• Title/Summary/Keyword: Ecological evolution

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The naturalized Plants and regulating measures in Dokdo (독도 귀화식물과 관리방안)

  • Lim, Dong-Ok;Hwang, In-Chun;Hwang, Jung-Hwan;Park, Seon-Joo
    • Korean Journal of Plant Resources
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    • v.22 no.1
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    • pp.96-101
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    • 2009
  • Dokdo was formed since when four million six hundred thousand to two million five hundred thousand. Dokdo, Ulreung Island and the mainland in Korea are not touch each other since the formation, therefore, Dokdo are very important island for discussion of plant evolution from plant geography point of view. Plants of Dokdo was enlisted as 60 taxa, 27 families, 52 genera, 50 species and 10 varieties. The naturalized plants of a wide sense is composed of 25 taxa, two tree species as Lonicera morrowii and Elaeagnus macrophylla, and 23 herbs. The naturalized plants were identified of 5 species as Sonchus oleraceus, Brassica juncea var. integrifolia, Rumex crispus, Chenopodium album, and Bromus unioloides. Total naturalized plants are 32 taxa, ratio of total naturalized plants per a existing species was 60 percentage. Accordingly Vegetational environment of Dokdo was interpreted very incomplete state as well as severe ecological disturb by invade species. Preparation of a regulating plan on naturalized plants and concern of a policy decision are requested in the conservational dimension for native species in Dongdo. For the conservation of native species in Dokdo, there are prepared that a regulating plan as block of the influx and eradication etc. and a policy decision of naturalized plants are prepared for view of the conservation for native species in Dokdo.

A non-invasive sexing method reveals the patterns of sex-specific incubation behavior in Saunders's Gulls (Saundersilarus saundersi) (비침습적 성감별 방법에 의한 검은머리갈매기(Saundersilarus saundersi)의 암수 포란행동)

  • Joo, Eun-Jin;Ha, Mi-Ra;Jeong, Gilsang;Yoon, Jongmin
    • Korean Journal of Ornithology
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    • v.25 no.2
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    • pp.69-76
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    • 2018
  • Sexual dimorphism in birds refers to male-female differences in body size, plumage, color and/or behavior. In general, many seabirds, including the family of Laridae, are monomorphic in plumage-color, which makes the determination of sex difficult in the field because both parents also tend to share a great portion of parental care. The development of an inexpensive sexing tool facilitates understanding the degree of sex-specific parental care in the evolution of the life history. Here, we developed a non-invasive method for the determination of sex using the bill-head morphometric of known captive pairs and applied this tool to wild pairs to document factors underlying male-female parental care during the incubation period of Saunders's gulls (Saundersilarus saundersi). Males exhibited relatively larger bill-head ratios than their mates within naturally formed pairs in captivity, resulting in the determination of sex in12 wild pairs at the nest during the incubation period. Males and females equally shared the incubation role during the daytime, attending the nest at a high rate of 95%. However, the male's proportion of nest attentiveness greatly increased with time towards sunset, presumably reflecting the male duty for nighttime incubation. The present study provides a non-invasive method for the determination of sex in a monomorphic seagull species and highlights how male-female incubation behavior is associated with time of the day, rather than other ecological conditions.

A Study on the Hybrid Mutant Space of Evolutionary Space Design - Focus on the Biological Evolutionism - (진화론적 공간디자인에서의 혼성적 변이공간에 관한 연구 - 생물학적 진화론을 중심으로 -)

  • Cheon, Byoung-Woo
    • Korean Institute of Interior Design Journal
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    • v.21 no.1
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    • pp.78-85
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    • 2012
  • The relevance between organisms and their external environment covers everything including humans, natural and artificial surroundings, regarding which academic and scientific understanding has continued. Relevant elements established by inter-dependence between humans and environment and the unity of life should be translated from the perspective of a whole, not of unit elements or reduction. That is, a space is formed by its own program and assumes sustainable relevance based on interactions between internal and external spaces, not building an independent system. The present study aims to present the feasibility of a potential mutant space formed by invisible arenas between individuals and evolutionary space formation based on an ecological paradigm Accordingly, this study suggested that evolutionary attributes as the major power source of biological changes could verify the virtual multiplicity of a new space formation, and that the potential form generation of hybrid mutant space of emergence and infinite formative capability could be supported. The suggestions made here will hopefully contribute to extending applicability of evolutionary space generation in the field of space design. To derive the potential mutant forms from biological space, a preliminary study was conducted regarding the characteristics of evolutionary form generation. For the purpose of this study, three evolutionary perspectives of reproduction, mutation (variation) and selection were taken. First, the theory of evolution was defined and characterized. Also, the relevance between the characteristics generated and hybrid mutant space was analyzed to consider relevant characteristics. The present study helped to understand that the hybrid mutant space had an evolutionary space structure based on a biological paradigm. It was also found that the mutant space structure built by mutant polymorphism assumed a systematic correlation between space and environment.

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Cryptic variation, molecular data, and the challenge of conserving plant diversity in oceanic archipelagos: the critical role of plant systematics

  • Crawford, Daniel J.;Stuessy, Tod F.
    • Korean Journal of Plant Taxonomy
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    • v.46 no.2
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    • pp.129-148
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    • 2016
  • Plant species on oceanic islands comprise nearly 25% of described vascular plants on only 5% of the Earth's land surface yet are among the most rare and endangered plants. Conservation of plant biodiversity on islands poses particular challenges because many species occur in a few and/or small populations, and their habitats on islands are often disturbed by the activity of humans or by natural processes such as landslides and volcanoes. In addition to described species, evidence is accumulating that there are likely significant numbers of "cryptic" species in oceanic archipelagos. Plant systematists, in collaboration with others in the botanical disciplines, are critical to the discovery of the subtle diversity in oceanic island floras. Molecular data will play an ever increasing role in revealing variation in island lineages. However, the input from plant systematists and other organismal biologists will continue to be important in calling attention to morphological and ecological variation in natural populations and in the discovery of "new" populations that can inform sampling for molecular analyses. Conversely, organismal biologists can provide basic information necessary for understanding the biology of the molecular variants, including diagnostic morphological characters, reproductive biology, habitat, etc. Such basic information is important when describing new species and arguing for their protection. Hybridization presents one of the most challenging problems in the conservation of insular plant diversity, with the process having the potential to decrease diversity in several ways including the merging of species into hybrid swarms or conversely hybridization may generate stable novel recombinants that merit recognition as new species. These processes are often operative in recent radiations in which intrinsic barriers to gene flow have not evolved. The knowledge and continued monitoring of plant populations in the dynamic landscapes on oceanic islands are critical to the preservation of their plant diversity.

Evaluation of Environmental Factors to Determine the Distribution of Functional Feeding Groups of Benthic Macroinvertebrates Using an Artificial Neural Network

  • Park, Young-Seuk;Lek, Sovan;Chon, Tae-Soo;Verdonschot, Piet F.M.
    • Journal of Ecology and Environment
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    • v.31 no.3
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    • pp.233-241
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    • 2008
  • Functional feeding groups (FFGs) of benthic macroinvertebrates are guilds of invertebrate taxa that obtain food in similar ways, regardless of their taxonomic affinities. They can represent a heterogeneous assemblage of benthic fauna and may indicate disturbances of their habitats. The proportion of different groups can change in response to disturbances that affect the food base of the system, thereby offering a means of assessing disruption of ecosystem functioning. In this study, we used benthic macroinvertebrate communities collected at 650 sites of 23 different water types in the province of Overijssel, The Netherlands. Physical and chemical environmental factors were measured at each sampling site. Each taxon was assigned to its corresponding FFG based on its food resources. A multilayer perceptron (MLP) using a backpropagation algorithm, a supervised artificial neural network, was applied to evaluate the influence of environmental variables to the FFGs of benthic macroinvertebrates through a sensitivity analysis. In the evaluation of input variables, the sensitivity analysis with partial derivatives demonstrates the relative importance of influential environmental variables on the FFG, showing that different variables influence the FFG in various ways. Collector-filterers and shredders were mainly influenced by $Ca^{2+}$ and width of the streams, and scrapers were influenced mostly with $Ca^{2+}$ and depth, and predators were by depth and pH. $Ca^{2+}$ and depth displayed relatively high influence on all four FFGs, while some variables such as pH, %gravel, %silt, and %bank affected specific groups. This approach can help to characterize community structure and to ecologically assess target ecosystems.

No Genetic Differentiation of Elaphe schrenckii Subspecies in Korea Based on 9 Microsatellite Loci

  • An, Jung-Hwa;Park, Dae-Sik;Lee, Jung-Hyun;Kim, Kyung-Seok;Lee, Hang;Min, Mi-Sook
    • Animal Systematics, Evolution and Diversity
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    • v.26 no.1
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    • pp.15-19
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    • 2010
  • The Russian ratsnake, Elaphe schrenckii, is found in Russia, China, and Korea, and is considered to be an endangered species by the Ministry of Environment in South Korea. Due to habitat loss and use in oriental medicine, their population has been severely decimated. In South Korea, two subspecies of E. schrenckii has been defined according to body color: E. s. schrenckii (blackish) and E. s. anomala (yellow-brownish). Molecular genetic studies on Elaphe schrenckii are very scarce and the taxonomy of Elaphe schrenckii subspecies is uncertain. From the present study, we attempted to identify the genetic differences of these two subspecies using species-specific microsatellites developed from the genomic library of E. schrenckii. Nine polymorphic loci were tested on 19 individuals from E. s. schrenckii (n=10) and E. s. anomala (n=9) in South Korea. The mean number of alleles was 3.78 in E. s. schrenckii and 4.11 in E. s. anomala. The average expected heterozygosity was 0.542 and 0.511 in E. s. schrenckii and E. s. anomala, respectively. We found a lack of genetic structure between two subspecies ($F_{ST}=0.016$) and no genetic discrimination between two subspecies was found. Based on the present findings by microsatellites, two subspecies can be considered as one species, E. schrenckii. However, further investigations on taxonomical status using mitochondrial and nuclear DNA sequences need to be performed and morphological & ecological data should be revised. The genetic markers should benefit future studies of the endangered species of other Elaphe species for the study of genetic diversity and potential conservation management.

Survey on the distribution of Macrofungi in Mongolia

  • Nyamsuren, Kherlenchimeg;Magsar, Urgamal;Batsumber, Solongo;Myagmardorj, Tseveendari;Tsogtbaatar, Enkhsaikhan;Cho, Youngho;Kwon, Ohseok
    • Journal of Ecology and Environment
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    • v.39 no.1
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    • pp.91-97
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    • 2016
  • This paper reports the species of macromycetes collected in Mongolia: all the species are new to the area. Brief notes on taxonomy, ecology and distribution of the species are added. A total of 30 species of macromycetes were registered, 1 belonging to the division Ascomycota and 29 to the division Basidiomycota. It has been registered that 30 species belong to 25 genera, 17 families and occur in the flora fungus of Mongolia, until now. Specimen for 150 of samples macromycetes collected from June to August, 2015 in Tuv, Arkhangai and Huvsgul were enveloped. Macromycetes have been occured in 9 of 16 geographic regions. According to our studies 2 species in Khubsgul region, 2 species in Khangai region, 3 species in Khingan, 3 species in Dornod Mongol, 1 species in Khentei regions newly registered respectively. As a result of this work, determined 7 species (23%) of macromycetes in forest steppe and steppe regions and 23 species (77%) of them in forest region. The trophic structure for the fungal species is as follows: 2 species lignophite (7%), 4 species moss saprophyte (13%), 5 species soil saprophyte (17%), 15 species mycorrhiz (50%) of all species were respectively.

Occurrence of Hymenoptera (wasps and bees) and their foraging in the southwestern part of Jirisan National Park, South Korea

  • Choi, Moon Bo;Kwon, Ohseok
    • Journal of Ecology and Environment
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    • v.38 no.3
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    • pp.367-374
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    • 2015
  • The aim of this study was to assess the occurrence and foraging of social and other wasps and bees in Jirisan National Park (JNP, South Korea), in particular in an apiary. Sixty one traps were placed in the southwestern part of JNP to identify social wasps from July to September 2014, and the damage to the apiary caused by wasps or bees was observed once a month from May to December 2014 between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. In total, 10 species of Vespidae were collected by trapping. Vespa crabro was the most abundant (245 individuals, 28.3%), followed by Vespa velutina (162 individuals, 18.7%). In the apiary, however, V. velutina was the most frequent species. V. velutina visited a maximum of 167 times a day in September, which corresponded to one visit in 2.5 min. Accordingly, these data are in line with the most serious impact of V. velutina on the apiaries in South Korea. V. simillima was the second most frequent species; both Vespa species hawked honeybees. Even though the occurrence of V. mandarinia was low, this species caused serious damage by mass slaughter of honeybees. The occurrence of V. crabro, V. analis and V. ducalis was quite low and their impact on honeybees was negligible. There have been few reports of V. dybowskii foraging for honeybees, but they are considered to be a new pest because their impact on apiaries is considerable. Most Vespa species attacked the apiary from June to October, with a maximum in September. However, V. velutina visited until November to early December. Vespula species are not more serious pests than Vespa species, but many adults were observed stealing honey from beehives. Polistes, Orancistrocerus, and Bombus species had no impact on honeybee colonies in the apiary.

New Frontiers of Knowledge on Nepalese Plant Science

  • Shrestha, Gyan L.;Shrestha, Bhushan
    • Korean Journal of Weed Science
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    • v.14 no.1
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    • pp.71-80
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    • 1994
  • Nepal, with its unique geographical and ecological features due to its abrupt rise in altitude, plays significant role in biological evolution. Existence of numerous wild relatives of the present-day cultivated agricultural crop plants in this small Himalayan nation may serve as a potential source of several yet unidentified desirable genes that are needed for future incorporation in the improvement of cultivated crop plants. This report includes 82 different wild relatives of 41 genera under 19 families of 37 agricultural crops of Nepal(Table 1). It serves as the sample of the glossary of these wild relatives of crop plants in Nepal. Under food grain crop plants of gramineae, leguminoceae and polygonaceae families, 16 different wild species namely wild rices(7 species), wild relatives of wheat plant(3 species), wild arhar(3 species), wild fingermillets(1 species) and wild buckwheat(2 species) have been identified in different parts of the country. Similarly, under vegetable crop plants of Araceae, Amaranthaceae, Crucifereae, Cucurbitaceae, Dioscoreaceae, Labiteae, Leguminosae, Liliaceae, Malvaceae, Polygonaceae, Solanaceae and Umbellifereae, 37 different wild species-wild colocasia(1 species), wild amaranths(3 species), wild leafy vegetables(2 species), wild gourds(3 species), wild cucumber(1 species), wild yams(4 species), wild mints(3 species), wild fenugreeks(4 species), wild pea(1 species), wild beans(3 species), wild garlics(2 species), wild spinach(3 species), wild lady's finger(1 species), wild spinach(3 species), wild eggplants(2 species) and wild carrot(one species) have also been identified. In case of wild relatives of cultivated orchard plants, 11 different wild species namely wild mango(one species), wild banana(one species), wild strawberry(one species), wild pear(one species), wild cherries(2 species), wild apple(one species) and wild grapes(3 species) have been identified, Among 19 different wild species of economic crop plants, five wild species of sugarcane, one species of wild sunhemp, two wild relatives of cotton, three wild relatives of rose, two wild species of tobacco, four wild species of turmeric and two wild species of tea have also been identified. This report includes only sample of the total wild species of the present-day cultivated agricultural crop plants. Further exploration on this economic botany will help the country in cataloging the wild relatives of cultivated crop plants and their future use in crop improvement.

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Are Cryptic Species Real?

  • Crous, Pedro W.
    • 한국균학회소식:학술대회논문집
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    • 2014.10a
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    • pp.29-29
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    • 2014
  • Since Darwin and Wallace introduced the concept on the evolution of species, scientists have been furiously debating what species are, and how to define them. This basic yet intriguing question has bothered us ever since, as communicating to fellow biologists about fungal species is the very cornerstone of mycology. For the species presently known, this has largely been accomplished via Latin binomials linked to morphology in the absence of DNA barcodes. In recent years mycologists have embraced the ribosomal ITS as official barcode region for Fungi, and this locus is also mainly used in environmental pyrosequencing studies. Furthermore, DNA data can now also be used to describe sterile species in the absence or lack of distinct morphological structures. Recent developments such as the registration of names in MycoBank, and linking the phenotype to the genotype, have significantly changed the face of fungal systematics. By employing the Consolidated Species Concept, incorporating genealogical concordance, ecology and morphology, robust species recognition is now possible. Several international initiatives have since built on these developments, such as the DNA barcoding of holdings of Biological Resource Centres, followed by the Genera of Fungi Project, aiming to recollect, and epitypify all type species of all genera. What these data have revealed, is that most genera are poly- and paraphyletic, and that morphological species normally encompass several genetic entities, which may be cryptic species. Once we provide a stable genetic backbone capturing our existing knowledge of the past 250 years, we will be able to accommodate novelties obtained via environmental sequencing platforms. Being able to communicate these species to other biologists in a clear manner that is DNA-based, will enable scientists to elucidate the importance, role and ecological interactions that these fungi have on our planet.

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