• Proceedings of the National Institute of Ecology of the Republic of Korea
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.32-41
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• 2021

South Korea presently harbors less than 800 long-tailed gorals (Naemorhedus caudatus), an endangered species. I report for the first time on the taxonomic status and genetic diversity of the Korean species using non-invasive fecal sampling based on mitochondrial cytochrome b gene sequence analyses. To determine the taxonomic status of this species, I reconstructed a consensus neighbor-joining tree and generated a minimum spanning network combining haplotype sequences obtained from feces with a new goral-specific primer set developed using known sequences of the Korean goral and related species (e.g., Russian goral, Chinese goral, Himalayan goral, Japanese serow, etc.). I also examined the genetic diversity of this species. The Korean goral showed only three different haplotypes. The phylogenetic tree and parsimony haplotype network revealed a single cluster of Korean and Russian gorals, separate from related species. Generally, the Korean goral has a relatively low genetic diversity compared with that of other ungulate species (e.g., moose and red deer). I preliminarily showcased the application of non-invasive fecal sampling to the study of genetic characteristics, including the taxonomic status and genetic diversity of gorals, based on mitochondrial DNA. More phylogenetic studies are necessary to ensure the conservation of goral populations throughout South Korea.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.42 no.1
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• pp.1-10
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• 2014

Most microorganisms have been used for foods for such a long period of time with no question posed for their safety. However, the progress of food processing technology has activated international food trades, and the consumers and authorities of import countries have come to question the safety of microorganisms used in foods. At present, the most widely known safety standards are Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS) status from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Qualified Presumption of Safety (QPS) status by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA). GRAS status is not for the safety of microorganisms themselves but for the permissibility of strains or cultures in specific food uses. QPS provides a qualified generic approval to a defined taxonomic unit. The increase of commercialized traditional fermented foods in Korea has spurred the starter development for traditional food fermentations. However, starter development in Korea has been carried out based on the technological properties of microorganisms with no research on developing a standardized tool for safety assessment. In the globalization of traditional Korean fermented foods, technological properties as well as safety of future starters should be guaranteed, and establishment of the safety assessment regulation for microorganisms used for foods is necessary.

• The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.263-276
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• 2021

Marine benthic organisms have been used as the indicators for the environment assessment and recently considered as a very important component in the biodiversity and ecosystem restoration. In Korean waters, the quantitative data on marine benthos was used as one of major components for the marine pollution assessment for 50 years since 1970s. The species identification which is an important factor for the quantitative biological data was mainly performed by the marine benthic ecologists. This leads to the deterioration of the data quality on marine benthos from the misidentication of major taxonomic groups due to the lack of taxonomic expertise in Korea. This taxonomic problem has not been solved until now and remains in most data from national research projects on the marine ecosystems in Korean waters. Here we introduce the quality assurance and control (QA/QC) system for the marine biological data in UK, that is, NMBAQC (Northeast Atlantic Marine Biological Analytic and Quality Control) Scheme which has been performed by private companies to solve similar species identification problems in UK. This scheme asks for all marine laboratories which want to participate to any national monitoring programs in UK to keep their identification potency at high level by the internal quality assurance systems and provides a series of taxonomic workshops and literature to increase their capability. They also performs the external quality control for the marine laboratories by performing the Ring Test using standard specimens on various faunal groups. In the case of Korea, there are few taxonomic expertise in two existing national institutions and so they can't solve the taxonomic problems in marine benthic fauna data. We would like to provide a few necessary suggestions to solve the taxonomic problems in Korean marine biological data in short-terms and long-terms: (1) the identification of all dominant species in marine biological data should be confirmed by taxonomic expertise, (2) all the national research programs should include taxonomic experts, and (3) establishing a private company, like the Korea marine organism identification association (KMOIA), which can perform the QA/QC system on the marine organisms and support all Korean marine laboratories by providing taxonomic literature and species identification workshops to enhance their potency. The last suggestion needs more efforts and time for the establishment of that taxonomic company by gathering the detailed contents and related opinions from diverse stakeholders in Korea.

• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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• v.47 no.4
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• pp.289-297
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• 2020

The genetic diversity of two subpopulations of Corynandra chelidonii, one of terrestrial and the other of aquatic environments, was measured with molecular markers, such as start codon targeted (SCoT), inter simple sequence repeats (ISSR), and random amplification of polymorphic DNA (RAPD). The traditional morphological traits such as habitat, habit, leaf morphology, the colour of the sepals and petals, number of stamens, and seed morphology formed the base for their realization as two varieties, C. chelidonii var. pallae and C. chelidonii var. chelidonii. The polymorphism between the two variants was 100% with the primers SCoT-2 and OPA-1 and 4, while maximum polymorphism was detected with ISSR-2, SCoT-3, and OPA-3. The study used, for the first time, more than one molecular marker to assess the genetic variation underscoring the morphological variation in Corynandra chelidonii (L.f.) Cochrane & Iltis. The study justifies the recognition of the two subpopulations of Corynandra chelidonii from aquatic and terrestrial environments as two distinct varieties, C. chelidonii var. pallae (Reddy & Raju) V.S.Raju and C. chelidonii var. chelidonii, respectively, based on the traditional taxonomic evidence.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.153-164
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• 1997

This study was conducted to develop the new Environmental Impact Assessment techniques for the grading of rareness in plant. 17 EISs which were submitted in 1996 were analyzed to know the problems in existent EIA techniques for the conservation of rare plants. Category of rare plant was reevaluated and evaluation technique for the grading of rareness in plant was developed. The results obtained from this study were as follows: 1. The evaluation technique of rareness in plant was not reflected in the current preparation provision for EIS. And t his fact also appeared in most of the EIS which were reexamined in this study. 2. The category of rare species which have been considered as the subject of protection in EIA have to be enlarged to more than legally protected species designated by MOE. 3. The taxonomic characteristics and status of species, characteristics of population, geographical characters, extent of threat and its possibility by man resulted from the habitat loss were investigated. Each item was endowed scores from 1 to 5 and all the scores were summed, and then this value was used to evaluate the order of conservation. 4. Conservation measures for the rare plants have to be applied according to the levels of rareness grade, and they are absolute conservation, in situ conservation, transplanting and ex situ conservation, post observation and none by the levels from A to E. 5. Considering the phenology of rare plants, investigation for the rare plants have to be made a1 least three times. 6. Size of the MVP(Minimum Viable Population), pollination ecology also have to be considered for the conservation of rare plants. And in the case of adopting ex situ conservation measure, the site and methods for the conservation of rare plants have to be proposed in detail.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.39-47
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• 2016

Recently, it has been reported that morphologically and genetically different two Siberian roe deer (Capreolus pygargus, Pallas, 1771), in Mainland and in Jeju island. Until now, this roe deer has not been clearly taxonomy of Siberian roe deer in Korean peninsula. So, the aim of this study was to compare the skull morphometrics of mainland and Jeju roe deer to obtain more information on the species status of C. pygargus and study the distribution of roe deer subspecies in this region. A total of 50 skulls of adult roe deer was compared and analyzed. The maximum skull length, condylo-basal length, basilar length, maximum skull width, cheek-bone width, interorbital width, rostrum length, length of upper tooth row from the Siberian roe deer in Jeju island were significantly smaller than those of the deer in mainland. Length of the skull was the principal factor of interpopulational variability in roe deer. Variation was not distributed along latitude, longitude, or elevation, but those factors did influence the variation through effects on primary production, which in turn caused isolated differences in skull morphology apparently related to types of forage selected by roe deer in various geographic areas. According to the analysis results of the skull characters, Mainland roe deer was more similar to C. p. tianschanicus which is a subspecies of Siberian roe deer. In addition, Jeju roe deer showed distinct differences compared to European roe deer, 3 subspecies of Siberian roe deer, so it appeared that they could be a unique native species inhabited only in Jeju Island. Because Siberian roe deer in Jeju Island can be classified at subspecies level in this study.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.35 no.2
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• pp.152-164
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• 2019

In this study, a Benthic Macroinvertebrates Family Index (BMFI) was developed using 100 indicator groups (99 families including Chironomidae with 2 phena). Families were assigned a score between 1 and 10 depending on their sensitivity to organic pollution. The BMFI was composed of the sensitivity and relative abundance of the indicator taxa. Sensitivity values of each group were generally similar to Biological Monitoring Working Party (BMWP) scores or Walley, Hawkes, Paisley, Trigg (WHPT) scores of UK, Japanese BMWP scores, and the FBI tolerance values of North America. However, sensitivity values of some taxa were significantly different from those of foreign countries, which seemed to have resulted from discrepancy in species composition, difference of taxonomic classification system, or methodological difference for estimation of sensitivity. As an annual average level, BMFI showed significant correlation with concentration of 5-day biochemical oxygen demand (BOD5) (correlation coefficient r = -0.80, n = 569 sites), total suspended solids (r = -0.68), and total phosphorus (r = -0.79). In addition, BMFI revealed strong correlation with Shannon-Weaver's species diversity (r = 0.85), Margalef's species richness (r = 0.85) and McNaughton's dominance (r = -0.84). Correlation between BMFI and water quality parameters or community indices such as species diversity did not show significant difference compared to that of species-level indices such as BMI (Benthic Macroinvertebrates Index). This means that BMFI is a more useful indicator in terms of easy identification of organisms. BMFI was used to assess the environmental status of 3,017 sites of Stream Ecosystem Survey conducted by the Korean Ministry of Environment between 2016 and 2018. As a result, about half of all sites appeared to be in good condition, and a quarter in poor condition.

• Mycobiology
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• v.50 no.1
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• pp.46-54
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• 2022

Although Apiospora Sacc. has previously been considered a sexual morph of Arthrinium species on the basis of phylogenetic, morphological, and ecological diagnoses, a recent study delimited these as different species. Recently, 14 species, including eight new species, of marine Arthrinium have been reported from Korea. Six known species have previously been renamed as species in the genus Apiospora (A. arundinis, A. marii, A. piptatheri, A. rasikravindrae, A. sacchari, and A. saccharicola). However, the eight new species of marine Arthrinium (Ar. agari, Ar. arctoscopi, Ar. fermenti, Ar. koreanum, Ar. marinum, Ar. pusillispermum, Ar. sargassi, and Ar. taeanense) are yet to be studied, and thus the taxonomic status of these species remains to be clarified. In this study, we conducted phylogenetic analyses using the internal transcribed spacer, 28S large subunit ribosomal RNA gene, translation elongation factor 1-alpha, and beta-tubulin regions to confirm the phylogenetic position of these eight species. Based on these analyses, we re-identified the eight Arthrinium species as new combinations in Apiospora. Additionally, among the six known Apiospora species, two (A. piptatheri and A. rasikravindrae) have not previously been recorded in Korea. On the basis of morphological and molecular analyses, we report these as new species in Korea. Herein, we present scanning electron micrographs detailing the morphologies of these species, along with phylogenetic trees and detailed descriptions.

• Korean Journal of Plant Taxonomy
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• v.45 no.4
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• pp.306-317
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• 2015

This study was conducted to address the taxonomic status of the Korean endemic species Saxifraga octopetala, which is sometimes considered conspecific to Micranthes manchuriensis. Extensive molecular phylogenetic analysis using nrITS sequences as well as morphological examination of type specimens of the two species were undertaken to ascertain the phylogenetic position and species delimitation of S. octopetala. In the resulting nrITS trees, a total of 65 accessions representing S. octopetala grouped together and nested within the Micranthes clade, exhibiting a close relationship with M. nelsoniana and M. manchuriensis. Multiple accessions of M. manchuriensis collected from China and Russia also formed a clade, showing a sister group relationship with M. nelsoniana var. pacifica and M. fusca. The ambiguous species entity of S. octopetala is thought to have originated from Nakai's misinterpretation of Wilford's collection (type specimens of M. manchuriensis), which is a complex collection including an inflorescence of M. nelsoniana. In spite of apparent morphological similarity between S. octopetala and M. manchuriensis, they differ in the presence and absence of underground stolons. The distinct position of S. octopetala within the Micranthes clade on the nrITS tree suggests that it should retain species status in Micranthes. Thus a new combination (Micranthes octopetala) is proposed.