In every summer, cicadas emerge and become numerically and ecologically dominant in Korean penninsula. Especially, cicada emergence is affected by the environmental factors. In order to evaluate the effect of environmental factors in cicada species, we analyzed the temporal changes in cicada exuviae based on meteorological and non-meteorological factors such as artificial light intensity and habitat characters on urban park area surrounded by residential houses. Combined multivariate analyses with a cluster analysis and a principal component analysis (PCA) were conducted. Samples were classified into 3 different cluster based on differences of meteorological factors such as temperature and humidity. Moreover, Random Forest model (RF) showed a high predictability of daily mean temperature on species peak abundance. These results provide a strong evidence that meteorological factors have significant effects on cicada emergences. Regarding the non-meteorological factors, we found no relationship in cicada emergence.

Vollenhovia emeryi (Hymenoptera: Myrmicinae) is dimorphic in its wing morphology of alate females: the long-winged and the short-winged. In our previous study, we found that the long-winged is ancestral and the short-winged is derived. Intriguingly, the former is infected with the intracellular symbiotic Wolbachia bacterium and the derived is void of the bacterium indicating that the latter somehow evolved resistance to the bacterium. This may be one of few cases in which transition from susceptibility to the bacterium can be traceable via the divergence estimation. As a consequence, we inferred that the two morphs diverged approximately quarter million years ago; a remarkably recent event in evolutionary perspective. In this presentation, we will further discuss genetic orchestration in the host insect and future research directions.

The Wolbachia bacterium is one of the best studied reproductive manipulators found in variuos invertebrate taxa. Theoretically it infects two thirds of invertebrates. It is thought to have a huge impact on its hosts’ evolution. The ant is a very successful organism in terrestrial ecosystems especially with its charicteristic sociality. However, the influence of Wolbachia on the animal remains to be paid more attention. This study is to examine Wolbachia infection frequency in some ant species in Korea. The result shows that 9 out of 12 ant species harbor the bacterium. Furthermore, at least two species show polymorphism in their infection status at the colony level. This will be used as a foundation of further study on the interactions between the bacterium and ant species.

Five species of the subfamily Cicadinae are found in urban areas at the center of the Korean peninsula, including Cryptotympana atrata, Hyalessa fuscata, Meimuna mongolica, Meimuna opalifera and Graptopsaltria nigrofuscata. Out of those species, the densities of C. atrata and H. fuscata are generally high in the urban area. I hypothesized that there is a vigorous acoustic interaction where two species are abundant. We tested this hypothesis by conducting the 24-h recording experiments in four localities: Gwacheon(GC), Jamsil(JS), Ewha University(EU) and Yangpyeong(YP). Based on the preliminary enumeration surveys of exuviae, GC and JS were designated as high density localities and EU and JS were as low density localities. The results of 24-h recordings and abiotic factor based on the multinomial logistic regression showed that C. atrata and H. fuscata were negatively correlated in high density area GC and JS. In JS and EU, the density of H. fuscata is close to each other. However, the probability of chorusing in JS is significantly lower than EU. This might be due to acoustic competition between two species. Moreover, we confirmed that the choruses of males of C. atrata produced loud choruses usually during the day when temperature high and males of H. fuscata produced calling song throughout the day but peaked in the morning and night. Consequently, multi-species cicada in different temporal pattern probably cannot be explained by only acoustic interaction but the combination of both abiotic and biotic factors probably constrain multi-species cicada to call together during the limited time windows.

Collection of ecological data such as the temporo-spatial distribution of a species is very difficult, due to broad distribution over large areas, phenology, and lack of resources for field survey. Citizen science, which is a cooperative scientific endeavor between researchers and interested citizens, is ideal for collecting large-scale ecological data. However, lack of proper equipment, species identification, and/or communication between researchers and participants are hindrance for a successful citizen science project. Here, we introduce the concept and methods of large-scale ecological data collection using smartphone apps. Most of the ecological data typically consist of sound or video recording, picture, geographic coordinate, and notes. There are several apps that can collect some or all of these ecological data. Furthermore, the result of a survey can be reported to researchers using Google Docs. The data collected by non-specialists can be validated by cross-checking of the survey report by Google Docs and the ecological data sent by apps. Finally, we report the results of a citizen science project in which temporo-spatial distributions of cicada species in Korea were studied via smartphone apps and Google Docs.