• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.318-324
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• 2010

The aim of this study is to examine feeding habits of the Korean water deer(Hydropotes inermis argyropus) from its rumen contents using a PCR-DGGE method. For this study, rumen contents were collected from water deer causalities by natural death or road-kill in two different sites(Cheorwon, Gangwon province and the Eastern part of Jeonnam province). DNA was extracted from rumen contents of a total of 44 individuals. Two primers, rbcLZ1aF(GC) and rbcL19bR, were used for PCR amplifications of ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase large subunit (rbcL) gene. Among 44 samples, twenty-nine samples were successfully amplified by PCRs. The 29 PCR products of partial rbcL gene were applied for PCR-DGGE. Totally, six families of plants were detected from the diet analyses. Five families of plants were found in Cheorwon, Gangwon province, but only three families of plants were found in the Eastern part of Jeonnam province. The PCR-DGGE method will provide us with a potential tool to study feeding habits of ungulates including water deer, even though our results failed to identify the prey plants at the level of species.

• Korean Journal of Ichthyology
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.27-35
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• 2018

The activity period and feeding ecology of the Iksookimia yongdokensis were investigated to obtain baseline data for its ecological characteristics in the Chuksan Stream and Gokgang Stream, Gyeongsangbuk-do, Korea from 2015 to 2016. I. yongdokensis were active on cobble, pebble and sand bottom from March to November when the water temperature exceeded $10^{\circ}C$, but tended to overwinter in cobble and pebble during the winter months (December~February) when the water temperature was lower than $10^{\circ}C$. During the day from 9 am to 15 pm, individuals of I. yongdokensis were highly active with a high rate of food consumption. I. yongdokensis activley fed on the surface of stone, pebble and sand as a filter feeder. Their main food sources analyzed with an index of relative importance (IRI) include Chironomidae (54.7%), Branchiopoda (10.1%), Rotatoria (8.7%), Arcellidae (8.6%), Chlorophyceae (6.5%) and Bacillariophyceae (5.1%). Juveniles of I. yongdokensis (total length 20~39 mm) fed on small-sized preys such as Rotatoria, Branchiopoda and Arcellidae, but they exhibited a transition in their prey-size markedly dominated by large-sized preys such as Chironomidae and Ephemeroptera as they grow.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.33 no.4 s.92
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• pp.319-327
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• 2000

The feeding behavior of 1-year-old silver carp, Hypophthalmichthys molitrix (Val.) on phytoplankton species in a shallow hypertrophic lake was studied from 22 May to 18 September, 1997. Over the experimental period, the filter-pore sizes of the fish, the total biomass of the phytoplankton and the water temperature in each enclosure changed little with time. The fish biomass in each enclosure increased with time, while their percentage of weight gain correlated negatively to the stocking density, due perhaps to competition for prey. An analysis of gut contents of silver carp showed a strong similarity between the algal communities in the foregut and the water, and was significant for the fish enclosure with a low density (p<0.05). The presence of silver carp rarely suppressed the abundance of phytoplankton such as Oscillatoria, Anabaena and Melosira even at high ingestion levels. There were weak relationships between the IU values of each phytoplankton and the selectivity of fish on them (r = 0.001, p>0.5). There was no doubt that the silver carp fed unselectively when cyanobacteria populations were high, even though the selectivity index for diatoms was slightly higher than those for cyanobacteria, green algae and cryptomonads. Improvements in methodologies are needed to clearly understand and generalize the feeding behavior of silver carp.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.41 no.3
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• pp.367-373
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• 2008

A freshwater bivalve (Unio douglasiae) was examined to assess the filtering rate (FR) on the cyanobacterial assemblage in a hypertrophic lake. Animal U. douglasiae used in the present study was collected using a hand-operated dredge from the North Han River (Gapyeong, Korea). The FR was measured at different feeding conditions such as feeding interval (1, 4, 7, and 24 h), mussel size (4.2$\sim$8.1 cm, n=23), prey concentration (506.7, 409.8, 327.5, 199.7 and 88.6 ${\mu}g\;L^{-1}$), and mussel density (0.5, 1.0 and 1.5 indiv. $L^{-1}$). On the applied feeding interval, the maximum FR (0.21 L $g^{-1}h^{-1}$) and minimum feces production (FP, 0.12 mg $g^{-1}h^{-1}$) were observed at 1 and 24 hr, respectively. Both weight-based FR and FP were not correlated with the mussel size, and the values lied in a limited range with some degree of variation. Likewise, no significant relations between FR and FP were observed in the mussel size. The FR values were negatively correlated with food concentration, but positively with FP. For the food concentrations, the maximum FR (0.41 L $g^{-1}h^{-1}$) and FP (0.16 mg $g^{-1}h^{-1}$) were 88.6 ${\mu}gL^{-1}$ and 327.5 ${\mu}gL^{-1}$, respectively. These results indicate that U. douglasiae collected from the North Han River, although the filtering rate were slightly less than Keum River mussel, may be applied as a strategic bio-filter to mitigate cyanobacterial bloom in eutrophic lake.

• Journal of the Korea Organic Resources Recycling Association
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.72-81
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• 2004

For disposal food wastes which is about 30% portion of tatal organic wastes, vermicomposting is more environmental-friendly treatment than lanfill, incineration, etc. Recently, the interest has been increasing but there are many problems on management of vermicopmposting in field especially. This study was conducted to investigate an optimal factors, which are limit NaCl conc., the mixing rate of food wastes and casting for growth of an earthworm related to efficient vermicomposting. The limit conc. of NaCl was 0.5% and in case of feeding food wastes to earthworms as a prey only, most earthworms were dead in a few hours due to excessive degradation of organic materials and high NaCl conc. However as feeding with the casting of proper mixing rate(3:7), most earthworms were survived until finishing composting. It was investigated the increaser degree of matureness of food wastes, the higher conc. of NaCl, therefore for efficient vermicomposting, it seemed proper mixing rate of food wastes and the casting is better than matureness of food wastes. and the most suitable mixing rate was 3:7 food wastes and the casting.

• BMB Reports
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• v.37 no.6
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• pp.741-748
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• 2004

The hepatitis C virus is associated with the development of liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinomas. Among the 10 polyproteins produced by the virus, no function has been clearly assigned to the non-structural 5A (NS5A) protein. This study was designed to identify the hepatocellular proteins that interact with NS5A of the HCV. Yeast two-hybrid experiments were performed with a human liver cDNA prey-library, using five different NS5A derivatives as baits, the full-length NS5A (NS5A-F, amino acid (aa) 1~447) and its four different derivatives, denoted as NS5A-A (aa 1~150), -B (aa 1~300), -C (aa 300~447) and D (aa 150~447). NS5A-F, NS5A-B and NS5A-C gave two, two and 10 candidate clones, respectively, including an AHNAK-related protein, the secreted frizzled-related protein 4 (SFRP4), the N-myc downstream regulated gene 1 (NDRG1), the cellular retinoic acid binding protein 1 (CRABP-1), ferritin heavy chain (FTH1), translokin, tumor-associated calcium signal transducer 2 (TACSTD2), phosphatidylinositol 4-kinase (PI4K) and $centaurin{\delta}$ 2 ($CENT{\delta}2$). However, NS5A-A produced no candidates and NS5A-D was not suitable as bait due to transcriptional activity. Based on an in vitro binding assay, CRABP-1, PI4K, $CENT{\delta}2$ and two unknown fusion proteins with maltose binding protein (MBP), were confirmed to interact with the glutathione S-transferase (GST)/NS5A fusion protein. Furthermore, the interactions of CRABP-1, PI4K and $CENT{\delta}2$ were not related to the PXXP motif (class II), as judged by a domain analysis. While their biological relevance is under investigation, the results contribute to a better understanding of the possible role of NS5A in hepatocellular signaling pathways.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.17 no.8
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• pp.262-266
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• 2016

Marine copepods are ideal live prey for fish larvae, and many studies on the mass culture of the organism have been reported. This study performed a mass culture of the brackish copepod Paracyclopina nana containing nauplius and C4-adult production methods. In nauplius production, the harvested nauplii over 95% were comprised of N1 and N2. Daily mean nauplius production of two trials for 15 days were $6.9{\times}10^6$ and $7.2{\times}10^6$ individuals, respectively. The densities of the adult females were maintained at a similar level of the initiation during production. In C4-adult production, the proportion of harvested copepods containing C4-adult males, females and ovigerus females were 49%, 28%, and 18%, respectively. The daily mean nauplius production of the two trials for 16 days were $8.2{\times}10^5$ and $9.0{\times}10^5$ individuals, respectively. As a result, the continuous production of P. nana using the mass production system was successful. Therefore, the continuous and stable feeding for fish larvae in aquaculture would be possible by the selection of the copepod culture method depending on the mouth size of the fish.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.24 no.5
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• pp.532-548
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• 2015

The winter ecology of individual yellow-throated martens(Martes flavigula) intemperate region of Korea were studied through snow-tracking. The study was performed across 3 winter seasons, from January 2011 to February 2013. Total distance of 49.8km was snow tracked (comprising 13 snow-tracking routes) to determine winter foraging habits, general behavior and movement paths of solitary and small groups (1-6 individuals; $mean=2.9{\pm}1.6$) of yellow-throated martens. The martens in the current study were omnivorous, with their winter diet including 9 animal and 5 plant species. Yellow-throated martens searched for food near and under the fallen logs and branches, root plates of fallen trees, around the roots of growing trees, and in small holes in the ground. They also climbed trees to search inside the tree holes and vacant bird nests. Foraging activity was estimated to occur at a frequency of 1.20 times/km, while territory marking occurred 1.42 times/km on average. Of the 60 documented foraging activities we observed, 17 were successful (28.3%). Moving activity and territory marking mainly occurred along ridges, whereas foraging activity was recorded in valleys, slopes, and forest edges. To protect the habitat of this species, the entire forest should be preserved, including the valleys, slopes, and even forest edges as well as main ridges.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.51 no.1
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• pp.29-39
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• 2018

Long-term variation of zooplankton community and species composition was studied from 2003 to 2014 in a deep reservoir, Lake Soyang, in monsoon climate region, Korea. In addition, we examined the correlation with environmental factors. Annual precipitation of watershed showed a large variation in the $705{\sim}1,779mm\;yr^{-1}$ and more than 70% of it was being concentrated from June to September. The water quality of Lake Soyang was shown a clearly seasonal variations and particularly turbid water flowing into the lake during rainy season was the most important environmental factors. Zooplankton community in Lake Soyang showed a significant difference before and after 2006. Zooplankton biomass has shown a large increase and also showed a change in the zooplankton community structure since 2006. The of zooplankton showed positive correlation with temperature and BOD, Chl. a, TP concentration. These results are considered that nutrient and organic matter contained in the turbid water influences the increase in zooplankton biomass and species composition. However, water quality was limited to account for the increase in biomass of zooplankton. For example, increase of small zooplankton density (rotifer; Keratella cochlearis, Polyarthra vulgaris) in spring which is dominated by diatoms (large size; Melosira, Synedra etc.) is considered as a bottom-up effect by the microbial loop. And increased density of crustaceans in autumn was considered a top-down effects by the relationship between predator and prey of microzooplankton and mesozooplankton. In other words the inflow of allochthonous organic matter during rainy season also affected to zooplankton food web in Lake Soyang. In conclusion, biomass, diversity and long-term variations of zooplankton in Lake Soyang were determined by physico-chemical factors but also it is considered that biological interactions is important.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.37 no.1
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• pp.1-8
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• 2001

Spiders are carnivores that prey upon insects and other small arthropods through digestion of food outside the body. Although spider poison may contain proteolytic enzymes, these are thought to play an insignificant role in actual digestion. The source of active proteolytic enzymes can be either the digestive tract cells of spider, or natural microbial flora in the digestive tract of spider. In this study, digestive tracts from the spider, Nephila clavata, were screened for bacteria that have protease or lipase activity. A total of $10^3-10^5$ CFU was recovered from a spider and more than 90% of them showed protease and lipase activity respectively. Of the microbial isolates, 63.3% showed protease or lipase activity, and 50% of these showed both protease and lipase activity. Some of the isolates were characterized using a battery of chemical, phenotypic and genotypic methods. Eleven Gram negative bacteriaa (Acinetobacter calcoaceticus, A. haemolyticus, Alcaligenes faecalis, Cedecea davisae, C. neteri, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Proteus vulgaris, Pseudomonas fluorescens, Serratia marcescens, Stenotrophomonas maltophilia, Suttonella indologenes) and 11 Gram positive bacteria (Bacillus cereus, B. coagulans, B. pasteurii, B. thuringiensis, Cellulomonas flavigena, Corynebacterium martruchotii, Enterococcus durans, E. faecalis, Micrococcus luteus, Staphylococcus hominis, S. sciuri) were identified.