Parrots have been threatened by global trade to meet their high demand as pets. Controlling parrot trade is essential because parrots play a vital role in the ecosystem. Accurate species identification is crucial for controlling parrot trade. Parrots have been traded as eggs due to their advantages of lower mortality rates and more accessible transport than live parrots. A molecular method is required to identify parrot eggs because it is difficult to perform identification using morphological features. In this study, DNAs were obtained from 43 unidentified parrot eggs using a non-destructive sampling method. Partial cytochrome b (CYTB ) gene was then successfully amplified using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and sequenced. Sequences newly obtained in the present study were compared to those available in the GenBank by database searching. In addition, phylogenetic analysis was conducted to identify species using available sequences in GenBank along with sequences reported in previous studies. Finally, the 43 parrot eggs were successfully identified as seven species belonging to two families and seven genera. This non-destructive sampling method for obtaining DNA and molecular identification might help control the trade of parrot eggs and prevent their illegal trade.

Many parrots are considered endangered species due to threats from human activities. Gender determination is of great importance for biological studies and the conservation of endangered parrots. However, like other birds, gender determination in parrots is hindered due to the lack of external dimorphism between males and females. A molecular approach using the chromo-helicase-DNA binding protein 1 (CHD1) gene is commonly used for sexing birds. This study aimed to determine the gender of parrots from Korean zoos based on amplification and visualization of the partial CHD1 gene. The samples of 13 parrot species were collected from three different zoos in Korea and the extracted DNA templates were amplified using CHD1 gene primers. The gender of 27 samples of 13 species was determined by visualizing the PCR products on an agarose gel. While male parrots were indicated by a single band, female parrots were indicated by double bands. The findings provide additional information, which might be helpful for the management and care of parrots in Korean zoos.

Triceratopyga, is a common and synanthropic genus of medical and forensic significance in eastern Asia which have includes only one species, Triceratopyga calliphoroides. In this study we are reporting the complete mitogenome of the only member of the genus Triceratopyga. The structure of the compete mitogenome is similar with the common ancester fly mitogenome. The size of the mitogenome is 16,529 bp. This is the longest mitogenome recorded from the family Calliphoridae. Although the size of mitogenome is longer than previous records, structure and gene positions are identical with ancestral insect genome.

Calliphora is a genus from the family Calliphoridae, which includes blow flies and bottle flies. Calliphora flies are one of the most entomologically important fly species because of their relative time of arrival and colonization to animal carcasses. Until now there are only three complete mitochondrial genome recorded from the genus. In this study we added a new complete mitochondrial genome record from the species Calliphora lata. Although genome structures and gene orientations of the four Calliphora flies mitochondrial genome are identical. The size and nucleotide composition of the genomes are slightly different.

This study was conducted to clarify the richness patterns of woody plants along a temperate altitudinal gradient on the Baekdudaegan ridge, South Korea. The effects of the spatial and climatic factors on the observed altitudinal richness patterns were evaluated. We also tested Rapoport’s altitudinal effect, which relates the distribution of a species’ altitudinal ranges to the patterns in species richness. Woody plant data were collected from 1100 plots on the Baekdudaegan ridge. A total of 248 woody plant species from 47 families and 99 genera were found. The altitudinal pattern of the woody plant species richness on the Baekdudaegan ridge exhibited a clear hump-shaped pattern with a peak around 800 m. Spatial factors(mid-domain effect and area) were the primary drivers in the simple linear models, whereas the climatic factors(mean annual precipitation and temperature) had lower explanatory power. Multiple linear regression analysis revealed that the combined interaction between spatial and climatic factors affected the altitudinal richness patterns of the overall woody plants. Furthermore, the spatial and climatic factors were more important for large- and small-ranged woody plants, respectively. The results of Stevens’ method and the midpoint method do not support Rapoport’s altitudinal effect. The results suggest that a combined interaction between spatial and climatic factors influences the richness pattern of the total woody plant species. Furthermore, the relative importance of these factors depends on the range size of the woody plants species along an altitudinal gradient on the ridge of the Baekdudaegan ridge.

This study was conducted to compare species and functional diversity of terrestrial plants among forest types by analyzing the variations in species and functional trait compositions in a large-scale natural forest ecosystem. Plant data were collected at 1,100 plots and a total of 802 plant species from 97 families and 342 genera were found along the ridge of the Baekdudaegan Mountains in South Korea. Forest types were divided into four categories including Quercus mongolica, Pinus densiflora, other deciduous and other coniferous forest types. To analyze the variations in plant diversity among forest types, we used two species diversity indices such as species richness and the Shannon-Weaver index as well as a newly introduced functional diversity such as Rao’s index. In functional trait composition, megaphanerophyte, geophyte and hemicryptophyte were the dominant traits, whereas the relative proportion of helophyte and hydrophyte and epiphyte indicated less than 1%. In diversity patterns among forest types, species richness and diversity for total plants showed the lowest value in P. densiflora forest type, while other deciduous and Q. mongolica forest types had the highest values of species richness and diversity for woody and herbaceous plants, respectively. However, functional diversity did not depict a clear distinction among four forest types for plant groups. This study suggests that although taxonomical richness and diversity may be different among forest types, there may be no differences in functional diversity. Moreover, these indistinct patterns in functional diversity may be a result of disturbance and successional gradients compounded in a forest type in addition to the type of functional traits used for comparison and contrast among forest types. Therefore, a further study with various functional traits and different environmental gradients should be consistently evaluated to achieve a better understanding of the diversity patterns of plant communities in mountain ecosystems.