This study compares the abundance and community structure of zooplankton organisms from pelagic regions, and considers particularly the trophic levels vs. zooplankton abundances and biomass. Zooplankton samples were collected three times from May to November 2022, at 30 temperate lakes and reservoirs, which belong to four different river basins. The total zooplankton abundance, biomass and species index were showed considerable spatial variation. The spatial pattern of rotifer abundance was similar to that of total zooplankton abundance, while there were not showed similar patterns of zooplankton biomass (μg L-1) in lentic ecosystems. The rotifer strongly dominated the zooplankton assemblage in smaller lentic system than that of larger. A total of 130 species of zooplankton were identified (83 rotifers, 34 cladocerans and 13 copepods). The total average of zooplankton abundance and biomass were 213.7±342.3 Ind. L-1 (n=129) and 1382.8±1850.4 μg L-1, respectively. Total and average of zooplankton abundance were usually dominated by the rotifers (>56.9%), while those of zooplankton biomass were dominated by the cladocerans and copepods (>73.6%) in lentic ecosystems. Considering the Trophic State Index (TSI), the factors of zooplankton abundance and biomass were included in between meso- and eutrophic states (27 lakes, 90% of all). The mean abundance and biomass of zooplankton in eutrophic systems were higher than that of meso- and hypertrophic systems. From this result, we suggest that management strategy for the lentic ecosystem water environment has to be focused more on small-sized lakes and reservoirs, in terms of zooplankton assemblages.

The research was based on long-term studies on the major physico-chemical and hydrological factors and zooplankton community dynamics in the Hwang River. We had 341 times survey and collected zooplankton samples in the Hwang River of mid-Nakdong River from 1995 to 2013. We identified 97 zooplankton species, including 77 rotifers, 16 cladocerans, and 4 copepods. The total zooplankton abundance and species diversity were shown distinctive temporal variation (ANOVA, p<0.001). Annual average of zooplankton population density was 58.4±3.2 ind L-1 (n=341) and the lowest was 17.0±3.8 ind L-1 (1996, n=20), while the highest was 151.5±32.3 ind L-1 (2010, n=22). For zooplankton, small rotifer groups (e.g., Keratella sp., Brachionus sp., Trichotria sp.) dominated the study site for 19 years survey. Statistical analysis revealed that there were positive relationships with SiO2 (p=0.002) and water level (p<0.001) for the high abundance of rotifer community. There were considerable variations both the total cladocerans population and the number of cladocerans’ species concerning annual precipitation. Despite the appearance of various zooplankton in the Hwang River, the mean population density remained low. Due to the lateral structures in the Nakdong River, the downstream basin of the Hwang River is inevitably affected. The zooplankton community in our study site is considered to be mainly influenced by external factors that can stably increase and maintain the volume of the water body and internal factors that induce an increase in food sources through the inflow of nutrients into the water body.

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.

본 연구에서는 가리맛조개 (S. constricta)의 토사물을 현미경 검경과 차세대염기서열분석 (NGS) 기법으로 먹이원을 확인하고, 이를 통해 형태학적 및 분자학적 방법에 따른 먹이원 분석을 비교하였다. 가리맛조개 (S. constricta)의 먹이원은 분석방법에 따라 차이를 보였다. 먹이원생물은 위 내에서 분해되어 현미경 분석을 통한 생활사 확인과 정량적 분석이 가능하였으나 형태학적 및 해부학적 특성 파악이 불완전하였다. NGS 분석은 유기물 형태로 잔존하는 생물의 DNA 확인이 가능하여 현미경 검경 결과와의 상호보완적 적용 가능성을 확인하였다.

동물플랑크톤 군집 연구에 DNA 바코딩과 같은 DNA 분 석 기법의 적용은 분류형태학을 기반으로 하는 전통적인 종 동정 시 발생할 수 있는 문제 (e.g. 개체의 표현형 가소성에 의한 오동정, 유사종 및 자매종, 유생 시기의 종 동정의 어려움)를 보완할 수 있다. 최근 DNA 시퀀싱 기술의 발전으로 다양한 수생태계의 동물플랑크톤 군집은 물론, 육안 및 현미경을 통해 구분하는 데 한계가 있는 동물플랑크톤의 위 내용물에 대한 DNA 기반 군집 분석 또한 가능하게 되었으며, 이는 동물플랑크톤의 섭식 먹이원 분석을 통한 생물학적 상호 작용을 이해를 돕는다. 본 논문은 동물플랑크톤 연구에 DNA 분석 기법이 활용된 사례 (e.g. DNA 바코딩을 이용한 계통분 류학적 연구, 메타바코딩을 이용한 군집 분석, 위 내용물 분석)를 소개하고 분석 방법을 요약하여, 최종적으로 향후 이를 활용하고자 하는 연구자들에게 연구 접근성을 높일 수 있도록 방법론적인 기초 지식을 제공하고자 하였다.