• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.37-43
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• 2008

We analyzed soil characteristics, soil seed banks, and plant communities in a small islet in Ganwol Lake from May 2005 to August 2006 to examine the forces driving plant settlement on sand bars and the effects of plant settlement patterns on nesting sites of little terns (Sterna albifrons). The soil nutrients contents in a site where the feces of wintering birds accumulate (N: 15.4 mg/kg, P: 10.5 mg/kg, LOI: 0.51 %, pH: 6.8) and a site where organic sediments accumulate (N: 20.7 mg/kg, P: 16.4 mg/kg, LOI: 0.40%, pH: 6.6) were much higher those of a control site which was not affected by bird feces and organic sediments (N: 4.1 mg/kg, P: 5.4 mg/kg, LOI: 0.41%, pH: 6.7). However, a seed bank was formed only on the site with accumulated organic sediments. Plant settlement was accelerated by feces from wintering birds and organic sediment accumulation on sand bars in Ganwol Lake. The percentage of area disturbed by human activities increased from 0.2% in May 2005 to 13.9% in August 2006, and the percentage of annual communities increased from 27.5% to 43.3%, but the percentage of open area decreased from 55.2% to 28.0% from May 2005 to August 2006. These increases in disturbed area and annual communities decreased the open area for breeding of little terns. The enlargement of P. communis and T. angustata communities was suppressed by irregular flooding. These results provide useful information for the management of little tern breeding sites for conservation purposes.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Environmental Restoration Technology
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.97-110
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• 2020

This study conducted observations at 72 traffic lights and road signs in Sejong-si, Korea from March to June 2019 in order to analyze nest-site, nest-site characteristics and feeding behavior in Tree sparrow (Passeer montanus) in urban. Feeding behavior during breeding season in 2019 was investigated at 10 Town representing traffic facilities installed on the road located in the center of the city and 10 Riverside Geumgang river's riverside road. We fitted both general linear model and regression model to our field data and estimated the spatial variation of initial date of the first feeding (i.e., being date of breeding) and the total number of caterpillar fed by parents per hour. Our results showed that the frequency of nest building on artificial structures, such as traffic lights, was about 26% higher and about 8 days earlier in the riverside. In particular, the first feeding was significantly faster when the nearest distance between nest to green field as foraging site was shorter whereas there was no significant effect of the number of nest within 50 meters on the first feeding. Number of caterpillars fed by parents was higher in the Riverside than in the Urban, and especially the number in the second brood was sharply decreased in the Urban. As we estimated average amount of caterpillars per hour to 446 traffic safety facilities in Sejong-si, it was estimated that Tree sparrows fed 18,742.8 caterpillars per hour during the breeding season. In this study, we showed that characteristics of nests built in artificial structures and feeding behavior in order to analyze effects of environmental condition in urban on life-history traits during the breeding season. Finally, we discussed the conservation of birds in urban and pest control effects.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.18 no.7
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• pp.942-948
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• 2005

New polymorphism of major histocompatibility complex B-G genes was investigated by amplification and digestion of a 401bp fragment including intron 1 and exon 2 using polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) technique with two restriction enzymes of Msp I and Tas I in eight breeds of Chinese indigenous chickens and one exotic breed. In the fragment region of the gene, three novel single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were detected at the two restriction sites. We found the transition of two nucleotides of A294G and T295C occurred at Tas I restriction site, and consequently led to a non-synonymous substitution of asparagine into serine at position 54 within the deduced amino acid sequence of immunoglobulin variable-region-like domain encoded by the exon 2 of B-G gene. It was observed at rare frequency that a single mutation of A294G occurring at the site, also caused an identical substitution of amino acid, asparagine 54-to-serine, to that we described previously. And the transversion of G319C at Msp I site led to a non-synonymous substitution, glutamine 62-to-histidine. The new alleles and allele frequencies identified by the PCR-RFLP method with the two enzymes were characterized, of which the allele A and B frequencies at Msp I and Tas I loci were given disequilibrium distribution either in the eight Chinese local breeds or in the exotic breed. By comparison, allele A at Msp I locus tended to be dominant, while, the allele B at Tas I locus tended to be dominant in all of the breeds analyzed. In Tibetan chickens, the preliminary association analysis revealed that no significant difference was observed between the different genotypes identified at the Msp I and Tas I loci and the laying performance traits, respectively.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.341-346
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• 2007

Nest density was determined and tree and soil characteristics around Nycticorax nycticorax breeding sites and non-breeding sites on Bamsum Island in Seoul were analyzed from May 2005 to October 2006 to identify breeding site preferences of N. nycticorax and the effects of N. nycticorax nesting density on nesting tree structure and soil characteristics. N. nycticorax preferred trees of low height ($3.5{\sim}6$ m) and small diameter at breast height in high density Salix communities. Excrement of heron juveniles was dropped on the soil under the nests. The soil nutrient content under nests (P: 126.0 mg/kg, N: 202.8 mg/kg, EC: 549 ${\mu}S/cm$, pH 4.7) was much higher than that of control soils from Bamsum Island not enriched by heron excrement (P: 41.5 mg/kg, N: 42.0 mg/kg, EC: 342 ${\mu}S/cm$, pH 5.1). Formation of Salix communities on the shores of Bamsum Island is ongoing, and their structure has been directly influenced by annual flooding. After flooding, the nutrient content differences between heron-affected soils and control soils were not significant. This might be the reason that Salix communities on Bamsum were not affected by nesting herons as in other terrestrial communities where herons nest. This result indicates that flooding plays an important role in sustaining Salix communities on Bamsum Island where herons nest. The results of this study may increase understanding of N. nycticorax breeding behavior which may be useful for conservation planning.

• Journal of Forest and Environmental Science
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.57-60
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• 2018

Great cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo) have been growing on a large scale since they settled on Jokja Island in Lake Paldang in 2010. In 2017, 827 breeding nests were found in Jokja Island and the breeding success rate was $2.60{\pm}0.23$ per nest. Nestling tree did not show any specificity for the species and was severely damaged. As the nesting materials for cormorants, branches and leaves, which were easy to come by around the island, were used. Most of their prey were fish in Lake Paldang. The population the great cormorants showed high breeding success rate, indicating that Jokja Island was a good site for breeding. Thus, it shows that continuous research for them needs to be done.

• KOREAN JOURNAL OF CROP SCIENCE
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• v.43 no.4
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• pp.250-253
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• 1998

Somaclonal variation was observed in the field on doubled haploid plants derived from single pollen of a rice cultivar "Hwaseongbyeo". The variations of seven quantitative traits including plant height and one qualitative trait (pubescence) in 436 lines ($R_2$ generation) were analyzed. The number of lines which fell beyond the boundaries of the 95% confidence intervals of the check variety, Hwaseongbyeo was checked for each quantitative trait, and of those fertility showed the highest variation frequency (85.6%), followed by plant height (77.5%), flag leaf length (66.5%), grains per panicle (42.2%), days to heading (34.5%), panicle length (30.7%) and panicles per hill (22.7%). And the variations of quantitative traits except days to flowering appeared to move in the negative direction compared to "Hwaseongbyeo". Variability within lines was also observed for quantitative and qualitative traits. Twenty-nine $R_2$ lines (7%) segregated for pubescence and 130 $R_2$ lines (30%) showed variation with regard to fertility. This suggests that mutations usually occur before diploidization. Twenty-nine $R_2$ lines representing a wide spectrum of variation were chosen for RAPD analysis. The number of lines showing DNA polymorphism compared to Hwaseongbyeo ranged 0 from to 10 according to the primer used and this seems to indicate that specific loci have highly mutable genomic site.utable genomic site.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.52 no.4
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• pp.378-384
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• 2019

Red-eared slider, Trachemys scripta elegans, is one of the most famous species to disturb native ecosystems in the world. In South Korea, the species was imported as pet, and now it is found whole of the country. Recent, natural breeding and spreading of the turtle has been reported. In this paper, we investigated the environmental factors to affect the reproduction of T. s. elegans. We surveyed the distribution of the turtle in Jeju island, South Korea, between 2012 to 2017. We compared the land covers and climate of habitats from breeding sites and non-breeding sites. The species was found from 38 sites in Jeju island; 21 of breeding sites and 17 of non-breeding sites. The number of total and only adult turtles was significantly higher in breeding sites than non-breeding sites (P<0.05). In breeding site, the reproduction rate from the farmland was significantly higher than others(P<0.05). However, the rate of land covers was not significant in non-breeding site (P>0.05). The difference on the climate between breeding and non-breeding was not significant(P>0.05). Moreover, none of climate factors affected to reproduction of T. s. elegans(P>0.05). Our study showed that the land covers surrounding the habitats are more important than climate for reproduction of T. s. elegans in Jeju island. This result indicates investigating the habitat and surrounding is necessary for the control of reproduction and spreading of the introduced species.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.27 no.10
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• pp.1783-1789
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• 2017

Thermostability is an important property of xylanase because high temperature is required for its applications, such as wood pulp bleaching, baking, and animal feedstuff processing. In this study, XynB from Thermobacillus composti, a moderately thermophilic gram-negative bacterium, was modified via site-directed mutagenesis (based on its 3D structure) to obtain thermostable xylanase, and the properties of this enzyme were analyzed. Results revealed that the half-life of xylanase at $65^{\circ}C$ increased from 10 to 50 min after a disulfide bridge was introduced between the ${\alpha}$-helix and its adjacent ${\beta}$-sheet at S98 and N145. Further mutation at the side of A153E named XynB-CE in the C-terminal of this ${\alpha}$-helix enhanced the half-life of xylanase for 60 min at $65^{\circ}C$. Therefore, the mutant may be utilized for industrial applications.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.153-159
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• 2006

A 2,656 bp fragment of chicken ghrelin gene was cloned and SNPs were detected by PCR-RFLP and Allele Specific PCR (ASP) in 12 Chinese indigenous chicken breeds and a commercial chicken population. The results showed that there were 23 base variations and an amino acid change ($Gln{\rightarrow}Arg$) in cloned chicken ghrelin gene. Three SNPs were confirmed in 13 populations and associations between this gene and growth traits of Tibetan chicken (TC) and Recessive White chicken (RW) were investigated. The results of haplotype analysis revealed that 26 haplotype genotypes were composed of eight haplotypes. The results of $x^2$ tests indicated that there were significant differences between genotypes or haplotype genotype frequencies in some of the breeds or sexes at 0.05 or 0.01 levels. The results of ANOVA revealed that there were significant differences between genotypes or haplotype genotypes on some growth traits of TC and RW chicken breeds at 0.05 or 0.01 levels. Multiple comparisons showed that there were significant associations between genotype CT at site 71 and some growth traits of two chicken breeds and between genotype AG at site 1,215 and body weight at 16 wk of two chicken breeds, and there was a significant association between haplotype genotype CAA/CAG and body weight and shank girth at 16 wk of two chicken breeds.

• The Korean Journal of Ecology
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.253-261
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• 1996

This study was conducted to clarify the relationship between bird community and forest structure from early May to mid June, 1988 in two sites which had different forest structures due to silvicultural practice, located in the Tomakomai Experimental Forest of Hokkaido University, Hokkaido, Japan. Quantitative ahbitat analysis was applied to elucidate difference between the two study sites, and territory mapping method and guild analysis were used for assessment of the bird community. Dominant tree species were Quercus mongolica, Magnolia obovata, Prunus sargentii, Acer mono and Tilia japonica. Unithinned site had more foliage coverage in upper and middle layers, but in lower layer had less coverage than thinned site. Thirty four species of birds were recorded and of them only 21 species occupied territories within the study area. Dominant species were Ficedula narcissina, Phylloscopus occipitalis, Parus major, Passer rutilans, Sitta europaea and Parus palustris in the study area. The unmber of breeding species of the two sites were equal, but the species composition of breeding bird communities was different between the sites. The number of species and pairs on hole-nesting guild were greater in the unthinned site, but those on ground-nesting guild were greater in the thinned site. Canopy-nesting guild showed no significant difference between the two sites. Silvicultural practice such as proper thinning appeared to be not inadequate to all of the forest birds, probably good to bush and ground nesting guild, and to tree & bush and ground foraging guild. The silvicultural practice also did not considerably affect the hole and canopy-nesting guild.