• The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.8-18
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• 2005

We studied seasonal distribution of the microphytobenthos and their primary production with $C^{14}$ method and carried out pigment analysis with HPLC in an estuarine mudflat of the Ganghwa Island, Korea from May 2002 to April 2004. The abundances of microphytobenthos were higher at the middle than upper part and lower part of intertidal flat. Abundances of microphytobenthos ranged from $2.3{\times}10^5\;cells\;cm^{-2}$ to $140.9{\times}10^5\;cells cm^{-2}$. The bloom of microphytobenthos was observed in the early spring and then it decreased from spring to summer and autumn. The pennate diatom was a predominated group among the microphytobenthos in this area. The dominant species were Paralia sulcata, Cylindrotheca closterium and Nitzschia sp.. Nitzschia sp. and Cylindrotheca closterium were predominant in February. The results of pigment analysis suggest the presence of diatoms, euglenophytes, chlorophytes, cyanobacteria, cryptophytes, chrysophytes, prymnesiophytes, dinoflagellates and prasinophytes. The biomass of microphytobenthos ranged from 1.18 to 34.25 mg chl-a $m^{-2}$, with a mean of 7.60 mg chl-a $m^{-2}$. The mean ratio of Fuco/Chl a was 0.7 which indicates that most of biomasses of microphytobenthos were due to diatoms. The ratios of Chl b/Chl a ranged from 0 to 0.82(with a mean of 0.17), implying that euglenophytes and chlorophytes lived together in special period seasonally. Temporal variation of primary production ranged from 4.2 to 113.0 $mgC{\cdot}m^{-2}{\cdot}hr^{-1}$(mean value was 33.9 $mgC{\cdot}m^{-2}{\cdot}hr^{-1}$ and initial slope$({\alpha})$ was measured from 0.002-0.005$(mgC\;mgchl-a^{-1}\;hr^{-1}){\cdot}({\mu}E\;m^{-2}\;s^{-1})^{-1}$. Assimilation number$(P_m)$ was in the range of 0.50-1.32 $mgC{\cdot}mgChl-a{\cdot}hr^{-1}$ and daily primary production ranged from 20.9 to 678.1 $mgC{\cdot}m^{-2}{\cdot}d^{-1}$(mean value was 206.72 $mgC{\cdot}m^{-2}{\cdot}^{-1}$).

• The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.48-55
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• 2009

Seasonal variations of microalgal biomass and community composition in both the sediment and the seawater were investigated by HPLC pigment analysis in an estuarine muddy sandflat of Gwangyang Bay from January to November 2002. Based on the photosynthetic pigments, fucoxanthin, diadinoxanthin, and diatoxanthin were the most dominant pigments all the year round, indicating that diatoms were the predominant algal groups of both the sediment and the seawater in Gwangyang Bay. The other algal pigments except the diatom-marker pigments showed relatively low concentrations. Microphytobenthic chlorophyll ${\alpha}$ concentrations in the upper layer (0.5 cm) of sediments ranged from 3.44 (March at the middle site of the tidal flat) to 169 (July at the upper site) mg $m^{-2}$, with the annual mean concentrations of $68.4{\pm}45.5,\;21.3{\pm}14.3,\;22.9{\pm}15.6mg\;m^{-2}$ at the upper, middle, and lower tidal sites, respectively. Depth-integrated chlorophyll ${\alpha}$ concentrations in the overlying water column ranged from 1.66 (November) to 11.7 (July) mg $m^{-2}$, with an annual mean of $6.96{\pm}3.04mg\;m^{-2}$. Microphytobenthic biomasses were about 3${\sim}$10 times higher than depth-integrated phytoplankton biomass in the overlying water column. The physical characteristics of this shallow estuarine tidal flat, similarity in taxonomic composition of the phytoplankton and microphytobenthos, and similar seasonal patterns in their biomasses suggest that resuspended microphytobenthos are an important component of phytoplankton biomass in Gwangyang Bay. Therefore, considering the importance of microphytobenthos as possible food source for the estuarine benthic and pelagic consumers, a consistent monitoring work on the behavior of microphytobenthos is needed in the tidal flat ecosystems.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Marine Environment & Energy
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.88-101
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• 2013

The International Convention for the Control and Management of Ship's Ballast Water and Sediments was adopted at 2004 and then various BWMS (ballast water management system) have been developed. In this study, WET (whole effluent toxicity) test with algae (diatom) Skeletonema costatum as primary producer, invertebrate (rotifera) Brachionus plicatilis as 1st consumer and fish (olive flounder) Paralichthys olivaceus as predator, chemical analysis and ERA (environmental risk assessment) were conducted to assess the unacceptable effect on marine ecosystem by emitting the discharge water treated with AquaStar$^{TM}$ BWMS using electrolysis as main treatment equipment for removing the marine organisms in the ship's ballast water. The most sensitive test organism on discharge water treated with AquaStar$^{TM}$ BWMS was S. costatum that gave the NOEC value of 25.00%, LOEC value of 50.00% and 72hr-$EC_{50}$ value of 69.97% from WET test result for 20 psu salinity treated discharge water. NOEC and LOEC value of B. plicatilis and P. olivaceus exposed at 20 psu salinity treated discharge water were 50.00% and 100.00%, respectively. In the chemical analysis results, total number of substances produced by AquaStar$^{TM}$ BWMS was 18 which were bromate, 7 volatile halogenated organic compounds, 7 halogenated acetic acids, 3 halogenated acetonitriles and chloropicrin. Eighteen substances did not consider as persistence and bioaccumulative chemicals. Uncertainty of toxic property of 18 substances was high. PECs of 18 substances calculated by MAMPEC model were ranged from $4.58{\times}10^{-4}$ to $4.87{\mu}g\;L^{-1}$, PNECs of them were ranged from $1.6{\times}10^{-2}$ to $3.2{\times}10^2{\mu}g\;L^{-1}$. And, the PEC/PNEC ratio of 18 substances did not exceed 1. Therefore, ERA for produced substances indicate that the discharge water treated with AquaStar$^{TM}$ BWMS does not pose unacceptable effect on marine life. And $EC_{50}$ value of S. costatum on discharge water treated by BWMS using the electrolysis had positive correlation with initial TRO concentration, concentration and kind & level of HAAs.

• The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.78-86
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• 2002

Abundance, carbon biomass and chlorophyll a concentration of each size-fractionated plankton on the basis of trophical level were investigated in terms of spacial and temporal distribution, and interactions between each biological parameter and environmental factors in Jungmun coastal waters of Jeju Island from July 1999 to June 2000. Heterotrophic picoplankton (HPP) abundance averaged 1.4${\times}$$10^{6}$ cells ${\cdot}$ $ml^{-1}$ at of offshore and 8.3${\times}$$10^{5}$ cells ${\cdot}$ $ml^{-1}$ at inshore, while autotrophic picoplankton (APP) abundance 9.9${\times}$$10^{4}$ cells ${\cdot}$ $ml^{-1}$ at of offshore and 7.1${\times}$$10^{4}$ cells ${\cdot}$ $ml^{-1}$ at inshore. They were more abundant at of offshore than at inshore, and also more abundant than the other areas of Korean waters. On the other hand, heterotrophic and autotrophic nanoplankton (HNP, ANP) were more abundant at inshore than at of offshore. Microplankton (AMP) abundance was affected by diatom (r=0.962, P${\le}$0.001) at inshore and by dinoflagellate (r=0.868, P${\le}$0.001) at of offshore. However correlations between each plankton group in terms of size and trophic level were not significant. Carbon biomass showed as same as the distribution pattern of abundance, but composition percentage of each biomass of plankton group were quite different from that of abundance, representing the highest percentage in ANP. Seasonal fluctuation of chlorophyll a were different according to size class, showing the highest with 0.42 ${\mu}g$CHl-${\alpha}$${\cdot}$$1^{-1}$(57.9%) of APP in March 2000, 1.42 ${\mu}g$CHl-${\alpha}$${\cdot}$$1^{-1}$(74.7%) of ANP in May 2000, and 1.51 ${\mu}g$CHl-${\alpha}$${\cdot}$$1^{-1}$(81.8%) of AMP in July 1999. Correlation between biological parameters and environmental factors by principle component analysis revealed that the first factor as main explanation is the increasing of phosphorus and silica and the increasing of the at both of offshore and inshore. The N:P ratio were 36.4 at inshore and 32.6 at of offshore, showing the lack of phosphorus. Thus we suggest that phosphorus might be a main limiting factor to affect phytoplankton community in the study area.

• Journal of Korea Water Resources Association
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• v.51 no.10
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• pp.863-874
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• 2018

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the future climate change impact on stream aquatic ecology health of Han River watershed ($34,148km^2$) using SWAT (Soil and Water Assessment Tool) and random forest. The 8 years (2008~2015) spring (April to June) Aquatic ecology Health Indices (AHI) such as Trophic Diatom Index (TDI), Benthic Macroinvertebrate Index (BMI) and Fish Assessment Index (FAI) scored (0~100) and graded (A~E) by NIER (National Institute of Environmental Research) were used. The 8 years NIER indices with the water quality (T-N, $NH_4$, $NO_3$, T-P, $PO_4$) showed that the deviation of AHI score is large when the concentration of water quality is low, and AHI score had negative correlation when the concentration is high. By using random forest, one of the Machine Learning techniques for classification analysis, the classification results for the 3 indices grade showed that all of precision, recall, and f1-score were above 0.81. The future SWAT hydrology and water quality results under HadGEM3-RA RCP 4.5 and 8.5 scenarios of Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA) showed that the future nitrogen-related water quality in watershed average increased up to 43.2% by the baseflow increase effect and the phosphorus-related water quality decreased up to 18.9% by the surface runoff decrease effect. The future FAI and BMI showed a little better Index grade while the future TDI showed a little worse index grade. We can infer that the future TDI is more sensitive to nitrogen-related water quality and the future FAI and BMI are responded to phosphorus-related water quality.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.55 no.1
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• pp.1-9
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• 2022

An estuary is an area where a freshwater river or stream meets the ocean. Even before the importance of the value of estuaries was recognized, the estuary was lost because of large-scale conversion by draining, filling, damming, and dredging. In South Korea, 643 estuaries are located, and the total area is 3,248,300 ha, accounting for 32.5% of the total area of South Korea. Over 35% of Korean estuaries are closed estuaries which are only temporally connected with the sea, either permanently or periodically. Since 2008, in order to preserve the estuary ecosystem and solve major issues in the estuary by accumulating knowledge about the estuarine ecosystem, the Ministry of Environment of Republic of Korea has been conducting the "Estuarine Ecosystem Monitoring and Assessment Project". At 668 sites of 325 estuaries, epilithic diatom, benthic macroinvertebrate, fish, and vegetation are investigated, and the habitat condition of each site is evaluated using the newly developed biotic index. More than 100 researchers annually record 2,097 species of estuaries according to the standardized survey guidelines over the past 14 years and provide strictly managed data necessary for establishing estuaries conservation policies. As a result of bibliometric analysis of 1,195 research articles related to the monitoring and assessment of the estuarine ecosystem, research on pollutants such as heavy metals and sediment control have recently been conducted. "Estuarine Ecosystem Monitoring and Assessment Project" is an ecological monitoring type of long-term mandated monitoring that is usually focused on identifying trends. Although it is difficult to identify the mechanism influencing a change in an ecosystem through long-term mandated monitoring, providing empirical data for supporting evidence-based policy, decision-making, and the management of ecosystems. In order to increase the efficiency of the project, research to investigate the relationship between sediments and pollutants and organisms can be conducted at specific estuaries or sites to compensate for the shortcomings of mandatory monitoring.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.55 no.1
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• pp.84-98
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• 2022

Estuary is important in terms of biodiversity because it has the characteristics of transition waters, created by the mixing of fresh- and seawater. The estuarine water circulation provides a variety of habitats with different environments by inducing gradients in the chemical and physical environment, such as water quality and river bed structure, which are ultimately the main factors influencing biological community composition. If the water circulation is interrupted, the loss of brackish areas and the interception of migration of biological communities will lead to changes in the spatial distribution of biodiversity. In this study, among the sites covered by the Estuary Aquatic Ecosystem Health Assessment, we selected study sites where changes in biodiversity can be assessed by spatial gradient from the upper reaches of the river to the lower estuarine area. The α-, γ- and β-diversity of diatom, benthic macroinvertebrates, and fish communities were calculated, and they were divided into open and closed estuary data and compared to determine the trends in biodiversity variation due to estuarine circulation. As results, all communities showed higher γ-diversity at open estuary sites. The benthic macroinvertebrate community showed a clear difference between open and closed estuaries in β-diversity, consequently the estuarine transects were considered as a factor that decreases spatial heterogeneity of their diversity among sites. The biodiversity trends analyzed in this study will be used to identify estuaries with low γ- and β-diversity by community, providing a useful resource for further mornitoring and management to maintain estuarine health.