It is essential that continual assessments of the impact of mine-derived water as a long-lasting burden on freshwater environments. Abundance-based evaluations of benthic macroinvertebrates have been conducted to evaluate anthropogenic disturbances and devise policies to reduce their impact. In this study, the status of a stream habitat was evaluated based on the body length and biomass weight of benthic macroinvertebrates of the family Baetidae. Following the renewal of the mining water treatment plant, the abundance of Baetidae assemblages recovered to a level comparable to that of a reference site. However, relatively low values were found for both body length and biomass weight in Baetidae species inhabiting the reddened streambed area, suggesting that the habitat has not yet been completely recovered despite the recovery of the abundance of the Baetidae assemblages. Therefore, continuous investigation and evaluation of this disturbed stream are necessary until their growth conditions of the habitat have functionally recovered

Monitoring and assessing aquatic ecosystems using the behavior of organisms is essential for sustainable ecosystem management. Oligochaetes, which inhabit various freshwater ecosystems, are frequently used to evaluate the environmental conditions of freshwater ecosystems. Tubifex tubifex (Müller, 1774) (Oligochaeta, Tubificidae) is tolerant to organic pollution and has been used to evaluate the toxicity of toxicants, including heavy metals. We studied the behavioral responses of T. tubifex to three different copper concentrations (0.1, 0.5, and 1.0 mg L-1). The specimens were exposed to copper in an observation cage containing 150 mL of dechlorinated water. Movement behavior (diameter, speed, acceleration, meander, and turning rate) was continuously observed for two hours before and after the copper treatments. After the treatments, the diameter shrank and showed rapid twisting movement under all the copper conditions. The turning rate had a positive correlation with meander and acceleration both before and after treatment at all three concentrations, whereas speed and meander had a negative correlation. Length and turning rate also showed a negative correlation. The correlation coefficient between speed and acceleration in the highest copper concentration changed from positive before treatment (r=0.64) to negative (r= - 0.52) after treatment. Our results present the possibility of using behavioral parameters to detect copper contamination in freshwater ecosystems.

In 2020, the diversity of benthic macroinvertebrate communities was investigated in the Sohan stream, an ecological and landscape conservation area, and the results were compared with the previous research conducted in 2011. In total, 42 species (two phyla, three classes, and seven orders) were found in the Sohan stream. Species richness and abundance sharply decreased at all sampling sites because of Typhoons Haishen and Maysak in 2020, which had a direct impact on the stream. In the functional feeding group, the ratio of collector-gatherers was the highest at all sampling sites. However, during the autumn season, the shredder ratio increased from 13.4% to 42.4% in the uppermost stream site. Compared with the diversity of benthic macroinvertebrates surveyed in 2011, a total of 53 species (two phyla, three classes, and eight orders) were found. The percentage of species richness and abundance of Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera, and Trichoptera was more than 50% both in 2011 and 2020. Only the richness of Ephemeroptera was significantly different between them (2011: 2.9 and 2020: 6.7). In this study, the abrupt changes of species richness and abundance in benthic macroinvertebrate were not observed before and after the designation of an ecological and landscape conservation area. However, it is necessary to monitor benthic macroinvertebrates in order to confirm that biodiversity is continuously maintained long after the designation of the ecological and landscape conservation area.

Recently, environmental DNA (eDNA)-based metabarcoding approaches have been proposed to evaluate the status of freshwater ecosystems owing to various advantages, including fast and easy sampling and minimal habitat disruption from sampling. Therefore, as a case study, we applied eDNA metabarcoding techniques to evaluate the effects of an abandoned mine land located near a headwater stream of Nakdonggang River, South Korea, by examining benthic macroinvertebrate diversity and compared the results with those obtained using the traditional Surber-net sampling method. The number of genera was higher in Surbernet sampling (29) than in the eDNA analysis (20). The genus richness tended to decrease from headwater to downstream in eDNA analysis, whereas richness tended to decrease at sites with acid-sulfated sediment areas using Surber-net sampling. Through cluster analysis and non-metric multidimensional scaling, the sampling sites were differentiated into two parts: acid-sulfated and other sites using Surber-net sampling, whereas they were grouped into the two lowest downstream and other sites using eDNA sampling. To evaluate freshwater ecosystems using eDNA analysis in practical applications, it is necessary to constantly upgrade the methodologies and compare the data with field survey methods.

In this study, we investigated the relationships between benthic macroinvertebrate assemblages and various environmental factors in Iancheon (NIA) and Bukcheon (NBC) streams, Korea. We collected benthic macroinvertebrates and 33 environmental factors in April 2017 at 9 sites (5 sites in NIA and 4 sites in NBC). We identified 93 species (5 phyla, 9 classes, 16 orders, and 53 families) and 69 species (5 phyla, 9 classes, 17 orders, and 47 families) in NIA and NBC streams, respectively. Considering benthic macroinvertebrate index (BMI), NIA (88.2) and NBC (80.2) streams were in “very good” status. Upstream areas showed the highest scores, 95.5 (NIA1) and 94.2 (NBC1), whereas BMI score was the lowest in downstream areas of both streams, especially in NBC4 (51.0 “bad” status). Cluster analysis and non-metric multidimensional scaling analysis represented the differences of benthic macroinvertebrate assemblages according to spatial and anthropogenic gradients. Our findings provide reference data and highlight the need for the continued monitoring to maintain the good status and manage macroinvertebrate diversity in these two streams, in Sangju-si, Korea.

Headwater streams provide various microhabitats, resulting in high diversity of macroinvertebrate community. In this study, we compared the differences of communities between two adjacent headwater streams (Jangjeon stream (GRJ; GRJ1-GRJ5) and Haanmi stream (GRH; GRH1-GRH3)) in Jungwang and Gariwang mountains, Gangwon-do and evaluated the effects of habitat condition to the macroinvertebrates community composition. In order to characterize the macroinvertebrate communities and extract influential environmental factors, we applied to Cluster analysis (CA), Indicator species analysis and Non-metric multidimensional scaling (NMDS). Total 33,613 individuals in 3 phyla, 5 classes, 13 orders, 51 families, and 114 taxa (genera or species) were collected. Gammarus sp. was dominant at the upper stream of GRJ, whereas Chironomidae spp. was abundant at GRH and the downstream of GRJ. The CA classified samples into six clusters (1-6) reflecting spatial and temporal variation of benthic macroinvertebrate communities. Benthic macroinvertebrate community composition was significantly different between two adjacent streams. Sweltsa sp. 1, Psilotreta kisoensis, Rhyacophila shikotsuensis and Serratella setigera were identified as representative indicator species for clusters 1, 2, 3 and 5, respectively. Similar to CA results, NMDS revealed the spatial and temporal differences of benthic macroinvertebrate communities, indicating the difference of community composition as well as microhabitat condition. Forest composition, proportion of boulders (>256 mm), and water velocity were main factors affecting the macroinvertebrate community composition.

Headwater streams are main sources of water, sediments, and organic materials that are transported downstream. Inthis study, we characterized the variability in benthic macroinvertebrate communities according to spatio-temporal variationresponding to the differences of environmental characteristics. We collected benthic macroinvertebrates at five samplingsites along longitudinal gradient on the Jangjeon stream in the Gariwang Mountain at three different seasons (spring, summerand autumn). We identified 93 taxa in 44 families. The dominant species was Gammarus sp. at the upper stream, whileit was Chronomidae spp. at the downstream. Changes of functional feeding guilds was clearly observed along the longitudinalgradient. Species turnover rates was higher in summer than in other seasons. The habitat condition including the landcover of their riparian zone and hydrological factors were major factors influencing on the community composition.

In this study, we investigated the response of freshwater oligochaete, Tubifex tubifex, to the water temperature changes and the differences of substrate composition in a laboratory condition. The changes of body shape were observed in a test cage according to the water temperature change ranging from 10℃ to 30℃ with 2℃ interval every 10 minutes. The substrate preference was observed with four different substrate composition from silt-clay to coarse sand. Our results displayed that T. tubifex preferred substrates with the smallest particle size (<0.063 mm). The water temperature influenced on the activity and body shape of T. tubifex, showing low activity with the coiled and constricted body shapes at lower temperature and high activity with relaxed linear body shapes at higher temperature.

Oligochaetes distribute widely in freshwater ecosystem, and some species are used as bioindicators for water quality assessment because they are tolerant to organic enrichment. They are acknowledged for potential for environmental health recovery of organic polluted environment. There are a lot of studies on ecology and toxicity assessment using oligochaetes in aquatic environment. In this study, we reviewed literature on ecotoxicology of aquatic oligochaetes. We searched literature from a database ‘google scholar’ by using keywords such as aquatic, oligochaete, and toxicity. The literature were summarized according to publication years, species, test methods, and chemicals. We obtained 133 articles published from 1953 to 2015 from the database. Among them, 58 papers (43.6% of total) have been published in 1990s. Three species (Lumnbriculus variegatus, Tubifex tubifex, and Limnodrilus hoffmeisteri) have been used most frequently in the study. Different species displayed different toxicological responses to different toxic chemicals. The results on the ecotoxicological study with aquatic oligochaetes revealed the possibility of the development for early warning system using aquatic oligochaetes to monitor aquatic ecosystem disturbance.

Headwater streams are the main sources of water sediment and organic material for downstream reaches and their small catchments coupled terrestrial-aquatic linkages. Because headwater streams provide valuable habitats for unique and diverse assemblages of aquatic fauna, they are also essential for sustaining the structure and function of the watersheds. Therefore, it has been recently supported that headwaters are important areas for maintaining biodiversity. In this study, we surveyed four different headwater streams in different watersheds to characterize differences of benthic macroinvertebrate assemblages among study streams. Benthic macroinvertebrates were collected seasonally with a Surber net at four different streams. In addition, hydrological and physicochemical environmental factors including temperature, discharge, width, conductivity, dissolved oxygen and pH were also measured at each sampling site. Community indices were used to differentiate spatiotemporal changes of macrointertebrate communities. Multivariate analysis were used to characterize the relationships between communities and environmental factors. Differences of their environmental condition such as meteorological factors and stream hydromorphological factors were reflected in the ordination with macroinvertebrate communities.

Benthic macroinvertebrates are sedentary and have an intermediate life span ranging from months to a few years. They play a key role as consumers in the food trophic structure by linking producers, top carnivores, and decomposers in aquatic communities. Therefore, they have been widely used for ecological assessment of aquatic ecosystem health in an integrative and continuous manner. In this study, we characterized benthic macroinvertebrate communities at reference sites, which are not disturbed. Benthic macroinvertebrates were collected seasonally with a Surber net at three different streams (Pocheon, Hongcheon, and Namhae). In addition, hydrological and physicochemical environmental factors including temperature, discharge, width, conductivity, dissolved oxygen and pH were also measured at each sampling site. Spatial and temporal differences of benthic macrointertebrate communities were analyzed based on community indices, functional guilds, etc. relating to their environmental factors. Multivariate analysis were used to characterize the relationships between communities and environmental factors. Benthic macroinvertebrates were significantly different among sampling sites reflecting differences of their environmental condition such as hydromorphological factors, meteorological factors, etc.

In this study, we evaluated the temporal changes of water quality in the 90 reservoirs in Korea and the relationships between water quality and their environmental factors in the reservoirs for effective management of reservoirs. The majority of study reservoirs were categorized as the eutrophic state based on Carlson’s trophic index. Among 90 reservoirs, more than 55.0% were nutrient-rich based on TSITP in each month, where more than 50.0% were nutrient-rich based on TSIChl-a from June to November. Seasonal Mann- Kendall test was used to analyze temporal variation of water quality in the selected 60 reservoirs using monthly data from 2004 to 2008. The results showed that 27 (45.0%) reservoirs showed the improvement of water quality based on TP and Chl-a concentrations, while 14 (23.3%) and 11 (18.3%) reservoirs displayed the degradation of water quality based on TP and Chl-a concentrations, respectively. Meanwhile, a self-organizing map classified the study reservoirs into five groups based on differences of hydrogeomorphology (altitude, catchment area, bank height, lake age, etc.). Physicochemical factors and land use/cover types showed clear differences among groups. Finally, hydrogeomorphology of reservoirs were related to water quality, indicating that the hydrogeomorphological characters strongly affect water quality of reservoirs.

Distribution of aquatic organisms is governed by various environmental factors Hydromorphological characteristics which are heavily affected by heavy rains in stream are one of the fundamental factors to influence the distribution of aquatic organisms. In this study we evaluated the difference response of two aquatic species Chironomus yoshimatisui and Limnodrilus hoffmesteri habiting to changes of discharge due to heavy rains. We compared the differences in their resilience and recover to disturbances. Our results showed that after a heavy rain during the sampling periods, the proportion of macrosubstrate highly increased and was not recovered into the previous states. Nonmetric Multi-dimensional scaling based on Chironomidae and Oligochaeta biota well represented annual and seasonal differences with heavy rain effects. Random forest model showed that the abundance of C. yoshimatisui were mainly influenced by microsubstrate, precipitation and Reynolds number, whereas stream roughness, mesosubstrate and macrosubstrate much more influenced the abundance of L. hoffmesteri.

This study was carried out to investigate the changes of guilds in benthic macroinvertebrate community in a undisturbed headwater stream. Samples were collected seasonally with a Surber sampler (30×30cm) at three different sampling sites (five replicates in each sampling sites) at Bongsunsa stream in Korean National Arboretum in Gyeonggi-do for 7 years from 2006 to 2012. Physicochemical environmental factors including discharge, water width, substrate composition, dissolved oxygen, pH and conductivity were also measured at each sampling sites. Changes of community indices and functional guilds such as functional feeding groups and trophic groups were evaluated in each sampling sites during study periods. In the samples, 84 species (9 order, 36 family) were identified, and Gammarus sobuegensis, Chironomidae spp, Ephemera strigata and Ecdyonurus kibunensis were dominant taxa. Considering the changes of functional feeding groups, shredder tended to decrease from upstream to downstream, whereas collector-gatherer and collector-filterer became higher. In addition, shredder was higher during autumn seasons. Self-Organizing Map was also applied to find out the temporal changes of benthic macroinvertebrate community composition, displaying the effects of seasonal variations in reference stream ecosystems.

This study was conducted to evaluate the seasonal changes of benthic macroinvertebrate communities in a reference stream as well as the effects of physicochemical environmental factors on benthic macroinvertebrate communities in a study stream. Benthic macroinvertebrates were sampled seasonally at five different sampling sites with five replicates at Changjeon stream in Mountain Gariwang from spring to winter in 2011. Physicochemical environmental factors (e.g., discharge, width, substrate, conductivity, dissolved oxygen, pH and water temperature) were measured at each sampling sites. Water quality factors such as conductivity, dissolved oxygen and pH were similar among the sampling sites, whereas hydrological factors including discharge and width tended to be higher from upstream to downstream. In substrate composition, the relative ratio of large substrate such as cobbles was higher in summer season. In macroinvertebrate samples, 79 species with 2 phylum, 5 order and 9 family were identified during the sampling periods. Gammarus sp. was higher in upstream (sites 1 and 2), whereas Chironomidae spp. tended to be higher in downstream. In functional feeding groups, shredder was higher in upstream, whereas predator and collector-gatherer were higher in downstream. The ratios of Gammarus sp. and Plecopetera were higher in summer. Nonmetric multidimensional scaling was applied to figure out the differences of macroinvertebrate communities during the survey periods, representing the seasonal changes as well as hydrological gradients.

Pomacea canaliculata (golden apple snail) as an invasive species in Asia has become a serious agricultural pest, especially in young rice, and makes significant environmental changes resulting from the depletion of macrophytes in natural wetlands. Even though various environmental factors influence to growth rate, reproduction, survival and behavior in apple snail, water temperature is one of the overwhelming effect on freshwater snails in general. In this sense, the objective of this study was to examine the changes of individual behavior in the apple snail according to the temperature changes. The snails were acclimated at 25℃, and 9 behavior categories were examined in each temperature regime (25℃ to 30℃, 2 5℃ to 20℃, and 25℃ to 15℃) for three days. Autocorrelation function (ACF) was applied to characterize the presence or absence of periodic behaviors in apple snails. The snails’ behavior in the treatment of elevated temperature were irregularly fluctuated or decayed in most behavior categories. On the other hands, in decreasing temperature from 25℃ to 15℃, the snails were nonstationary, especially in clinging behavior. The snails showed periodicity and some of them were decayed in clinging behavior in temperature changing from 25℃ to 20℃.

본 연구는 강원도 태백시에 위치한 황지천의 장기모니터링을 위한 수변식물상 조사를 수행한 결과 65과 158속 203종 2아종 18변종으로 총 223분류군으로 확인되었다. 과별로 보면 국화과(30분류군), 벼과(19분류군), 장미과(15분류군), 콩과(12분 류군) 순으로 높게 나타난다. 이 중 특산식물은 4분류군이다. 멸종위기 및 적색목록종은 출현하지 않았다. 식물구계학적 특정 식물은 Ⅳ등급 3분류군, Ⅲ등급 4분류군, Ⅱ등급 7분류군, Ⅰ등급 8분류군으로 총 22분류군이다. 귀화식물은 28분류군으로 귀화율 12.5%, 도시화지수 8.7%를 나타났다. 용도에 따른 분류는 식용 166종(74.4%), 약용 187종(83.8%), 향료용 9종(4.0%), 산업용 99종(44.3%), 관상용 106종(47.5%), 복원용 84종(37.6%), 사료/퇴비용 112종(50.2%), 용도미상 5종(2.2%) 등으로 구분 되었다. 이러한 조사 연구를 통해 하천정화시설의 설치 전과 후의 식물상 및 식생변화에 대한 척도를 확보하고 종합적인 관리를 위한 장기 모니터링 기초자료로 활용하고자 한다.