Dinosaur tracks from the Cretaceous of South Korea: Distribution, occurrences and paleobiological significance

Abstract   Abundant dinosaur fossils including dinosaur footprints, eggs and nests, teeth and bones have been found from the Cretaceous non-marine deposits of Korea. Among them, dinosaur tracks are the most distinctive, and some track sites are among the most famous in the world. Until now, 27 dinosaur track localities have been discovered from the Cretaceous strata in the Gyeongsang Basin and several small basins. Ornithopod tracks are most abundant at most Korean track sites, and most of them are identified as Caririchnium ; that is, large ornithopod footprints with wide hoof impressions. Most theropod tracks are found in Neungju Basin and they consist of various types of small or medium-sized bird-like footprints, and other large footprints. Sauropod tracks are also abundant in the Gyeongsang Basin. The sauropod tracks vary in size, shape, and pattern of trackway, and suggest that diverse sauropods existed in this area. These diverse tracks in South Korea suggest that various dinosaurs flourished at the margins of lakes distributed in the southern part of the Korean Peninsula during the Cretaceous.     

Constraints of Housing Age and Migration on Residential Mobility

This paper investigates the role of housing age in constraining residential mobility, measured as the percent of households that have moved into their homes in the past 15 months. The leading explanation for why mobility rates differ so much among regions of the United States has been the overall level of growth. The present analysis shows that the growth effect operates through both the newness of population (migration) and the newness of housing available for occupancy by all local residents. The posited explanation for this housing age effect is that progressively older units contain increasingly settled occupants, yielding fewer opportunities for in-movers in areas with older housing. It is empirically demonstrated that households in older housing have lower likelihood of recent mobility even after controlling for age, tenure, migration status, and state location of residence. The analysis reveals the temporal interdependency of mobility, migration, person age, and housing age.     

Geochemistry of soils of King George Island, South Shetland Islands, West Antarctica: Implications for pedogenesis in cold polar regions

Fine fractions of soils on the Barton Peninsula, King George Island, West Antarctica have been forming during the last 6000 yr since the last deglaciation. Texturally, they are mostly composed of mineral and rock fragments with some volcanic ashes, which are also indicated by geochemical compositions representing for the nonclay silicate minerals and low values of chemical index of alteration. No significant changes are observed in major- and trace element abundances. Such geochemical characteristics suggest that chemical weathering of bedrocks on the Barton Peninsula seems insignificant and that the soils are composed of physically weathered mineral and rock fragments which are mixed with eolian additions of volcanic ashes and Patagonian dusts. Chondrite-normalized rare earth element (REE) distribution patterns of the Barton Peninsula soils are slightly different from those of bedrocks, indicating that the REE abundances and characteristics were influenced by eolian additions. Mixing calculations, which mass-balance the REEs, suggest that volcanic ashes blown from Deception Island were the major eolian contributor, followed by atmospheric dusts sourced from Patagonia, South America. Even in the warmer and humid climatic conditions in the maritime Antarctic region, the chemical weathering of bedrocks appears to be insignificant, probably due to the relatively short duration of weathering since the last deglaciation.     

Metagenomic approach revealed effects of forest thinning on bacterial communities in the forest soil of Mt. Janggunbong,South Korea

The soil microbiome that plays important ecological roles in mountains and forests is influenced by anthropogenic and natural causes. Human activity, particularly harvesting or thinning, affects the soil microbiome in forests by altering environmental conditions, such as vegetation, microclimate, and soil physicochemical properties. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects on forest thinning on the diversity and composition of the soil bacterial community. From next-generation sequencing results of the 16S rRNA gene, we examined differences in soil bacterial diversity and community composition before and after thinning at Mt. Janggunbong, South Korea. We identified 40 phyla, 103 classes, 192 orders, 412 families, 947 genera, and 3,145 species from the soil samples. Acidobacteria and Proteobacteria were the most dominant bacterial phyla in the forest soil of Mt. Janggunbong. Soil bacterial diversity measures (richness, Shannon diversity index, and evenness) at the phylum level increased after thinning, whereas species-level taxonomic richness decreased after thinning. Thinning provided new opportunities for bacterial species in Chloroflexi, Verrucomicrobia, Nitrospirae, and other nondominant bacterial taxa, especially for those not found in Mt. Janggunbong before thinning, to settle and adapt to the changing environment. Our results suggested that thinning affected the diversity and composition of soil bacterial communities in forests and mountains.     

Molecular Identification and Expression Analysis of Carbonic Anhydrase VII in Pufferfish (Takifugu rubripes)

Ocean Science Journal - A carbonic anhydrase VII gene, encoding 277 amino acids, was identified in the intestinal tissue of pufferfish (Takifugu rubripes). The translated protein with an 833-bp...     

Holocene and Eemian climatic optima in the Korean Peninsula based on textural and carbon isotopic records from the stalagmite of the Daeya Cave,South Korea

Textural and stable isotopic records from the absolute-dated stalagmite of the Daeya Cave (DY-1) provide new insights into the climatic evolution of the Korean Peninsula during the Holocene and Eemian climatic optima. The stalagmite yielded ages of 8572 ± 227 to 5907 ± 158 and 1,23,456 ± 535 to 1,19,837 ± 1089 years, which coincide with the Holocene and Eemian climatic optima, respectively. The stalagmite’s δ¹³C record closely resembles previously reported Chinese speleothem δ¹⁸O data. Thus it can be suggested that textural and geochemical results of the DY-1 reflect East Asian monsoon intensity, which is forced by summer insolation patterns in the northern hemisphere. Lighter carbon isotopic compositions, well-developed fibrous calcite crystals, and their relatively faster growth rate in the stalagmite sample are interpreted to reflect the warmest and wettest climate conditions of the Holocene and Eemian interglacials. Both climatic optima took place when insolation was decreasing from its maximum level, temperature in Greenland was highest, and sea level approached its maximum level. These climatic optima also coincide with decreasing Antarctic temperatures. Compared the DY-1 data to other proxies, it is suggested that the Holocene and Eemian climatic optima developed through a balance among boreal insolation, monsoon intensity, and sea level (also continental ice volume), which are the main climatic forcing factors in the northern hemisphere. These trends also follow the bi-polar seesaw mechanism as previously described.     

Designation processes for marine protected areas in the coastal wetlands of South Korea

The history of Korean tidal flat management and the process for designating Coastal Wetland Protected Areas (CWPAs) are described. Korean coastal wetlands have a long history of intensive use through reclamation for agricultural and industrial uses in the 20th century. Recently, the management policy is shifting away from intensive use towards the conservation of wetlands. This shift is caused by increasing public awareness of the value of wetlands and strong institutional support from the government. Since the Wetlands Conservation Act was passed in 1999, a total of twelve CWPAs have been designated through both top-down and bottom-up processes. Three designation paths are classified based on the relevant drivers, namely government-driven designations (seven CWPAs), local community driven designations (three CWPAs), and conflict resolution (trade-offs) driven designation (two CWPAs). The lessons learned from the designation of Korean CWPAs is that diversification of designation process could facilitate voluntary participation of local stakeholders and thereby enhance the chance of successful implementation of wise use strategy of tidal flats.     

Seasonal variability of community structure and breeding activity in marine phytal harpacticoid copepods on Ulva pertusa from Pohang,east coast of Korea

Seasonal changes in community structure and reproductive status of phytal harpacticoid copepods in the shallow sublittoral bottom at two sites (Masan-ri and Guryongpo) in Pohang (Korea) are described monthly over a period of 1 year (October 1996 to September 1997). A total of 36 harpacticoid species was identified and the numerically dominant copepods were made up of the families Porcellidiidae and Tisbidae. Although the number of species did not show a seasonal trend, total harpacticoid density revealed a favorable distribution for the warmer season (spring and summer) at both sites. Multiple linear regression analyses showed that univariate indices such as density, evenness and diversity are closely associated with certain environmental parameters. For example, the dominant species fluctuated seasonally in abundance and their maximum densities were found to be temperature- (+ with Porcellidium ofunatense) and nutrient-dependent (+ with Scutellidium longicauda acheloides, + with Zaus unisetosus, and ? with P. wandoensis). In addition, the dominant species appeared to breed year round and their reproductive indices are significantly correlated with some environmental parameters such as temperature (?), pH (+), and phosphate (+). Three species (S. l. acheloides, P. wandoensis, and P. ofunatense) showed maximum density two or three months after their reproductive activity reached a maximum. Overall, the seasonal changes in a phytal harpacticoid community could be explained by combinations of environmental parameters supporting the complexity and biodiversity for this specific group of species in coastal ecosystems.