To investigate the changes of dominant species of benthic macroinvertebrates according to the changes of temperature and precipitation, we surveyed twenty sites of the main Seomjin River in May and September in 2013 and 2014. The temperature, precipitation, water quality factors and substrate composition, which are important factors in benthos habitat environment, were collected and measured. The average temperature of the Seomjin River increased by 0.2℃ in 2014 compared to 2013, and the temperature increased from upstream to downstream, showing a difference of more than 3℃. Also, the annual cumulative precipitation (ACP) was increased toward low latitude. The temperature of Seomjin River increased more than twice in September (21.7~24.5℃) after rainfall compared to May (7.6~11.3℃) before rainfall, and CP (cumulative precipitation) increased about 3 times before rainfall (263 mm~287.5 mm) and after rainfall (756.3 mm~882 mm). Due to washing effect by summer precipitation, total number of species and individuals for benthic macroinvertebrates were higher in May than in September. Chironomidae sp. and Choroterpes altioculus were dominated in May, Ecdyonurus levis, Macrostemum radiatum and Choroterpes altioculus were dominated in September. As a result of correlation analysis between community indices and environment factors, it was found that there is a high correlation with boulder and sand among substrate compositions. According to the results of cluster analysis based on temperature, CP and the dominant species of benthic macroinvertebrates in Seomjin River, it was divided into two groups following temperature and CP, and the dominant species and geographical position were reflected and divided into detailed groups.

Environmental changes exert harmful effects on organisms inhabiting coastal regions. These changes are also associated with reduced production in aquaculture farms. In this study, we investigated internal and external responses of two Bivalvia species (Crassostrea gigas and Mytilus galloprovincialis) in Gamak Bay under stressful environmental conditions in aquaculture farms. We investigated external responses such as weight, size, and environment exposure time, and analyzed the expression of the HSP70 gene. C. gigas HSP70 gene expression level was significantly high in the C3 aquaculture farm site, but the weight and size of C. gigas were high in the C2 aquaculture farm site. The response of C. gigas HSP70 mRNA was associated with the environmental exposure time in each aquaculture farm. Expression of M. galloprovincialis HSP70 gene was found to be significantly higher in the M2 aquaculture farm site than in the M1 site, whereas the weight of M. galloprovincialis was observed to be higher in the M1 site. The size and environmental exposure time of M. galloprovincialis were similar between M1 and M2 sites. In addition, HSP70 sequences of C. gigas and M. galloprovincialis showed high similarity with that of another marine species. According to our results, there were differences in internal responses following environmental stress in aquaculture farms, with respect to HSP70 gene expression. The results suggest that the HSP70 gene is a useful molecular indicator for monitoring stress responses in Bivalvia species in the field.

Chironomous is aquatic insect belonging to order Diptera, family Chironomidae. Their larval stage can be found mainly in aquatic benthic environment, hence good model organism to study environmental toxicology assessments and consider as useful bio indicators of contamination of the aquatic environment. In this study, Chironomus Heat Shock Proteins, Cytochrome 450, Glutathione S-transferase, Serine-type endopeptidase gene expressions were compared between polluted field areas (Chironomus plumosus) and under laboratory conditions (Chironomus riparious) to investigate molecular indicators for environmental contaminant stress assessment. Heavy metal (Al, Fe, Mn, Cu, Cr, Zn, Se, Pb, As, Cd) concentrations in sediments collected from three study areas exceeded the reference values. Moreover, HSPs, CYP450 and GST gene expression except SP for C. plumosus showed higher expression than C. riparious gene expression. Similar gene expression pattern was observed in C. riparious that exposed environment waters up to 96 h when compared to C. plumosus exposed to waters that grown in lab conditions. In summary, this comparative gene expression analysis in Chironomous between field and laboratory condition gave useful information to select candidate molecular indicators in heavy metal contaminations in the environment.