• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
• /
• v.41 no.4
• /
• pp.431-440
• /
• 2008

Turbid water or suspended sediment is associated with negative effects on aquatic organisms; fish, aquatic invertebrate, and periphyton. Effects of turbid water on fish differ depending on their developmental stage and a level of turbidity. Low turbid water may cause feeding and predation rates, reaction distance, and avoidance in fish, and it could make fish to die under high turbidity and long period. Therefore, it is very important to find out how turbid water or suspended sediment can affect fish in domestic watersheds. The objectives of this study were 1) to introduce international case studies and their standards to deal with suspended sediment, 2) to determine acute toxicity in 4 major freshwater fishes, and 3) to determine in relation to adverse effect of macroinvertebrates and fish. Impacts of turbid water on fish can be categorized into direct and indirect effects, and some factors such as duration and frequency of exposure, toxicity, temperature, life stage of fish, size of particle, time of occurrence, availability of and access to refugia, etc, play important role to decide magnitude of effect. A review of turbidity standard in USA, Canada, and Europe indicated that each standard varied with natural condition, and Alaska allowed liberal increase of turbidity over natural conditions in streams. Even though acute toxicity with four different species did not show any fatal effect, it should be considered to conduct a chronic test (long-term) for more detailed assessment. Compared to the control, dominance index of macroinvertebrates was greater in the turbid site, whereas biotic index, species diversity index, species richness index, and ecological score were smaller in the turbid site. According to histopathological analysis with gills of macroinvertebrate and fishes, morphological and physiological modification of gills due to suspended sediments can cause disturbance of respiration, excretion and secretion. In conclusion, in order to maintain good and healthy aquatic ecosystem, it is the best to minimize or prevent impact by occurrence of turbid water in stream and reservoir. We must make every effort to maintain and manage healthy aquatic ecosystem with additional investigation using various assessment tools and periodic biomonitoring of fish.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
• /
• v.32 no.3
• /
• pp.261-265
• /
• 1999

Chronic toxicity of cyanide on survival, feeding and growth rate were examined in the Israel carp, Cyprinus carpio under a continuous-flow system. Survival rate of the Israel carp was significantly affected by $\ge151{\mu}$g/$\ell$ cyanide concentration, and feed efficiency and feeding rate were also reduced above $151{\mu}$g/$\ell$ cyanide concentration. Growth rate of the Israel carp exposed to $\ge73{\mu}$g/$\ell$ cyanide concentration were significantly decreased than that exposed to normal condition.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
• /
• v.20 no.7
• /
• pp.811-818
• /
• 2011

Daphnia Magna Stratus has been widely accepted as useful species for estimating the toxicity of chemicals to aquatic invertebrate and recommended as species for the testing chemicals from the international guideline as well as Korean guideline. The study was performed for the acute toxicity test by using water flea(D. Magna) for effluents from several wastewater treatment plants and drainage canals in GyeongBuk area. Five heavy metals, 1,4-Dioxane and Perchlorate were tested. Most Toxicity Units(TU) of Industrial wastewater effluents were less than 1 which means effluent was not toxic to D. Magna. However, effluents containing 1,4-Dioxane and Perchlorate were significantly toxic to D. Magna. Therefore, facilities should reduce the 1,4-dioxane since new regulations will force them after the year of 2011.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
• /
• v.41 no.3
• /
• pp.275-282
• /
• 2008

Water hardness is a significant parameter as related to aquatic toxicity of some heavy metals. Hardness dependent metals include cadmium, copper, chromium (III), nickel, lead, zinc and silver. Developed countries have applied the hardness correction procedure to derive the water quality criteria for protecting the aquatic organisms. In the present study, we investigated the hardness correction algorithms used in United States of America, European Union, Australia/New Zealand, and Canada, and analyzed the details associated with those algorithms. Toxicity values of heavy metals were definitely different after hardness correction for all of algorithms analyzed. We found that the hardness corrected toxicity values followed by the algorithms of USA and Australia/New Zealand were very similar or same, however they were slightly different for cadmium at the hardness less than 30 mg $CaCO_3\;L^{-1}$. Among the hardness correction algorithms studied, the algorithm used in Australia/New Zealand appears to be a good choice to apply in Korean situation due to its simplicity compared to the algorithm of USA.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
• /
• v.40 no.3
• /
• pp.357-369
• /
• 2007

Water fleas are very important organisms in aquatic ecosystem because they are key constituents of food webs as either glazers or foods for predators. Daphnia magna is a representative test species and it has been extensively used in ecotoxicity evaluation. However, Daphnia magna has not been found yet in Korean water environment. There are limitations of using the foreign species such as Daphnia magna to reflect domestic situations in Korea. Consequently it is mandatory to find domestic species suitable for bioassay, and to develop corresponding toxicity test methods using the domestic species. In this study, we widely collected the domestic and foreign toxicity test methods performed by using domestic water fleas in Korea. The 58 test methods were collected from the standard methods (OECD, US EPA, ASTM), government reports, SCI papers and domestic papers. Ten domestic water fleas selected were Bosmina longirostris, Ceriodaphnia dubia, Ceriodaphnia reticulata, Daphnia obtusa, Daphnia puex, Moina macrocopa, Moina micrura, Simocephalus mixtus, Simocephalus serrulatus, and Simocephalus vetulus. We suggested the domestic ecotoxicity test methods using domestic water fleas in Korea through providing a range of test conditions, and future directions for toxicity test using water flea. This study could be a useful basis for establishing the aquatic toxicity test methods with domestic organisms in Korea.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
• /
• v.27 no.6
• /
• pp.804-812
• /
• 2011

To prevent the overflow of various harmful chemicals, it is necessary to modify the chemical management system with an expansion to institutionally regulated substances. This modification should be preceded by selection of the priority chemicals, with a diverse chemical ranking system (CRS) applied to select the chemicals in developed countries. In Korea, a systematic CRS was used in a project related to soil and groundwater, however, it is inadequate to compare soil and groundwater CRS to that of surfacewater. In this study, a priority chemical ranking system for surfacewater was proposed through the analysis of international and domestic CRS cases. This was then applied to 161 chemicals to derive the priority list of harmful chemicals. As a result, Chemical RAnking of surFacewater polluTants (CRAFT) is presented for the protection of human health and the aquatic ecosystem from surfacewater pollutants. The components of CRAFT are the human health toxicity, aquatic ecosystem toxicity and reliability assessment factors. Three lists were derived from the 161 priority harmful chemicals for the protection of human health, aquatic ecosystem or both. It is expected that this result can be useful to prioritize harmful chemicals for the protection of human health and the aquatic ecosystem from Korean surfacewater.

• Proceedings of the National Institute of Ecology of the Republic of Korea
• /
• v.4 no.1
• /
• pp.49-62
• /
• 2023

Phthalates are animal carcinogens. Potassium hydrogen phthalate (KHP), which has the least complicated structure among phthalates, is used for the analysis of total organic carbon and formaldehyde. However, its toxicity has not been confirmed. A 24-hour acute toxicity test was performed using Daphnia magna, a water flea used to evaluate aquatic toxicity owing to its high sensitivity. The lowest observed effect concentration of KHP was found to be 240 mg/L. The effects of phosphorus, nitrogen, and Cr(6+), which are able to be discharged along with KHP, were also confirmed using tests. At 240 mg/L KHP, toxicity increased as phosphorus, nitrogen, and Cr(6+) increased. In addition, tests were performed to confirm the half maximal effective concentration of KHP. Through 10 test repetitions, the average ecotoxicity value was found to be 0.3, the average half maximal effective concentration was 327.75 mg/L, and the coefficient of variation (%) was 3.16%; because the latter value is lower than 25%, which is what is generally suggested for the water pollution standard method, the reproducibility of the tests is sufficient to replace the existing standard reference toxicity test that uses potassium dichromate. In addition, the half maximum effective concentration of potassium hydrogen phthalate is approximately 218 times more than that of potassium dichromate; therefore, toxicity is relatively low. In conclusion, KHP is a feasible alternative to the highly toxic potassium dichromate for performing the standard reference toxicity test.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
• /
• v.29 no.6
• /
• pp.1179-1184
• /
• 2008

Commercial nanometer sized silver is widely used for its antibacterial effect; however, nanoparticles may also have ecotoxicological effects after being discharged into water. Nanometer sized silver can flow into aquatic environments, where it can exert a variety of physiologically effects in living organisms, including fish. The present study aimed to investigate the effect of nanometer sized silver on the development of zebrafish embryos, analyze the properties of commercial nanometer sized silver and define the toxicity relationship between embryogenesis and hatched flies. The commercial nanometer sized silver was analyzed in the $Ag^+$ ion form. The hatch rate decreased in the nano-silver exposed groups (10 and 20 ppt); furthermore, the hatched flies had an abnormal notochord, weak heart beat, damaged eyes and curved tail. The expression of the Sel N1 gene decreased in the nano-silver exposed groups, and the catalase activities of the exposed groups increased relative to those in the control group. Therefore, the $Ag^+$ ions in commercial nanometer sized silver could accumulate in aquatic environments and seriously damage the development of zebrafish embryos.

• Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
• /
• v.20 no.12
• /
• pp.32.1-32.7
• /
• 2017

Recent in vitro studies have demonstrated that extract of soft coral Dendronephthya gigantea (SCDE) had strong anti-inflammatory activities. However, the direct effects of SCDE on anti-inflammatory activities in vivo model remained to be determined. Therefore, the present study was designed to assess in vivo anti-inflammatory effect of SCDE using lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated zebrafish model. We also investigated whether SCDE has toxic effects in zebrafish model. The survival, heart beat rate, and developmental abnormalities were no significant change in the zebrafish embryos exposed to at a concentration below $100{\mu}g/ml$ of SCDE. However, lethal toxicity was caused after exposure to 200 and $400{\mu}g/ml$ of SCDE. Treating zebrafish model with LPS treatment significantly increased the reactive oxygen species (ROS) and nitric oxide (NO) generation. However, SCDE inhibited this LPS-stimulated ROS and NO generation in a dose-dependent manner. These results show that SCDE alleviated inflammation by inhibiting the ROS and NO generation induced by LPS treatment. In addition, SCDE has a protective effect against the cell damage induced by LPS exposure in zebrafish embryos. This outcome could explain the profound anti-inflammatory effect of SCDE both in vitro as well as in vivo, suggesting that the SCDE might be a strong anti-inflammatory agent.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
• /
• v.31 no.6
• /
• pp.813-816
• /
• 1998

Toxicity and toxin compositions of wild and cultured scallops (Patinopecten yessoensis), collected from coastal waters near Kangnung of East Sea, were examined from January to June, 1997. By mouse bioassay methods, the toxicity was detected with low toxicity of $2 MU\;g^{-1}$, and paralytic shellfish poisoning (PSP) toxin was detected in the specimens from 30 April to 15 May by HPLC. GTXs and PXs were identified as the major toxin components.