• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.42 no.6
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• pp.657-663
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• 2009

This paper reports the strandings of sea turtles on Korean shores monitored for the first time in 2008. A total of 19 sea turtles, consisting of 12 greens and 7 loggerheads, were recorded as stranded from the east coast to the south including Jeju Island. Reported strandings reached a peak in July and dominant area was Jeju Island. The curved carapace length of loggerhead sea turtles ranged 65-84.2cm and that of green sea turtles ranged 39.2-90cm, indicating most of them were immature to sub-adult. Out of 19 turtles, 11 were found dead with unknown reasons. Possible causes of death may include drawning by fishing gear, swallowing of marine debris, boat collision, and diseases. An immature green sea turtle tagged with a satellite transmitter spent winter near Jeju Island where it was released, suggesting that the Island provide immature greens a feeding ground. Considering thousands of sea turtles crawl on Japanese shores for nesting every year, the number of sea turtles reported in Korean waters was relatively small. Therefore, it is suggested that an appropriate monitoring system be necessary to protect and conserve endangered sea turtle species in Korean waters.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.52 no.4
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• pp.348-357
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• 2019

To investigate the changes of dominant species of benthic macroinvertebrates following summer precipitation variance, we surveyed twenty five sites of the main Seomjin River in May and September in 2014 and 2015. The temperature, precipitation, water quality factors and substrate composition, water depth and flow velocity, which are important factors in benthos habitat environment, were collected and measured. There is not much difference of the cumulative precipitation (CP) between 2014 (2,322.1 mm) and 2015 (2,371.0 mm) in May. However CP in september was decreased by more than half in 2015 (3,726.1 mm) than 2014 (7,678.2 mm). Due to washing effect by summer precipitation, total number of species and individuals for benthic macroinvertebrates were higher in May than in September. Chironomidae spp. and Choroterpes altioculus were dominated in May, Ecdyonurus levis, Ecdyonurus kibunensis were dominated in September. As a result of correlation analysis between community indices and environment factors, it was found that there is a significant correlation with flow velocity and substrate compositions. According to the results of cluster analysis and PCA based on environment fators and dominant species of benthic macroinvertebrates in Seomjin River, it was divided into four groups following CP and MT. Ecdyonurus levis and Ecdyonurus kibunensis reflect the effect of the decrease in summer precipitation.

• Korean Journal of Ichthyology
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.217-225
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• 2021

The family Platycephalidae is a taxonomic group of economically important demersal flathead fishes that predominantly occupy tropical or temperate estuaries and coastal environments of the Indo-Pacific oceans and the Mediterranean Sea. In this study, we for the first time analyzed the complete mitochondrial genome (mitogenome) of the flathead Platycephalus cultellatus Richardson, 1846 from Vietnam by Next Generation Sequencing method. Its mitogenome was 16,641 bp in total length, comprising 13 protein-coding genes (PCGs), two ribosomal RNA genes, and 22 transfer RNA genes. The gene composition and order of the mitogenome were identical to those of typical vertebrates. The phylogenetic trees were reconstructed based on the concatenated nucleotide sequence matrix of 13 PCGs and the partial sequence of a DNA barcoding marker, cox1 in order to determine its molecular phylogenetic position among the order Scorpaeniformes. The phylogenetic result revealed that P. cultellatus formed a monophyletic group with species belonging to the same family and consistently clustered with one nominal species, P. indicus, and two Platycephalus sp. specimens. Besides, the cox1 tree confirmed the taxonomic validity of our specimen by forming a monophyletic clade with its conspecific specimens. The mitogenome of P. cultellatus analyzed in this study will contribute valuable information for further study on taxonomy and phylogeny of flatheads.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.369-374
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• 2009

The stumpy bullhead (Pseudobagrus brevicorpus) endemic to Korea is one of critically endangered freshwater fish species. To provide baseline data for its captive breeding and reintroduction we investigated basal characteristics on its growth and sexual maturation in an artificial rearing environment. After 698-day rearing the stumpy bullhead grew up to $89.22{\pm}10.29\;mm$ in total length (TL) and $70.93{\pm}7.68\;g$ in total body weight (BW)($BW=5\times10^{-5}\;TL^{2.678}$; $R^2=0.995$), and showed survival rate of 74.2%. The sex ratio was 1 (471 females) : 1 (473 males), and males ($TL=87.44{\pm}1.07mm$; $BW=8.43{\pm}0.31\;g$) showed significantly faster growth than females ($TL=78.38{\pm}0.92mm$; $BW=6.38{\pm}0.20\;g$) after 663-day rearing. However, condition factor of females was significantly higher than that of males (P<0.05). The number of eggs per female ranged from 508 to 867 (average 734), and their diameters ranged from 0.04 to 1.65 mm. The females which reared about two years in the laboratory condition was able to spawn in the early June after 1~2 days of human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG) injection. The number of hatched fries ranged from 113 to 338 (average 216).

• Journal of Species Research
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• v.12 no.spc
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• pp.1-69
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• 2023

This study aims to establish a comprehensive, synthetic inventory system for the fauna and flora of Dokdo Island, Republic of Korea, which has been conducted by a specialized research group consisting of more than 50 experts. The research was conducted over five years(2015-2019) and supported by the National Institute of Biological Resources, Ministry of Environment, Republic of Korea. All possible publications on the fauna and flora of Dokdo Island over the last 68 years from 1952 to 2020 were reviewed. As a result, 1,302 species were found on Dokdo Island during the study period. An updated list of 1,963 species was created. This is expected to be of great help for the conservation and national publicity of important indigenous biological resources of Dokdo Island.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Marine Environment & Safety
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.177-186
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• 2017

This paper attempts to quantitatively assess the public value that has been assigned to this government plan by employing a contingent valuation technique. Data gathering performed that professional research firm administrated a face-to-face national survey of 1,000 randomly-selected households. A one-and-one-half-bound model was adopted to elicit willingness to pay (WTP) responses, and the payment vehicle used was income tax. The WTP model used in this study is based on a utility difference approach and the spike model. The results showed that the public value of conserving green turtles was estimated to be 2,570 Korean Won per household over the next 10 years as of 2016, statistically significant at the 1% level. Expanding the values considered to include the national population gives a public value of 48.7 billion Korean Won. Thus, the public value of rescuing, rehabilitating, and releasing green turtles that have been caught by fishermen, collided with fishing boats, and died in nets through the government program is not small.

• Korean Journal of Ichthyology
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.10-20
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• 2011

Genetic determinant for metallothionein (MT), a cysteine-rich protein playing essential roles in metal detoxification and homeostasis, was characterized in the Korean bitterling (Acheilognathus signifer, Cyprinidae), an endemic fish species. The full-length A. signifer MT (AsMT) cDNA (551 bp) is composed of a single open-reading frame (ORF) to encode a polypeptide of 60 amino acids containing 20 cysteine residues whose positions are conserved in most cypriniform MTs. At the genomic level, the AsMT (2,593 bp spanning the 5'-flanking region to the 3'-untranslated region) represented a conserved tripartite (three exons interrupted by two introns) structure with AT-rich introns. The upstream regulatory region (-1,914 bp from the ATG initiation codon) of AsMT displayed various sites and motifs for transcription factors involved in the metal-mediated regulation and stress/immune responses. The AsMT transcript was ubiquitously detected in various organs with variable expression levels, where the ovary and intestine showed the highest expression, while the heart and skeletal muscle represented the lowest level. During an exposure to copper (immersion in $0.5\;{\mu}M$ Cu for 48 h), the levels of AsMT transcripts were significantly elevated in the liver (more than 3.5-fold), moderately in the gill, kidney, and spleen (ranging from 1.5- to 2.5-fold), and barely in the brain and intestine. Results of this study could form a useful basis to explore the metal-related stress physiology of this endangered fish species.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Environmental Restoration Technology
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• v.10 no.6
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• pp.70-80
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• 2007

This study was surveyed from January to september, 2007 in order to evaluate the function of coastal wetland as a ecological axis in korea peninsula. Assessment was done by RAM (Rapid Assessment Method). RAM is consisted of total 8 contents and divided into high, moderate, low. The preservation grade of RAM is divided into 4 grades; absolute preservation, preservation, improvement and improvement or restoration. Throughout survey on total 14 wetlands of marine, estuary wetland and back marsh which are distributed in west coast in chung-nam province, their function was assessed. As result, total all the 14 wetlands were judged as preservation grade by assessment of 8 functional contents. The function of wetlands assessed as preservation grade showed high in water quality protection and improvement. Also, showed high in vegetation diversity, wildlife habitat and aesthetic recreation. Meanwhile, showed low in ground water recharge, Shoreline/Stream Bank Protection, Flood/Stormwater storage and Flood flow alteration. Of wetlands evaluated as preservation grade, Dae-ho, Sinduri, Bu-Nam lake, Sowhang dune and keum river estuary were assessed as absolute preservative area owing to habitation of international protection species and endangered species. These wetlands are essential to be managed continuously as a area having high ecological value. Farther, this wetlands will be done as a axis of ecological network related to land ecosystem.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.32 no.6
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• pp.582-590
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• 2018

Although there are many studies of the effect of climate change on the breeding phenology and community diversity of amphibians, the studies of variations in reproductive population size of individual species according to climate change are still lacking. We examined the effect of climate change on the reproductive population size of Rana huanrenensis and Hynobius leechii, which bred in mountain valleys, by surveying the reproductive population of the two species between 2005 and 2012 and analyzing the correlation between the variation of the outdoor population and the surrounding climate change factors, obtained from a meteorological observatory located at 5.6 km from the study site. The size of the reproductive population of the two species commonly fluctuated with aan pproximately 3.5-year cycle. That of H. leechii, in particular, decreased significantly over eight years. The air temperature tended to more closely relate with the reproductive population size of R. huanrenensis as was the case of the precipitation with that of H. leechii. The yearly mean highest temperature and spring mean temperature variation consistently decreased over the eight years, and the latter was related with the significantly decreased size of H. leechii reproductive population. These results showed that recent climate change directly could affect the reproductive population size of amphibians, particularly H. leechii, which breeds in mountain valleys.