논 생태계 내에 출현하는 수서무척추동물을 대상으로 기후변화의 영향을 쉽게 확인할 수 있는 지표를 선정하기 위하여 관련 문헌 및 현장조사를 실시하였다. 현장조사는 연평균기온을 고려하여 완도, 해남, 부안, 김제, 장수, 당진, 철원에서 논에 물이 있는 기간 동안 월 1회 실시하였다. 수서무척추동물의 채집은 본 연구자들이 새롭게 고안한 수중컵트랩을 활용하였다. 조사 결과, 물땡땡이류 중에서는 뒷가시물땡땡이, 애물땡땡이, 잔물땡땡이, 물방개 류 중에서는 꼬마줄물방개, 꼬마물방개, 애기물방개의 출현빈도 및 밀도가 높게 나타났으며, 지역별로도 차이를 나타내고 있어 지표종으로 이용 가능할 것으로 판단된다. 왕우렁이의 경우는 우렁이농법에 의해 분포가 결정되기 때문에, 지표로 활용하기 위해서는 월동상황을 조사해야할 것으로 판단한다. 향후 현장조사에서 얻어진 결과와 과거 자료를 활용하여 후보종을 선정하고, 전문가의 의견을 수렴하여 최종적으로 지표를 선정할 계획에 있다.

With growing interest in biodiversity in rice paddies, efficient sampling methods for quantitative evaluation of aquatic macroinvertebrates are needed because of their important role in rice paddies’ food webs. For this reason, we sought a proper sampling method through comparing data collected by using aquatic net, quadrat, and core in rice paddies located in Chuncheon-si, Kangwon-do, Hongseong-gun, and Chungcheongnam-do. Because the frame of the net was rectangular and had a flat bottom, the area, sampledwith the aquatic net, was calculated by multiplying the net width by the sweeping length, All samples were taken from the space between the rows of rice plants. Twenty four taxa of macroinvertebrates were collected in Chuncheon and 28 taxa in Hongseong. In Chuncheon, the number of taxa was similar among three sampling methods (17-18 taxa), but the number of individuals was different (aquatic net, 1,317/㎡, quadrat, 1,368/㎡, core, 1,810/㎡). In Hongseong, the number of taxa sampled by aquatic net was the highest (aquatic net, 25 taxa, quadrat, 21 taxa, core, 16 taxa), but the core was the highest in the number of individuals (aquatic net, 1,586/㎡, quadrat, 2,595/㎡, core, 3,704/㎡). The efficiency of samplers differed among taxa. Most of aquatic insect taxa were more abundant in the aquatic net, while those living on or in the paddy substratum such as Oligochaeta and Chironomidae were collected more in the quadrat sampler. To collect quantitative data for aquatic insects as well as to produce inventory of rare taxa, we suggest, based on samplers used in this study, to take quantitative samples of 6 replications from each of the edge and inner zones of a rice paddy by using an aquatic net, and to take qualitative samples both from sides of levees and the inner zone of rice paddy by using an aquatic net.