• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.112-121
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• 2020

Organic pollution due to coastal development increases the distribution of organic pollution indicators (OPI) and disturbs benthic ecosystems by increasing the number of organic pollution indicators dominant in the target area. However, there is a little researches on the organic pollution levels of benthic ecosystems in subtidal target coast of all over Korea. Therefore, this study analyzed the distribution of macrobenthos in subtidal around the coast development sites of EIA, confirmed the distribution of OPI, and produced the benthic health index-map (organic pollution level) of all coasts of Korea. The benthic health index of the sites was calculated using the density of each OPI, and the image program was used for the benthic health index-map. Organic pollution levels varied by projects for EIA and OPI. Lumbrineris sp. was found to be dominant throughout the coast and correlated with the benthic health index in Korea. Through this study, we will be able to confirm the future organic pollution level in the subtidal ecosystems of the project for EIA through the results of research to macrobenthos in subtidal for EIA. In addition, the distribution of Lumbrineris sp. OPI can be used as an indicator to indirectly evaluate the organic pollution level of the development site.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.233-241
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• 2008

Functional feeding groups (FFGs) of benthic macroinvertebrates are guilds of invertebrate taxa that obtain food in similar ways, regardless of their taxonomic affinities. They can represent a heterogeneous assemblage of benthic fauna and may indicate disturbances of their habitats. The proportion of different groups can change in response to disturbances that affect the food base of the system, thereby offering a means of assessing disruption of ecosystem functioning. In this study, we used benthic macroinvertebrate communities collected at 650 sites of 23 different water types in the province of Overijssel, The Netherlands. Physical and chemical environmental factors were measured at each sampling site. Each taxon was assigned to its corresponding FFG based on its food resources. A multilayer perceptron (MLP) using a backpropagation algorithm, a supervised artificial neural network, was applied to evaluate the influence of environmental variables to the FFGs of benthic macroinvertebrates through a sensitivity analysis. In the evaluation of input variables, the sensitivity analysis with partial derivatives demonstrates the relative importance of influential environmental variables on the FFG, showing that different variables influence the FFG in various ways. Collector-filterers and shredders were mainly influenced by $Ca^{2+}$ and width of the streams, and scrapers were influenced mostly with $Ca^{2+}$ and depth, and predators were by depth and pH. $Ca^{2+}$ and depth displayed relatively high influence on all four FFGs, while some variables such as pH, %gravel, %silt, and %bank affected specific groups. This approach can help to characterize community structure and to ecologically assess target ecosystems.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.1-9
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• 2002

Copepods play an important role as a primary consumer in the various aquatic ecosystems. Most of marine benthic copepods belong to the Order Harpacticoida, and are known over 3,000 species in the world. Research on the biodiversity of the benthic copepods are important in the development of the new bio-resources, and the genetic resources. The importances and the prospects of biodiversity research on the mavins benthic copepods are discussed.

• ALGAE
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• v.35 no.3
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• pp.237-252
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• 2020

Temperate rocky reefs dominated by the giant kelp, Macrocystis pyrifera, support diverse assemblages of benthic macroalgae that provide a suite of ecosystem services, including high rates of primary production in aquatic ecosystems. These forests and the benthic macroalgae that inhabit them are facing both short-term losses and long-term declines throughout much of their range in the eastern Pacific Ocean. Here, we quantified patterns of benthic macroalgal biomass and irradiance on rocky reefs that had intact kelp forests and nearby reefs where the benthic macroalgae had been lost due to deforestation at three sites along the California, USA and Baja California, MEX coasts during the springs and summers of 2017 and 2018. We then modeled how the loss of macroalgae from these reefs impacted net benthic productivity using species-specific, mass-dependent rates of photosynthesis and respiration that we measured in the laboratory. Our results show that the macroalgal assemblages at these sites were dominated by a few species of stipitate kelps and fleshy red algae whose relative abundances were spatially and temporally variable, and which exhibited variable rates of photosynthesis and respiration. Together, our model estimates that the dominant macroalgae on these reefs contribute 15 to 4,300 mg C m^-2 d^-1 to net benthic primary production, and that this is driven primarily by a few dominant taxa that have large biomasses and high rates of photosynthesis and / or respiration. Consequently, we propose that the loss of these macroalgae results in the loss of an important contribution to primary production and overall ecosystem function.

• Journal of Wetlands Research
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.127-138
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• 2024

The river ecosystems are influenced by numerous human activities such as agriculture and industrial operations, and benthic macroinvertebrates are utilized as important biological indicators. In this study, we aimed to assess the impact of land use surrounding rivers on river ecosystems in two industrial areas and two agricultural areas in Pyeongtaek city. We measured water temperature, dissolved oxygen (DO), and pH for physicochemical water quality assessment, and conducted water environment evaluation using benthic macroinvertebrates, cluster analysis, BMI, and ESB. Through water environment assessment, the environmental condition of rivers in agricultural areas was found to be more favorable compared to those in industrial areas. Consequently, it was observed that the impact on river ecosystems varied depending on the differences in anthropogenic activities.

• ALGAE
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.167-180
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• 2018

Benthic diatoms are ubiquitous in tidal flats and play major roles in maintaining coastal ecosystems. Spatio-temporal variations in diatom diversity have not been well-studied, mainly because of difficulties in morphological identification and the lack of appropriate genetic tools. To overcome these problems, we used the gene encoding the ribulose bisphosphate carboxylase large-subunit (rbcL) as a molecular marker, and sequenced these genes with the aid of the MiSeq platform. In this manner, we explored the genetic diversity of benthic diatoms in tidal flats of Guenso Bay on the west coast of Korea; differences in the spatial distributions of benthic diatoms were evident. The diatom communities were dominated by Nitzschia, Navicula, and Amphora; their relative distributions were affected by the sand proportion, grain size, and air exposure time. Our results suggest that meta-barcoding of the rbcL gene and next-generation sequencing can be used to explore the diversity of benthic diatoms.

• Ocean and Polar Research
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.339-348
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• 2007

In this work, we compared the characteristics of three benthic biotic indices (BPI, AMBI, BIBI) which indicates the health condition of benthic communities in Masan Bay, Korea where anthropogenic impacts have been concentrated. Also we evaluated the usefulness of these benthic indices and some problems if they were applied to the Korean coastal waters. For this we used the macrozoobenthos data collected using van Veen grab ($0.1\;m^2$) at 21 sites in Masan Bay in February and August 2004. Based on the BPI values, two stations in the inner bay were found in a very hard polluted condition and three stations in the middle bay were also in a highly polluted condition. Only one station located in the bay mouth was in a normal condition. The inner bay stations showed very high AMBI values (${\geq}5.0$), indicating a highly polluted condition. The bay mouth station was assessed in a moderately polluted condition. The overall BIBI values in Masan Bay were in the range between 1.0 and 3.0. The inner bay stations showed low BIBI values (${\leq}2.0$) in the severely degraded condition. The bay mouth station with high BIBI value over 3.0 was assessed as a normal condition. All three benthos indices showed that macrozoobenthic communities in the inner bay were in a seriously polluted condition all year round, and macrobenthic faunas in the bay mouth seemed in a bad healthy condition (slightly polluted) based on AMBI during summer season. These three benthic biotic indices showed the similar assessment result, and thus we consider that each of them is a useful tool for the assessment of coastal benthic ecosystems under the organic enrichment in sediment.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.54 no.3
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• pp.221-228
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• 2021

Recently, environmental DNA (eDNA)-based metabarcoding approaches have been proposed to evaluate the status of freshwater ecosystems owing to various advantages, including fast and easy sampling and minimal habitat disruption from sampling. Therefore, as a case study, we applied eDNA metabarcoding techniques to evaluate the effects of an abandoned mine land located near a headwater stream of Nakdonggang River, South Korea, by examining benthic macroinvertebrate diversity and compared the results with those obtained using the traditional Surber-net sampling method. The number of genera was higher in Surber-net sampling (29) than in the eDNA analysis (20). The genus richness tended to decrease from headwater to downstream in eDNA analysis, whereas richness tended to decrease at sites with acid-sulfated sediment areas using Surber-net sampling. Through cluster analysis and non-metric multidimensional scaling, the sampling sites were differentiated into two parts: acid-sulfated and other sites using Surber-net sampling, whereas they were grouped into the two lowest downstream and other sites using eDNA sampling. To evaluate freshwater ecosystems using eDNA analysis in practical applications, it is necessary to constantly upgrade the methodologies and compare the data with field survey methods.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.38 no.spc
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• pp.8-11
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• 2005

Carbon stable isotope ratios of producers varied in lake ecosystems. In tile present study, we tried to estimate the seasonal variations of carbon isotope ratios of phytoplankton and benthic diatoms in a strongly acidic lake ecosystem. Lake Katanuma is a volcanic, strongly acidic lake (average pH of 2.2), located in Miyagi, Japan. Only two algal species dominate in Lake Katanuma; Pinnularia acidojaponica as a benthic diatom, and Chlamydomonas acidophila as a green alga. Carbon isotope values of P. acidojaponica varied seasonally, while those of particulate organic matter, which were mainly composed of C. acidophila remained fairly stable. The differences suggested that $CO_2$ gas was more frequently limited for P. acidojaponica than C. acidophila, since high density patches of benthic diatoms were sometimes observed on the lake sediment. Generally, carbon concentration mechanisms (CCMs)of microalgae can fix bicarbonate in lakes, and affect the carbon isotope values of microalgae. While, in Lake Katanuma, CCMs of the microalgae may scarcely function because of high $CO_2$ gas concentration and low pH. This is the reason for low seasonal amplitude of carbon isotope values of phytoplankton relative to those in other lakes.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.309-318
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• 2013

This study was conducted for determining the influence of artificial structures on benthic macroinvertebrate communities in stream. Sampling was taken at upper(pool), down(riffle) and control(riffle) from two check dams, two weirs, one agricultural reservoir, and one multipurpose dam in northern part of Gyeongsangbuk-do. The benthic macroinvertebrate communities of these structures were surveyed during 2009 to 2011. The simple habitat of benthic macroinvertebrates occurred at the upper sites due to pooling effects from artificial structures. Specifically, Check dam1, Jusanji, Imha dam showed very low biological attribute values compared to the down and control sites, which have greater difference in substrate characteristics. However, in the upper sites of Check dam2, Weir1 and Weir2, the difference of values of biological attributes was relatively smaller. Also, proportion of functional feeding groups and functional habit groups were relatively simpler at upper stream and the degree of community differences was greater between upper and down, control sites. Spearman's correlation between biological attributes and substrate characteristics, water quality parameters had significant correlations; particularly, the substrate characteristics were more significantly related. In conclusion, the pool caused by artificial structures had negative effects on benthic macroinvertebrate communities thus leading to simplified stream habitats at upper stream ecosystems.