In this study, we investigate the effect of Al/N source ratios and growth rates on the growth and structural properties of AlN films on c-plane sapphires by plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy. Both growth rates and Al/N ratios affect crystal qualities of AlN films. The full width at half maximum (FWHM) values of (1015) X-ray rocking curves (XRCs) change from 0.22 to 0.31° with changing of the Al/N ratios, but the curves of (0002) XRCs change from 0.04 to 0.45° with changing of the Al/N ratios. This means that structural deformation due to dislocations is slightly affected by the Al/N ratio in the (1015) XRCs but affected strongly for the (0002) XRCs. From the viewpoint of growth rate, the AlN films with high growth rate (HGR) show better crystal quality than the low growth rate (LGR) films overall, as shown by the FWHM values of the (0002) and (1015) XRCs. Based on cross-sectional transmission electron microscope observation, the HGR sample with an Al/N ratio of 3.1 shows more edge dislocations than there are screw and mixed dislocations in the LGR sample with Al/N ratio of 3.5.

Megabenthos samples were collected using 10-min trawls towed at 17 stations from 2015 to 2016. The dominant species (>1% of the total density) were Stegophiura sterea (10.4%) and two subtropical species, Mactrinula dolabrata (9.0%) and Acila divaricate (8.3%), respectively. The community structure of the megabenthos fell into four groups: the southeast, the southernmost region off Jeju Island, the frontal zone of the South Sea with C3, and a diagonal area from the south coast to the western side of Jeju Island. The total numbers of species, diversity, density and biomass were higher in the C3 region of the South Sea. Environmental factor analysis showed that differences in the megabenthos community were related to depth, gravel contents, and sorting value (σ). These results indicate that changes in the marine environmental conditions in the South Sea of Korea affect the megabenthos species’ composition and diversity.

To identify and compare the venom components and expression patterns of some bees/wasps, venom gland-specific transcriptome analyses were conducted for 14 Aculeate bees/wasps. Most of the allergens and pain-producing factors showed extremely high expression levels in social wasps, implying that social wasps have evolved to use venom to defend the colony against intruders. Acid phosphatase and tachykinin, which are known as allergens and neurotoxic peptides, were found with high frequencies in the venom glands of solitary wasps. This suggests that solitary wasps might use their venom for catching and preserving prey. In the venom glands of bumblebees, little or no transcripts of major allergens or pain producing factors were identified, implying that bumblebees venoms are relatively less toxic than those of social or solitary wasps. Taken together, the differential expression patterns of venom genes in some Aculeate bees/wasps implies that bees/wasps have unique groups of highly expressed venom components, which appear to have evolved in response to both ecological and behavioral influences.

본 연구는 지속가능한 유기농업의 실천을 위하여 국내 작부체계와 농업환경에 적합한 한국형 현장적용 기법을 구축하고자 수행하였다. 본 연구의 기본 개념은‘Natural Enemy in First (NE가 먼저)’로 해충 발생시기의 예찰 없이 주 작물을 정식함과 동시에 천적과 선발한 보조식물을 혼합 적용해서 해충발생 이전에 천적을 포장에 먼저 정착시키는 생물적 방제기법이다. 미끌애꽃노린재 서식처로 Portulaca sp.를, 콜레마니진디벌 서식처로 옥수수를 선발하여 시설 토마토에서 방제효과를 확인하였다. 미끌애꽃노린재 단독처리와 천적 서식처(Portulaca sp.) 혼합처리구에서 관행방제 처리구(약제처리)대비, 각각 82%, 73%의 총채벌레 밀도 억제 효과를 확인할 수 있었다. 진딧물의 경우, 모든 처리구에서 3줄기 당 평균 0.5마리 이하의 낮은 밀도를 유지하였다.

An investigation on the habitation of Callipogon relictus Semenov was carried out in Gwangneung forest, Korea and Ussurisky nature reserve, Russia. During the investigation period (2007–2018), a total of 25 emergence holes, 10 pupal chambers, 10 adults, and two larvae of C. relictus were identified in Gwangneung forest. In this presentation, we provide biological information on habitation of C. relictus in Gwangneung forest by comparison and combination of survey results in Ussurisky nature reserve, in 2015 and 2018. In addition, the distribution range of C. relictus is also reviewed in the Korean Peninsula with a new location.

As many existing research fields are matured academically, researchers have encountered numbers of academic, social and other problems that cannot be addressed by internal knowledge and methodologies of existing disciplines. Earlier, pioneers of researchers thus are following a new paradigm that breaks the boundaries between the prior disciplines, fuses them and seeks new approaches. Moreover, developed countries including Korea are actively supporting and fostering the convergence research at the national level. Nevertheless, there is insufficient research to analyze convergence trends in national R&D support projects and what kind of content the projects mainly deal with. This study, therefore, collected and preprocessed the research proposal data of National Research Foundation of Korea, transforming the proposal documents to term-frequency matrices. Based on the matrices, this study derived detailed research topics through Latent Dirichlet Allocation, a kind of topic modeling algorithm. Next, this study identified the research topics each proposal mainly deals with, visualized the convergence relationships, and quantitatively analyze them. Specifically, this study analyzed the centralities of the detailed research topics to derive clues about the convergence of the near future, in addition to visualizing the convergence relationship and analyzing time-varying number of research proposals per each topic. The results of this study can provide specific insights on the research direction to researchers and monitor domestic convergence R&D trends by year.

Gonggeom-ji is designated wetland protected area by the Ministry of Environment of Korea in 2011 because of it’s high biodiversity and historic value. It contains a reservoir, paddy and forest site which has diverse niches for insects. Three transect lines of 50m were designated. Data were collected in May, October, November in 2017 represented as seasons for spring, summer and autumn respectively. Quantitative methods were conducted along each transect line by sweeping and pitfall trap. Based on this study total of 1079 individuals of insect fauna were collected, representing 170 species in 60 families and 8 orders. The highest diversity, richness and evenness index were observed in the forest site in May(4.77, 8.6 and 0.91 respectively) and the highest dominance index was observed in the forest site in November(0.64). The highest similarity index was observed in the reservoir site in May and August(0.519).

미국선녀벌레(Metcalfa pruinosa)는 외래 침입해충으로 조사가 시작된 2009년 이후 발생지역과 발생면적이 계속 증가하여 2018년에는 123개 시군구의 21,154ha에서 발생이 보고되고 있다. 미국선녀벌레는 농경지와 그 주변 산림지에서 활동하기 때문에 정부와 지자체간 협업을 통해 농림지 동시방제를 5월하순경(부화약충 대상)과 7월 중순경(성충 대상) 2회 실시하고 있다. 농촌진흥청에서는 미국선녀벌레의 기생천적인 선녀벌레집게벌(Neodryinus typhlocybae)의 안정적인 도입과 미국선녀벌레에 대한 생물적 방제원으로서 국내 정착을 위해 이탈리아 파도바대학과 국제협력사업을 2017년부터 수행하고 있다. 선녀벌레집게벌은 완주에서 월동이 가능하였으며 6월 초에 50%이상 우화를 하였다. 2018년도에 온실(완주)과 야외(수원, 태안)에서 증식하여 1,000여 개체 이상을 확보하였으며 도입천적의 안정적인 국내 정착과 확산 및 활용 방안에 대해 논의하고자 한다.

To identify the venom components and their expression patterns of some Aculeata bees/wasps, venom gland-specific transcriptome analysis was conducted. FPKM values were normalized with the average of the transcription level of reference gene (a-tubulin). Common components in both solitary and social wasp venoms include hyaluronidase, phospholipase A2, metalloendopeptidase, etc. Although it has been expected that more diverse bioactive components with the functions of prey inactivation and physiology manipulation are present in solitary wasps, the information on venom compositions of solitary wasps obtained in this study was not sufficient to generalizae this notion. Nevertheless, some neurotoxic peptides (e.g., pompilidotoxin and dendrotoxin-like peptide) and proteins (e.g., insuline-like peptide binding protein) appear to be specific to solitary wasp venom. In contrast, several proteins, such as venom allergen 5 protein, venom acid phosphatase, and various phospholipases, appear to be relatively more abundant in social wasp venom. In the venom gland trancsriptome of bumblebees, major allergens or pain producing factors were barely identified, implying that bumblebee venoms are relatively less toxic than those of social or solitary wasps.

In 2017, the freshwater algae were collected from reservoirs, small ponds, soil, and rocks in Korea. Eight taxa of Chlorophyta (Chlorophyceae and Trebouxiophyceae) have been newly reported in Korea. The unrecorded indigenous species were Chlorolobion braunii, Coelastrum pseudomicroporum, Coelastrum reticulatum var. cubanum, Monoraphidium nanum, Tetrachlorella incerta, Ecdysichlamys obliqua, Gloeotila scopulina, and Stichococcus jenerensis.

Insect growth regulators (IGRs) are insecticides that disrupt the normal development of target insects. Among the IGR insecticides, juvenile hormone (JH)-related IGRs are of particular interest because they stimulate or interfere with the formation of JH receptor complex. In the precious studies, novel JH-related IGRs with JH agonist (JHA) and antagonist (JHAN) activity were identified by using yeast two-hybrid system transformed with the Aedes aegypti JH receptor complex. In this study, the transcriptomic responses of Aedes albopictus were investigated upon JHA and JHAN, respectively. These results will provide important information about understanding of impact of JH-related IGRs in transcription level.

To elucidate the effect of cellular phone electromagnetic wave (EMW) exposure on the developing cerebellar cortex of neonatal Sprague-Dawley rats, animals were exposed to cellular phone electromagnetic waves for 1 hr per day for 3 weeks. At the end of the experimental period, animals were sacrificed by cardiac perfusion, after which histological samples were prepared and observed microscopically. In the EMW exposure group, external granule cells were remained partially in the external granular layer without migrating into the internal granular layer. In addition, dark stained shrunken Purkinje cells with pyknotic nuclei increased and the outline of cells became irregular and showed degenerative signs, such as mitochondrial swelling and disrupted cristae. Moreover, the cisternae of rough endoplasmic reticula and Golgi complex were severely swollen. Bergmann glial cells adjacent to the dark stained Purkinje cells were swollen and cytoplasmic organelles were scant. Dark stained shrunken granule cells were also observed and the outline of cells was irregular. The results of the present study suggest that cellular phone EMW exposure to neonatal Sprague-Dawley rats leads to a partial delay of early migration of cerebellar cortical cells and degenerative changes in Purkinje cells, Bergmann glial cells and granule cells.