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Although microorganisms are the very first colonizers of recently deglaciated soils even prior to plant colonization, the drivers and patterns of microbial community succession at early-successional stages remain poorly understood. The successional dynamics and assembly processes of bacterial and fungal communities were compared on a glacier foreland in the maritime Antarctic across the ~10-year soil-age gradient from bare soil to sparsely vegetated area. Bacterial communities shifted more rapidly than fungal communities in response to glacial retreat; species turnover (primarily the transition from glacier- to soil-favouring taxa) contributed greatly to bacterial beta diversity, but this pattern was less clear in fungi. Bacterial communities underwent more predictable (more deterministic) changes along the soil-age gradient, with compositional changes paralleling the direction of changes in soil physicochemical properties following deglaciation. In contrast, the compositional shift in fungal communities was less associated with changes in deglaciation-induced changes in soil geochemistry and most fungal taxa displayed mosaic abundance distribution across the landscape, suggesting that the successional dynamics of fungal communities are largely governed by stochastic processes. A co-occurrence network analysis revealed that biotic interactions between bacteria and fungi are very weak in early succession. Taken together, these results collectively suggest that bacterial and fungal communities in recently deglaciated soils are largely decoupled from each other during succession and exert very divergent trajectories of succession and assembly under different selective forces.

Seed dehiscence of ginseng (Panax ginseng C. A. Mayer) is affected by moisture, temperature, storage conditions and microbes. Several microbes were isolated from completely dehisced seed coat of ginseng cultivars, Chunpoong and Younpoong at Gumsan, Korea. We investigated the potential of five Talaromyces flavus isolates from the dehiscence of ginseng seed in four traditional stratification facilities. The isolates showed antagonistic activities against fungal plant pathogens, such as Cylindrocarpon destructans, Fusarium oxysporum, Rhizoctonia solani, Sclerotinia nivalis, Botrytis cinerea, and Phytophthora capsici. The dehiscence ratios of ginseng seed increased more than 33% by treatment of T. flavus GG01, GG02, GG04, GG12, and GG23 in comparison to control (28%). Among the treatments, the reformulating treatment of T. flavus isolates GG01 and GG04 showed the highest of stratification ratio of ginseng seed. After 16 weeks, the reformulating treatment of T. flavus isolates GG01 and GG04 significantly enhanced dehiscence of ginseng seed by about 81% compared to the untreated control. The candidate's treatment of T. flavus GG01 and GG04 showed the highest decreasing rate of 93% in seed coat hardness for 112 days in dehiscence period. The results suggested that the pre-inoculation of T. flavus GG01 and GG04 found to be very effective applications in improving dehiscence and germination of ginseng seed.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of a fresh chlorella powder on yield, quality and self-life of organic soybean tofu. After added with a fresh chlorella powder, yields, physical properties, color, shelf-life and sensory properties of the organic soybean tofu added with chlorella powder was compared to the properties of soybean tofu. The yield of soybean tofu increased with the addition of more than 1% chlorella powder. Hardness of the organic soybean tofu with chlorella significantly increased compared to that of the soybean tofu. However, Hunter’s color values of L, a, and b decreased by increases in the chlorella powder concentration. Total microbial population of the soybean tofu was higher than that of the organic soybean tofu with chlorella. However, pH of chlorella tofu decreased during storage period at 4℃. After 7 days storage at 4℃, the total microbial population decreased significantly with the addition of 2% chlorella powder. The L and a value of chlorella tofu was increased. On the other hand, the b value of chlorella tofu was decreased during storage. The results revealed that a fresh chlorella powder was a useful material to improve yield, quality and storage condition of the organic soybean tofu.

Syntrichia filaris is one of the common mosses in the northern maritime Antarctic. In this study, we determined the complete chloroplast genome of S. filaris (GenBank accession number MK852705) to provide a genetic resource for phylogenetic study on Bryophytes. It is of 136,227 bp length, containing 8 ribosomal RNA (rRNA), 37 transfer RNA, and 85 protein-coding genes. The chloroplast genome structure and gene order were similar to other bryophytes. Phylogenetic tree based on combined amino acids sequences of 72 chloroplast genes common in S. filaris, 7 Bryophyta, 1 Anthocerotophyta, and 2 Marchantiophyta, was congruent with the traditional position of Pottiales in Bryophytes.

Pepper anthracnose caused by Collectotrichum acutaum has been known as one of the most damaging diseases of pepper, which has reduced not only yield but also quality of pepper produce almost every year. This study was conducted to develop control strategy against pepper anthracnose by alternate application of agricultural organic materials and chemical fungicides. The alternate application effect of agricultural organic materials and chemical fungicides for controlling pepper anthracnose were examined in vitro and in the field. First, thirteen microbial agents and twenty two agricultural organic materials were screened for antifungal activity against C. acutatum through the dual culture method and bioassay. As a result, one microbial agent (Bacillus subtilis QST-713) and three agricultural organic materials (sulfur, bordeaux mixture, marine algae extracts) were found to show high inhibition effect against C. acutatum. In the field test, when Iminoctadine tris+thiram, a chemical fungicide for controlling pepper anthracnose, was sprayed, it reduced disease incidence by 89.5%. Meanwhile Sulfur, bordeaux mixture, copper, marine algae extracts and Bacillus subtilis QST-713 showed low disease incidence at the range of 33.1~81.0%. However, when Iminoctadine tris+thiram and agricultural organic materials(bordeaux mixture, marine algae extracts) were applied to pepper fruits alternately two times at 7 days interval, there was a 81.7 and 87.1% reduction in disease, respectively. Consequently, the alternate spray of chemical fungicide (Iminoctadine tris+thiram) and agricultural organic materials (bordeaux mixture, marine algae extracts) could be recommended as a control method to reduce the using amount of chemical fungicide.

Objective of this study was to investigate characteristics of inorganic components contained in liquid fertilizer produced using seaweed by adding microorganisms and molasses. Addition of dry yeast to liquid fertilizer resulted in little change in pH and considerable increase in EC with high EC value compared to other liquid fertilizers which have microorganisms additives. Also, it was appeared that the dry yeast-added treatment had higher concentration than other treatments. In the other hand, addition of molasses resulted in low pH compared to the control which has no additives, and EC was not different depending on the amount of molasses. concentration in the 2% molasses added treatment was lowest and it showed a significant difference in the no and 1% molasses added treatments. In conclusion, it was shown that addition of dry yeast to liquid fertilizer increased ammonium nitrogen concentration by accelerating nitrogen mineralization, while molasses has an effect of inhibiting nitrogen mineralization. With application of organic liquid fertilizer containing seaweed increased the fresh weight of chinese cabbage.

In order to control seed-borne diseases, we obtained extracts from commercial fermented food products of Kimchi, Gochujang, Doenjang, Ganjang and Makgeolli and their suppressive effects against seed-borne diseases were studied. In addition, the suppressive effects of bacterial strains isolated from the fermented foods were screened in vitro and in vivo. Among fifty food extracts, twenty food-extracts suppressed more than 92% incidence of seedling rots in vitro and seven food extracts increased 58.3-66.8% of healthy seedling in the greenhouse. Among 218 isolates from the fermented foods, 29 isolates showing high antifungal activity against seven seed-borne fungal pathogens were selected. Among 29 isolates, 13 isolates significantly reduced seedling rot and increased healthy seedlings. Sixteen isolates with high antifungal activity and suppressive effect against sesame seedling rots were identified by 16S rRNA sequencing. Fourteen of sixteen isolates were identified as Bacillus spp. and the other two isolates from Makgeolli were identified as Saccharomyces cerevisiae. It was confirmed that B. amyloliquifaciens was majority in the effective bacterial population of Korean fermented foods. In addition, when the bioformulations of the two selected effective microorganisms, B. amyloliquifacien Gcj2-1 and B. amyloliquifacien Gcj3-1, were prepared in powder forms using bentonite, kaolin, talc and zeolite, talc- and kaolin-bioformulation showed high control efficacy against sesame seed-borne disease, followed by zeolite-bioformulation. Meanwhile control efficacy of each bentonite-bioformulation of B. amyloliquifacien Gcj2-1 and B. amyloliquifacien Gcj3-1 was lower than that of bacterial suspension of them. It was found that the selected effective microorganisms from Korean fermented foods were effective for controlling seed-borne diseases of sesame in vitro and in the greenhouse. We think that Korean fermented food extracts and useful microorganisms isolated from the extract can be used as bio-control agents for suppressing sesame seed-borne diseases based on above described results.

This study analyzed how spatial distribution of Himantormia lugubris is affected by the microenvironment in the Antarctic Specially Protected Area (ASPA) No. 171 located in the Barton Peninsula of King George Island that belongs to the maritime Antarctic. In order to determine the population structure of H. lugubris growing in Baekje Hill within ASPA No. 171, we counted the individuals of different size groups after dividing the population into 5 growth stages according to mean diameter as follows: ≤ 1 cm, 1-3 cm, 3-5 cm, 5-10 cm, and ≥ 10 cm. The count of H. lugubris individuals in each growth stage was converted into its percentage with respect to the entire population, which yielded the finding that stages 1 through 5 accounted for 32.8%, 25.3%, 15.9%, 22.5%, and 3.5%, respectively. This suggests that the population of H. lugubris in ASPA No. 171 has a stable reverse J-shaped population structure, with the younger individuals outnumbering mature ones. The mean density of H. lugubris was 17.6/0.25 m 2 , mean canopy cover 13.3%, and the mean dry weight 37.8 g/0.25 m 2 . It began to produce spore in the sizes over 3 cm, and most individuals measuring 5-10 cm were adults with sexually mature apothecia. The spatial distribution of H. lugubris was highly heterogeneous. The major factors influenc ing its distribution and performance were found to be the period covered by snow, wind direction, moisture, size of the substrate, and canopy cover of Usnea spp. Based on these factors, we constructed a prediction model for estimating the spatial distribution of H. lugubris. Conclusively, the major factors for the spatial distribution of H. lugubris were snow, wind, substrate and the competition with Usnea spp. These results are important for understanding of the distribution in the maritime Antarctic and evolution of H. lugubris that claims a unique life history and ecological niche.

In this article, it was analyzed how snow melting affects the assembly of lichen and moss communities in a small area of the coastal region of Barton Peninsula, which is in maritime Antarctic. In the small area, even though there is a huge gap of difference of the environment between the snow-filled area and snow-melt one, the latter did not have distinctive environmental gradients. Depending on the snow melting time, coverage and species diversity of lichens and mosses tend to increase remarkably. For species with significant changes depending on the snow-covered period, there are Andreaea regularis, crustose lichens, Placopsis contortuplicata, Usnea aurantiaco-atra, and snow algae. In this area, the process of vegetation assembly process has shown the directional development in the order of snow algae→crustose, lichen sub-formation→fruticose lichen, moss cushion sub-formation (Andreaea sociation)→fruticose lichen, and moss cushion sub-formation (Usnea sociation), according to the order of snow melting. These directional development stages are shown in gradual change in small area with the snow melting phenomena. However, in the snow-free area, where water is sufficiently supplied, it is expected that moss carpet sub-formation (Sanionia sociation) will be developed. Vegetation development in the small area with the snow melting phenomena, depending on differences of resistance on snow kill and moisture settled by species in according to the time of snow melting, tolerance model to form community is followed. The research results explain the development of vegetation in the Antarctic tundra and its spatial distribution according to the period for growth of lichens and mosses in the summer time by differences of snow melting in the small area. In the future, if research for the community development process in a large scale will be done, it will be helpful to figure out temporal and spatial dynamic of vegetation in the Antarctic tundra where snow and glaciers melt rapidly due to climatic warming.

Phytosociological study was carried out to investigate the structural characteristics of Humulus japonicus community in the Middle area of Korea. The vegetation data of total 67 releves were analyzed by the Zurich-Montpellier school's method. Upper layer plant communities of Humulus japonicus were classified into four community groups : Humulus japonicus-Artemisia princeps community, Chenopodium album community, Setaria viridis-Echinochloa crus-galli community and Typical community. Lower layer plant communities were classified into five community groups : Galium spurium-Stellaria aquatica community, Equisetum arvense community, Persicaria theunbergii community, Echinochloa crus-galli-Digitaria ciliaris community and Typical community. According to the results of canonical correspondence analysis by vegetation and environmental factor, Setaria viridis-Echinochloa crus-galli community of upper layer was distributed throughout the soil with high relative light and soil hardness. Chenopodium album community appeared in the soil with high pH. Galium spurium-Stellaria aquatica community of lower layer was formed in the high soil pH. Persicaria theunbergii community and Echinochloa crus-galli-Digitaria ciliaris community were distributed in the soil with high moisture.