• Journal of Marine Life Science
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.74-80
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• 2018

Mercury (Hg) poses a threat to marine ecosystem due to continuous inflow from various industries and bioaccumulation to higher trophic level via food web. Mercury can adversely affect growth, development, reproduction and metabolism to aquatic organisms. In the present study, acute toxicity and oxidative stress markers (total glutathione content, and activities of GST, GR and GPx) were investigated in brackish water flea Disphanosoma celebensis exposed to HgCl₂ for 24 h. As results, Hg showed negative effect in survival of D. celebensis. 24 h-LC₅₀ value was determined as 0.589 mg/l (95% C.I. 0.521~0.655 mg/l). After exposure to Hg (0.08 and 0.4 mg/l) for 24 h, total glutathione content was significantly decreased, whereas GST, GPx and GR activities were enhanced. These findings indicate that Hg induced oxidative stress in D. celebensis, and oxidative stress markers may be involved in cellular defense against Hg - mediated toxicity. This study provides a better understanding of molecular mode of action of Hg toxicity in this specie and potent of molecular markers for heavy metal monitoring in marine ecosystem.

• Korean Journal of Ichthyology
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• v.35 no.2
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• pp.129-135
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• 2023

The diet composition of skinnycheek lanternfish, Benthosema pterotum were collected by bottom trawl net in the South Sea of Korea during 2021 (February, May, August, and November) and 2022 (February, April, August, and November). The size of the specimens ranged from 16 to 73 mm in total length. B. pterotum were mesopelagic carnivores that mainly consumed euphausiids and copepods. Its diets included small quantities of amphipods, shrimps, mysids, etc. We calculated the trophic level as 3.16 for B. pterotum. The individuals of small size class (<40 mm) fed mainly on copepods. In the next size classes (40~45 mm, 45~50 mm, 50~55 mm), copepods' proportion decreased and euphausiids increased. In the largest class (55~60 mm and ≥60 mm), the proportion of euphausiids' decreased, and shrimps increased. As the body size of B. pterotum increased the mean weight of prey per stomach (mW/ST) tended to significantly increase (One-way ANOVA, P<0.05).

• Korean Journal of Ichthyology
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• v.35 no.4
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• pp.278-284
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• 2023

The feeding characteristics of chub mackerel, Scomber japonicus was studied using 827 specimens caught in the Yellow Sea of Korea during Autumn season from October to December 2021 and September to November 2022. The size of the specimens ranged from 21.1 to 45.1 cm in total length. S. japonicus was a carnivore that consumed mainly on fishes, such as Engraulis japonicus (%IRI=67.9). Its diet also includes small quantities of copepods, amphipods, euphausiids, cephalopods, mysids, shrimps, and crabs, etc. The estimated trophic level of S. japonicus was 3.84. The proportion of fish had increased as the body size of S. japonicus increased, whereas those of euphausiids, copepods and amphipods decreased gradually. As the body size of S. japonicus increased, the mean weight of prey per the stomach (mW/ST) tended to increase (One-way ANOVA, F=2.382, P<0.05).

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.50 no.1
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• pp.1-15
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• 2017

Daecheong Reservoir was made by the construction of a large dam (>15 m in height) on the middle to downstream of the Geum River and the discharge systems have the watergate-spillway (WS), a hydropower penstock (HPP), and two intake towers. The purpose of this study was to investigate the limnological anomalies of turbid water reduction, green algae phenomenon, and oligotrophic state in the lower part of reservoir dam site, and compared with hydro-meteorological factors. Field surveys were conducted in two stations of near dam and the outlet of HPP with one week intervals from January to December 2000. Rainfall was closely related to the fluctuations of inflow, outflow and water level. The rainfall pattern was depended on the storm of monsoon and typhoon, and the increase of discharge and turbidity responded more strongly to the intensity than the frequency. Water temperature and DO fluctuations within the reservoir water layer were influenced by meteorological and hydrological events, and these were mainly caused by water level fluctuation based on temperature stratification, density current and discharge types. The discharges of WS and HPP induced to the flow of water bodies and the outflows of turbid water and nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus, respectively. Especially, when hypoxic or low-oxygen condition was present in the bottom water, the discharge through HPP has contributed significantly to the outflow of phosphorus released from the sediment into the downstream of dam. In addition, HPP effluent which be continuously operated throughout the year, was the main factor that could change to a low trophic level in the downreservoir (lacustrine zone). And water-bloom (green-tide) occurring in the lower part of reservoir was the result that the water body of upreservoir being transported and diffused toward the downreseroir, when discharging through the WS. Finally, the hydropower effluent was included the importance and dynamics that could have a temporal and spatial impacts on the physical, chemical and biological factors of the reservoir ecosystem.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.31 no.11
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• pp.947-956
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• 2009

Residual petroleum hydrocarbons after an oil spill may accumulate in the marine benthic ecosystem due to their high hydrophobicity. A lot of monitoring data are required for the estimation of ecosystem exposure to residual petrochemicals in an ecological risk assessment in the affected region. To save time and cost, the environmental exposure to them in the affected ecosystem can also be assessed using a simple food-web bioaccumulation model. In this study, we evaluated residual concentrations of four selected polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (phenanthrene, anthracene, pyrene, and benzo[a]pyrene) in a hypothetic benthic ecosystem composed of six species under two exposure scenarios. Body-residue concentration ranged 5~250 mg/kg body depending on trophic positions in an extreme scenario in which the aqueous concentrations of PAHs were assumed to be one-tenth of their aqueous solubility. In addition, bioconcentration factors (BCFs) and bioaccumulation factors (BAFs) were evaluated for model species. The logarithm of bioconcentration factor (log BCF) linearly increased with increasing the logarithm of 1-octanol-water partition coefficient (log $K_{OW}$) until log $K_{OW}$ of 7.0, followed by a gradual decrease with further increase in log $K_{OW}$ without metabolic degradation. Biomagnification became significant when log $K_{OW}$ of a pollutant exceeded 5.0 in the model ecosystem, indicating that investigation of food-web structure should be critical to predict biomagnifications in the affected ecosystem because log $K_{OW}$ values of many petrochemicals are higher than 5.0. Although further research is required for better site-specific evaluation of exposure, the model simulation can be used to estimate the level of the ecosystem exposure to residual oil contaminants at the screening level.

• 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.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.296-304
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• 2011

This study was carried out to investigate the relation between water quality and structure of the aquatic ecosystem in the Lake Gachang from February to December in 2010. The annual mean COD (Chemical Oxygen Demand) in Lake Gachang was 3.5 mg $L^{-1}$, indicating, level II of environmental standards and the trophic state was mesotrophic. The seasonal succession of phytoplankton showed that Bacillariophyceae was mostly dominant species throughout the year except August. In case of zooplankton, rotifers dominate in the most seasons, but copepod (Nauplii) in August. The macrophyte plants showed diverse species composition consisted of 9 varieties, 77 species, 64 genera, 34 families and 24 orders. Surveyed species of macroinvertebrates were classified into 1 phyla, 2 classes, 4 orders, 7 families, 9 species. The macroinvertebrates showed FFG (Functional Feeding Groups) such as GC (Gathering-Collector) and SH (Shedder). A total of 42 species of fish was collected including $Zacco$ $koreanus$ and $Coreoperca$ $herzi$. In this study, we investigated environmental factors including pollutant source, load, water quality and distribution characteristics of biota such as phytoplankton, zooplankton, macrophyte plants, macroinvertebrates, fish.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.41 no.3
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• pp.348-359
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• 2008

The objectives of the study were to elucidate functional modifications in relation to hydrological, physico-chemical and ecological aspects in Daechung Reservoir by the upper dam constructions of Youngdam Reservoir and analyze temporal and spatial dynamic patterns using trophic parameters of TN, TP, chlorophyll (CHL), and Secchi depth (SD). Hydrological data such as inflow, precipitation, and water levels before (BDC, 1995$\sim$2000) and after (ADC, 2001$\sim$2006) the dam construction showed that precipitation had greater correlations with inflow volume in the BDC (r=0.964, p=0.002) than in the ADC (r=0.857, p=0.029). This outcome indicates that the upper dam construction influenced the inflow and water level of Daechung Reservoir. One of the greatest changes after the dam construction was decreases of nutrient contents (TN, TP) and increases of algal biomass (as CHL) as the water residence time increases. Values of CHL had greater relations with TP in the ADC (r=0.412, p<0.001) than the BDC (r=0.249, p<0.001), indicating that CHL had greater response at a given phosphorus in the ADC. Thus, algal yield at a given TP (CHL : TP ratios) increased in the ADC, resulting in a greater CHL-TP relations. Long-term interannual TP, TN, SD, and CHL showed greater variations in the riverine zone (RZ) than any other transition (TZ) and lacustrine zones (LZ). This phenomenon was mainly attributed to rapid hydrological response in the riverine zone (RZ) to flow reductions (short water residence time) from the upper dam, resulting in ambient contents of nutrients and light regime along with functional relations of CHL-TP.

• 한국해양학회지
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• v.30 no.5
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• pp.413-425
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• 1995

Abundances and bacterivory of heterotrophic and mixotrophic nanoflagellates were investigated fourtimes between October 1993 and March 1995 in an estuarine system of the Mankyung and Dongjin rivers to understand distributions of nanoflagellates and ecological significance of bacterivory of nanoflagellates. Bacterivory of nanoflagellates were measured with fluorescently labeled bacteria (FLB). Heterotrophic and autotrophic flagellates showed a rage of 438-4,159 cells ml/SUP -1/ (mean of 2,145 cells ml/SUP -1/, n=20) and 971- 4,935 cells ml/SUP -1/ (mean of 2,2226 cells ml/SUP -1/, n-20), respectively. These two groups of nanoflagellates generally showed similar distributions of abundance. Abundances of heterotrophic nanoflagellates, known as major grazers of bacteria, and those of autotrophic nanoflagellates with chloroplasts showed statistically significant correlations with bacterial abundance (respectively, r$^2$=0.51 and r $^2$=0.47, p>0.05). Mixotrophic nanoflagellates seemed to comprise at least 4-23% of autotrophic nanoflagellate populations. Individual predation rates of heterotrophic nanoflagellates ranged from 2.2 to 14.2 bacteria flagellate/SUP -1/ h/SUP -1/ (mean of 4.9 bacteria flagellate/SUP -1/h/SUP -1/, n=16), and those of mixotrophic nanoflagellates from 1.6 to 9.7 bacteria flagellate/SUP -1/ h/SUP-1/ (mean of 3.7 bacteria flagellate /SUP -1/ h/SUP -1/, n=16). Bacterivory by mixotrophic nanoflagellates comprised from 30 to 69% of total nanoflagellates grazing on bacteria, indicating the significant role of mixotrophic nanoflagellates as grazers on bacteria in the study area. The ratios of grazing rates on bacteria to bacterial secondary production ranged widely from 0.06 to 1.23. In June, when abundances of total nanoflagellates were low, removal of bacteria by bacterivory of nanoflagellates was also a small fraction (0.08${\pm}$ 0.01, n=4) of bacterial production. In other seasons, nanoflagellates usually grazed on bacteria in significant fraction (0.06${\pm}$0.37, n=9) of bacterial production. Both heterotrophic and mixotrophic nanoflagellates appear to be major grazers on bacteria, and might transfer bacterial secondary production to higher trophic level in an estuarine system of the Mankyung and Dongjin rivers.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Marine Environment & Energy
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.212-223
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• 2014

For the better understanding of long-term and seasonal variations of water quality in Masan Bay, South Sea of Korea, we analyzed the archive data monitored at three stations of the bay during the last 13 years (2000-2012). The average concentrations of the chemical oxygen demand (COD), the dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN) and the dissolved inorganic phosphorus (DIP) during the monitoring period are $2.70{\pm}0.09{\mu}/L$, $19.66{\pm}1.84{\mu}m$ and $1.39{\pm}0.13{\mu}m$ in surface water, respectively, and $2.22{\pm}0.07{\mu}/L$, $18.53{\pm}1.36{\mu}m$ and $1.47{\pm}0.12{\mu}m$ in bottom water, respectively. The trophic state of the surface water was the eutrophic level in Masan Bay during the four seasons. The DIN concentrations of both surface and bottom waters increased from August to November and showed the highest average in November. However, The DIN decreased from February to May and showed the lowest average in May. The concentrations of the DIP and the dissolved silicate (DSi) in bottom waters had the highest averages in August because of the high water temperature and oxygen deficient condition. The results of correlation analysis and factor analysis showed that the main factors of surface waters were inflow of nutrients from terrestrial areas and internal production, and the main factors of bottom waters were the variations of the dissolved oxygen (DO), the DIP, and the DSi. The DIN and DIP average concentrations (2007~2012) had decreased in range of 68.1%~76.0% and 66.2~76.6%, respectively from 2007 in which the "Regulation of Total Emission" was established in Masan Bay. Therefore, it could have had positive effects on water quality improvement to take the "Regulation of Total Emission" and other actions such as reducing water pollutions in Masan Bay from 2007.