Policy Recommendation for the Conservation of the Suweon Treefrog (Dryophytes suweonensis) in the Republic of Korea

The Suweon treefrog (Dryophytes suweonensis) is an endangered species with an important evolutionary significance. However, the current rate of decline projects the extinction of the species within a few decades in the Republic of Korea. The species is presently exclusively inhabiting rice paddies and is not present in any protected area, although it would be relatively easy to designate protected area under the RAMSAR convention and correct the current negative population dynamics. Through three policy recommendations, we present the points of importance for the conservation of the Suweon Treefrog, list the site of importance for its conservation, and introduce an agricultural model allowing for the conservation of the species as well as continued rice production and economic income.Actionable recommendations: - Establishment of protected areas within the range of D. suweonensis- Pesticide and herbicide ban in rice-paddy complexes where D. suweonensis occurs- Vegetation mowing limit for surroundings of rice paddies where D. suweonensis occurs

A mixed model approach to modelling global habitat suitability and invasion risk of the American bullfrog

American bullfrogs (Lithobates catesbeianus), which are native to the eastern United States, have been widely introduced to other parts of the world through food and pet trade. These include parts of North, Central, and South America, Western Europe, and parts of Asia. In many of these regions, they have become invasive by predating or outcompeting native animals. Because of the potentially damaging impact on ecosystems where this species is not native, it is pertinent to delineate through habitat suitability models where it is most likely to find suitable habitat outside of its native range in order to effectively prevent future outbreaks. Here, we use presence points available through the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) along with mixed method habitat suitability modelling to determine areas of highest suitability and areas most at risk of invasion. We first ran an ecological niche factor analysis (ENFA) on a global grid of presence and pseudo-absence points using five uncorrelated bioclimatic factors (Bio1: annual temperature; Bio2: mean diurnal range; Bio12: annual precipitation; Bio14: precipitation of driest month; Bio15: precipitation seasonality). The original and ENFA modelled presence-pseudoabsence points were then fed separately into random forest algorithms using the same five bioclimatic variables. The random forest result of original data was considerably more conservative than the result from the ENFA modelled points, which is more similar to previous MAXENT models of this species found in the literature; however, the result of the original data indicates areas where the species is already present and therefore presents more risk than what is predicted by ENFA modelling. The two results were subsequently averaged to indicate areas at greatest risk of invasion; points with a value > 0.5 were considered risk areas. Our final model showed that the highest risk areas are located in Western North American, South America, Western Europe, parts of Africa, Japan, Southeast Asia, Western Australia, and New Zealand. Within these areas, the American bullfrog already occurs at high levels in Western North America and moderate levels in South America, Western Europe, and Japan; the species also has limited occurrences in Southeast Asia

Convergent and divergent patterns of morphological differentiation provide more evidence for reproductive character displacement in a wood cricket Gryllus fultoni (Orthoptera: Gryllidae)

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>In ecological character displacement, traits involved in reproductive isolation may not evolve in arbitrary directions when changes in these traits are by-products of adaptation to an ecological niche. In reproductive character displacement, however, selection acts directly on reproductive characters to enhance the degree of reproductive isolation between sympatric populations. Thus, the direction of change in reproductive characters may be arbitrary in relation to changes in other morphological characters. We characterized both tegminal characters and characters indicative of body size in sympatric and allopatric populations of <it>Gryllus fultoni</it>, a species displaying character displacement in its calling song characters in areas of sympatry with <it>G. vernalis </it>populations, to infer the nature and direction of selection acting on reproductive and morphological characters in sympatry.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Except for mirror area, the number of teeth in a file, and ovipositor length of <it>G. fultoni</it>, all male and female morphological characters in <it>G. fultoni </it>and <it>G. vernalis </it>exhibited a uniform tendency to decrease in size with increasing latitude. There was no significant variation in female morphological characters between sympatric and allopatric <it>G. fultoni </it>populations. However, males of sympatric and allopatric <it>G. fultoni </it>populations significantly differed in head width, hind femur length, and mirror area even after controlling for clinal factors. Head width and hind femur length of <it>G. fultoni </it>were more similar to those of <it>G. vernalis </it>in sympatric populations than in allopatric populations, resulting in morphological convergence of <it>G. fultoni </it>and <it>G. vernalis </it>in sympatry. However, the mirror area of <it>G. fultoni </it>displayed the divergent pattern in relation to the sympatric <it>G. vernalis </it>populations.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Divergence-enhancing selection may be acting on mirror area as well as calling song characters, whereas local adaptation or clinal effects may explain variation in other morphological characters in sympatric populations of <it>G. fultoni</it>. This study also suggests that structures and behaviors that directly enhance reproductive isolation may evolve together, independently of other morphological traits.</p

Catalogue of herpetological specimens of the Ewha Womans University Natural History Museum (EWNHM), Republic of Korea

The herpetology collection of the Ewha Womans University Natural History Museum (EWNHM) represents one of the oldest and largest institutional collections in the Republic of Korea. The specimens deposited in the EWNHM represent a major historical collection of the native herpetofauna, both in species diversity and time span. However, the full inventory of the herpetology collection has never been conducted and thus the collection has received little attention from researchers. Here, the first full account of the herpetology specimens held at the EWNHM is provided, with voucher information for all documented specimens to make the collection accessible for future studies

Population trend inferred from aural surveys for calling anurans in Korea

Amphibian populations fluctuate naturally in size and range and large datasets are required to establish trends in species dynamics. To determine population trends for the endangered Suweon Treefrog (Dryophytes suweonensis), we conducted aural surveys in 2015, 2016, and 2017 at each of 122 sites where the species was known to occur in the Republic of Korea. Despite being based on individual counts, the focus of this study was to establish population trends rather than population size estimates, and we found both environmental and landscape variables to be significant factors. Encroachment was also a key factor that influenced both the decreasing number of calling individuals and the negative population dynamics, represented here by the difference in the number of calling individuals between years. Generally, most sites displayed minimal differences in the number of calling males between years, although there was a large fluctuation in the number of individuals at some sites. Finally, when adjusted for the overall population size difference between years, we found the population size to be decreasing between 2015 and 2017, with a significant decrease in the number of calling individuals at specific sites. High rate of encroachment was the principal explanatory factor behind these marked negative peaks in population dynamics

Korean Long-Tailed Gorals (Naemorhedus caudatus) are Rare but Successfully Reproducing in Remote Mountains

The long tailed goral (Naemorhedus caudatus) is an elusive species with a low and fragmented total population, mostly occurring in remote and elevated areas. In this study we used infrared automated trap cameras within the Seorak Mountain National Park, Republic of Korea. We documented the occurrence of long tailed gorals at the location of each trap camera, and also the presence of two young gorals within the National Park during the summer 2015. This is an important finding for the conservation of the species, emphasizing the success and benefits of large scale, non-fragmented, national parks for conservation

Beyond Allopatric Speciation: Testing for Genetic Homogeneity in Duttaphrynus melanostictus in Relation to Human- induced Dispersal

Human- induced dispersal of species is accelerating along with the increase in human movements. This unnatural dispersal contributes to range expansions, such as for the Asian black -spined toad, Duttaphrynus melanostictus . The species became invasive in numerous ecosystems, such as Madagascar and the Komodo islands area, where it has a strong ecological impact. Here, we investigated the origin of D . melanostictus in Taiwan using statistical parsimony networks together with joint Bayesian inference of phylogeny and population clustering approaches. We tested four major dispersal hypotheses to explain the relation between the Taiwanese and other D. melanostictus populations: 1) the species originates from South East Asia (SEA) and it is invasive in T aiwan as a result of human- induced dispersal, 2) the species originates from South East Asia, and dispersed ov er land bridges, 3) the species comes from the Chinese mainland through human- induced dispersal, 4) the species originates from the Chinese mainland, and dispersed over land bridges during glacial maxima. Our unrooted haplotype network based on a fragment of contiguous tRNA Gly -ND3 mitochondrial DNA from 22 individuals, together with homologous sequences extracted from GenBank for China and SEA, confirmed the non- clustering of haplotypes from SEA and Taiwan. Likewise, Bayesian phylogenetic inferences further clarified the absence of genetic segregation between Taiwanese and mainland Chinese populations. The haplotypes from Taiwan were segregated with in a monophyletic clade, shared with mainland Chinese populations. The origin of the Taiwanese D. melanostictus is consequently linked to the Chinese clade, and rejects our first and second hypothesis. The clustering with haplotypes from geographically close localities in mainland China, as well as with haplotypes present in geographically distant but active trading areas, here Hong- Kong, suggests both past dispersion over land- bridges, and recent human- induced dispersal. Interestingly, we also found four haplotypes from the SE Asian clade clustering with the mainland Chinese clade, and two mainland Chinese haplotypes clustered within the SE Asian clade. This is another potential indicator of additional human- induced dispersal events. Past dispersal over land bridges reflects the highly vagrant behaviour of the species, followed by inadvertent translocations, favoured by the resilience of the species in dry environments. Our study emphasises the risk of future hybridisation between Taiwanese, SE Asian and mai nland Chinese clades as a result of human activities

Interspecific Variation in Seasonal Migration and Brumation Behavior in Two Closely Related Species of Treefrogs

Most amphibians migrate between flooded habitats for breeding and dry habitats for non-breeding activities, however, differences in closely related species may highlight divergent evolutionary histories. Through field surveys, Harmonic Direction Finder tracking and laboratory behavioral experiments during the wintering season, we demonstrated differences in seasonal migration and hibernation habitats between Dryophytes suweonensis and D. japonicus. We found that D. japonicus migrated toward forests for overwintering and then back to rice paddies for breeding in spring. By contrast, D. suweonensis was found to hibernate buried in the vicinity of rice paddies, its breeding habitat. We also found that the difference in migrating behavior matched with variation in microhabitat use during brumation and hibernation between the two species. Our findings highlight different ecological requirements between the two species, which may result from their segregated evolutionary histories, with speciation potentially linked to species use of a new breeding habitat. Additionally, the use of rice paddies for both breeding and hibernation may contribute to the endangered status of D. suweonensis because of the degradation of hibernation sites in winter

Sex-Chromosome Homomorphy in Palearctic Tree Frogs Results from Both Turnovers and X-Y Recombination

Contrasting with birds and mammals, poikilothermic vertebrates often have homomorphic sex chromosomes, possibly resulting from high rates of sex-chromosome turnovers and/or occasional X-Y recombination. Strong support for the latter mechanism was provided by four species of European tree frogs, which inherited from a common ancestor (∼5 Ma) the same pair of homomorphic sex chromosomes (linkage group 1, LG1), harboring the candidate sex-determining gene Dmrt1. Here, we test sex linkage of LG1 across six additional species of the Eurasian Hyla radiation with divergence times ranging from 6 to 40 Ma. LG1 turns out to be sex linked in six of nine resolved cases. Mapping the patterns of sex linkage to the Hyla phylogeny reveals several transitions in sex-determination systems within the last 10 My, including one switch in heterogamety. Phylogenetic trees of DNA sequences along LG1 are consistent with occasional X-Y recombination in all species where LG1 is sex linked. These patterns argue against one of the main potential causes for turnovers, namely the accumulation of deleterious mutations on nonrecombining chromosomes. Sibship analyses show that LG1 recombination is strongly reduced in males from most species investigated, including some in which it is autosomal. Intrinsically low male recombination might facilitate the evolution of male heterogamety, and the presence of important genes from the sex-determination cascade might predispose LG1 to become a sex chromosom