• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.39 no.1
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• pp.119-135
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• 2021

Korea has stepped up efforts to investigate and catalog its flora and fauna to conserve the biodiversity of the Korean Peninsula and secure biological resources since the ratification of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in 1992 and the Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits (ABS) in 2010. Thus, after its establishment in 2007, the National Institute of Biological Resources (NIBR) of the Ministry of Environment of Korea initiated a project called the Korean Indigenous Species Investigation Project to investigate indigenous species on the Korean Peninsula. For 15 years since its beginning in 2006, this project has been carried out in five phases, Phase 1 from 2006-2008, Phase 2 from 2009-2011, Phase 3 from 2012-2014, Phase 4 from 2015-2017, and Phase 5 from 2018-2020. Before this project, in 2006, the number of indigenous species surveyed was 29,916. The figure was cumulatively aggregated at the end of each phase as 33,253 species for Phase 1 (2008), 38,011 species for Phase 2 (2011), 42,756 species for Phase 3 (2014), 49,027 species for Phase 4 (2017), and 54,428 species for Phase 5(2020). The number of indigenous species surveyed grew rapidly, showing an approximately 1.8-fold increase as the project progressed. These statistics showed an annual average of 2,320 newly recorded species during the project period. Among the recorded species, a total of 5,242 new species were reported in scientific publications, a great scientific achievement. During this project period, newly recorded species on the Korean Peninsula were identified using the recent taxonomic classifications as follows: 4,440 insect species (including 988 new species), 4,333 invertebrate species except for insects (including 1,492 new species), 98 vertebrate species (fish) (including nine new species), 309 plant species (including 176 vascular plant species, 133 bryophyte species, and 39 new species), 1,916 algae species (including 178 new species), 1,716 fungi and lichen species(including 309 new species), and 4,812 prokaryotic species (including 2,226 new species). The number of collected biological specimens in each phase was aggregated as follows: 247,226 for Phase 1 (2008), 207,827 for Phase 2 (2011), 287,133 for Phase 3 (2014), 244,920 for Phase 4(2017), and 144,333 for Phase 5(2020). A total of 1,131,439 specimens were obtained with an annual average of 75,429. More specifically, 281,054 insect specimens, 194,667 invertebrate specimens (except for insects), 40,100 fish specimens, 378,251 plant specimens, 140,490 algae specimens, 61,695 fungi specimens, and 35,182 prokaryotic specimens were collected. The cumulative number of researchers, which were nearly all professional taxonomists and graduate students majoring in taxonomy across the country, involved in this project was around 5,000, with an annual average of 395. The number of researchers/assistant researchers or mainly graduate students participating in Phase 1 was 597/268; 522/191 in Phase 2; 939/292 in Phase 3; 575/852 in Phase 4; and 601/1,097 in Phase 5. During this project period, 3,488 papers were published in major scientific journals. Of these, 2,320 papers were published in domestic journals and 1,168 papers were published in Science Citation Index(SCI) journals. During the project period, a total of 83.3 billion won (annual average of 5.5 billion won) or approximately US $75 million (annual average of US $5 million) was invested in investigating indigenous species and collecting specimens. This project was a large-scale research study led by the Korean government. It is considered to be a successful example of Korea's compressed development as it attracted almost all of the taxonomists in Korea and made remarkable achievements with a massive budget in a short time. The results from this project led to the National List of Species of Korea, where all species were organized by taxonomic classification. Information regarding the National List of Species of Korea is available to experts, students, and the general public (https://species.nibr.go.kr/index.do). The information, including descriptions, DNA sequences, habitats, distributions, ecological aspects, images, and multimedia, has been digitized, making contributions to scientific advancement in research fields such as phylogenetics and evolution. The species information also serves as a basis for projects aimed at species distribution and biological monitoring such as climate-sensitive biological indicator species. Moreover, the species information helps bio-industries search for useful biological resources. The most meaningful achievement of this project can be in providing support for nurturing young taxonomists like graduate students. This project has continued for the past 15 years and is still ongoing. Efforts to address issues, including species misidentification and invalid synonyms, still have to be made to enhance taxonomic research. Research needs to be conducted to investigate another 50,000 species out of the estimated 100,000 indigenous species on the Korean Peninsula.

• Animal Systematics, Evolution and Diversity
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.157-187
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• 1994

This study includes the taxonomy , and a key to species of aphids in the family Lachnidae from Korea. Specimens examined in this study were collected from 24 kinds of plants. Samplings were accomplished at 95 localities in Korea from March, 1987 to August, 1994. A list of Korean lachnids are as follows. *1. Chinara atlantica (Wilson, 1919), *.2. C. cembrae(Seitner, 1936), *3. C. formosana (Takahashi, 1924), *4. C. fresai Blanchard, 1939, *5. C. idahoensis Knowlton,1935, 6. c. juniperi (de Geer, 1773), 7.C.kochi Inouye,1939, *8. C. laridicola (Matsumura, 1917), *9. C. laricis (Hartig, 2839), *10. C.longipennis (Matasumura, 1917), 11. C. orientalis (Takahashi, 1925), *12. C. pinidensiflorae(Essig & Kuwana, 1918), *13. C. piniformosana(Takahashi, 1923), *14 C. shinjii Inouye, 1938, *15. c. tujafilina (Del Guercio, 1909), *16 . c. watanabei Inouye, 1970, *17. C. togyuensis Seo. 1994. *18. C. deodarae Seo. 1994, *19. Eulachnus agilis (Kaltenbach, 1843), *20. E. pumilae Inouye, 1939, *21. E. thunbergi (Wilson, 1919), *22. Schizolachnus orientalis (Takahashi, 1924) , 23. Lachnus, Chosoni Szelegiewicz, 1975, 24. L. japonicus (Matsumura, 1917) , *.25. L. tropicalis 9van der Goot, 1916), *.26. Maculolachnus sumbacula (Walker, 1848), *27. M. paiki Seo. 1994, *28 Nipppolachnus piri Matsumura, 1917, 29. Stomaphis asiphon Szelegiewica, 1975, *30. S. japonica Takahashi, 1960, *31. S. yanonis Takahashi , 1918 , *32. Tuberolachnus salignus *(Gmelin, 1790). Of them , 27 species preceded by an asterisk were observed in this study, and keys to these 27 Korean lachnids are provided . The relationship between Korean lachnids and their host plants, and geogrpahical distribution are discussed.

• Animal Systematics, Evolution and Diversity
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.341-355
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• 1998

Thirty one morphometric characters of specimens in 15 subspecies of striped field mouse(Apodemus agrarius Pallas) from Eurasia were analyzed to clarify taxonomic status of these subspecies. Five major subgroups in A. agrarius were revealed: I, a largest-size form, specimens from two southern from other six localities in Korea, subspecies coreae and pallescens; III, the other large-size from, specimens from Astrachan in western Russia, subspecies volgensis; IV, a medium-size form, specimens from 16 localities in eastern Asia(North Korea, China, and eastern Russia), subspecies coreae, manchuricus, pallidior, ningpoensis, and insulaemus; V, a small-size form, specimens from 16 localities in western Asia and Europe (Kazakhstan, Russia, Lithuania, and Ukraine), subspecies tianschanicus, ognevi, agrarius, septentrionalis, nikolski, caucasicus, and karelicus. From this morphometric analyses, the followings are concluded: subspecies chejuensis is a larger-size form, as noted by Johnson and Jones(1955): subspecies pallescens is the synonym of subspecies agrarius, as suggested by Koh(1986): subspecies coreae from Korea is a large-size form and is idistinct from other 12 subspecies in Eurasia: the eastern form of subspecies ningpoensis by Corbet(1978) is a medium-size form o subspecies manchuricus, pallidior, ningpoensis, and insulaemus from eastern Asia (China and eastern Russia), and it includea North Korea specimens: a small-size form from western Asia and Europe(subspecies tianschanicus, ognevi, agrarius, septentrionalis, nikolski, caucasicus, and karelicus) is the western form of subspecies agrarius by Corbet(1978); the other large-size form of subspecies volgensis from western Russia is a distinct subspecies, which differs from the western subspecies agrarius. Therefore, it is concluded that 15 subspecies of A. agrarius can be classifed into five subspecies (chejuensis, coreae, ningpoensis, agrarius, and volgensis), although it is necessary to measure and analyze morphometric characters of specimens of other seven subspecies(albostriatus, maculatus, rubens, kahmanni, henrici, gloveri, and harti) for the complete reclassification of this species).

• Korean Journal of Plant Resources
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.312-323
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• 1999

External morphology, principal component analysis, cluster analysis, and vegetation were investigated to understand the taxonomic relationships and native environmental characters of Megaleranthis saniculifolia populations in four different habitats. Morphological characters such as calyx length and width, calyx index, presence or absence of serrate in calyx lobe, length of peduncle, branch of peduncle and fruit characters were useful for the identification of four different habitats. But, characters of plant height, bract and seed in four habitats were similar. The results obtained based on the principal component(PC) analysis of treated 96 OTU were divided into two groups by PC 1, 2, 3, and the sums of contributions for the total variance were 66.79%(PC1 31.3%, PC2 20.7%, PC3 15.8%, respectively), and only Mt. Taeki population was distinctly different from populations of other three habitats. In cluster analysis based on average linkage cluster analysis and Ward's method, there were similarities in the composition of clustered taxa, and each populations were not identified. Importance value by relative coverage and frequency appeared in M. saniculifolia(50.81%), Aruncus dioicus(12.64%), Corydalus turtschanovii(11.62%), Veratrum oxysepalum(11.45%), Anemone koraiensis(8.96%), Meehania urticifolia(8.76%), Filipendula palmata(7.06%), Aconitum pseudo-laeve(5.66%), Pseudostellaria palibiniana(5.45%) and Smilacina japonica(5.25%), respectively. These species were considered to be highly similar with M. saniculifolia. The highest importance value in all investigated sites was M. saniculifolia, but specific composition of high level different from each habitat. Average diversity of species was 1.40, and the highest in Mt. Kwangdeok(1.31), lowest in Mt. Jumbong(1.17). Average soil pH was 5.25 and similar in each habitat. Although the lowest content of K ion, but the highest the EC, water capacity, organic compound, Ca content were found in soil of Mt. Sobaek. Soils in Mt. Kwangdeok had the lowest content of EC, organic compound, Ca. Soils of Mt. Jumbong showed the highest of Mg content, but the lowest of water capacity, $P_2O_5$, and K contents.

• Animal Systematics, Evolution and Diversity
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.39-64
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• 1995

A faunistic and ecological study on the occurrence of freshwater cladocerans and copepods was accomplished from Chindo, South Korea. Collections were made from total 35 stations, comprising the various freshwater habitats like reservoirs, streams, swamps, bogs, ricefields, ditch, pond, and spring during the periods of July 23-25, and November 1-3 in 1994. Twenty seven cladoceran species of 17 genera of 6 families in 2 orders, and 28 copepod species of 21 genera of 6 families in 3 orders were collected during this research period, of which Daphnia obtusa Kurz and Elaphoidella bidens (Schmeil) are newly recorded from Korea. In reservoirs, Diaphanosoma sp. and Thermocyclops taihokuensis were dominant in July, and then succeeded by Bosmina longirostris and Cyclops vicinus vicinus in November. Thermocyclops crassus co-occurred with 7: taihokuensis at both seasons, was frequent in November after T. taihokuensis precipitately decreased. In other stagnant waters, 7: taihokuensis and Moina weismanni were dominant at ponds in July and in November, respectively. At ricefields in July Moina macrocopa and T. taihokuensis were dominant, but in November M. macrocopa and Paracyclops fimbriatus were. At streams, cladocerans were relatively rare, but became more rich in November. The representative cladoceran species were Bosmina longirostris as a plankton, and Chydorus sphaericus as a epibenthic species. Concerning copepods, nearly all the stations of streams except a few ones adjacent to seashore showed the similiar species constitutions, of which E. serrulatus and M, pehpeiensis were most frequent and abundant. At a mountain streamlet and a spring, the occurrence of Alona sp., Attheyella byblis Chang and Kim, 1992 and A. tetraspinosa Chang, 1993 is quite interesting and deserved much attention in the taxonomical point of view. Seventeen major cladocerans and copepods from lentic habitats and 13 major cladocerans and copepods from lotic habitatats were clustered using average taxonomic distance and UPGMA to infer the co-occurrence relations among species. As for lentic habitats, two large phena were appeared at first. The one phenon consisted of Diaphanosoma sp. and T taihokuensis, and showed its predominancy over the various habitats and its dominancy was rapidly decreased in November. The other phenon frequently occurred rather in November, and subdivided into three subgroups. On the other hand, as for lotic habitats, 13 species were also grouped into 2 large phena. The first one comprised 4 species, which were dominant and highly frequent at nearly all the lotic habitats, and subdivided into three subgroups according to their seasonal fluctuation types. The second one was also subdivided into three phena, the first of which comprised only one species, Microcyclops varicans, and occurred at most of the stations along stream with steadiness through the research period; the second phenon, Chydorus sphaericus, occurred much frequently in November; the last phenon included a few heterogenous subgroups.