The intertidal benthic macroalgal floras of 19 uninhabited islands were investigated in the Goheung area, South Sea, Korea, in June 2008. Seaweed community structures on the rocky shores of four (Naemaemuldo, Ceoldo, Araedombaeseom, and Jinjioedo) of the 19 islands were also examined. Eighty macroalgal species were identified, including 13 green, 19 brown, and 48 red algae. The maximum number of species was found at Naemaemuldo, with 35 species, and the minimum was at Aredombaeseom, with 21 species. Seaweed biomass ranged from 21.39-76.22 g dry wt/m 2 , with a maximum at Naemaemuldo, and minimum at Jinjioedo. Sargassum thunbergii was a representative species, distributed widely in the intertidal zone of the four islands. Subdominant seaweeds were Corallina pilulifera and Ulva pertusa at Naemaemuldo and Jinjioedo, respectively. Also, Ishige okamurae was dominant at Ceoldo and Araedombaeseom. Six functional seaweed forms were found at each study site, except for Araedombaeseom, which had four functional groups. On the rocky shores of the four sites, a coarsely-branched form was the most dominant functional group ranging from 44.44-61.90% in species number and 72.42-91. 09% in biomass. In conclusion, among the four study sites, the shore of Naemaemuldo Island had the best ecological status, with the highest number of species, and greatest biomass (mainly brown and red algae) and functional form diversity of seaweeds. Furthermore, on the rocky shore of Naemaemuldo, coarsely branched-and joint calcareous-form seaweeds, which grow in clean and undisturbed environmental conditions, were the representative functional forms.

The effects of temperature on spore release, growth and photosynthetic efficiency of Lithophyllum yessoense and Hildenbrandia rubra were examined. L. yessoense was collected at Galnam and H. rubra was collected at Gyeokpo, Korea. The experimental temperatures were different for spore release (10, 15, 20℃), sporeling growth (10, 15, 20, 25, 30℃) and photosynthetic efficiency (10, 15, 20, 25℃). All other culture conditions were the same: 34 psu, 12:12 LD and 50 μmol photon m -2 s -1 . Spore liberation was maximal at 10℃ for L. yessoense and at 20℃ for H. rubra. After 14 days, the surface area of L.yessoense was 0.031 mm 2 at 25℃ and for H. rubra was 0.032 mm 2 at 20℃. Sporelings of L. yessoense were a dark-red color and grew in a round shape. In contrast, H. rubra was bright pink and changed from a round shape in the early growth stage to later become flabelliform. Photosynthetic efficiency was highest between 20-25℃ in both species. In conclusion, L. yessoense and H. rubra display different physiological features based on the optimal temperatures for spore release and sporling growth.

The effects of environmental factors, such as irradiance, daylength, salinity, and desiccation, on the growth of Lithophyllum yessoense and Hildenbrandia rubra sporelings were examined. Sporelings of each species were cultured with 10, 50, 80, 120, 150 mol photon m -2 s -1 for 14 days and their maximum growth occurred under 80 mol photon m -2 s -1. Germlings of both species survived for 21 days in darkness, and even the L.yessoense germlings grew. In the salinity experiment, sporelings of each species survived for 7 days and died after 14 days under 20 and 25 psu, but the sporelings grew well under 34 psu. Physiological features of each species with respect to the evaluated daylengths (8, 12, 14 and 16 h) were slightly different, and maximal growth occurred at 16 h for L. yessoense and at 14 h for H. rubra sporelings. Mortality of the sporelings increased with the exposure period, but H. rubra was less tolerant to desiccation than L. yessoense. In conclusion, sporelings of the two species showed similar growth responses to various environmental factors with slightly different physiological features with respect to salinity, daylength, and desiccation. However, more ecological and physiological studies on slow-growing crustose algae are required to elucidate the expansion of barren ground around the coastal areas of Korea.

It is common to quantify the concept of interest in the social and human sciences to test a research hypothesis. In such a case, it is strongly recommended to investigate if the procedure is appropriately designed and implemented according the research purpose since the quantification procedure highly affects the result of statistical analysis. In this work, we propose a visualization tool which enables us to check the construct validity of a measurement tool (such a questionnaire) in a concise and convenient way based on a penalized factor analysis model. We illustrate our method with numerical simulation and real data analysis.