• Ocean and Polar Research
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• v.45 no.3
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• pp.113-123
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• 2023

Humic substances are refractory organic compounds that are relatively low in biological activity but known to stimulate phytoplankton growth in estuarine and marine environments. The effect of humic substances on phytoplankton growth was investigated in the seawater zone of the Yeongsan River estuary where an episodic anthropogenic freshwater is discharged, affecting its water properties directly. Water samples and data of water properties were collected at three stations (Sts. A-C) along the channel of the seawater zone in February, May, August and November, 2009. The collected water samples were incubated after humic acids (HA) were added in mesocosm experiments. Phytoplankton (chlorophyll-a) were fractionated into net- (> 20 ㎛) and nano-size (< 20 ㎛) to examine the response of phytoplankton according to size. Their response to HA treatment was assessed by repeated measures analysis of variance (RM-ANOVA). The experiments showed that phytoplankton biomass (chlorophyll-a) significantly increased after HA were added at the stations near the sea dike. Especially, nano-sized chlorophyll-a concentrations increased significantly throughout the seasons. This indicates that understanding the behavior of refractory organic matters such as humic substances is required to better manage altered estuarine ecosystems including the Yeongsan River estuary which are affected by episodic discharge of freshwater from sea dikes.

• Ocean and Polar Research
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.135-147
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• 2011

Zooplankton is an important constituent in assessing ecosystem responses to global warming. The northern East China Sea is an important ecosystem for carbon cycling with a net sink of carbon dioxide. Despite their importance as a major component in carbon cycling, relatively little is known about zooplankton biomass structure and its regulating factors in the northern East China Sea. This study examined zooplankton biomass distribution pattern in the region from multiple cruises encompassing various seasons between 2004 and 2009. Results showed that zooplankton biomass exhibits less cross-shelf gradient in general with declining biomass to the eastern shelf towards the Tsushima Current Water. Size-fractionated biomass showed that the 1.0~2.0 mm size group, mostly copepods, dominated zooplankton biomass, comprising 38 to 48% of total biomass. Smaller zooplankton (0.2~1.0 mm) biomass, consisting mainly of Paracalanus spp, a particle eating herbivorous copepod, was positively related to chlorophyll-a concentration, but no relationship was established for larger zooplankton (1.0~5.0 mm). Spatially-averaged mean total zooplankton biomass was also highly related to chlorophyll-a concentration. These result suggest that the long-term trend of zooplankton biomass increase in this region is partly accounted for by the increases of phytoplankton biomass and productivity underway in the region. However, the underlying mechanisms of how sea surface warming in the study area leads to increased phytoplankton biomass and productivity remains unclear.

• Journal of Marine Life Science
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.72-80
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• 2020

A sea dike in the Yeongsan River estuary was constructed in 1981 to supply water and reclaim tidal flats for agriculture, separating the estuary into the freshwater and seawater zones. However, the sluice gates are frequently opened and freshwater is discharged in summer when more rainfall is recorded than other seasons, then converting the estuary to brackish water system. In this study, the direct effect of freshwater discharge was investigated by monitoring daily variation in water properties and phytoplankton size structure before and after the freshwater discharge events from 2013 to 2015. Freshwater discharge resulted in a sharp decrease in salinity and dissolved oxygen (DO) at surface water whereas it increased the turbidity of water column. However, salinity did not decrease sharply in 2014 when freshwater was discharged one day before the monitoring and salinity remained low prior to the monitoring. Levels of nutrients especially dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN) increased after the discharge and this contributed to potential limitation of nutrients such as P or Si rather than N in the estuary. Freshwater discharge also caused the changes in phytoplankton biomass (chlorophyll a) and size structure although their responses were different between years. The changes may affect growth of grazers and thus structure of marine food web by alternating food availability in the Yeongsan River estuary.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.24 no.1 s.61
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• pp.7-18
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• 2006

Samples were collected from five stations monthly from October 2003 to September 2004 to investigate seasonal variation of size structure of phytoplankton and relationship between size-fractionated phytoplankton and environmental factors in the Asan Bay. The contribution of large cells (microphytoplankton, $>20\;{\mu}m$) to total concentrations of chlorophyll $\alpha$ was higher than small cells (nanophytoplankton, $3\sim20\;{\mu}m$; picophytoplankton, $<3\;{\mu}m$) during the sampling period. Especially, large cells contributed 80% to the total chlorophyll a from February, 2004 to April 2004 when chlorophyll $\alpha$ concentrations were high. The size structure of phytoplankton shifted from micro-size class to nano-size class and picophytoplankton rapidly increased when phytoplankton biomass decreased in May 2004. Microphytoplankton exhibited a high biomass in the upper region during winter-spring season whereas nano- and picophytoplankton showed two peaks in the middle-lower regions (Station 3,5) during spring and summer. Microphytoplankton are most likely controlled by water temperature and nutrient supply during the cold season whereas nano- and picophytoplankton may be affected by stratification, light exposure during the warm season.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.91-99
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• 2002

With physico-chemical environmental factors such as temperature, DO, pH, conductivity and nutrients, size fractionated of phytoplankton standing crops and chlorophyll a concentrations $(>8\mu{m},\;3-8\mu{m},\;<3\mu{m})$ and their relationships were investigated at each station of Kyungan Stream and Togyo Reservoir from April to November in 1997. The two sampling sites showed different nutrient status: Kyungan Stream was eutrophic, while Togyo Reservoir was mesotrophic. Large sizes of phytoplankton and chl. a were higher in Kyungan Stream, opposite to those of Togyo Reservoir; Standing crops of phytoplankton $(>8\mu{m)$ and chl. a $(3-8\mu{m)}$ were high in Kyung-an Stream, while phytoplankton $(3-8\mu{m)}$and chi. a $(<3\mu{m)$ were abundant in Togyo Reservoir. These results imply that phytoplankton community in the highly eutrophicated water mainly comprised the large filamentous and/or colonial algae, such as Microcystis spp. and Aphanizomenon flos-aquae, which easily enriched by nutrients loading.

• ALGAE
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.345-352
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• 2005

In order to investigate the distribution of phytoplankton community in the coastal waters of the Chuksan Harbor, East Sea, the abundance and biomass of phytoplankton have been evaluated through seasonal interval sampling from April 2000 to October 2002. A total of 363 different phytoplankton species was observed and most of them were composed of diatoms. The mean abundance and chlorophyll-a concentration of phytoplankton during the study period ranged from 56 ${\times}$ $10^3$ to 720 ${\times}$ $10^3$ cells $L^{-1}$ and from 0.78 to 3.29 μg chl-a $L^{-1}$, respectively. The relative contribution of the size-fractionated phytoplankton to phytoplankton community showed difference according to seasons. The average contribution of nano-phytoplankton(<20 $\mu$m) was over 50% in the total abundance and biomass of the phytoplankton. Our results show that nano-phytoplankton play an important role in the southern coastal waters of the East Sea. And the environmental factors such as suspended substances, phosphates and silicates were positively correlated with the abundances and biomass of phytoplankton.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.37 no.4 s.109
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• pp.406-410
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• 2004

The alkaline phosphatase activity (APA) of two dam reservoirs and inflowing streams were measured monthly in 2000. During summer months in 2001, the vertical profiles of APA and related parameters were also examined in one of the reservoirs. The APA was relatively high during the summer season in the epilimnion while it was almost invariable in the hypolimnion. A small increase in APA was observed at just above the bottom. The APA fluctuation was independent of the concentration of soluble reactive phosphorus. It was assumed that APA is not indicative of the phosphorus availability status. An examination of size-fractionated samples suggested that APA in reservoirs was attached to particles larger than $0.4{\mu}m$, whereas in streams it existed in a dissolved form. There was a positive significant correlation between chlorophyll a concentration and APA in the photic zone. In the aphotic zone, APA correlated positively with the colony count of heterotrophic bacteria, but not with microscopic total bacterial counts.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.17 no.7
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• pp.1171-1178
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• 2023

In study, we investigated changes on growth and chlorophyll concentration on sprouted barley by fractionated X-ray irradiation (FXI). Group was divided into the control group (CG), 1-time irradiation group (30 Gy once), 2-time irradiation group (15 Gy 2 times), and 3-time irradiation group (10 Gy 3 times), and 20 grains were used per group. Experimental group (EG) was exposed by using linear accelerator (Clinac IS, VERIAN, USA), by 6 MV X-ray, SSD 100 cm, 18×10 cm², 600 MU/min. Length was measured every day until 9th day, and chlorophyl was analyzed using spectrophotometer(uv-1800, shimadzu, japan) in 9th day. Data analysis was performed the One-way ANOVA using SPSS ver 26.0(Chicago, IL, USA). In the pre-germination irradiation group (Pre-GIG), the CG had greater length than the EG on all measurement days, and as the number of FXI increased, the length became shorter. In the post-germination irradiation group (Post-GIG), the length of the CG was statistically significantly greater than that of the EG on all measurement days, and as the number of FXI increased, the length also became longer. The chlorophyll concentration was higher in the Post-GIG than in the Pre-GIG, and chlorophyll concentrations of EG was higher in the Pre-GIG than in the CG, as well as and Post-GIG. In addition, the smaller the number of FXI, the higher the chlorophyll concentration in both groups. FXI was found to affect the growth and chlorophyll concentration of sprouted barley.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.43 no.1
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• pp.35-43
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• 2010

Nutrient limitation and light limitation was examined for the Youngsan Lake by collecting chlorophyll $\alpha$ and other properties including light intensity, nutrient concentrations, pheopigment ratio monthly from March, 2003 to April, 2004 (except for November-January). Chlorophyll $\alpha$ was fractionated into net-(>$20\;{\mu}m$) and nano-size(<$20\;{\mu}$). Light and nutrient limitation index was calculated based on the equations incorporating the mechanisms of limitation of light and nutrients from the literature. Phytoplankton population (chlorophyll $\alpha$) was low during the wet season especially in August and increased in short-period during other seasons. Photoperiod was short during the wet season but long during the dry season. Nutrients such as phosphate and ammonium were rapidly increased in spring, 2004. Light limitation index was minimum (0.01) in August during the wet season and nutrient limitation index was relatively high (>0.4) except for May and September. Light limitation may affect phytoplankton growth rather than nutrient limitation considering that nutrient levels are high in the Youngsan Lake. Results of correlation analyses showed a negative correlation between light and nutrient limitation indices and net-pheopigment index, and a positive correlation between the indices and nano-pheopigment index. These results suggest that phytoplankton response to change of light and nutrient may be size-dependant.

• ALGAE
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.83-90
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• 2006

Phytoplankton community in the coastal waters off the northeastern Korean Peninsula were characterized from May 2002 to August 2003. Taxonomic composition, abundance and biomass were determined at two water depths at 10 sample sites. A total of 153 phytoplankton species including 121 diatoms, 28 dinoflagellates, 7 green algae and 7 other species were identified. The mean abundance of phytoplankton varied from 15 to 430 cells mL–1 in the surface layer and from 11 to 545 cells mL–1 in the bottom layer, respectively. Phytoplankton was more abundant in coastal stations relative to those in more open ocean. The most dominant species were marine diatoms such as Thalassionema nitzschioides, Licmorphora abbreviata, Chaetoceros affinis and Chaetoceros socialis. In addition, a few limnotic diatoms including Fragilaria capucina v. rumpens, the green alga Scenedesmus dimorphus, some marine dinoflagellates and Cryptomonas sp. appeared as dominant species. Mean concentration of total chlorophyll-a varied from 0.22 to 7.87 μg chl-a L–1 and from 0.45 to 6.79 μg chl-a L–1 in the surface and bottom layers, respectively. The contribution of phytoplankton each size-fractionated varied highly with season. The contribution of microphytoplankton to total biomass of phytoplankton in the surface and bottom layer was high in February and August 2003, and that of nano-phytoplankton was high in May 2002 in both surface and bottom layers.