• Journal of Korea Soil Environment Society
• /
• v.1 no.2
• /
• pp.15-21
• /
• 1996

Effects of acid deposition on the acidification of surface water over a short term period were studied during June~October, 1995. A reservoir located in Chunchon, Kangwondo was selected for this study because this reservoir had received little man-made pollutants. Geological survey within the study area was carried out and the pH of a small and shallow stream flowing from the mountain valley down to the reservoir was monitored. Rainfall was measured by using a rain gauge and the precipitation was collected by automatic precipitation sampler. During the study period, rain pH was in the range of 3.81~5.77 with an average of 4.8. The EC was in the range of 5~189$\mu$S/cm with an average of 10.6$\mu$S/cm. ionic composition of the rainfall showed that of the anions, deposition of ${SO_4}^{2-}$, was highest with 3,119.7 kg/$\textrm{km}^2$, and it was $NH^{4+}$ with 1,053.2kg/$\textrm{km}^2$ for cations. The surface water pHs were maintained neutral or weak basic representing little evidence of acidification regardless of the acidic rainfall pH. Every time of sampling, however, the pHs exhibited increasing tendency as elevation of measuring site of the stream became lowered, which indicated the impacts of acid-base reactions by acidic or basic substances during travel of water downstream. This result suggested the necessity of further research to determine the respective buffering capacity of soil and underlying rocks.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
• /
• v.87 no.2
• /
• pp.188-193
• /
• 1998

Soil pH change is an important factor which determines soil chemical properties. It is an indicator of the effect of urban environmental pollution on soils and plant growth. The objective of this study was to assess the effect of air pollution on the soil of Seoul urban forests during the course of the air pollution being dipersed toward suburb area. Study sites were divided into four sections of concentric circles with 5km interval. Soil samples were collected from A and B horizons in the urban forests, and analyzed for soil pH, soil buffer capacity, cation exchange capacity, and base saturation. Soil pH ranged from 3.96 to 5.08 for A horizon and from 4.10 to 5.25 for B horizon, which were not significantly different among the sections. However, there was a trend of soil pH lowered at the sections close to the urban center. Soil buffer capacity was lower at 0-5km and 5-10km sections compared to that at the outer sections. Cation exchange capacity and base saturation were not different significantly among the sections. Following the pattern of air pollutants being dispersed from urban center to suburb, soil acidification was observed at the urban forests in Seoul area. Low level of soil buffer capacity toward the urban center was an indicator of soil acidification at the urban forests.

• Analytical Science and Technology
• /
• v.28 no.1
• /
• pp.47-57
• /
• 2015

The size fractionated atmospheric aerosols have been collected at Gosan site of Jeju Island during 2010~2011, and then their characteristics of acidification and neutralization have been investigated. The anthropogenic $NH_4{^+}$ and nss-$SO_4{^{2-}}$ showed high concentrations mostly at ultra-fine particle mode of $0.7{\sim}1.1{\mu}m$, but they also had a bimodal distribution showing high concentrations at coarse particle mode of $4.7{\sim}5.8{\mu}m$ during Asian Dust periods. The concentrations of nss-$Ca^{2+}$ and $NO_3{^-}$ were relatively high at coarse particle mode of $3.3{\sim}4.7{\mu}m$, especially $NO_3{^-}$ showed high concentrations with a bimodal pattern at both fine and coarse particle modes. The acidification of atmospheric aerosols at Gosan area was contributed mostly by inorganic sulfuric and nitric acids, while the contribution by organic formic and acetic acids was only 1.6~6.4%. Furthermore, the neutralization of acidic species among atmospheric aerosols was performed mostly by $NH_3$, $CaCO_3$ and $MgCO_3$, especially the neutralization by $NH_3$ was high in fine particle mode, while that by $CaCO_3$ was relatively high in coarse particle mode.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
• /
• v.20 no.1
• /
• pp.85-90
• /
• 2002

In an artificial pH-gradient batch culture system, the author analyzed the effects of acidification on the species composition of heterotrophic bacteria. As the result of this study, it was found that the numbers of total bacteria were not affected by acidification and that the population size of heterotrophic bacteria decreased as pH became lower. The heterotrophic bacteria isolated from all of the pH gradient were 12 genera and 22 species, and among them, gram negative and gram positive bacteria were 04% and 30%, respectively. As pH decreased, the distribution rate of gram negative bacteria increased while that of gram positive bacteria decreased. Regarding to distribution rate of genuses in each pH gradient, 13 genuses appeared at pH 7 while only 5 genuses appeared at pH 3, which means that the diversity of genera decrease as pH decreased. The activities of extracellular enzyme showed the ranges of $0.008-0.292\;\mu{M}\ell^{-1}\;hr^{-1}$ in bioreactor system. The enzymatic activities decreased rapidly below pH 5 and then sustained 5-38% at the lower pH values.

• Journal of Life Science
• /
• v.27 no.7
• /
• pp.826-833
• /
• 2017

The rising concentration of atmospheric carbon dioxide is causing ocean acidification and global warming. The seahorse is an important species in marine ecosystems and fishery markets, however, their populations have recently decreased due to ocean acidification. As a result, we examined changes in the physiological responses of the spotted seahorse Hippocampus kuda when it was exposed to acidic sea water (pH 6.0, 6.5, and 7.0) and normal seawater (pH 8.0 as the control) over a period of 15 days. As the pH decreased, the seahorses' body weight and length also decreased. Components in body of ash, the crude lipids and crude proteins also differed significantly with changes in pH, due to stress caused by the seahorses' exposure to the acidic water conditions. The superoxide dismutase levels were significantly lower in the pH 6.0 and 6.5 groups than they were in the pH 7.0 and pH 8.0 groups. However, the catalase and glutathione levels were significantly higher in the acidic sea water groups. We suggest that decreasing the pH level of rearing water induces a stress response in H. kuda, damaging their ability to maintain their homeostasis and energy metabolism. Antioxidant enzymes are generally sensitive to acidic stress; in this study, the antioxidant activity was significantly affected by the pH level of the rearing water. These results indicate that physiological stress, induced by exposure to acidification, induces an antioxidant reaction, which can reduce general components in the body and the growth of H. kuda.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
• /
• v.33 no.3
• /
• pp.175-180
• /
• 1997

In an artificial pH-gradient hatch culture system, the author analyzed the effects of acidification on the species composition of heterotrophic bacteria. As the result of this study, it was found that the numbers of total bacteria were not affected by acidification and that the population size of heterotrophic bacteria decreased as pH became lower. The heterotrophic bacteria isolated from all of the pH gradient were 12 genera and 22 species. and among them, gram negative and gram positive bacteria were 64% and 36%, respectivcly. As pH decreased, the distribution rate of gram negative bacteria increased while that of gram positive bacteria decreased. Regarding to distrihution rate of genuses in each pH gradient, 13 genuses appeared at pH 7 while only 5 genuses appeared at pH 3. which means that the diversity of genera decrease as pH decreased. As a result of cluster analysis, diversity indices 01 species had ranges from 1.13 to 2.37, and decreased as pH decreased. In order to evaluate the diversity of different size samples, we analyzed the expected number of species appearance according to pH by rarefaction method. The statistical significance of species diversity was verified by the fact that the number decreased at lower pH.

• Proceedings of the Zoological Society Korea Conference
• /
• 1997.10b
• /
• pp.134.1-134
• /
• 1997

No Abstract, See Full Text

• Environmental Sciences Bulletin of The Korean Environmental Sciences Society
• /
• v.2 no.2
• /
• pp.109-114
• /
• 1998

The induction of crassulacean acid metabolism(CAM) characterized by day/night acid fluctuation was investigated in leaves from 10 days exposure to elevated $CO_2$ concentration(1,000 ${\mu}L\;L^{-1}CO_2).$ For Pereskia aculeata, have $C_3-like$ gas exchange pattern in well watered condition and shift into CAM-like in water stress, showed a more typical CAM-like diurnal acid fluctuation. Whereas the massive diurnal fluctuation of acidity in typical CAM of Kalanchoe rosea was declined. The effect of short-term exposure to various concentrations of $CO_2$ on titratable acidity in P. aculeata and K. rosea was also investigated. To investigate the response of various $CO_2$ concentrations, four different $CO_2$ levels(350, 700, 1,000 and 1,500 ${\mu}L\;L^{-1})$ were imposed for 24hr and measured the titratable acidity at 06:00, when the acidity was maximum, and 14:00, when the acidity was minimum. The accumulation of acid in P. aculeata was enhanced markedly by higher concentration of $CO_2,$ while the level of acidity in f rosea did not highly respond to $CO_2.$ A notable difference between P. aculeata and K. rosea was the response of de-acidification to a higher concentration of $CO_2$ Increasing with $CO_2,$ the degree of do-acidification of P. auleata was increased while that of K. rosea was depressed.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
• /
• v.26 no.1
• /
• pp.110-119
• /
• 2016

High-solid anaerobic digestion of sewage sludge achieves highly efficient volatile solid reduction, and production of volatile fatty acid (VFA) and methane compared with conventional low-solid anaerobic digestion. In this study, the potential mechanisms of the better performance in high-solid anaerobic digestion of sewage sludge were investigated by using 454 high-throughput pyrosequencing and real-time PCR to analyze the microbial characteristics in sewage sludge fermentation reactors. The results obtained by 454 highthroughput pyrosequencing revealed that the phyla Chloroflexi, Bacteroidetes, and Firmicutes were the dominant functional microorganisms in high-solid and low-solid anaerobic systems. Meanwhile, the real-time PCR assays showed that high-solid anaerobic digestion significantly increased the number of total bacteria, which enhanced the hydrolysis and acidification of sewage sludge. Further study indicated that the number of total archaea (dominated by Methanosarcina) in a high-solid anaerobic fermentation reactor was also higher than that in a low-solid reactor, resulting in higher VFA consumption and methane production. Hence, the increased key bacteria and methanogenic archaea involved in sewage sludge hydrolysis, acidification, and methanogenesis resulted in the better performance of high-solid anaerobic sewage sludge fermentation.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
• /
• v.34 no.1
• /
• pp.62-69
• /
• 2008

The life cycle assessment method for environmental impact assessment was used, in this study, to assess the production process of wheat flour which is the most important material in the food industry. Environmental impact assessments were compared between that of the Ministry of Environment, Republic of Korea (method I) with that of the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy (method II). Life cycle inventories (LCI) was performed using internal and external databases and the production statistics database of company S. The procedure of life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) was followed in terms of classification, characterization, normalization and weighting to identify the key issues. The impact categories of method I were divided into 8 categories with consideration of : abiotic resources depletion, global warming, ozone depletion, photochemical oxidant creation, acidification and eutrophication. The impact categories of method II were divided into 10 categories with consideration of: abiotic resources depletion, global warming, ozone depletion, photochemical oxidant creation, acidification, eutrophication, human toxicity, freshwater aquatic ecotoxicity, marine aquatic ecotoxicity and terrestrial ecotoxicity.