• The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.254-267
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• 2011

In order to assess structure changes of marine benthic communities in the Youngsan River Estuarine Bay for this 10-year period, we sampled macrobenthos in 2006 using the van Veen grab at the same 40 stations where a previous benthic community survey was conducted in 1995. The number of species and mean density of macrobenthos in 2006 decreased significantly than those of 1995. There were no significant differences in both the number and the density of polychaetous species between the two sampling periods, while both number and den-sity of molluscan species decreased significantly. Although the first two density-dominant species, semelid bivalve Theora fragilis and polychaete Tharyx sp. occurred as most dominant species, but the density of T. fragilis decreased significantly in many stations between 1995 and 2006. However, polychaete Tharyx sp. showed increment in density and percentage composition within community. The area dominated by T. fragilis was replaced by Tharyx sp.. Also, polychaete Poecilochaetus johnsoni and bivalve Raetellops pulchella which were pre-dominant in 1995 decreased significantly by 2006. Bivalve Yoldia johanni decreased its density and reduced its distribution area by 2006. Species diversity and rarefaction curves also revealed that overall species richness decreased. These results confirmed that the dominant species and species diversity of macrobenthic communities in the area should be changed due to anthropogenic stresses during 10 years.

• The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.102-117
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• 2009

This study was carried out to investigate the extent to which benthic environment of Ulsan Bay was disturbed by organic materials and trace metals from the megacity and industrial complex. Field survey for benthic environment and macroinvertebrate community was seasonally conducted from February to November 2006 at nine stations covering the inside and outside of the bay. TOC was on average 1.7% while four (As, Cu, Pb, Zn) out of seven trace metals measured exceeded the Effects Range Low (ERL) in most of the stations. Total number of species sampled was 199 and mean density was 4,578 ind./$m^2$, both of which were greatly dominated by the polychaetes. Dominant species were Aphelochaeta monilaris (22.6%), Ruditapes philippinarum (17.1%), Magelona japonica (12.2%), Lumbrineris longifolia (9.9%) and their distribution was ruled by the difference in the benthic environmental condition of each station. From the multivariate analyses, four stational groups were identified: northern part of the bay, middle and lower part of the bay, the intersection of Taewha River and Gosa stream and outside of the bay. As a result, the community heterogeneity of inner bay was much more greater than that of outer bay. SIMPER analysis showed that four groups were represented by R. philippinarum-Capitella capitata, A. monilaris-Balanoglossus carnosus, Sinocorophium sinensis-Cyathura higoensis and M. japonica-Ampharete arctica, respectively. Spatio-temporal changes of macroinvertebrate communities in Ulsan Bay were closely related to those of depth, mean grain size and organic content, and Zn was also a meaningful factor in that context.

• The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.195-205
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• 2013

Excessive input of organic matters from fish cage farming has been considered as one of the major factors disturbing benthic ecosystem, especially in semi-enclosed coastal waters. Recently offshore aquaculture in the vicinity of Jeju-do has been introduced to minimize that kind of negative impact. This study was conducted to investigate the ecological impacts of offshore aquaculture on the macrobenthic polychaete communities. A total of ten sampling works were carried out for 28 months, spanning from 10 days after starting giving feed to 3 months after stopping giving feed. During the study period, mean current velocity was quite strong with the range of 50 cm/s to 70 cm/s. TOC of surface sediment was constantly low. Significant changes in polychaete community were detected just three months after starting giving feed, which were the increase of the number of species and density at all stations. Up to 18 months after the start of farming, the amount of feed provided played an important role in the fluctuation of the number of species and density, especially at 0 m and 10 m stations. After reducing the amount of feed provided, dominance of some opportunistic species within 10 m distance from fish cages still lasted to the end of aquaculture. However, opportunistic species disappeared 3 months after the end of farming, which indicated the sign of recovery from the disturbance. From these results, the amount of food input and the period of cultivation were critical factors disturbing polychaete community and ensuing changes in this offshore and oligotrophic waters as well. In addition, study on the changes of polychaete community structure before and after fish farming showed more detailed changes in benthic ecological state than geochemical approach did.

• The Korean Journal of Malacology
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.197-213
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• 2012

This study was performed to know the community structure of macrobenthos and environmental factors at each 16 stations in the subtidal sandy bottoms of the southern coastal water of Jeju Island from July to November, 2011. Mean temperature and mean salinity were $20.2-22.7^{\circ}C$, 33.7-34.9 psu which shows stable water messes. Chlorophyll a concentrations of phytoplankton ranged from 0.71 to 1.71 mg/L (1.11 mg/L), showing higher July than September and November with a blooming in summer. The mean concentration values (the ranges in parentheses) of nitrate, phosphate, and silicate are 0.029-0.206 mg/L (0.101 mg/L), 0.001-0.027 mg/L (0.007 mg/L), 0.024-0.682 mg/L (0.454 mg/L), respectively. However, the values higher coastal zone due to influxes from the land. A total of 37 species was identified. of these mollusca comprised 29 secies (78.4%); Echinodermata 5 (13.5%); Arthropoda 3 (8.1%). density and biomass were estimated to be 550 ind./$m^2$ and 20,951.8 gwwt/$m^2$, respectively. Mollusca were the most dominant faunal group in terms of abundance (481 ind./$m^2$) and number of species as well, whereas bivalves were predominant in biomass (16,647.6 gwwt/$m^2$). The dominant species were Vasticardium burchardi, Oblimopa japonica, Mactar achatina, Bornatemishistrioiw akawai, Paphia vernicosa, Amusium japonicum, Glycymeris albolineata, Astriclypeus manni in 15-30 m. The seasonal variation appeared as distinct, Mollusca of individual and biomass. When summer was make a slow increase, after the highest decrease in autumn. The abundance of macrobenthic invertebrates showed significant correlation with environmental factors (Chlorophyll a, DIN, $SiO_2$, Fine sand, Very fine sand) in almost all sampling depths. The biodiversity, evenness richness index were appeared 1.56-2.50 (H'), 0.49-0.80 (E'), 4.12-4.67 (R) in each stations. The dominace index were appeared Highest in November and lowest in September.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.159-168
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• 1999

The ophemeropterans such as Epeorus pellucidus, Uracanthella rufa and Drunella uculea were dominated in station 1. It was generally showed the stable aquatic communities with low dominance index values throughout the year in station 2. The first dominant species in station 3 were all mayflies with the average DI value of 0.38. The first dominant species of Uracanthella rufa known as relatively tolerant species in station 4. A crustacean species Gammarus spp. have frequently occurred as the 1st or 2nd dominant species in station 5. Limnodrilus socialis, and Chironomus spp. were dominated in stations 6 and 7 Station 1, 2 and 3 were classified as oligosaprobic status according to their average diversity index values ranging from 3.46 to 3.52. Station 7 showed $\alpha$-mesosaprobic water condition with the overall average diversity value of 1.26. In general, the equitability and species richness values in the same sampling areas had close relations with their diversity values. The dendrogram drawn by dissimilarity values among 7 sampling sites indicates that the macrobenthic communities were divided into 3 groups： stations 1, 2, 3 and 4； stations 6 and 7； and station 5 alone.

• The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.287-304
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• 2007

This study was carried out to investigate spatio-temporal variations of benthic environment and macrobenthic polychaete communities in Gamak Bay where excessive organic matters from untreated sewage effluents and fish and shellfish farming activities have been accumulated in certain regions. Such environmental variables as sediment composition, organic content, acid volatile sulfide and dissolved oxygen content etc. were measured and polychaete specimens were taken in September 1999 and February 2000. In September 1999, organic contents were up to three times higher in the northwestern part of the bay and the area closed to Gukdong harbor than in the rest of the bay. In particular, benthic environment of the northwestern part of the bay was extremely deteriorated by the occurrence of hypoxia and highly concentrated sulfide. Of 28 stations investigated in summer, 5 stations located in the northwestern part were azoic. In the rest of the stations, a total of 119 polychaete species were sampled with a mean density of 900 $ind./m^2$. While species richness was higher in the entrance and central part of the bay where water exchanges with open sea were relatively active, density was higher in the moderately enriched stations neighbouring Gukdong harbor and fish farms where such potential indicators of organic pollution as Aphelochaeta monilaris, Lumbrineris longifolia were largely dominant. In February 2000, a total of 81 polychaete species appeared with a mean density of 2,802 $ind./m^2$ from 12 stations sampled in winter. Azoic areas were recolonized by Capitella capitata, Pseudopolydora paucibranchiata and Dipolydora socialis which showed maximum density in the innermost station. On the other hand, the rest of the stations were dominated by Euchone alicaudata and Praxillella affinis. The configuration of the stations sampled in summer and winter on the multidimensional scaling plots reflected the position of each stations within the bay in which there were great differences in organic content, sulfide concentration and oxygen content rather than in sediment composition. Therefore, heterogeneities in polychaete community structure in Gamak Bay were primarily influenced by the degree of the disturbance depending on the position within the bay.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Marine Environment & Safety
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.500-509
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• 2021

This study investigated the characteristics of a macrobenthos community and sediment environment and assessed the health of tidal flats along the west coast of Korea. A survey was conducted from Ganghwa-do to Mokpo, Jeollanam-do in April (spring) and August (summer) 2017, and April (spring) 2018. The sediment grain sizes in the Chungcheongnam-do region were coarser, and the sediment in the Gyeonggi-do·Incheon, Jeollanam-do, and Jeollabuk-do regions were finer. A total of 140 macrobenthic species were collected from this study and using a cluster similarity analysis of the macrobenthos community, they were divided into four groups. Group2 was associated with Manila clam farm stations, and Ruditapes phillipinarum, Nephtys polybranchia and Lumbrineris nipponica were dominant. Group4 included some sites with finer sediment composed relatively, and Eteone longa and Nemertea unid. appeared at a high frequency. From the health assessment of the western tidal flat, the ISEP and BHI indices had a "High status," and the AMBI index had a "Good status." In conclusion, the tidal flats along the west coast of Korea have good ecological health. However, pollution indicator species such as Theora lata and Capitella capitata have appeared in some areas. Therefore, periodic administration and interventions are necessary to prevent deterioration of the tidal flat environment.

• Journal of Wetlands Research
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.69-88
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• 2005

Distribution of benthic macrofauna was surveyed in the subtidal area and on the sand flat of Sindu-ri coast during July 2002. A total of 134 species, 3,511 individuals and 388g biomass of macrobenthos were sampled inclusively from the study sites. 109 species with a mean density of $1,298ind./m^2$ and biomass of $69.4g/m^2$ were collected from 10 stations established in the subtidal area. Polychaetes were represented as a dominant faunal group of the subtidal area in both species richness and density with values of 54 species and $813ind./m^2$. Cluster analysis based on the faunal composition showed that the subtidal area could be divided into four stational groups according to sedimentary characteristics: Cirrophorus armatus - Lumbrineris longifolia association on the mud sediment with pebbles near aqua-farms; Aonides oxycephala association on the rocky bed; Scoloplos armiger - Grandifoxus cuspis association on the sand-dominated sediment along the lowest low water; a association with higher evenness on the sand-dominated sediment in the depth. Although having characteristics of high value in species richness, density and species diversity, the macrobenthic association around the farming area was dominated by the opportunistic species such as Lumbrineris longifolia and Tharyx sp. Natural community represented by S. armiger and G. cuspis was developed in most sand-dominated areas. 50 species were sampled with a mean density of $2,443ind./m^2$ and biomass of $381.3g/m^2$ from eight+ stations along two transects on Sindu-ri sand flat. Mollusks were represented as a dominant faunal group of the sand flat in species richness, density and biomass with values of 20 species, $1,345ind./m^2$ and $350.4g/m^2$, respectively. Umbonium thomasi, Veneridae sp., Mandibulophoxus mai, Armandia lanceolata, Eohaustorius spinigerus, Urothoe convexa were dominant species and these species accounted for over 83% of total individuals. There were three distinct zones of macrobenthos on Sindu-ri sand flat according to the extent of exposure time. The upper zone was dominated by Scopimera globosa, the middle zone was characterized by M. mai, and the lower zone was dominated by E. spinigerus. Sindu-ri coastal area was considered as a healthy habitat for macrobenthos, except for around the farming area. It was considered that Sindu-ri coastal area including the sand flat connected to the sand dune of natural monument was a valuable habitat as a protected site in having no pollution source and no artificial structure.