• Journal of Environmental Science International
• /
• v.27 no.6
• /
• pp.383-399
• /
• 2018

In the present study, the community distribution, functional feeding groups, and habitat groups of the benthic macroinvertebrates from Gayasan National Park were investigated at eight different sites from 2015 to 2016. The correlation between habitat altitude and each group type was analyzed statistically. Biodiversity indices, including dominance, diversity, richness, and evenness indices, were calculated. The results showed a total of 4,216 individual benthic macroinvertebrates were collected, including 4 phyla, 6 classes, 16 orders, 40 families, and 100 species. Gammarus sobaegensis was dominant with 0.141% dominance, and the subdominant species was Epeorus nipponicus with 0.088% dominance. The EPT group(Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera and Tricoptera) accounted for 71.00% of the total species and 67.69% of the total individuals. The number of scraper species was highest, and the number of gathering collector individuals was highest among functional feeding groups. The individual number of scrapers(r=-0.358, p < 0.05) and gathering collectors(r=-0.343, p < 0.05) decreased with increasing altitude. The numbers of species and individuals of clingers and sprawlers were highest among the habitat groups. The individual number of clingers(r=-0.547, p < 0.01) and burrowers(r=-0.331, p < 0.05) significantly decreased with increasing altitude. The diversity and richness indices were higher in St. 3 than in the other sites. The dominance index was highest in St. 2, and the evenness index was highest in St. 7. We evaluated the biological water quality with several known methods, and concluded that ESB(Ecological score of benthic macrovertebrates community) and GPI(Group polution index) were more suitable than KSI(Korean saprobic index) and BMI (Benthic macrovertebrate index) to assess the biological water quality of Gayasan mountain stream water.

• Plant Resources
• /
• v.4 no.3
• /
• pp.130-139
• /
• 2001

Four major naturally populated areas around the Jindong valley in Inje-Gun, Gangwon province for wild Pyrus ussuriensis, Malus sieboldii, and Malus baccata are mostly located on the southeast side of the mountains at 630-745m in altitude at sea level and are in very good sunny areas. The total of 77 taxa dividing into 32 families, 58 genera, 65 species, and 12 varieties has been inhabited in these areas. Most of these plants are heliophytes, which love sunshine, but some of rhizo-plants such as Sasa borealis, climbing plants such as Actinidia arguta and Celastrus orbiculatus, or naturalized plants like Bidens frondosa are also shown. These areas have been continually destroyed, so it is possibly thought that the second transition has been progressed. The index of species diversity of plant groups in these areas is 0.672∼1.465 based on the Shannon-Wiener's method, but its index for the area that rhizo-plants like Sasa borealis are growing as an under planting decreases relatively. In this study, the oldest plant of Pyrus ussuriensis in Korea, which is 120cm in diameter at breast height (DBH), 19m in tree height and 25m in width, has been found.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
• /
• v.35 no.6
• /
• pp.539-549
• /
• 2019

In 2016, Benthic Macroinvertebrates Streambed Index (BMSI) was proposed as an index to evaluate streams as benthic macroinvertebrate depending on the substrate type of streambed. However, orignal BMSI were selected without consideration of water quality. Analyzes without water quality do not constitute biological indices based solely on the substrate type of streambed. Therefore, in this study, the indicator value was improvement in consideration of water quality, and the distribution characteristics of benthic macroinvertebrates according to the substrate type of streambed were analyzed under relatively equal water quality conditions. We surveyed 20,155 sampling units in Korea from 2008 to 2018, and we re-estimated each lithophility of 191 taxa. As a result of estimating the streambed of each newly lithophilic value classification group considering the water quality, it was different from the original lithophilic value. Representative integer lithophilic values were newly calculated from 126 taxa among the 191 index taxa used in the analysis. The correlation between new constructed BMSI and community structure was compared and analyzed. It showed extreamely significance (p<0.001) in the dominance index, diversity index, abundance index, and evenness index of the community structure. Diversity index, abundance index, and evenness index showed positive correlation, and dominance index showed negative correlation. The correlation coefficient (r) was the highest in the richness index of about 0.664.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
• /
• v.42 no.3
• /
• pp.303-316
• /
• 2009

Benthic macroinvertebrate communities collected from eight different streams in South Korea were analyzed to compare community and biological indices across different levels of water pollution. The Self-Organizing Map (SOM) was utilized to provide overview on association of the proposed indices. The sample sites were accordingly clustered according to the gradient of pollution on the SOM. While the general trends of the indices were commonly observable according to different levels of pollution, the detailed differences among the indices were also illustrated on the SOM. The conventional diversity and evenness indices tended to be high even though the water quality state was poor representing relatively weak gradient at polluted sites, while the index presenting the saprobic degree such as family biotic index showed the stronger gradient at the polluted area and was robust to present the gradient. Our results also confirmed the general characterization of two indices: The Shannon index is more strengthened by the number of species occurring at the sample sites, while the Simpson index is more influenced by the degree of evenness among the species. The patterning based on the SOM was efficient in comparatively characterizing the proposed indices to present ecological states and water quality.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
• /
• v.40 no.4
• /
• pp.210-219
• /
• 2007

The benthic marine algal flora and community structure were examined at five sites of the Taean Peninsula, Korea, during July-August 2005. Ninety-six algal species were Identified, including 14 green, 21 brown, and 60 red algae, and 1 marine plant. The common species that occurred at the five sites were Sargassum thunbergii, Gelidium divaricatum, Caulacanthus okamurae, Gracilavia vermiculophylla, and Neorhodomela aculeata. Sthunbergii was the dominant species in terms of coverage and biomass at ail of the study sites. The average biomass varied from $23.72g/m^2$ in dry weight at Chaeseokpo to $66.43g/m^2$ at Padori. The species could be divided into six functional groups in terms of morphological characteristics: 41 coarsely branched forms, 25 filamentous forms, 16 sheet forms, 7 thick leathery forms, including the marine plant Phyllospadix iwatensis, 4 crustose forms, and 3 Jointed calcareous forms. The seaweed communities at the five study sites were unstable and the environmental conditions were bad or very bad. Among the five study sites, the ecological evaluation index (EEI) and diversity index (H') were maximal at Padori at 2.29 and 1.98, respectively. By contrast, the dominance index (DI) was minimal at Padori (0.55) and maximal at Baramarae (0.96). Therefore, we conclude that the rocky shore at Padori has the best environment among the five study sites, although the species richness and biomass of seaweeds have declined continuously over the last 10 years.

• Animal Systematics, Evolution and Diversity
• /
• v.27 no.2
• /
• pp.151-158
• /
• 2011

Fish community structure in the Pyeongchanggang River was investigated from April to November 2009. About 900 individuals representing 24 species from eight families at six sites in the Pyeongchanggang River were collected. It was similar to the 2001's survey and it was less than 2006's survey. The Korean endemic species, Zacco koreanus was the most abundant, whereas subdominant species were native species, such as Pungtungia herzi, Zacco platypus, Rhynchocypris kumgangensis and Rhynchocypris oxycephalus. Three endangered species were collected at the sampling area, Acheilognathus signifier (relative abundance [RA] 0.9%), Pseudopungtungia tenuicorpa (RA 1.4%), and Cottus koreanus (RA 3.6%). One natural monument species, Hemibarbus mylodon, was included. According to the analysis of ecological indicator characteristics, the relative proportion of tolerant species was 6.3% (57 individuals), whereas the proportion of sensitive species was 65.9% (593 individuals). Species evenness, richness and diversity indices decreased gradually through the month from April to November during the study. Community indices in Pyeongchanggang River showed a high evenness index (J'>0.6), a low level of species richness (R<3.5) and a medium level of diversity (1.5

• Proceedings of the National Institute of Ecology of the Republic of Korea
• /
• v.2 no.2
• /
• pp.120-128
• /
• 2021

The objective of this study was to analyze the genotype of black-spotted pond frog (Pelophylax nigromaculatus) using seven microsatellite loci to quantify its genetic diversity and population structure throughout the spatial scale of basins of Han, Geum, Yeongsan, and Nakdong Rivers in South Korea. Genetic diversities in these four areas were compared using diversity index and inbreeding coefficient obtained from the number and frequency of alleles as well as heterozygosity. Additionally, the population structure was confirmed with population differentiation, Nei's genetic distance, multivariate analysis, and Bayesian clustering analysis. Interestingly, a negative genetic diversity pattern was observed in the Han River basin, indicating possible recent habitat disturbances or population declines. In contrast, a positive genetic diversity pattern was found for the population in the Nakdong River basin that had remained the most stable. Results of population structure suggested that populations of black-spotted pond frogs distributed in these four river basins were genetically independent. In particular, the population of the Nakdong River basin had the greatest genetic distance, indicating that it might have originated from an independent population. These results support the use of genetics in addition to designations strictly based on geographic stream areas to define the spatial scale of populations for management and conservation practices.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
• /
• v.53 no.1
• /
• pp.31-45
• /
• 2020

The biological indices based on the community structure with species richness and/or abundance are commonly used to assess aquatic ecosystem health. Meanwhile, recently functional traits-based approach is considered in ecosystem health assessment to reflect ecosystem functioning. In this study, we developed a database of biological traits for 136 taxa consisting of major stream insects (Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera, Trichoptera, Coleoptera, and Odonata) collected at Korean streams on the nationwide scale. In addition, we obtained environmental variables in five categories (geography, climate, land use, hydrology and physicochemistry) measured at each sampling site. We evaluated the relationships between community indices based on taxonomic diversity and functional diversity estimated from biological traits. We classified sampling sites based on similarities of their environmental variables and evaluated relations between clusters of sampling sites and diversity indices and biological traits. Our results showed that functional diversity was highly correlated with Shannon diversity index and species richness. The six clusters of sampling sites defined by a hierarchical cluster analysis reflected differences of their environmental variables. Samples in cluster 1 were mostly from high altitude areas, whereas samples in cluster 6 were from lowland areas. Non-metric multidimensional scaling (NMDS) displayed similar patterns with cluster analysis and presented variation of taxonomic diversity and functional diversity. Based on NMDS and community-weighted mean trait value matrix, species in clusters 1-3 displayed the resistance strategy in the life history strategy to the environmental variables whereas species in clusters 4-6 presented the resilience strategy. These results suggest that functional diversity can complement the biological monitoring assessment based on taxonomic diversity and can be used as biological monitoring assessment tool reflecting changes of ecosystem functioning responding to environmental changes.

• ALGAE
• /
• v.22 no.3
• /
• pp.209-219
• /
• 2007

Marine algal flora and community structure of medicinal seaweeds were examined at Kkotji of Taean Peninsula, Korea from May 2005 to January 2006. Seventy-nine seaweeds including 42 medicinal algae and one marine plant were identified. Sargassum thunbergii was the representative alga occurred at all seasons and shore levels. The dominant medicinal seaweeds were perennial S. thunbergii, Neorhodomela aculeata, and Corallina pilulifera, and ephemeral Monostroma grevillei, Porphyra yezoensis, and Ulva pertusa. Their vertical distribution were N. aculeata – P. yezoensis, M. grevillei, and U. pertusa – C. pilulifera from high to low intertidal zone. The average biomass of medicinal seaweeds varied from 34.17 g m–2 in spring to 56.41 g m–2 in summer. At Kkotji shore, the opportunistic species (Enteromorpha, Ulva, and Cladophora) and turf-forming algae (Caulacanthus okamurae and Gelidium divaricatum) were easily observed. Such fast growing ESG II (ecological state group) was 87.50% and slow growing perennial algae, ESG I was only 12.15%. Also, diversity index (H’) and dominance index (DI) indicate that the seaweed community of Kkotji is unstable. Therefore, Kkotji rocky shore should be more protected from human activities such as turbulence and eutrophication in order to maintain species diversity and abundance of medicinal seaweeds.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
• /
• v.22 no.12
• /
• pp.1551-1559
• /
• 2013

This study was conducted to compare benthic macroinvertebrate communities of urban stream and nature stream in Daegu-si, Gyeongju-si, Gyeongsan-si, Andong-si, and Cheongsong-gun. The survey was carried out with 12 points in total six points for urban stream, six points for nature stream from Sept. 2011 to July 2012. In the urban stream were 33 species belonged to 24 families, 11 orders, 7 classes and 4 phyla while in the nature stream were 73 species belonged to 38 families, 12 orders, 5 classes and 4 phyla. In general, species diversity indices and species richness indices appeared low in urban stream but dominance indices was high. Functional feeding groups and Habitat Oriented Groups appeared comparatively simple in urban stream rather than nature stream. As a result of analysis of community stability, species included to area I and area III equally appeared in nature stream while species included to area I mostly appeared in urban stream. An analysis of the correlation between the population density and the number of species, the population number and biological indicators such as DI, H', RI, and ESB revealed that there was a significant correlativity with the diversity index and a very high correlativity with the number of species, abundance index and the ESB. On the other hand, the population number and the dominance index did not reveal any correlativity. For indicator species, Hydroptila KUa, Physa acuta appeared in urban stream while Paraleptophlebia chocolata, Epeorus pellucidus appeared in nature stream.