• Journal of Wetlands Research
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.15-20
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• 2010

The contamination loadings generated in Changwon City are coming into Masan Bay through the Bongam tidal flat except the loadings collected and transferred by sewer lines to the wastewater treatment plant. The recovery of waterbirds, shellfishes, and fishes has been quite well recognized in recent years after the first implementation of Masan Bay TPLM (Total Pollution Loads Management) in Korea. This tidal flat has been conserved by the cooperation of several stakeholders and utilized as an ecosystem field site for in situ education. A large industrial complex has been operated since 1970's, therefore increasing the level of pollutants in estuary and costal sediments, especially by heavy metals. Zinc, copper, and lesd contamination of sediment was revealed at higher level by Clean-up guideline (MOMAF) or heavily polluted level by SQC (USEPA). There was a significant difference between two sites at the 95% confidence level, which implies no homogeneity in the processes of transport and deposition even at 500 m of distance. The heavy metal concentrations in the Bongam sediments have been gradually decreased with comparing the data of 2006, and 2009.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.22-29
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• 2007

Investigation of carabid beetles as on ecological indicator species for wetland characterization and monitoring was conducted in three types of wetlands such as emergent wetland, forested wetland, and estuary, During the investigation period, twenty-eight species belonging to twenty-two genera and three families(Carabidae, Harpalidae, Brachinidae) were identified. The diversity of carabid beetles at riverine wetland such as Woopo (H'=1.18) and Hwapo-neup (H'=1.08) were higher than in the forested wetland (H'=1.03) and estuarine (H'=0.91). Species compositions in each wetland were significantly different(${\chi}^2=1716.8$, P<0.01). Riverine wetlands differed significantly from the forested wetland. Indicator species for the wetland chose with indicator species analysis were reacted sensitively on the parameter such as soil composition, moisture of soil, and environmental change. Thus, it was consequently suggested that these indicator species may be applied for wetland characterization and monitoring of the wetland ecosystem.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.41 no.4
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• pp.637-656
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• 2023

River estuaries are dynamic and productive ecosystems with high regional biodiversity. Environmental DNA (eDNA) has become a useful approach to assessing biodiversity in aquatic ecosystems. This study was conducted to investigate fish community characteristics and species diversity in two river estuary ecosystems, the Taehwa River and Changwon Stream. We further compared conventional and eDNA metabarcoding analyses of the fish communities. The conventional survey was performed in May, July, and October 2022, while the eDNA analysis was conducted only in May. We observed various fish species with different life histories, including carp, goby, and marine fish. We also found that migratory fish, such as dace Tribolodon hakonensis, sweetfish Plecoglossus altivelis, and eel Auguilla japonica, occurred in the Taehwa River, suggesting high river connectivity. Marine fish species were predominant in the Changwon Stream, as this river is located close to the sea. The diversity indices showed that the Taehwa River generally had higher species richness, evenness, and diversity values than the Changwon Stream. A total of 9-19 species were detected in the conventional survey for the three sites, whereas 11-18 species were found from eDNA analysis. The findings indicate that the sensitivity of eDNA was similar to or higher than that of the conventional method. Our study findings suggest the efficiency and efficacy of eDNA-based fish community monitoring, although with some shortcomings in applying the genetic marker to Korean fish, including no clear-cut distinction for Korean endemic species and/or genetically closely related species groups.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.41 no.2
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• pp.109-125
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• 2023

This study was conducted to select target fish species as baseline research for accumulation analysis of major hazardous chemicals entering the aquatic ecosystem in Korea and to analyze the impact on fish community. The test bed was selected from a sewage treatment plant, which could directly confirm the impact of the inflow of harmful chemicals, and the Geum River estuary where harmful chemicals introduced into the water system were concentrated. A multivariable metric model was developed to select target candidate fish species for hazardous chemical analysis. Details consisted of seven metrics: (1) commercially useful metric, (2) top-carnivorous species metric, (3) pollution fish indicator metric, (4) tolerance fish metric, (5) common abundant metric, (6) sampling availability (collectability) metric, and (7) widely distributed fish metric. Based on seven metric models for candidate fish species, eight species were selected as target candidates. The co-occurring dominant fish with target candidates was tolerant (50%), indicating that the highest abundance of tolerant species could be used as a water pollution indicator. A multi-metric fish-based model analysis for aquatic ecosystem health evaluation showed that the ecosystem health was diagnosed as "bad conditions". Physicochemical water quality variables also influenced fish feeding and tolerance guild in the testbed. Eight water quality parameters appeared high at the T1 site, indicating a large impact of discharging water from the sewage treatment plant. T2 site showed massive algal bloom, with chlorophyll concentration about 15 times higher compared to the reference site.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Marine Environment & Safety
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• v.21 no.6
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• pp.617-636
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• 2015

The Mokpo coastal waters receive discharges from three artificial lakes(Youngsan, Youngam, Geumho) and other terrigenous freshwater inflows(streams, sewage treatment effluent, fresh groundwater), which exhibit very high concentrations of nutrients and/or organic matters. To understand spatial distributions of nutrients(DIN, DIP, DSi) and other water quality parameters(Chl-a, water temperature, salinity, DO, COD, SS), field surveys were conducted at 10 stations in the Mokpo harbor and adjacent estuaries on May, July, September, and November 2008 within 10 days following discharge events from artificial lakes. In this study, the freshwater flow rate influxed by the operation of sea dike sluice had significant influence on water qualities of the Mokpo coastal waters, although nutrient concentrations in other freshwater sources such as streams, sewage treatment effluent, and fresh groundwater were much higher. As a result of statistical analysis, DIN, COD, and Chl-a had a negative correlation with salinity. Therefore it was shown that discharge extents, time, and nutrients from the Youngsan lake were major impact factors dominating the spatial characteristics of nutrients and other water quality parameters in the Mokpo harbor and adjacent waters. However, despite non-discharge from the Youngsan Lake on September of this investigated period, it was observed that the nutrient addition was taking place in the lower layer of the estuary suggesting nutrient supply through different pathways. This result has emphasized the need to implement the combined assessment about the cumulative impacts on the Youngsan Estuary environment and ecosystem due to freshwater inputs derived from the artificial lakes as well as other terrigenous inflows, or benthic releases.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Marine Environment & Energy
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.53-59
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• 2010

The spatial variability in the food chain structure of an estuarine environment(Nanakita estuarine, Japan) was investigated using stable carbon and nitrogen isotope. Potential organic matter sources(TP:Terrstrial Plant, MPOM:Marine particulate organic matter, BMA:Benthic microalgae, EPOM:Estuarine particulate organic matter), sedimentary organic matter and benthic invertebrates(Nuttallia olivacea and Nereidae) were sampled at four locations with different tidal flat types(e.g. sanddy, sanddy-muddy and muddy). The main objective of the present study was to determine food sources of Nuttallia olivacea and Nereidae along with small-scale spatial variability within the community of benthic invertebrates. TP(${\delta}^{13}C=-26.6{\pm}0.76$ and ${\delta}^{15}N=2.7{\pm}0.31$) and EPOM(${\delta}^{13}C=-25.5{\pm}0.13$ and ${\delta}^{15}N=5.2{\pm}0.46$) were isotopically distinct from BMA(${\delta}^{13}C=-16.3$ and ${\delta}^{15}N=6.2$) and MPOM(${\delta}^{13}C=-19.6{\pm}0.08$ and ${\delta}^{15}N=8.9{\pm}1.70$). ${\delta}^{13}C$ values of sedimentary organic matter showed a distinct gradient in the range of -27.4 to -22.8‰ with a declining trend from the upstream to the downstream stations. The stable carbon and nitrogen isotope values of benthic invertebrates in the study site was -22.8 to -18.4‰ for ${\delta}^{16}C$ and 8.1 to 11.9‰ or ${\delta}^{15}N$, respectively. Mixing model(Isosource) calculations based on stable isotope measurements showed that benthic invertebrates of Nuttallia olivacea and Nereidae were found to be dominated by MPOM and BMA in stations. Whereas, TP and EPOM showed little influence to benthic invertebrates. The current result suggests that the different contribution for benthic invertebrates should be affected by both seasonal variation and physical factor among stations.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.55 no.1
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• pp.35-48
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• 2022

Fish assemblage of total 325 of Korean peninsula estuaries were surveyed to analyze the characteristics of community structure and diversity by sea areas for three years from 2016 to 2018. The scale (stream width) of Korean estuaries were various (14~3,356 m), and 68.9% of all estuaries showed salinity of less than 2 psu. Total 149 species classified into 52 families of fish were identified, and the dominant and sub-dominant species were Tribolodon hakonensis (relative abundance, RA, 12.5%) and Mugil cephalus (RA, 9.5%), respectively. The estuary of the Korean Peninsula had different physical and chemical habitat environments depending on the sea area, and accordingly, fish community structure also showed statistically significant differences (PERMANOVA, Pseudo-F=26.69, P=0.001). In addition, the NMDS (nonmetric multidimensional scaling) results showed the patterns that indicating fish community difference by sea areas, even though low community similarity within sea area (SIMPER, 21.79~26.39%). The estuaries of east sea areas were distinguished from the others in the aspects of which, the higher importance of migratory fishes and endangered species, and that of brackish species were characterized at south sea estuaries. However, the estuaries of west sea showed higher importance of species that have a relation with freshwater (primary freshwater species, exotic species), which is the result that associating with the lower salinity of west sea estuaries because of the high ratio of closed estuaries(78.2%). The SIMPER analysis, scoring the contribution rates of species to community similarity, also showed results corresponding to the tendency of different fish community structures according to each sea area. So far, In Korea, most studies on fish communities in estuaries have been conducted in a single estuary unit, which made it difficult to understand the characteristics of estuaries at the national level, which are prerequisite for policy establishment. In present study, we are providing fish community structure characteristics of Korean estuaries in a national scale, including diversity index, habitat salinity ranges of major species, distribution of migratory species. We are expecting that our results could be utilized as baseline information for establishing management policies or further study of Korean estuaries.

• The Korean Journal of Quaternary Research
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.167-168
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• 2003

The Upo wetland, the largest natural wetland in Korea, is located in Changnyeong-gun, Gyeongsannam Province ($35^{\circ}33'$ N, $128^{\circ}25'$ E), and 70 km upstream from the Nakdong River estuary. Unlike most other Korean wetlands that have been destroyed under the name of economic development, the Upo wetland has been able to preserve its precious ecosystem throughout the years. Thanks to increased public awareness about natural wetlands and environmental conservation, the Korean Ministry of Environment designated the Upo wetland an 'Ecological Conservation Area' on July 26th, 1997. On March 2nd of the following year, the Upo wetland (8.54 $\textrm{km}^2$) was designated a 'Protected Wetland' in accordance with the international Ramsar Treaty. A 4.49m long (from 9.73 to 5.24 m in altitude) UP-1 core ($35^{\circ}33'05"N$, $128^{\circ}25'17"E$), recovered in the marginal part of the Upo wetland, is divided into eight buried paleosol units of different ages on the basis of the abundance of color mottles and vertical color variations (Aslan et al., 1998). Radiocarbon datings suggested that the paleosol profile represent the last 5700 years. The entire section of the core was more or less subjected to pedogenetic processes, and shows very weak to moderate soil profile development. These Holocene paleosols are therefore regarded as synsedimentary soils of deluvium (deposits formed by floods) origin (Sycheva et al., 2003). Unit 1 to 5 paleosols are generally silt-rich and exhibit moderate profile development. The boundaries between the units are somewhat distinguishable, but not so clear cut. This is due to variable repeated combination of accumulation, denudation and soil forming processes within various periods. Mottle textures gradually decrease in abundance with increasing clay content in Unit 6, which results in weak profile development. The lower boundary of Unit 6 lies around about 2000 yrBP, the beginning of Subatlantic in Korea (Kim et al., 2001). Abrupt sediment textural change is detected in Unit 7, which is interpreted to indicate the human activities on the Upo wetland. Unit 8 represents the recent soil forming processes. The preliminary results of this ongoing study imply the primary factor for pedogenetic processes is the water table fluctuations related to the sedimentary textures like grain size distributions, and the geomorphological stability of the Upo wetland.o wetland.

• 한국해양학회지
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• v.30 no.5
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• pp.426-435
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• 1995

In order to assess the significance of ciliate grazing on bacterial population in carbon flow of the estuarine pelagic ecosystem of the Mankyung and Dongjin river (MD estuary), abundance and biomass of ciliates and grazing rate on bacteria of small (<40 um) ciliates were measured. Saplings were carried out four times from October 1993 to March 1995 in the estuarine system. Ciliates smaller than 40 um occupied more than 49.5% of total ciliates abundance. Clearance rate of small ciliates ranged from 18.0 to 16.3 nl cell/SUP -1/ h/SUP -1/. As bacterial abundance increased, ciliate's clearance rate decreased, suggesting that bacterial abundance effects on ciliate's grazing rate. Ciliate grazing rate was equal to 0.1 to 12.2% of bacterial productivity, and the ratio of ciliate ingestion over bacterial production increased exponentially with the increase of bacterial abundance (r$^2$=0.62, p$\leq$0.001). It seems that the effect of ciliate grazing on bacteria would be small in coastal waters and large in more eutrophic waters of high bacterial abundance. Carbon supplied by ciliate grazing on bacteria was avg. 3.1% of carbon amount required for the ciliate maximum productivity. Thus, the ecological role of ciliate in microbial loop was probably more important as a final consumer than as a direct consumer of bacteria.

• Journal of Korean Society of Coastal and Ocean Engineers
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• v.23 no.5
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• pp.393-400
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• 2011

The mass transport is very complicated at the area which has the macro tide and complex geometry such as Gyeonggi bay. Especially, the long period current has a strong influence on the estuarine ecosystem and the long-term distribution of substances. The long period current is caused by several external forcing, whose unique characteristic varies spatially and temporally. The variation characteristics of long period current is analysed and its generation mechanism is studied. The tidal nonlinear constituents such as overtide and compound tide are generated due to nonlinear interaction and it causes mean sea level setup. The tidal wave propagating up into estuary is transformed rapidly by decrease of cross-sectional area and depth. Therefore the mean sea level is getting rise toward upriver. The high and low tide level is similar between down-river(Incheon) and up-river(Ganghwa) during neap tide when the tidal deformation is decreased. The tidal phase difference between two tidal stations causes a periodic fluctuation of sea level difference. The low water level of Ganghwa station during spring tide does not descend under EL(-)2.5 m, but the low water level of Incheon fall down under EL(-)4.0 m. The variation of tidal range and its sea level are increased during spring tide. It is found that the long period current $M_{sf}$ is quite similar to that of sea level difference between the two tidal stations. It means that the sea surface inclination caused by the spatial difference of tidal deformation is important forcing for the generation of long period current.