• Journal of Marine Life Science
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.22-28
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• 2019

The bacterial diversity of an Antarctic hard coral, Errina fissurata, was examined by isolating bacterial colonies from crushed coral tissue and by sequencing their 16S rRNA gene. From the analyzed results, the bacteria were classified as Actinobacteria (56%), Firmicutes (35%) and Proteobacteria (9%). The thirty-four isolates were cultured in liquid media at different temperatures and their growth was assessed over time. The majority of the isolates displayed their highest growth rate at 25℃ during the first three days of cultivation, even though the coral was from a cold environment. Nevertheless, strains showing their highest growth rate at low temperatures (15℃ and 4℃) were also found. This study reports the composition of an Antarctic hard coral-associated culturable bacterial community and their growth behavior at different temperatures.

• Ocean and Polar Research
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.467-472
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• 2008

Antarctic krill has a strong proteolytic enzyme system, which comes from a combination of several proteases. This powerful activity can be easily detected by krill's superior post mortem autolysis. Mammalian skin consists of epidermis and dermal connective tissue, and functions as a barrier against threatening environments. A clot in a wound site of the skin should be removed for successful skin regeneration. Epithelial cells secrete proteases to dissolve the clot. In previous studies Antarctic krill proteases were purified and characterized. The proteolytic enzymes from Antarctic krill showed higher activity than mammalian enzymes. It has been suggested that these krill clean up the necrotic skin wound to induce a natural healing ability. The enzymes exhibited additional possibilities for several other biomedical applications, including dental plaque controlling agent and healing agent for corneal alkali burn. Considering that these versatile activities come from a mixture of several enzymes, discovering other proteolytic enzymes could be another feasible way to enhance the activity if they can be used together with krill enzymes. Molecular cloning of the krill proteases should be carried out to study and develop the applications. This review introduces possible roles of the unique Antarctic krill proteases, with basic information and suggestion for the development of an application to skin regeneration.

• Ocean and Polar Research
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.401-410
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• 2001

Global climate change will alter many such properties of the Southern Ocean as temperature, circulation, stratification, and sea-ice extent. Such changes are likely to influence the species composition and activity of Antarctic marine microorganisms (protists and bacteria) which playa major role in deter-mining the concentration of atmospheric $CO_2$ and producing precursors of cloud condensation nuclei. Direct impacts of climate change on Antarctic marine microorganisms have been determined for very few species. Increasing water temperature would be expected to result in a southward spread of pelagic cyanobacteria, coccolithophorids and others. Growth rates of many species would be expected to increase slightly but nutrient limitation, especially micronutrients, is likely to result in a negligible increase in biomass. The extent of habitats would be reduced for those organisms presently living close to the upper limit of their thermal tolerance. Increased UVB irradiance is likely to favour the growth of those organisms tolerant of UVB and may change the trophic structure of marine communities. Indirect effects, especially those as a consequence of a diminution of the amount of sea-ice and increased upper ocean stratification, are predicted to lead to a change in species composition and impacts on both trophodynamics and vertical carbon flux.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Fisheries and Ocean Technology
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• v.59 no.2
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• pp.117-124
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• 2023

This study used hydroacoustic method to identify the vertical and horizontal distribution of Antarctic silverfish in the Ross Sea, Antarctica. In February and December 2018, Antarctic silverfish was detected up to 250 meters, and was mainly distributed in water depths of 20 to 30 meters. The horizontal distribution of Antarctic silverfish was mostly undetected in February, and December showed a relatively stronger distribution than that of February. Antarctic silverfish is characterized by their distribution near sea ice.

• Ocean and Polar Research
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• v.38 no.3
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• pp.209-224
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• 2016

The purpose of this study is to analyze research activities related to Antarctic science through a bibliographic study and to understand and evaluate the implications. This study is based on 78,445 articles which were retrieved from the Science Citation Index(SCI) database during the period 1998-2015. Through a quantitative analysis and a Social Network Analysis, we made several findings and drew out the implications. First, many countries, in general, have increased multi-national research cooperation in order to enhance research productivity. However, Korea's cooperative research activity is below the average level. Second, considering the 4 centrality indexes, which are derived from the SNA, Korea had a lower score in terms of centrality indexes. Based on these findings, Korea should formulate a more dynamic or proactive strategy in order to enhance its participation in international research cooperation efforts. Korea, the 10th country to build two or more research bases in Antarctica, should make greater efforts to bring the appropriate level of the phase.

• Ocean and Polar Research
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.503-518
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• 2003

This study examines the relationship among temperature, wind, and sea level pressure to understand recent warming in the vicinity of the Antarctic Peninsula. To do this, the surface air temperature, NCEP/NCAR reanalysis wind data and sea level pressure data for the period of 40 years are analyzed. The 40-year surface air temperature data in the Antarctic Peninsula reveals relatively the larger warming trends for autumn and winter than other seasons. The variability of the surface air temperature in this region is compared with that of the regional atmospheric circulation. The surface air temperature is positively correlated with frequency of northwesterlies and negatively correlated with frequency of southeasterlies. This relation is more evident in the northern tip of the Antarctic Peninsula for autumn and winter. The trend analysis of wind frequency in the study area shows increasing and decreasing trends in the frequency of northwesterlies and southeasterlies, respectively, in the northwestern part of the Weddell Sea for autumn and winter. And also it is found that these winds are closely related with decreasing of sea level pressure in the southeastern region of the Antarctic Peninsula. Furthermore from the seasonal variation of sea level pressure in this area, it may be presumed that decreasing of sea level pressure in the southeastern region of the Antarctic Peninsula is related with warming in the vicinity of the Antarctic Peninsula for autumn and winter. Therefore it can be explained that recent warming in the vicinity of the Antarctic Peninsula is caused by positive feedback mechanism, that is, the process that warming in the vicinity of the Antarctic Peninsula can lead to the decrease of sea level pressure in the southeastern region of the Antarctic Peninsula and these pressure decrease in turn lead to the variation of wind direction in northwestern part of Weddell Sea, again the variation of wind direction enhances the warming in the Antarctic Peninsula.

• Ocean and Polar Research
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.425-431
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• 2001

From an ecological point of view, the western part of the Atlantic sector is one of the most productive areas in the Southern Ocean. Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba) and krill-dependent predators such as fish, seals, and birds are abundant there, and most krill fisheries have operated in this area since 1970s. The hottest issues for the proper management of krill resources nowadays are to determine total biomass in this area, and to identify environmental forces controlling stock fluctuation. This paper reviews and collates information on ongoing oceanographic activities in the Antarctic Peninsula region concerning these issues. To delineate the status and function of Antarctic krill population in Antarctic marine ecosystems, multinational researches along the Antarctic Peninsula area have been developing recently. Four member states of CCAMLR (Japan, Russia, UK, and USA) had conducted acoustic surveys in January-February 2000 (socalled CCAMLR-2000 survey), and krill standing stock at 120 kHz was estimated to be 44.29 million metric tonnes in the western Atlantic sector of the Southern Ocean. On the other hand, the Southern Ocean GLOBEC (SO-GLOBEC) Programme has prepared a serial winter survey to examine the factors that govern krill survivorship and distribution in relation to shelf circulation processes. Ship-based surveys using ice-breakers are being conducted by three nations (Germany, UK, and USA) around the Marguerite Bay during the austral fall and winter 2001 and 2002. In addition to these two large-scale surveys, some CCAMLR members have carried out joint oceanographic surveys near the South Shetland Islands to detect ecosystem changes since 1994. Especially from December 1999 to February 2000, in conjunction with CCAMLR-2000 survey, four nations (Japan, Korea, Peru, and USA) conducted acoustic surveys to produce time-series information on krill distribution and biomass near the South Shetland areas. Though the aims of each program and the approach to solve the scientific questions were different each other, the results from each program fill the gaps between programs. Further cooperation and exchange in these activities could be beneficial to each program.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.21 no.5
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• pp.292-296
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• 1988

This review has dealt with the topics of biology of Antarctic krill, Euphausia superba. There are much of work on various aspects of the biological pattern of krill, in particular on reproduction, feeding and longevity. Nevertheless, the details of winter biology of krill still remained to be unclear. It is suggested that three kinds of energy Pathways, from inorganic or organic materials to krill, may occur in the Antarctic Ocean.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.21 no.5
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• pp.303-310
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• 1988

This review has dealt with the topics of biology of Antarctic krill, Euphausia superba. There are much of work on various aspects of the biological pattern of krill, in particular on reproduction, feeding and longevity. Nevertheless, the details of winter biology of krill still remained to be unclear. It is suggested that three kinds of energy Pathways, from inorganic or organic materials to krill, may occur in the Antarctic Ocean.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.22 no.7
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• pp.902-906
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• 2012

Expressed sequence tags (ESTs) from the Antarctic green algae Pyramimonas gelidicola were analyzed to obtain molecular information on cold acclimation of psychrophilic microorganisms. A total of 2,112 EST clones were sequenced, generating 222 contigs and 219 singletons, and 200 contigs and 391 singletons from control ($4^{\circ}C$) and cold-shock conditions ($-2^{\circ}C$), respectively. The complete EST sequences were deposited to the DDBJ EST database (http://www.ddbj.nig.ac.jp/index-e.html) and the nucleotide sequences reported in this study are available in the DDBJ/EMBL/GenBank. These EST databases of Antarctic green algae can be used in a wide range of studies on psychrophilic genes expressed by polar microorganisms.