• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.233-241
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• 2008

Functional feeding groups (FFGs) of benthic macroinvertebrates are guilds of invertebrate taxa that obtain food in similar ways, regardless of their taxonomic affinities. They can represent a heterogeneous assemblage of benthic fauna and may indicate disturbances of their habitats. The proportion of different groups can change in response to disturbances that affect the food base of the system, thereby offering a means of assessing disruption of ecosystem functioning. In this study, we used benthic macroinvertebrate communities collected at 650 sites of 23 different water types in the province of Overijssel, The Netherlands. Physical and chemical environmental factors were measured at each sampling site. Each taxon was assigned to its corresponding FFG based on its food resources. A multilayer perceptron (MLP) using a backpropagation algorithm, a supervised artificial neural network, was applied to evaluate the influence of environmental variables to the FFGs of benthic macroinvertebrates through a sensitivity analysis. In the evaluation of input variables, the sensitivity analysis with partial derivatives demonstrates the relative importance of influential environmental variables on the FFG, showing that different variables influence the FFG in various ways. Collector-filterers and shredders were mainly influenced by $Ca^{2+}$ and width of the streams, and scrapers were influenced mostly with $Ca^{2+}$ and depth, and predators were by depth and pH. $Ca^{2+}$ and depth displayed relatively high influence on all four FFGs, while some variables such as pH, %gravel, %silt, and %bank affected specific groups. This approach can help to characterize community structure and to ecologically assess target ecosystems.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.37 no.2 s.107
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• pp.137-148
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• 2004

Based on the Merritt-Cummins system, the Korean immature aquatic and semiaquatic insects were reviewed and categorized into 6 different functional feeding groups (FFG) at the generic levels (257 genera belonging to 96 families, 10 orders),Among 257 genera, the most abundant FFG was the predator type consisting of 122(47%) genera. The second and third major groups were gathering-collectors (33genera, 13%) and shredders (21, 8%), respectively. Next group was occupied by scrapers (20,7%), and followed by filtering-collectors (12,5%) and plant-piercers (6, 2%). In addition, a total of 43 genera in 7 orders were remained as uncategorized groups. Both relative degrees of resistance and resilience of each genus were also analyzed to evaluate the role of each FFG in maintaining community stability. The results elucidated that the gathering-collectors and the scrapers could play a role as a pioneer group and a functional mediator in the community, respectively. The results also indicated that the practical use of relative resistance and resilience degrees could be applied to conduct comprehensive studies in stream ecosystems.

• Journal of the Korean Association of Geographic Information Studies
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.99-118
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• 2012

The aim of this study is to define a correlation between spatial distribution characteristics of FFG(Functional Feeding Groups) of aquatic insects and related environmental factors in the Geum River based on the theory of RCC(River Continuum Concept). For that objective we had used SMRA(Stepwise Multiple Regression Analysis) method to analyze close relationship between the distribution of aquatic insects and the physical and chemical factors that may affect their inhabiting environment in the study area. And then, a probabilistic method named Frequency Ratio Model(FRM) and spatial analysis function of GIS were applied to produce a predictive distribution map of biota community considering their distribution characteristics according to the environmental factors as related variables. As a result of SMRA, the values of decision coefficient for factors of elevation, stream width, flow velocity, conductivity, temperature and percentage of sand showed higher than 0.5. Therefore these 6 environmental factors were considered as major factors that might affect the distribution characteristics of aquatic insects. Finally, we had calculated RMSE(Root Mean Square Error) between the predicted distribution map and prior survey database from other researches to verify the result of this study. The values of RMSE were calculated from 0.1892 to 0.4242 according to each FFG so we could find out a high reliability of this study. The results of this study might be used to develop a new estimation method for aquatic ecosystem with macro invertebrate community and also be used as preliminary data for conservation and restoration of stream habitats.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.259-266
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• 2006

Community analysis based on functional feeding groups of aquatic insects in Wonju stream was assessed with the composition of aquatic insects collected for four times at the area from May to November, 2004. The total 92 species of aquatic insects in 62 genera, 37 families, and 8 orders were collected during the period of the investigation. The distribution of the numbers and movements of aquatic insects proved the Woniu stream to be healthy except for St. 7 and St. 9. In the main streams, the occupancy ratio of shredders and scrapers of the functional feeding groups(FFGs) gradually decreased from St. 1 to St. 9 while collectors-gathering and collectors-filtering remarkably increased. In St. 2, the shredders and scrapers posted a higher ratio compared to those in tributaries, and it had the quality of mountain streams. With the results of analysis on the similarity matrix(UPGMA) between each sites of Wonju stream, St. 1, 2, St. 3-8 and St. 9 were classified as the upper stream, the middle stream, and the lower stream area, respectively.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.19 no.11
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• pp.1407-1421
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• 2010

This study was carried out to elucidate the relation between water quality and structure of the aquatic ecosystem in the agriculture reservoir Otae-ji from January to December in 2009. The proportion of forest was 46.98%, which means that non-point sources are major contributor of water pollution in this area. The annual mean COD(Chemical Oxygen Demand) in Otae-ji was $3.6mgL^{-1}$, indicating, level II of environmental standards and the trophic state was mesotrophic. Although total phosporus concentration in the reservoir was high in August due to large inflow of nutrients from outside the reservoir during monsoon season, there was no break out of significant algal bloom in the summer. The seasonal succession of phytoplankton showed that the dinophyta dominated in the the spring, chlorophyta in the summer, chrysophyta and chlorophyta in the autumn and chrysophyta in the winter. In case of zooplankton, rotifers dominated in the most seasons, but cladoceran(Bosmina longirostris) dominated in June and copepod(Nauplii) in August. The macrophyte plants showed diverse species compositon consisted of 3 varieties, 24 species, 23 genera, 15 families and 14 orders. The macroinvertebrates also showed various FFG(Functional Feeding Groups) such as GC(Gathering-Collector), P(Predator), SH(Shedder), FC(Filter-Collector) and PP(Plant-Piercer). Ecosystem stability analysis using aquatic insects was classified as Group I, which has high resilience and resistance indices. A total of 14 species of fish was collected but exotic species such as Lepomis macrochirus and Micropterus salmoides were not found in Otae-ji. In conclusion, the preservation of healthy food wed in the reservoir ecosystem is closely related to water quality management as well as effective prevention of algal bloom by helping good material circulation in aquatic ecosystems.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.296-304
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• 2011

This study was carried out to investigate the relation between water quality and structure of the aquatic ecosystem in the Lake Gachang from February to December in 2010. The annual mean COD (Chemical Oxygen Demand) in Lake Gachang was 3.5 mg $L^{-1}$, indicating, level II of environmental standards and the trophic state was mesotrophic. The seasonal succession of phytoplankton showed that Bacillariophyceae was mostly dominant species throughout the year except August. In case of zooplankton, rotifers dominate in the most seasons, but copepod (Nauplii) in August. The macrophyte plants showed diverse species composition consisted of 9 varieties, 77 species, 64 genera, 34 families and 24 orders. Surveyed species of macroinvertebrates were classified into 1 phyla, 2 classes, 4 orders, 7 families, 9 species. The macroinvertebrates showed FFG (Functional Feeding Groups) such as GC (Gathering-Collector) and SH (Shedder). A total of 42 species of fish was collected including $Zacco$ $koreanus$ and $Coreoperca$ $herzi$. In this study, we investigated environmental factors including pollutant source, load, water quality and distribution characteristics of biota such as phytoplankton, zooplankton, macrophyte plants, macroinvertebrates, fish.