• The Korean Journal of Quaternary Research
• /
• v.19 no.2
• /
• pp.40-43
• /
• 2005

The island alpine biogeography of Mt. Halla (Hallasan), Jeju Island (Jejudo), Korea is discussed. The presence of numerous species of alpine flora on Mt. Halla, the southernmost distributional limit for certain species, may primarily be attributed to palaeo-environmental factors, since it can not be wholly explained by reference to current environmental conditions. The alpine flora on the peak of Mt. Halla, mainly above 1,500m a.s.l, is evidently descended from immigrants from NE Asia via the Korean Peninsula during the epochs of the Ice Age. These plants, which are very intolerant of competition with temperate vegetation, have been able to persist in alpine belts thanks to their harsh climatic conditions, sterile soil, rugged topography and cryoturbation. The alpine plants on Hallasan are in a stage or process of retreat toward the mountaintop, most likely due to recent climatic amelioration. The lower limit of some species seems to coincide with maximum summer isotherms. The continued survival of arctic-alpine and alpine plants on the summit of Hallasan, Jejudo, the Korean Peninsula, however, is in danger, if global warming associated with the greenhouse effect continues.

• Journal of English Language & Literature
• /
• v.57 no.2
• /
• pp.237-264
• /
• 2011

Based on its geophysical feature, the island has long been recognized as a separate and self-sustaining space independent of neighboring continent or other islands. Literary tradition has used the island as a metaphor for a utopian alternative to mundane human society with its various kinds of wrongdoings. Recent nature writings have taken up this island metaphor to emphasize the wholeness of the ecosystem in specifically designated natural community or landscapes such as national parks or wilderness preservation areas. Human-nature relations as border-divided area is also recognized as the island. Modern island biogeography, however, has disproved such a concept of islands as autonomous, revealing the contrasting fact that the richness of species on an undisturbed island is determined largely by species immigration from and emigration to a source of colonists. This scientific finding has posited the island as the interconnected nature, but the public and metaphoric use of it still resorts to the old concept of it as isolated and autonomous nature, because this image has been ingrained deeply in our consciousness and culture. Considering the negative consequences from the recognition of nature and nature-humans as isolated space, we need a new nature metaphor that embodies interconnectedness in nature and of human-nature relations. Such feature of interconnectedness is best embedded in the concept of ecotone. Some ecotones are created and maintained through human participation in nature, and this human induced nature of ecotone denotes the possibilities of a constructive relation between them. The substitution of the island with the ecotone as the concept of nature and the image of human-nature relations is expected to correct ecocritical practices of reading of nature writing, which has been predominantly interpreted within the orientation of nature itself and nature-human relations as an isolated and self-autonomous island. Adopting the ecotone in literary study enables ecocriticism to dig out cultural elements embedded in nature writing and reveal socio-political, ideological factors hidden behind the writers' portrayal of nature as islands.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
• /
• v.28 no.4
• /
• pp.179-187
• /
• 2010

The Theory of Island Biogeography describes that the number of species on an island affected by island area and distance from the mainland. This study was performed to compare and analyze the community structure of the macro-invertebrates in three isolated islands, around Korean waters in terms of the Theory of Island Biogeography. Macrobenthic animals were collected using a modified underwater quadrat in August 2009. A total of 104 macrobenthic species were sampled with a mean density of 399 individuals $m^{-2}$ and biomass of 1,506.70 g $m^{-2}$. Based on the abundance and biomass data, there were 10 dominant species accounting for approximately 67.17% of total individuals. The highest densities were found in the amphipoda Amphipoda spp., the bivalvia Modiolus agripetus and Mytilus coruscus, the Sipunculida Phascolosoma scolops and the polychaeta Syllidae unid.. On the contrary, the top ten species made up 95.66% of the total biomass while the three most abundant, the bivalves M. coruscus, Streostria circumpicta and M. agripetus. The conventional multi-variate statistics (cluster analysis and non-metric multi-dimensional scaling) applied to assess spatial variation in macrobenthic assemblages. Cluster analysis and nMDS ordination analysis based on the Bray-Curtis similarity identified 2 station groups. The group 1 was consisted with Gageodo (except for lower station at Transect 2) and Dokdo station and was numerically dominated by the polychaetes Eunice antennata and Syllidae unid., the cirripedia Megabalanus rosa and the bivalvia M. coruscus. However, group 2 was associated with Sohwado station and was characterized by high abundance of the anomura Petrolisthes japonicus, the gastropoda Lirularia pygmaea and the brachiopoda Coptothyris grayi. In conclusion, these results suggested that the species diversity and community structure of macrobenthos in three isolated island seemed slightly related to island area and distance from the mainland.

• Animal cells and systems
• /
• v.6 no.2
• /
• pp.125-143
• /
• 2002

Heterotrophic flagellates occurring in the marine sediments of Inchon and Ganghwa Island are reported. Fifty-six species from 38 genera were encountered in this survey and two new taxa were recorded: Cyranomonas australis sp. nov. and Gweamonas unicus sp. nov. There was little evidence for endemism because all flagellates including the two new taxa described here have been found from other habitats in Australia which are geographically remote from Korea. This study supports the model that free-living heterotrophic flagellates have a world-wide distribution.

• Animal Systematics, Evolution and Diversity
• /
• no.spc9
• /
• pp.30-36
• /
• 2016

As a part of the commemorative joint faunal survey for the 30th anniversary of the Korean Society of Systematic Zoology, the molluscan fauna of Jindo Island was investigated based on sample collection from 6 localities from the 6 to the 8 of Jul 2016. A total of 114 molluscan species from 47 families were collected and identified. Among these, 42 species from 11 families are newly reported from Jindo Island and combining the previous records with the present study totals 157 species from 57 families. Distribution of species records indicates that marine biogeography of Jindo Island represent an overlapping zone for marine organisms which dwell in the Yellow sea and the southern sea areas of Korean waters.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
• /
• v.19 no.6
• /
• pp.547-552
• /
• 2010

The theory of island biogeography has influenced strongly on the conservation and management issues of species diversity in the islands. The theory has not limited to islands in the ocean, but expanded to isolated and fragmented areas in the forests and urban. This study has a rare opportunity to explore the species diversity and abundance of birds in the islands of Korea. A total of 151 islands in the west and south areas in the Korean peninsula were examined. The number of species and the area of islands were highly significant (P<0.000) and the number of species and the distance from the mainland showed not so strong relationship. This indicated that bird species diversity has more influenced by the size of the islands not the distance. This can be from the study species of birds that can fly long distance, and also natural characteristics of migratory and resident status. Species-area curve showed that the z-value was 0.21 indicating the area and the bird species are strongly correlated. The long-term monitoring of bird species presence in the islands should be followed for a proper management plan.

• Journal of Species Research
• /
• v.12 no.1
• /
• pp.48-54
• /
• 2023

Foraminifera are unicellular eukaryotes widely distributed in marine and transitional marine environments. They play important roles in marine food webs and geochemical cycles and have physiological properties like the formation of calcareous tests and nitrogen respiration. Research on species diversity, distribution and endemism are essential in biogeography and biodiversity conservation. Here, we report three unrecorded species of foraminifera (Hemirotalia foraminulosa, Planispirillina denticulogranulata and Oolina brevisolenia) collected from Jeju Island and the South Sea (Korea). Planispirillina denticulogranulata is the second Planispirillina species recorded in Korea, which can be distinguished from congeners by its tubercles on the ventral side and grooves on the spiral suture. Hemirotalia foraminulosa is differentiated from the only congener H. calvifacta by multiple-scattered pits on the umbilicus, and it is the first report of Hemirotalia from Korean water. Oolina brevisolenia has specific bifurcating costae that characterize it from other congeners. This study contributes to documentation of the foraminiferal biodiversity in Korea, moreover, provides an essential basis for the expanded studies on modern foraminifera.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
• /
• v.33 no.2
• /
• pp.105-114
• /
• 2010

The principal objective of this study was to characterize the relationships between geographical conditions (e.g., island area, distance to mainland) and landscape structures of uninhabited islands, and to evaluate the effects of islands and their landscape structures on species richness. One hundred randomly selected islands and 5,000 m buffered areas derived from the boundaries of each island were used to summarize the number of observed bird species, and landscape pattern indices, particularly patch density, edge density, shape index, and mean nearest neighboring distance. Spatial arrangements of individual patch type at the class level, which are markedly affected by the distance from an island to the mainland, have a superior ability to explain the variances in species richness, as compared to the geographical conditions and landscape pattern indices at the landscape level. The results demonstrate that the patch type landscape structure is the primary factor affecting species richness, as well as the distance to the mainland. In particular, landscape pattern indices of cropland/pasture and woody cover are statistically significant in terms of explaining species richness, which suggests that food resources and appropriate conditions in landscape structures of habitat types are assumed as important elements in attracting bird species. This study also proposes the importance of evaluation on the landscape structure of each island, in order to designate protected areas and to establish a management plan for species conservation in uninhabited islands.

• Animal cells and systems
• /
• v.10 no.3
• /
• pp.121-123
• /
• 2006

In this study we reinvestigated the taxonomy of the collared many-toothed snake (Korean name: Bibaribem) of Jeju Island, Korea. The Bibari-bem is a colubrid indigenous to Jeju Island and was first assigned to S. collaris Gray. However, the geographic distribution of S. collaris is not continuous with the Korean peninsula, making it doubtful that Bibari-bem should be assigned to it. Some herpetologists have suggested that Bibari-bem may instead belong to the closely related S. chinensis G?nther. To resolve this conflict, we compared the diagnostic characteristics of S. collaris and S. chinensis as described in the literature with the characteristics of individuals collected on Jeju Island. We collected six individuals with one preocular, two postocular, two anterior temporal, and no lower ocular scales. Five individuals had nine (3-3-3 form) supralabials, among which fourth to sixth are touching the orbit and the ninth is the largest. One individual had eight (2-3-3 form) supralabials, third to fifth touching the orbit, with the eighth being the largest. These data suggest that Bibari-bem is not S. collaris, but S. chinensis.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
• /
• v.30 no.1
• /
• pp.29-43
• /
• 2021

This study analyzed the status of climate-change indicator plants native to the main islands of the Korean peninsula, while elucidating their distribution characteristics. Information on flora from over 129 island locations, comprising more than 100 species of native plants, was collected, compiled into a database, and utilized as raw data. The distribution of 193 climate-change indicator plants was confirmed. The distribution area of broadleaf evergreen trees and ferns, including Mallotus japonicus and Cyrtomium falcatum, was relatively wide. In contrast, the distribution of common northern plants such as Corydalis turtschaninovii and Malus baccata was limited. If global warming persists, northern plant distribution is expected to decrease rapidly in the Korean Peninsula island region, while the northern limit line of the southern plants is expected to migrate further northward. During this process, it is likely that the plant congregation structure and species diversity within the island region will change dynamically. In this study, comparative analyses between species and regions were conducted by assessing the relative frequency of their occurrence, and six types of botanical geographic distribution patterns were noted.