Environmental impacts of suspended solids (SS) released in coastal area by dredging, reclamation and construction can cause serious damages to coastal habitats and benthic organisms. Acute toxicity tests (4-7 days) were conducted to identify the relationship between SS concentration and mortality of three marine benthic species; benthic copepod (Tigriopus japonicus) adult, Pacific abalone (Haliotis discus hannai) spat, and olive flounder (Paralichthys olivaceus) fry. Benthic copepod was the most sensitive to SS followed by olive flounder fry and Pacific abalone spat, with an LC50 (lethal concentration of 50% mortality) value of 61.0 mg/L and LOEC (lowest observed effective concentration) value of 31.3 mg/L for benthic copepod. LOEC and 7 day-LC50 for Pacific abalone spat were 500.0 mg/L and 1887.7 mg/L, and those for olive flounder fry were 125.0 mg/L and 156.9 mg/L, respectively. The tolerance limits of the test species to SS revealed the various concentration ranges of SS, which reflects the physiology and ecology of the test species. These results are very valuable for the determination of SS concentration of effluents released into the coastal area by dredging, reclamation and construction etc. Also, sharp increase of SS can cause long-term damages to the benthic and sessile fauna by blanketing of benthic substratum. These experimental procedures for marine bioassay and acute toxicity results can be a useful guideline for practical management planning of SS discharge into coastal area.

The mixotrophic marine ciliate Mesodinium rubrum possesses a highly modified algal endosymbiont as a nutrition source for the species. Accordingly, we assumed that the species can reflect the ecotoxicity on marine producer (as phytoplankton) and consumer (as zooplankton) both. A series of experiments were conducted to identify the potential of the species as a standard test species for marine ecotoxicological study. The comparison of species sensitivity on reference toxic materials was made using potassium dichromate for phytoplankton and copper chloride for zooplankton. The ciliate revealed the highest sensitivity on both reference materials among the seven test species including phytoplankton, benthic copepod and rotifer species. The toxicity end point of the species was 72hr-EC50=1.52 mg/L (as potassium dichromate) estimated by population growth inhibition (PGI), which is more sensitive than the most sensitive phytoplankton Skeletonema costatum (72hr-EC50=3.05 mg/L). As comparison to rotifer, it also revealed higher sensitivity on copper chloride; 72hr-EC50=0.38 mg/L for ciliate and 48hr-EC50=0.48 mg/L for rotifer. Also, the elutriate toxicity test of various ocean disposal wastes were conducted to identify the potential of ciliate toxicity test application using industrial waste sludges. The toxicity of leather processing waste sludge was highest on the ciliate, followed by dyeing waste sludge and dye production waste sludge as an increasing order of toxicity. 72h-EC50 of ciliate PGI test was 1.83% and that of S. costatum 3.84% for leather waste sludge which showed highest toxicity. The toxicity test results also revealed that the highest sensitivity was observed on ciliate species on ocean disposed sludge wastes. Also, ciliate toxicity test well discriminated the degree of toxicity between sludge sources; 72h-EC50 values were 1.83% for leather processing waste sludge, 16.75% for dye production waste sludge and 27.75% for textile production waste sludge. Even the laboratory culture methods of the species were not generally established yet, the species has high potential as the standard test species for marine toxicity test in terms of the dual reflection of phyto- and zooplankton toxicity from single test, sensitivity and test replicability.

Long-term trends and distribution patterns of water quality were investigated in the Asan coastal areas of Yellow Sea, Korea from 1975 to 2005. Water samples were collected at 3 stations and physicochemical parameters were analyzed including water temperature, salinity, suspended solids (SS), chemical oxygen demand (COD), dissolved oxygen (DO) and nutrients. Spatial distribution patterns were not clear among stations but the seasonal variations were distinct except COD, SS and nitrate. The trend analysis by principal component analysis (PCA) during twenty years revealed the significant variations in water quality in the study area. Annual water qualities were clearly discriminated into 4 clusters by PCA; year cluster 1988-1991, 1994-1997, and 1992-1993/1998- 2005. By this multi-variate analysis we can summarize the annual trends as the followings; salinity, suspended solids and dissolved oxygen tended to increase from late 1980's, increased pH and COD from 1992, and decreased salinity and increased nitrogen and COD from 1990 due to the runoff frow agricultural lands causing eutrophication.

Long-term trends and distribution patterns of water quality were investigated in the Cheonsu Bay of Korea from 1983 to 2004. Water samples were collected at 4 stations and physicochemical parameters were analyzed including water temperature, salinity, suspended solids (SS), chemical oxygen demand (COD), dissolved oxygen (DO) and nutrients. Spatial distribution patterns were not clear between stations but the seasonal variations were distinctive except COD, SS and nitrate. Twenty two year long-term trend analysis by PCA revealed the significant changes in water quality in the study area. Water quality during 1980's and early 1990's showed high SS, low nutrients and low COD which increased during the mid and late 1990's and early 2000's. Overall water quality in the Cheonsu Bay indicated the increase in nutrients and COD concentration.