Regular Article pISSN: 2288-9744, eISSN: 2288-9752 J F E S Journal of Forest and Environmental Science Journal of Forest and Vol. 35, No. 1, pp. 61-68, March, 2019 Environmental Science https://doi.org/10.7747/JFES.2019.35.1.61 Spatial Estimation for Establishing Fireflies Habitat in Daegu City and Gyeongbuk Province Do-Hun Lee1, Tae-Su Kim2, Jong-Yong Kim3, In-Hwan Park3 and Gab-Sue Jang2,* 1Division of Ecological Conservation, National Institute of Ecology, Seocheon 33657, Republic of Korea 2Department of Life Sciences, Yeungnam University, Gyeongsan 38451, Republic of Korea 3Department of Landscape Architecture, Kyungpook National University, Daegu 41566, Republic of Korea Abstract The purpose of this study is to evaluate the natural habitat of Hotaria unmunsana Doi, which was first discovered at Mt. Unmun also represents a landscape indicator species for Daegu and Gyeongbuk provinces, and Luciola lateralis Motschulsky, which is the object of experiential activation at festivals in some cities in the region. The spatial range of this study is limited by Daegu City and Gyeongbuk province, and is used to predict the preference of firefly for altitude, slope, direction, shaded relief, riparian buffer zone, river environment, and farmland to analyze the area that best matches the habitat of fireflies. As a result, fireflies are highly influenced by altitude and there may be no large-scale habitats in some areas through the Nakdong and the Baekdu mountain ranges, which occur at high altitude. In most of the cities, we found major habitats around the streams and wetlands. By region, the sites were widely distributed around the cities focused on Nakdong River, and many habitats emerged around the Nakdong River tributary and gentle slopes. In order to preserve and spread the habitat of fireflies, the physical environment as well as their relationship with food chains and symbiotic organisms should be established, and excessive use of pesticides and herbicides in agricultural areas should be avoided. Key Words: firefly, habitat estimation, spatial analysis, gis, conservation Introduction developmental damage has led to a qualitative loss in natu- ral value at an increasing number of places, resulting in Daegu and Gyeongbuk Provinces represent the northern scenery connecting extremely artificial space with natural regions of the Nakdong River basin. They are repositories environment. of Korea's ecosystem, which includes forests, rivers and The Daegu and Gyeongbuk areas, which cover the en- lakes, which are comparable to Gangwon Province. In par- tire upper watershed of the Nakdong River, also share the ticular, the huge mountain ranges formed in the northern same developmental history as the nation. Looking at the part of Gyeongbuk Province contain biomass that supports environmental policies so far, the emphasis is on exploration the entire province. The Nakdong River stream flowing and development of natural resources rather than con- along with it forms a water stream that can sufficiently cope servation, restoration, or restoration of natural resources. with the water flowing from each watershed. Therefore, the original intention of conservation of natural However, over the past several decades, large and small resources, is not a priority, and instead, utilization-oriented Received: February 17, 2019. Revised: February 28, 2019. Accepted: March 4, 2019. Corresponding author: Gab-Sue Jang Department of Life Sciences, Yeungnam University, Gyeongsan 38451, Republic of Korea Tel: 82-53-810-2371, Fax: 82-53-810-4618, E-mail: [email protected] J For Environ Sci 35(1), 61-68 61 Spatial Estimation of Fireflies Habitat policy is emphasized. Thus, the sustainability of natural re- early June to late July (Oh et al. 2009). Lychnuris rufa sources is not adequate (Kang et al. 2006). (Olivier) is observed from late July to late September (Kim Accordingly, we seek to discover the excellent natural re- et al. 2000; Kim et al. 2004). sources in the Daegu and Gyeongbuk provinces, to develop Overall, fireflies are observed in late spring to autumn. landscape indicator species. Based on habitat expansion and The firefly can be classified into diurnal and nocturnal hab- establishing a habitat network visible from any area, a strat- its according to their ecological behavior (Sim and Kwon egy is needed to revitalize the region via long-term image 2000). The nocturnal firefly can be divided based on con- enhancement of Daegu and Gyeongbuk provinces. tinuous and flashing light emission. Among the fireflies in- The purpose of this study is to evaluate the habitat as a habiting Korea, Lychnuris rufa (Olivier) exhibits strong basis for the formation and spread of natural habitat of continuous light emission, while Luciola lateralis Hotaria unmunsana Doi (Doi 1931), which was first dis- Motschulsky and Hotaria unmunsana Doi emit a strong covered at Mt. Unmun and represents a landscape in- flashing lightemission. dicator species for Daegu and Gyeongbuk provinces, and The body is generally thin, long and somewhat flat, with Luciola lateralis Motschulsky (Oh et al. 2009), which is the the adult size measuring less than 1 cm as in Luciola later- object of experiential activation at festivals in some cities in alis Motschulsky, and occasionally 1 to 2 cm, for examples, the region. Lychnuris rufa (Olivier). Larvae are larger than adults, and Lychnuris rufa (Olivier) is about 3 to 5 cm. Often, when Materials and Methods the thorax extends to the front of the head, the head is al- most or completely invisible. Antennae are thread-like, ser- Introduction of target area rated, comb-like, and 11-segmented, with 3 pairs of legs at- The spatial range of this study is defined by Daegu and tached to the chest, and each ankle segment comprises 5 Gyeongbuk provinces. Basically, the natural environments segments. The elytra are flattened; however, the male al- of Daegu and Gyeongbuk are considered comprehensively, ways carry elytra unlike the female, and hindwing depend- and the areas that best match the habitat of fireflies are ing on the species. The abdomen consists of 7 to 8 segments analyzed. In the analysis of habitat environment, spatial and emits light at the end of the abdomen. At the time of correlation was performed considering the relationship be- light emission, 100% of the energy is converted to light, and tween habitats such as forests, rivers, and lakes in terms of luciferin, which is produced in the cells of the light-produc- habitat concept as well as forests. ing organ, is oxidized resulting in light emission. The light produced by the firefly is a signal for mating, with either Introduction of target species male or female glowing to inform the location of the male. There are about 2,000 species of fireflies in the world The larva of the fireflies emits light faintly. Since the time to (Ohba et al. 1993). In Korea, there are 3 families including generate light varies from species to species, it is an im- 6 genera and 8 species including Luciola lateralis portant distinguishing feature. Firefly is a representative Motschulsky, Lychnuris rufa (Olivier), Hotaria papar- environmental indicator insect, and is particularly vulner- iensis, Lucidina kotbandia, Drilaster unicolor, Hotaria un- able to environmental pollution such as contaminated water munsana Doi, Lampyris noctiluca (Linnaeus) and Lucidina compared to other insects (Kim et al. 2008). Most firefly accensa. Firefly is an insect belonging to Coloptera, larvae live on terrestrial grasslands, wetlands, coastal wet- Lamptridae. Currently, only Luciola lateralis Motschulsky, lands and forests, and very few firefly larval species such as Hotaria unmunsana Doi and Lychnuris rufa (Olivier) are Luciola lateralis Motschulsky live in freshwater and intake found in Korea. However, even these species are currently snails as carnivores. facing the threat of extinction (Suzuki 2001). Prediction of the firefly habitat The seasonal appearance of fireflies is as follows: Hotaria unmunsana Doi is observed in late May to early July (Sim Fireflies, terrestrial or aquatic, have common habitats. et al. 1999) and Luciola lateralis Motschulsky is detected in Especially, in the geographical condition, it is easy to identi- 62 Journal of Forest and Environmental Science http://jofs.or.kr Lee et al. fy the firefly habitat under the following conditions. First, for aquatic fireflies, secondary selection was made First, an altitude that is not too high is advantageous for for areas with large paddy fields containing static water. firefly habitat. In the case of aquatic species, it was con- These areas can be considered to exhibit the characteristics firmed that the deeper the water level, the faster the flow of a natural aquatic wetland at a gentle and sunlight is rate, which is not favorable for the firefly larvae (Oh et al. blocked to some extent. For terrestrial fireflies, we have se- 2009). In case of terrestrial species, a high density of snails, lected a favorable environment for the habitat to satisfy the which are the food source of fireflies, was found on gentle common conditions and contain adequate forests. As a re- slopes. Therefore, it is expected to be beneficial for the fire- sult, areas with forests of adequate size (at least 3,900 m2) fly habitat because the density of the food source is in- were selected secondarily and classified as suitable for ter- creased at the periphery of the gently flat plain and the restrial species (Fig. 1). mountain, similar to the altitude. Fireflies are nocturnal species, therefore, both larvae and adults prefer dark and Results and Discussion shaded areas. Accordingly, compared with direct sunlight, A Spatial estimation for establishing the firefly habitat the area where the scattered light enters or the sunlight is as brief as possible is advantageous for the habitat. Proximity Analysis of altitude to the stream or the water source is an advantage, suggest- Based on the elevation analysis, 20.5% of Gyeongbuk ing that fireflies also prefer aquatic habitat similar to all oth- area, or 1,091.4 km2, is less than 100 m in altitude and dis- er species.