Blepharostoma trichophyllum was found to be a species collectiva formed by several strongly genetically different species. The taxonomic diversity in the group is the possible result of radiation in early stages; then, these taxa likely survived for a long time in similar environmental conditions, which resulted in stasis. Presently, the existing taxa are similar one to another and may be morphologically distinguished with difficulties. The most taxonomically valuable morphological characteristics include oil bodies and cells in the leaf segment features. The most diverse genotypes (the vast majority of which are treated here as distinct species) were found in amphi-Pacific Asia, which may reflect the evolutionary history of the genus or may be the consequence of more profound sampling in the macro-region in comparison with other parts of the Holarctic.

Recent ecological stream restoration projects have focused on expanding the water-friendly space of streams, promoting the health of aquatic ecosystems, and restoring various habitats, which raise the need for relevant research. Applying integrated environmental analysis, this study quantifies the change in hydraulic characteristics before and after the restoration projects through physical habitat simulation and links the results of physical impacts to estimate benefits of increase in water quality and aquatic ecosystem health due to the implementation of the project. For this, the study area is a 3.3 km long reach of the Anyang-cheon Stream, Korea. Field monitoring revealed that five fish species are dominant and sub-dominant, and account for 76% of the total fish community. To assess the change of before and after ecological stream restoration project, the River2D and Coastal Modelling System (CMS)-Flow 2D models were used for hydraulic and water quality simulations, respectively. For the habitat simulation, the HSI (Habitat Suitability Index) model was used. In addition, the Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment Water Quality Index (CCME WQI) was used to calculate changes in water quality index and to examine changes in habitat areas with an integrated quantitative index, the methodology of Zingraff-Hamed et al. was adopted. It was found that the ecological stream restoration project significantly increased for the eco-friendly area. In addition, the changes in water quality and habitat suitability grades before the ecological river restoration project were improved to two stages and one stage, respectively. This study applied the integrated analytical framework as a policy/project assessment tool and the results of this study will be useful for the integrated water management policy.

Scapania ampliata Steph. is the endemic species in East Asia. To investigate intraspecific variations on mitochondrial genomes of S. ampliata, we completed mitochondrial genome of S. ampliata isolated in Korea. It is 143,664 bp long and contains 73 genes (41 protein-coding genes, three rRNAs, 28 tRNAs, and one pseudogene). 823 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs; 0.057%) and 2,242 insertions and deletions were identified between two S. ampliata mitochondrial genomes, which is large number of intraspecific variations in comparison to the other cases of Bryophyte mitochondrial genomes. Phylogenetic trees show that S. ampliata is clustered with those of two Scapania species with high supportive values.

This study analyzed the relationships between land-cover types and the distribution of alien and invasive plant species using data from the 5th National Ecosystem Survey of Korea (2019–2023). A total of 711,557 plant occurrence records were collected across 780 map sheets, resulting in the identification of 3842 vascular plant species, including both alien and invasive taxa. To evaluate spatial patterns and environmental drivers, multiple linear regression and spatial regression models—specifically the Spatial Lag Model (SLM) and Spatial Error Model (SEM)—were applied. The results revealed that alien and invasive species exhibited non-random, spatially clustered distributions influenced by habitat type and disturbance intensity. Alien species were more abundant in agricultural areas and wetlands, whereas forests and grasslands acted as resistant ecosystems. In contrast, invasive species were concentrated in bare lands and urbanized drylands, highlighting the importance of habitat openness and human disturbance in facilitating invasion. Spatial autocorrelation analyses (Moran’s I = 0.0777 for alien species; 0.1933 for invasive species) and the strong spatial dependence in the Spatial Error Model (λ = 0.7405 and 0.6428) confirmed that invasion patterns are shaped by spatial connectivity and environmental continuity. These findings demonstrate that invasion processes in Korea are driven by both anthropogenic disturbance and spatial dependency. Effective management therefore requires habitat-specific, spatially coordinated strategies, emphasizing early detection and rapid control in high-risk areas while reinforcing the ecological buffering capacity of forests to maintain biodiversity and ecosystem stability.