• 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.

• 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.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.45 no.1
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• pp.10-16
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• 2021

Background: Ranavirus is an emerging infectious disease which has been linked to mass mortality events in various amphibian species. In this study, we document the first mass mortality event of an adult population of Dybowski's brown frogs (Rana dybowskii), in 2017, within a mountain valley in South Korea. Results: We confirmed the presence of ranavirus from all collected frogs (n = 22) via PCR and obtained the 500 bp major capsid protein (MCP) sequence from 13 individuals. The identified MCP sequence highly resembled Frog virus 3 (FV3) and was the same haplotype of a previously identified viral sequence collected from Huanren brown frog (R. huanrenensis) tadpoles in South Korea. Human habitat alteration, by recent erosion control works, may be partially responsible for this mass mortality event. Conclusion: We document the first mass mortality event in a wild Korean population of R. dybowskii. We also suggest, to determine if ranavirus infection is a threat to amphibians, government officials and researchers should develop continuous, country-wide, ranavirus monitoring programs of Korean amphibian populations.

• 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.

• 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.