• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.33 no.4 s.92
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• pp.374-379
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• 2000

To elucidate the degradation mechanisms of organic materials in Lake Paldang, oxygen consuming rates in the water column, high molecular weight (HMW) organic materials and aggregates were analyzed. Also the chlorophyll a concentrations and environmental factors were measured three times in 1999. The concentrations of chlorophyll a ranged $5.5{\sim}14.2\;mg/m^3$ with the highest peak of $57.7\;mg/m^3$ at the surface water in April. Chlorophyll a concentration of aggregates retrieved from traps in 5 m and 20 m depths in May were 2779.5, $9044.8\;mg/m^3$, respectively. Those vlaues were more than 6 times higher compared with other months, and more than 49 times higher than water column chlorophyll a. Oxygen consuming rates of water column were in the narrow range of $0.4{\sim}0.5\;mg\;O_2\;l^{-1}\;day^{-1}$. HMW organic materials were using only small amount of oxygen, $0.01{\sim}0.04\;mg\;O_2\;l^{-1}\;day^{-1}$. The aggregates retrieved from 5 m depth by sediment trap consumed the oxygen in the range of $0.48{\sim}0.69\;mg\;O_2\;l^{-1}\;day^{-1}$, while aggregates collected from 20 m depth, 0.88 to $1.04\;mg\;O_2\;l^{-1}\;day^{-1}$. With these results, the HMW appeared not to be degraded in the water column, instead they seemed to be concentrated and affected the sediment oxygen demand.