We targeted three major Leptocorisa species (L. chinensis, L. acuta, and L. oratoria) and evaluated their potential distributions using MaxEnt. The results showed that most Asian countries and northern Australia would be suitable for at least one of these pest species, and climate change will expand their habitat northward. All of the developed models were evaluated to be excellent with AUC, TSS, and OR10%. Most of the recorded regions of the Leptocorisa species are consistent with the result of potential distributions predicted in this study. The results confirmed that the minimum temperature of the coldest month mainly influences the three Leptocorisa species distributions. The potential distributions of the three species cover major rice cultivation areas regardless of climate change, suggesting that it would be necessary to establish a sustainable control strategy for the pests.
To investigate insect and plant community relationships in riparian zones, terrestrial insect communities were compared in plant communities in the riparian zone of the Miho River, Korea. The sweep netting method was used to sample insects in 50 m transects in three herbaceous plant communities. In 2020, each plant community—Chenopodium album, Beckmannia syzigachne, and Artemisia indica—was swept 100 times (50 sweeps × 2). In 2021, two communities had an additional 100 sweeps collected using 10 subsamples of 10 sweeps (excluding C. album communities). The surveyed dominant species or subdominant species of the insect community in each site preyed on the dominant plant species at the site. The Bray–Curtis similarity was significantly higher than the Sørensen similarity when comparing datasets across different years for the same plant species community. The predicted optimum sampling size to obtain approximately 80% of the total species estimated to be at each survey site, for effective quantitative collection of terrestrial insect herbivores in each plant community, was examined. Fifty sweeps were required for the A. indica community and 100 sweeps were required for the B. syzigachne community. The results of this study provide important data for riparian biodiversity conservation and future pest monitoring.
The vertical connectivity of the river aquatic ecosystem was evaluated based on fish and artificial structures in Dorim stream, an urban stream in Seoul. As a result of a survey in the downstream area in 100.0 m of a total of 71 artificial structures, 13,728 individuals of fishes belonging to five orders, seven families, and 25 species were investigated, with the dominant species Zacco platypus and the subdominant species Rhynchocypris oxycephalus. As for endemic species, seven species were investigated and in terms of feeding characteristics, omnivorous species were the most common with 17 species (68%). Also an alien species, Poecilia reticulata was found. Fish species tended to decrease as the survey was conducted to upstream. Based on the movement characteristics of the fish species and the features of artificial structure survey results, the longitudinal continuity of each artificial structure was evaluated as 43 continuity, two damaged, 19 discontinuity, and seven absent. In inclined structures, stream velocity was found to be the main factor for discontinuity. In vertical structures, the down depth and head drop appeared to be the main factors for discontinuity. The results of this survey are expected to serve as basic data for the conservation of river aquatic ecosystems in the future.
1 September 2021 in Journal of Asia-Pacific Biodiversity
The lateral connectivity of Suncheon’s Dong stream was evaluated based on landside, waterside, and levee data of the river. A total of six items was evaluated, crosssectional structure, vegetation cover ratio, connecting waterway gate, levee slopes, urbanized area ratio and wetland area ratio. Among the items, the connectivity was high in the following order: cross-sectional structure, urbanization area ratio, and levee slope. In a total of 16 survey areas of Suncheon’s Dong stream, one, 12, and three areas were evaluated as continuity, damaged, and discontinuity respectively. The downstream section was evaluated as one continuity and three damaged, the lower-middle stream section was evaluated as one damaged and three discontinuity, and the upper-middle stream and upstream sections were evaluated as eight damaged. The cross-sectional structure, vegetation cover ratio, levee slope, and urbanized area ratio had low lateral connectivity in the lower-middle stream survey section, while the wetland area ratio had high lateral connectivity in the downstream survey section. The lateral connectivity evaluation results of the river aquatic ecosystem in Suncheon’s Dong stream can be used as basic data that is helpful in future ecological river management policies.