• The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.160-180
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• 2012

We have studied the eukaryotic plankton species diversity to compare the community structure of fresh and brackish waters in the lower reaches of the Nakdong River using metagenomic methods. We constructed 18S rDNA clone libraries of total DNAs extracted from environmental water samples collected at Mulgeum (MG100929, fresh) and Eulsukdo bridge (ES, brackish). Through the steps of colony PCR, PCR-RFLP, sequencing and similarity analysis, we discovered the diverse species composition of eukaryotic plankton. Total 338 clones (170 at MG100929 and 168 at ES) were analyzed, and then we found 74 phylotypes (49 for MG100929 and 25 for ES). From the phylogenetic analysis, we confirmed various eukaryotic plankton of broad range of taxonomic groups, including Stramenopiles, Cryptophyta, Viridiplantae, Alveolata, Rhizaria, Metazoa, and Fungi. We also found several unreported species in Korea and candidates of new taxonomic entities at levels higher than genus. Especially, the cryptic species diversity including unreported phylotypes of Pirsonia (Stramenopiles) and Perkinsea (Alveolata) suggests that the molecular monitoring method can produce new informative biological data in monitoring the changes in the Nakdong River Mouth ecosystem.

• The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.59-75
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• 2012

The species composition of plankton is essential to understand the material and energy cycling within marine ecosystem. It also provides the useful information for understanding the properties of marine environments due to its sensitivity to the physicochemical characteristics and variability of water masses. In this study we adopted metagenomics to evaluate eukaryotic plankton species diversity from coastal waters off Busan. Characteristics of water masses at sampling sites is expected to be very complex due to the mixing of various water masses; Nakdong River runoff, Changjiang diluted water (CDW), South Sea coastal water, and Tsushima warm current. 18S rDNA clone libraries were constructed from surface waters at the three sites off Busan. Clone libraries revealed 94 unique phylotypes from 370 clones; Dinophyceae(42 phylotypes), Ciliophora(15 phylotypes), Bacillariophyta(7 phylotypes), Chlorophyta(2 phylotypes), Haptophyceae(1 phylotype), Metazoa(Arthropoda( 17 phylotypes), Chaetognatha(1 phylotypes), Cnidaria(2 phylotypes), Chordata(1 phylotype)), Rhizaria (Acantharea(2 phylotypes), Polycystinea(1 phylotype)), Telonemida(1 phylotype), Fungi(2 phylotypes). The difference in species diversity at the closely located three sites off Busan may be attributed to the various physicochemical properties of water masses at these sites by the mixture of water masses of various origins. Metagenomic study of species composition may provide useful information for understanding marine ecosystem of coastal waters with various physicochemical properties in the near feature.

• The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.25-35
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• 2010

The biodiversity of eukaryotic plankton has commonly been used to evaluate the status of aquatic ecosystems. Therefore, an accurate and rapid method for species identification is needed to reveal the biodiversity of environmental water samples. To date, molecular methods have provided a great deal of information that has enabled identification of the hidden biodiversity in environmental samples. In this study, we utilized environmental polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and constructed the 18S nuclear ribosomal RNA clone library from environmental water samples in order to develop more efficient methods for species identification. For the molecular analysis, water samples were collected from the Seonakdong River (Gimhae Bridge) and the coast of Namhae，(Namhaedo). Colony PCR and restriction fragment length polymorphism of PCR (PCR-RFLP) were then adopted to isolate unique clones from the 18S rDNA clone library. Restriction fragment length polymorphism pattern analysis of the Gimhae Bridge sample revealed 44 unique clones from a total of 60 randomly selected clones, while analysis of the Namhae sample revealed 27 unique clones from 150 clones selected at random. A BLAST search and subsequent phylogenetic analysis conducted using the sequences of these clones revealed hidden biodiversity containing a wide range of taxonomic groups (Heterokontophyta (7), Ciliophora (23), Dinophyta (1), Chytridiomycota (1), Rotifera (1) and Arthropoda (11) in the Gimhae Bridge samples Ciliophora (4), Dinophyta (3), Cryptophyta (1), Arthropoda (19) in the Namhae samples). Therefore, the molecular monitoring method developed here can provide additional information regarding the biodiversity and community structure of eukaryotic plankton in environmental samples and helps construct a useful database of biodiversity for aquatic ecosystems.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.33 no.4 s.92
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• pp.358-365
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• 2000

To evaluate the influences of stocking and removal of silver carp on plankton communities and physicochemical parameters, fish biomanipulation was conducted in six enclosures constructed on the coast of a hypertrophic lake during the summer of 1997. Of these, three enclosures were established for the fish-stocking experiment; one fishless enclosure used as a control and two enclosures with high and low densities of fish. The other three enclosures for the fish-removal experiment were prepared in an entirely converse process compared to that for fish stocking. The results of randomized intervention analysis (${\alpha}=0.05$) showed significant changes in several physicochemical parameters and plankton communities after fish stocking and removal. Fish stocking decreased water transparency, DO, pH and chi-a (> $40\;{\mu}m$), while increasing the concentration of nitrogen and chi-a (<$2\;{\mu}m$). However, water transparency did not increase by fish removal. Small plankton communities, such as picocyanobacteria, eukaryotic picoplankton and ciliates (<$2\;{\mu}m$) showed significant reciprocal changes after both fish treatments: increase by the presence of fish and decrease by the absence of fish. No count of large sized phytoplankton and zooplankton showed significant change in the presence of fish, while large zooplankton, Diaphanosoma, Cyclopida and nauplii were significantly increased by fish removal. Although the frequent heavy-winds and endless supply of phosphorus from the lake sediment strongly disturbed the fish behavior and enclosure management, the stocking and removal of silver carp showed an obvious reciprocal influences on plankton communities and its physico-chemical parameters in a shallow-hypertrophic lake.