• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.110-119
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• 2015

The construction of the eight large weirs in the Nakdong River, the second largest river in Korea, caused big changes in the physical environment of the water system. Algal communities and their correlations with environmental factors, mainly nutrients were studied at five weir areas in the Nakdong River from 2010 to 2013. Water quality, hydrodynamics and algal composition were investigated. Results showed that flow velocities were reduced compared with that before weir construction near the areas where are located in the mid and upstreams of the Nakdong River. A seasonal algal community succession was observed and it was mainly correlated with temperature and phosphorus. Diatoms were dominated from winter to spring months and massive diatomic blooms of Stephanodiscus sp. occurred early in March during survey period. Cyanobacterial blooms of Microcystis sp. occurred from July to September 2013 and was preceded by the lower total phosphorus concentration of $0.05mg\;L^{-1}$. The correlations between total phosphorus concentrations and algal abundances were not significant during the survey periods. However, significant correlation with cyanobacteria was found in the period of weir construction after only at the GG survey site and blooms periods of 7 times in the survey sites, and its correlation coefficients were 0.53 (p<0.001) and 0.42 (p<0.01) respectively. When algal bloom was observed, partially low nutrient concentration was observed in the Nakdong River. In conclusion, partially low nutrient concentration which may result from algal bloom was observed, and we presume it caused the reduction of algal abundunces.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.40 no.3
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• pp.395-402
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• 2007

Concentrative samplings of 35 times on standing crops of phytoplankton and physicochemical factors were conducted at five sites over Seongsu Bridge to Seongsan Bridge in lower parts of the Ban River from January to December 2006. Over the study, all physicochemical factors showed no large differences among the sampling sites except station 2 having high concentrations of BOD, TN, and TP. Heavy rain also cause these concentrations to decrease. The phytoplankton species and abundance (88 taxa and $1{\sim}41$,104 cells $mL^{-1}$) were varied according to the season, and sharply decreased during heavy rains. In particular, cyanobacteria dominated the phytoplankton community during dry seasons, while green algae and diatom dominated during the rainy seasons. However, after the termination of rain, high water temperatures over $20^{\circ}C$ and low N/P ratios $(9.4{\sim}18.9)$ evoked the cyanobacterial bloom. These results indicate that although the heavy rain (huge outflows of Paltang Dam) temporarily diluted the nutrient level and effected the cyanobacterial bloom in the lower parts of the Han River, cyanobacterial abundance was recovered by the high temperature and low N/P ratio as the rainfall discontinued.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.44 no.3
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• pp.280-291
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• 2011

Bottom-up approaches to control of Microcystis aeruginosa blooms were comparatively investigated through an in situ mesocosm experiment using aquatic plants (Iris pseudoacorus). In the mesocosm experiments, floating I. pseudoacorus, seemed to be effective in controlling massive M. aeruginosa blooms in an agricultural reservoir, exhibiting a close coupling with temporal variations in Chl-a and DO concentration. Shading by floating I. pseudoacorus resulted in a reduced phytoplankton abundance inhibiting light energy availability. Moreover, I. pseudoacorus may suppress phytoplankton growth through the excretion of chemical substances, likes a allelopathy, that inhibit phytoplankton photosynthetic activity. The $^{15}N$ atom % of I. pseudoacorus showed higher values than POM, suggesting that I. pseudoacorus assimilates DIN predominantly compared to phytoplankton, which was mostly M. aeruginosa. This result strongly suggests that the M. aeruginosa bloom should be regulated by aquatic plants, like I. pseudoacorus, this approach can affect zooplankton composition. This is the first study that has used stable isotope tracers to evaluate the biomanipulation efficiency through floating I. pseudoacorus.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.38 no.1
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• pp.114-126
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• 2020

Bloom-forming toxic cyanobacteria Microcystis spp. are common in the summer season in temperate freshwater ecosystems. Often, it leads to the degradation of water quality and affects the quality of drinking water. In a previous study, NQ (naphthoquinone) compounds were shown to be effective, selective, and ecologically safe algicides for Microcystis spp. blooms. To analyze the superiority of developed NQ derivatives, we conducted a microcosm experiment using clay, which is frequently used in South Korea. Similar to previous studies, the NQ 40 and NQ 2-0 compounds showed high algicidal activities of 99.9% and 99.6%, respectively, on Microcystis spp. at low concentrations (≥1 μM) and enhanced phytoplankton species diversity. However, when treated with clay, a temporary algicidal effect was seen at the beginning of the experiment that gradually increased at the end. In addition, treatment with the NQ compounds did not affect either the abiotic or biological factors, and similar trends were observed with the control. These results showed that the NQ 2-0 compound was more effective, with no ecosystem disturbance, and more economical than the currently used clay. These results suggest that NQ 2-0 compound could be a selective, economically and ecologically safe algicide to mitigate harmful cyanobacterial blooms in the field.

• Analytical Science and Technology
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• v.26 no.5
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• pp.326-332
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• 2013

Geosmin and 2-methylisoborneol (2-MIB) are volatile organic compounds responsible for the majority of unpleasant taste and odor events in drinking water. Geosmin and 2-MIB are byproducts of blue-green algae (cyanobacteria) with musty and earthy odors. These compounds have odor threshold concentration at ng/L levels. It is needed to develop a sensitive method for determination of geosmin and 2-MIB to control the quality of drinking water. In this study, geosmin and 2-MIB in water samples were determined by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) with headspace-solid phase microextraction (HS-SMPE). The detection limits of this method were 1.072 ng/L and 1.021 ng/L for geosmin and 2-MIB, respectively. Good accuracy and precision was also obtained by this method. Concentrations of the two compounds were measured in raw waters from Nakdong River in the cyanobacterial blooming season. Water bloom formed by cyanobacteria has been occurred currently in Nakdong River. It is needed to investigate the concentrations of geosmin and 2-MIB to control the quality of drinking water from Nakdong River. Both geosmin and 2-MIB were detected in raw waters from Nakdong River at concentrations ranging from 4 to 24 ng/L and 6 to 16 ng/L, respectively.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.43 no.2
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• pp.221-231
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• 2010

A simple extraction method was applied to control four selected cyanobacteria, solitary (SMA) and colonial Microcystis aeruginosa (CMA), and green algae, Scenedesmus quadricauda and Chlorella vulgaris using a domestic plant and mineral. Three kinds of concentrations (1, 5, and 10 mg $L^{-1}$) of three fresh plants Camellia sinensis, Quercus acutissima, and Castanea crenata, three minerals loess, quartz porphyry, and natural zeolite, and plant-mineral composite, totally seven materials were prepared with the simple extraction processes: drying and grinding of material, water-extraction by high temperature-sonication and filtering. Cyanobacteria SMA and CMA (over 60% of control) were effectively inhibited with the low concentration (1 mg $L^{-1}$) of plants Q. acutissima and C. crenata and natural zeolite, while green alga S. quadricauda (below 50% of control) also retarded in growth. Low concentrations (1 mg $L^{-1}$) of C. sinensis effectively increased the growth of C. vulgaris, while loess also induced the algal growth of S. quadricauda. Therefore, our results indicate that crude extract of domestic plants, Q. acutissima and C. crenata can be also useful to control the cyanobacterial bloom in eutrophic lake, whereas C. sinensis and loess may be a good growth factor or useful media for the algal mass culture.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.375-381
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• 2018

The monitoring of phytoplankton biomass and community structure is essential as a first step to control the harmful cyanobacterial blooms in freshwater systems, such as seen in rivers and lakes, due to the process of eutrophication and climate change. In order to quantify the biomass of phytoplankton with a wide range in size and shape, the measurement of cell biovolume along with cell density is required for a comprehensive review on this issue. However, most routine monitoring programs preserve the gathered phytoplankton samples before analysis using chemical additives, because of the constraint of time and the number of samples. The purpose of this study was to investigate the cell biovolume change characteristics of six cyanobacterial species, which are common bloom-causing cyanobacteria in the Nakdong River, after the preservation with Lugol's iodine solution. All species showed a statistically significant difference after the addition of Lugol's iodine solution compared to the live cell biovolume, and the cell biovolume decreased to the level of 34.0 ~ 56.3 % at maximum in each species after the preservation. The nonlinear regression models for determining the shrinkage ratio by a preservation period were derived by using the cell biovolume measured until 180 days preservation of each target species, and the equation to convert the cell biovolume measured after preservation for a certain period to the cell biovolume of viable cell was derived using that formula. The conversion equation derived from this study can be used to estimate the actual cell biovolume in the natural environment at the time of sampling, by using the measured biovolume after the preservation in the phytoplankton monitoring. Moreover this is expected to contribute to the final interpretation of the water quality and aquatic ecosystem impacts due to the cyanobacterial blooms.

• Journal of Wetlands Research
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.267-273
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• 2023

Algae are an important component of the ecosystem. However, the excessive growth of cyanobacteria has various harmful effects on river environments, and diatoms affect the management of water supply processes. Algal monitoring is essential for sustainable and efficient algae management. In this study, an object detection model was developed that detects and classifies images of four types of harmful cyanobacteria used for the criteria of the algae alert system, and one diatom, Synedra sp.. You Only Look Once(YOLO) v8, the latest version of the YOLO model, was used for the development of the model. The mean average precision (mAP) of the base model was analyzed as 64.4. Five models were created to increase the diversity of the input images used for model training by performing rotation, magnification, and reduction of original images. Changes in model performance were compared according to the composition of the input images. As a result of the analysis, the model that applied rotation, magnification, and reduction showed the best performance with mAP 86.5. The mAP of the model that only used image rotation, combined rotation and magnification, and combined image rotation and reduction were analyzed as 85.3, 82.3, and 83.8, respectively.

• ALGAE
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.207-216
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• 2005

Myrionecta rubra, a mixotrophic ciliate, is a cosmopolitan red tide species which is commonly found in neritic and estuarine waters. M. rubra had long been listed as an “nculturable protist”until 2 different laboratory strains were finally established in 2 research groups at the beginning of this century, enabling us to perform initiative investigation into various aspect of the live M. rubra strains (Gustafson et al. 2000; Yih et al. 2004b; Johnson and Stoecker 2005). Field sampling was carried out on high tide at 2 fixed stations around Kunsan Inner Harbor (St.1 near the Estuarine Weir and St.2 off Kunsan Ferry Station) every other day for 4 months from mid-February 2004 to understand detailed figure of the recurrent spring blooms of M. rubra following the onset of the water gates operation of the Keum River Estuarine Weir on August 1994. With its maximum abundance of 272 cells mL$^{-1}$ in St.1, fluctuation pattern of the M. rubra population at the 2 stations was strikingly similar. Notable growth of M. rubra population started on late April, to cause M. rubra red tides during one month from mid-May in which “xceptionally low salinity days”without its red tide were intermittently inserted. High abundance of M. rubra over 50 cells mL$^{-1}$ was recorded at samples with their water temperature and salinity higher than 15${^{\circ}C}$ and 4.0 psu, respectively. During pre-bloom period when salinity fluctuation is moderate and the water temperature is cooler than 15°C, Skeletonema costatum, a chain-forming centric diatom, was most dominant. Cyanobacterial species such as Aphanizomenon flos-aquae and Phormidium sp. replaced other dominant phytoplankters on the days with “xceptionally low salinity”even during the main blooming period of M. rubra. To summarize, M. rubra could form spring blooms in Keum River Estuary when the level of salinity fluctuation was more severe than that for the dominant diatom Skeletonema costatum and milder than that for the predominance by freshwater cyanobacteria. Therefore, optimal control of the scale and frequency of freshwater discharges might lead us to partially modify the fluctuation pattern of M. rubra populations as well as the period of spring blooms by M. rubra in Keum River Estuary. Sampling time interval of 2 days for the present study or daily sampling was concluded to be minimally required for the detailed exploration into the spring blooms by M. rubra populations in estuaries with weirs like Keum River Estuary.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.614-621
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• 2010

A indigenous freshwater bivalve Unio douglasiae was introduced to compare the differences in the efficacy of algal bloom control and the appearances of mussel-mediated adverse effects between two different reservoirs such as mesotrophic (Shingu r.) and hypertrophic (Seokmun r.). We constructed the study mesocosm in the shore of each reservoir, stocked the mussel at density of $30indiv./m^3$ for 7 days, and measured daily the phytoplankton density and water quality. In mesotrophic reservoir, even though approximately 38% of suspended solids and chlorophyll-a was reduced by stocked bivalves for the first 3 days, algal density, ammonia and soluble reactive phosphorus gradually increased with increasing mussel death. In hypertrophic reservoir, mussels strongly inhibited suspended solids and chlorophyll-a by the termination of study with no increase of mussel death and nutrient, especially ammonia concentration. In both reservoirs, a strong selectivity showed mussels preferred to diatom rather than cyanobacteria and green algae without algal density and nutrient level. Our results indicate that an introduction of freshwater bivalve U. douglasiae is more strategic to improve water quality of hypertrophic than mesotrophic reservoir, but many preliminary studies on the treatment method and the selection of target water system are required.