• Proceedings of the Zoological Society Korea Conference
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• 1995.10a
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• pp.68-73
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• 1995

Most female Great Tits lay one egg each day until the clutch is complete. However, some exceptions are found. “Pause day/s” most frequently occur after the 1st egg is laid. In general, egg-size increase with laying sequence, but there is year-to-year variation. The relationship between egg size and laying sequence is found more significantly in relatively larger clutches than in smaller ones. Great Tits tend to advance the hatching of their chicks by starting to incubate earlier in relation to clutch completion as the breeding season progresses. hatching asynchrony affects chick´s growth rate, but when the effect of laying date on hatching asynchrony is controlled, the effect of hatching asynchrony on growth rate is not found. These findings support the ´hurry-up´ hypothesis.

• 한국생태학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2002.08a
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• pp.107-111
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• 2002

During the breeding season of 1998, breeding ecology of the Great Reed-Warbler (Acrocephalus arundinaceus orientalis) was studied at Yangsoo-ri and Yongdam-ri of the Yangpyung-gun, Kyunggi province, Korea. Egg-weight (CV: 6.25) was more variable than either length or breadth, and breadth was the least variable of the measures. Significant variations In overall egg-weight occurred between clutches, and that more of the total variation in egg-weight and shape are due to inter-clutch variation as to intra-clutch variation when the data were pooled. The last egg tends to be larger than the remaining eggs in the clutch of the Great Reed-Warbler, suggest- ing the Great Reed-Warbler may adopt the brood-survival strategy. When method 3 was used, the most common incubation period is 12 days. In the Great Reed-Warbler, the length of the incubation period was related to clutch-size when method 1 (r=0.485, p<0.05) and method 2 (r=0.621, p<0.01) were employed, but not related to egg weight. The average number of days of hatching asynchrony was 2.5, raging 0.5∼2.5. Asynchronous hatching was related to the clutch size (r=0.66, p<0.01). Hatching sequence was closely related to the laying sequence (r=0.93, p<0.001), suggesting Great Reed-Warblers incubate their eggs before clutch completion. The effect of egg weight on hatching asynchrony was found in Great Reed-Warblers (t-test, p<0.01).

• The Korean Journal of Ecology
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.241-245
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• 2002

During the breeding season of 1998, breeding ecology of the Great Reed-Warbler (Acrocephalus arundinaceus orientalis) was studied at Yangsoo-ri and Yongdam-ri of the Yangpyung-gun, Kyunggi province, Korea. Egg-weight (CV: 6.25) was more variable than either length or breadth, and breadth was the least variable of the measures. Significant variations in overall egg-weight occurred between clutches, and that more of the total variation in egg-weight and shape are due to inter-clutch variation as to intra-clutch variation when the data were pooled. The last egg tends to be larger than the remaining eggs in the clutch of the Great Reed-Warbler, suggesting the Great Reed-Warbler may adopt the brood-survival strategy. When method 3 was used, the most common incubation period is 12 days. In the Great Reed-Warbler, the length of the incubation period was related to clutch-size when method 1 (r=0.485, p<0.05) and method 2 (r=0.621, p<0.01) were employed, but not related to egg weight. The averagee number of days of hatching asynchrony was 2.5, raging 0.5~2.5. Asynchronous hatching was related to the clutch size (r=0.66, p<0.01). Hatching sequence was closely related to the laying sequence (r=0.93, p<0.001), suggesting Great Reed-Warblers incubate their eggs before clutch completion. The effect of egg weight on hatching asynchrony was found in Great Reed-Warblers (t-test, p<0.01).

• Clinical and Experimental Reproductive Medicine
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.233-239
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• 1997

Embryos of most mammalian species grown in vitro would undergo developmental arrest at the approximate time of genomic activation. Stage-specific cell block and the resulting rapid loss of embryo viability in conventional culture media have limited the duration for which embryos may be cultured prior to transfer. As a result, embryos are usually transferred to the uterus at the 4-to 8-cell stage to avoid the loss of viability associated with long-term in vitro culture. Early transfer has led to asynchrony of the endometrium-trophectoderm interaction at the time of implantation and a resultant reduction in the rate of implantation. To overcome these problems, a variety of co-culture systems has been devised in which embryos can develop for a longer period prior to embryo transfer. Vero cells, derived from African green monkey kidney, share a common embryologic origin with cells from the genital tract. In addition, they are potentially safe to use, since they are highly controlled for viruses and other contaminants. Therefore, co-culture using Vero cells has been widely utilized to enhance embryo viability and development, although not without controversies. We thus designed a series of experiments to demonstrate whether Vero cells do indeed enhance mouse embryo development as well as to compare the efficacy of co-culturing mouse 1-cell embryos on Vero cell monolayer in both Ham's F-10 and human tubal fluid (HTF) culture media. 1-cell stage ICR mouse embryos were cultured either in the presence of Vero cells (Group A) or in conventional culture medium alone (Group B). In Ham's F-10 significantly more 3-to-8cell embryos developed in group A than group B (59.8 versus 10.0%; p<0.01). In contrast, there was no significant difference in embryonic development both group A and group B in HTF. However, significant differences were noted only in later embryonic stage (13 and 0%; p<0.05 of group A and B respectively, hatching or hatched). In Ham's F-10, we also could observe the beneficial effect of Vero cell on hatching process (70.7 and 42.1%; p<0.05 of group A and group B respectively).