The spring home range and habitat use of the spot-billed duck in Korea were studied using GPS-mobile phone-based telemetry (WT-300). The study areas were Anseong-si, Seosan-si, Nonsan-si, and Sejong-si. Analysis was performed using minimum convex polygon (MCP) and kernel density estimation (KDE) spot-billed ducks had an average home range of 70.28 km² (standard deviation [SD]=84.50, n=6), and a core habitat (50%) 2.66 km² (SD=2.60, n=6), according to MCP and KDE, respectively. Wetlands (41.5%) and rice fields (35.7%) were highly used as habitats. The rice field use rate was high during the day, and the wetland utilization rate was high at night. Rice fields and wetlands were the primary habitats in spring.
Road structures play an important role in collisions involving vehicles and wildlife. Our study aimed to determine the effect of various types of road structures on the risk associated with roadkill. We surveyed 50 previously identified roadkill hotspots, ranked from one to five according to roadkill density. We collected nine types of road structure data on each hotspot road section. Structures with similar characteristics were grouped together, resulting in five categories, namely, median barrier, high edge barrier, low edge barrier, speed, and visibility. We examined the existence of each road structure category at each hotspot rank. The cumulative link model showed that the absence of bottom blocked median barrier increased the roadkill hotspot rank. Our study concluded that a visual obstacle in the middle of roads by the median barrier decreases wildlife road crossing attempts and roadkill risk. We suggest that future roadkill mitigation plans should be established considering these characteristics.
In this study, we aimed to quantify the population size and spatial distribution of three predatory Scarites species in coastal sand dunes. In June and August 2014, 252 pitfall traps were utilized to conduct a trapping web analysis at three distinct sites with varying vegetation dominance values. Scarites sulcatus had the largest estimated population in a 10 m2 area with a habitat density of 36.6 in a Vitex rotundifolia community area (site B) in the June survey. In contrast, Scarites aterrimus had the largest population size with a habitat density of 2.9 in a Calystegia soldanella community area (site A) in the August survey. Spatial distribution analysis revealed that S. sulcatus dominated the Vitex rotundifolia community without preference for a particular site, whereas S. aterrimus and Scarites terricola pacificus were primarily observed on the beach. The results indicated that the three Scarites species in the Sohwang coastal sand dune region exhibited differences in their spatial and temporal distributions in the coastal dune ecosystem in order to avoid competition and predation. In conclusion, our findings can be utilized to estimate the population density of the genus Scarites on the Korean Peninsula. The outcomes of this study will contribute to estimating insect population densities on the Korean Peninsula and developing investigative assessment methodologies.
The objective of this study was to analyze the genotype of black-spotted pond frog (Pelophylax nigromaculatus) using seven microsatellite loci to quantify its genetic diversity and population structure throughout the spatial scale of basins of Han, Geum, Yeongsan, and Nakdong Rivers in South Korea. Genetic diversities in these four areas were compared using diversity index and inbreeding coefficient obtained from the number and frequency of alleles as well as heterozygosity. Additionally, the population structure was confirmed with population differentiation, Nei’s genetic distance, multivariate analysis, and Bayesian clustering analysis. Interestingly, a negative genetic diversity pattern was observed in the Han River basin, indicating possible recent habitat disturbances or population declines. In contrast, a positive genetic diversity pattern was found for the population in the Nakdong River basin that had remained the most stable. Results of population structure suggested that populations of black-spotted pond frogs distributed in these four river basins were genetically independent. In particular, the population of the Nakdong River basin had the greatest genetic distance, indicating that it might have originated from an independent population. These results support the use of genetics in addition to designations strictly based on geographic stream areas to define the spatial scale of populations for management and conservation practices.
The rapid development of technologies in unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) has led to their use in various areas. UAVs are mainly used for commercial purposes, but their utilization is increasingly important in other areas because their operation cost is less than satellites and aerial imaging. The utilization of UAVs in the environment/ecology area is relatively new. Therefore, identifying the trends of UAV-related spatial information is significant in basic research for UAV utilization. This study quantitatively identified domestic and international research trends related to UAV utilization and analyzed research areas. An attempt was also made to identify upcoming UAV-related topics in the environment/ecology research field using text mining to analyze the bibliographic information of global research literature. Domestic UAV-related studies were classified into seven clusters where basic research on “UAV technology/industry trends” was abundant, and studies on data collection and analysis through UAV remote sensing technology have increased since 2015. Eight clusters were identified for international studies where the most active research area international was “remote sensing technology/data analysis”. In addition, Canopy, Classification, Forest, Leaf Area Index, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index, Temperature, Tree, and Atmosphere appeared as the main keywords related to environment and ecology. The appearance frequencies and association strengths were high because the advancement in UAV optical sensor technology and the rapid development of image processing technology enabled the acquisition of data that could not be obtained from existing spatial information. They are recognized as future research topics as related domestic studies have begun corresponding to international research.
This study aimed to determine the applicability of drones and air quality sensors in environmental monitoring of air pollutant emissions by developing and testing two new methods. The first method used orthoimagery for precise monitoring of pollutant-emitting facilities. The second method used atmospheric sensors for monitoring air pollutants in emissions. Results showed that ground sample distance could be established within 5 cm during the creation of orthoimagery for monitoring emissions, which allowed for detailed examination of facilities with naked eyes. For air quality monitoring, drones were flown on a fixed course and measured the air quality in point units, thus enabling mapping of air quality through spatial analysis. Sensors that could measure various substances were used during this process. Data on particulate matter were compared with data from the National Air Pollution Measurement Network to determine its future potential to leverage. However, technical development and applications for environmental monitoring of pollution-emitting facilities are still in their early stages. They could be limited by meteorological conditions and sensitivity of the sensor technology. This research is expected to provide guidelines for environmental monitoring of pollutant-emitting facilities using drones.
Sanankerto is one of pilot projects for tourism villages in Indonesia due to its natural tourism potential with a 24-ha bamboo forest located in Boon Pring Andeman area. However, the distribution of existing bamboo has never been identified or mapped. Thus, the management is facing difficulty in planning and developing tourism potential as well as spatial management in the area. Therefore, the objectives of this study were to identify and analyze the structure of bamboo vegetation in the Boon Pring Tourism village and to perform vegetation mapping. The type of research was descriptive exploratory with a cluster sampling technique (i.e., a two-stage cluster) covering an area of ± 10 ha. Bamboo vegetation analysis was performed by calculating diversity index (H’), evenness index (E), and Species Richness index (R). Data were collected through observation and interviews with local people and the manager to determine zonation division. Mapping of bamboo vegetation based on zoning was processed into thematic maps using ArcGis 10.3. Micro climatic factors were measured with three replications for each sub-cluster. Data were analyzed descriptively and quantitatively. Nine species of bamboo identified. Diversity, evenness, and species richness indices differed at each location. Activities of local communities, tourists, and manager determined the presence, number, and distribution of bamboo species. These bamboo distribution maps in three zoning (utilization, buffer, and core) can be used by manager for planning and developing natural tourism potential.