• Proceedings of the National Institute of Ecology of the Republic of Korea
• /
• v.2 no.1
• /
• pp.42-52
• /
• 2021

In order to secure basic data on biodiversity for wetland conservation and management used the data from Wetland Protected Area surveys conducted in South Korea (2015-2019) to analyze the distribution of fish from a total of 15 orders, 45 families, 134 species, and 12,972 individuals. The predominant species identified were Zacco platypus (Temminck and Schlegel) (19.47%) and Zacco koreanus (Kim, Oh and Hosoya) (8.16%). Of all emergent species, 52.9% (n=71 species) were freshwater species, 26.9% (n=36) were brackish species, 3.0% (n=4) were migratory species, 27% (n=36) were marine species, and 9.0% (n=12) were riffle benthic species. Overall, 5.2% (n=7 species) were endangered species, 3.0% (n=4) were exotic species, and 23.1% (n=31) were Korean endemic species. The eight identified Wetland Protected Areas (WPA) were classified based on their habitat characteristics and on the analysis of their emergent fish communities, as estuarine (n=2), coastal dune (n=1), marsh (n=2), stream (n=2), and stream-marsh (n=1) types. The environmental factors revealed to have the greatest influence on the species diversity of emergent fish were maintenance and repair, installation of reservoirs, and construction of artificial wetlands around them. The present study offers basic information on the diversity of fish species in different Wetland Protected Area types that can be used to inform conservation and management decisions for WPA.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
• /
• v.54 no.2
• /
• pp.231-239
• /
• 2021

There are six species of pinnipeds in Korean waters. Because of the lack of research on pinnipeds, it has been difficult to obtain ecological information on each species. All six species have been designated as endangered species, marine protected species, or national monuments by the government, depending on historical records. In this study, the current status of pinnipeds in Korea was investigated through reviewing the literature, and sighting and bycatch records, with the intention of providing new information for the review of the six species. Spotted seals and northern fur seals are well known inhabitants of Korea. The southern part of the East Sea is thought to be the margin of the distribution of Steller sea lions. Sightings of ribbon seals and ringed seals were not confirmed in Korean waters. Sea lions have not been seen since their last sighting on Dokdo in 1951 and are thought to have become extinct after that. It is necessary to delist undistributed or extinct species in Korea from the marine protected species list.

• Journal of Fisheries and Marine Sciences Education
• /
• v.27 no.3
• /
• pp.747-756
• /
• 2015

Brown alga Undaria peterseniana has been interested in the commercial scale aquaculture for warm water species development in southern coastal area of Korea. However, this species was classified an endangered species caused by a decrease in habitat and natural population. In this study, inhabit characteristics of U. peterseniana was investigated in their natural habitat of Ulleung Island, Korea. The U. peterseniana population was occurred dense patches at 20~30m depth. Total length of the alga reached 1.0~2.0m and the largest width ranged 10.0~35.0cm during the study. In 2013, habitats of this species increased two sites compared with the previous year and their distribution extended to low depth (10m) of coastal area. In long-term data, seawater temperature revealed a continuous increment by strong going north of East Korea Warm Current or Ulleung Warm Eddy turning around the coast of Ulleung Island. It suggested that habitat extension of U. peterseniana may be caused by suitable settlement condition and increase of warm water around the coastal area. Current studies of this species may be continuously required in the possibility of fisheries resources as aquaculture species and index species of increment of water temperature at the fixed monitoring site in East Sea. This is the first study to research ecological feature U. peterseniana population at the natural habitat of Ulleung Island.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
• /
• v.33 no.1
• /
• pp.23-36
• /
• 2010

The Cat Ba Islands in Hai Phong City, northern Vietnam, consist of a large limestone island with a maximum height of 322 m above sea level and 366 small limestone islets with a total area of about $180\;km^2$. The islands are relicts of karst limestone mountains that became submerged during the Holocene transgression 7000 - 8000 year ago. The combination of the longtime karst process and recent marine processes in the monsoonal tropical zone has created a very diversity landscape on the Cat Ba Islands that can be divided into 3 habitat types with 16 forms. The first habitat type is the karst mountains and hills, including karst mountains and hills, karst valleys and dolines, karst lakes, karst caves, and old marine terraces. The second habitat type is the limestone island coast, including beaches, mangrove marshes, tidal flats, rocky coasts, marine notch caves, marine karst lakes, and bights. The third habitat type is karst plains submerged by the sea, including karst cones (fengcong) and towers (fengling), bedrock exposed on the seabed, sandy mud seabed, and submerged channels. Like the landscape, the biodiversity is also high in ecosystems composed of scrub cover - bare hills, rainy tropical forests, paddy fields and gardens, swamps, caves, beaches, mangrove forests, tidal flats, rocky coasts, marine krast lakes, coral reefs, hard bottoms, seagrass beds and soft bottoms. The ecosystems on the Cat Ba Islands that support very high species biodiversity include tropical evergreen rainforests, soft bottoms; coral reefs, mangrove forests, and marine karst lakes. A total of 2,380 species have been recorded in the Cat Ba Islands, included 741 species of terrestrial plants; 282 species of terrestrial animals; 30 species of mangrove plants; 287 species of phytoplankton; 79 species of seaweed; 79 species of zooplankton; 196 species of marine fishes; 154 species of corals; and 538 species of zoobenthos. Many of these species are listed in the Red Book of Vietnam as endangered species, included the white-headed or Cat Ba langur (Trachypithecus poliocephalus), a famous endemic species. Human activities have resulted in significantly changes to the landscape end ecosytems of the Cat Ba islands; however, many natural aspects of the islandsd have been preserved. For this reason, the Cat Ba Islands were recognized as a Biological Reserved Area by UNESCO in 2004.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
• /
• v.45 no.4
• /
• pp.203-217
• /
• 2021

Background: Sea turtles, which are globally endangered species, have been stranded and found as bycatch on the Korean shore recently. More studies on sea turtles in Korea are necessary to aid their conservation. To investigate the spatio-temporal occurrence patterns of sea turtles on the Korean shore, we recorded sampling locations and dates, identified species and sexes and measured sizes (maximum curved carapace length; CCL) of collected sea turtles from the year 2014 to 2020. For an analysis of diets through stomach contents, we identified the morphology of the remaining food and extracted DNA, followed by amplification, cloning, and sequencing. Results: A total of 62 stranded or bycaught sea turtle samples were collected from the Korean shores during the study period. There were 36 loggerhead turtles, which were the dominant species, followed by 19 green turtles, three hawksbill turtles, two olive ridley turtles, and two leatherback turtles. The highest numbers were collected in the year 2017 and during summer among the seasons. In terms of locations, most sea turtles were collected from the East Sea, especially from Pohang. Comparing the sizes of collected sea turtles according to species, the average CCL of loggerhead turtles was 79.8 cm, of green turtles was 73.5 cm, and of the relatively large leatherback turtle species was 126.2 cm. In most species, the proportion of females was higher than that of males and juveniles, and was more than 70% across all the species. Food remains were morphologically identified from 19 stomachs, mainly at class level. Seaweeds were abundant in stomachs of green turtles, and Bivalvia was the most detected food item in loggerhead turtles. Based on DNA analysis, food items from a total of 26 stomachs were identified to the species or genus level. The gulfweed, Sargassum thunbergii, and the kelp species, Saccharina japonica, were frequently detected from the stomachs of green turtles and the jellyfish, Cyanea nozakii, the swimming crab, Portunus trituberculatus, and kelps had high frequencies of occurrences in loggerhead turtles. Conclusions: Our findings support those of previous studies suggesting that sea turtles are steadily appearing in the Korean sea. In addition, we verified that fish and seaweed, which inhabit the Korean sea, are frequently detected in the stomach of sea turtles. Accordingly, there is a possibility that sea turtles use the Korean sea as feeding grounds and habitats. These results can serve as basic data for the conservation of globally endangered sea turtles.

• Korean Journal of Ichthyology
• /
• v.21 no.sup1
• /
• pp.29-37
• /
• 2009

The tiny fragment of freshwater body is providing home for huge biodiversity and resources for the existence of human. The competing demand for freshwater have been increased rapidly and it caused the declination of biodiversity in recent decades. Unlike the natural process of extinction in gradual progress, the current species extinction is accelerated by human activity. As a result many fish species are already extinct or alive only in captivity in the world and about fifty eight animal species are in endangered in Korea including eighteen freshwater species. Conservation of biodiversity is the process by which the prevention of loss or damage is attained, and is often associated with management of the natural environment. The practical action is classified into in-situ, or ex-situ depending on the location of the conservation effort. Recovery means the process by which the status of endangerment is improved to persist in the wild by re-introduction of species from ex-situ conservation population into nature or translocation of some population. However there are a lot of restrictions to complete it and successful results are known very rare in case. In this article the authors explore some strategies for conservation and restoration of freshwater fish species conducted in Korea for few years. The major causes are discussed in relation with the decline of freshwater fish diversity during few decades and some strategies are evaluated to advance the process of conservation. A study on the Korean bullhead, Pseudobagrus brevicorpus, is introduced as a case for ex-situ conservation and restoration in freshwater ecosystem.

• Proceedings of the National Institute of Ecology of the Republic of Korea
• /
• v.3 no.3
• /
• pp.165-171
• /
• 2022

The Chinese crested tern (Thalasseus bersteini) is one of the most globally endangered species, listed as "Critically Endangered (CE)" on the IUCN Red List, with only approximately 30-49 individuals surviving in the wild. Chinese crested terns were discovered to breed in South Korea for the first time in 2016 while conducting a census on uninhabited islands. The Ministry of Environment has declared the breeding habitat of the Chinese crested terns as "Specified Island" to protect this CE species. However, brown rats (Rattus norvegicus) inhabiting the breeding grounds of the Chinese crested terns and Black-tailed gulls may potentially pose a threat to the breeding of these avian species. Therefore, we conducted a study on the feeding behavior of brown rats involving stable isotope analysis to determine their food sources. Fecal analysis showed that brown rats mainly fed on plants, whereas they scarcely fed on animals, such as insects. In addition, the stable isotope analysis showed that the δ¹³C values of brown rats, insects, and Indian goosegrasses were approximately -16 to -11‰, whereas the δ¹³C value of Chinese crested terns that obtained their food from the marine ecosystem was approximately -22 to -18‰. Hence, we conclude that the source of carbon for brown rats on this island is the terrestrial ecosystem. We ruled out the possibility of any direct prey-predator interaction between the brown rat and the Chinese crested tern or Black-tailed gull.

• Korean Journal of Ichthyology
• /
• v.23 no.3
• /
• pp.198-205
• /
• 2011

Early life history of the endangered species, Gobiobotia macrocephala was investigated to provide baseline data for biological characteristics and recovery. Adult fish were sampled by spoon net at Hongcheon-gun, Gangwon-do, Korea in April to June 2010. The female's eggs were obtained by injecting Ovaprim and fertilized by dry method in the laboratory. The mature eggs were slightly adhesive and transparent with greyish and average 0.89${\pm}$0.04mm in diameter. The hatching of the embryo took place in about 107 hours after fertilization under water temperature of 23$^{\circ}C$ and newly hatched larvae were average 4.6${\pm}$0.16mm in total length. At 4 days after hatching, they were average 6.1${\pm}$0.20mm in total length and their yolk sacs were completely absorbed. From 15 days after hatching, they entered the juvenile stage and reached at 8.6${\pm}$0.67mm in total length. At the 100 days after hatching, their band patterns and external form were similar to those of adults, and they averaged 31.5${\pm}$3.32mm in total length.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
• /
• v.44 no.2
• /
• pp.136-143
• /
• 2011

Early life history of the endangered species Gobiobotia brevibarba was investigated to provide baseline data for biological characteristics and restoration. Adult fish were sampled by spoon net capture at Hongcheon-gun, Gangwon-do, Korea, in April 2010. Eggs were obtained after injection of Ovarprim and were artificially fertilized by the dry method in the laboratory. The mature eggs were slightly adhesive and transparent with greyish and average $1.24{\pm}0.07$ mm in diameter. The hatching of the embryos took place about 120 h after fertilization at a water temperature of $23^{\circ}C$. The newly-hatched larva averaged $5.5{\pm}0.29$ mm in total length. Four days after hatching, they averaged $7.4{\pm}0.26$ mm in total length and their yolk sacs were completely absorbed. From 15 days after hatching, they entered the juvenile stage and reached $9.9{\pm}0.72$ mm in total length. One hundred days after hatching, their band patterns and external form were similar to those of adults, and they averaged $36.0{\pm}3.11$ mm in total length.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
• /
• v.41 no.1
• /
• pp.98-103
• /
• 2008

Genetic diversity and population genetic structure within or among three stream populations (Gab, Baekgok and Ji streams) of Korean endangered natural monument fish, Iksookimia choii, were assessed by amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP). AFLP analysis using three primer combinations generated 104 to 106 AFLP bands, and percent polymorphic bands were similar in those three populations ranging 21.5 to 24.5%. Heterozygosity and genetic diversity within or among populations were quite low for all of these populations with average values ranging from 0.067 to 0.084 and from 0.076 to 0.087, respectively. Analyses of pairwise distance and genetic similarity among three populations of I. choii also revealed the similar results with very low genetic differentiation one another. Although pairwise Fst values were very low, our data clearly indicated distinct genetic differentiation among the three populations. This is the first report concerning the genetic diversity and differentiation of this species, and provides basic genetic information that should facilitate attempts to conserve this species.