• The Korean Journal of Ecology
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• 제24권6호
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• pp.377-380
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• 2001

Herbivory is an important selective forces on plants by reducing the ability of the plant to compete with its neighbors and to produce offspring. Oak nut weevil(Mechoris ursulus Roelofs) females lay eggs in unmatured acorns and cut off the branch of oviposited acorns. To investigate the influences of branch-cutting behavior of oak nut weevils on oak production, we surveyed the horizontal and vertical distribution ranges of damaged oaks and depth of sites of overwintering larvae and quantified the amounts of biomass and acorn removed by the weevils on deciduous oak species. All of the endemic oak species in Korea were damaged by oak nut weevils in all of the study sites including Mt. Halla and Mt. Seorak. The upper limit of vertical distribution of damaged oaks by the weevils raried from 700 m to 900 m. Mostly their larvae were found in soil from 8.1 cm to 10.0 cm depth in winter. Percentage of annual net primary productivity($720g{\cdot}m^{-2}{\cdot}day^{-1}$) of oak species removed by the weevils was about 7%, which is higher than the percentage removed by all the herbivores in typical temperate forest(5%) and equivalent to that by all the herbivores in tropical forest. The predation percentage of annual acorn production by oak nut weevil was 27% in Q. mongolica and 33% in Q. acutissima. This results indicate that the branch-cutting behavior of oak nut weevil may be the most important factor regulating oak population and affecting other predators dependent on acorns.

• 환경생물
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• 제35권4호
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• pp.515-520
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• 2017

Sexual dimorphism of the mouthpart, antenna and mandible of the Cyllorhynchites ursulus in South Korea was studied with linear measurements. The mouthpart and antenna measurements were conducted with a stereoscopic microscope using 122 specimens (72 males and 50 females). Microscopic observation of the mandible were conducted with a Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscope (FE-SEM) using 103 specimens (73 males and 30 females). Results showed that the size difference between males and females was significant in the size of the mouthpart and antenna. On the other hand, we could not detect sexual size dimorphism in the microstructure of the mandible. The bivariate plots made by the result of Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Discriminant Analysis (DA) showed a size dimorphism in the size of the mouthpart and the antenna between males and females. Based on our study, sexual dimorphism in the mouthpart and antenna exists in C. ursulus from the South Korean population, and this difference seems to be related to the behavioral differences between males and females.

• 환경생물
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• 제37권3호
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• pp.343-350
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• 2019

도토리거위벌레는 큰턱을 이용하여 도토리에 구멍을 뚫고 가지를 자르는 독특한 행동을 한다. 이러한 행동을 이해하기 위해 다양한 현미경을 이용하여 구기의 해부학적 특징을 관찰하였다. 실체현미경을 이용한 연구에서는 도토리거위벌레 수컷의 평균 내전건과 외전건의 두께는 각각 32.87 ㎛, 53.83 ㎛이었고, 암컷의 평균 내전건과 외전건의 두께는 각각 40.81 ㎛, 75.55 ㎛이었다. 내전건과 외전건의 유의한 두께 차이로 인해 큰턱을 닫는 힘보다 벌리는 힘이 더 강하다는 것을 유추할 수 있다. 광학현미경을 이용한 관찰에서는 주둥이 안쪽에 위치한 내전건과 외전건의 너비 차이와 큰턱 쪽에서는 원형으로 위치하며 두부로 갈수록 납작해져 두부 외피 안쪽에 근육으로 연결된다는 것을 확인할 수 있었고, 내전건의 위치와 모양의 변화에 대한 관찰을 수행하였다. 전자현미경을 통한 연구에서는 외전건이 내전건보다 더 굵으며 이로 인해 큰턱을 안쪽으로 당기는 힘보다 바깥쪽으로 밀어내는 힘이 더 크다는 것을 확인하였다. 관찰 결과를 바탕으로, 도토리거위벌레, 밤바구미, 왕거위벌레의 큰턱의 형태와 이빨의 위치 그리고 큰턱의 움직임에 대해 비교 분석하였고, 도토리거위벌레가 보여주는 특징적인 행동은 해부학적/형태적 특징과 연관되어 있음을 확인할 수 있었다.