• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.37 no.3
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• pp.147-153
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• 2014

Structural heterogeneity results in different spatial distributions of microcrustaceans. Thus, in ecosystems with excessive macrophyte development, it may be difficult to determine the microcrustacean species composition. Given the importance of microcrustaceans in the food web, the elucidation of microcrustacean diversity is essential. In vegetated habitats, bluegill sunfish can prey on microcrustaceans, and therefore have a potential role as microcrustacean monitoring agents. In the present study, we compared microcrustacean species compositions in the field with those in the guts of bluegill, in Jangcheok Lake, South Korea. Our results showed that the number of microcrustacean species was higher in bluegill guts than in the field. Further, microcrustacean species, such as Daphnia galeata, Graptoleveris testudinaria, Leydigia leydigii, Rhynchotalona sp., and Simocephalus exponisus, were found only in bluegill guts. Our findings verify the validity of the fish gut analysis to monitor microcrustacean species compositions and to clarify spatial distributions of microcrustacean species in structurally heterogeneous ecosystems with excessive macrophyte development.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Environmental Restoration Technology
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• v.18 no.6
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• pp.85-95
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• 2015

Recent years, nationwide projects for ecological restoration are implemented with emerging issues on the stream ecosystem. In order to enhance effectiveness of the ecosystem restoration and reduce negative impact, the appraisal of effectiveness through the follow-up monitoring and the adaptive management process are executed in consecutive phase. In this study, planning phase, monitoring and adaptive management in Hakui stream which is part of An Yang stream restoration project is introduced as representative ongoing case of effective adaptive management. The aim of this study is to verify the adaptive management process and suggest direction of effective restoration. Restoration project of Hakui stream resulted in increasing number and diversity of species (vegetation, fish, bird, invertbrates, amphibian and reptilia) according to monitoring from 2004 to 2013, and enhancing natural river landscape by evaluation of river naturalness among 2001(before restoration), 2007 (after), 2015 (recent). However, excessive vegetation expansion or sediment deposition on channel over time caused unexpected results such as terrestrialization or degradation of habitats. Adaptive management action such as removing disturbance species (Humulus japonicus)(2007), coppicing willow (2007), release of march snail (2007), creation of wetland (2014) were implemented based on monitoring results. And then appraisal of management action was discussed.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.347-356
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• 2007

The structure and dynamics of Korean red pine stands established in the riparian zone were studied in the Tsang stream in Mt. Seorak National Park, in east-central Korea. Pine stands were classified into four successional stages, the initial, establishing, competitive, and stabilizing stages, based on the age distribution of a dominant tree, Pinus densiflora, the vegetation stratification, and the microtopography of the riverine environment. The stages usually corresponded to disturbance frequencies, depending on the horizontal and vertical distances from the watercourse. Stands of the initial and establishing stages lacked tree or subtree layers, or both. As stands progressed through the developmental stages, soil particle size became finer and moisture retention capacity was improved. The stand ordination reflected the developmental stage, and the species ordination differentiated species specializing in relatively dry and wet habitats. The results of the analysis of vegetation dynamics provided ecological information which will be useful for understanding the developmental processes of vegetation established in riparian zones. Species diversity indices usually increased across developmental stages, following the typical pattern for successional processes. We discuss the importance and necessity of riparian vegetation in Korea, where most riparian forests have disappeared due to excessive human land use.

• Korean Journal of Plant Taxonomy
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• v.41 no.3
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• pp.182-193
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• 2011

As a part of the on-going effort to conserve endangered Scrophularia takesimensis Nakai in Korea, its genetic structure and diversity from 3 population, consisted of 14 subpopulations in Ulleung Island were analyzed using RAPD band patterns. Out of 60 primers tested, 33 generated amplified bands with its genome, including 149 polymorphic and 67 monomorphic bands. The highest number (146) was found in northern population, especially, 64 in HY subpopulation; the smallest (40) in eastern population. An examination of its genetic structure with AMOVA revealed that about 60% of all variations could be assigned to among subpopulations within populations. Population differentiation among populations and subpopulations is seriously going now because of habitat fragmentation due to human activities, such as road and small port construction. Although the habitats of S. takesimensis in Ulleung Island, Korea are disappeared at an alarming rate, significant levels of genetic variation still exist at species level, and population level, especially northern population. Therefore, three conservation strategies should be needed urgently; 1) preservation of populations as it stands, 2) establishment of recovery plan to connect population and subpopulations genetically, and 3) long-term monitoring.

• Animal Systematics, Evolution and Diversity
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.44-48
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• 2016

The Korean peninsula has diverse habitats and so would be expected to have a rich millipede fauna because of its location between the Paleoarctic and Oriental regions. To facilitate studies on millipedes, this work provides an updated list and discussion of Korean millipedes. A total of 69 species had been recorded up to 2010, but since then no new species have been reported. Among 69 species, 49 are endemic to the Korean peninsula. From 1950 to the present, an average of only seven new species from the Korean peninsula has been described per decade. This number does not reflect the biodiversity of millipedes in Korea, especially when compared to Taiwan, which has only one-third the area of the Korean peninsula, but from which a greater number of millipede species have been recorded (75 vs. 69 species). Japan has twofold the land area of the Korean peninsula, and an almost threefold higher number of millipede species. Further, more-intensive surveys will likely result in identification of more millipede species in the Korean peninsula.

• Animal Systematics, Evolution and Diversity
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.149-160
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• 2012

Heterotrichous ciliates were isolated from marine and brackish habitats in Korea, and their morphology, infraciliature and morphometrical characters were investigated using silver impregnated methods. These three Condylostoma species were identified as Condylostoma curva Burkovsky, 1970, C. minutum Bullington, 1940 and C. spatiosum Ozaki and Yagiu in Yagiu, 1944. The species of Condylostoma based on morphology are highly variable in most of characters and distinguished as following. Condylostoma curva is oval to elongate ellipsoidal, size about $245{\times}100{\mu}m$ in vivo, and conspicuously dark greenish brown with cortical granules on their surface, buccal cavity relatively large about 40% of body length, 5-11 macronuclear nodules, 4-8 frontal cirri serially arranged and 22-38 somatic kineties. Condylostoma minutum is elongate ellipsoidal and the size about $310{\times}55{\mu}m$ in vivo, buccal field about 35% of body length, 12-20 macronuclear nodules, adoral zone consisted of 82-107 membranelles, large and long one frontal cirrus and 38-44 somatic kineties. Condylostoma spatiosum is large elongate ellipsoidal, size about $670{\times}105{\mu}m$ in vivo, buccal cavity about 25% of body length, 11-25 macronuclear nodules, 111-144 adoral membranelles, membrane-like 2 frontal cirri, 49-74 somatic kineties. These three Condylostoma species are described here for the first time in Korea.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.22 no.9
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• pp.1141-1152
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• 2013

Insect fauna were surveyed in 2011 at Ungok wetland, Obeygol, located in Gochang, Jeonbuk, Korea. In total, 149 species belonging to 11 orders and 57 families were surveyed. Among them, Lepidopterans composed 23.5% (35 species) of the total insect numbers surveyed, comprising the most abundant group, and followed by Coleoptera, Hemiptera, and Odonata with a composition of 22.1% (33 species), 17.4% (26 species), and 10.1% (15 species), respectively. Bothrogonia japonica Ishihara was the most dominant species, and followed by Gastrophysa atrocyanea Motschulsky and Celastrina argiolus (Linnaeus). Phytophagous insects accounted for 60 percent of the total species. Dominance index was the highest in spring by 0.21. Diversity, richness, and evenness indices were the highest in summer by 4.07, 11.84 and 0.96, respectively. In the study area, the legally-protect species were grouped into five groups; 9 export-restricted species, 17 endemic species, 28 indicator species, 1 climate-sensitive biological indicator and 3 southern characteristic species. Additionally, twenty forest insect pest species were surveyed, belonging to 5 orders and 15 families. Therefore, it is required to conduct long-term monitoring and appropriate management based on the ecological characteristic of the habitats to continuously conserve and maintain of wetland.

• Animal Systematics, Evolution and Diversity
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.269-278
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• 2012

Gobiids are hyperdiverse compared with other teleost groups, with about 2,000 species occurring in marine, freshwater, and blackish habitats, and they show a remarkable variety of morphologies and ecology. Testing the effectiveness of DNA barcodes on species that have emerged as a result of radiation remains a major challenge in evolutionary biology. Here, we used the cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 (COI) sequences from 144 species of gobies and related species to evaluate the performance of distance-based DNA barcoding and to conduct a phylogenetic analysis. The average intra-genus genetic distance was considerably higher than that obtained in previous studies. Additionally, the interspecific divergence at higher taxonomic levels was not significantly different from that at the intragenus level, suggesting that congeneric gobies possess substantial interspecific sequence divergence in their COI gene. However, levels of intragenus divergence varied greatly among genera, and we do not provide sufficient evidence for using COI for cryptic species delimitation. Significantly more nucleotide changes were observed at the third codon position than that at the first and the second codons, revealing that extensive variation in COI reflects synonymous changes and little protein level variation. Despite clear signatures in several genera, the COI sequences did resolve genealogical relationships in the phylogenetic analysis well. Our results support the validity of COI barcoding for gobiid species identification, but the utilization of more gene regions will assist to offer a more robust gobiid species phylogeny.

• Animal Systematics, Evolution and Diversity
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.105-111
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• 2016

The genetic structure of marine animals that inhabit the seashore is affected by numerous factors. Of these, gene flow and natural selection during recruitment have strong influences on the genetic structure of seashore-dwelling species that have larval periods. Relative contributions of these two factors to the genetic structure of marine species would be determined mainly by the duration of larval stage. The relationship between larval period and genetic structure of population has been rarely studied in Korea. In this study, genetic variations of cytochrome oxidase subunit I (COI) were analyzed in two dominant species on rocky shore habitats in the Korean peninsula: periwinkle Littorina brevicula and acorn barnacle Fistulobalanus albicostatus. Both species are not strongly structured and may have experienced recent population expansion. Unlike periwinkle, however, barnacle populations have considerable genetic variation, and show a bimodal pattern of mismatch distribution. These results suggest that barnacle populations are more affected by local adaptation rather than gene flow via larval migration. The bimodal patterns of barnacle populations observed in mismatch distribution plots imply that they may have experienced secondary contact. Further studies on seashore-dwelling species are expected to be useful in understanding the evolution of the coastal ecosystem around Korean waters.

• Journal of Species Research
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.251-268
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• 2020

Ciliates are a speciose protozoan group and their diversity is still not well investigated in Korea. From our field surveys, 18 unrecorded ciliate species were collected from a total of nine localities in Korea. The field surveys were conducted in 2018 and 2019, and the unrecorded ciliates were found from terrestrial (moss and soil samples) and inland water (river and lagoon samples) habitats. The morphology of these ciliates was studied using the observation of living and silver impregnated (protargol) specimens. The present species belong to five classes as follows: 1) class Spirotrichea - Gonostomum kuehnelti, Quadristicha setigera, Lamtostyla decorata, L. islandica, L. longa, Anteholosticha brachysticha, Pseudobirojimia muscorum; 2) class Litostomatea - Apocoriplites lajacola, Epispathidium amphoriforme, Protospathidium muscicola, Phialinides australis, Paraenchelys wenzeli, Rimaleptus similis; 3) class Nassophorea - Drepanomonas revoluta; 4) class Colpodea - Bryometopus triquetrus; and 5) class Oligohymenophorea - Cyclidium glaucoma, Epistylis pygmaeum, Pseudovorticella vestita. The globular macronuclear nodules of P. vestita were observed for the first time in the Korean population.