• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.367-374
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• 2014

Genomes contain a large number of unique genes which have not been found in other species. Although the origin of such "orphan" genes remains unclear, they are thought to be involved in species-specific adaptive processes. Here, we analyzed seven orphan genes (MoSPC1 to MoSPC7) prioritized based on in planta expressed sequence tag data in the rice blast fungus, Magnaporthe oryzae. Expression analysis using qRT-PCR confirmed the expression of four genes (MoSPC1, MoSPC2, MoSPC3 and MoSPC7) during plant infection. However, individual deletion mutants of these four genes did not differ from the wild-type strain for all phenotypes examined, including pathogenicity. The length, GC contents, codon adaptation index and expression during mycelial growth of the four genes suggest that these genes formed during the evolutionary history of M. oryzae. Synteny analyses using closely related fungal species corroborated the notion that these genes evolved de novo in the M. oryzae genome. In this report, we discuss our inability to detect phenotypic changes in the four deletion mutants. Based on these results, the four orphan genes may be products of de novo gene birth processes, and their adaptive potential is in the course of being tested for retention or extinction through natural selection.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.237-246
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• 2000

The equilibrium theory of island biogeography describes that the number of species on an island is determined by two factors, island area and distance from mainland acting through extinction and immigration rates. I was analysed the relationships between species number and island area, latitude, and maximum elevation for butterflies on 71 islands in the Korean Peninsula. Among Korean islands, island area ($r^2$=0.405, P< 0.005) and habitat diversity ($r^2$=0.341, P<0.005) were significantly correlated, but distance from mainland ($r^2$=0.018, P>0.05) and latitude ($r^2$=0.040, P>0.05) were weakly correlated. The present and earlier studies on the butterfly species richness in Korean islands demonstrate that the butterfly fauna is closely related to the ecological variables, i.e., area, composition of flora and maximum elevation. [Equilibrium theory, butterfly, island area, latitude, distance from mainland, elevation]

• The Korean Journal of Ecology
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.103-115
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• 1992

This dissertation, which has been prepared in the region of cheju(33o31'N, 126o32'E) from may,1987 to appril, 1989, is to elucidate the dominant characteristics of early stages in secondary succession, by examining the life history of erigeron annuus for the seeding depth of a seed was dependent upon the degree of shading. That is, on the area of ocm,the more tense the shading was, the more germination percentage was increased, while, in the case of 1.5cm, it was somewhat increased, when shading bwcame ess and less tense. The rosette of e. annuus, through its relative light intensity was decreased by shading, up to 5% of natural light, showed some strong shade tolerance, which had no difficulty in matter production. The species diversity of mixed-species community was the highest in the middle of April, the lowest in the last of may. The dominance index was the highest in the late may, the lowest in the middle of April. Toward the end of may, the occupation rate of dominance species was the highest. There was a neutral relationship between intraspecific and interspecific, owing to the differentiation of its niche, temporally and spatially. Productive structure of the community revealed a narrow leaf type which was concentratively distributed in the mid part of community height. The relative light intensity of community ground surface was 6.1%, the leaf inclination 60o,the extinction coefficient(k) 0.4, biomass of community 1,045.6 g.d.w./m2,T/Rratio 9.3, C/Frate 7.0 and sumgermanition, shade toarance and community characteristics on erigeron annuus l.in chejumed leaf area index 3.88. through the various life cycles o e.annuus, we can say that it decreases mortality of seeding caused by some stress and disturbance, for germination lasts for a long time at any opportunity available, and it promotes population growth. The strong shade tolerance of a rosette and the variableness of a life from differentiate the niche between intraspecific and interspecific within the community, and avoid the direct competition between them, thus poromoting community growth.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Environmental Restoration Technology
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.75-90
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• 2008

The golf course has many problems that are a pollution of river, a extinction of habitat by destructing a forest and a simplication of species composition. Therefore, this study was carried out to examine the ecological characteristics of vascular plants in construct-reserved site of golf course. The results were as follow. The vascular plants were summarized as 342 taxa; 86 families, 231 genera, 295 species, 42 varieties and 5 forma. In the results by the location environments of vegetation, Salix caprea community and wetland species like Persicaria thunbergii were appeared in the swamp. Especially, S. caprea will be made use of promoting a landscape. In the stream, Stephanandra incisa community has a functions like an ecological axis and a corridor of wild animals. The planting technique will be applied to using Atractylodes japonica and Ainsliaea acerifolia in the lower part of Pinus densiflora and Quercus mongolica. Because Rhododendron schlippenbachii and Convallaria keiskei grew by layer in Q. variabilis community, this will be made use of natural vegetation model. The rare plants were 2 taxa; Aristolochia contorta and Iris ensata var. spontanea. To preserve their community, we will prohibit a development and remove a threatening factor. The endemic plants were 4 taxa; Salix caprea, Clematis trichotma, Spiraea prunifolia for. simpliciflora and Weigela subsessilis. The naturalized plants were 19 taxa; Rumex crispus, Bildedykia dumetora and so on. To establish the quantitative management plan, we will obtain a ecological information about a naturalized plants in accumulating by season, community and land use pattern.

• Journal of Forest and Environmental Science
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.164-176
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• 2015

Cyathea gigantea is a tree fern distributed throughout humid tropical regions of northeast India and other parts of the country. However, wild populations of this species are largely affected by various natural and anthropogenic activities. Therefore, an attempt was made to study the population structure and regeneration status of C. gigantea in and around greater Itanagar area of Papum Pare district, Arunachal Pradesh. Altogether 45 patches, ranging from 19.63 to $260m^2$ of area, were randomly sampled to study population structure and regeneration status of the species. Population study showed highest number of youngs in the height class of 0.50-0.75 m while, immatures were recorded highest in the height class of 2.0 to 2.5 m. Majority of the matures belonged to 6-9 m height class while it was recorded maximum in the diameter class of 10-15 cm. Average density of C. gigantea was $0.07individuals\;ha^{-1}$ which varied greatly among different patches with a range of 2 to 14. Significant correlations were found between patch size and density of youngs, immatures, matures and total density. Maximum concentration of youngs was observed in patch size $60-140m^2$, while for immatures, it was highest in patch size $20-160m^2$. Similarly, highest concentration of matures was observed in patch size $20-80m^2$ and $80-180m^2$. Population structure of the total population exhibited inverted pyramid shaped distribution. Population structure consisting of youngs, immatures, matures showed that around 60% patches lack of regenerating individuals which depict very poor natural regeneration of the species. Effective conservation strategies are therefore to be formulated to save C. gigantea from the threat of extinction in near future.

• Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.403-410
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• 2011

Scartelaos gigas is an amphibious mudskipper species that inhabits mud flats in Korea, China, and Taiwan. This fish is at risk of extinction because of its very restricted habitat and overexploitation. Information about this fish's reproductive characteristics is needed for species conservation. The sexual maturity and early life history of S. gigas were investigated through histological methods and direct observation of eggs in the wild, respectively. In total, 560 individuals of S. gigas were collected with the aid of fishermen from March 2003 to October 2003 at Jung-do Island, southwest Korea. Through microscopic observations of gonadal development, it was determined that S. gigas of both sexes were immature in April, but began to reach maturity in May, and were then fully mature by June, which was maintained until July. In August, some female fish developed early oocytes, but by September oocytes were observed to have degenerated and had been absorbed. Spawned eggs were elliptical and had an average size of 1.37 mm (long axis) by 0.69 mm (short axis). The newly hatched larvae (3.03 mm total length, TL) had an open mouth and anus, two melanophores near the anus, and one large melanophore between the 18th and 19th myomeres. The larvae (3.18 mm TL) showed absorption of the yolk and oil globule within 5 days after hatching and became prelarvae. This species should be considered vulnerable or conservation-dependent, and thus parental fish need to be protected from fishermen during the main spawning season (June).

• Journal of Wetlands Research
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.257-266
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• 2023

Amphibian populations are declining globally, pushing many species to the brink of extinction. To promote biodiversity and sustainable management, countries are actively researching amphibian reproductive ecology. Sperm cryopreservation is a crucial assisted reproductive technology that aids in preserving the genetic diversity of amphibians. However, because amphibian sperm cells are sensitive to osmotic stress, the optimal cryopreservation method therefore differs from species to species. This literature review offers an overview of the significance of developing cryopreservation techniques for amphibian conservation and highlights the need to create optimal cryopreservation methods and the introduction of long-term monitoring (e.g., fertilization success and offspring reproduction) to advance cryopreservation technology development. This review can be used as basic research data for amphibian conservation methods.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.47 no.3
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• pp.146-156
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• 2023

Background: Endemic species are important components in the flora of most world regions. Most of these species have become threatened and exposed to extinction within the last few years. The present study aims to evaluate the ecosystem services offered by the endemic plant taxa in Egypt and the threats that affect them. Twenty-five field visits were conducted during summer 2018 to spring 2022 to several locations all over Egypt. In each location, the main habitats, national distribution, abundance, goods and threats were recorded. Results: Egypt has 41 endemic taxa belonging to 36 genera and 20 families inhabiting 10 main habitats. Rocky surfaces and sandy formations have the highest number of endemic species. The relation between the number of endemic taxa and the abundance categories indicated that 2 taxa are rare (4.9% of the total taxa), while the remaining were very rare (95%). The most represented offered good was the medicinal uses (32 taxa = 78%), while fuel plants were only represented by 2 taxa (2 taxa = 4.9%). Besides, 14 taxa (34.1% of the total studied taxa) have at least 1 environmental service. Soil fertility (7 taxa = 50%) was the most represented, followed by sand accumulations (6 taxa out of 14 taxa = 43%), while shading plant was the least (1 taxon = 7.1%) (Rosa arabica). The most represented threat is over-cutting and over-collecting (38 taxa = 92.7%), while mining and quarrying is the least represented (4 taxa = 9.8%). Conclusions: The potential and actual goods, services and threats of the endemic taxa were assessed as follows; field observation, information collected from local inhabitants and herbalists, and a literature review. The present study recommended planning a strategy about the importance, threats and conservation of endemic taxa in Egypt that would help in the protection and rescue of these plants and increase awareness about the importance of these plants.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.35 no.5
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• pp.548-557
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• 2021

Cypripedium japonicum Thunb. is an endemic plant in East Asia, distributed only in Korea, China, and Japan. At the global level, the IUCN Red List evaluates it as "Endangered Species (EN)," and at the national level in Korea, it is evaluated as "Critically Endangered Species (CR)." In this study, we investigated the characteristics of the age structure and the sustainability of the population based on the data obtained by demographic monitoring conducted for seven years in the natural habitat. C. japonicum habitats were observed in 7 regions of Korea (Pochoen, Gapyeong, Hwacheon, Chuncheon, Yeongdong, Muju, Gwangyang), and 4,356 individuals in 15 subpopulations were identified. The population size and structure differed from region to region, and artificial management had a very important effect on the size and structural change of the population. Population viability analysis (PVA) based on changes in the number of individuals of C. japonicum showed a very diverse tendency by region. And the probability of population extinction in the next 100 years was 0.00% for Pocheon, 10.90% for Gwangyang, 24.05% for Chuncheon, and 79.50% for Hwacheon. Since the above monitored study sites were located within the conservation shelters, which restricted access by humans, unauthorized collection of C. japonicum, the biggest threat to the species, was not reflected in the individual viability. So, the risk of extinction in Korea is expected to be significantly higher than that estimated in this study. Therefore, it is necessary to reflect population information in several regions that may represent various threats to determine the extinction risk of the C. japonicum population objectively. In the future, we should expand the demographic monitoring of the C. japonicum population known in Korea.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.40 no.4
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• pp.525-549
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• 2022

The process of biological invasion is led by the dynamics of a population as a demographic and evolutionary unit. Spatial structure can affect the population dynamics, and it is worth being considered in research on biological invasion which is always accompanied by dispersal. Metapopulation theory is a representative approach to spatially structured populations, which is chiefly applied in the field of ecology and evolutionary biology despite the controversy about its definition. In this study, metapopulation was considered as a spatially structured population that includes at least one subpopulation with significant extinction probability. The early phase of the invasion is suitable to be analyzed in aspects of the metapopulation concept because the introduced population usually has a high extinction probability, and their ecological·genetic traits determining the invasiveness can be affected by the metapopulation structure. Although it is important in the explanation of the prediction of the invasion probability, the metapopulation concept is rarely used in ecological research about biological invasion in Korea. It is expected that applying the metapopulation theory can supply a more detailed investigation of the invasion process at the population level, which is relatively inadequate in Korea. In this study, a framework dividing the invasive metapopulation into long- and middle-distance scales by the relative distance of movement to the natural dispersal range of species is proposed to easily analyze the effect of a metapopulation in real cases. Increased understanding of the mechanisms underlying invasions and improved prediction of future invasion risk are expected with the metapopulation concept and this framework.