Intertidal mud crab (Macrophthalmus japonicus) is an organism with a hard chitinous exoskeleton and has function for an osmotic control in response to the salinity gradient of seawater. Crustacean exoskeletons change in their natural state in response to environmental factors, such as changes in the pH and water temperature, and the presence of pollutant substances and pathogen infection. In this study, the ecotoxicological effects of irgarol exposure and heavy metal distribution were presented by analyzing the surface roughness of the crab exoskeleton. The exoskeleton surface roughness and variation reduced in M. japonicus exposed to irgarol. In addition, it was confirmed that the surface roughness and variation were changed in the field M. japonicus crab according to the distribution of toxic heavy metals (Cd, Pb, Hg) in marine sediments. This change in the surface roughness of the exoskeleton represents a new end-point of the biological response of the crab according to external environmental stressors. This suggests that it may affect the functional aspects of exoskeleton protection, support, and transport. This approach can be utilized as a useful method for monitoring the aquatic environment as an integrated technology of mechanical engineering and biology.
A pump-type eDNA filtering system that can control voltage and hydraulic pressure respectively has been developed, and applied a filter case that can filter out without damaging the filter. The filtering performance of the developed system was evaluated by comparing the eDNA concentration with the conventional vacuum-pressured filtering method at the catchment conduit intake reservoir. The developed system was divided into a voltage control (manual pump system) method and a pressure control (automatic pump system) method, and the pressure was measured during filtering and the pressure change of each system was compared. The voltage control method started with 65 [KPa] at the beginning of the filtering, and as the filtering time elapsed, the amount of filtrate accumulated in the filter increased, so the pressure gradually increased. As a result of controlling the pressure control method to maintain a constant pressure according to the designed algorithm, there was a difference in the width of the hydraulic pressure fluctuation during the filtering process according to the feedback time of the hydraulic pressure sensor, and it was confirmed that the pressure was converged to the target pressure. The filtering performance of the developed system was confirmed by measuring the eDNA concentration and comparing the voltage control method and the hydraulic control method with the control group. The voltage control method obtained similar results to the control group, but the hydraulic control method showed lower results than the control group. It is considered that the low eDNA concentration in the hydraulic control method is due to the large pressure deviation during filtering and maintaining a constant pressure during the filtering process. Therefore, rather than maintaining a constant pressure during filtering, it was confirmed that a voltage control method in which the pressure is gradually increased as the filtrate increases with the lapse of filtering time is suitable for collecting eDNA. As a result of comparing the average concentration of eDNA in lentic zone and lotic zone as a control group, it was found to be 96.2 [ng μL-1] and 88.4 [ng μL-1l], respectively. The result of comparing the average concentration of eDNA by the pump method was also high in the lentic zone sample as 90.7 [ng μL-1] and 74.8 [ng μL-1] in the lentic zone and the lotic zone, respectively. The high eDNA concentration in the lentic zone is thought to be due to the influence of microorganisms including the remaining eDNA.
The present study investigated species richness and phytoplankton community structure in lakes in the Geum River Basin during autumn and spring seasons. Surveys were conducted between September and November 2019, and between April and May 2020, which corresponded to the autumn and spring seasons, respectively, to explore the distribution characteristics of the species. A total of 49 species of phytoplankton belonging to 31 genera and seven classes were identified in Cho Pyeong-ji, 51 species belonging to 29 genera and six classes were identified in Song Ak-ji, 49 species belonging to 32 genera and seven classes were identified in Cheong Cheon-ji, 82 species belonging to 45 genera and six classes were identified in Ye Dangji, and 70 species belonging to 40 genera and six classes were identified in Ganwol Lake. A total of 43 species belonging to 74 genera and seven classes were identified. The ranges of phytoplankton standing crop were as follows: 223~3533 cells mL-1 in Cho Pyeong-ji, 881~176018 cells mL-1 in Song Ak-ji, 402~6139 cells mL-1 in Cheong Cheon-ji, 262~10460 cells mL-1 in Ye Dang-ji, and 20413~330695 cells mL-1 in Ganwol Lake. Phytoplankton diversity in Cho Pyeong-ji, Song Ak-ji, Cheong Cheon-ji, Ye Dang-ji, and Ganwol Lake were 1.10~2.60, 0.56~2.03, 0.21~2.03, 0.65~2.57, and 0.44~1.12, respectively. Phytoplankton species richness in Cho Pyeong-ji, Song Ak-ji, Cheong Cheon-ji, Ye Dang-ji, and Ganwol Lake were 1.91~4.99, 1.82~3.26, 1.26~4.17, 2.07~5.37, and 1.90~2.43, respectively. Phytoplankton evenness indices in Cho Pyeong-ji, Song Ak-ji, Cheong Cheon-ji, Ye Dang-ji, and Ganwol Lake were 0.38~0.78, 0.18~0.69, 0.08~0.71, 0.22~0.72, and 0.14~0.38, respectively. Phytoplankton dominance indices in Cho Pyeong-ji, Song Ak-ji, Cheong Cheon-ji, Ye Dang-ji, and Ganwol Lake were 0.40~0.83, 0.55~0.96, 0.44~0.99, 0.42~0.93, and 0.89~0.97, respectively.
The phytoplankton community in the estuarine system is affected by changes of physicochemical factors easily. The present study analyzed phytoplankton community distribution and similarity, in addition to exploring factors influencing variations in phytoplankton community structure in three lakes located in the Yeongsan River estuary from March 2014 to November 2017. We carried out non-multidimensional scaling (NMDS) and random forest analysis (RF) for comparing the pattern of phytoplankton distribution and the relationship between phytoplankton distribution and environmental variables. Similarity Percentage (SIMPER) and Analysis of Similarity (ANOSIM) were performed to figure out the similarity of phytoplankton community at each site of three lakes. From NMDS, Phytoplankton community distribution differed between Yeongsan and Gumho lakes, and the factors influencing the distribution of phytoplankton communities across the three lakes were water temperature, dissolved oxygen, total nitrogen (T-N), nitrate-N (NO3-N), and conductivity. NO3-N was a key factor influencing phytoplankton community structure in the three lakes based on RF. A total of 24 species were identified as indicator species in the three lakes studied, with the highest species numbers observed in Yeongsan Lake (13) and the lowest observed in Yeongam Lake (2). According to SIMPER and ANOSIM results, the phytoplankton community in Yeongsan and Yeongam lakes were similar, and they differed from those in Gumho Lake. In addition, the phytoplankton community structure varied across the study sites in the three lakes, indicating that water channels across the lakes a minor influence phytoplankton community distribution.
To understand how to efficiently observe the biomass and community of phytoplankton, phytoplankton sampling was carried out from June to October 2019 at the Yeongju dam sediment control reservoir (YJ) and Bohyeonsan dam reservoir (BH1 and BH2). The results derived from microscopic observation, such as the conventional phytoplankton qualitative/quantitative analysis, and from the CHEMTAX method based on the pigments, were compared. The relative contribution of phytoplankton, calculated by the microscopy and CHEMTAX methods, showed a significant difference in all four classes: cryptophyta, chlorophyta, cyanobacteria, and diatoms. In addition, the correlation between the two observation methods was poor. This might be caused by methodological differences in microscopy that do not consider the varying cell sizes among phytoplankton species. In this study, by converting the cells into carbon, the slope between both carbon biomasses based on microscopy and CHEMTAX was improved close to the 1 : 1 line, and the y-intercept was closer to 0 for cryptophyta and diatoms. For cyanobacteria, the slope increased, the y-intercept decreased, and the plot approached 1 : 1 although the correlation coefficients were not improved in all classes. The present study suggests that application of CHEMTAX based on pigment analysis could be a possible approach to efficiently determine the relative carbon proportions of individual classes of phytoplankton community composition.
The clear-water phase (CWP) is a notable limnological phenomenon in freshwater systems caused by predatory interactions between large filter-feeding zooplankton and phytoplankton. However, the mechanisms and factors that influence the extent of CWP, particularly in complex water systems with both fluvial and lacustrine characteristics, remain poorly understood. The present study evaluated CWP occurrence patterns at different sites in a large reservoir located in a temperate monsoon region (Lake Paldang, Korea); the relationships among factors associated with CWP occurrence, such as transparency, zooplankton diversity, and chlorophyll a concentration were investigated. Transparency exhibited significant correlations with precipitation and retention time, as well as the relative abundance of zooplankton (p<0.01), suggesting that a change in the retention time due to precipitation can alter CWP. Data collected before and after CWP occurrence were analyzed using paired t-test to determine variations in CWP occurrence based on the water system characteristics. The results demonstrated that various factors were associated with CWP occurrence in the fluvial-type and lacustrine-type sites. The correlation between zooplankton biomass and transparency was stronger in the lacustrine-type sites than in the fluvial-type sites. The lacustrine-type sites, where cladoceran emergence is common and is associated with long retention times, favored CWP occurrence. The results suggest that lacustrine-type sites, which are conducive to zooplankton development and have relatively long retention times, enhance CWP occurrence. Furthermore, CWP occurrence was notable in spring, and the present study revealed that site-specific CWP could occur throughout the year, regardless of the season.
The two main hypotheses that explain why invasive alien plants successfully colonize new environments are: 1) invasive alien plants are functionally different from native plants in a community, and 2) the plants can adapt well to new environments because they are functionally similar to native plants. The present study investigated the functional traits of naturalized alien herbaceous plants and their native neighbors in a riparian park area near the Hapcheon-Changyeong weir along the Nakdong River to determine which of the two hypotheses applied to the study area. According to the results, leaf functional traits, such as leaf area, specific leaf area, leaf thickness, leaf dry matter content, leaf nitrogen content, and leaf carbon content differed between naturalized alien and native plants, which could be attributed to the higher leaf nitrogen contents in naturalized alien plants than in native plants. The high leaf nitrogen contents are associated with high photosynthetic rates, which lead to effective resource use and rapid growth; therefore, naturalized alien plants growing in the study area were considered to have such functional traits. The results of the present study support the hypothesis that the successful establishment of invasive alien plants is attributed to the functional trait differences between invasive and native plants.
The present study investigated the effect of global warming on germination and initial growth across six deciduous oak species (Quercus mongolica, Q. variabilis, Q. serrata, Q. dentata, Q. aliena, and Q. acutissima), which are the dominant tree species in Korea forest ecosystems. Seeds were sown in climate change treatments, with temperatures higher than those of the control (approximately 3.0°C higher), and CO2 concentrations higher than those of the control (approximately 2-fold higher). Initial growth in each species was measured every two weeks. Initial growth was more rapid in all oak species at the time of root and shoot emergence under high temperature and CO2 treatments than in the control group. Leaf emergence in Q. mongolica, Q. variabilis, and Q. serrata occurred earlier under the climate change treatments than under the control. Root length increased significantly in Q. mongolica, Q. variabilis, and Q. dentata under the climate change treatments when compared to under the control. However, Q. aliena and Q. serrata exhibited a contrasting trends, and no significant difference was observed between the species and Q. acutissima. Shoot length increased significantly in Q. aliena under climate change treatments when compared to under the control but decreased in Q. aliena. In addition, no significant difference was observed in shoot length among Q. mongolica, Q. dentata, and Q. acutissima. The results showed that climate change treatments facilitated early growth, rapid emergence from the ground, leaf development, and enhanced belowground growth in Q. mongolica. Conversely, Q. aliena exhibited the lowest aboveground and belowground growth under climate change treatments when compared to other oak species. Climate change treatments had the least impact on Q. acutissima considering the insignificant differences observed in initial growth rates under climate change treatment.
A sediment control dam is an artificial structure built to prolong sedimentation in the main dam by reducing the inflow of suspended solids. These dams can affect changes in dissolved organic matter (DOM) in the water body by changing the river flow regime. The main DOM component for Yeongju Dam sediment control of the Naeseongcheon River was analyzed through 3D excitation-emission matrix (EEM) and parallel factor (PARAFAC) analyses. As a result, four humic-like components (C1~C3, C5), and three proteins, tryptophan-like components (C2, C6~C7) were detected. Among DOM components, humic-like components (autochthonous: C1, allochthonous: C2~C3) were found to be dominant during the sampling period. The total amount of DOM components and the composition ratio of each component did not show a difference for each depth according to the amount of available light (100%, 12%, and 1%). Throughout the study period, the allochthonous organic matter was continuously decomposing and converting into autochthonous organic matter; the DOM indices (fluorescence index, humification index, and freshness index) indicated the dominance of autochthonous organic matter in the river. Considering the relative abundance of cyanobacteria and that the number of bacteria cells and rotifers increased as autochthonous organic matter increased, it was suggested that the algal bloom and consequent activation of the microbial food web was affected by the composition of DOM in the water body. Research on DOM characteristics is important not only for water quality management but also for understanding the cycling of matter through microbial food web activity.
An ecological niche is defined as the specific role of a species influenced by time, space, and other resources. By investigating overlaps between ecological niches of different species, we could estimate the degrees of interspecific competition. Such studies often use geographic information systems (GIS) to discover niche overlaps between species. In this study, we used GIS to estimate the spatial niches of two Korean frog species (Pelophylax nigromaculatus and P. chosenicus). This enabled us to predict their geographic distributions in order to identify their coexistence regions and distribution patterns. The results confirmed that altitude was an important variable for predicting their distribution, with a correlation with their climatic range. Spatial distributions of the two frog species were highly overlapped, as the distribution range for P. nigromaculatus included most of the range of P. chosenicus, showing a sympatric distribution pattern. Within the coexisting regions, however, the presence sites for the two species did not overlap, implying weak competition. To confirm the principal factors influencing their competitive relationship and reasons for their sympatric distribution pattern, we need more detailed in-depth studies on the diverse environmental variables within the regions where the two species coexist. By doing so, we would be able to identify various mechanisms for avoiding competition in sympatric frog species.
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.
This study was conducted on October 23, 2020 at the Cheongpyeong Reservoir located in Seorakmyeon, Gapyeong-gun, Gyeonggi-do, and analyzed the horizontal and vertical distribution patterns of fish based on data obtained using fishfinder. The total surface area of fishfinder survey conducted was 782,853 m2, and where the water depth (WD) ranges from 10 m to 12 m is widest which 31.7% of total surface area. As a result of the heat map analysis, fish density was highest at right bank under the Gapyeong-bridge, but there was no specific pattern in horizontal distribution of fish. As a result of vertical distribution of fish analysis, 86.6% of fishes are observed at below 6 m of the fish depth (FD, distance from water surface to fish). As a result of the relative height (RH, water depth-distance from bottom to fish ratio) analysis, there was a tendency that fishes are distributed in near surface area more as the WD increased. This tendency could have various reasons such as water temperature gradient along the water depth, and further studies are required for detailed explanation.
The time series data of rotifer community focusing on the species number and total density were collected from 29 reservoirs located at Jeonnam Province from 2008 to 2016 quarterly. The reservoirs had similar weather condition during the study period, but their sizes and water qualities were different. To analyze the temporal dynamics of rotifer community, the medians, ranges, outliers and coefficient of variation (CV) value of rotifer species number and abundance were compared. For the temporal trend analysis, time series of each reservoir data were compared and clustered using the dynamic time warping function of the R package “dtwclust”. Small-sized reservoirs showed higher variability in rotifer abundance with more frequent outliers than large-sized reservoirs. On the other hand, apparent pattern was not observed for the rotifer species number. For the temporal pattern of rotifer density, COD, phytoplankton abundance fluctuation, and cladoceran abundance fluctuation have been suggested as potential factor affecting the rotifer abundance dynamics.