Benthic macroinvertebrates were collected using the Surber sampler from streams in forest areas in Southern Korea in spring and summer. Self-Organizing Map (SOM) was utilized to reveal community patterns in response to natural and anthropogenic variability in different seasons. The gradient was mainly observed according to degree of pollution and altitude. Subsequently, community compositions reflected seasonality in less-polluted area, showing difference in functional feeding groups. Gatherer-collectors and filterer-collectors were abundantly collected in spring whereas scrapers and predators were sampled in a majority in late summer. Representative species groups were identified in different seasons. persistence in communities in response to natural and anthropogenic variability.

Background : Kalopanax pictus is one of the most popular wild vegetables in Korea. In recent years Kalopanax pictus has been developed which has no thorns that can be efficiently harvested. Kalopanax pictus, now without thorns, breeds only by root cutting. This makes the price of ineffective and invisible Kalopanax pictus high. Therefore, tissue culture is necessary for efficient mass proliferation of visibly absent Kalopanax pictus. This study was conducted to investigate the effect of anti-browning treatment on tissue culture of thornless Kalopanax pictus. Methods and Results : Thornless Kalopanax pictus young leaves were cut into 5 ㎜ in diameter and cultured for 1 month at 2,4-D 1 ppm + TDZ 0.1 ppm + 3% sucrose. Add 0.05%, 0.1%, 0.15% and 0.2 ㎎/ℓ of browning inhibitor such as ascorbic acid, citric acid and activated charcoal to the MS + 2,4-D 0.2 ppm + 5% sucrose medium. And cultured at 25℃ for 24 hours Light condition for 1 month. In order to determine the optimum concentration of browning agent, characteristics such as callus size, adventitious shoot formation rate and browning degree were investigated. As a result, the callus size of ascorbic acid 0.05 ㎎/ℓ was the largest at 2.26 ± 0.4 ㎝ and the adventitious shoot formation rate was the highest at 16.4%. The degree of browning was 40.30 ± 4.92 in L value and 5.00 ± 2.23 in b value. Conclusion : When ascorbic acid 0.05 ㎎/ℓ is added to the secondary culture medium, the size of the callus increases and the degree of browning decreases. Using the above-mentioned results, we can establish a mass proliferation system through tissue culture of Thornless Kalopanax pictus.