• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
• /
• v.36 no.4
• /
• pp.558-566
• /
• 2018

The objective of the study was to determine nutrition regime and limitation in the Boryeng Reservoir where there's a water tunnel between Geum River and the reservoir. Evaluation was conducted through in situ algal bioassay experiments (in situ ABEs) using the cubitainer setting in the reservoirs. For in situ ABEs, we compared and analyzed variations in chlorophyll-a (CHL-a) and phosphorus concentrations in Boryeong Reservoir before and after the water tunnel construction. We then analyzed the nutrient effects on the reservoir. Analysis for nitrogen and phosphorus was done in the three locations of the reservoir and two locations of the ABEs. The in situ ABEs results showed that phosphorous and Nitrogen, the primary limiting nutrient regulating the algal biomass was not limited in the system. The treatments of phosphorus or simultaneous treatments of N+P showed greater algal growth than in the control of nitrate-treatments, indicating a phosphorus deficiency on the phytoplankton growth in the system. The water from the Geum River had 5 times higher total phosphorus (TP) than the water in the reservoir. Efficient management is required as pumping of the river water from Geum River may accelerate the eutrophication of the reservoir.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
• /
• v.35 no.5
• /
• pp.455-461
• /
• 2002

limiting nutrients for phytoplankton were determined by dissored inorganic nitrogen/phosphorous (DIN/DIP) in situ and algal bioassay experiment in the Seomjin River estuary during a study period from March 1999 to October 2001. DIN/DIP ranged from 14.7 to 681.1 during the study period. DIN/DIP was over 16 at the upper and middle estuarine region where salinity was lower than 25 psu and chlorophyll a concentration was high, probably indicating P-limitation in this region while the ratio was less than 16 at the high saline (> 25 psu) region, reflecting the supply of DIP from Gwangyang Bay and thereby indicating N-limitation at the lower estuarine region. These results suggested that the spatial distribution of DIN/DIP in the study region was controlled by the high supply of phosphate from Gwangyang Bay, the low input from Seomjin River and the active uptake by phytoplankton within the estuarine system. The bioassay experiments using Skeletonema costatum, Thalaasiosira rotula and in situ phytoplankton assemblage displayed relatively higher growth of phytoplankton in the P-added culture media, indicating P-limitation. This result was well consistent with the spatial distribution of inorganic nutrients. S. costatum showed a rapid adaptation to the low salinity compared to other phytoplankton species. This phenomenon seemed to account for the strong (> $90\%$ in total cell number) S. costatum bloom in autumn in this estuary. Moreover, although phytoplankton growth rate was higher in the P-added culture media at the end of culture experiment of in situ phytoplankton, the fast growth in the trace metal-added media at the beginning of the experiment suggested a possibility of limitation by other micro-nutrients such as trace metal and vitamin etc.

• The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
• /
• v.16 no.1
• /
• pp.27-38
• /
• 2011

The distributions of phytoplankton assemblages and environmental factors in Jinhae Bay and their relationships were investigated to estimate the potential limiting nutrient for phytoplankton growth and community structure. In situ algal bioassay experiments were also conducted to assess the species-specific characteristics in phytoplankton responses under different nutrient conditions (control, N(+) and P(+) treatment). During the study periods, bacillariophyceae and cryptophyceae occupied more than 90% of total phytoplankton assemblages. Phytoplankton standing crops in the inner part of Masan Bay were higher than that of Jinhae Bay. The DIN:DIP ratio, pH and transparency showed the significant positive correlation with phytoplankton biomass. According to cluster and multidimensiolnal scaling (MDS) analysis based on phytoplankton community data from each station, the bay was divided into three groups. The first group included stations from the south-western part of Jinhae bay where cryptophyta species were dominated. The second group was distinguished from inner stations in Masan Bay. These stations showed low transpancy and high DIN:DIP ratio. The other cluster included the stations from the eastern part and central part of Jinhae Bay, which was characterized by the high DSi:DIP ratio and dominant of diatom species. Phosphorous (P) was limited in Masan Bay due to significantly increases in the phytoplankton abundances. Based on stoichiometric limitation and algal bio-assay in Jinhae Bay, nitrogen (N) was a major limiting factor for phytoplankton production. However, silicate (Si) was not considered as limiting factor, since Si/DIN and Si/P ratio and absolute concentration of nutrient did not create any potential stoichiometric limitation in the bay. This implies that high Si availability in winter season contributes favorably to the maintenances of diatom species.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
• /
• v.31 no.4
• /
• pp.383-392
• /
• 2013

The objective of this study was to determine the effects of N:P ratio on primary productivity measured as chlorophyll-a (CHL) using the approach of In Situ Nutrient Enrichment Bioassays (NEBs) in Daechung Reservoir. The effects of NEBs on the N:P mass ratios were compared with the field data obtained from monthly-chemical monitoring during 2009~2012. The short-term NEBs showed that the response of primary productivity in the phosphorus spiked treatments (5, 15, 20 and 30 N:P ratios) were greater than the responses in the control (C) and nitrogen spiked treatment (N:P ratio=150, $T_{VI}$). The response in the nitrogen treatment (N:P ratio=150, $T_{VI}$) was less compared to control and all five treatments ($T_I{\sim}T_{VI}$). The outcomes of the NEBs suggest that phosphorus limited the phytoplankton growth and nitrogen addition inhibited the algal growth. In the analysis of nutrients and CHL from the ambient epilimnetic water in Daechung Reservoir, minimum N:P ratios resulted in maximum concentrations of CHL. Overall, our results suggest that the N:P ratio was the key factor in regulating the phytoplankton growth in NEB experiments.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
• /
• v.17 no.11
• /
• pp.186-195
• /
• 2016

We investigated phytoplankton and vertical inorganic nutrients at two stations around water of Ulleungdo and Dokdo in the East Sea, Korea. Nutrient addition experiments (+N, +P, +NP and +Fe) were also conducted to determine the growth response and nutrient consumption of the phytoplankton assemblage using the surface water of St. UD3 and St.50. In the field, although inorganic nutrients were low in the euphotic layer, these nutrients were increased at depths below 100 m. The total phytoplankton abundances in St. UD3 and St.50 were $4.9{\times}10^5cells\;L^{-1}$ and $1.9{\times}10^5cells\;L^{-1}$, respectively. The dominant species at St. UD3 was observed to be Raphidophyta Heterosigma akashiwo, Cryptophyta Crytomonas spp., and diatom Leptocylindrus danicus, while L. danicus and H. akashiwo including small diatom species Chaetoceros socialis were dominant at St. 50. In the nutrient addition experiments, phytoplankton growth (in vivo flourescence) in the +N and +NP treatment was 2-3 times higher than that in the +P treatment, indicating that the natural phytoplankton can respond to pulsed nutrient loading events. In addition, in vivo fluorescence in +Fe treatment was not statistically (p>0.05) different from that of the non-Fe treatments, indicating that the phytoplankton growth response in +Fe treatment was not significant. Dominant H akashiwo and L. danicus in the field showed a rapid response in nutrient additional bio-algal assay, particularly L. danicus in the +Fe treatments.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
• /
• v.41 no.spc
• /
• pp.35-41
• /
• 2008

Nutrient Enrichment Bioassays (NEBs) were conducted in the laboratory during June $22{\sim}28$, 2006 in order to determine primary limiting factor on the phytoplankton growth. For the NEBs, the water was sampled using a 10L polyethylene-lined container and dispensed into 2.5L container in the laboratory. The algal growths response in the control (C) and three treatments of phosphorus (P), 2-fold phosphorus (2P), and nitrate nitrogen $(NO_3-N)$ were monitored during 7 days. In the cubitainers which were spiked as P (T1) and 2P (T2) Chl-${\alpha}$ concentrations were decreased during the test period and the final concentrations was low than initial values. However, Chl-${\alpha}$ in the cubitainers which were spiked as $NO_3$(T3) and $P+NO_3$(T4) showed significant increases compared to the initial values, indicating that in the short-term experiments, nitrogen seemed to be a primary limiting nutrient during the periods of NEBs experiment. Long-term ambient nutrient data of TP and TN, and TN:TP mass ratios, however, showed a potential phosphorus limitation on phytoplankton growth and previous other researchers showed a variations of limiting nutrients by nitrogen or phosphorus depending on the seasons sampled and locations. In this study nitrogen as primary limiting nutrient in the NEBs seem to be an seasonal effect rather than the consistent nitrogen limitation.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
• /
• v.37 no.1 s.106
• /
• pp.36-46
• /
• 2004

We evaluated the effect of limiting nutrients and N/P ratio on the growth of phytoplankton in a small eutrophic reservoir from November 2002 to December 2003. Nutrient limitation was investigated seasonally using nutrient enrichment bioassay (NEB). DIN/DTP and TN/TP ratio (by weight) of the reservoir during the study period ranged 17${\sim}$187 and 13${\sim}$60, respectively. Most of nitrogen in the reservoir account for $NO_3$-N, but sharp increase of ammonia was evident during the spring season. Seasonal variation of dissolved inorganic phosphorus concentration was relatively small. DTP ranged 26.5${\sim}$10.1 ${\mu}g\;P\;L^{-1}$, and the highest and lowest concentration was observed in August and December, respectively. Chlorophyll a concentration ranged 28.8${\sim}$109.7 ${\mu}g\;L^{-1}$, and its temporal variation was similar to that of cell density of phytoplankton. Dominant phytoplankton species were Bacillariphyceae (Melosira varians) and Chlorophyceae (Dictyosphaerium puchellum) in Spring (March${\sim}$April). Cyanophyceae, such as Osillatoria spp., Microcystis spp., Aphanizomenon sp. dominated from May to the freezing time. TN/TP ratio ranged from 46 to 13 (Avg. 27${\pm}$6) from June to December when cyanobacteria (Microcystis spp.) dominated. p limitation for algal growth measured in all NEB experiments (17cases), while N limitation occurred in 8 out of 17 cases. The growth rates of phytoplankton slightly increased with decreasing of DIN/DTP ratio. Evident increase was observed in the N/P ratio of > 30, and it was sustained with DTP increase until 50 ${\mu}g\;P\;L^{-1}$. Under the same N/P mass ratio with the different N concentrations (0.07, 0.7and 3.5 mg N $L^{-1}$), Microcystis spp. showed the highest growth rate in the N/P ratio of< 1 with nitrogen concentration of 3.5 mg N $L^{-1}$). The responses of phytoplankton growth to phosphate addition were clearly greater with increase of N concentration. These results indicate that the higher nitrogen concentration in the water likely induce the stronger P-limitation on the phytoplankton growth, while nitrogen deficiency is not likely the case of nutrient limitation.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
• /
• v.33 no.3 s.91
• /
• pp.187-196
• /
• 2000

This paper describes a simple method that uses differences among Carlson's (1977) trophic state index (TSI) values based on total phosphorus (TP), chlorophyll a (CHL) and Secchi depth (SD) to draw inferences regarding the factors that are limiting to phytoplankton growth and the composition of lake seston. Examples are provided regarding seasonal and spatial patterns in a large subtropical lake (Lake Okeechobee, Florida, USA) and inter- and intra-lake variations from a multilake data set developed from published studies. Once an investigator has collected routine water quality data and established TSI values based on TP, CHL, and SD, a number of inferences can be made. Additional information can be provided where it also is possible to calculate a TSI based on total nitrogen (TN). Where TSI (CHL)<>TSI (SD), light attenuating particles are large (large filaments or colonies of algae), and the phytoplankton may be limited by zooplankton grazing. Other limiting conditions are inferred by different relationships between the TSI values. Results of this study indicate that the analysis is quite robust, and that it generally gives good agreement with conclusions based on more direct methods (e.g., nutrientaddition bioassays, zooplankton size data, zooplankton removal experiments). The TSI approach, when validated periodically with these more costly and time-intensive methods, provides an effective, low cost method for tracking long-term changes in pelagic structure and function with potential value in monitoring lake ecology and responses to management.