• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.45 no.1
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• pp.72-81
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• 2012

We investigated the effects of acid mine drainage (AMD) from abandoned coal mines on benthic macroinvertebrate communities in the upper reaches of the Nakdong River from May to October in 2009. Qualitative and quantitative sampling (Surber sampler: $50{\times}50$ cm; mesh size, 0.2 mm) was conducted at 7 study sites and 3 control sites in the study area. We thus sampled 117 species belonging to 53 families, 15 orders, 6 classes, and 5 phyla; the Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera, and Trichoptera group (EPT-group) represented the majority of the benthic macroinvertebrate community (71 species; 64.5%). In the quantitative sampling, a total of 11,575 individuals belonging to 58 species of benthic maroinvertebrates were sampled from the study sites (Sites 1-7), whereas 2,844 individuals belonging to 79 species were sampled from the control sites (Sites A-C). Tolerant species such as oligochaetes, $Epeorus$ $pellucidus$, $Baetis$ $fuscatus$, Hydropsychidae species, and Chironomidae species were predominant in the study sites. The community indices for the study sites, such as MacNaughton's dominance index (DI) (mean${\pm}$SD, $0.52{\pm}0.21$; range, 0.33-0.85) and the Shannon diversity index ($H^{\prime}$) ($2.06{\pm}0.60$; 1.06-2.57), were different from those for the control sites (DI: $0.29{\pm}0.07$, 0.22-0.35; $H^{\prime}$: $3.13{\pm}0.14$; 3.03-3.30). In the study sites, shredders and scrapers were scarce, whereas gathering-collectors (mainly Chironomidae species) were relatively abundant, as were clingers and burrowers. The detrended correspondence analysis (DCA) and similarity analyses showed that benthic macroinvertebrate communities in the study sites were clearly separated from those of the control sites, with the greatest dissimilarity being noted at the uppermost study site (Site 1), which is located close to an abandoned coal mine. The Korean saprobic index (KSI) and the ecological score using benthic macroinvertebrates (ESB) showed that the uppermost study site (Site 1) was ${\alpha}$-mesosaprobic or heavily polluted, whereas other study sites were in a fair or relatively good condition.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.56 no.1
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• pp.45-56
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• 2023

In stream ecosystem assessment, RIVPACS, which makes a simple but clear evaluation based on macroinvertebrate community, is widely used. In this study, a preliminary study was conducted to develop a RIVPACS-type model suitable for Korean streams nationwide. Reference streams were classified into two types(upstream and downstream), and a prediction model for macroinvertebrates was developed based on each family. A model for upstream was divided into 7 (train): 3 (test), and that for downstream was made using a leave-one-out method. Variables for the models were selected by non-metric multidimensional scaling, and seven variables were chosen, including elevation, slope, annual average temperature, stream width, forest ratio in land use, riffle ratio in hydrological characteristics, and boulder ratio in substrate composition. Stream order classified 3,224 sites as upstream and downstream, and community compositions of sites were predicted. The prediction was conducted for 30 macroinvertebrate families. Expected (E) and observed fauna (O) were compared using an ASPT biotic index, which is computed by dividing the BMWPK score into the number of families in a community. EQR values (i.e. O/E) for ASPT were used to assess stream condition. Lastly, we compared EQR to BMI, an index that is commonly used in the assessment. In the results, the average observed ASPT was 4.82 (±2.04 SD) and the expected one was 6.30 (±0.79 SD), and the expected ASPT was higher than the observed one. In the comparison between EQR and BMI index, EQR generally showed a higher value than the BMI index.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.37-44
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• 2013

This study was to investigate water quality and biotic community characteristics in Juam Lake. In water quality, water temperatures was $3.8{\sim}21.2^{\circ}C$, 6.7~8.6 in pH, $64{\sim}76{\mu}s\;cm^{-1}$ in Conductivity, $5.3{\sim}13.2mg\;L^{-1}$ in DO, $2.5{\sim}3.3mg\;L^{-1}$ in COD, $1.0{\sim}5.1mg\;L^{-1}$ in SS, $0.622{\sim}0.841mg\;L^{-1}$ in T-N, $0.007{\sim}0.019mg\;L^{-1}$ in T-P and $2.8{\sim}8.8mg\;m^{-3}$ in Chl-a. Revised Carlson's Index (TSIm) assessment using total phosphorus (TP) and chlorophyll-a domonstrated that the trophic states of Juam Lake were rated as mesotrophic. A total of 53 species of phytoplankton were identified. They were 28 Bacillariophyceae, 13 Chlorophyceae, 3 Cyanophyceae, and 9 Other algal taxa. The standing crops of phytoplankton was ranged from $113cells\;mL^{-1}$ to $2,909cells\;mL^{-1}$. A total of 16 species of zooplankton were identified (10 rotifers, 4 cladocerans and 2 copepods). Total zooplankton abundance was $309ind.\;L^{-1}$ to $435ind.\;L^{-1}$. The collected benthic macroinvertebrates from the surveyed sites in Juam Lake were 1,038 individuals, 33 species, 21 families and 12 orders. A dominant species was Uracanthella rufa and a subdominant species was Ecdyonurus kibunensis. Hydrophytes recorded from Juam Lake were identified 9 taxa. Emerged plants, floating plants among the hydrophytes was classified 8, 1 taxa, respectively. Ecosystem disturbance wildplant by Environment Ministry found were Paspalum distichum var. distichum and Ambrosia artemisiaefolia. A total of 30 species (6 families) were collected fishs from Juam Lake. There were 10 Korean endemic species (33.3% of collected species number) and 3 exotic species (10.0%).

• Journal of the Korean Society of Fisheries and Ocean Technology
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.298-310
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• 1997

The aim of this research was to evaluate the biotic environments based upon the community pattern of demersal fishes in the Masan bay which is heavily polluted area in the southern part of Korea. The baited traps or bottom gillnet sampled bottom fishes at four sites totally 14 tunes from March 1994 to December 1996 with 2~3 months interval. The baited trap caught 0~ 10 species which were mainly starfish, crabs, conger eel, rockfish, or blenny with 0~50 individuals per a trap. Small crab(Atergatis sp.) was significantly dominant in the S1 site, most heavily polluted area, and starfish(Asterias sp. and/or Asterina sp.) in the other three sites. There was no animals at the S1 site in the March and July in 1994 and August in 1996. The gillnets caught 0~7 species which were mainly mantis shrimp, jellyfish, flounder, starfish, crabs, or sea weeds with 0~30 individuals per a pannel of bottom gillnet. Jellyfish was significantly dominant in the S1 site and mantis shrimp in the all four sites. There was no animals in the July 1994 at S1 site and in the August and December 1996 at S4 site. But at the August in 1995 or 1996 in the S1 site, the bottom gillnets caught mackerel, anchovy, gizzard-shad or mullet which was dead all. The species diversity index of samlings by trap or gillnet showed less than 1.0 in the 80% of the totally 56 samplings. This means that the stability of demersal fishes' community is very low owing to the poor biotic environments. But most of fishes living at Masan bay appeared well fitting with the heavily polluted environments. And some fishes, like mackerel, anchovy, gizzard-shad or mullet migrated into polluted Masan bay with the seasonal or annual fluctuation.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.96-104
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• 2013

The objectives of this study were to analyze chemical the water quality related to the fish community and to evaluate the ecosystem health based on the faunal composition and guild structure in 2007 in Baekma River. Mean concentrations of biological oxygen demand (BOD) and chemical oxygen demand (COD) were 2.8 and $4.0mg\;L^{-1}$, respectively and total nitrogen (TN) and total phosphorus (TP) were $5.0mg\;L^{-1}$ and $158{\mu}g\;L^{-1}$, which is indicating that the river is in an eutrophic state. Especially, organic pollution and eutrophication occurred in the downstream reach of Baekma River. A total of 19 fish species were collected during the study and the most dominant species was Opsariichthys uncirostris amurensis accounted 48% of the total abundances. The proportion of sensitive species was low (2.3%), compared with that of tolerant species (71.8%). These results suggest that tolerant species and the biotic quality of the fish community was severely degraded. According to the multi-metric model, the Index of Biological Integrity (IBI), the mean model value of the fish community in Baekma River was estimated as 14.8 indicating a "poor" condition. The minimum values of the IBI were observed in the downstreams, and this was mainly attributed to chemical pollutions of nutrients (N, P) and organic matters.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.427-433
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• 2010

Aquatic invertebrates are the major important fauna to sustain the paddy ecosystem as predators of the lower trophic level and prey for birds in food-web dynamics as well. The nationwide distribution of scavenger beetles (Hydrophilidae) that is the top predator in an aquatic insect in the paddy field was investigated. A total of 15 scavenger beetles were recognized. Enochrus simulans (98.6%) and Laccobius bedeli (87.7%) showed a high frequency of occurrence on a nationwide scale. The majority of scavenger beetles were higher frequency of occurrence in mountainous regions(33.7%) than in open field regions(5.0%). On the other hand, E. uniformis, Coelostoma stultum and Berosus japonicus showed a low occurrence frequency. Hydrochara affinis, Sternolophus rufipes, Amphiops mater, B. elongatulus, B. signaticollis punctipennis, B. lewisius and H. libera showed regional specific distribution aspect. Therefore, these species can be used as biological index to research the biotic changes in paddy ecology according to an agro-environmental changes including climatic change in the future.

• Journal of Wetlands Research
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.354-366
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• 2022

To analyze the distribution of plant communities growing in river wetlands and the relationship between biotic and abiotic environmental factors, plant communities and environmental factors were investigated in river wetlands in the Boseong River. The Boseong River Wetland, the research site, consists of Hwapyeong Wetland, Bangujeong Wetland, and Seokgok Wetland. From June to September 2022, a plant community survey was conducted from the perspective of physiognomical vegetation, and the coverage of the emerging species followed the Braun-Blanquet scale. Plant species and the coverage of each species were recorded in the quadrant for plant community survey, and the cover of the quadrant, the total number of species, and the number of exotic species were measured as biological factors. As abiotic factors, altitude, orientation, inclination, soil texture, litter layer depth, dominant species diameter at breast height, and topography were recorded. In a total of 50 square plots, the most common Salix koreensis and Phragmites japonicus communities were found, and the community with the highest Shannon species diversity index was Phragmites japonicus-Echinochloa caudata community. As a result of ordination analysis by DCCA, the most significant clusters were separated according to topographic factors such as leeve, leeve slope, upper floodplain, lower floodplain, upper waterside, middle waterside, lower waterside, river island and opem water. As rare plants that need to be preserved in river wetlands, Hydrocharis dubia and Penthorum chinense were found in lower waterside, and it was found that the management of the river in the reservoir is necessary in line with the topographical distribution of ecosystem-disrupting plants, such as Paspalum distichum var. indutum.

• Journal of environmental and Sanitary engineering
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.7-13
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• 1990

The water environmental characters of the Nakdong River, Geumho River and Sin Stream, both before-flood (Aug. 24) and after-flood (Sept. 8), have been compared, and their effects on the growth of Spirodela polyrhiza Shleiden have been examined. Before the flood, the concentrations of most of the chemical components of the Geumho River were similar to those of the Sin Stream; (COD, 19.6~21.4; alkalinity, 177~183; $NH_4\;^+$, 20.7~24.4; $NO_3\;^-$, 3.9~4.3; $PO_\;4^{3-}$, 3.4~3.7; $Mg^{2+}$, 42; $Ca^{2+}$, 68.5~69.7; $Cl^-$, 90~92; $SiO_2$, 10.4~11.2; , 11~32; LAS, 3.0~3.8; , 0.007~0.010ppm) but much higher than those of the Nakdong River (30~40 fold for $NH_4\;^+$, , $PO_\;4^{3-}$ and LAS, and 2~5 fold for COD, alkalinity, $NO_3\;^-$, $Mg^{2+}$, Cl- and ). Especially in the Geumho River, Secchi disk transparency was very low (17cm) and DO was not detected. The flood caused significant increases in some chemical components: $NH_4\;^+$, 1.0;$NO_3\;^-$, 9.6; , 12.8 and , 5.4 ppm in the Nakdong River; DO, 1.0; $NO_2\;^-$, 0.92; $NO_3\;^-$, 22.2 and $SiO_2$, 17.6ppm in the Geumho River; DO, 3.0; $NO_2\;^-$, 1.4; $NO_3\;^-$, 22.2; SiO2$SiO_2$, 19.2 and , 25.0ppm in the Sin Stream. General species diversity index (H) of phytoplankton community in the Nakdong River, Geumho River and Sin Stream before flood was 3.1, 2.7 and 1.6, respectively. After the flood, the phytoplankton growth was highly sparse in each river water, hence indices have no significance. The growth of S. polyrhiza was enhanced in Geumho River water (max. RGR=26%/day), while it ceased within 7days in Nakdong River water.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.7-18
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• 1999

Fauna and biological water quality using benthic macroinvertebrates were analysed and estimated macroinvertebrates. Samples were collected 5 times from the 7 sites in the river between April and December 1997, and the results are summarized as follows. The taxa of benthic macroinvertebrates was totally composed 81 species, 45 genus, 37 families, 15 orders, 8 classes in 3 phyla. Among them, aquatic insects were mostly abundant as 65 species, and also, there were a species of oligochaetes, 2 species of hirundinida, 6 species of gastropods, 5 species of polecypoda, and 2 species of crustaceans. Average individual numbers in the whole sampling sites was 815 per square meter, and insects were abundant (Approx. 80%). Among the insects, the major taxa were respectively ephemeroptera (Approx. 70%) and trichoptera (Approx. 18%). According to the average individual numbers in each site, Chung-do stream (site 1) showed the highest appearance rate as 262 individual/ $m^3$ (32.2%), and the lowest value was at the end of Miryang River (site 7) as 38 individual / $m^3$(4.7%). The dominant species among the whole samples was Ecdyomurus levis Navas, and dominance indices was 0.3. In each site, Ecdyomurus levis Navas was dominant species from site 1 to site 5, and dominant species at site 6 and 7 was respectively Hirudinidae sp. 1. Species diversity index in total average of samples was 2.66. Average of species diversity index according to each study site was the highest value at site 4 (H'=3.47), and site 2, 1, 3, 5, 6, and 7 in that order. According to the water quality as biotic indices, GPI value was 1.49 in total average of Miryang river, and the pollution indices evaluated secondary water quality criteria as $\beta$-mesosaprobics. In each site, the best water quality was at site 3, and it revealed the first water quality criteria as Oligosaprobic. It was then site 1, 2, 4 and 5 in the order of water quality, and was evaluated secondary water quality criteria as $\beta$-mesosaprobics, respectively. Site 6 was also revealed the third water quality criteria as $\beta$-mesosaprobics. The worst water quality was at site 7, which revealed the third water quality criteria as a-mesosaprobics.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Marine Environment & Safety
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• v.20 no.5
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• pp.491-503
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• 2014

This study was performed to investigate the community structure and health assessment of macrobenthic assemblages in Garorim Bay, West Coast of Korea. Macrobenthos were collected by van Veen grab sampler at May(spring) and July(summer) 2012. A total of 247 species occurred and mean density was $1,625\;ind.\;m^{-2}$, both of which were dominated by annelid polychaetes(120 species and $1,241m^{-2}$). Dominant species were the polychaetes Ampharete arctica, Lumbrineris longifolia, Mediomastus californiensis and Euclymene oerstedi, with a density of 445(${\pm}1,837\;ind.\;m^{-2}$), 103(${\pm}148\;ind.\;m^{-2}$), 55(${\pm}83\;ind.\;m^{-2}$) and 50(${\pm}104\;ind.\;m^{-2}$), respectively. The study area was divided into 3 station group based on the cluster analysis and nMDS ordination. These assemblage were : 1)the group 1 and 2 were associated with coarse sediment dominated stations and 2)the group 3 was connected with a mixed and fine sediment dominated stations group. The BPI and AMBI index were applied to assess the benthic ecological status. The ecological status of the Garorim Bay was "good status(slightly polluted)" to "high status(normal)" at most sampling stations during spring and summer. In conclusion, the two marine biotic index calculated shown that the Garorim Bay had a good ecological status.