• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.101-113
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• 2003

The spatial distributional pattern of macrobenthic fauna was investigated to assess the summer benthic environmental conditions in Gwangyang Bay, the southern coast of Korea. The macrobenthic faunal community from 38 sites in Gwangyang Bay comprised 154 species and showed an overall mean density of 1,280 individuals $m^{-2}$. Polychaetes were the most important component of the macrofaunal community in species richness, abundance and biomass. The dominant species in abundance were polychaetes like Tharyx sp. (44.8%), Lumbrineris longifolia (14.0%), Heteromastus filiformis (3.6%), a mussel Mytilus edulis, and an amphipod crustacean Corophium sinense. The abundance and biomass in the western part of the bay were lower than those in the channel regions and mouth of the bay. The community indices showed the same trend in the spatial distribution with the abundance and species richness. All macrobenthic faunas were assigned into a specific functional group according to their ecological responses to the environmental stress. The benthic community health based on the Benthic Pollution Index (BPI) or Biotic Coefficient (BC) seemed to be in the normal to unbalanced er transitional condition, indicated by the dominance of small polychaete worms like Tharyx sp. in the mouth part of the bay.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.30 no.5
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• pp.771-781
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• 1997

In order to select an effective and appropriate evaluation method for the marine environmental protection and management, it is necessary to evaluate the present status of environmental conditions and to monitor and regulate the harzadous waste continuously. Among the evaluation methods that use benthic fauna, some graphical methods and biological index methods such as species abundance-biomass (SAB), Rank-frequency diagram (RFD), Abundance-Biomass comparison (ABC), log-normal distribution (LND), and Benthic Pollution Index (BPI) modified by Infaunal Trophic Index were used for the assessments of marine environment in the Inchon coastal area. Even though the graphic methods are convenient for easy glimpse of general trend of environmental condition but because they require sufficient ecological data, those methods do not fit for analysis or comparison of regional and detailed environmental condition. On the other hand, when BPI was applied, it was able to compare the spatial benthic conditions. Through considering the functional aspects of benthic fauna which can not be obtained in the cluster analysis, BPI was made it possible to measure or trace down the source of pollution. In the case of the environmental assessment result analyzed in Inchon coastal area, the north eastern part of Yongjongdo was more influenced by the pollution than the outer area of Inchon. The research indicates that especially Inchon harbor has been greatly affected.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.41 no.2
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• pp.198-205
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• 2008

Benthic macroinvertebrates were examined to elucidate community structures of a set of 9 shallow ponds from a total of 6 parks located in Seoul metropolitan area, Korea. The result showed that macroinvertebrates were diverse and abundant, and aquatic macrophyte provide habitat diversities in ponds. The differences among benthic macroinvertebrate community compositions seemed to be attributed to local biotic and abiotic interactions. We surveyed benthic macroinvertebrate, biotic (macrophyte), abiotic (turbidity, nutrient concentrations, conductivity, heavy metal concentration) and morphometric (area, depth) of the lentic systems. Generally, the benthic macroinvertebrates were dominated by Cloeon dipterum or Coenagrion sp.. Distribution of the aquatic macrophyte community was correlated with the species composition of macroinvertebrates. The result demonstrated a significant and positive relationship between habitat quality and macroinvertebrate composition.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.31 no.6
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• pp.610-618
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• 2015

This study was conducted to find out the influence of sample size (accumulated survey areas) on the seven biological indices of benthic macroinvertebrates. BMI, the index similar to Zeilika-Marvan’s saprobic index, tended to be independent on the variations of sample size. The other indices (Shannon-Weaver’s diversity, Margalef’s richness, Menhinick’s richness, Pielou’s evenness, and Lenat’s EPT index) showed the considerable variations along with the increase of sample size and environmental conditions. To get the appropriate index values, it should be sampled at least 6 replicates more based on 30×30cm Surber sampler. In addition, the habitat heterogeneity index of benthic macroinvertebrates suggested in this study, it will be able to be used for evaluating the heterogeneity of habitats.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.68-79
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• 2014

There are marked differences in climate condition between east-facing slopes and west-facing slopes in Mt. Seorak (1,708 m). This study was conducted to find out the differences of benthic macroinvertebrate communities between both slopes of Mt. Seorak. Quantitative (Surber net; $30cm{\times}30cm$, mesh: 1mm) and qualitative (Hand net; mesh: 1mm) samplings ware carried out seasonally in each site which had 100-meter-high difference from November 2010 to November 2011. Most of the survey sites showed sound environmental conditions because they were located in the protection area of the national park. The benthic macroinvertebrates collected from all survey sites were composed of 158 species, 62 families, 17 orders, 7 classes and 5 phyla. DCA (Detrended Correspondence Analysis) ordination based on the abundance of benthic mactoinvertebrates showed that altitude was a major factor governing the structure of benthic macroinvertebrate community. There was no significant difference of the communities between both slopes.

• ALGAE
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.41-46
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• 2017

In rocky intertidal habitats, abiotic stress due to desiccation and thermal extremes increases with elevation because of tides. A study in Atlantic Canada showed that, at low elevations where conditions are benign due to the brief low tides, fucoid algal canopies (Ascophyllum nodosum and Fucus spp.) do not affect the structure of benthic communities. However, at middle and high elevations, where low tides last longer, fucoid canopies limit abiotic extremes and increase the richness (number of invertebrate and algal species, except fucoids) of benthic communities. Using the data from that study, this paper compares the intensity of facilitation and its importance (relative to all other sources of variation in richness) between middle and high elevations, which represent intermediate and high stress, respectively. Facilitation intensity was calculated as the percent increase in benthic richness between quadrats with low and high canopy cover, while the importance of facilitation was calculated as the percentage of variation in richness explained by canopy cover. Data for 689 quadrats spanning 350 km of coastline were used. Both the intensity and importance of facilitation were greater at middle elevations than at high elevations. As canopies do not affect benthic communities at low elevations, this study suggests that the facilitation-stress relationship at the community level is unimodal for this marine system. Such a pattern was found for some terrestrial systems dominated by canopy-forming plants. Thus, it might be ubiquitous in nature and, as further studies refine it, it might help to predict community-level facilitation depending on environmental stress.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.45 no.1
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• pp.42-53
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• 2019

Objectives: The Yongpung reservoir in Korea is a crucial facility that supplies water to farms in its surrounding $2km^2$ area. However, its water quality is not suited to the needs of current residents who wish for the availability of environmentally friendly agricultural products and desire to use the waterfront area. The aim of this research was to evaluate the reservoir's fish and benthic macroinvertebrate distributions and determine its water quality and the heavy metal content in its sediment. This basic data can be used to establish environmentally protective plans for the Yongpung reservoir. Methods: Six sites were selected for analysis in this investigation. Three points (YP-1, YP-2, and YP-3) were evaluated for water quality and metal content in sediments; they were located upstream, midstream, and downstream of the reservoir. Samplings of the fish and benthic macroinvertebrate populations were performed at three other sites: St. 1, St. 2, and St. 3. Results: Based on chemical oxygen demand (COD) and total nitrogen (T-N) data, the quality of the Yongpung reservoir water corresponds to Class VI (very poor) according to Korea's lake environmental standards. The lead levels measured in the sediment at the midstream and downstream points of the reservoir were 76.7 and 72.7 mg/kg, respectively, while 8 orders, 15 families, and 16 species of benthic macroinvertebrates were identified in the reservoir. The ecological score of the benthic macroinvertebrate community (ESB) was between 8 and 23, denoting poor to very poor environmental conditions. Further, 4 families and 7 species of fish were identified in the reservoir, with Cyprinidae accounting for 94.3% of all observed freshwater fish. Conclusion: Based on these findings, we conclude that management plans, including the removal of lead from the sediment, are necessary to improve the quality of the agricultural water in this reservoir. The T. japonica, which cover almost 30% of the water area, must also be removed.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.39 no.11
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• pp.613-625
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• 2017

For two agricultural reservoirs that are rented for fishing spots, benthic nutrient fluxes experiment were performed two times with two sediments from fishing-effective zone and one sediment from fishing-ineffective zone using laboratory core incubation in oxic and anoxic conditions. During benthic nutrient fluxes experiment, the changes in DO, EC, pH, and ORP in the supernatant were not significantly different between fishing-effective zone and fishing-ineffective zone, and were similar to the sediment-hypolimnetic diffused boundary layer in agricultural reservoir. Except for $NO_3{^-}-N$, more benthic nutrient fluxes of $NH_4{^+}-N$, T-P, and $PO{_4}^{3-}-P$ from sediment to hypolimnetic was measured in anoxic than in oxic conditions (p<0.05). As the DO concentration in hypolimnetic decreases, the microorganism-mediated ammonification is promoted, the nitrification is suppressed, and finally the $NH_4{^+}-N$ diffuses out from sediment to hypolimnetic. Also, the diffusion of T-P and $PO{_4}^{3-}-P$ from sediments to hypolimnetic is accelerated through the dissociation of the phosphorus bound to both organic matters and metal hydroxides. The difference in the benthic nutrient diffusive fluxes between fishing-effective zone and fishing-ineffective zone was not statistically significant (p>0.05). Therefore, it was found that fishing activities did not increase the benthic nutrient diffusive fluxes to a statistically significant level. Due to the short fishing activities of 10 years and the rate-limited diffusion of the laboratory core incubation, the contribution of fishing activities on sediment pollution is estimated to be low. No significant correlation was found between the total amount of nutrients in sediment and the benthic nutrient diffusive fluxes in both aerobic and anaerobic conditions. Therefore, nutrients input from various nonpoint sources of watersheds are considered to be a more dominant factor rather than fishing activities in water quality deterioration, and both aeration and water circulation in hypolimnetic were required to suppress the anoxic environment in agricultural reservoirs.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.39 no.spc1
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• pp.180-188
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• 2006

We examined the effect of salt marsh vegetation on the benthic environment in macro-tidal flats at Donggeomdo, Ganghwa, on the west coast of Korea. Nine stations were established along a transect across the tidal flats, including salt marsh, and field sampling was conducted monthly from July 1997 to June 1998. During the study period, environmental parameters fluctuated as follows: salinity, 15.0 to 28.2 psu, exposure time, 613 to 702 hr/m, inundation time, 28 to 117 hr/m, sediment organic carbon, 0.71 to 1.34%, nitrogen, 0.07 to 0.16%, sulfur from 0.07 to 0.22%, mean grain size from 6.3 to $6.9{\phi}$, water content from 19.4 to 44.4%, water temperature from 4.4 to $20.4^{\circ}C$ and temperature of the surface sediments, 2.7 to $31.1^{\circ}C$, in total, seven halophyte species were sampled and found to be vertically distributed across the tidal levels. Carer scabrifolia, Suaeda maritima, Limonium tetragonum and Phragmites communis dominated the upper zone of the salt marsh, Juncus haenkei, Triglochin maritimum and P. communis dominated the middle zone, and Suaeda japonica predominated in the lower area. Principal component analysis (PCA) and non-metric multi-dimensional scaling revealed that the zonation of halophytes was related to environmental variables such as salinity and exposure time. The halophyte communities were likely related to the organic content of the surface sediment.

• Journal of Animal Reproduction and Biotechnology
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• v.35 no.3
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• pp.245-257
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• 2020

Behavioral response to a diel photoperiodicity (500 lx for 16 h, 5 lx for 4 h and < 0.5 lx for 4 h) and phototactic characteristics in dark conditions were examined with Siberian sturgeon Acipenser baerii (Chondrostei, Actinopterygii) prelarvae. Siberian sturgeon prelarvae represented both qualitative and quantitative changes in their behavioral patterns according to different light intensities in a diel photoperiodicity. Under daylight conditions (500 lx), prelarvae displayed saltatory changes of behavioral features with ages (Day 0-Day 9) in a general order of swimming-up/drifting, swimming in the upper water column, benthic swimming with rheotaxis, schooling and post-schooling behavior. Compared to daylight conditions, prelarvae tended to show more benthic performances and quantitative reductions of schooling and post-schooling behaviors under dimlight conditions (5 lx). Under dark conditions (< 0.5 lx), prelarvae exhibited a fairly uniform behavioral pattern characterized by the benthic swimming across the bottom of the tank. From phototaxis tests under dark conditions, navigational responses of prelarvae to a spotlight illumination were quantitatively changed as their ages increased. The phototactic responses reached the peak on Day 2, continued until Day 4, and then gradually decreased until Day 8. A partial recovery of positive phototaxis was observed on Day 9. Data from this study suggest that the diel light cycle as well as the light intensity of each interval in the cycle should be considered as important components of a practical guide for evaluating fitness and developmental states of artificially propagated Siberian sturgeon prelarvae.