• Ecology and Resilient Infrastructure
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• v.3 no.4
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• pp.221-230
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• 2016

Multi-functional floating wetland island (mFWI) was developed in order to prevent algal bloom and to improve water quality through several unit purification processes. A test bed was applied in the stagnant watershed in an urban area, from the summer to the winter season. For the advanced treatment, an artificial phosphorus adsorption/filtration medium was applied with micro-bubble generation, as well as water plants for nutrient removal. It appeared that the efficiency of chemical oxygen demand (COD) and total phosphorus (T-P) removal was higher in the warmer season (40.9%, 45.7%) than in the winter (15.9%, 20.0%), and the removal performance (suspended solid, chlorophyll a) in each process differs according to seasonal variation; micro-bubble performed better (33.1%, 39.2%) in the summer, and the P adsorption/filtration and water plants performed better (76.5%, 59.5%) in the winter season. From the results, it was understood that the mFWI performance was dependent upon the pollutant loads in different seasons and unit processes, and thus it requires continuous monitoring under various conditions to evaluate the functions. In addition, micro-bubbles helped prevent the formation of anaerobic zones in the lower part of the floating wetland. This resulted in the water circulation to form a new healthy aquatic ecosystem in the surrounding environment, which confirmed the positive influence of mFWI.

• The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.110-123
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• 2021

We investigated geochemical constituents of pore-water and sediment, rates of organic carbon (C_org) oxidation and sulfate reduction (SR), and benthic nutrient flux (BNF) to elucidate characteristic of C_org oxidation and its control in the coastal area near Lake Shihwa. The study sites were selected in the vicinity of Soraepogu (E0), Songdo tidalflat (E1) and Oido dock (E3) and in front of floodgate Shihwa tidal plant (E5). The C_org contents in the sediments and concentrations of ammonium and phosphate in pore water exhibited the highest value at EO, and gradually decreased toward the outer sea (E1, E3, E5). Rates of anaerobic C_org oxidation (260.6 mmol C m^-2 d^-1) and SR (91.4 mmol S m^-2 d^-1) at E0 were 4-9 and 6-54 times higher than at the site of outer sea (E1, E3, E5). Rates of SR at E3 and E5 accounted for 11-23% of anaerobic C_org oxidation, whereas it comprised 47-70% of anaerobic C_org oxidation at E0 and E1. Rates of C_org oxidation and SR showed a highly positive correlation with the concentration of dissolved organic carbon (r² = 0.795 and 0.777, respectively). The BNF at E0, E1, and E3 accounted for 120-510% and 26-178%, respectively, of the N and P required for primary production in the water column. Overall results suggest that the C_org oxidation in the sediment controlled by concentration of dissolved organic carbon in the pore water and the excessive C_org oxidation stimulates the benthic nutrient flux, which may cause a phytoplankton bloom in the water column.

• 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 Wetlands Research
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.274-283
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• 2023

Buffer zones, an example of nature-based solutions, offer wide range of environmental, social and economic benefits due to their multifunctionality when applied to watershed areas promoting blue-green connectivity. This study evaluated the effects of buffer zone application to the water quality of Yongdam reservoir tributaries. Particularly, the challenges and improvement of the buffer zone design were identified and suggested, respectively. Water and soil samples were collected from a total of six sites in Yongdam reservoir from September 2021 to April 2022. Water quality analyses revealed that among the sites monitored, downstream of Sangjeonmyeon Galhyeonri (SG_W_D2) was found to have the highest concentration for water quality parameters turbidity, total suspended solids (TSS), chemical oxygen demand (COD), total phosphorus (TP) and total nitrogen (TN). This finding was attributed to the algal bloom observed during the sampling conducted in September and October 2021. It was found through the soil analyses that high TN and TP concentrations were also observed in all the agricultural land uses implying that nutrient accumulation in agricultural areas are high. Highest TN concentration was found in the agricultural area of Jeongcheonmyeon Wolpyeongri (JW_S_A) followed by Jucheonmyeon Sinyangri (JS_S_A) while the lowest TN concentration was found in the original soil of Sangjeonmyeon Galhyeonri (SG_S_O). Among the types of buffer zones identified in this study, Type II-A, Type II-B and Type III were found to have blue-green connectivity. However, initially, blue-green connectivity in these buffer zone types were not considered leading to poor design and poor performance. As such, improvement in the design considering blue-green network and renovation must be considered to optimize the performance of these buffer zones. The findings in this study is useful for designing buffer zones in the future.

• The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.519-534
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• 2019

When the fresh water from the artificial lakes (Ganwolho and Bunamho) were discharged to Cheonsu Bay in summer to prevent the flood over the reclaimed farmland near the lakes, the impact on water qualities (nutrients, organic matters, trace metals) within the bay was investigated through four surveys (June, July, August and October, 2011). Dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN) increased about as much as 3-4 times over the whole water column when the freshwater was discharged. And the main species composition of DIN changed from ammonia to nitrate. Dissolved inorganic phosphorus (DIP) decreased as much as 2 times in surface waters, but increased as much as 1.5 times in deep waters, and also silicate concentrations increased as much as 3-4 times in deep waters of the inner bay. The N/P ratios in Chunsu bay seawaters were much higher (2 to 7 times) than the Redfield ratio when the freshwaters were discharged, which indicated the phosphorus limiting in the phytoplankton growth. Dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and nitrogen (DON) increased as much as about 2 times. In addition, particulate organic matters (POC, PON, POP, Bio-Si) increased as much as above 2 times in the surface waters of the inner bay. Trace metals (Fe, Mn, Co, Ni, Cu) increased in the surface waters of the inner bay, but dissolved Cd concentrations decreased as much as 2 times. Therefore, when the contaminated fresh waters from the artificial lakes were discharged into the bay, nutrients, organic matters and trace metals generally increased compared to normal period. Since the phytoplankton bloom occurred in the surface waters of the inner bay, dissolved oxygens at the surface waters were oversaturated and hence hypoxic in the deep waters. Highly enriched nutrients concentrations were found in deep waters of the inner bay, which was accompanied with the hypoxic condition. Finally, the water quality in the inner bay of the Chunsu bay was deteriorated from less than grade 3 in normal periods to grade 5 when the freshwaters from the artificial lakes were discharged in summer.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.529-541
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• 1999

In order to elucidate characteristics of water quality, investigation of monthly dynamics of environmental factors and algal populations at major four stations of the mid and lower part in Taechong Reservoir was performed from June 1998 to June 1999. Water temperature, DO and pH were ranged 5.3~27.7$^{\circ}C$, 6.2~13.8 mgO$_2$/1 and 6.4~9.5, respectively. Those were varying as the season changes. Among inorganic nitrogen nutrients, NH$_4$was ranged from 5.5% to 7.2% of NO$_3$and NO$_3$was almost same through the seasons except summer in which it was low. SRP and SRSi were increased in summer when the blue-green algae became dominant. Those were decreased as the cell density of diatom increased when the water temperature dropped. Therefore SRSi was considered to be another important nutrient factor contributing to the increment of biomass of freshwater algae as well as SRP. Average chi-$\alpha$ concentration ranged from s to 12 $\mu$g/1 and in the lower part or the reservoir, the lowest was found. Moreover, there were remarkable increment in summer when TN/TP ratio were decreasing from relationships between TN/TP ratio and chi-$\alpha$ concentration. Annual mean ratio of TN/TP ratio was relatively high as the value was 110, which was relatively high, and it showed that P is the dominant factor in the algal growth. The dynamics of phytoplankton were simply dominated by a few species seasonally. In summer, blue -green algae such as Anabaena, Microcystis and Oscillatoria were dominant and algal bloom of blue -green began from early summer, sustained to late autumn. The average standing crops of A. spiroides v. crassa, M. aeruginosa and O. limosa were ranged 0.3~2.0$\times$10$^4$cells/ml, 6.4$\times$10$^2$~1.0$\times$10$^4$cells/ml and 4.6$\times$10$^3$~1.6$\times$10$^4$cells/ml, respectively. In winter, diatom Stephanodiscus was considered to be an important species whose average standing crops of Stephunodiscus was 4.9$\times$10$^2$cells/ml from November to April of the next year and the highest was 1.3$\times$10$^3$cells/ml in January.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.40 no.3
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• pp.379-386
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• 2007

Nonylphenol (NP) has been well known as a major substance of surfactant and/or estrogenic environmental hormone. We tested toxic effects of nonylphenol on the population growth and development of aquatic organism such as algae (Microcystis aeruginosa), heterotrophic nanoflagellate (Diphylleia rotans), micro- (Brachionus calyciflorus) and macro-zooplankton (Daphnia magna) among eutrophic water food-web constituents. Dosage of NP treatment were 4 to 5 grades, according to each organism's tolerance based on pre-experiments; algae (0.01, 0.05, 0.10, 1.00 mg $L^{-1}$) Diphylleia rotans (0.5, 1,2. 5,6, 10 ${\mu}g\;L^{-1})$, Brachionus calyciflorus (0.1, 0.5, 1, 2.5, 5 ${\mu}g\;L^{-1}$), and Daphnia magna (0.5, 1, 5, 10, 50 ${\mu}g\;L^{-1}$), respectively. Toxic effects were measured by the changes of biomass of each organism after NP treatment. All experiments were triplication. As suggested, the higher concentration of NP treatment, the stronger inhibited the population growth of all organisms tested. In view of toxicity, a variety of concentration of NP showed a significant growth inhibition to organism; algae to 0.05 $mg\;L^{-1}$, D. rotans and B. calyciflorus to 1.0 ${\mu}g\;L^{-1}$, and D. magna to 5.0 ${\mu}g\;L^{-1}$, respectively. The $EC_{50}$ of each organism to the nonylphenol are as follows; 3. calyciflorus (2.49 ${\mu}g\;L^{-1}$), D. rotans (3.49 ${\mu}g\;L^{-1}$), D. magna (7.61 ${\mu}g\;L^{-1})$, and M. aeruginosa (47 ${\mu}g\;L^{-1})$. NP toxic effects on the development of zooplankton like egg production showed some differences in treatment concentration between Brachionus calyciflorus ${0.1{\sim}1NP{\mu}g\;L^{-1})$ and Daphnia magna $(0.5{\sim}5NP\;{\mu}g\;L^{-1})$. These results suggest that a strong growth inhibition of predator or grazer by the nonylphenol can stimulate the algal growth, or can play important role in evoking the nuisance algal bloom in eutrophic water with enough nutrients.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.56 no.1
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• pp.94-103
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• 2023

Cyanobacterial resting cells, such as akinetes, are important seed cells for cyanobacteria's early development and bloom. Due to their importance, various methods have been attempted to isolate resting cells present in the sediment. Ludox is a solution mainly used for cell separation in marine sediments, but finding an accurate method for use in freshwater is difficult. This study compared the two most commonly used Ludox methods (direct sediment treatment and sediment distilled water suspension treatment). Furthermore, we proposed a highly efficient method for isolating cyanobacterial resting cells and eDNA amplification from freshwater sediments. Most of the resting cells found in the sediment were akinete to the Nostocale and were similar to those of Dolichospermum, Cylindrospermum, and Aphanizomenon. Twenty times more akinetes were found in the conical tube column using the sediment that had no treatment than in the sample treated by suspending the sediment in distilled water. Akinete separated through Ludox were mainly spread over the upper and lower layers in the column rather than concentrated at a specific depth in the column layer. The mibC, Geo, and 16S rDNA genes were successfully amplified using the sediment directly in the sample. However, the amplification products of all genes were not found in the sample in which the sediment was suspended in distilled water. Therefore, 5 g to 10 g of sediment is used without pretreatment when isolating cyanobacterial resting cells from freshwater sediment. Cell isolation and gene amplification efficiency are high when four times the volume of Ludox is added. The Ludox treatment method presented in this study isolates cyanobacterial resting cells in freshwater sediment, and the same efficiency may not appear in other biotas. Therefore, to apply Ludox to the separation of other biotas, it is necessary to conduct a pre-experiment to determine the sediment pretreatment method and the water layer where the target organism exists.

• 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.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.37 no.1 s.106
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• pp.47-56
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• 2004

To understand the effect of nutrient deficiency on the plankton community in three stations with different water qualities in Pal'tang Reservoir, Korea, phytoplanktons(> 10 ${\mu}m$) were cultured in nutrient enrichment Allen's media (AM) and nutrient-deficient Allen's media. A distinct shift in the species composition and biomass of phytoplankton (as chlorophyll- a) showed in all treatments. In particular, it was very interesting that the new development of cyanobacterium Microcystis aeruginosa occurred by the Fe-deficient AM. Except for Si, a community growth (as chlorophyll- a) was inhibited in all nutrient deficient treatments. Species diversity after nutrient deficiency was changed to below 2.0; slightly increased in N and P-deficiency, while decreased in Si and Fe, respectively. As suggested, dominance was entirely opposite to diversity. Therefore, the nutrient deficient effectively induced the succession of species and biomass, phytoplankton community, suggesting a possibility as a reliable tool to control the algal bloom in eutrophic lakes and reservoirs.