River estuaries are dynamic and productive ecosystems with high regional biodiversity. Environmental DNA (eDNA) has become a useful approach to assessing biodiversity in aquatic ecosystems. This study was conducted to investigate fish community characteristics and species diversity in two river estuary ecosystems, the Taehwa River and Changwon Stream. We further compared conventional and eDNA metabarcoding analyses of the fish communities. The conventional survey was performed in May, July, and October 2022, while the eDNA analysis was conducted only in May. We observed various fish species with different life histories, including carp, goby, and marine fish. We also found that migratory fish, such as dace Tribolodon hakonensis, sweetfish Plecoglossus altivelis, and eel Auguilla japonica, occurred in the Taehwa River, suggesting high river connectivity. Marine fish species were predominant in the Changwon Stream, as this river is located close to the sea. The diversity indices showed that the Taehwa River generally had higher species richness, evenness, and diversity values than the Changwon Stream. A total of 9-19 species were detected in the conventional survey for the three sites, whereas 11-18 species were found from eDNA analysis. The findings indicate that the sensitivity of eDNA was similar to or higher than that of the conventional method. Our study findings suggest the efficiency and efficacy of eDNA-based fish community monitoring, although with some shortcomings in applying the genetic marker to Korean fish, including no clear-cut distinction for Korean endemic species and/or genetically closely related species groups.

청계천에 서식하는 어류 군집의 공간적 변이와 환경과의 관계를 측정하기 위해, 청계천 내 6개 지점을 대상으로 2년간 (2014~2015년) 이화학적 요인, 서식처 환경, 어류 군집을 조사하였다. 어류 군집의 공간적 변이는 지점-종 군 집 데이터 메트릭스를 기반으로 한 베타다양성 분석을 통해 정량적으로 제시하였다. 또한 청계천 내 전체 군집 변이 값 (베타다양성)과 함께 각각의 지점이 청계천 전체 베타다양도에 기여하는 값 (LCBD, Local Contribution to Beta Diversity)도 계산하였다. 데이터 분석의 기반이 되는 지점-종 군집 데이터 테이블은 출현-비출현, 풍부도, 헤링거 변환 값의 세 가지 형태로 적용하였고, 해당 데이터 형태에 따른 베타다양성과 지점별 변이 영향을 각각 계산하여 비교하였다. 헤링거 변환을 통해 계산된 베타다양성 값은 출현-비출현 정보나 풍부도를 바탕으로 한 분석보다 큰 값을 보여주어 공간적 변이를 가장 잘 보여주는 것으로 나타났다. 각 지점별 군집 변이 기여도 (LCBD)는 출현-비출현 정보와 해링거 변환을 통한 분석이 유사한 경향을 보여주었다. 자료의 정규성을 가지기 어려운 어류 군집 자료의 경우 풍부도를 이용한 공간 변이 분석은 적절하지 않은 것으로 판단된다. 추가적으로 다양한 환경 요인 및 군집 지수와 베타다양성 기여도 값의 관계를 상관분석을 통해 나타내었다. 해당 지점의 알파다양성 지수와 베타다양성 기여도가 높은 음의 상관관계를 보였고 이는 선행 연구와 유사한 결과이다. 본 연구에 적용한 방법은 매트릭스 형태의 자료를 대상으로 베타다양성 계산과 지점별 군집 변이 기여도를 수치화하는 데 유용한 것으로 나타났다.

Brachymystax lenok tsinlingensis (family Salmonidae), cold freshwater fish, is endemic to Asia. This species is currently distributed throughout Russia, Mongolia, China and the Korean Peninsula. B. lenok tsinlingensis in South Korea was severely affected by anthropogenic activities such as habitat destruction, agricultural run-off and water pollution, and hence this fish has recently been dramatically decreased in its population sizes and become now critically endangered. To recover the number of individuals of B. lenok tsinlingensis, stocking or translocation programs have been conducted continuously by local governments since 1970s. However, these programs made little effort to clarify populations that may have originated from stocked, translocated or introduced fish. An understanding of genetic characteristics of endangered populations is critical to develop effective conservation and restoration plans especially because genetic diversity ensues their future fate. Therefore, we assessed the “conservation status” of this species by estimating the level of genetic diversity and genetic structure among ten geographic populations including restored populations via reinforcement and supplementation. Also, we aimed to trace the genetic origins of the newly translocated population (Chiak) through a restoration practice program. Moreover, we inferred the phylogenetic relationships among Korean lenok populations as well as across the Northeast Asia. Two hundred eighteen individuals of B. lenok tsinlingensis were sampled from ten localities (Yanggu, Injae, Seorak, Bangtae and Hongcheon: North Han River basin; Pyeongchang, Chiak and Jeongseon: South Han River basin; Taebaek and Bonghwa: Nakdong River basin in South Korea). Based on mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) control region and eight nuclear microsatellite loci, we found extremely low levels of within-population genetic diversity, which suggests small effective population sizes (Ne) within populations. For mtDNA control region, each population housed one, or at most, two haplotypes that are restricted to the respective localities, meaning that these ‘genetically unique’ lineages will be lost permanently if the local populations undergo extinction. The overall values of haplotype diversity (h) and nucleotide diversity (π) for the entire Korean population were 0.703 ± 0.024 and 0.021 ± 0.010, respectively. In the case of microsatellites, average number of alleles across the eight loci for the entire population was 9.1 and allelic richness (AR) per population ranged from 2.375 to 4.144 (mean = 3.104). The values of observed heterozygosity (HO) and expected heterozygosity (HE) were similar to each other [HO: 0.400 ~ 0.590 (mean = 0.518); HE: 0.407 ~ 0.608 (mean = 0.504)]. The inbreeding coefficient (FIS) values were generally low, ranging from 0.048 to 0.279. Consequently, the majority of the populations (except Yanggu and Pyeongchang) were not significantly deviated from Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium (HWE), suggesting random mating at these loci tested. In addition, we found that Korean lenok populations were significantly genetically isolated from each other, with private mtDNA haplotypes and microsatellite alleles, indicating limited gene flow among populations, strong effects of genetic drift due to small Ne, or a combination of both. The Mantel test of microsatellites revealed a significant correlation (r = 0.414, P = 0.04) between genetic and geographic distances for pairwise comparisons among the ten populations, while that of mtDNA showed a lack of correlation. Given the shared identical mtDNA haplotype and similar microsatellite allelic distributions between Chiak and Hongcheon populations, we suggest that the restored (introduced) Chiak population would be inferred to be genetically originated from Hongcheon population. Phylogenetic relationships among Northeast Asian populations showed that South Korean lineages have more recently diverged from China (Yellow River), than between North Korea and Russia. Although the phylogenetic relationship would be expected to be associated with geography, South-North Korea and China populations with a similar latitude was more phylogenetically closely related. These findings may suggest a possible scenario for the historical movements of B. lenok tsinlingensis in Northeast Asia during Last Glacial Maximum (LGM). It would be supported by the line of evidence that most lenok populations migrated to southward from Northern Asia such as Russia and Mongolia during LGM because the Korean Peninsula was landlocked as inland epoch and functioned as a southern shelter with Yellow River. For this reason, the Korean Peninsula is suggested to be an important geographical region for better understanding phylogenetic relationships and evolutionary histories of B. lenok tsinlingensis across the Northeast Asia. Despite large efforts made to develop several restoration programs in South Korea for B. lenok tsinlingensis, it is still unknown whether these past restoration efforts were successful or fruitless, mainly because of little attention paid to post-restoration monitoring research. Hence, there was a lack of their published official records. In the future, conservation and restoration projects of the Korean lenok populations should consider the genetic data for a better understanding of their ecological and evolutionary trajectories. And finally, we hope that our findings here can help inform on the future effective conservation and restoration plans for B. lenok tsinlingensis populatio ns in South Korea.

계방산의 자연생태계에 대한 정밀 조사를 실시하기 위하여 13개 지점에서 1995년 7월부터 1996년 6월까지 서식환경과 4목 1아목 6과 7아과 20종 1,908개체의 담수어류상을 조사하였으며 그 상세한 결과는 다음과 같다. 1. 채집 장소의 하천형태는 Aa, Ab형의 산간 계류형이고, 하상구조는 자갈, 모래, 바위가 섞인 형태를 보였다. 속사천의 수 환경요인은 평균 pH(7.41), [COND.(0.051), TURB.(10.00), DO(8.66), W.T.(15.4)]이었고, 계방천은 pH(7.44), [COND.(0.097), TURB.(21.59), DO(9.35), W.T.(15.4)]로 담수어류가 서식하기에 적합한 환경으로 판단되었다. 2. 총 20종의 어류중에서 일차담수어는 18종(99.98%), 주연성담수어는 2종(0.02%)이다. 이 중 한국고유종은 금강모치(Moroco kumgangensis), 배가사리(Microphysogobio longidoralis), 새코미꾸리(Cobitis rotundicudata), 미꾸리(Misgurnus anguillicaudatus), 쉬리(Coreoleucosus splendidus), 왕종개(Cobitis longicorpus), 산천어(Oncorhynchus masou ishikawai), 열목어(Brachymystax lenok), 참마자(Hemibarbus longirostris), 미유기(Silurus microdorsalis), 참종개(Cobitis koreensis koreensis) 그리고 어름치(Hemibarbus mylodon) 등 12종이었다. 3. 총 20종의 채집어류 중 금강수계와 계방산에만 서식하고 있는 한국고유종인 금강모치가 46.85%로 우점도가 가장 높았으며, 그 다음은 27.35%로 갈겨니였다.

A biological assessments of fish community structure were carried out in the lower reach of Seomjin River from May 2009 to November 2010. The collected fish from the six surveyed sites were 63 species belonging to 24 families, and 10 orders. Although species was different depending on sites, the numbers of individuals were not shown significance on sites. Locational dominant species were different. For example, the dominant species on May were Zacco platypus at W-1, Zacco temminckii at W-2, Acanthogobius flavimanus at W-3 and W-4, and Leiognathus nuchalis at W-5 and W-6. There is no seasonal differences in species. Species diversity was the best up to 2.64 on May at W-1 from 1.33 on November at W-6. As a result of an analysis about environmental factors for the numbers of fish species and individuals in each surveyed sites, the most effective groups were DO, BOD, and COD. The proportional difference was high on May than November between transient and asymptotic projections for population size and population growth rate for simulations starting at the current or theoretical stage distribution.