• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.41 no.1
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• pp.89-100
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• 2023

We investigated the spatial distribution of heterotrophic bacteria associated with different water masses in the northern East China Sea(ECS) in summer. The surface water masses were divided into the Changjiang Diluted Water (CDW) and high salinity water (HSW). In the CDW region, the concentrations of dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN) and chlorophyll-a (Chl-a), and micro Chl-a contribution were high; and bacterial abundance (BA) and ciliate abundance (CA) were also high. In the HSW region with relatively low DIN concentrations, Chl-a concentration and micro Chl-a contribution were low, but pico Chl-a contribution was increased compared to those in the CDW region. BA did not show any significant difference from the CDW region, but CA was decreased. BA showed a positive correlation with Chl-a concentration in the CDW region; however, it did not show a significant correlation with Chl-a concentration in the HSW region. The ratio of bacterial carbon biomass/phytoplankton carbon biomass was exponentially increased with a decrease in the Chl-a concentration. Compared to the past (1990-2000s), the surface phosphate concentrations and the size of dominant phytoplankton have recently decreased in the ECS. Considering this trend of nutrient decrease and miniaturization of the phytoplankton, our results indicate that changes in the strength of the oligotrophic water mass could alter the function of the microbial food web.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.27 no.5
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• pp.561-570
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• 2013

Organic carbon distribution and carbon budget of a Pinus densiflora forest in the Songgye valley of Mt. Worak National Park were investigated. Carbon in above and below ground standing biomass, litter layer, and soil organic carbon were measured from May 2011 through April 2012. For the estimation of carbon budget, soil respiration was measured. The amount of carbon allocated to above and below ground biomass was 52.25 and 14.52 ton C $ha^{-1}$. Amount of organic carbon in annual litterfall was 4.71 ton C $ha^{-1}$. Amount of organic carbon within 50cm soil depth was 58.56 ton C $ha^{-1}$ 50cm-$depth^{-1}$. Total amount of organic carbon in this Pinus densiflora forest was estimated to 130.04 ton C $ha^{-1}$. Amount of organic carbon in tree layer, shrub and herb layer was 4.12, 0.10 and 0.04 ton C $ha^{-1}yr^{-1}$ and total amount of organic carbon was 4.26 ton C $ha^{-1}yr^{-1}$. Amount of organic carbon returned to the forest via litterfall was 1.62 ton C $ha^{-1}yr^{-1}$. The amount of carbon evolved through soil respiration was 6.25 ton C $ha^{-1}yr^{-1}$. The amount of carbon evolved through microbial respiration and root respiration was 3.19 and 3.06 ton C $ha^{-1}yr^{-1}$. The amount of organic carbon absorbed from the atmosphere of this Pinus densiflora forest was 1.07 ton C $ha^{-1}yr^{-1}$ when it was estimated from the difference between Net Primary Production and microbial respiration.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.16 no.7
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• pp.855-863
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• 2007

In order to understand the temporal distribution of pico- and nanoplankton and factors controlling its distribution at a station in Okkye Bay of Masan Bay located in the southern part of Korea, this study was conducted on two weeks interval from April 2005 to April 2006, and several abiotic and biotic factors were measured. During the study, picoplankton consisted of picoflagellates, cyanobacteria and heterotrophic bacteria, and nanoplankton consisted of nanoflagellates excluding dinoflagellates. The concentration of chlorophyll-a (chl-a) was a mean of $4.33\;{\mu}g/L$, and the nanoplanktonic ($<20\;{\mu}m$) chl-a size fraction was a mean of 39.5 % and significantly correlated with water temperature. The abundances of cyanobacteria and photosynthetic flagellates (PF) were means of $24.4{\times}10^{3}\;cells/mL\;and\;2.87{\times}10^{3}\;cells/mL$, respectively. The contribution of picoflagellates to the PF abundance varied among the sampling occasions and was a mean of 29 %, but to the PF carbon biomass was 2.6 % only. The PF abundance had significant relationships with water temperature, and silicate and TIN concentrations, suggesting that the PF abundance seemed to be primarily bottom-up regulated. The abundance of heterotrophic bacteria was a mean of $3.18{\times}10^{6}\;cells/mL$ and unlike other ecosystems it did not have relationships with chl-a and heterotrophic flagellates (HF), suggesting that bacterial abundance did not seem to be bottom-up or top-down regulated. HF mostly consisted of cells less than $5{\mu}m$ and its abundance was a mean of $2.71{\times}10^{3}\;cells/mL$. Of the HF abundance, picoflagellates occupied about 31 %, and occupied about 9 % of the HF carbon biomass. HF grazing activity on heterotrophic bacteria was relatively low and removed about 10 % of bacterial abundance, suggesting that HF might not be major consumers of bacteria and there seems to be other consumers in Okkye Bay. These results suggest that Okkye Bay may have a unique microbial ecosystem.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.39 no.6
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• pp.318-324
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• 2017

We evaluated geosmin and MIB biodegradation and adsorption mechanism of biological activated carbon (BAC) and anthracite biofilter. In steady state of BAC process, the geosmin and MIB were completely removed at the 30 min empty bed contact time (EBCT) even though low water temperature ($9^{\circ}C$) in which the activity of attached bacteria decreased. When the water temperature was $26^{\circ}C$, the microbial biomass and activity were higher at the upper layer of the biofilm than at $9^{\circ}C$, and the microbial biomass and activity decreased as the depth was deeper. This is because when the water temperature is high, the biodegradable organic matter (BOM) removal rate in the upper layer is high and the BOM amount that can't be supplied to the lower layer. The Removal rate of geosmin and MIB by BAC process did not show a significant difference compare to activity-inhibited BAC by treated with azide and the biofilter also removed the geosmin and MIB by biological action. It means geosmin and MIB could be removed by competitive relationship between adsorption and biodegradation.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.48 no.3
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• pp.192-199
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• 2012

Microalgal biotechnology has gained prominence because of the ability of microalgae to produce value-added products including biodiesel through photosynthesis. However, carbon and nutrient source is often a limiting factor for microalgal growth leading to higher input costs for sufficient biomass production. Use of municipal wastewater as a low cost alternative to grow microalgae as well as to treat the same has been demonstrated in this study using mini raceway open ponds. Municipal wastewater was collected after primary treatment and microalgae indigenous in the wastewater were encouraged to grow in open raceways under optimum conditions. The mean removal efficiencies of TN, TP, COD-$_{Mn}$, $NH_3$-N after 6 days of retention time was 80.18%, 63.56%, 76.34%, and 96.74% respectively. The 18S rRNA gene analysis of the community revealed the presence of Chlorella vulgaris and Scenedesmus obliquus as the dominant microalgae. In addition, 16S rRNA gene analysis demonstrated that Rhodobacter, Luteimonas, Porphyrobacter, Agrobacterium, and Thauera were present along with the microalgae. From these results, it is concluded that microalgae could be used to effectively treat municipal wastewater without aerobic treatment, which incurs additional energy costs. In addition, municipal wastewater shall also serve as an excellent carbon and nitrogen source for microalgal growth. Moreover, the microalgal biomass shall be utilized for commercial purposes.

• Korean Journal of Organic Agriculture
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.75-90
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• 2024

Biochar is a solid substance with a high carbon content, as it is made out of biomass pyrolyzed under the condition of limited oxygen. This product has attracted attention as an environment-friendly soil amendment because it contributes to carbon neutrally and has improvement effects on the soil environment. This study conducted an experiment to evaluate soil physiochemical properties and microbial community changes in a melon greenhouse according to the applied amount of biochar to investigate the growth characteristics and yields of melons accordingly. In soil physical properties, an increase in the applied amount of biochar resulted in a decrease in bulk density and an increase in porosity of the soil, improving air permeability. In soil chemical properties, an increase in the applied amount of biochar led to a increasing of pH, organic matter and available phosphate content. In the growth characteristics of melons, there was a growing tendency of plant height, leaf length and leaf width according to the increasing application of biochar until 10,000 kg/ha. Moreover, melon yields also increased as the amount of biochar, 13~16% higher in 10,000 kg/ha biochar application than no treatment. Compared differences among microbial communities in the soil according to the application of biochar and found that plant beneficial bacteria dominated in biochar treatments. This study demonstrated the potential of biochar as an effective soil amendment in melon greenhouse by showing improvements in soil physicochemical properties and microbial communities.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.49 no.5
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• pp.614-620
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• 2016

Mine soils are usually unfavorable for plant growth due to their acidic condition and low contents of organic matter and nutrients. To investigate the effect of organic material and lime on nitrogen processes in an acidic metal mine soil, we conducted an incubation experiment with treating livestock manure compost, dolomite, and oyster shell and measured soil pH, dehydrogenase activity, and concentration of soil inorganic N ($NH_4{^+}$ and $NO_3{^-}$). Compost increased not only soil inorganic N concentration, but also soil pH from 4.4 to 4.8 and dehydrogenase activity from 2.4 to $3.9{\mu}g\;TPF\;g^{-1}day^{-1}$. Applying lime with compost significantly (P<0.05) increased soil pH (5.9-6.4) and dehydrogenase activity ($4.3-7.0{\mu}g\;TPF\;g^{-1}day^{-1}$) compared with applying only compost. Here, the variation in dehydrogenase activity was significantly (P<0.05) correlated with that in soil pH. Soil inorganic N decreased with time by 14 days after treatment (DAT) due to N immobilization, but increased with time after 14 DAT. At 28 DAT, soil inorganic N was significantly (P<0.05) higher in the lime treatments than the only compost treatment. Especially the enhanced dehydrogenase activity in the lime treatments would increase soil inorganic N due to the favored mineralization of organic matter. Although compost and lime increased soil microbial biomass and enzyme activity, ammonia oxidation still proceeded slowly. We concluded that compost and lime in acidic mine soils could increase soil microbial activity and inorganic N concentration, but considerable ammonium could remain for a relatively long time.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.25 no.6
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• pp.503-511
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• 2009

VOC mixture was fed to a trickle bed air biofilter (TBAB) with step-change in influent mixture concentrations from 50 ppmv to 1,000 ppmv, corresponding to loadings of $5.7\;g/m^3/hr$ to $114.1\;g/m^3/hr$. VOC mixture was an equimolar ratio of two aromatic VOCs, i.e., toluene and styrene, and two oxygenated VOCs, i.e., methyl ethyl ketone (MEK) and methyl isobutyl ketone (MIBK). The TBAB system employed backwashing as biomass control. The experimental results showed that a critical loading rate for VOC mixture removal was determined to be about $60\;g/m^3/hr$, and critical loading rates for individual VOCs in the mixture were different. Specifically, toluene content in the mixture played a major role in the biofilter overall performance. As VOC mixture was fed beyond the critical loading rate, reacclimation of the biofilter to reach the 99% removal efficiency following backwashing was delayed, which was a critical factor in the biofilter performance. In the mass balance analysis, 63.8% of the carbon equivalent in VOCs removal was used for $CO_2$ production during the experimental runs. The 82.6% nitrogen utilized in the biofilter was contributed to microbial cell synthesis. The obtained results were compared against consistently high efficient performance of TBAB for VOC mixture by employing backwashing as biomass control.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.24 no.9
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• pp.1280-1290
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• 2014

In order to obtain the cellulolytic bacterial consortia, sediments from Great Basin hot springs (Nevada, USA) were sampled and enriched with cellulosic biomass as the sole carbon source. The bacterial composition of the resulting anaerobic ethanol-producing celluloytic bacterial consortium, named SV79, was analyzed. With methods of the full-length 16S rRNA library-based analysis and denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis, 21 bacteria belonging to eight genera were detected from this consortium. Clones with closest relation to the genera Acetivibrio, Clostridium, Cellulosilyticum, Ruminococcus, and Sporomusa were predominant. The cellulase activities and ethanol productions of consortium SV79 using different agricultural residues (sugarcane bagasse and spent mushroom substrate) and energy crops (Spartina anglica, Miscanthus floridulus, and Pennisetum sinese Roxb) were studied. During cultivation, consortium SV79 produced the maximum filter paper activity (FPase, 9.41 U/ml), carboxymethylcellulase activity (CMCase, 6.35 U/ml), and xylanase activity (4.28 U/ml) with sugarcane bagasse, spent mushroom substrate, and S. anglica, respectively. The ethanol production using M. floridulus as substrate was up to 2.63 mM ethanol/g using gas chromatography analysis. It has high potential to be a new candidate for producing ethanol with cellulosic biomass under anoxic conditions in natural environments.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.44 no.4
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• pp.581-590
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• 2011

Organic farming is rapidly expanding worldwide. Crop growth in organic systems greatly depends on the functions performed by soil microbes, and nutrient supply weed suppression by green manure crops input. Four red-pepper production systems were compared: 1) bare ground (conventional system); 2) hairy vetch monoculture; 3) rye monoculture; and 4) hairy vetch-rye mixture. Soil inorganic N reached the peak at 30 DAI and hairy vetch monoculture was the highest ($192mg\;kg^{-1}$) and soil total carbon was fluctuated sporadically during the experiment. Carbohydrate and phenolic compounds in soil kept significantly higher in green manure crops systems from 10 DBI to 30 DAI, however the level was the maximum at 10 DBI (carbohydrate) and 30 DAI (phenolic comounds). Incorporation of green manure crops residue enhanced soil microbial biomass C and N throughout the growing season except that MBN in rye was reduced after incorporation. Green manure crops systems suppressed weed occurrence and, in particular, it was prominent in rye monoculture. Mineral elements composition and production in red-pepper fruits were markedly decreased in green manure crops systems although hairy vetch monoculture has come close to bare ground (NPK-applied). Therefore, it was suggested that higher biomass production should be performed not only to improve soil quality and suppress weeds but to yield suitable red-pepper fruits in green manure crops-based organic farming.