• Mycobiology
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• v.38 no.4
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• pp.229-237
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• 2010

Members of the genus Aspergillus are the most common fungi and all reproduce asexually by forming long chains of conidiospores (or conidia). The impact of various Aspergillus species on humans ranges from beneficial to harmful. For example, several species including Aspergillus oryzae and Aspergillus niger are used in industry for enzyme production and food processing. In contrast, Aspergillus flavus produce the most potent naturally present carcinogen aflatoxins, which contaminate various plant- and animal-based foods. Importantly, the opportunistic human pathogen Aspergillus fumigatus has become the most prevalent airborne fungal pathogen in developed countries, causing invasive aspergillosis in immunocompromised patients with a high mortality rate. A. fumigatus produces a massive number of small hydrophobic conidia as the primarymeans of dispersal, survival, genome-protection, and infecting hosts. Large-scale genome-wide expression studies can now be conducted due to completion of A. fumigatus genome sequencing. However, genomics becomes more powerful and informative when combined with genetics. We have been investigating the mechanisms underlying the regulation of asexual development (conidiation) and gliotoxin biosynthesis in A. fumigatus, primarily focusing on a characterization of key developmental regulators identified in the model fungus Aspergillus nidulans. In this review, I will summarize our current understanding of how conidiation in two aspergilli is regulated.

• The Korean Journal of Ecology
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.513-513
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• 1995

The central theme of Habital heterogeneity is to provide animals with habital complexity or structural diversity and to allow resource partitioning among individuals. In turn, the leads to population stability because prey can escape more easily with more hiding places causing less population fluctuation. Species diversity is characterized due to more potential niches both horizontally and verticall. Empirically, in homogeneous habitats population was less abundant, reproduction and survival were lower, spacing behavior, competition and dispersal were higher than in heterogeneous habitats. The results imply that diversity and conservation of species can be maintained through providing heterogeneous habitats.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.295-305
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• 2011

Many studies have suggested the positive effects of grazing by large herbivorous mammals on seed dispersal, but little is known about how herbivores could affect the fate of ingested seeds. This study examined the effects of seed ingestion by sika deer (Cervus nippon) on seed fate in a temperate grassland established in an urban park long resided by high densities of sika deer. I compared species composition and seasonal traits of seed abundance and maturity in the grassland community with those in deer fecal pellets. In total, 27 herbaceous species were observed, including the predominant Zoysia japonica. Seed phenology and production differed among the three dominant species (Z. japonica, Digitaria violascens, and Hydrocotyle maritima). Pellets contained at least 26 species of herbaceous seeds, and their abundance differed among species. Of the 26 species, 15 were observed in the vegetation at the study site. The peak of seed abundance in pellets for the dominant species appeared 1 month after the peak of inflorescence production (but most of the inflorescences were immature and susceptible to digestion) and consequently corresponded to the peak of mature inflorescence. Because sika deer are likely to ingest seeds at any maturity stage in the grassland and immature seeds are less hardened, ingested immature seeds can suffer great losses. The results suggested that the survival of germable seeds with great losses of immature seeds may be a factor determining which plant species can be successfully dispersed by herbivores.

• The Korean Journal of Ecology
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.265-274
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• 1997

All landscapes are mosaics of habitat patches of different types. Therefore, there are always edged between habitat patches in a landscape. Forest animal has an important role in vegetation development and maintenance by seed dispersal around forest. Movement of animals depends on the spatially heterogeneous structure and pattern of vegetation landscapes because each animal has special habitats in a landscape. Especially, forast edge with high permeability and prey density is one of the important habitats to the animals. Therefore, understanding the ecological characteristics of the forest edges as a corridor connecting mosaic vegetation patches is necessa교 새 establish the strategies for the nature conservation and sustainable vegetation management. Under this idea, we examined the animal influenced on pine seeds as one of the method of monitoring the animal activity in mosaic vegetation. Man-made mosaic vegetations including open, edge and inner forests were carefully selected in the rural landscape. We carried out predation test on pine seeds during one year. A result was that damages on seed was more significant at forest edge than inner and open forest. Pine seed on seedbeds was mainly attacked by squirrels and mice than birds. Pine seed was damaged by squirrels in different types of vegetation by seasons. Rate of seed predation at forest edge was, in special, higher than that of other sites. According to this results, it is suggested that the relationship between animal behavior and spatial vegetation structure relating to human impact such as the distance from settlement to vegetation appeares to be in the rural vegetation landscape.

• ALGAE
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.89-101
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• 2015

Ecklonia cava Kjellman is a common kelp found in shallow subtidal in warm-temperate waters in the northwest Pacific Ocean. This species has shown substantial morphological variation along with subsistence in different locations and local environments. We quantified the magnitude of morphological variation of E. cava from six populations along ~700 km of coastline from Jeju Island to Dokdo in Korea. In addition, we examined genetic distance among the populations using random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) analysis. Most morphological characteristics investigated were significantly different among locations. Multivariate analyses indicated two phenetically distinct groups (nearshore, sheltered vs. offshore, exposed), indicating wave exposure with turbidity are presumably major factors for the separation. With RAPD data, results of Nei's diversity (H) and AMOVA showed considerable variations in within- and between-populations. Pairwise ${\Phi}_{ST}$ and $N_m$ values indicated moderate gene flow between the six locations. Results of Nei's analysis revealed three genetically distinct groups, not consistent with the morphological groupings, indicating that a time gap may exist between morphological and genetic variations. This study also suggests dispersal distance of this kelp may be longer than what is commonly thought and genetic similarity in the populations was largely reflected by the direction of ocean current rather than just geographical distance.

• ALGAE
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.303-315
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• 2016

Compsopogon specimens collected in China were examined based on morphology and DNA sequences. Five molecular markers from different genome compartments including rbcL, COI, 18S rDNA, psbA, and UPA were identified and used to construct a phylogenetic relationship. Phylogenetic analyses indicated that two different morphological types from China clustered into an independent clade with Compsopogon specimens when compared to other global samples. The Compsopogon clade exhibited robust support values, revealing the affiliation of the samples to Compsopogon caeruleus. Although the samples were distributed in a close geographical area, unexpected sequence divergences between the Chinese samples implied that they were introduced by different dispersal events and from varied origins. It was speculated that Compsopogon originated in North America, a portion of the Laurentia landmass situated in the Rodinia supercontinent at approximately 573.89-1,701.50 million years ago during the Proterozoic era.Although Compsopogonhad evolved for a rather long time, genetic conservation had limited its variability and rate of evolution, resulting in the current monospecific global distribution. Additional global specimens and sequence information were required to increase our understanding of the evolutionary history of this ancient red algal lineage.

• Journal of Forest and Environmental Science
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.246-248
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• 2018

Urban development and population have augmented the increase of impervious land-cover. This phenomenon has amplified the effects of climate change and increasing urban island effects due to increases in urban temperatures. Seoul, South Korea is one of the largest metropolitan cities in the world. While land uses in Seoul vary, land cover patterns have not changed much (under 2%) in the past 10 years, making the city a prime target for studying the effects of land cover types on the urban temperature. This research seeks to generalize the urban temperature of Seoul through a series of statistical tests using multi-temporal remote sensing data focusing on multiple scales and typologies of green space to determine its overall effectiveness in reducing the urban heat. The distribution of LST values was reduced as the size of urban forests increased. It means that changing temperature of large-scale green-spaces is less influenced because the broad distribution could be resulted in various external variables such as slope aspect, topographic height and density of planting areas, while small-scale urban forests are more affected from that. The large-scale green spaces contributed significantly to lowering urban temperature by showing a similar mean LST value. Both of concentration and dispersal of urban forests affected the reduction of urban temperature. Therefore, the findings of this research support that creating urban forests in an urban region could reduce urban temperature regardless of the scale.

• Research in Plant Disease
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.114-117
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• 2013

To facilitate their spread, plant viruses have developed several methods for dispersal including insect and seed transmission. While insect transmission requires virus stability against insect digestion, seed-transmitted viruses have to overcome barriers to entry into embryos. Bean pod mottle virus (BPMV) is transmitted through seed at levels typically below 0.1%, but co-infection with Soybean mosaic virus (SMV) enhanced the seed transmission rate of BPMV in one experiment. In contrast, the rate of SMV seed transmission was not affected by BPMV co-infection. In a second preliminary study, the rate of SMV transmission was lower in an isoline of Williams 82 that contained a null mutation for the Kunitz trypsin inhibitor gene than in Williams 82. In this preliminary study, we observed that factors such as protease inhibitor expression and dual infection may affect the frequency of seed transmission of BPMV and SMV.

• ALGAE
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.239-249
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• 2005

Some marine coenocytic green algae could form protoplasts from the extruded protoplasm in seawater. The dissociated cell components of the coenocytic protoplasm could be reunited into live cells and, hence, the formation of new species by mixing protoplasms from different coenocytic cells has been predicted. Our results showed that an incompatibility barrier was present during protoplast formation in coenocytic algae to exclude foreign inorganic particles or alien cell components. No inorganic particles or alien cell components were incorporated into protoplast formed spontaneously in seawater. Even when the inorganic particles or alien cell and/or cell component were incorporated into protoplast in some experimental condition, they were expelled from the protoplast or degenerated within several days. A species-specific cytotoxicity was observed during protoplast hybridization between the protoplasms of Bryopsis spp. and Microdictyon umbilicatum. The cell sap of M. umbilicatum could destroy the cell components of Bryopsis spp., but had no effect on Chaetomorpha moniligera. Species C. moniligera and Bryopsis did not affect protoplast generation of either species. The wound-induced protoplast formation in vitro might have evolved in some coenocytic algae as a dispersal method, and the incompatibility barrier to alien particles or cell and/or cell component could serve as a protective mechanism for successful propagation.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.37 no.3
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• pp.232-248
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• 2004

In order to utilize fisheries resources under a joint management scheme with adjacent nations, as well as detecting of fishing grounds, the factors which influence yellow croaker (Pseudosciaena polyactis) in Korean waters were studied using historical catch per unit effort and oceanographic data. The main fishing ground near Cheju Island was located along the thermal front formed between the Yellow Sea Bottom Cold Water (YSBCW) and northward moving warm current. When the YSBCW (index temperature: $10^{\circ}C)$ strongly extended southward, the fishing condition were worse than average. Especially, low temperatures greatly influenced stow net fisheries, which were operated in the deep water layer The concentration and dispersal of fishing ground and catch coincided with oceanographic features and the seasonality of water masses.