본 연구는 울진 바다목장해역에 서식하는 생물을 대상으로 바다목장 관리를 위한 해양생태계의 영양구조와 에너지흐름을 파악하기 위한 목적으로 2013년 3월부터 10월까지 총 4회 현장조사를 실시하였다. 본 연구에서 개별 생물종들의 생태학적 특징에 따라 유사도에 근거한 비계량형다차원척도법을 사용하여 최고포식자, 바다새, 대형 및 소형유영어류, 볼락류, 가자미류, 저서어류, 반저서어류, 두족류, 저서섭이자, 표서동물, 이매패류, 전복, 자포동물, 동물플랑크톤, 부착성해조류, 미소해조류, 식물플랑크톤, 유기쇄설물 등 총 19가지로 생물그룹핑되었다. Ecopath 모델의 입력변수인 각 생물군들의 생체량, 생산량/생체량의 비, 섭식량/생체량의 비, 피식-포식관계 자료를 사용하여 울진 바다목장해역의 영양구조와 에너지 흐름을 추정하였다. 연구해역에서 각 생물군들의 영양단계는 1 ~ 5.687 범위로 파악되었다. 울진 바다목장 해역에 서식하는 모든 생물그룹들의 전체 소비량의 합은 229.7 t/㎞²/yr, 생물그룹들의 전체 이출량은 3,432.4 t/㎞²/yr이었다. 모든 생물그룹들의 총 에너지량은 6,796.2 t/㎞²/yr, 전체 생산량은 3,613.1 t/㎞²/yr로 추정되었다. 울진 바다목장 해역에서의 순 생태계 생산량은 3,490.3 t/㎞²/yr, 전체 생물군의 생체량은 167.3 t/㎞²/yr으로 추정되었다.

To understand size fractioned chlorophyll a and material cycles of coastal ecosystem in Uljin marine ranching area (JMRA) of East Sea, 4 times of survey were conducted from April to November 2008. Picoplankton, nanoplankton and netplankton in the surface of UMRA fluctuated with an annual mean of 0.26 μg L-1 between the lowest value of 0.03 μg L-1 and the highest value of 0.87 μg L-1, annual mean 1.32 μg L-1 between 0.11 μg L-1 and 5.60 μg L-1, annual mean 0.45 μg L-1 between no detected (nd) and 4.68 μg L-1, respectively. And the relative ratio of picoplankton, nanoplankton and netplanktons on the phytoplankton biomass was on annual average 12.9%, 65.0% and 22.1%, respectively. The 10 m layer was similar to the surface. The relative ratio of pico- and nano-plankton was higher throughout the year. That is, the material cycle of UMRA consists of a microbial food web rather than traditional food chain at a lower trophic levels. Primary production is deemed to have a higher possibility of being adjusted by top-down dynamics, such as micro-zooplankton grazing pressure rather than nutrients supply.

In this study, we investigated the macrobenthic community structure and spatiotemporal variations in Uljin Marine Ranching area, East Sea of Korea. Macrobenthos were collected using a modified van Veen grab sampler from April to September 2013. Total number of species sampled was 345 and mean density was 5,797 ind. m-2, both of which were dominated by the polychaetes. The most dominant species were Spiophanes bombyx (53.64%), followed by Magelona sp.1 (6.96%), Cadella semitorta (2.73%), Lumbrineris longifolia (2.16%) and Alvenius ojianus (2.08%). Cluster analysis and nMDS ordination analysis based on the Bray-Curtis similarity identified 2 station groups. The group 1 (station 2, 3, 5, 6, 8 and 9) was characterized by high abundance of the polychaetes Magelona sp.1, Lumbrineris longifolia, Scoloplos armiger, Praxillella affinis, Maldane cristata and the bivalve Alvenius ojianus, with fine sediment above 30m water depth. On the other hand, the group 2 (station 1, 4, 7 and 10) was numerically dominated by the polychaete Lumbrineriopsis sp. and the bivalve Cadella semitorta, with coarse sediment below 5m water depth. Collectively, the macrobenthic community structure showed a distinct spatial trend, which seemed to be related to the water depth and sediment composition.

Characteristics of age and growth of the black rockfish, Sebastes inermis sampled in the Jeonnam Marine Ranching Area (JMRA) around Geumo Islands south of Yeosu were investigated using 642 otoliths from March 2009 to February 2010. The opaque zone was formed in September once a year and hence it was used as an annulus. The parturient period was December to January, and therefore the duration from fertilization to the complete formation of the opaque zone was nineteen months. From the parameters calculated using the average length when the year ring was formed, growth of S. inermis were expressed by von Bertalanffy growth equation as Lt=23.267 (1-e-0.4406(t+1.1971)) for females and Lt=22.030 (1-e-0.5312(t+0.6834)) for males when is total length in age t. Through the growth equations, the maximum length was determined as 23.27cm for females and 22.03cm for males and the growth factor as 0.4406/yr and 0.5312/yr, respectively. Finally, the growth of female S. inermis is larger than the one of male S. inermis.