• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.38 no.1
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• pp.39-45
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• 2015

In this study, the dependence of local conspecific abundance on seed set and predation was examined, and determinates of population density of the temperate tree species Carpinus laxiflora (Betulaceae) in Inagi city, Tokyo, Japan were identified. During a good seed year (2013), seeds were sampled from 27 individuals and categorized as Sound, Empty, Predated, Immature, Decayed, or Broken. Empty seeds were identified as those that failed to fertilize and predation rates were defined as the proportion of seeds that were affected by predators. The proportion of the seed set that was fertilized was significantly positively correlated with local abundance of conspecific trees, while the proportion of seeds that escaped predation was significantly negatively correlated with local abundance of conspecific trees. Thereby, the production of Sound seeds was highest at sites with moderate local conspecific abundance. Although this phenomenon was only observed in a few cases, it clearly showed optimal reproductive success under conditions of moderate density of conspecific reproductive adults, suggesting a mechanism that controls the population density of this species.

• The Korean Journal of Ecology
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.199-202
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• 2003

According to the energy hypothesis, the energy input per unit area primarily determines species richness in regions of roughly equal area. Some energy-related ecological research included identification of major climatic variables to determine regional species richness. In this study, the local butterfly species richness was examined to find out whether weather variables affected the local distribution or abundance of butterfly populations. Butterfly monitoring data from May 2001 to April 2002 taken at Mt. Yudal, Mokpo, in the southwestern part of Korea, and six weather variables (monthly mean values of temperature, precipitation, evaporation, wind speed, air pressure, and sunlight) were analyzed. Multiple regression analysis showed that only temperature explained 80% and 70% of the variability of log-transformed number of species and individuals, respectively, indicating that temperature played an important role in local species richness. Furthermore, global warming could affect the abundance and distribution of butterflies regionally as well as locally.

• Proceedings of the National Institute of Ecology of the Republic of Korea
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.122-128
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• 2022

To present the spatial variation of fish assemblages in the Geum River in Korea, the concept of beta diversity (β-diversity) estimates based on the variance of the community data table was applied. Fish communities and environmental variables were collected from 13 sampling sites along the in mid-low reaches of the River. We calculated the β-diversity and local contribution to beta diversity (LCBD) values at each site depending on the two types of data, 'occurrence' with Jaccard and Sørensen dissimilarity coefficients, and 'abundance' with Hellinger distance. Multivariate and correlation analyses were also performed to determine the relationships between LCBD and other variables, such as community indices and physicochemical and hydrological factors. The β-diversity values of fish communities in the River were estimated as 0.218 and 0.145 for occurrence data table with Jaccard and Sørensen respectively, and 0.268 for abundance data. Similar patterns of LCBD along the sampling sites were detected in two dissimilarity measurements of occurrence table, and LCBD values with abundance data were slightly different. The LCBD values are strongly correlated with community indices, and also suitable for indicating the uniqueness of fish assemblages. However, further research is needed to determine the LCBD value as an indicator of environmental variability.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.32 no.10
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• pp.1275-1283
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• 2022

Understanding soil microbial community structure in the Arctic is essential for predicting the impact of climate change on interactions between organisms living in polar environments. The hypothesis of the present study was that soil microbial communities and soil chemical characteristics would vary depending on their associated plant species and local environments in Arctic mature soils. We analyzed soil bacterial communities and soil chemical characteristics from soil without vegetation (bare soil) and rhizosphere soil of three Arctic plants (Cassiope tetragona [L.] D. Don, Dryas octopetala L. and Silene acaulis [L.] Jacq.) in different local environments (coal-mined site and seashore-adjacent site). We did not observe any clear differences in microbial community structure in samples belonging to different plant rhizospheres; however, samples from different environmental sites had distinct microbial community structure. The samples from coal-mined site had a relatively higher abundance of Bacteroidetes and Firmicutes. On the other hand, Acidobacteria was more prevalent in seashore-adjacent samples. The relative abundance of Proteobacteria and Acidobacteria decreased toward higher soil pH, whereas that of Bacteroidetes and Firmicutes was positively correlated with soil pH. Our results suggest that soil bacterial community dissimilarity can be driven by spatial heterogeneity in deglaciated mature soil. Furthermore, these results indicate that soil microbial composition and relative abundance are more affected by soil pH, an abiotic factor, than plant species, a biotic factor.

• Journal of Wetlands Research
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.122-132
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• 2021

We reviewed the methods employed in Korean tidal flat surveys to measure the local abundance of the endangered wildlife and marine protected species, the fiddler crab, Austruca lactea. A complete census for infinite population is impossible even in a limited habitat within a tidal flat, and density estimates from samples strongly vary due to diverse biological and ecological factors. The habitat boundaries and areas shift with periodicities or rhythmic activities of organisms as well as measurement errors. Hence the local abundance calculated from density and habitat areas should be regarded as transient. This conjecture was valid based on the spatio-temporal variations of the density averages, standard error ranges, and spatial distribution of the crab, A. lactea observed for 3 years (2015-2017) in Songdo tidal flat in Incheon. We proposed the potential habitat areas using the occurrence probability of 50% from logistic regression model, reflecting the importance of habitat conservation value as an alternative to local abundance. The spatial shape of potential habitat predicted from a generalized model would remain constant over time unless the species' critical environmental conditions change rapidly. The species-specific model is expected to be used for the introduction of desired species in future habitat restoration/creation projects.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.60 no.1
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• pp.57-63
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• 2022

When free-ranging birds are accidentally killed or die, there may be greater potential for their associated ticks to detach, seek alternate hosts, and become established. We examined 711 carcasses of 95 avian species for ticks at a stopover island of migratory birds in the Republic of Korea where only Ixodes nipponensis and I. persulcatus were previously reported from local mammals and vegetation. A total of 16 ticks, I. turdus and Haemaphysalis flava, were collected from 8 fresh carcasses belonging to 5 avian species. Despite their known abundance on migratory birds and mainland Korea, these species had not colonized the isolated insular ecosystem possibly due to the low abundance and diversity of local hosts. The results imply that increasing human impact, such as the anthropogenic mortality of migratory birds and the introduction of non-native mammalian hosts, will increase the potential invasion and colonization risk of ticks. This finding also suggests that tick surveillance consisting of fresh carcasses of dead migratory birds may provide additional information, often ignored in surveillance of ticks on live birds, for the potential introduction of non-native ticks and associated pathogens affecting animal and human health.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.41 no.1
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• pp.77.3-77.3
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• 2016

In our previous study, we showed that the peculiar globular cluster M22 contains two distinct stellar populations with different physical properties, having different chemical compositions, spatial distributions and kinematics. We proposed that M22 is most likely formed via a merger of two GCs with heterogeneous metallicities in a dwarf galaxy environment and accreted later to our Galaxy. In their recent study, Mucciarelli et al. claimed that M22 is a normal mono-metallic globular cluster without any perceptible metallicity spread among the two groups of stars, which challenges our results and those of others. We devise new strategies for the local thermodynamic equilibrium abundance analysis of red giant branch stars in globuar clusters and show there exists a spread in the iron abundance distribution in M22.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.18 no.6
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• pp.573-578
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• 1997

Ion fragmentations of fatty acids such as stearic acid, palmitic acid, myristic acid, and lauric acid were studied using mass spectrometry and semiempirical calculations. The mass spectra of fatty acids showed the distributions of CH₃(CH₂)$_n^+$ and $[(CH_2)_nCO_2H]^+$ fragment ions. The relative ion abundance distributions of $[(CH_2)_nCO_2H]^+$ showed the local maxima at n=6, 10, and 14. The local maximum phenomena were also found in the mass spectra of methyl stearate but not in those of normal alcohols. These local maxima could be explained not by heats of reaction for fragmentation but by the cyclic structures of the molecular ions. The AM1 semiempirical calculations for fatty acids clearly show that the linear structures are more favorable than the cyclic ones for neutral molecules while the cyclic structures are more favorable than the linear ones for ionic molecules. The distances between carboxyl group and methylene of the cylic structures of ionized fatty acids were calculated. The methylene carbons with n=6, 10, and 14 were closer to the carboxyl group than adjacent ones.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.52 no.3
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• pp.274-283
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• 2019

Beta diversity is an efficient means of assessing the spatial variation in community composition among sites. To present fish community variation and LCBD (Local Contribution to Beta Diversity) among sites in stream, 6 sampling sites were selected in Cheonggye stream. Fish communities, environmental and habitat variables were collected at sites from April 2014 to October 2015. We used the total variance of the fish community data table (site-by-species community table) based on different forms, presence-absence, abundance, and Hellinger transformation, to estimate and compare beta diversity and LCBD. Fish community data table transformed by Hellinger distance showed the higher values of beta diversity than presence-absence and abundance data table. A similar patterns of LCBD were observed with presence-absence and Hellinger transformed data table. Low value of beta diversity calculated by community data table with abundance was due to the non-normality of fish assemblage data. Additionally, correlation coefficients were calculated to evaluate the relationships among LCBD, community indices and physicochemical variables. LCBD showed negative correlation coefficients with Shannon diversity. Overall, application of beta diversity analysis is an efficient method of addressing spatial variation of fish communities and ecological uniqueness of the sites in stream.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.56 no.2
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• pp.172-186
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• 2023

Small ponds, which exhibit unstable succession pattern of plankton community, are less well studied than large lakes. Recently, the importance of small ponds for local biodiversity conservation has highlighted the necessity of understanding the dynamics of biological community. In the present study, we collected zooplankton from three small reservoirs with monthly basis and analyzed their seasonal dynamics. To understand the complicated zooplankton community dynamics of small reservoirs, we categorized zooplankton species into four groups (LALF Group, Low Abundance Low Frequency; LAHF Group, Low Abundance High Frequency; HALF Group, High Abundance Low Frequency; HAHF Group, High Abundance High Frequency) based on their occurrence pattern (abundance and frequency). We compared the seasonal pattern of each group, and estimated community diversity based on temporal beta diversity contribution of each group. The result revealed that there is a relationship between groups with the same abundance but different occurrence frequencies, and copepod nauplii are common important component for both abundance and frequency. On the other hand, species included with LALF Group throughout the study period are key in terms of monthly succession and diversity. LALF Group includes Anuraeopsis fissa, Hexarthra mira and Lecane luna. However, groups containing species that only occur at certain times of the year and dominate the waterbody, HALF Group, hindered to temporal diversity. The results of this study suggest that the species-specific occurrence pattern is one key trait of species determining its contribution to total annual biodiversity of given community.