• ALGAE
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.55-68
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• 2018

Foliose species of the Bangiaceae (Porphyra s. l.) are very important in Korean fisheries, and their taxonomy and ecophysiology have received much attention because of the potential for developing or improving aquaculture techniques. Although 20 species of foliose Bangiales have been listed from the Korean coast, some of them remain uncertain and need further comparative morphological studies with molecular comparison. In this study, we confirm the distribution of four Pyropia species from the east coast of Korea, Pyropia kinositae, P. moriensis, P. onoi, and P. retorta sp. nov., based on morphology and rbcL sequence data. Although P. onoi was listed in North Korea in old floral works, its occurrence on the east coast of South Korea is first revealed in this study based on molecular data. P. kinositae and P. moriensis, which were originally described from Hokkaido, Japan, are first reported on the east coast of Korea in this study. Pyropia retorta sp. nov. and P. yezonesis share a similar thallus color and narrow spermatangial patches in the upper portion of the frond, and they have a sympatric distribution. However, P. retorta can be distinguished by the curled or twisted thalli and by molecular data. The biogeographic pattern of the two native species, P. kinositae and P. retorta, suggests that the east coast of Korea may have been a place of refugia during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), and then recolonized to the northern part of Japan through the restored East Korean Warm Current after the LGM.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Landscape Architecture
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• v.32 no.6 s.107
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• pp.14-22
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• 2005

The purpose of this paper is to assess conservation value of forests and cultivated areas from the landscape ecological point of view. The main focus of landscape ecology estimates the reciprocal relationships between spatial patterns and ecological processes. This paper sets the criteria for conservation value and classify the conservation value based on the criteria. Forests and cultivated areas in Seo-Gu, Incheon Metropolitan City was selected as the case study area. In this research, factors such as patch size and connectivity have been selected in order to consider the landscape ecological aspect, gradient for the environmental physics aspect and to consider the environment-ecological aspect, grade of environmental-oriented land suitability analysis Map developed by the ROK Ministry of Environment has been utilized. GIS methodologies have been adopted to calculate the relationships among the above variables. Through literature review, the following evaluation criteria have been adopted: (1) based on island biogeography and metapopulation dynamics theory, patch size criteria are set 2ha and 10ha; (2) connectivity was set the degree of connection with surrounding grids; and (3) gradient of 20 degrees. Conclusively, this paper suggests that local conditions, landscape ecology and physical environment aspects should be considered to develop an estimation framework of the conservation value.

• Journal of the Korean Geographical Society
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• v.39 no.4
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• pp.528-543
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• 2004

The biogeographical approach on the species composition, distributional range, and life form of native Korean conifers suggests that the Korean Peninsula harbors 4 families 10 genera 30 species. Early-evolved conifers maintain high species diversity and broad distribution. During the glacial periods, the ranges of cold-tolerant conifers expanded, on the other hand, those of warmth-tolerant ones reduced. Presence of endemic subalpine conifers might be the result of long-term isolation of conifers on high mountains. Horizontal and vertical ranges of native Korean conifers are classified into alpine, subalpine, montane, coastal, insular and disjunctive types, and then subdivided into twelve sub-types. Typical life form of native Korean conifers is evergreen tree, blooms in spring, and fruits ripe in autumn or following autumn. Oval and elliptical seeds with wing might be beneficial for their dispersal. Further works on the migration, dispersal, genetics, ecology of native Korean conifers are required for the better understanding of the biogeography of conifers.

• Journal of Forest and Environmental Science
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.262-274
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• 2018

Spider fauna of Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) and adjacent areas in Korea was surveyed in 2001-2003, 2013-2015, and 2017. Total of 34 surveyed areas across 10 provinces were divided into four main regions (east coast, mid-east mountain, midland, and west coast areas) in accordance with administrative districts and topography. Total of 273 species of 145 genera in 32 families were identified from 10,886 collected spiders. In conclusion, the spider fauna in the DMZ is 281 species of 147 genera in 32 families with 162 species of 99 genera in 23 families in the previous reports. This corresponds to about 37.6% of the Korean spiders as of 2015. The species richness among surveyed localities was ranged 45 species to 92 species. The species richness of each taxon is high in Araneidae, Salticidae, Linyphiidae and Theridiidae. Habitat generalists were 22 species and habitat specialists were 69 species. The 143 species were web builders and 130 species were wanderers by the outlined life style. In DMZ spiders, only 7 species, Thymoites ulleungensis, Arcuphantes pennatus, Lycosa coreana, Allagelena koreana, Cybaeus mosanensis and Cybaeus triangulus, Kishidaia coreana, were recognized as Korean endemic. Five species, Scytodes thoracica, T. ulleungensis, Lycosa labialis, Takeoa nishimurai, and Phrynarachne katoi, are rare species with a trend of decreasing density in recent years. Araneus rotundicornis has been discovered for the first time since its first report. This study may be useful in the conservative management and will contribute to knowledge of the distribution and biogeography of DMZ areas in the future.

• Korean Journal of Pharmacognosy
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• v.43 no.4
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• pp.338-344
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• 2012

Advanced glycation end products (AGEs) have been postulated to play a central role in the development of diabetic complications. A variety of different agents that inhibit AGEs have been under investigation. In this study, 62 herbal medicines from China and Vietnam have been investigated with an in vitro evaluation system using AGEs formation inhibitory activity. Of these, 5 herbal medicines ($IC_{50}$ < $5{\mu}g/ml$) were found to have significant AGEs formation inhibitory activity. Particularly, herbal medicines Albizia odoratissima (twigs and leaves), Rhododendron spinuliferum (twigs and leaves), Dioscorea cirrhosa (stems and leaves), Illicium verum (stems and leaves) and Aglaia perviridis (stems and leaves), showed more potent inhibitory activity (approximately 16-26 fold) than the positive control aminoguanidine ($IC_{50}=76.47{\mu}g/ml$).

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.107-112
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• 2007

This study was carried out to investigate the herpeto-fauna at Hallasan National Park. We conducted a survey at 1100 Resting places, Eoseungsaengak, Donnaeko, Eorimok, Yeongsil, Gwaneumsa and Seongpanak from April, 2006 to January, 2007. A series of four families and 5 species of amphibians and 4 families and 8 species of reptiles were observed. Amphiesma vibakari ruthveni, Takydromus wolteri, Scincella vandenburghi, Coluber spinalis and Hynobius quelpartensis which are rarely appearing inland but they were frequently observed by this survey. Also, we observed Sibynophis chinensis that only inhabits Jeju island with in Korea. Jeju island has both southern and northern boundary lines for amphibians and reptiles. Amphibians and reptiles in Jeju island have a different from those inland and valuable information for biogeograpy due to dissimilar climate and isolation from continental for a long time. It is not certain whether some amphibians and reptiles, Bufo gargarizans, Rana rugosa, R. plancyi, Elaphe rufodorsata and Takydromus amurensis, inhabit Jeju island, as recorded in previous literatures, so the research on current status of them has to be carried out immediately.

• Mycobiology
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• v.44 no.1
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• pp.14-20
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• 2016

A new species and 2 new records of lichen genus Buellia were discovered from Chuja-do Island in Jeju Province during a recent floristic survey: B. chujana X. Y. Wang, S. Y. Kondr., L. $L\ddot{o}k\ddot{o}s$ & J.-S. Hur sp. nov., B. halonia (Ach.) Tuck., and B. mamillana (Tuck.) W. A. Weber. The new species is characterized by a brown, areolate thallus, the presence of perlatolic acid, and a saxicolous habitat. Together with previously recorded species, 10 Buellia species were confirmed from Jeju-do Island. Among these species, 3 growing in the exposed rocky area contained xanthone (yellowish lichen thallus, UV + orange), indicating that production of xanthone in this genus might be a defense strategy against the harm of UV light. Although the genus Buellia has been thoroughly studied in Korea before, novel species have been discovered continuously, and large species diversity has been found in this crustose genus, even from a small rocky island. This study indicates that the coastal area harbors a vast number of crustose lichen species, and there is great potential to discover unknown lichens in the coastal rocky area in Korea.

• Animal Systematics, Evolution and Diversity
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.325-329
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• 2009

Lepomis macrochirus from the family Centrarchidae, commonly known as Bluegill sunfish, is an introduced freshwater fish in Korea that thrives in lakes, ponds, reservoirs and rivers. Since its introduction into Korea in 1969, Lepomis macrochirus has rapidly dispersed out and increased in number almost all over the freshwater ecosystems in Korea. Consequently this species causes a severe ecological problem, threatening native fishes due to its omnivorous foraging behaviors upon fish juveniles and many freshwater invertebrates. To address population genetic structure of L. macrochirus, 74 fish samples from 10 populations were collected and compared for their mitochondrial D-loop control region. As the result we found that the genetic diversity of L. macrochirus is extremely low such as resulting only four haplotypes with a few nucleotide differences among them. Analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA) revealed that the source of population genetic variation is largely retained in the comparisons among individuals within populations, while it is relatively low with slight significance at the highest hierarchical group. This distribution pattern differs from what is expected when biogeography is under the influence of natural geographic barriers such as mountain ranges in Korea. Instead the result is accord with the influential role of random spreading events facilitated by local people for aquaculture and fishing, and subsequent dispersals since its single point of introduction into Korea.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.459-465
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• 2009

MUG1 is a MULE transposon-related domesticated gene in plants. We assessed the sequence diversity, neutrality, expression, and phylogenetics of the MUG1 gene among Oryza ssp. We found MUG1 expression in all tissues analyzed, with different levels in O. sativa. There were 408 variation sites in the 3886 bp of MUG1 locus. The nucleotide diversity of the MUG1 was higher than functionally known genes in rice. The nucleotide diversity (${\pi}$) in the domains was lower than the average nucleotide diversity in whole coding region. The ${\pi}$ values in nonsynonymous sites were lower than those of synonymous sites. Tajima D and Fu and Li $D^*$ values were mostly negative values, suggesting purifying selection in MUG1 sequences of Oryza ssp. Genome-specific variation and phylogenetic analyses show a general grouping of MUG1 sequences congruent with Oryza ssp. biogeography; however, our MUG1 phylogenetic results, in combination with separate B and D genome studies, might suggest an early divergence of the Oryza ssp. by continental drift of Gondwanaland. O. long-istaminata MUG1 divergence from other AA diploids suggests that it might not be a direct ancestor of the African rice species.

• ALGAE
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.269-278
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• 2018

Ocean warming can have significant negative impacts on population genetic diversity, local endemism and geographical distribution of a wide range of marine organisms. Thus, the identification of conservation units with high risk of extinction becomes an imperative task to assess, monitor, and manage marine biodiversity for policy-makers. Here, we surveyed population structure and genetic variation of the red seaweed Gracilaria vermiculophylla along the coast of China using genome-based amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) scanning. Regardless of analysis methods used, AFLP consistently revealed a south to north genetic isolation. Populations at the southern coast of China showed unique genetic variation and much greater allelic richness, heterozygosity, and average genetic diversity than the northern. In particular, we identified a geographical barrier that may hinder genetic exchange between the two lineages. Consequently, the characterized genetic lineage at the southern coast of China likely resulted from the interplay of post-glacial persistence of ancestral diversity, geographical isolation and local adaptation. In particular, the southern populations are indispensable components to explore evolutionary genetics and historical biogeography of G. vermiculophylla in the northwestern Pacific, and the unique diversity also has important conservation value in terms of projected climate warming.