• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.41-45
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• 2009

For last 150 years, blackbirds have moved from their ancestral habitat, the woodland edge, to man-made habitats such as farmland, parks and gardens. These alternative habitats have become one of main blackbird habitats. I compared density of nests and blackbirds in parks, woodland and campus of University of East Anglia to investigate habitat preference. Blackbirds preferred the area covered by $10\sim50%$ of tree or bush patches for their foraging and nesting sites. Blackbirds were more frequently found near buildings rather than far from buildings. Nest characteristics did not affect predation rate and nest preference. This study suggests that man-made habitats may be important for avoiding predation.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.44 no.2
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• pp.106-114
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• 2020

Background: Determining patterns of habitat use is key to understanding of animal ecology. Approximately 1% of bird species use brood parasitism for their breeding strategy, in which they exploit other species' (hosts) parental care by laying eggs in their nests. Brood parasitism may complicate the habitat requirement of brood parasites because they need habitats that support both their host and their own conditions for breeding. Brood parasitism, through changes in reproductive roles of sex or individual, may further diversify habitat use patterns among individuals. However, patterns of habitat use in avian brood parasites have rarely been characterized. In this study, we categorized the habitat preference of a population of brood parasitic lesser cuckoos (Cuculus poliocephalus) breeding on Jeju Island, Korea. By using compositional analyses together with radio-tracking and land cover data, we determined patterns of habitat use and their sexual and diurnal differences. Results: We found that the lesser cuckoo had a relatively large home range and its overall habitat composition (the second-order selection) was similar to those of the study area; open areas such as the field and grassland habitats accounted for 80% of the home range. Nonetheless, their habitat, comprised of 2.54 different habitats per hectare, could be characterized as a mosaic. We also found sexual differences in habitat composition and selection in the core-use area of home ranges (third-order selection). In particular, the forest habitat was preferentially utilized by females, while underutilized by males. However, there was no diurnal change in the pattern of habitat use. Both sexes preferred field habitats at the second-order selection. At the third-order selection, males preferred field habitats followed by grasslands and females preferred grasslands followed by forest habitats. Conclusions: We suggest that the field and grassland habitats represent the two most important areas for the lesser cuckoo on Jeju Island. Nevertheless, this study shows that habitat preference may differ between sexes, likely due to differences in sex roles, sex-based energy demands, and potential sexual conflict.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Fisheries and Ocean Technology
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• v.58 no.2
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• pp.106-112
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• 2022

As a series of basic research to draw the pilot design measures for developing the habitat apparatus of Sulculus diversicolor supertexta inhabiting the coastal area of Jeju island, this study conducted a water tank experiment to understand the habitat marine environment of Sulculus diversicolor supertexta and the preference of habitat space focusing on the research fisheries performing the discharge of marine products. In the composition degree of marine algae in both fisheries, Donggwi-ri showed the highest gulfweed (79.3%) as brown algae and there were some coralline algae (17.2%) as red algae. Hansu-ri yielded the highest gulfweed (48.1%) as brown algae, which was followed by sea lettuce (10.4%) as green algae. In the preference of habitat space, the shelter angles 40° showed the highest adhesion as number of 82.9, which was followed by 60° and 70° as 69.2 and 68.2 respectively (P<0.05) by reviewing the environmental characteristics of habit of Salculus diversicolor supertexta in the coastal fishery of Jeju Island, when considering the adhesion rate in each of five shelters with different angles. In the future, there should be continuous research and monitoring for designing the fish shelters suitable for the coastal fisheries of Jeju island, and it would be also necessary to add the field-centered sustainable concrete research.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.43 no.1
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• pp.73-83
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• 2019

Background: Habitat selectivity and ecology of freshwater fishes were studied in two selected streams and their junction point which consist a total of 39 microhabitats. The aims of this study were to describe the habitat preference and its availability to fish assemblage, as well as ecology, habitat use, and habitat characteristics. Methods: We collected fish with backpack electrofishing three times during August 2013, December 2013, and March 2014. Using a variation partitioning approach of R software, we studied the relationship of fish abundances with stream type, habitat type, and abundance of key macroinvertebrate taxa. Results: A total of 6554 fishes representing four species belonging to the family Cyprinidae were caught. A higher total fish abundance was recorded from Gereb Tsedo (4870; 74.3%) than from Elala stream (1684; 25.7%). Taking both streams together, the overall total relative fish abundance was significantly higher in pools (53%) than in runs (35%) and in riffles (12%) at P < 0.05. Species-wise comparisons showed that 71%, 15%, 13%, and 1% of the pool fish community were occupied by Garra blanfordii, Garra ignestii, Garra dembecha, and Garra aethiopica, respectively. Stream type, habitat type, and key macroinvertebrate taxa each explained a significant proportion of the variation in fish abundance. Based on the variation partitioning approach, fish abundance was higher in Gereb Tsedo stream (P < 0.01). Moreover, fish abundance increased with pool habitat type (P < 0.01) and with availability of key macroinvertebrate taxa (P < 0.01). Conclusion: Fish abundance differed between stream types, among habitats and among key macroinvertebrate taxa availability. Among the factors, habitat type was the most important driving factor behind variation among fish abundances, and pool supports the highest fish abundance.

• Communications for Statistical Applications and Methods
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• v.22 no.6
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• pp.575-587
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• 2015

The development in data collection techniques results in high dimensional data sets, where discrimination is an important and commonly encountered problem that are crucial to resolve when high dimensional data is heterogeneous (non-common variance covariance structure for classes). An example of this is to classify microbial habitat preferences based on codon/bi-codon usage. Habitat preference is important to study for evolutionary genetic relationships and may help industry produce specific enzymes. Most classification procedures assume homogeneity (common variance covariance structure for all classes), which is not guaranteed in most high dimensional data sets. We have introduced regularized elimination in partial least square coupled with QDA (rePLS-QDA) for the parsimonious variable selection and classification of high dimensional heterogeneous data sets based on recently introduced regularized elimination for variable selection in partial least square (rePLS) and heterogeneous classification procedure quadratic discriminant analysis (QDA). A comparison of proposed and existing methods is conducted over the simulated data set; in addition, the proposed procedure is implemented to classify microbial habitat preferences by their codon/bi-codon usage. Five bacterial habitats (Aquatic, Host Associated, Multiple, Specialized and Terrestrial) are modeled. The classification accuracy of each habitat is satisfactory and ranges from 89.1% to 100% on test data. Interesting codon/bi-codons usage, their mutual interactions influential for respective habitat preference are identified. The proposed method also produced results that concurred with known biological characteristics that will help researchers better understand divergence of species.

• The Korean Journal of Ecology
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.133-139
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• 2004

This study was conducted to clarify the preference and habitat condition of small mammals at the Hyeongsan river in Ulsan, Gyeongju, and Pohang from January 2003 to July 2003. In the study sites, total 111 individuals of Apodemus agrarius, Rattus norvegicus, and Micromys minutus were captured in study sites. The most abundant species were Apodemus agrarius, 79.2 percent, among the captured small mammals. Density of habitation was significantly higher in agricultural land than in either private house or woods. However, they were more abundant in paddy Weld area than in agricultural land. A number of captured small mammals were higher in herbaceous rather than three other vegetation types. Existent of river embankment and its type were important factors affecting the spatial distribution of the individuals. Preference of small mammals were significantly lower in revetment block area rather than in none or nature-stone mat area. There was significantly correlationship between the depth of water and the number of captured small mammals. A number of captured small mammals were clearly increased in reference to decreasing depth of water in study site, in conclusion, the following factors such as the vegetation structure, depth of water, types of land use and types of river dike could be affected the spatial distribution of small mammals in the study sites.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.3-13
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• 2010

The Tsushima leopard cat, Prionailurus bengalensis euptilurus, a small felid, inhabits only the Tsushima Islands in Japan. Previous studies of the Tsushima leopard cat revealed that natural factors; including sex, reproductive activity, season, and prey distribution and abundance affect leopard cat home range variation and habitat use. In this study, we focused on clarifying how anthropogenic factors influenced home range variation and habitat use of a male Tsushima leopard cat living near a suburban area in January, March, May and September 2005 using radio-tracking. The home range size (100% MCP) of this cat was $0.78\;{\pm}\;0.26\;km^2$ (mean ${\pm}$ SD, n = 4 tracking sessions) across the whole study period. However, the cat did not use all parts of its home range uniformly; rather it used some habitat types selectively. The cat avoided agriculture areas and residential areas in all of the tracking-sessions. On the other hand, the cat showed a weak preference for artificial structures and a strong preference for baiting sites in January and March, while it avoided them in May, and no baiting site was included in its home range in September. These results suggest that anthropogenic factors influenced the ranging patterns and habitat use of the leopard cat living near a suburban area. Artificial structures might provided good resting spaces for the cat in bad weather. When the density of its main prey was low in the winter, the cat tended to rely on artificial prey and had a small home range size.

• Korean journal of applied entomology
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.81-86
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• 1988

Experiments were conducted to investigate the locational and ovipositional preferences of the single and mixed populations of the brown planthopper(BPH), Nilaparvata lugens (Stal), and the whitebacked planthopper(WBPH),Sogatella furcifera (Hovath), with the different popula-tion densities at seeding, max-tillering, booting and heading stages of rice variety seonam by대. The WBPH showed a locational preference for the upper portion while the BPH was observed to stay generally on the lower portion regardless of rice growth stages, population density-levels and the single or the mixed populations of two species. At seeding, max-tillerinf, boo-tring and heading stage, the preference for the lower portion of the rice plants was found to be slighty reduced with the lapse of time, respectively, from the single or the mixed popula-tions of both the species. Ovipositional lication of both the species was found not to be affected by the different population densities at rice growth stage. Although the BPH prefered a ovi-positional location for the lower portion at seeding, booting and heading stages, its preference-was somewhat reduced with the developmental stages of rice plants, whereas the WBPH showed a ovipositional preference for lower portion at seeding stages, but prefered the same tendency of ovipositional preference for the upper and the lower portion, The location and ovipositional preferences were likely to be affected by the competition between species with the mixed populations rather than single.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers
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• v.63 no.6
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• pp.89-100
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• 2021

The conservation of stream habitats has been gaining more public attention and fish habitat suitability index (HSI) is an important measure for ecological stream habitat assessment. The fish habitat preference is affected not only by physical stream conditions but also by water quality of which HSI was not available due to the lack of field data. The purpose of this study is to estimate the HSI of Zacco platypus for water quality parameters of water temperature, dissolved oxygen (DO), and biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) using the water environment monitoring data provided by the Ministry of Environment (ME). Fish population data merged with water quality were constructed by spatio-temporal matching of nationwide water quality monitoring data with bio-monitoring data of the ME. Two types of the HSI were calculated by the Instream Flow and Aquatic Systems Group (IFASG) method and probability distribution (Weibull) fitting for the four major river basins. Both the HSIs by the IFASG and Weibull fitting appeared to represent the overall distribution and magnitude of fish population and this can be used in stream fish habitat evaluation considering water quality.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Environmental Restoration Technology
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.19-28
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• 2024

The purpose of this study is to investigate the habitat of Luciola unmunsana to understand the status of land snails, which are the larvae prey, and to evaluate the effects of larval feeding preferences and prey size for the restoration of the L. unmunsana habitat as a basis for future restoration projects. The research methods included field surveys of the habitat and laboratory experiments on feeding preferences using three types of land snails (Allopeas clavulinum kyotoense, Euphaedusa fusaniana, Pupinella rufa) observed in the habitat. Field surveys of 13 L. unmunsana habitat sites revealed a total of 24 land snail species. The experimental results regarding the larvae prey were analyzed for statistical significance of feeding preferences using Chi-square tests and independent sample t-tests. Consequently, larvae showed the highest preference for A. c. kyotoense, with statistically significant differences in feeding preferences (p<0.05). Also, statistically significant differences were observed in the size between the land snails that were eaten as prey and those that were not eaten. This research can deepen the understanding of the feeding preferences of L. unmunsana larvae and provide practical guidelines for the effective conservation and restoration strategies of the firefly habitat.