• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.271-285
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• 2014

Aluminum flows into the river from the abandoned mine leachate, industrial wastewater, and sewage and is responsible for acute toxicity in aquatic organisms. Recently, the number of reports have indicated the increased toxicity in a variety of aquatic organisms' due to the aluminum toxicity. In this study, we reviewed the toxicity of aluminum on aquatic invertebrates, fishes and amphibians and suggested the guideline for management of aluminum residues in aquatic environment and strategies for aluminum toxicity evaluation. In aquatic animals aluminum complexes evoke gill dysfunction primarily, the cytotoxicity, genotoxicity, oxidative stress, disruption of endocrine function, reproductive success, metabolism and homeostasis. Notably, at environmentally relevant concentration, aluminum complex can alter the hormone levels in fish in acidic condition. Further, since the solubility of aluminum is higher in the acidic and basic conditions, thus it is likely that the toxic effects of aluminum may not only occur in acidic water near the abandoned mines but also in lakes and rivers, where pH is raised by algal bloom.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.42 no.4
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• pp.476-486
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• 2009

Major objective of our study was to introduce initial researches of national long-term ecological monitoring studies on Daechung Reservoir, as one of the representative lentic reservoir ecosystems in Korea. For the long-term ecological research (LTER), we conducted preliminary field monitoring during 2008~2009 and analyzed biological parameters such as phytoplankton, zooplankton, and freshwater fish along with chemical water quality and empirical model analysis. According to phytoplankton surveys, major taxa have varied largely depending on seasons and sites sampled. Overall phytoplankton data showed that cyanophyta dominated in the summer period and diatoms dominated in the winter. In zooplankton analysis, 25 species including 20 rotifers, 3 cladocerans and 2 copepods were collected during the survey. The relative abundance of rotifers (86.5%) was always greater than that of cladocerans (6.3%) or copepods (5.1%). There were distinct spatial and inter-annual changes in the abundance of zooplankton in the reservoir, displaying similar patterns in three sites with the exception of S3 during the study. According to fish surveys, 8 families and 39 species were observed during 2008~2009. The most dominant fish was an exotic species of Lepomis macrochirus (23%), indicating an severe influence of exotic species to the ecosystem. TP averaged $17.9\;{\mu}g\;L^{-1}$ ($6{\sim}80\;{\mu}g\;L^{-1}$), which was judged as a mesotrophy, and showed a distinct longitudinal gradients. TN averaged $1.585\;{\mu}g\;L^{-1}$ during the study and judged as hypereutrophic condition. Unlike TP, TN didn't show any large seasonal and spatial variations. Under the circumstances, nitrogen limitation may not happen in this system, indicating that nitrogen control is not effective in the watershed managements. These data generated in the LTER station will provide key information on long-term biological and water quality changes in relation to global warming and some clues for efficient reservoir ecosystem managements.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.52 no.1
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• pp.32-39
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• 2016

Coastal plant species Tetragonia tetragonoides (Pall.) Kuntze native to the Dokdo islands was sampled and then 17 endophytic fungi were purely isolated based on morphological differences. The fungal isolates were characterized by their growth properties under NaCl concentration or pH gradient. Culture filtrates of the 17 fungal isolates were treated to Waito-c rice (WR) seedlings for verifying plant growth-promoting activity. As the results, YH103 strain showed the highest plant growth-promoting activity among them. Phylogenetic analysis of the isolates was done by the maximum likelihood method based on partial internal transcribed spacer region (ITS region: contaning ITS1, 5.8S, and ITS2), beta-tubulin (BenA), and calmodulin (CaM) gene sequences. Chromatographic analysis of the strain YH103 culture filtrate showed the existence of gibberellins ($GA_4$, $GA_7$, $GA_8$, and $GA_{19}$). Finally, the strain YH103 was identified as Aspergillus tubingensis by microscopic observation and molecular analysis and, to our knowledge, this is the first report of GAs producing A. tubingensis.

• Journal of Korea Water Resources Association
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• v.42 no.11
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• pp.1005-1015
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• 2009

Saltwater intrusion in coastal aquifer was investigated using a laboratory model. Salt-wedge profiles were reproduced in a porous media tank 140 cm long, 70 cm high, and 10 cm wide. The experiments were performed with various conditions of porous media hydraulic conductivity, salinity, and ground surface slope to assess relationships on salt wedge location and inclination. Salt-wedge profiles induced by saltwater intrusion were observed in porous media equilibrium state, and compared with previously derived formulas of the Glover (1959), Henry (1959) and Strack (1976). It was found that salt-wedge shape and formations were affected by the water level ratio ($H_F/H_S$) due to high hydraulic conductivity, saltwater salinity and ground surface slope. High $H_F/H_S$ of porous media having high hydraulic conductivity shifted the saltwater interface toward the saltwater reservoir. Increasing surface slope of the porous media caused the salt-wedge profile inclination to decrease. Saltwater salinity also contributed to the location of saltwater interface, yet the impact was not more significant than hydraulic conductivity.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.35 no.4
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• pp.431-437
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• 2002

In order to understand the spatiotemporal variation of water quality, an investigation on variation characteristics of water quality was conducted at 13 stations in Yongil bay from 1990 to 1998. The salinity in summer was relatively lower than that in other seasons and it have increased from inner bay to outside of the bay gradually. However, nitrate concentration in summer was relatively higher than that in other seasons, and it was the highest, up to $65.40\%$, among dissolved inorganic nitrogens, Nitrate concentration indicates the possibility of affecting by freshwater discharges to Yongil bay. Correlation analysis showed that salinity had a significantly good correlation with nitrate. This result suggested that inflow of river had an influence on increase of nitrate. The result of Principal Component Analysis (PCA) indicated that nitrate was major factor to influence the water quality in Yongil Bay.

• Korean Journal of Ichthyology
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.135-140
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• 2013

Microphysogobio koreensis, an endemic Korean freshwater fishes belonging to Cyprinidae, is protected as a 2nd grade of endangered fishes by the ministry of the Environment. For this species, the study on the spawning microhabitat including structure of streambed and spawning grounds was carried out. The streambed that this species mainly lives consists of boulders, cobbles, and pebbles, the so-called Bb type, with a depth of 0.3 to 1.0 m and a rapid velocity of $0.5{\pm}0.2$ m/sec. But the main spawning grounds where the spawning is actually occurring, is relatively shallower, $0.4{\pm}0.1$ (0.4~0.6) m depth, and faster, $0.8{\pm}0.1$ (0.6~0.9) m/sec velocity, whereas the region that the fertilized eggs are attached are rather slowest to 0.4m/sec. The spawning starts at a water temperature of $20^{\circ}C$ in earlier May, laying their eggs on the cobbles' or boulders' surface or in between them. In particular, with a wide range of streambed structures, natural spawning grounds' environments may let the fertilized eggs not be swept from rapid current and secure efficient dissolved oxygen. The individuals, however, do not appear at the grounds any more after the spawning season, and it is expected that they may move into deeper water such as Lakes or lower streams.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.28 no.11
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• pp.1207-1212
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• 2006

In this study, Chemical Oxygen Demand(COD) which is the measure of organic substances, Total nitrogen(T-N), Total phosphorous(T-P), Fe and Mn were analyzed in the sediments of dam reservoir. The purpose of this study were to understand the relevances among the analytical methods adopted and the applicabilities of those methods. For the determination of COD, Standard Method for the Examination of Marine Environment(SMEME) and Standard Method for the Examination of Sanitary(SMES) was used. Both method had wide dynamic range and the deviations of the values obtained by two methods were small because $KMnO_4$ method closely reflected BOD and organic substances. For the determination of T-N and T-P, Standard Method for the Examination of Food(SMEF) and Standard Method for the Examination of Sanitary(SMES) were used. Two methods for T-N were both the acid-base titration but SMES gave less T-N values than SMEF because of the differences in digestion and distillation steps. Two methods for T-P gave the comparable values after acid digestion of $HNO_3$ and $HClO_4$. The determination of heavy metals as a Fe, Mn was mainly divided to the leaching method and acid digestion method. The values obtained by leaching method were less than those by digestion method. It is thought that the condition of acid digestion was more severe than that of leaching method.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.47 no.spc
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• pp.31-38
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• 2014

The fish community and upstream of glass eels (Anguilla japonica) in the Imjin River estuary Gyeonggi-do, Korea was investigated from 2008 to 2012. During the surveyed period 43 species belonging to 18 families were collected. Korean endemic species was Microphysogobio jeoni which showed a ration of 0.04% in collected species. Exotic fishes were Carassius cuvieri and Ctenophayngodon idellus, and comprised 0.06% of the total individual number. Among the fish species observed, 17 species of the freshwater fish (40.5%), 6 species of migration fish (14.2%), 8 species of the brackish water fish (19.1%) and 11 species of sea water fish (26.1%). In terms of composition ration, Anguilla japonica (glass eels, 49.8%), Coilia ectens (23.3%), Saurogobio dabryi (8.1%), Repomucenus olidus (3.3%), Lateolabrax maculata (2.9%) and Chelon haematocheilus (2.8%) were found to display high individual number. On the other hand, C. ectens (33.6%), C. haematocheilus (14.2%), Cyprinus carpio (10.5%), Mugil cephalus (9.1%) and S. dabryi (7.6%) were dominated of biomass. The dominant species of individual was A. japonica (glass eels), and subdomint species included C. ectens. The fish biomass catched of fisherman in the Imjin River (Paju-si) were 83.6~240.3 t by each year. The year 2011 and 2012 were decreased rapidly. Among these, M. cephalus (48.0~80.0%), C. carpio (6.7%), Carassius auratus (4.9%), Silurus asotus (3.9%), Takifugu obscurus (2.5%), Anguilla japonica (adult, 2.2%) and Pseudobagrus fulvidraco (2.1%) dominated of biomass. Body weight of glass eels at each year were 0.03~ 1.13 t, average 212.0 kg and 1,325,000 individual by 0.16 g each one individual.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.52 no.3
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• pp.266-273
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• 2019

Heavy metal contamination in freshwater ecosystem has been receiving increased worldwide attention due to their direct or indirect effect on human health and aquatic organisms. In this study, we investigated biological effects such as survival rate, growth rate, emergence rate, sex ratio and mouthpart deformity of Chironomus plumosus. The survival rate of C. plumosus decreased with the increase in heavy metal concentration as well as exposure time after cadmium (Cd) or zinc (Zn) exposure. The growth rate decreased at days 4 and 7 after Cd exposure and significantly reduced at the relatively high concentration of $50mg\;L^{-1}$ Cd. The emergence rate was decreased at $50mg\;L^{-1}$ Cd and $100mg\;L^{-1}$ Zn. The sex ratio showed imbalance pattern at relatively low concentrations (0.5 and $2mg\;L^{-1}$ Cd) with high proportion of male and relatively high concentration ($100mg\;L^{-1}$ Zn) with high proportion of female (60%). In addition, mentum deformities were observed at high concentration of Cd and Zn. These results suggest that heavy metal exposure in aquatic ecosystem may affect biological and morphological responses, and aquatic midge C. plumosus is a potential indicator for assessment of environmental pollutant such as heavy metals.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.54 no.4
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• pp.374-383
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• 2021

In 2020, the diversity of benthic macroinvertebrate communities was investigated in the Sohan stream, an ecological and landscape conservation area, and the results were compared with the previous research conducted in 2011. In total, 42 species (two phyla, three classes, and seven orders) were found in the Sohan stream. Species richness and abundance sharply decreased at all sampling sites because of Typhoons Haishen and Maysak in 2020, which had a direct impact on the stream. In the functional feeding group, the ratio of collector-gatherers was the highest at all sampling sites. However, during the autumn season, the shredder ratio increased from 13.4% to 42.4% in the uppermost stream site. Compared with the diversity of benthic macroinvertebrates surveyed in 2011, a total of 53 species (two phyla, three classes, and eight orders) were found. The percentage of species richness and abundance of Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera, and Trichoptera was more than 50% both in 2011 and 2020. Only the richness of Ephemeroptera was significantly different between them (2011: 2.9 and 2020: 6.7). In this study, the abrupt changes of species richness and abundance in benthic macroinvertebrate were not observed before and after the designation of an ecological and landscape conservation area. However, it is necessary to monitor benthic macroinvertebrates in order to confirm that biodiversity is continuously maintained long after the designation of the ecological and landscape conservation area.