• Ecology and Resilient Infrastructure
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.35-42
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• 2024

The aquatic ecosystem of rivers, where various biological groups inhabit, is influenced by suspended sediment. However, there is a lack of quantitative and objective methods and criteria for evaluating this impact. The purpose of this study is to analyze through experiments the effects of suspended sediment on Glyptotendipes tokunagai, a benthic invertebrate in rivers. Experiments were conducted to investigate the survival count of individuals exposed to varying suspended sediment concentrations (turbidity) and exposure durations. Various regression analysis methods were performed on the experimental results to propose a model for evaluating the impact of suspended sediment on Glyptotendipes tokunagai. The coefficient of determination (R-squared) of the proposed model was 0.903, indicating a high degree of fit. The findings of this study could serve as foundational data for assessing the influence of suspended sediment on various organisms inhabiting rivers.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.187-201
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• 2019

This study examined the physicochemical water quality and evaluated the ecological health in 14 sites of Geum River (upstream, mid-stream, and downstream) using the fish community distribution and guilds and eight multi-variable matrices of FAI (Fish Assessment Index) during June 2008-May 2009. The analysis of the water quality variables showed no significant variation in the upstream and mid-stream but a sharp variation due to the accumulation of organic matter from the point where the treated water of Gap and Miho streams flew. The analysis of physicochemical water properties showed that BOD, COD, TN, TP, Cond, and Chl-a tended to increase while DO decreased to cause eutrophication and algae development from the downstream where Miho and Gap stream merged. The analysis of fish community showed that the species richness index and species diversity index increased in the mid-stream area but decreased in the downstream area, indicating the stable ecosystem in the upper stream and the relatively unstable ecosystem in the downstream. The analysis of the species distribution showed that the dominant species were Zacco platypus that accounted for 20.9% of all fish species and Zacco koreanus that accounted for 13.1%. The analysis of the fish tolerance and feeding guild characteristics showed that the sensitive species, the insectivore species, and the aquatic species were dominant in the mid-stream point. On the other hand, contaminants from the sewage water treatment plant of Miho stream had a profound effect in the downstream to show the dominance of tolerant species, omnivorous species, and lentic species. Therefore, it is necessary to improve water quality by reducing the load of urban pollutants and to pay attention to the conservation and restoration of aquatic ecosystems.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.32 no.5B
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• pp.331-343
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• 2012

In this study, the site investigation for fish was performed in the 15 km of Hongcheon river including Oancheon stream. The river ecosystem health was evaluated using the field data for fish. The field survey was carried out at 9 sites, 4 times from August to November 2011. The ecological diversity, including dominance, evenness, and richness and the ecological health using IBI and QHEI were evaluated. The result shows that the mean IBI in the 9 sites is in good-common condition, but the downtown section has a common-worse condition. The result evaluated by QHEI shows optimum-good condition. Also, the habitat suitability index for Pseudopuntungia tenuicorpa, which is one of endangered species, was evaluated, and then the environment flow was calculated by using the PHABSIM model. The previous research in the literature reports that Acheilognathus signifer, one of the endangered species, inhabited in Hongchen river. However, the existence of Acheilognathus signifer was not found in the recent research and this study. Thus, the physical habitat condition for Acheilognathus signifer was evaluated using the field data in the previous study. Also, the habitat improvement for Acheilognathus signifer in Hongcheon river was proposed.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Marine Environment & Safety
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.81-88
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• 2019

In order to understand the effects of the main components of antifoaming agents on the marine benthic ecosystem when silicone-based antifoaming agents are discharged into marine environments, eco-toxicity testing was performed on silicone and alcohol-based antifoaming agent by using benthic amphipod (Monocorophium acherusicum) and luminescent bacteria (Vibrio fischeri). The toxic effects of Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) as a main component of silicone-based antifoaming agents on aquatic organisms were also researched. In the results of the eco-toxicity test, luminescent bacteria showed a maximum of 9 times more toxic effects than benthic amphipod for alcohol-based antifoaming agents, and silicone-based antifoaming agents showed a maximum of 400 times more toxic effects than alcohol-based. The $LC_{50}$ and $EC_{50}$ values of PDMS ranged from 10 to $44,500{\mu}g/L$ in phytoplankton, invertebrate, and fish. In the results of applying PBT (P: persistency, B: bioaccumulation, T: toxicity) characteristics as an index showing the qualitative characteristics of PDMS, persistency (P) and bioaccumulation (B) were confirmed. Thus, when PDMS is discharged to marine environments, it could accumulate in the upper trophic level through bioaccumulation and the food chain, which could have negative effects on benthic organisms. The results of this study may be used for objective and scientific risk assessment, considering the major components of antifoaming agents when investigating the effects of various discharged antifoaming agents in marine ecosystem.

• Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.22 no.12
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• pp.31.1-31.12
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• 2019

Background: The black-chinned tilapia, Sarotherodon melanotheron, is the most abundant fish species in the Nakwa (an open lagoon) and Brenu (a closed lagoon) in the Central Region of Ghana. Aspects of the life history characteristics and the ecology of the fish populations in both lagoons were studied to assess the bio-ecological status of this important resource. Methods: Fish samples were obtained from fishermen that fish on the Nakwa and Brenu lagoons using cast, drag and gill nets. The age of the fish was assessed from otoliths analysis and its growth modelled following the von Bertalanffy growth function. Morphometric characteristics of the fish populations were analysed using power regression and ANOVA for parameters comparisons, and Student's t test to determine whether species grew isometrically. The percentage occurrence method was used to analyse the stomach contents of the fish. Results: A total of 382 fish samples from both lagoons were measured, comprising 209 from Nakwa lagoon and 176 from Brenu lagoon. The size and weight of fish samples ranged between 3.9-11.5 cm total length and 1.0-27.3 g for Nakwa Lagoon and 5.6-12.8 cm total length and 3.2-29.8 g for the Brenu Lagoon. The estimated von Bertalanffy growth parameters were L∞ = 12.04 cm and K = 2.76/year for the Nakwa Lagoon samples and L∞ = 13.44 cm and K = 3.27/year for Brenu Lagoon samples. Daily otolith incremental rate ranged from 0.01-0.03 mm per day to 0.01-0.02 mm per day for Nakwa and Brenu lagoons, respectively. Stomach content analysis of the fish samples revealed that the species are planktivorous and the range of food varied between the lagoons. Green algae were the most prevalent food item in the stomachs of the fish samples from Nakwa with the frequency of 69% whilst diatoms (80.5%) were most prevalent phytoplanktonic food item for the fish in Brenu lagoon. Conclusions: The estimates of asymptotic length for the species in both lagoons are close to known values of the species length at first sexual maturity and points to intensive fishing pressure. As a consequence, a comprehensive sample-based survey is required in both lagoons to derive estimates of management reference points. The results of the stomach content analysis are beneficial to the construction of diet matrix for ecosystem models of the two systems.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.52 no.1
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• pp.13-20
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• 2019

Heavy metals resulted from the increase of human industrial activity are introduced into the environment through rainfall and wastewater, and have harmful effects on inhabitants. In this study, we investigated biological responses such as survival rate, growth rate, emergence rate and sex ratio, and morphological effects of mentum deformity in Chironomus plumosus, an indicator organism to evaluate pollutions on aquatic ecosystem. The survival rate of C. plumosus showed time- and dose-dependent decrease after chromium and copper exposures. Growth rate decreased at $4^{th}$ day after chromium exposure and significantly reduced at exposure to relatively high concentration (copper $1000mg\;L^{-1}$) for all exposure times. In addition, we observed that the emergence rate by exposure to copper $1000mg\;L^{-1}$ was significantly lower than that of the control group. The imbalance of sex ratios showed at relatively low concentrations (chromium 10 and $50mg\;L^{-1}$) with the high proportion of female and at the relative high concentration (copper $1000mg\;L^{-1}$) with the high proportion of male. Furthermore, the morphological mentum deformities of C. plumosus observed in the exposed group according to chromium and copper exposure. These results suggest that the heavy metal exposure in environment may influence biosynthetic and morphological stresses of benthic invertebrate C. plumosus, and aquatic midge C. plumosus are potential indicators for toxicity assessment of heavy metals such as chromium and copper.

• Journal of Wetlands Research
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.53-64
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• 2006

A study on the restoration process of a stream ecosystem and the water quality renovation technique by removing algae, vegetation and fish monitoring as evaluating the removal of the algae by dietetic characteristics of fishes were performed on Sangdong stream in the B city after stream restoration it to the artificial stream as the cases, restoring urban stream into close-to-nature stream are being increased domestically with the aim of ecological city. As a result, restoration and rehabilitation of the fundamental stream ecosystem was well maintained 4 years later the reclamation at the moment and total 93 diagnosis which were all vascular plant phylum including 44 families, 73 genuses, 79 species and 14 varieties in flora and vegetation community were observed. 3 families, 8 species and 354 populations in total among Fishes were found and Pseudorasbora Parva, Cyprinus Carpic and Carassius Auratus strongly resistant to water pollution were dominantly appeared in order of 50.5% of Pseudorasbora Parva 21.2% of Cyprinus Carpic, 20.9% of Carassius Auratus, 7.1% of Macropodus chinensis and 0.3% of Misqurnus anguillicaudatus according to relative richness index. It turned out to be that Cyprinus Carpic ingests algae over 90% and Carassius Auratus takes it over 30% according to the analysis about the alimentary object of the fishes as a consequences of algae's excrescent from characteristics of the tested experimental stream. It is reported that a Cyprinus Carpic, about 34 cm in length, ingested wet-weight 43.2g algae on the rough analysis toward the sample which makes us recognize how effective a macro community Cyprinus Carpic is for removing algae.As a consequence of this research, the effect of stream ecosystem characteristics and water quality purification could not be expected by aquatic plants and trees which were eliminated at experimental stream. From now on, a close-to-nature stream should be formed of ecological hydraulic and hydrologic engineered modeling from the beginning so that it can perform the water quality purifying function. It is determined that the structure of food chain will be abundantly influenced by the induction of oversized macro community like Cyprinus Carpic because a biomass of a consumer of higher order is increased. It is estimated that the removal algae by fishes is not effective despite in some cases of dietetic characteristics so much more studies should be executed in the future.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.75-87
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• 2014

In order to analyze environmental impact of livestock manure and organic fertilizers, this study investigated livestock-breeding and pollution loads, the status of individual and public livestock manure treatment facilities, and the status of production, supply and components of compost and liquid fertilizers in the Nonsan area. Also, on a trial basis, this study investigated the life cycle of the environmental impact of livestock manure and its organic fertilizers on stream, groundwater, and agricultural soil. The results are as follows. Firstly, were detected the range of $0.13{\sim}1.32{\mu}g/L$ of As, $0.004{\sim}0.467{\mu}g/L$ of Cd and $0.5{\sim}9.2{\mu}g/L$ of Pb as a harmful substances which show lower concentrations than person preservation criteria of water qualities and aquatic ecosystem. However, it is not clear that heavy metals affect environment such as stream, groundwater and agricultural soil. Secondly, this influence could change according to investigation time and treatment efficiency. As were detected large amounts of persistent organic pollutants(e.g. $14.24{\sim}38.47{\mu}g/L$ of acetylsalicylic acid, $1.17{\sim}2.96{\mu}g/L$ of sulfamethazine, and $2.25{\sim}174.09{\mu}g/L$ of sulfathiazole) in effluent from livestock farms and small amounts of sulfathiazole($ND{\sim}1.63{\mu}g/L$) in the stream, it is necessary to monitor POPs at individual and public livestock manure treatment facilities. However, significant environmental impact did not appear at groundwater and agricultural soil in the test area supplied with liquid fertilizers. These results could be applied to investigate the environmental impact of livestock manure through a comprehensive livestock manure management information system.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.87-100
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• 2003

It is important to understand the potential human health implications of exposure to environmental chemicals that may act as hormonally active agents. It is necessary to have an understanding of how pharmaceutical and personal care products and other chemicals affect the ecosystem of our planet as well as human health. Endocrine disruption is defined as the ability of a chemical contaminating the workplace or the environment to interfere with homeostasis, development, reproduction, and/or behavior in a living organism or it's offspring. Certain classes of environmentally persistent chemicals such as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), dioxins, furans, and some pesticides can adversely effect the endocrine systems of aquatic life and terrestrial wildlife. Research continues to support the theory of endocrine disruption. However, endocrine disruption researches have been applied to proteomics poorly. Proteomics can be defined as the systematic analysis of proteins for their identity, quantity and function. It could increase the predictability of early drug development and identify non-invasive biomarkers of tonicity or efficacy. Proteome analysis is most commonly accomplished by the combination of two-dimensional gel electrophoresis (2D/E) and MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry (MS) sr protein chip array and SELDI-TOF MS. Proteomics have an opportunity to play an important role in resolving the question of what role endocrine disruptors play in initiating human disease. Proteomics can also play an imfortant role in the evaluation of the risk assessment and use of risk management and risk communication tools required to address public health concerns related to notions of endocrine disruptors. Understanding the need for the proteomics and possessing knowledge of the developing biomakers used to abbess endocrine activity potential will he essential components relevant to the topic of endocrine disruptors.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.61-77
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• 2020

In South Korea, major public waters have been systematic management under national level. Water environment network has been continuous monitoring for change of aquatic ecosystem, river and reservoir. In Water Quality Monitoring Networks, the data have been generally monitored Per eight days or month, while in Automatic Water Quality Monitoring Network the data have been monitored at daily intervals. Therefore, we were compared and analyzed water quality data between the networks using statistic method for same water quality item. Mann-kendall test results confirm that all points in Water Temperature (WT) and DO were not statistically significant. In particular, the result revealed that there is significant variation of TOC in the four different sites, TN in two different sites, TP in three different sites, WT in seven different sites, pH in two different sites between Water Quality Monitoring Network and Automatic Water Quality Monitoring Network. As a result firm LOWESS, TOC and pH clearly shows different trend. Among different sites, the water quality show the significantly positive correlations between at Sinam-Sangju2 and Namgang-Namgang4. Negative correlation significantly appeared in TP (ADD_Lower-AD1 site), TOC (DG-SG site), pH (GR-GR site), TP (JP-CN) and TN, TP, pH, EC, DO (GC-GC2-1 site).