• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.44 no.1
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• pp.22-30
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• 2011

This study was purposed to develop an effective LC/MS/MS method for simultaneously determining five pre-treated cyanotoxins (anatoxin-a, microcystins-RR, -YR, -LR and -LA) of cyanobacteria blooms. Cyanobacterial bloom samples were collected from 11 major lakes and three downstream areas of river around Korea during 2005~2009. Cyanotoxins were identified in 38 samples from the lakes. The validity of the method was evaluated and the recovery rates were found ranging from 83~87%. The MDL turned out to be $0.046\;{\mu}g\;L^{-1}$ for anatoxin-a and $0.066\;{\mu}g\;L^{-1}$ for microcystins (RR, YR, LR and LA), which indicates that the method has high sensitivity and accuracy. The most dominant genus of the cyanobacterial blooms was Microcystis, which accounted for 71% of the analysed samples. Microcystis also contained the largest amount of microcystins ($398.5\;{\mu}g\;gDW^{-1}$) among the analyzed cyanobacteria. The analysis of the five cyanotoxins showed that anatoxin-a ranged between $0{\sim}41.833\;{\mu}g\;gDW^{-1}$ and microcystins ranged between $6.311{\sim}2,148.786\;{\mu}g\;gDW^{-1}$. Among the microcystins, micocystin-RR took up 58.3%, the largest portion. Anatoxin-a was found to account for 77.8% of the samples. This study has its significance in that it allowed the establishment of toxin criteria appropriate for the Korean water systems. Further studies may be necessary to conduct for improving water treatment methods.

• Journal of Microbiology
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• v.42 no.3
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• pp.181-187
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• 2004

Cyanobacteria are the dominant phototrophic bacteria in water environments. Here, the diversity of cyanobacteria in seven Korean reservoir waters where different levels of algal blooms were observed during the summer of 2002, was examined by T-RFLP analysis. The number of T-RF bands in the HaIII T-RFLP profiles analyzed from those water samples ranged from 20 to 44. Of these, cyanobacteria accounted for 6.1 to 27.2％ of the total bacteria. The water samples could be clustered into 2 groups according to the Dice coefficient of the T -RF profiles. The eutrophic Dunpo and oligotrophic Chungju reservoirs were selected, and several representative clones from both reservoir waters analyzed for the nucleotide sequences of their 16S rDNA. The major clones were found to belong to the Microcystis and Anabaena species in the waters from the Dunpo and Chungju reservoirs, respectively, which was in agreement with the T-RFLP result. That is, the Microcystis and Anabaena species were dominant in the eutrophic and polluted Dunpo and oligotrophic Chungju reservoir waters, respectively. These results indicated that there is a correlation between prevalence of cyanobacterial species and levels of pollution in reservoir waters.

• ALGAE
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.255-262
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• 2003

Ecological characteristics of phytoplankton communities were investigated biweekly at 6 stations from Feb. 2001 to Feb. 2002 at the lower part of the Han River. During the study, a total of 267 taxa which were composed of 114 green algae, 104 diatoms, 22 blue-green algae, 13 chrysophytes and 2 dinoflagellates were observed. The standing crops of phytoplankton communities were ranged from 1.30 ${\times}10^6$ cells ${\cdot}l^{-1}$ to 37.47 ${\times}10^6$ cells ${\cdot}l^{-1}$. The dominant species were 11 taxa including Pediastrum duplex, Scenedesmus quadricauda in green algae, Osillatoria limosa, Microcystis aeruginosa, Merisomorpedia sp., Phormidium sp. in blue-green algae, and Asterionella gracillima, Aulacoseira granulata, Fragilaria crotonensis, Stephanodiscus hantzschii f. tenuis, Synedra acus in diatoms. Asterionella gracillima and Stephanodiscus hantzschii f. tenuis were abundant at every station from winter to spring. Stephanodiscus hantzschii f. tenuis occupied the highest dominant ratio and standing crop. From summer to autumn, dominant species were Aulacoseira granulata at all stations and blue-green algae such as Osillatoria limosa, Microcystis aeruginosa, Merisomorpedia sp. at some stations. These 4 species were mostly present at the lower stations 4, 5, 6 and very few at the upper stations 1, 2, 3.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.34 no.1 s.93
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• pp.45-53
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• 2001

Transport of cyanobacterial toxins (microcystin-LR, -RR, -YR) were assessed from a eutrophic lake, Lake Suwa, through the outflowing river, the Tenryu River, and its irrigation channel branch. Temporal variation of phytoplankton species composition in the river coincided with those of the lake; Microcystis ichthyoblabe dominated from June to July, and M. viridis dominated from August to September. When cyanobacterial bloom occurred, microcystins were continuously detected at the concentration of $0.3{\sim}3.2\;{\mu}g/l$ even at 32 km downstream. The change of the content of three microcystin variants were related both with the total cell density of Microcystis and with the change of Microcystis species composition. When Microcystis ichthyoblabe dominated during July, only microcystin-RR (MC-RR) and -LR (MC-LR) were detected, while when Microcystis viridis dominated between August and October, microcystin-RR,-YR (MC -YR) and -LR were detected. Along 29 km flowing distance (flow time 11 hours) between site 2 and site 5 in the Tenryu River, cyanobacterial density and microcystin concentration were reduced by 73% and 72%, respectively, which is mostly contributed by the dilution effect of tributary waters (61% and 57%, respectively) . In the artificial irrigation channel microcystins and cyanobacterial cells were decreased less than in the natural river. The results indicate that cyanobacterial toxins can be transported far downstream without much removal and give hazards to water usage in downstream of eutrophic lakes with cyanobacterial blooms.

• KCID journal
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.33-43
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• 2011

Jundae reservoir has basin area of 234ha, average depth of 3.77m and total storage of $619{\times}10^3m^3$, and is located in Dangin-gun, Chungcheongnam-do. The water quality of Jundae reservoir exceeded the IV grade of water quality standard as available for irrigation water in COD, TN, TP, Chl-a. COD and Chl-a were higher in spring season, because the algal bloom by phytoplankton increased. And the algal blooms in October by inflow non-point pollution during summer rainy season. The most dominant zooplankton was rotifers during study period at all stations. Dominant species were Keratella cochlearis, Polyarthra spp., and Trichocerca spp. We successfully established 2 isolated clone cultures as predator. One is Rotifer, Euchlanis sp. and another is cladocerans, Bosmina sp. To test the removal rate of 2 cultures against Microcystis aeruginosa, we inoculated Euchlanis sp. and Bosmina sp. separately when the abundance reached at $1.0{\times}10^6$cells/ml. Euchlanis sp. removed M. aeruginosa around 98.9% and Bosmina sp. removed it around 98.4%. They are useful grazers for controling algae blooms, Euchlanis sp. and Bosmina sp. feeding on M. aeruginosa highly.

• ALGAE
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.275-284
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• 2017

Microcystis aeruginosa causes harmful algal blooms in the Nakdong River of Korea. We studied the effect of different concentrations and ratios of ammonium ($NH_4{^+}$), nitrate ($NO_3{^-}$), and phosphate ($PO{_4}^{3-}$) on growth of this species in BG-11 medium: each nutrient alone, $NO_3{^-}:NH_4{^+}$ ratio, the N : P ratio with fixed total N (TN), and the N : P ratio with fixed total P (TP). The single nutrient experiments indicated that M. aeruginosa had the highest growth rate at $NH_4{^+}$ and $NO_3{^-}$ concentrations of $500{\mu}M$, and at a $PO{_4}^{3-}$ concentration of $5{\mu}M$. The $NO_3{^-}:NH_4{^+}$ ratio experiments showed that M. aeruginosa had the highest growth rate at a ratio of 1 : 1 when TN was $100{\mu}M$ and $250{\mu}M$, and the lowest growth rate at a ratio of 1 : 1 when the TN was $500{\mu}M$. The N : P ratio with fixed TN experiments indicated that M. aeruginosa had the highest growth rates at 50 : 1, 20 : 1, and 100 : 1 ratios when the TN was 100, 250, and $500{\mu}M$, respectively. In contrast, the N : P ratio with fixed TP experiments showed that M. aeruginosa had the highest growth rates at 200 : 1 ratio at all tested TP concentrations. In conclusion, our results imply that the $NO_3{^-}:NH_4{^+}$ ratio and the $PO{_4}^{3-}$ concentration affect the early stage of growth of M. aeruginosa. In particular, our results suggest that the maximum growth of M. aeruginosa is not simply affected by the $NO_3{^-}:NH_4{^+}$ ratio and the N : P ratio, but is determined by the TN concentration if a certain minimum $PO{_4}^{3-}$ concentration is present.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.40 no.1
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• pp.1-10
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• 2024

Algal blooms occur seasonally in the eutrophicated rivers or reservoirs, and some harmful cyanobacteria species produce toxic substances, which are directly or indirectly harmful to the ecosystem and terrestrial animals. So, the monitoring and control of harmful cyanobacteria occurrence and toxins residual in the aquasystem are important to preserve the water environment and secure public health. In this study, the four harmful cyanobacteria occurrences and toxic substance concentrations of two agricultural reservoirs in the southern part of Gyeonggi Province were investigated from August to October 2022. Among four harmful cyanobacteria (Microcystis sp., Anabaena sp., Oscillatoria sp., Aphanizomenon sp.), three kinds of cyanobacteria except Oscillatoria sp. were observed, and Microcystis sp. was the dominant cyanobacteria except for Anabaena sp. dominant result of a sample collected on October at reservoir B. The cell density of cyanobacteria was influenced by season and weather due to the length of daytime and concentrations of organic carbon and nitrogen. Three kinds of microcystin and anatoxin-a were quantitatively analyzed as total (in the cell body and water) and extracellular (in water) concentrations. The maximum total concentrations of anatoxin-a, microcystin-LR, microcystin-RR, and microcystin-YR were 0.1291 ㎍/L, 0.2776 ㎍/L, 0.3721 ㎍/L, and 0.0306 ㎍/L, respectively, in reservoir A and 0.3274 ㎍/L, 0.1495 ㎍/L, 0.2037 ㎍/L, and 0.0153 ㎍/L, respectively, in reservoir B.

• ALGAE
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.321-327
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• 2004

The literature review on the dynamics of the phytoplankton communities in terms of species composition, standing crops, abundant species and dominant species in the lower part of the Han River from 1940s to 2000s was conducted for the prospective prediction of their succession patterns. Total of 326 taxa were identified and they belonged to 47 blue-green algae, 139 green algae, 12 euglenoids, 126 diatoms, 6 din flagellates and 2 silicoflagellates. Composition of phytoplankton communities were 83.6% diatoms, 10.5% blue-green algae and 5.3% green algae in the middle of 1960s, whereas those were 43.2% diatoms, 40.7% green algae and 13.6% blue-green algae in the 1990s. Before 1990s, Synedra ulna, Melosira varians, Cymbella tumida, Synedra acus, Cymbella ventricosa, Navicula cryptocephala, Nitzschia palea, Aulacoseira granulata, Gomphonema parvulum and Cymbella affinis were most frequent, while those after 1990 were Asterionella formosa, Asterionella gracillima, Aulacoseira granulate, Aulacoseira granulata var. angustissima, Chlorella vulgare, Fragilaria crotonensis and Synedra ulna. Phytoplankton blooms were frequent from winter to the late spring and rare in summer due to heavy rain and discharge. Seasonal variations of the dominant species were fairly obvious; Asterionella gracillima and Aulacoseira granulata in spring, Aulacoseira granulate and Aulacoseira granulate var. angustissima in summer and autumn, Asterionella gracillima and Stephan discus hantzschii in winter. Recently blue-green algae, Microcystis, Aphanocapsa, Dactylococcopsis have been more abundant than those of the previous reports. Based on the current situations, Stephan discus hantzschii f. tennis, Asterionella gracillima, Aulacoseira granulate and blue-green algae will be more abundant and blooms of those species will be more frequent.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.37 no.4
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• pp.741-748
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• 2019

As the occurrence of harmful algal blooms (HABs) have become severe in precious water resources, the development of efficient harmful algae treatment methods is considering as an important environmental issue for sustainable conservation of water resources. To treat HABs in water resources, various conventional physical and chemical methods have been utilized and showed treatment efficiency, However, these methods can lead to discharging of cyanotoxins into the water bodies by chemical or physical algal cell lysis or destruction. Thus, to overcome this limitation, the development of safe HABs treatment methods is required. In the present study, adsorption technology was investigated for the removal of harmful algal species, Microcystis aeruginosa from aqueous phases. Industrial waste biomass, Corynebacterium glutamicum biomass was valorized as biosorbent (PEI-modified alginate/biomass composite fiber; PEI-AlgBF) for M. aeruginosa through immobilization with alginate matrix and cationic polymer (polyethylenimine; PEI) coating. The functional groups characteristic of PEI-Alg was determined using FT-IR analysis. By adsorption process used PEI-AlgBF, 52 and 67% of M. aeruginosa could be removed under the initial density of M. aeruginosa 200×10⁴ cells mL^-1 and 50×10⁴ cells mL^-1, respectively. As the increasing surface area of PEI-AlgBF, the removal efficiency was increased. In addition, we could find that adsorptive removal of M. aeruginosa has occurred without any M. aeruginosa cell lysis and destruction.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.43 no.2
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• pp.212-220
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• 2010

Effects of sediment and toxic cyanobacterium Microcystis aeruginosa on feeding behaviors of an omnivorous fish, gold fish (Carassius auratus) were examined in laboratory and in situ mesocosm. Laboratory feeding experiments were performed in small aquaria (7 L) with cyanobacterial blooms (mainly M. aeruginosa) under the condition of sediments and no-sediments, and toxic (NIES-298) and non-toxic M. aeruginosa (NIES-101). In situ feeding experiments were conducted at the shore of eutrophic lake (Lake Ilgam, Seoul) in the mid-July, 2005. Results showed that fish introduction decreased the concentration of Chlorophyll-a (Chl-a) at higher rate in no sediment-containing aquaria. In contrast, there was a drastic increase of Chl-a in the sedimentcontaining aquaria. Fish effectively removed the M. aeruginosa cells without algal toxin (microcystin). Fish also selectively removed the large size Chl-a (>$50{\mu}m$), although all kinds of nutrients were increased after fish introduction, especially ammonia. Our results indicate that the strategic introduction of domestic omnivores Carassius auratus, to control cyanobacterial bloom in eutrophic lake will negatively play in the water quality improvement via a sediment disturbance and a density-dependent digestion.