicated by a large number of focal adhesions, and higher mineralization markers of the extracellular matrix and their osteogenic differentiation in a controlled manner through vinculin, vimentin, osteopontin (OPN), fibronectin, calmodulin (caM) expressions, and differential hierarchical clustering by microarray in hMSCs. Here we show that rGO with PEMFs as a graphene-based cell stimulator provides a promising biocompatible nanocomposite that does not hamper the proliferation of hMSCs and accelerates their specific differentiation into bone cells. Our bottom-up biomechatronic approach of tuning the rGO-sheet properties provides a path to a broad new class of graphene-based materials and their use in a variety of applications.

During a recent earthquake of magnitude of 5.4 in Pohang, Gyeongsangbuk-do Province, 6.5 cm of land creeping was observed on the wire system drawing keen attention from the public. According to the Korea Forest Service’s “Basic Survey on Land Creeping in Pohang” commissioned by the Korean Association of Soil and Water Conservation, only 19 sites of 694 suspected land creeping sites were identified. Consequently there is a need to establish a status survey method for land creeping and to develop algorithms for determining the priority of land creeping. The status survey on land creeping is carried out by the following: 1) a preliminary survey to identify the natural and social environment of the surrounding area based on aerial photos, topography and existing survey data, 2) aa field survey to identify topographical and geological features, vegetation and hydrology in narrow areas including areas undergoing land creeping, 3) a natural environmental impact survey to identify impacts of land creeping on the surrounding natural environment, and 4) a topographical and surface movement survey to identify the situation, range, direction and amount of movement of land creeping. A mechanism analysis is also carried out to determine the movement mechanism of a block undergoing land creeping and to quantitatively identify the relevant factors affecting land creeping activity. The mechanism analysis is carried out by the following: 1) a geological survey (geophysical exploration, boring survey, and geophysical logging) to determine the necessary construction methods for land creeping prevention, 2) a survey on soil characteristics (intrusion experiment, soil and rock experiment, clay mineral experiment, age dating survey, and drilling observation survey), 3) a hydrologic survey (meteorological and ground-water survey), and 4) a survey on land creeping dynamics (surface movement and underground change survey). Currently, the land creeping is caused by a combination of topography, geology, geological structure and ground-water, and various countermeasures should be applied depending on the cause. Prevention works for land creeping are divided into 1) control works (surface-water drainage works, ground-water drainage works, soil retaining works, loading embankment works, gas exclusion works and check dam) to reduce or eliminate factors that cause land creeping and 2) restraint works (pile works, shaft works, and anchor works) to increase the structural stability of land creeping.

In the past, rainfall was recognized as the main cause of sediment-related disasters in the Republic of Korea. However, as seen in the Gyeongju earthquake (ML 5.6) in 2016 and Pohang earthquake (ML 5.4) in 2017, the country may no longer be a safe zone from earthquakes, which are also cited as another cause of sediment-related disasters along with rainfall. Despite a high possibility of sediment-related disasters induced by earthquake in the mountainous areas, there is still a lack of the related researches and measures in the Republic of Korea. The objective of this study was to present future research direction on mountainous sediment-related disasters induced by earthquakes in the Republic of Korea, based on the precedent research extracted from the countries with seismic characteristics similar to those of Korea. Earthquakes in the Republic of Korea have lower magnitude and frequency, and occur mainly in faults inside the tectonic. These features are similar to those in China, but recent major earthquakes in the Republic of Korea may be related to those in Japan. Also, the research techniques derived from Chinese studies were overlapped with those in Japan. In the Republic of Korea with no mountainous sediment-related disaster induced by earthquake, the findings suggest necessity of the experimental studies on mechanism of sediment transportation during earthquakes and on scale of the disasters according to sequential occurrence of heavy rainfalls and earthquakes. Moreover, it would also require the studies on establishment of disaster hazard map including seismic fault information and on upgrading of the disaster hazard map that considers the spatial range of the disasters with respect to earthquake magnitude and rainfall intensity.

The aim of this study was to investigate the characteristics of reestablishment and distribution of riparian vegetation following a disturbance induced by a debris flow event in a mountainous stream, Mount Seorak National Park, Korea. Field works, including a cross-section leveling and vegetation sampling using the belt transect method, were conducted to examine the relationship between the geomorphic site condition and vegetation distribution at 11 debris flow terraces. The results showed that the number of riparian vegetation species increased with increasing distance from the stream channel and height from the channel bed; this indicates the effects of the geomorphic site condition and flood disturbance frequency on the establishment of riparian vegetation. The number of riparian vegetation species was also positively correlated with the mean age of Pinus densiflora seedlings, considered as an indicator plant for the surface age of debris flow terrace in this study. Additionally, we found that annual and biennial herbaceous plants occurred more frequently on the surface of debris flow terraces than in adjacent hillslope forest.

The damage caused by the recent earthquake in Gyeongju and Pohang highlights the need to develop countermeasures for mountainous sediment-disasters. Earthquake-induced ground-failure occurs due to inertial forces to the mountain and the subsequent rise of groundwater and pore water pressure. Although ground-failures are one of the main secondary effects triggered by earthquake, they have not yet been recorded in Korea and thus, the related research in the region is insufficient. In order to provide sufficient data for future countermeasures, we analyze the characteristics of ground-failure caused by 318 earthquakes around the world since the 1900’s based on the reviewed database of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). The percentage (the number) of earthquake-induce ground-failures was highest in Asia at 37% (120 times), followed by 19% (61 times) in South America and 13% (40 times) in the Middle East. The percentage (the number) of earthquake-induced ground-failures in Asia was highest in Japan at 32% (40 times), followed by 13% (16 times) in China, Taiwan and Indonesia, respectively. The magnitude of earthquake-induced ground-failures have gradually decreased since the 1900’s in Asia, Oceania, and North America. Although climate, soil and geological conditions vary between each country, earthquake-induced ground-failures typically occur when the magnitude of an earthquake is 5.0 or higher. Ground-failures are most common from earthquake between 6.5 and 7.0 magnitude and when the epicenter is located 10 to 20 km depth.

This study was carried out to analyze the topographical feature of the shallow landslides occurring in mountain areas where forest fires taken place. In this study, the topographical characteristics was identified on the sites of shallow landslide after wildfire. Samhwa-dong in Donghae-si, Gangwon-do had been beaten the shallow landslide in 2002 after wildfire in 2000. As a result of the analysis, the total number of collapse sites in the study area was 234, and the total area and average area were 13,567㎡ and 58.0㎡. 169 of collapsed spots in mountain slopes were in convergent slope, and 79 of them were in concave-convergent slope. Total collapsed site were 234 and 113 of them were interpreted in Zero-Order basin. it was confirmed that 106 of them were in case of 0∼250 ㎡ of the up-slope contributing area. 208 of them were in side slope. The results of this study are expected to be used for setting the priority criteria when the emergency recovery plan establishes.

The purpose of this study is to compare the bird crossing of roads by type (Expressway 1, railroad-provincial road and Highway 4) and the crossing of roads according to the size of birds. The greatest number of avian species and individuals crossing road per 10 minutes were found on railroad-provincial road (8.96 ± 1.92 and 29.33 ± 11.94, respectively), while the lowest number of avian species and individuals were found on Expressway 1 (2.96 ± 1.04 and 6.13 ± 2.89, respectively), which has the widest width. In addition, the number of small-sized bird (<20cm) crossing the Expressway 1, railroad-provincial road, and Highway 4 was lower than that of the medium-sized bird (≥20cm). Current wildlife crossing structures have been focused on mammals, amphibians and reptiles, but future structures should also consider birds.

This study aimed to reveal the genealogical structure and behavioral features using combined datasets of radio-telemetric and genetic analyses in the Asiatic black bear population re-introduced in the Jirisan National Park (JNP), South Korea during their mating seasons since 2008. For each cub, their parents were determined after comparing molecular parentage based on microsatellite genotypes and radio-telemetric records of candidate breeding mothers and fathers during mating seasons. In some cases, without genetic information, we tried parentage analysis using radio-telemetric and direct observation data obtained on-field. The results of this study showed that this bear population has several mating patterns for next generation production. Molecular data showed that both males and females rarely mated with the same parter in different years, thus most consecutive litters were sired by different males. In addition, we found that the some cubs might be made by polyandrous mating from a single litter, and some cubs by polygynous mating between few males and multiple females. Radio-telemetry showed that the home ranges of females have decreased and occupied their own territories after her first delivery. The young females under 3-4 years old after birth, they moved around larger than those of 5 years old after birth after giving the birth of her first cub. Those of males have increased lager after five years old which assumed as the first time of their mating experience than those of under five years old ones, estimating that the males have the mating experience will spend much more time and efforts for seeking breeding partners than those of the young males. We found that the mating trials between male and female have begun from early June and continued to late August. During the mating season, adult males just have approached to female’s home ranges but females did not move toward males to seek for breeding partners. Radio-telemetry showed that the more than a male tried to access an estrous female and stayed nearby her at a time in several mating cases, indicating that the estrous females did not reject the new accesses of strange visiting males in the mating season. This low male-fidelity of the females might be a reason for polyandrous mating in the Asiatic black bear. Recorded coordinates indicated that behavioral patterns of males were mainly discriminated into two different modes. At first males showed area-fidelity rather than female-fidelity. In this pattern, males were found inside or nearby neighboring territories of receptive females for almost mating season, and the males stayed there and contacted sometimes to mate with females for several days in every month of the mating season. After contacting with a female, they moved again to look for another female partner. In addition they came again to mate with the previous female. In this case, the area-fidelity males seem to have a tendency to mate with as many females as possible. On the other hand, a male in this population wandered almost all over the area of JNP and attempted contact with the estrous females for few days, and finally leaved there to go to the next partners. This male also had several cubs as a result of his mating success. All of these accessing and mating behaviors of the males may be contribute to polygynous offspring production. In general females have the rearing delay for the next pregnancy resulting a biennial interval for delivering the next cub. However, in some cases, we also found that some mothers again gave birth to a new cub bear the next year after giving birth to a cub bear. But in this case, the mothers usually released the young cubs. Interestingly, the consanguineous mating between 1st and 2nd generations were also assessed by parentage test, which means whether they could not recognize their parents/cubs or there is no biological barrier for restricting consanguineous mating with their mothers or fathers after sexual maturity. In addition, this phenomenon will be a reason of decreasing the genetic diversity by increasing inbreeding coefficient. Since this bear population is a re-introduced population in the JNP, a decrease in genetic diversity may be one cause of reduced population viability. Our findings concluded that this Asiatic black bear population has various reproduction strategies such as monogamy, polygyny, and multiple mating so on, and the 2nd generation bears born in the JNP have been also participating in mating and breeding for next generation production. The use of the combined datasets of molecular parentage and radio-telemetry will be helpful for providing the critical cues for analyzing mating and behavioral patterns during mating seasons, which will be contribute to better understanding the reproductive biology and behavioral ecology, and to establishing the advanced restoration and management program of the Asiatic black bear in South Korea.

Nowadays after finding new or interesting animals in the wild, many people mention about the genetic test for precise identification of the species and revealing their biogeographic and genealogical origin. The current genetic technology is an essential part in conservation biology such as molecular identification, sex determination, animal counting, population management, parentage test and forensic study so on. The Species Restoration Technology Institute (SRTI) of Korea National Park Service (KNPS), South Korea, has been conducting the molecular analysis for endangered animals related to genetics, reproduction, and ecology so far. In this year, we constructed a pedigree of the Asiatic black bear population reintroduced in the Jirisan National Park (JNP) and their progeny. In May, an Asiatic black bear has been hit by the bus on highway nearby the JNP, then we identified this bear based on the nucleotide sequences of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) cytochrome B gene and the genotype distribution of microsatellite (MS) markers in May, 2018. In addition, we verified that two newborn cubs of Asiatic black bear were born by artificial insemination but not natural mating throughout comparing their MS genotypes with those from candidate fathers and mothers in this year. For the long-tailed goral restoration program, we are analyzing genetic information to explain the genetic structure, biogeographical distribution and inter population correlation in South Korea. MtDNA and Y-chromosomal genes and MS genotypes are employing to determine their maternal and paternal lineages of local populations and to reveal genetic correlation among populations. In addition, the SRTI is trying to identify the species, to determine sexes and to count the individuals for herbivore scat and hairs collected from the wild especially national parks of South Korea. For example, herbivore’s pellet samples supposed as the long-tailed goral were taken from two national parks located in southern part of Korean Peninsula in this year, but those samples were finalized as roe deer, water deer and feral goats. Recently, we identified two individuals (a male and a female) of the long-tailed goral and one water deer from the collections in the eastern borderline (Mt. Yongmasan) of the metropolitan city Seoul in this summer, and provided current status of inhabitation of these two herbivores based on the results of molecular tests. For the Red fox restoration program, we are examining the haplotype distribution of mtDNA genes for verifying that the candidate animals are phylogenetically north-eastern Asian origin. The familial structure of candidate animals was also analyzing for avoiding inbreeding during proliferation between new and previously introduced red foxes after reintroduction from China. In addition, we are trying to distinguish the red fox and its competitors using scat specimens from the red fox releasing place. Dietary analyses have also been trying to make up the profile of food items and to reveal the dietary patterns for better understanding behavioral ecology and for preparing management by the next-generation DNA sequencing technique. In conclusion, genetic approaches could be the assisted method for understanding the endangered animals as providing their identities, phylogenetic relationship, hereditary characteristics, genetic correlation among populations and ecological information, which plays important roles in conservation and management of the interesting animals in the wild.

Here, we analyzed the habitat use and behavior ecology of Gorals (n = 10), from May 2007 to December 2011, using transmitters encircling their necks, which were reintroduced to Woraksan National Park from Hwachun-gun, Kangwon-do province. One of the habitat use characteristics–slope preferences–in females (n = 5), males (n = 5), and both sexes (n = 10) was 30~35° (23.6%), 35~40° (23.8%), and 30~40°, respectively. In terms of habitat direction, 24.3% of the females and 16% males moved towards the Northwestern regions, preferring the Southern regions in winter. Male and female home ranges decreased after ~18 and 6 months, respectively. The Gorals were affected not only by complex factors such as habitat quality, age, sex, population density, and competition, but also by the challenges of adaptation to a new habitat. These factors, we believe, contributed to the success rate of the restoration project and that proper monitoring is needed to ensure the home range size requirements are considered for future restoration projects.

Due to the occurrence of social problems caused by wild boar(Sus scrofa), information on the scientific habitat of wild boar living in the city type national park is required. This study was carried out to establish a scientific management plan through identification of the ecological characteristics of wild boar in Bukhansan National Park(BNP). Monthly average number of wild boar was 91.8 individuals with an average density of 1.9 indiv./㎢ in BNP. The frequency of wild boar was the highest in the site 2, and the mud bath was preferred. The wild boar was most frequently seen at 7pm and was confirmed to be nocturnal. The average home range of the wild boar was 1.043±0.378㎢, and the core area was 0.010 ± 0.001㎢. In order to prevent wild boar from appearing, In order to prevent wild boar from appearing in the city, it was found to be effective as a result of installing a fence and capture frame. However, the placement of specialist personnel who can manage the facilities is very important. The management plan of wild boar in BNP needs to understand trend of density change through long-term monitoring and to construct data through basic ecological research.

This study reviewed environmental and ecological services of urban forests regarding urban air, water, soil, and wildlife, and explored desirable design strategies to enhance the multiple services of urban forests. Urban forests ameliorated urban microclimate conditions and saved building energy uses through evapotranspiration, shading, and windspeed reduction. They reduced air pollutant concentrations from deposition and absorption, and controlled water pollution through rainfall interception and liquid matter uptake. They also increased wildlife diversity by providing cover and food. These environmental and ecological services were variable with different structures of urban forests. Maximizing the services requires a linkage of holistic and individualistic approach to urban forest design. The design through holistic approach should determine a desirable indicator of urban forest supply and proper spatial layout of urban forest patches at the whole urban scale. Horizontal and vertical forest structures at finer spatial scales are also critical for each type of urban forests such as gardens, parks, and streets. The services of urban forests were directly associated with their area, volume, and spatial network as well as density, size, and growth rate of planted trees. A new design skill for urban forests was presented and discussed in this study.

This study aimed to examine the impacts of visiting urban forests on the enhancement of the subjective well-being of urban dwellers. We used the frequency of visits and staying time in urban forests as the independent variables in explaining the positive/negative emotions and the satisfaction with life in general. An online survey was conducted by a private survey institute with 600 participants in the City of Seoul and 400 participants in the City of Daejeon, respectively, and the participants were selected by quota sampling method. The results of ANOVA analysis indicated that there were no significant interactions between the frequency of visit and staying time in forests in both cities. We observed that participants visited forests within the recent two weeks expressed higher positive emotion and lower negative emotion than non-visitors, the regardless frequency of visits. Regular forest visitors (at least once a month) showed higher satisfaction with life than non-regular visitors. However, staying time in forests appeared did not affect the positive/ negative emotions and the satisfaction with life in general. It was interesting to observe almost identical analysis results in both cities, which confirmed the existing theory suggesting that the level of genetically determined subjective well-being could be enhanced by intentional activities such as visiting urban forests. From this perspective, providing and maintaining attractive forests in urban settings by public institutions could be meaningful for enhancing urban dwellers’ welfare. In addition, the importance of visitors’ characteristics and group constraints were discussed as a tool to increase visiting forests for further studies.

This study is conducted to investigate soil chemical properties based on planting structure in thirty urban parks in Daejeon Metropolitan City, Korea. Planting structure in urban parks is categorized into multi-layer planting, single-layer planting (Pines densiflora S. et Z. and P. strovus L.), and the grass. Soil analyses in multi-layer planting have shown that the average pH (1:5, w/w), O.M, P2O5 (mg/kg), CEC (cmol+/kg), T-N, K+ (cmol+/kg), Ca2+ (cmol+/kg), and Mg2+ (cmol+/kg) are 6.88, 0.99%, 52.10, 5.73, 0.05%, 0.15, 5.23, and 0.47, respectively. As a result of soil analyses in single-layer planting (P. densiflora S. et Z.), the average pH, O.M, P2O5, CEC, T-N, K+, Ca2+, and Mg2+ are 6.98, 1.19, 39.14, 5.85, 0.05%, 0.14, 5.47, and 0.74, respectively. Soil analyses in single-layer planting (P. strovus L.) have shown that the average pH, O.M, P2O5, CEC, T-N, K+, Ca2+, and Mg2+ are 5.8, 1.25, 12.75, 5.98, 0.06%, 0.14, 4.66, and 0.46, respectively. In a result of soil analyses in the grass, the average pH, O.M, P2O5, CEC, T-N, K+, Ca2+, and Mg2+ are 7.05, 1.05, 36.54, 6.16, 0.04%, 0.14, 4.78, and 0.56, respectively. In the grass, pH and CEC levels are higher, but T-N level is lower. In multi-layer planting, K+, Ca2+, and P2O5 levels are higher, but Mg2+ and O.M levels are lower. In single-layer planting, however, Mg2+, O.M, and T-N levels are higher, but pH, P2O5, and K+ levels are lower.

Rapid urban development has increased urban air temperatures, due to air contaminants and artificial heat sources; these high urban temperatures have resulted in a phenomenon called urban heat island effect (UHI). UHI occurs when agricultural areas and vegetation zones are replaced with impermeable pavement areas made of concrete and asphalt. Such changes increase the amount of heat energy on urban surfaces because the narrow spaces between buildings cannot efficiently release this heat into the atmosphere. UHI is exacerbated by the decrease in evapotranspiration and increase in spaces that absorb solar energy that commonly accompanies urban cores. This excessive heat energy also negatively influences processes in the ecological cycle, causing climatic issues throughout the city, such as a general increase in air temperature and the generation of unexpected wind flows. Urban forests play a major role in the reduction of urban temperature. Spatial patterns of urban forests depend on type, size and shape. The cooling effects of urban forests patterns vary according to contributing degree of vegetation indicators referring to measuring quantitative value of vegetation. With a focus on urban forests, correlation analysis between urban forests area and LST was conducted. Comparing using 214 aerial photographs and Landsat 8 data was performed. In the result, the larger area of urban forests increase the lower urban temperature decreases. Therefore, the large urban forests can be a good strategy to reduce the urban temperature.

Urban forests provide multiple services including ecological, social, and economic benefits. Several evaluation programs for urban forest services have been developed in the US and applied to urban forest policy. However, there is no comprehensive program in Korea to evaluate the multiple services. This study developed a computer evaluation model for the multiple services suitable for structural characteristics of urban forests in Korea. Development of the model used the Python-based Django and the Plotly for statistical analysis. The multiple services for evaluation included carbon sequestration, abatement of various air pollutants, O2 production, microclimate amelioration, building energy saving, rainfall interception, erosion control, bird diversity enhancement, psychological welfare, and property value. This evaluation model can be applied to estimate urban forest services at the per tree level and at the per unit level through input parameters such as tree sizes and weather conditions. The model is also capable of spatial analysis and mapping as required for urban forest planning to enhance the multiple services. This new model is expected to be practical in easily quantifying urban forest services and in establishing guidelines of urban forest design and management.

Urban forests are critical for bird inhabitation in urban ecosystems with little greenspace area, because they provide birds with cover and food. The bird inhabitation contributes to the vitality of urban ecosystems and serves as a resource of ecological learning and recreation. Bird species diversity is affected by various characteristics of urban forest structure and distribution such as area, age, habitat diversity, and connectivity. This study analyzed structural differences of urban forests associated with bird species diversity. Regression models to easily estimate bird species diversity were developed using areal size and vertical structure of urban forests as independent variables. All the regression models showed high fitness with r2 values of 0.91-0.98. Bird species diversity tended to increase as the areal size of urban forests got larger. For the urban forest of 10 ha, about three bird species inhabited single-layered planting of only shrubs, seven bird species inhabited single-layered planting of only trees, and ten bird species inhabited multi-layered planting of both shrubs and trees. Thus, bird species diversity for the multi-layered planting was at least 2.2-3.3 times greater than that for the single-layered planting. Study results could be useful in evaluating bird habitat services of urban forests and exploring desirable design strategies to improve bird species diversity.

The development of transportation causing easier migration of species globally, and consequently those exotic species could cause serious ecological problems to local ecosystem. Hence, developing proper remove tactics should be one of the important topic in invasive species management. American bullfrog (Lithobates catesbeianus), is one of the most successfully introduced species in the world, which can survive in a variety of environments and climates. Invasive bullfrogs directly or indirectly influenced native ecosystems through competition, behavior modification, habitat control, disease, and parasite infestation. Removing activity is not easy because of its unique adaptability and dispersion ability. In this study, we test traps with different attractants according to bullfrogs’ behavior and ecological characteristics. We set 12 survey sites in each of 2 locations, Gunsan and Seosan and recorded the number of individuals of adults and juveniles, presence of tadpoles, calling index, and environmental factors (air temperature, humidity, air pressure, water temperature, pH, conductivity, wind speed) in each sites. We also set six treatments, combining adult attractants (control, light, calling) and tadpole (control, bait). In all sites before setting traps, we found 2.29 ± 2.56 (mean ± sd) adults with 0.71 ± 0.91 of calling index. Traps captured an average of 0.67 ± 1.55 (0-7) adults and 4.21 ± 15.73 (0-75) tadpoles in a single site. Simple regression showed that the number of observed adults and CI have positive correlation with the number of captured adults (r1=0.54, r2=0.41, p<0.05), but the number of adults wasn’t in relation to any environmental variables. Two-way ANOVA showed no difference in adult capture rate depending on the type of treatments and the observation power was very low. The number of captured tadpoles in each site was 8.42 ± 21.89, which did not differ among treatments, but only traps with food bait captured tadpoles successfully, indicating tadpoles may be attracted by food resource. In future studies, additional experiments will be conducted to increase statistical confidence and compare the efficiency of each treatment group in order to improve effective management strategies and policies for exotic species.

Unnatural dispersal and translocation through human mediated contribute to the range expansion of Asian black-spined toads, Duttaphrynus melanostictus. The species became invasive in numerous ecosystems, such as Madagascar and the Wallacean islands area, where it has a strong ecological impact. Here, using Taiwan as a case study to examine inadvertent translocations of D. melanostictus through growing trade and the geographically central position of the island, we retrace the origin of D. melanostictus using parsimony networks together with Bayesian phylogenetic and population clustering approaches. We tested four major dispersal hypotheses to explain the relation between the Taiwanese and other D. melanostictus populations: 1) the species originates from South East Asia (SEA) and it is invasive in Taiwan as a result of human-induced dispersal, 2) the species originates from South East Asia, and dispersed over land bridges, 3) the species comes from the Chinese mainland through human-induced dispersal, 4) the species originates from the Chinese mainland, and dispersed over land bridges during glacial maxima. Our unrooted haplotype network based on a fragment of contiguous tRNA Gly-ND3 mitochondrial DNA from 22 individuals, together with homologous sequences extracted from GenBank for China and SEA, confirmed the non-clustering of haplotypes from SEA and Taiwan. Likewise, Bayesian phylogenetic inferences further clarified the absence of genetic segregation between Taiwanese and mainland Chinese populations. The haplotypes from Taiwan were segregated within a monophyletic clade, shared with mainland Chinese populations. The origin of the Taiwanese D. melanostictus is consequently linked to the Chinese clade and rejects our first and second hypothesis. The clustering with haplotypes from geographically close localities in mainland China, as well as with haplotypes present in geographically distant but active trading areas, here Hong-Kong, suggests both past dispersion over land-bridges, and recent human-induced dispersal.