Ecological Status Evaluation using Seaweed Community Structures of Taean Coastal Areas in Korea

To evaluate the relative ecological quality of Taean coastal areas in terms of various seaweed community indices, seasonal samplings were taken at the Hakampo, Padori, Chaeseokpo, Mongsanpo and Bangpo shores from March 2006 to January 2007. A total of 105 species were identified; species richness ranged from 37~72 species spatially and from 65~75 species seasonally over the study period. Coarsely-branched seaweeds were dominant in functional group and ESG I (ecological state group I) made up 61 species (58.10%) of the identified macroalgae. The average seaweed biomass at the five study sites was $56.63g\;dry\;wt./m^2$ (range, 36.66 at Hakampo $-73.89g/m^2$ at Mongsanpo). Seaweeds were generally abundant in mid and low intertidal zone. Corallina pilulifera, Ulva australis, Sargassum thunbergii, Neorhodomela aculeata, and Symphyocladia latiuscula were the dominant species across all five study sites. Species diversity was between 1.24~2.30, while species evenness was between 0.40 and 0.61. The dominance index ranged from 0.43 at Padori to 0.64 at Mongsanpo. Given the community indices and shore descriptions, the five study sites were divided into two groups based on ecological quality: moderate (Chaeseokpo and Mongsanpo) and good (Hakampo, Padori and Bangpo).