• The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.1-7
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• 2005

Tidal flats have been regarded to carry out transformation and removal of land-derived organic matter, and this purifying capability of organic matter by tidal flats is one of very important reasons for their conservation. However, integral biogeochemical studies on production and decomposition of organic matter by benthic microbes in tidal flats have been absent in Korea, although the information is indispensable to quantification of the purifying capability. Our major goals in this multidisciplinary research were to understand major biogeochemical processes and rates mediated by diverse groups of microbes dominating material cycles in the tidal flats, and to assess the contribution of benthic microbes to removal of organic matter and nutrients in the tidal flats. Our study sites were Ganghwa and Incheon north-port tidal flats that had been regarded as naturally well reserved and organically polluted, respectively. Our research group measured over 3 years primary production, biomass and community structure of primary producers, abundance and production of bacteria, enzyme activities, distribution of protozoa and protozoan grazing rates, rates of denitrification and sulfate reduction, early sediment diagenesis, primary production and respiration based on oxygen microelectrode. We analyzed major features of each biogeochemical process and their interactions. The results are compiled in the following articles in this special issue: An (2005), Hwang and Cho (2005), Mok et at. (2005), Na and Lee (2005), Yang et at. (2005), and Yoo and Choi (2005).