• Journal of Apiculture
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.99-109
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• 2017

The multiple real-time PCRs against pathogens of Bombus species including DWV, IAPV, KBV, SBV, BQCV, kSBV, SBPV and Paenibacillus larvae, Mellisococcus plutonius, Lysinibacillus fusiformis, and Klebsiella oxytoca have been developed. One extracted nucleic acid from Beesample could be applied to 11 different PCRs in same time and condition. Specific PCR-products were amplified qualitative and quantitative manner inner 20 minutes successfully, when each 1000 molecules of pathogen-specific target DNA is existed as template, respectively. The multiple PCR detection that we propose would be expected to apply to quarantine test for international exchange of Bombus species.

• Proceedings of the National Institute of Ecology of the Republic of Korea
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.129-138
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• 2021

Living modified organisms (LMOs) are managed by seven government agencies according to their use in South Korea. The Ministry of Environment is responsible for LMOs used for environmental remediation. This study aimed to develop guidelines for assessing potential risks posed by transgenic plants used for remediation to insect ecosystems by investigating arthropod communities in sunflower fields. A total of 2,350 insects and spiders belonging to 134 species of 10 orders and 71 families were collected from sunflower fields over four growth stages ranging from anthesis to seed maturity. At the R3 phase of flower-bud formation, Chironomidae sp. of a decomposer insect guild presented the highest density, while Apis mellifera of a pollinator guild was the most abundant in the R5.8 phase of flowering. During the R7 seed-filling phase and the R9 phase of seed maturity, herbivorous Pochazia shantungensis predominated. During the R9 phase, richness and diversity indices of arthropod communities were distinctly lower whereas their dominance indices were significantly higher than those at other phases. In addition, the composition of arthropod communities was strongly correlated not only with the sampling date, but also with the sampling method depending on the growth stage of sunflowers. Our results suggest that appropriate sampling timing and methods should be considered in advance and that long-term field trials that cover a variety of environmental conditions should be carried out to evaluate potential risks to insect ecosystems.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.33 no.6
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• pp.654-663
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• 2019

Pollinators, which are important organisms in pollination ecology, have been highly valued for their economic contributions to crop production in the agricultural and biotechnology industries. As the production of over 70% of farm products, such as fruits, are mediated by pollinators, bees are important and useful insects to humans. However, pollinators are now seriously threatened with their numbers decreasing annually and their biodiversity being negatively affected by ongoing climate change, misuse of land, change of geographical features, and use of pesticides to increase agricultural production. Thus, surveys and analyses of the emergence and distribution of wild bees are important for conservation and management practices designed to help them continue to play their ecological and agricultural roles despite negative pressures, such as climate and topography changes. We surveyed pollinators, especially wild bees, at 51 research sites in South Korea every two to four weeks for two years from 2017 to 2018 using ez-Malaise traps and analyzed the temporal and spatial distribution of wild bees. The bees showed a normal temporal distribution that peaked between July and August. The bees' working period lasted until November. The spatial distribution of wild bees showed a significant correlation with latitude, and different bees were identified depending on the local habitat. No significant correlation was found for longitudinal distribution with regression analysis (p > 0.05), but this study identified locally specific wild bees. Although we could not predict significant distribution according to longitude, Further studies should be able to analyze the difference in the distribution of wild bees according to the climate, topography, and land-use patterns by humans. The results of this study provide basic information on pollinator distribution, which can be useful in agriculture and for the conservation and management of biodiversity in South Korean pollination ecology.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.386-393
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• 2020

Insect industry has been focused as production of food, animal feed, pollinator and for environmental remediation. Hermetia illicens, called as black soldier fly (BSF) is famous as nutritive feed. In this study, to evaluate the antithrombotic activities of BSF, the larvae (instar 2~6), pupae, residue after adult emergence [RAAE] and adult of Hermetia illicens [black soldier fly, BSF] were collected and their ethanol extracts were prepared. Growth of BSF larvae was very rapid and the weight of larvae was increased to 25-folds during 10 days cultivation. The ethanol extraction ratios showed from 1.0% (pupae) to 18.5%(adults). The highest total polyphenol, total flavonoid, and total sugar contents were observed in RAEE (17.2 mg/g), pupae (3.4 mg/g), and instar 6 (37.6 mg/g), suggesting that metabolic changes occur during the life cycle of the BSF. Anti-coagulation assay showed that extracts of RAEE, instar 6 and pupa of BSF significantly inhibited thrombin, prothrombin, and blood coagulation factors. Furthermore, the extracts of RAEE, instar 3 and adult of BSF showed a strong platelet aggregation inhibitory activity. Our results suggest that pupae and RAEE of BSF have potential as antithrombotic agents. This is the first study to provide evidence of the antithrombotic activity of the BSF and bioactivity alterations during its life cycle.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.50 no.1
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• pp.116-125
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• 2017

Alpine plants with a scarcity of pollinators in harsh environments have been believed to undergo selfing for reproductive assurance; however, contradictory evidence is also available. Snowmelt regimes in alpine areas function to change life history characteristics of alpine plants such as flowering time and duration; yet the effects of snowmelt regimes have never been tested in alpine plants in Korea. This study was conducted to investigate the dichogamy, mating systems, and flowering characteristics of Megaleranthis saniculifolia populations [early and late snowmelt plots (ESP and LSP, respectively)] in a subalpine area of Sobaeksan Mountain in Korea. M. saniculifolia exhibited incomplete protogyny in that despite early maturation of pistils, maturation times of pistils and stamens within flowers were partly overlapped. Control and hand-outcrossing treatments produced significantly higher number of follicles and seeds per flower than autonomous and hand-selfing treatments. Based on the aggregate fruit set, the auto-fertility index (AI) and self-compatibility index (SI) were 0.33 and 0.50, respectively. Snowmelt occurred 10 days earlier in ESP than in LSP, thereby ESP and LSP showed distinct differences with regard to flower longevity and season, but showing no difference in peak flowering dates. We concluded that M. saniculifolia is an incomplete protogynous and largely outcrossing plant requiring pollinator service. Temporal variation in snowmelt time and subsequent changes in flowering characteristics under climate change may further threaten the population persistence of M. saniculifolia which has already been designated as endangered species in Korea.

• Korean journal of applied entomology
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• v.41 no.4
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• pp.263-267
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• 2002

A faunistic survey was conducted to find Osmia bees to be used as an effective pollinator in apple orchards. Collections were carried out from more than 50 selected sites in mountainous areas throughout Korea for 3 years (1996-98) with providing bundle of bamboo traps (6-8 mm of inner diameter) as Osmia nesting site. Five species of Osmia ：O. cornifrons (Radoszkowsky), O. pedicornis Cockerell, O. taurus Smith, O. satoi Yasumatsu et Hirashima and O. jacotti Cockerell, were collected at the rates of 39.9-51.7, 28.3-53.7, 5.5-19.1, 0.8-0.9 and 0.0-0.1%, respectively. And O. cornifrons and O. pedicornis were the dominants with over 80% of total Osmia collected through the collections. Out of those bees collected, rates of female were 29-43% for O. cornifrons. 10-12% for O. pedicornis and 22-43% for O. taurus. When the collection sites of the dominant 3 species were grouped in relation to altitudes above the sea level, about 50% or more bees were collected form the higher sites (500m or higher) while 20% or less were from the lower sites (200m or lower). When the bamboo traps were placed at the same sites continuously for 3 years, number of O. cornrfrons and O. taurus collected was slightly increased while that of O. pedicornis was drastically decreased year after year. Nesting by Osmia bees seems to have started at around early April, peaked at early May and ended by Mid June, while nest competing species of Sphecidae and Eumenidae started nesting at around early June, peaked at early July and ended by the Mid August.

• Korean Journal of Breeding Science
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• v.49 no.1
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• pp.41-46
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• 2017

The sorghum (Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench) variety 'Sodamchal' was developed and registered by Department of Sothern Area Crop Science, National Institute of Crop Science (NICS) in 2013. This variety was developed from the cross between 'Hwanggeumchal' with brown grain and 'Jungmo4001' with semi-dwarf trait. 'Sodamchal' is the first semi-dwarf stature with waxy endosperm ever developed in Korea. The yield performance of 'Sodamchal' was 2.95 MT/ha in local adaptability test for 2 years. It had 91 cm culm length, which was 58 cm shorter than that of 'Hwanggeumchal', 26.3 cm panicle length, 22.0 mm thickness of culm, 21.1 g in 1,000 grain weight. It could be reduce the lodging problem and also adapted to mechanized cultivation. 'Sodamchal' produces high quantities of polyphenol and radical scavenging activitiy with diphenyl-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH), 2,2'-azino-bis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) (ABTS) in pigmented testa. Above all 'Sodamchal' is suitable for use as a parental source for the development of improved pollinator parent lines for developing semi-dwarf sorghum with waxy endosperm and antioxidant activity. (Variety registration No. 6244)

• Korean journal of applied entomology
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• v.57 no.4
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• pp.329-337
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• 2018

To increase the mating rate of Bombus ignitus used as insect pollinator, we investigated the sexual maturity time of B. ignitus. In investigating ovary development such as the number of eggs per ovariole and spermatheca size, the time of sexual maturity of queen was 10 days after eclosion. In case of male, the number of sperm was 246 thousand at immediately after eclosion, and was highest as 480 thousand at 9 days, and tended to show a dramatic decline at 35 days (87 thousand). The more mating time, the less the number of sperm. In consideration of number of sperms, the time of sexual maturity of male was 3-15 days after eclosion. In the sexual maturity time of queen in mating, the queen was not mated at immediately after eclosion, and showed a decrease in 20 days. In terms of the rate of mating and oviposition, the favorable time for mating of queen was 9-20 days. On the other hand, the male showed 3.3% of mating at immediately after ecolosion, showed the highest of 43.3% at 6 days after eclosion, and tended to decrease in 25 days. The sexual maturity time for mating of male was 6-20 days. In summary, our results indicate that sexual maturity time of B. ignitus in reproductive organs and mating is most favorable in 9-12 days after eclosion for queen and 6-9 days for male.

• Journal of Apiculture
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.189-195
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• 2019

Plants release a large variety of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) into the surrounding atmosphere. Floral volatile compounds (FVCs) emitted from many plants is the critical factors for pollinator attraction and defense for adaptation in environments. Recent studies indicate that the chemical components contributing to FVCs play an important role in the honeybee attractiveness to flowers. Olfactory signals are rapidly learned, indicating that foraging behavior results from the association of plant chemicals acting as chemosensory cues for the bees. Solid phase microextraction(SPME)-GC/MS method was applied to analyze the chemical composition of FVCs according to the different species of Robinia spp. The abundant compounds identified in R. pseudoacacia were (Z)-β-ocimene (34.86%) and linalool (35.47%). Those of the tetraploid R. pseudoacacia were (Z)-β-ocimene (35.42%) and α-Farnesene (33.94%). The volatiles of R. margarettae 'Pink Cascade' comprised an abundance of (Z)-β-ocimene (42.73%), (E)-4,8-Dimethylnona-1,3,7-triene (37.23%). Differences in FVCs of the different species of Robinia spp. are discussed in light of biochemical constraints on volatile chemical synthesis and of the role of flower scent in ecology of pollination.

• Korean journal of applied entomology
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• v.61 no.1
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• pp.229-238
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• 2022

Animal pollination is an important ecosystem service provided mostly by diverse insect groups such as bees and hover flies. Maintaining agricultural productivity and securing the nutritional balance are closely tied to human wellbeing. This study aimed to estimate the pollination dependent food production in Korean agricultural system. Crop production data were obtained from Korean statistical information service (KOSIS) data of 2015. By implementing pollination dependency, crop production and market price, contribution of insect pollination to crop production increase were estimated from total 71 crops including 12 cereals, 19 fruits, 18 field vegetables, 13 greenhouse vegetables and 9 specialty crops. Mean pollination dependency of all crops were 29.2% and it was higher on fruits, specialty crops and greenhouse vegetables as well, but low (7.5%) in cereal crops. Pollination dependent (PD) production was estimated as 17.8% of total agricultural crop production with the economic value of 6,850 (6,508-7,193) billion won. Especially, PD production of greenhouse vegetables accounted 49.2% followed by fruits of 42.9%. Even specialty crop also showed higher PD production (35.9%). It was obvious that pollination is the vital service for agricultural production as well as nutritional security in Korea. Further protection and enhancing the pollination service were discussed with integrated pollinator-pest management (IPPM) strategies.