• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.344-352
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• 2016

The goal of this study was to identify the water temperature and sound environment of oviposition sites of the Huanren brown frog (Rana huanrensis), which breeds in valleys in early spring. The study was conducted in Chiak National Park, central Korea, between March 23 and April 24, 2015. Correlation analysis of the physical factors of oviposition sites revealed that the number of egg clutches was positively correlated (p < 0.05) with the water temperature and negatively correlated (p < 0.05) with the sound volume of the oviposition sites. However, no correlation was found between clutch number and the total area or depth of water. The water temperature of the oviposition sites was $2.2^{\circ}C$ higher on average than that of the mainstream (p < 0.001). To avoid the low early spring temperatures, R. huanrensis spawned in sites with accumulated water, in which the depths were less than 10cm and the temperature was relatively high. Further, eggs were spawned in clusters in small spaces to maximize the thermal insulation effect. In terms of noise levels, oviposition sites were found to be 6.9 dB quieter than the mainstream (p<0.001). In conclusion, R. huanrensis was found to spawn in warm, quiet, and small oviposition sites in valleys to avoid low early spring temperatures and loud water noise. This study is significant because it is the first to characterize the sound environment of amphibian oviposition sites.

• Ecology and Resilient Infrastructure
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.75-82
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• 2017

This study was executed to know the effect of the habitat size on huanren brown frog (Rana huanrensis) larvae's growth. We've conducted the study on Mt. Surak in Sanggye-dong, Nowon-gu, Seoul. Our study site was discriminated the huanren brown frog larvae's habitat into the three different areas, such as small area (S1, $3.91m^2$), middle area (S2, $4.42m^2$), and large area (S3, $38.37m^2$) in the same water channel. We measured two times per a week the 15 huanren brown frog larvae's body length, and developmental stages (foreleg, hind leg, tail length) including the environmental factors (humidity, air temperature and water temperature) of the study site from March 30 to June 28 in 2016. The only hatching rate was measured for the three egg sacs at the S2 study site. We found that the average hatching rate was $76.84{\pm}18.23(%)$ at S2. Generally, because of less precipitation during our study periods, all habitat areas for our study site were gradually decreased. The middle area, S2, was not reduced, the small area, S1, was reduced more than a fourth, and the largest area, S3, was drastically reduced more than half from initial area. There was no statistically difference among the three study sites for the three environmental factors (average humidity, average air temperature, and average water temperature) by F-test, but there were significant difference among the three site for the larvae's body length (F-test p< 0.05). Therefore, the larger of habitat areas, the larger of the larvae length as well as the faster of the larvae's developmental stages. When we measured the body lengths of immature huanren brown frogs, the immature frog of S1 was smallest, the immature frog of S3 was middle lenght, and the immature frog of S2 was largest. There were statistically different among the three study sites for the immature huanren brown frogs (F-test, p< 0.05). Because the S2 study site was relatively stable without rarely changing the study area, it meant that huanren brown frog was sensitive to habitat areas. Based on the results of this study, if we study on the effect of the altitude on the growth rate of huanren brown frog, it must be helpful in understanding the habitat environment of the population of huanren brown frog.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.23 no.2 s.58
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• pp.157-162
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• 2005

To clarify the key characteristics of Korean brown frogs (R. dybowskii, R. huanrenesis and R. amurensis coreana), this study employed a morphological and morphometrical comparisons among brown frogs found in Korea and Japanese endemic species, R. tsushimensis. As a result, it was considered that the key characteristics were the shape of the finger and toe tips, the markings of the lower jaw, the presence or absence of an upper lip line, the development of toe webbing, and the shape of the vomerine teeth series by morphological comparisons of brown frogs. Also, there were significant differences in tympanum diameters and foot lengths of the four species of brown frogs. Therefore, a comparison between morphological and morphometric characters is an effective way to clarify the identification of brown frogs.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.203-207
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• 2003

Amphibian biodiversity, community structure and habitats were surveyed in the Mt. Myungji area from April 2002 to March 2003. During the survey period 2orders, 4 families, 7 species of amphibians were observed. Bombina orientalis (DI =45.1%) was dominant and Bufo stejnegeri (DI = 12.8%), Rana rugosa and Rana dybowskii (DI = 9.9% each) Rana nigromaculata and Rana huanrenensis (DI 1.4% each), and Onycodactylus fisheri (DI = 7.0%) followed. Frequency of occurrence of O. fisheri and B. stejnegeri was largely different according to the altitude and human residence in their habitats.R. nigromaculata and R. huanrenensis showed low frequency of occurrence (<10%) suggesting the decrease in habitation density in this area. The species richness (R'), general diversity (H'), and evenness (E') of amphibians in this area were 0.98, 2.12, and 0.76, respectively, suggesting relatively healthy condition of amphibian community in this area.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.400-406
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• 2006

To investigate the incidence of the road-kill of amphibians and reptiles in Songgye valley, Woraksan National Park, a survey of Songgye valley was conducted from January, 2003 to December, 2005. Before the investigation, the survey area was divided into 50 sites at 300m intervals. As a result, road-kill by vehicles were confirmed to affect 40% of the amphibians and 68.3% of the reptiles among the total species in the Woraksan National Park. The most affected species was Rana dybowskii, with a frequency of 94.9% among the total number of road-killed Individuals. The highest road-kill rate occurred between April to May, every year. Therefore, it is necessary to construct an eco-bridge and to perform the continuous ecological monitoring for the conservation of R. dybowskii including other species.

• Journal of Wetlands Research
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.320-324
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• 2015

This study was executed to know the effect of three differently controlled temperature conditions on Huanren brown frog (Rana huanrensis )'s growth in 2013. We've collected nine Huanren brown frog egg's sacs on Mt. Surak ($37^{\circ}40^{\prime}55.86^{{\prime}{\prime}}N$, $127^{\circ}05^{\prime}19.99^{{\prime}{\prime}}E$) in Seoul. We put those nine egg sacs in the controlled growth chambers under low temperature (LT, $5{\pm}2^{\circ}C$), medium temperature (MT, $10{\pm}2^{\circ}C$), and high temperature (HT, $13{\pm}2^{\circ}C$) conditions with three egg sacs, respectively. We measured the eggs' hatching rate, their hatching periods, and the size of the hatched individuals. The hatching rate was higher in MT (95.6%) and the rates of the other treatments were relatively lower but very similar such as LT (82.2%) and HT (82.6%). The three hatching periods were 10 days at HT, 14 days at MT and 23 days at LT. The body sizes of the hatched individuals were biggest at MT ($7.62{\pm}0.11mm$), smallest at LT ($6.82{\pm}0.10mm$) and medium at HT ($7.19{\pm}0.15mm$) (P-value ${\leq}0.0001$). From our results, we found that the various water temperatures could be very effective to Huanren brown frog eggs' hatch and growth including their body sizes. We suggest if we study more about the growth of Huanren brown adult frogs under similar temperature conditions for a long term period, it must be very helpful for conservation study about metamorphosis rate and size of adult frog as well as we could understand about the amphibians who are adapting to the climate change.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.32 no.6
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• pp.582-590
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• 2018

Although there are many studies of the effect of climate change on the breeding phenology and community diversity of amphibians, the studies of variations in reproductive population size of individual species according to climate change are still lacking. We examined the effect of climate change on the reproductive population size of Rana huanrenensis and Hynobius leechii, which bred in mountain valleys, by surveying the reproductive population of the two species between 2005 and 2012 and analyzing the correlation between the variation of the outdoor population and the surrounding climate change factors, obtained from a meteorological observatory located at 5.6 km from the study site. The size of the reproductive population of the two species commonly fluctuated with aan pproximately 3.5-year cycle. That of H. leechii, in particular, decreased significantly over eight years. The air temperature tended to more closely relate with the reproductive population size of R. huanrenensis as was the case of the precipitation with that of H. leechii. The yearly mean highest temperature and spring mean temperature variation consistently decreased over the eight years, and the latter was related with the significantly decreased size of H. leechii reproductive population. These results showed that recent climate change directly could affect the reproductive population size of amphibians, particularly H. leechii, which breeds in mountain valleys.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.175-189
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• 2015

The objective of this study was to analyze characteristics of distribution of amphibian species and the affecting ecological factors. For the study, habitat environment factors were determined and applied to a habitat suitability model for the data collected from the Seom River in Hoengseong County and Wonju City, Gangwon Province, Korea between March 2013 to October 2013. The analyzed amphibian species were Rana nigromaculata, Hyla japonica, Rana dybowski, and Rana rugosa Temminck and Schlegel, and a logistic regression model was used with the pseudo-absence data. The result of the model analysis suggests that the major factors for Rana nigromaculata are distance to vegetation and rock and that for Hyla japonica is waterway. Rana dybowski and Rana rugosa Temminck and Schlegel have similar habitat characteristics, but the latter is shown to be dominant due to its wider habitat preference. According to the species richness model, the analyzed amphibian species are shown to have tendency to move between valleys or streams. This study quantitatively analyzed habitat environment characteristics using species distribution model, however, there is a limitation in terms of analysis on food factor and connectivity with other species. Combined with additional density or habitat analysis on birds or fish, this study can lead to more comprehensive analysis on biological environment factors.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.84-99
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• 1997

Amphibian and Reptilian specimens which were surveyed in Gyebangsan during both from Apr. 26, 1995 to Oct. 15, 1995 and from Apr. 13, 1996 to July 28, 1996 were observed 9 Species in 5 Families on 2 Orders and 10 Species in 3 Families, 5 Fimilies, 9 Species and Reptiles were 2 Suborders, 3 Families on 2 Suborders, respectively. Bombina orientalis was revealed dominant species and Bufo stejnegeri was distributed abundant on this investigation area than other survey studies. Relatively large number of larvae of Rana dybowskii were found among the stream and small ponds at the Suchung-gol valley. There were 5 species of Specific wildlife species in Korea as Hynobius leechii, Rana dybowskii, Onchodactylus fischeri, Bufo stejnegeri and Bufo bufo gargarizans. Meanwhile Bufo stejnegeri were endemic species in Korea. 6 Species among 10 Species which were observed Reptiles in this survey Scincella laterale laterale, Dinodon rufozonatus rufozonatus, Agkistrodon brevicaudus, Agkistrodon saxatilis, Amphiesma vibakari ruthveni and Enhydris rufodorsata were Specific wildlife in Korea. Scincella laterale laterale and Takydromus amuriensis were habitated very abundant in Suchung-gol region. Habitat density of Takydromus amureinsis at Suchung-gol region was 36 individuals/ha. Total number of pressed to death individuals caused by press on the road from May to July, 1995 were 404 specimens in 10 Species. The 1,2,3 and 4 Stations where were found the largest number of death individuals caused by press on the road should considered to construct Eco-corridor to reduced the death individuals with small pipes beneath the road as a migration route. Onchodactylus fischeri have around 500m as moving distance and home range for lifelong and it were the climax of broad-leaved tree and highly moisture area that abundantly region of Onchodactylus fischeri.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.68-73
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• 1994

For a few people's leisure, the natural environment have being deteriorated ceaseless. The plan of the Chungchongpuk Province and the Yungdong District in Chungchongpuk-do which drive foreword the sport and leasure complex designed to construct ski slopes, golf course, and resort hotel in 6,000,000 $m^2$ of natural ecosystem around the Mulhan Valley at Mulhan-ri Sangchon-myon Yungdong-kun Chung-chcngbuk-do by Dongsin Leisure have concerned decrease on biological diversity serious. This study carried out by census Amphibia and Reptilia fauna in the Mulhan Valley to expect the impact of animal diversity by construction of leasure complex and to call attention to understand that impact. 8 species in 5 Families of 2 Orders in Amphibia and 5 species in 2 Families of 1 Order in Reptilia were observed in the Mulhan Valley during June 24, 1994 to June 25, 1994 which showed to be similar to the Natural Park in Korea. 4 of 8 species in Amphibia(Hynobius leechii, Onychodactylus fischeri, Bufo bufo gargarizans, and Rana dybowskii) and 3 of 5 species in Reptilia(Eluphe rufodorsata, Dinodon rufodonatum rufodonatum, and Agkistrodon saxatilus) were revealed the Special Wild Animal recorded by the Ministry of Environment in 1993. Therefore, the Minjujisan seems to have highly reason to conservation by these animal diversity. Around the Minjujisan province was significant connecting the Taebaek Mountains and the Sobaek Mountains on biogeographically with Dokyusan National Park. The plan of Leasure complex in the Mulhan Valley should be cancel in consideration of destruction around the Dokyusan National Park severely by the Muju Resort, Ski slopes, etc. The Minjujisan must be conserve to the Zone of Natural Environment on Amphibia and Reptilia diversity and animal migration route.