Relations of Nutrient Concentrations on the Seasonality of Algal Community in the Nakdong River, Korea

The construction of the eight large weirs in the Nakdong River, the second largest river in Korea, caused big changes in the physical environment of the water system. Algal communities and their correlations with environmental factors, mainly nutrients were studied at five weir areas in the Nakdong River from 2010 to 2013. Water quality, hydrodynamics and algal composition were investigated. Results showed that flow velocities were reduced compared with that before weir construction near the areas where are located in the mid and upstreams of the Nakdong River. A seasonal algal community succession was observed and it was mainly correlated with temperature and phosphorus. Diatoms were dominated from winter to spring months and massive diatomic blooms of Stephanodiscus sp. occurred early in March during survey period. Cyanobacterial blooms of Microcystis sp. occurred from July to September 2013 and was preceded by the lower total phosphorus concentration of $0.05mg\;L^{-1}$. The correlations between total phosphorus concentrations and algal abundances were not significant during the survey periods. However, significant correlation with cyanobacteria was found in the period of weir construction after only at the GG survey site and blooms periods of 7 times in the survey sites, and its correlation coefficients were 0.53 (p<0.001) and 0.42 (p<0.01) respectively. When algal bloom was observed, partially low nutrient concentration was observed in the Nakdong River. In conclusion, partially low nutrient concentration which may result from algal bloom was observed, and we presume it caused the reduction of algal abundunces.

낙동강 조류군집의 계절적 변화와 영양염 농도와의 관계