We determined the composition of water and sediment bacterial assemblages from the East Sea using 16S rRNA gene sequencing. Total bacterial reads were greater in surface waters (<100 m) than in deep seawaters (>500 m) and sediments. However, total OTUs, bacterial diversity, and evenness were greater in deep seawaters than in surface waters with those in the sediment comparable to the deep sea waters. Proteobacteria was the most dominant bacterial phylum comprising 67.3% of the total sequence reads followed by Bacteriodetes (15.8%). Planctomycetes, Verrucomicrobia, and Actinobacteria followed all together consisting of only 8.1% of the total sequence. Candidatus Pelagibacter ubique considered oligotrophic bacteria, and Planctomycetes copiotrophic bacteria showed an opposite distribution in the surface waters, suggesting a potentially direct competition for available resources by these bacteria with different traits. The bacterial community in the warm surface waters were well separated from the other deep cold seawater and sediment samples. The bacteria exclusively associated with deep sea waters was Actinobacteriacea, known to be prevalent in the deep photic zone. The bacterial group Chromatiales and Lutibacter were those exclusively associated with the sediment samples. The overall bacterial community showed similarities in the horizontal rather than vertical direction in the East Sea.

We examined the combined impacts of future increases of CO2 and temperature on the growth of four marine diatoms (Skeletonema costatum, Chaetoceros debilis, Chaetoceros didymus, Thalassiosira nordenskioeldii). The four strains were incubated under four different conditions: present (pCO2: 400ppm, temperature: 20℃), acidification (pCO2: 1000ppm, temperature: 20℃), global warming (pCO2: 400ppm, temperature: 25℃), and greenhouse (pCO2: 1000ppm, temperature: 25℃) conditions. Under the condition of higher temperatures, growth of S. costatum was suppressed, while C. debilis showed enhanced growth. Both C. didymus and T. nodenskioldii showed similar growth rates under current and elevated temperature. None of the four species appeared affected in their cell growth by elevated CO2 concentrations. Chetoceros spp. showed increase of pH per unit fluorescence under elevated CO2 concentrations, but no difference in pH from that under current conditions was observed for either S. costatum or T. nodenskioeldii, implying that Chetoceros spp. can take up more CO2 per cell than the other two diatoms. Our results of cell growth and pH change per unit fluorescence suggest that both C. debilis and C. didymus are better adapted to future oceanic conditions of rising water temperature and CO2 than are S. costatum and T. nodenskioeldii.

The in vitro toxicities of three crude oils of the Hebei Spirit were examined on laboratory grown plankton, with a focus on the effects of a dispersant. The specific growth rate of phytoplankton and the mortalities of two zooplankton were measured in response to exposure to various concentrations of water accommodated oil, dispersant or both. The effects of the oils varied among the plankton, but were generally low within the range of the oil concentrations used, with little difference in toxicity among the three oils. Such low toxicity appeared to be associated with weathering of the crude oils. Exposure to the dispersant, however, dramatically increased the mortality of zooplankton, with complete inhibition of phytoplankton growth. No synergistic toxic effect was observed with the crude oil and dispersant combination. A better decision making process could be crafted for future application of dispersant in the event of an oil spill in Korean waters to better protect the marine plankton community from the excessive use of dispersant.