Habitat environment and food sources of fish, benthic macroinvertebrates, and brown trout (Salmo trutta) downstream of Soyang River Dam were analyzed. Water temperature at the site where brown trout was identified ranged from approximately 12.4 to 13.4°C, confirming that this environment could provide an optimal water temperature for the growth of brown trout. Most of the riverbed structures at this site had a high proportion of cobble and pebble substrates. Brown trout constituted less than 5% of the total fish population, more abundant in the upstream. The total lengthweight relationship of brown trout showed a parameter b value of 3.234, with the condition factor (K) increasing with length. Dominant benthic macroinvertebrates were Limnodrilus gotoi and Chironomidae spp. (non-red type). Stomach content analysis indicated that brown trout primarily consumed aquatic insects (R.A., 73.8%), non-insects (R.A., 23.3%), ground insects (R.A., 2.7%), and fish (R.A., 0.2%, TL: 246 mm). Correlation analysis revealed a positive relationship between total length and species preferring flowing water (p<0.05) and a negative relationship of total length with species favoring low-flow, sandy habitats (p<0.05). Larger brown trout showed active feeding behavior and resilience to flow speed and riverbed structure. The primary food source for the largest brown trout (TL: 246 mm) was Hypomesus nipponensis. Future analyses should include brown trout with a total length of 30 cm or more. Given that samples were limited, comprehensive population management will require ongoing research.

Most wetlands worldwide have suffered from extensive human exploitation. Unfortunately they have been less explored compared to river and lake ecosystems despite their ecological importance and economic values. This is the same case in Korea. This study was aimed to estimate the assemblage attributes and distribution characteristics of benthic macroinvertebrates for fifty wetlands distributed throughout subtropical Jeju Island in 2021. A total of 133 taxa were identified during survey periods belonging to 53 families, 19 orders, 5 classes and 3 phyla. Taxa richness ranged from 4 to 31 taxa per wetland with an average of 17.5 taxa. Taxa richness and abundance of predatory insect groups such as Odonata, Hemiptera and Coleoptera respectively accounted for 67.7% and 68.2% of the total. Among them Coleoptera were the most diverse and abundant. Taxa richness and abundance did not significantly differ from each wetland type classified in accordance with the National Wetland Classification System. There were three endangered species (Clithon retropictum, Lethocerus deyrolli and Cybister (Cybister) chinensis) and several restrictively distributed species only in Jeju Island. Cluster analysis based on the similarity in the benthic macroinvertebrate composition largely classified 50 wetlands into two major clusters: small wetlands located in lowland areas and medium-sized wetlands in middle mountainous regions. All cluster groups displayed significant differences in wetland area, long axis, percentage of fine particles and macrophyte composition ratio. Indicator Species Analysis selected 19 important indicators with the highest indicator value of Ceriagrion melanurum at 63%, followed by Noterus japonicus (59%) and Polypylis hemisphaerula (58%). Our results are expected to provide fundamental information on the biodiversity and habitat environments for benthic macroinvertebrates in wetland ecosystems, consequently helping to establish conservation and restoration plans for small wetlands relatively vulnerable to human disturbance.

Paddy fields provide important habitats for biodiversity conservation within the agricultural ecosystem. Their importance is gradually increasing as their ecological value is better understood. Benthic macroinvertebrates dominate paddy fields. They play an essential role in maintaining the biodiversity of paddy ecosystems. This study aimed to analyze characteristics of benthic macroinvertebrate communities and main environmental factors affecting the distribution of golden apple snails (Pomacea canaliculata). Results showed that the diversity index (H ′) of the benthic macroinvertebrate community was the highest at the Sangju site (St. 12) but the lowest at the Sancheong site (St. 18). Total Dissolved Solids (TDS), salinity, and Electrical Conductivity (EC) values were the highest in Gimhae and Yeongam based on Canonical Correspondence Analysis (CCA). Numbers of P. canaliculata (m-2) were relatively low in Gunsan and Iksan where water temperatures were high. Therefore, changes in geographical characteristics and environmental factors might affect the distribution of P. canaliculata and characteristics of benthic macroinvertebrate communities. Results of this study can be used as primary data for biodiversity conservation and ecosystem service evaluation in agroecosystems.

On April 29, 2021 (1st), June 2 (2nd), and August 17 (3rd), we surveyed benthic macroinvertebrates fauna at Muljangori-oreum wetland in Bonggae-dong, Jeju Island, Korea. Muljangori-oreum wetland was divided into four areas. The survey was conducted in three accessible areas (areas 1-3). As a result of habitat environment analysis, the average monthly temperature from 2017 to 2021 was the highest in July and August and the lowest in December and February. This pattern was repeated. As a result of analyzing changes in vegetation and water surface area through satellite images, normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) increased from February to July and decreased after July. Normalized difference water index (NDWI) was analyzed to show an inverse relationship. A total of 21 species from 13 families were identified in the qualitative survey and a total of 412 individuals of 24 species from 15 families were identified in the quantitative survey. A total of 26 species from 17 families, 8 orders, 3 classes, and 2 phyla of benthic macroinvertebrates were identified. The dominant species was Chronomidae spp. with 132 individuals (32.04%). Noterus japonicus was a subdominant species with 71 individuals (17.23%). As a result of comparative analysis of species identified in this study and the literature, it was confirmed that species diversity was high for Coleoptera and Odonata. Main functional feeding groups (FFGs) were found to be predators. Habitat orientation groups (HOGs) were found to be swimmers. In OHC (Odonata, Hemiptera, and Coleoptera) group, 17 species (73.91%) in 2021, 23 species (79.31%) in 2016, 26 species (86.67%) in 2018, and 19 species (79.17%) in 2019 were identified. Cybister japonicus, an endangered species II, was confirmed to inhabit Muljangori-oreum wetland in the literature. Ten individuals (2.43%) were also confirmed to inhabit Muljangori-oreum wetland in 2021. Therefore, continuous management and habitat protection are required to maintain the habitat environment of C. japonicus in Muljangori-oreum wetland.

Koreoleptoxis nodifila (Martens, 1886) is an endangered species only living in the central and north streams of South Korea. However, there is a lack of information on physical habitat characteristics of K. nodifila. We aimed to determine preference ranges for water depth, current velocity, streambed substrate of K. nodifila. The weibull model was used to estimate the habitat suitability based on distribution of individual abundance by physical factors. Optimal depth preferences ranged from 0.53~17.17 cm, current preferences ranged from 48.40~81.03 cm s-1 and substrate (Φm) preferences ranged from - 4.36~ - 2.26. Median values of central tendency were determined as follows: water depth 16.73 cm, current velocity 65.23 cm s-1, substrate - 3.51. Mean values of central tendency were determined as follows: water depth 21.32 cm, current velocity 65.65 cm s-1, substrate - 3.63. Mode values of central tendency were determined as follows: water depth 5.17 cm, current velocity 64.77 cm s-1, substrate - 3.24. Based on the habitat suitability analysis, the microhabitat types of K. nodifila were determined as riffle and coarse-grained streambed.

In 2020, the diversity of benthic macroinvertebrate communities was investigated in the Sohan stream, an ecological and landscape conservation area, and the results were compared with the previous research conducted in 2011. In total, 42 species (two phyla, three classes, and seven orders) were found in the Sohan stream. Species richness and abundance sharply decreased at all sampling sites because of Typhoons Haishen and Maysak in 2020, which had a direct impact on the stream. In the functional feeding group, the ratio of collector-gatherers was the highest at all sampling sites. However, during the autumn season, the shredder ratio increased from 13.4% to 42.4% in the uppermost stream site. Compared with the diversity of benthic macroinvertebrates surveyed in 2011, a total of 53 species (two phyla, three classes, and eight orders) were found. The percentage of species richness and abundance of Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera, and Trichoptera was more than 50% both in 2011 and 2020. Only the richness of Ephemeroptera was significantly different between them (2011: 2.9 and 2020: 6.7). In this study, the abrupt changes of species richness and abundance in benthic macroinvertebrate were not observed before and after the designation of an ecological and landscape conservation area. However, it is necessary to monitor benthic macroinvertebrates in order to confirm that biodiversity is continuously maintained long after the designation of the ecological and landscape conservation area.

Recently, environmental DNA (eDNA)-based metabarcoding approaches have been proposed to evaluate the status of freshwater ecosystems owing to various advantages, including fast and easy sampling and minimal habitat disruption from sampling. Therefore, as a case study, we applied eDNA metabarcoding techniques to evaluate the effects of an abandoned mine land located near a headwater stream of Nakdonggang River, South Korea, by examining benthic macroinvertebrate diversity and compared the results with those obtained using the traditional Surber-net sampling method. The number of genera was higher in Surbernet sampling (29) than in the eDNA analysis (20). The genus richness tended to decrease from headwater to downstream in eDNA analysis, whereas richness tended to decrease at sites with acid-sulfated sediment areas using Surber-net sampling. Through cluster analysis and non-metric multidimensional scaling, the sampling sites were differentiated into two parts: acid-sulfated and other sites using Surber-net sampling, whereas they were grouped into the two lowest downstream and other sites using eDNA sampling. To evaluate freshwater ecosystems using eDNA analysis in practical applications, it is necessary to constantly upgrade the methodologies and compare the data with field survey methods.

This study explored the usefulness and implications of the Bayesian hyperparameter optimization in developing species distribution models (SDMs). A variety of machine learning (ML) algorithms, namely, support vector machine (SVM), random forest (RF), boosted regression tree (BRT), XGBoost (XGB), and Multilayer perceptron (MLP) were used for predicting the occurrence of four benthic macroinvertebrate species. The Bayesian optimization method successfully tuned model hyperparameters, with all ML models resulting an area under the curve (AUC) > 0.7. Also, hyperparameter search ranges that generally clustered around the optimal values suggest the efficiency of the Bayesian optimization in finding optimal sets of hyperparameters. Tree based ensemble algorithms (BRT, RF, and XGB) tended to show higher performances than SVM and MLP. Important hyperparameters and optimal values differed by species and ML model, indicating the necessity of hyperparameter tuning for improving individual model performances. The optimization results demonstrate that for all macroinvertebrate species SVM and RF required fewer numbers of trials until obtaining optimal hyperparameter sets, leading to reduced computational cost compared to other ML algorithms. The results of this study suggest that the Bayesian optimization is an efficient method for hyperparameter optimization of machine learning algorithms.

유사한 시기에 조사된 다른 위도의 저서성대형무척추동물 군집 구조의 시공간적 차이를 비교한 결과, 평창 조사지역에서는 3문 5강 12목 44과 69분류군 13,042개체, 완도 조사지역에서는 4문 5강 12목 37과 52분류군 8,887개체가 채집되었다. 평창이 완도보다 다양도와 균등도 또한 높게 나타났다. 우점종은 평창에서는 두점하루살이로 나타났고, 완도에서는 길쭉하루살이로 서로 달랐다. 집괴 분석 결과 평창과 완도 조사지역의 군집 특성이 명확하게 나누어졌으며 지역 내에서는 대체로 계절성의 영향이 컸다. 지표종 분석에서는 총 4종의 지표종이 선정되었으며 대체로 해당 조사시기 및 지점에만 나타난 종이 선정되었다. 기능적 군집으로는 주워 먹는 무리인 깔따구류를 제외하였을 때 평창 조사지점에서는 긁어먹는 무리가 가장 많았다. 완도 조사지점에서는 주워 먹는 무리가 가장 많았으며 평창 조사지역에 비해 걸러먹는 무리의 비율이 더 높았다. 군집 온도지수 산출 결과 평창이 9.8℃, 완도가 11.0℃으로 평창의 군집이 더 낮은 온도를 선호하는 것으로 나타났다. 이는 서식지 온도 특성이 저서성대 형무척추동물 군집 구성에 크게 영향을 미치고 있음을 반영해 주었다.

본 연구는 강원도 원주시에 설치된 사방댐을 대상으로 장마 전·후의 자료를 비교·분석하여 사방댐에 의한 저서성 대형무척추 동물의 군집 변화를 파악하고자 하였다. 조사시기는 2019년 3월부터 9월까지 총 4회 조사를 실시하였으며, 조사지점은 불투과형 사방댐(전석), 투과형 사방댐(버트리스), 대조지역을 선정하여 사방댐을 기준으로 상류 2지점, 하류 2지점을 조사하 였다. 유속은 불투과형, 투과형, 대조지역의 지점에서 대부분 증가하였으며, 불투과형은 St. 3에서 장마 이후 감소하는 것으로 나타났다. 저서성 대형무척추동물의 종수 및 개체수는 장마 이후 대부분 감소하는 것으로 나타났으며, 투과형과 대조지역의 개체수 감소율은 전석에 비해 비교적 유사한 것으로 나타났다. EPT 그룹의 종수 및 개체수는 장마 이후 대부분 감소하는 것으로 나타났다. 유사도 분석 결과, 장마 이전에는 불투과형 및 투과형이 대조지역과 38.4%로 구분되었으나, 장마 이후에는 투과형과 대조지역이 불투과형과 51.3%로 구분되었다. PCA 분석 결과, Axis 1을 기준으로 불투과형은 장마 전․후로 양의 값을 나타내었으며, 투과형과 대조지역은 장마 전․후 음의 값을 나타내어 불투과형 보다는 투과형이 대조지역과 상관성이 높은 것으로 분석되었다. EPT 그룹은 불투과형에서 하루살이목, 투과형과 대조지역에서 날도래목이 분포하는 것으로 분석되었다. 본 연구결과, 사방댐 설치는 저서성 대형무척추동물 군집에 변화를 초래할 수 있으며, 불투과형 보다는 상대적으로 투과형이 대조지역과 장마 이후 군집 차이가 적은 것으로 분석되었다.

In this study, we investigated the relationships between benthic macroinvertebrate assemblages and various environmental factors in Iancheon (NIA) and Bukcheon (NBC) streams, Korea. We collected benthic macroinvertebrates and 33 environmental factors in April 2017 at 9 sites (5 sites in NIA and 4 sites in NBC). We identified 93 species (5 phyla, 9 classes, 16 orders, and 53 families) and 69 species (5 phyla, 9 classes, 17 orders, and 47 families) in NIA and NBC streams, respectively. Considering benthic macroinvertebrate index (BMI), NIA (88.2) and NBC (80.2) streams were in “very good” status. Upstream areas showed the highest scores, 95.5 (NIA1) and 94.2 (NBC1), whereas BMI score was the lowest in downstream areas of both streams, especially in NBC4 (51.0 “bad” status). Cluster analysis and non-metric multidimensional scaling analysis represented the differences of benthic macroinvertebrate assemblages according to spatial and anthropogenic gradients. Our findings provide reference data and highlight the need for the continued monitoring to maintain the good status and manage macroinvertebrate diversity in these two streams, in Sangju-si, Korea.

본 연구는 경상북도 영주시에 위치한 영주댐의 담수 이전과 이후의 자료를 비교․분석하여 인위적인 교란의 영향을 파악하고자 하였다. 조사시기는 2018년 4월부터 10월까지 총 4회 조사를 실시하였으며, 조사지점은 유사조절지(모래차단댐) 하류부터 영주댐 하류까지 총 4개의 지점을 선정하였다. 담수 이전의 자료는 문헌을 인용하여 분석하였다. 저서성 대형무척추동물은 총 3문 7강 14목 48과 77종 35,037개체/m²가 출현하였다. 군집분석 결과 우점도지수는 0.44(±0.11)에서 0.62(±0.16), 다양도지수는 2.26(±0.30)에서 1.75(±0.45), 균등도지수는 0.75(±0.10)에서 0.66(±0.14), 풍부도지수는 3.11(±0.98)에서 2.25(±0.81)로 나타났으며, 우점종은 대부분 줄날도래류(Hydropsychidae spp.)에서 깔따구류(Chironomidae sp.)로 변화하였다. PCA 분석 결과 Axis 1을 기준으로 2014년 지점과 줄날도래류는 음의 값을 나타내었으며, 2018년 지점과 깔따구류는 양의 값을 나타내었다. 모든지점에서 우점도지수는 증가하고 다양도지수는 감소하였으며, St. 2에서 군집변화가 가장 큰 것으로 분석되었다. 기능군 분석 결과 섭석기능군은 긁어먹는무리(Scrapers)가 감소하고 주워먹는무리(Gathering-Collectors) 는 증가하였으며, 서식기능군은 붙는무리(Clingers)가 감소하고 굴파는무리(Burrowers)는 증가하는 것으로 나타났다. 저서동물 하천하상지수(BMSI) 분석 결과 평균 57.1(±8.0, C 등급)에서 평균 30.0(±12.1, C 등급)으로 감소하였으며, 특히 St. 3과 St. 4는 감소율이 높은 것으로 나타났다.

한강수계 남한강의 보 (강천보, 여주보, 이포보) 공사 후 수변부 여울 구간의 물리적 환경의 변화에 따른 유수성 저서동물의 군집 변화를 확인한 결과 다음과 같은 결론을 얻었다. 첫째, 보에 의한 여울구간의 소실은 유속, 하상 등 물리적 환경의 변화를 야기하여 수질요인과는 독립적으로 수생태계에 영향을 미칠 수 있다. 둘째, 남한강 보 구간의 수변부 물리적 서식환경의 복합적인 변화는 유수성 분류군의 군집구성에 영향을 미친 것으로 판단된다. 셋째, 저서성 대형무척추동물 유수성 지표 후보종 157 분류군은 수생태계 변화의 원인 분석을 비롯한 하천 수생태계 복원 및 재자연화 등에 유용한 지표로 활용될 수 있을 것으로 기대된다. 넷째, 향후 유속변화에 대한 수생태계 영향을 면밀하게 파악하기 위해서는 분류군별 유속에 대한 저항성 또는 선호도를 바탕으로 한 지표연구가 필요할 것으로 사료된다.

Headwater streams provide various microhabitats, resulting in high diversity of macroinvertebrate community. In this study, we compared the differences of communities between two adjacent headwater streams (Jangjeon stream (GRJ; GRJ1-GRJ5) and Haanmi stream (GRH; GRH1-GRH3)) in Jungwang and Gariwang mountains, Gangwon-do and evaluated the effects of habitat condition to the macroinvertebrates community composition. In order to characterize the macroinvertebrate communities and extract influential environmental factors, we applied to Cluster analysis (CA), Indicator species analysis and Non-metric multidimensional scaling (NMDS). Total 33,613 individuals in 3 phyla, 5 classes, 13 orders, 51 families, and 114 taxa (genera or species) were collected. Gammarus sp. was dominant at the upper stream of GRJ, whereas Chironomidae spp. was abundant at GRH and the downstream of GRJ. The CA classified samples into six clusters (1-6) reflecting spatial and temporal variation of benthic macroinvertebrate communities. Benthic macroinvertebrate community composition was significantly different between two adjacent streams. Sweltsa sp. 1, Psilotreta kisoensis, Rhyacophila shikotsuensis and Serratella setigera were identified as representative indicator species for clusters 1, 2, 3 and 5, respectively. Similar to CA results, NMDS revealed the spatial and temporal differences of benthic macroinvertebrate communities, indicating the difference of community composition as well as microhabitat condition. Forest composition, proportion of boulders (>256 mm), and water velocity were main factors affecting the macroinvertebrate community composition.

Headwater streams are main sources of water, sediments, and organic materials that are transported downstream. Inthis study, we characterized the variability in benthic macroinvertebrate communities according to spatio-temporal variationresponding to the differences of environmental characteristics. We collected benthic macroinvertebrates at five samplingsites along longitudinal gradient on the Jangjeon stream in the Gariwang Mountain at three different seasons (spring, summerand autumn). We identified 93 taxa in 44 families. The dominant species was Gammarus sp. at the upper stream, whileit was Chronomidae spp. at the downstream. Changes of functional feeding guilds was clearly observed along the longitudinalgradient. Species turnover rates was higher in summer than in other seasons. The habitat condition including the landcover of their riparian zone and hydrological factors were major factors influencing on the community composition.