• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.240-249
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• 2021

Phenotypic plasticity is a rapid response mechanism that enables organisms to acclimate and survive in changing environments. The Chinese mitten crab (Eriocheir sinensis) survives and thrives in different and even introduced habitats, thereby indicating its high phenotypic plasticity. However, the underpinnings of the high plasticity of E. sinensis have not been comprehensively investigated. In this study, we conducted an integrated gut microbiome and muscle metabolome analysis on E. sinensis collected from three different environments, namely, an artificial pond, Yangcheng Lake, and Yangtze River, to uncover the mechanism of its high phenotypic plasticity. Our study presents three divergent gut microbiotas and muscle metabolic profiles that corresponded to the three environments. The composition and diversity of the core gut microbiota (Proteobacteria, Bacteroidetes, Tenericutes, and Firmicutes) varied among the different environments while the metabolites associated with amino acids, fatty acids, and terpene compounds displayed significantly different concentration levels. The results revealed that the gut microbiome community and muscle metabolome were significantly affected by the habitat environments. Our findings indicate the high phenotypic plasticity in terms of gut microbiome and muscle metabolome of E. sinensis when it faces environmental changes, which would also facilitate its acclimation and adaptation to diverse and even introduced environments.

• ALGAE
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.243-251
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• 2011

Environmental conditions can influence the morphology of local biota through phenotypic plasticity or local adaptation. Macroalgal morphologies are often associated with wave-exposure conditions. We investigated the relationship between morphology and wave exposure in two common endemic subtidal macroalgae, Carpophyllum angustifolium and C. maschalocarpum, from the East Cape of New Zealand. Morphological comparisons were made between individuals from two sites and four different wave-exposure zones, as defined by fetch and barnacle composition. Of the seven morphological traits measured in C. angustifolium, only total length varied, and individuals were longer in more wave-exposed environments between the two exposure zones where the species were found. In contrast, total length, stipe thickness and vesicle presence all varied significantly between exposure zones in C. maschalocarpum. C. maschalocarpum specimens were shorter with thinner stipes, and fewer individuals had vesicles in the more wave-exposed zones. Morphological traits of both species also varied between sites, suggesting that other influences are important for determining species morphology. Further study is needed to investigate the role of phenotypic plasticity and genetic variability for driving morphological variation in C. angustifolium and C. maschalocarpum.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.45 no.2
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• pp.78-87
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• 2021

Background: To understand shade and wind effects on seedling traits of common reed (Phragmites australis), we conducted a mesocosm experiment manipulating day length (10 h daytime a day as open canopy conditions or 6 h daytime a day as partially closed canopy conditions) and wind speed (0 m/s as windless conditions or 4 m/s as windy conditions). Results: Most values of functional traits of leaf blades, culms, and biomass production of P. australis were higher under long day length. In particular, we found sole positive effects of long day length in several functional traits such as internode and leaf blade lengths and the values of above-ground dry weight (DW), rhizome DW, and total DW. Wind-induced effects on functional traits were different depending on functional traits. Wind contributed to relatively low values of chlorophyll contents, angles between leaf blades, mean culm height, and maximum culm height. In contrast, wind contributed to relatively high values of culm density and below-ground DW. Conclusions: Although wind appeared to inhibit the vertical growth of P. australis through physiological and morphological changes in leaf blades, it seemed that P. australis might compensate the inhibited vertical growth with increased horizontal growth such as more numerous culms, indicating a highly adaptive characteristic of P. australis in terms of phenotypic plasticity under windy environments.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Crop Science Conference
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• 2017.06a
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• pp.321-321
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• 2017

Water availability in rainfed lowlands (RFL) is strongly affected by climate change. In RFL, rice plants are exposed to soil moisture fluctuations (SMF) but rarely to simple progressive drought as widely believed. Typical RFL field is characterized by a about 5-cm thick high bulk density hardpan layer underneath the cultivated layer at about 20 cm depth that impedes deep root development. Root system has the ability to develop in response to changes in SMF, known as phenotypic plasticity. We hypothesized that genotypes that can adapt to RFL have root plasticity. The roots can sharply respond to re-wetting after drought period and thus penetrate the hardpan layer when the hardpan is wet and so becomes relatively soft, and thus access water under the hardpan. This study aimed to identify CSSLs derived from a cross between Sasanishiki and Habataki which adapted to such RFL conditions. We used 39 CSSLs together with the parent Sasanishiki, which were grown in hydroponics and pot under transient soil moisture stresses (drought and then rewatering), and compared with continuously well-watered (WW) (control) up to 14 days after sowing (DAS), and 20 DAS, respectively. Based on the results of hydroponics and pot experiments, we selected a few lines, which were grown in the soil-filled rootbox with artificial hardpan layer and without artificial hardpan. For the rootbox without artificial hardpan, plants were grown under WW and transient soil moisture stresses for 49 DAS. While the rootbox with artificial hardpan, the plants were grown under WW (control) and SMF (WW up to 21 DAS, 1st drought (22-36 DAS), rewatering (37-44 DAS), and followed by 2nd drought (45-58 DAS)). Among the 39 CSSLs, only CSSL439 (SL39) consistently showed significantly higher shoot dry weight (SDW) than Sasanishiki under transient soil moisture stress conditions as well as SMF conditions in all the experiments. Furthermore, under WW, SL39 consistently showed no significant differences from Sasanishiki in shoot and root growth in most of traits examined. SL39 showed significantly greater total root length (TRL) than Sasanishiki under transient soil moisture stress, which is considered as phenotypic plasticity in response to rewatering after drought period. Such plastic root development was the key trait that effectively contributed to root elongation and branching during the rewatering period and consequently enhanced the root to penetrate hardpan layer when the soil penetration resistance at hardpan layer reduced. In addition, using the rootbox with artificial hardpan layer ($1.7g\;cm^{-3}$, heavily compacted), SL39 showed greater root system development than Sasanishiki under SMF, which was expressed in its significantly higher TRL, total nodal RL, and total lateral RL at hardpan layer as well as at below the hardpan layer. These results prove that SL39 has plasticity that enables its root systems to penetrate hardpan layer in response to rewatering. Under SMF, such root plasticity contributed to its higher gs and Pn.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Crop Science Conference
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• 2017.06a
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• pp.328-328
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• 2017

Drought is a major limiting factor that reduces rice production and occurs often especially under recent climate change. Plants have the ability to alter their developmental morphology in response to changing environment, which is known as phenotypic plasticity. In our previous studies, we found that one chromosome segment substitution line (CSSL50 derived from Nipponbare and Kasalath crosses) showed no differences in shoot and root growth as compared with the recurrent genotype, Nipponbare under non-stress condition but showed greater growth responses compared with Nipponbare under mild drought stress condition. We hypothesized that reducing root respiration as metabolic cost, which may be largely a consequence of aerenchyma formation would be one of the key mechanisms for root plasticity expression. This study aimed to evaluate the root respiration and aerenchyma formation under various soil moisture conditions among genotypes with different root plasticity. CSSL50 together with Nipponbare and Kasalath were grown under waterlogged conditions (Control) and mild drought stress conditions (20% of soil moisture content) in a plastic pot ($11cm{\times}14cm$, ${\varphi}{\times}H$) and PVC tube ($3cm{\times}30cm$, ${\varphi}{\times}H$). Root respiration rate was measured with infrared gas analyzer (IRGA, GMP343, Vaisala, Finland) with a closed static chamber system. There was no significant difference between genotypes in control for shoot and root growth as well as root respiration rate. In contrast, all the genotypes increased their root respiration rates in response to mild drought stress. However, CSSL50 showed lower root respiration rate than Nipponbare, which was associated by higher root aerenchyma formation that was estimated based on internal gas space (porosity) under mild drought stress conditions. Furthermore, there were significant negative correlations between root length and root respiration rate. These results imply that reducing the metabolic cost (= root respiration rate) is a key mechanism for root plasticity expression, which CSSL50 showed under mild drought.

• Asian Journal of Turfgrass Science
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.127-136
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• 2001

A field trial was initiated to examine the range of inter- and intraspecific variations in morphological and phenological traits with five different accessions of smooth and large crabgrass. In addition, a controlled environment study was conducted to determine the phenotypic plasticity among the accessions of both species in response to 4 daily tempera-ture differentials. In the field experiment, significant inter- and intraspecific variations of smooth and large crabgrass were observed in morphological traits such as leaf length and width. However, most phenological traits were not substantially different between the species and among the accessions of each species. The first seedling emerged at the same time, requiring 9~ 10 days, regardless of the accessions and species. In a controlled environment study, all accessions of each species responded similarly to the 4 temperature differentials in seedling emergence, indicating seedling emergence was not a plastic trait. These results suggest that predicting crabgrass seedling emergence could be independent of geographical regions in the US.

• ALGAE
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.253-263
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• 2011

Phenotypic plasticity was examined in the economically and ecologically important brown alga Ascophyllum nodosum in southwestern Nova Scotia, considering specifically how nutrient loading affected its vegetative and reproductive features. To determine this, we examined morphometric changes in A. nodosum from two sites receiving direct effluent impacts from a land-based finfish aquaculture facility and from two control sites, approximately 2 km away from the aquaculture facility in opposite directions. Fronds from test sites were significantly younger than from control sites (5 y vs. 8 y); however, fronds from farm sites were significantly larger (219 g vs. 90 g) because of their higher growth rates. Thalli from farm sites had greater reproductive potential, as shown by numbers of receptacle initials (797 initials vs. 281 initials). These results suggest limited nutrient inflows from land-based aquaculture may positively affect adjacent Ascophyllum populations by inducing higher growth rates. We conclude that the coordination of effluent management from land-based aquaculture with natural resource harvesting of A. nodosum may be beneficial. Further study is necessary to determine the limits of nutrient loading for this potentially beneficial outcome.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.342-347
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• 2012

This study was conducted to demonstrate the relationship between experience of cannibalism and difference of phenotype in the Korean salamander Hynobius leechii from March to April 2011. We examined whether the different polyphenism of larval salamander is induced as a result of indirect cannibalism in early life cycle. We divided into two groups(one group continuously exposed to the indirect cannibalism and the other group never exposed to the cannibalism). We measured the head width at the level of eyes(HWE), the largest head width(LHW) and snout-vent length(SVL) of the each larva then calculated the ratio of the head size by dividing HWE by LHW. We found that exposure of indirect cannibalism in early life cycle cause the different polyphenism. Our result means the larval salamander responded to the chemical cue from conspecific.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.207-211
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• 2008

We investigated the leaf demography of a temperate woody liana, Akebia trifoliata, in a temperate forest in Japan, Akebia is semi-evergreen: some leaves are shed before winter, while others remain through the winter. Previous studies of semi-evergreen species found that variation in leaf life span was caused by variation in the timing of leaf emergence, Leaves that appeared just before winter over-wintered, while leaves appearing earlier were shed, However, it is unclear whether leaves of the same cohort (i.e., leaves that appear at the same time within a single site) show variation in life span under the effect of strong seasonality. To separate variation in life span among the leaves in each cohort from variation among cohorts, we propose a new method - the single leaf diagram, which shows the emergence and death of each leaf. Using single leaf diagrams, our study revealed that Akebia leaves within a cohort showed substantial variation in life span, with some over-wintering and some not. In addition, leaves on small ramets in the understory showed great variation in life span, while leaves on large ramets, which typically reach higher positions in the forest canopy, have shorter lives, As a result, small ramets were semi-evergreen, whereas large ramets were deciduous, The longer lives of leaves on small ramets can be interpreted as a shade-adaptive strategy in understory plants.

• The Korean Journal of Malacology
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.275-283
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• 2010

Many freshwater snail taxa are difficult to identify using morphological traits due to phenotypic plasticity. However, using of molecular DNA marker in combination with morphological traits can provide a reliable means for discriminating among freshwater snail taxa including cryptic species. To discriminate among Korean freshwater snail taxa and resolve their systematic relationships, wesequenced a fragment of mtDNA cytochrome oxidase I (COI) gene from 82 specimens collected from ten different sites distributed along the Korean peninsula. We identified more than seven freshwater snail taxa including cryptic species in Korea. Whereas traditional shell morphology of freshwater snails offers only weak discriminatory power for recognizing 'good' taxa, DNA sequence data provided positive and reliable identification. In addition, a major Semisulcospira clade was clearly separated from the remaining lineages observed including cryptic species. However, a phylogenetic tree inferred from the COI gene data did not fully resolve systematic relationships among pleurocerid taxa in Korea. Establishing more robust shell characteristics for identifying taxa unambiguously and hence improving traditional key shell morphology characters for freshwater snail species is an urgent requirement and will require more rigorous examination of all nominal taxa. While molecular data generated here will be useful for species identification and for describing the systematic relationships among Korean freshwater snails, further analysis will be required.