• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.40 no.2
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• pp.125-135
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• 2016

Background: The objectives of this study were to establish a swimming capability model for largemouth bass using the FishXing (version 3) program, and to determine the swimming speed and feasibility of fish passage through a waterway tunnel. This modeling aimed to replicate the waterway tunnel connecting the Andong and Imha Reservoirs in South Korea, where there is a concern that largemouth bass may be able to pass through this structure. As largemouth bass are considered an invasive species, this spread could have repercussions for the local environment. Results: Flow regime of water through the waterway tunnel was calculated via the simulation of waterway tunnel operation, and the capability of largemouth bass to pass through the waterway tunnel was then estimated. The swimming speed and distance of the largemouth bass had a positive linear function with total length and negative linear function with the flow rate of the waterway tunnel. The passing rate of small-size largemouth bass (10-30 cm) was 0%at a flow of $10m^3/s$ due to rapid exhaustion from prolonged upstream swimming through the long (1.952 km) waterway tunnel. Conclusions: The results of FishXing showed that the potential passing rate of large size largemouth bass (>40 cm) through the waterway tunnel was greater than 10%; however, the passage of largemouth bass was not possible because of the mesh size ($3.4{\times}6.0cm$) of the pre-screening structures at the entrance of the waterway tunnel. Overall, this study suggests that the spread of largemouth bass population in the Imha Reservoir through the waterway tunnel is most likely impossible.

• Journal of Korea Water Resources Association
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• v.52 no.spc2
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• pp.845-853
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• 2019

The aim of this study is to investigate the factors affecting the habitat characteristics of largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides), which is one of exotic fishes in Korea. Based on field observation, the laboratory experiments were performed in order to investigate the relationship between water temperature and the habitat characteristics of largemouth bass. It was found that largemouth bass preferred a relatively high water temperature in winter and a low temperature in summer. When the small largemouth bass coexisted with large largemouth bass, the separation of habitats depending on the size of each largemouth bass are observed. In the separated habitat areas, it is also observed that the largemouth bass preferred vicinity of the obstacle such as boulder. From the experiments for preference between water temperature and obstacle, it was observed that a primary consideration in habitat selection was obstacles. It was also observed that when light device was turned on, largemouth bass formed a new habitat.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.370-375
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• 2013

Exotic species in aquatic ecosystem generate various problems domestically as well as globally. Largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides) which is a well-known exotic species globally, acts as a substantial disturbance factor on the native fish communities in Korea due to the high predation pressure and hence designated as a ecologically harmful species by Ministry of Environment. In this study, we investigated the impact of largemouth bass on Korean native fish population, crucian carp (Carassius auratus), to identify responses of the prey fish. Two fish species were collected at seven reservoirs distributed at the Nakdong River catchment area, and changes in length-frequency and length-weight relationship (LWR) were analysed depending on existence of large-mouth bass. At bass absent sites, ratio of under age 1 year individuals were small, and over age two years were dominant. Conversely, normal length-frequency distribution pattern was identified at bass absent sites. The LWR of crucian carp (fish smaller than total length of 160 mm were only considered as it is frequently consumed by bass predation) was different depending upon bass existence. The value of parameter b at bass absent reservoirs was 2.909, which was smaller than that of bass present reservoirs, 3.100. Our results imply that crucian carp at bass present reservoirs presented a different strategy to survive from predation by bass, through relatively rapid growth. We propose that other native species might have similar growth strategies like crucian carp.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.35 no.12
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• pp.953-959
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• 2013

In this study, through the analysis of the growth condition and prey of the largemouth bass, we tried to understand the characteristics of the aquatic animal community depending on the composition and shape of a artificial lake. The evaluation was conducted for Ilsan lake which is one of the largest urban artificial lakes in Korea. Weight gain rate of the Zone III (eco-zone) was more rapid based on the relationship of length and weight of largemouth bass. Total 16 and 9 species of fish were found in each Zone III and Zone I, II (artificial zones), which represented significantly higher diversity of fish species in Zone III than Zone I, II. Index of relative importance(IRI) was more diverse at Zone III and when considering the hunger rate the food stress was more serious at Zone I, II. the proportion of the population of fish, Zacco platypus revealed to be the dominant species, and Squalidus gracilis majimae and Rhinogobius brunneus inhabited only Zone III naturally rich. On account of low prey species diversity of Zone I, II, the Phylum Arthropoda like Heteroptera showed relatively higher prey ratio in stomach of largemouth bass than that of Zone III. It was possible to figure out aquatic animal community characteristics indirectly through analyzing the stomach contents of largemouth bass.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.35 no.5
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• pp.503-524
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• 2021

A largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides) is an ecosystem disturbance fish species at the highest rank in the aquatic ecosystem, causing a serious imbalance in freshwater ecosystems. Although various attempts have been made to eradicate and control largemouth bass, no effective measures were found. Therefore, it is necessary to find an approach to maximize the effective population reduction based on the unique characteristics of largemouth bass. This study used the transcriptome analysis to derive 182,887 unigene contigs and select 12 types of final target sequences for applying the CRISPR/Cas9 system in the genes of IZUMO1 and Zona pellucida sperm-binding protein, which are proteins involved in sperm-egg recognition. After synthesizing 12 types of sgRNA capable of recognizing each target sequence, 12 types of Cas9-sgRNA ribonucleoprotein (RNP) complexes to be used in subsequent studies were prepared. This study searched the protein-coding gene of sperm-egg through the Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) and edited genes through the CRISPR/Cas9 system to induce infertile individuals that produced reproductive cells but could not form fertilized eggs. Through such a series of processes, it successfully established a composition development process for largemouth bass. It is judged that this study contributed to securing the valuable basic data for follow-up studies to verify its effect for the management of ecological disturbances without affecting the habitat of other endemic species in the same water system with the largemouth bass.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.30 no.5
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• pp.477-485
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• 2014

Imha Reservoir is connected to Andong Reservoir via a diversion tunnel allowing water to pass between. The diversion tunnel is equipped with screens to exclude exotic largemouth bass due to their predatory impacts on prey assemblages resulting in a degradation of species richness of local fish fauna and extinction of local fish populations in Korea. Flow pattern changes resulting from the fish screens and trash racks were investigated using a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model. Numerical simulations showed that the decrease in the discharge capacity of the tunnel is approximately 8.6% and the headloss coefficient for fish screen at Andong intake tower was determined to be 1.5. In order not to allow the small fishes enough to pass through the wire openings enter into Imha Reservoir through tunnel, the velocity in the tunnel should be greater than 1.48 m/s which is a critical ascending velocity of the bass. This study suggests that it can keep the velocity higher enough to exclude largemouth bass when a gate opens with the condition of 1.0m difference in water stage between two reservoirs.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.41 no.3
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• pp.395-401
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• 2008

Genetic diversity and differentiation within or among nine populations of introduced fish, largemouth bass Micropterus salmoides were assessed by AFLP. The AFLP analysis using three primer combinations generated 299.2. AFLP bands and percentage of polymorphic bands were similar in those nine populations, ranging 14.1 to 21%. Heterozygosity and genetic diversity within or among populations were quite low for all of these populations with average values ranging from 0.054 to 0.067 and from 0.069 to 0.085, respectively. Analyses of pairwise distance and genetic similarity among nine populations of Micropterus salmoides also revealed the similar results with low genetic differentiation one another. Although pairwise Fst values were low, they were indicated a clear distinct genetic differentiation among the nine populations. These results indicate that very small population of the largemouth bass was first introduced to Paldang reservoir and they are widely spread at most of aquatic habitats in Korea.

• Journal of Animal Reproduction and Biotechnology
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• v.38 no.4
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• pp.225-235
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• 2023

Background: Largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides) is introduced species that has caused aquatic ecology activity both in vitro and in vivo were investigated for the possibility of application of the bass extract as an alternative feed ingredient. Methods: The bass oil was extracted using a 1-L supercritical extractor, while the protein was extracted from 250 g of bass dry matter, which was dissolved in 1 mL of H₂O at 50℃. Both oil and protein extracts were evaluated antioxidant activities and the level of DPPH radical scavenging assay and nitric oxide (NO) production assay with lipopolysaccharide response. Oral administration of 6.6 µL/g bass protein and 5.38 µL/g bass oil conducted for investigating serological and physiological effect. Results: DPPH radical scavenging showed similar radical scavenging ability of 50 µM of ascorbic acid at 200 ㎍ of protein and 10% of oil treatment. NO concentration was diminished by the treatment of bass oil. Oral administration of both bass oil and proteins to mice showed that the body weight increase rate of the bass oil treated group was significantly reduced by 1.55 g compared to the other groups. The number of white blood cells (WBC) was increased by 4.52 k/µL in the bass protein-treated group and 4.44 k/µL in the bass oil-treated group compared to the control group. However, the serum IgG level did not show a significant difference between the bass extract-treated groups and the control group. Conclusions: These studies demonstrate that both bass oil and proteins extracted from the bass not only provide excellent effects of antioxidant and immune activity but can also be used as functional food supplements.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.37 no.2
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• pp.177-188
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• 2019

The objective of this study was to analyze the distribution patterns of two exotic disturbing fish species (largemouth bass, Micropterus salmoides and bluegill, Lepomis macrochirus), their physical habitat features, and chemical water qualities from 13 sites of Dongjin River. The relationships between the fish distributions and water chemistry and physical habitat characteristics (i.e., bottom substrate) were evaluated by comparing dominant vs. absent regions of largemouth bass and bluegill. The relative abundance of the two species decreased sharply with decreased in the water quality in terms of BOD, PO₄-P and pH, but not with NO₃-N and conductivity. The bluegill showed no difference in habitat preference between the two regions with regard to the bottom structure, while the largemouth bass had significant differences in the bottom structures of silt, coarse gravels and boulders. The dominant species were Zacco platypus (14.6%), Lepomis macrochirus (14.0%), and Micropterus salmoides (9.8%) in the order of relative abundance, indicating that exotic species (24% in total) dominated the fish community, perhaps ensuing large ecological disturbances on the ecosystem. In conclusion, the results of this study suggest that the distribution of the two exotic species may be largely influenced by water quality of organic matter and nutrient pollutions.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.44 no.2
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• pp.195-202
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• 2011

This study analyzed and modeled the relationships between the probabilities of two exotic species occurrence (i.e. largemouth bass and blue gill) and environmental factors such as climatic and geographical variables using Generalized Additive Models (GAM), Generalized Liner Models and Classification Tree Analysis (CTA). The most moderate occurrence probability of largemouth bass was predicted using GAM with an area under the curve (ADC) of 0.88 and Kappa of 0.42, while those of blue gill was suggested by using CTA with an AUC of 0.92 and Kappa of 0.44. The most significant environmental variable in terms of changes in deviance for both species was the annual air temperature for the occurrence probability. Dams had stronger effect on the occurrence of largemouth bass than blue gill. Model development and prediction for the occurrence probability of fish species and richness are necessary to prevent further spread of exotic fishes such as largemouth bass and blue gill because they can threaten habitats of native river ecosystem through various mechanisms.