Habitat environment and food sources of fish, benthic macroinvertebrates, and brown trout (Salmo trutta) downstream of Soyang River Dam were analyzed. Water temperature at the site where brown trout was identified ranged from approximately 12.4 to 13.4°C, confirming that this environment could provide an optimal water temperature for the growth of brown trout. Most of the riverbed structures at this site had a high proportion of cobble and pebble substrates. Brown trout constituted less than 5% of the total fish population, more abundant in the upstream. The total lengthweight relationship of brown trout showed a parameter b value of 3.234, with the condition factor (K) increasing with length. Dominant benthic macroinvertebrates were Limnodrilus gotoi and Chironomidae spp. (non-red type). Stomach content analysis indicated that brown trout primarily consumed aquatic insects (R.A., 73.8%), non-insects (R.A., 23.3%), ground insects (R.A., 2.7%), and fish (R.A., 0.2%, TL: 246 mm). Correlation analysis revealed a positive relationship between total length and species preferring flowing water (p<0.05) and a negative relationship of total length with species favoring low-flow, sandy habitats (p<0.05). Larger brown trout showed active feeding behavior and resilience to flow speed and riverbed structure. The primary food source for the largest brown trout (TL: 246 mm) was Hypomesus nipponensis. Future analyses should include brown trout with a total length of 30 cm or more. Given that samples were limited, comprehensive population management will require ongoing research.

This study conducted field surveys targeting benthic macroinvertebrates and fish in Andong Dam and Yeongsan River, with the specific aim of analyzing bluegill stomach contents. Bluegills in Andong Dam ranged from 40-220 mm, with 93.0% between 80-220 mm, while those in Yeongsan River ranged from 50-210 mm, with 71.4% between 120-210 mm. The highest feeding rates in both sites were for Chironomidae spp., with findings of 72.6% in Andong Dam and 80.4% in Yeongsan River. In Andong Dam, H. nipponensis and Baetidae sp. were also significant at 17.5% and 6.5%, respectively, while in Yeongsan River, Baetidae sp. (7.5%) and Hymenoptera sp. were the next most common at 3.8%. The EI index showed that bluegills generally avoided H. nipponensis and S. tsuchigae (-0.373 and -0.975) whereas they preferred Chironomidae spp. (0.759, 0.892) and Baetidae sp. (0.723). The parameter b values of the total length-weight relationship of bluegill were calculated as 3.452 in Andong Dam and 3.449 in the Yeongsan River, respectively. The slope values of the condition factor were 0.0067 in Andong Dam and 0.0065 in the Yeongsan River. Both values were positive, indicating that the nutritional status of bluegill was good. Aquatic insects constituted the primary food source, particularly in Yeongsan River. Feeding patterns did not significantly differ by habitat orientation groups, but Yeongsan River bluegills consumed more diverse food sources. In Andong Dam, larger bluegills likely consume food sources with larger biomass, while Yeongsan River’s diverse and abundant food sources support opportunistic feeding tailored to the water ecological environment.

Invasive predators are one of the most damaging species groups to biodiversity. In the Nakdong River, the lake skygazer Chanodichthys erythropterus is a dominant species that is fiercely carnivorous and a concern for commercial fish. Although it is important to understand the ecological characteristics related to the feeding habit, studies on the diets of lake skygazer in Nakdong River have been limited to studies of gut contents. In this study, the trophic position (TP) and feeding habits of C. erythropterus were studied by calculating TPs using samples collected from 13 sites throughout the Nakdong River. Compound-specific isotopic analysis of amino acids provided reliable TPs from the muscle of Lake skygazer C. erythropterus without any isotope baseline. The results were approximately 3 to 3.6 and suggesting a carnivorous but size-dependent prey variation. In particular, the TP variability of C. erythropterus observed in the Nakdong River showed that it had a selective feeding habit compared to carnivorous fish species of relatively similar trophic levels.

This study was conducted to select target fish species as baseline research for accumulation analysis of major hazardous chemicals entering the aquatic ecosystem in Korea and to analyze the impact on fish community. The test bed was selected from a sewage treatment plant, which could directly confirm the impact of the inflow of harmful chemicals, and the Geum River estuary where harmful chemicals introduced into the water system were concentrated. A multivariable metric model was developed to select target candidate fish species for hazardous chemical analysis. Details consisted of seven metrics: (1) commercially useful metric, (2) top-carnivorous species metric, (3) pollution fish indicator metric, (4) tolerance fish metric, (5) common abundant metric, (6) sampling availability (collectability) metric, and (7) widely distributed fish metric. Based on seven metric models for candidate fish species, eight species were selected as target candidates. The co-occurring dominant fish with target candidates was tolerant (50%), indicating that the highest abundance of tolerant species could be used as a water pollution indicator. A multi-metric fish-based model analysis for aquatic ecosystem health evaluation showed that the ecosystem health was diagnosed as “bad conditions”. Physicochemical water quality variables also influenced fish feeding and tolerance guild in the testbed. Eight water quality parameters appeared high at the T1 site, indicating a large impact of discharging water from the sewage treatment plant. T2 site showed massive algal bloom, with chlorophyll concentration about 15 times higher compared to the reference site.

Despite the consumption of disinfectants have been increased by COVID-19 pandemic, the fate of the chemicals in aquatic food webs are still unclear. In order to understand the trophic transfer of the chemicals, the concentration of disinfectants including six benzalkonium chloride (BACs) and five didecyldimethylammonium chlorides (DDACs) were measured at the Geum (2020), Han (2021), and Yeongsan River (2021), before and after rainfall. The highest concentration of ΣBACs (mainly C12 and C14) and ΣDDACs (mainly C10 and C14) were observed in the Han River, followed by Yeongsan River, Geum River Estuary, and Gapcheon. After rainfalls, both concentration and detection frequency were decreased in all sites. Although the BAC and DDAC seems to be accumulated in organisms, they were bio-diluted rather than magnified in the aquatic food web with the biomagnification factor (BMF) of less than 1, trophic magnification slope (TMS) from - 0.236 to 0.001, and trophic magnification factor (TMF) from 0.85 to 1.01.