Seasonal Community Structure and Vertical Distribution of Medicinal Seaweeds at Kkotji in Taean Peninsula, Korea

태안반도 꽃지 약용해조의 계절적 군집구조 및 수직분포

Marine algal flora and community structure of medicinal seaweeds were examined at Kkotji of Taean Peninsula, Korea from May 2005 to January 2006. Seventy-nine seaweeds including 42 medicinal algae and one marine plant were identified. Sargassum thunbergii was the representative alga occurred at all seasons and shore levels. The dominant medicinal seaweeds were perennial S. thunbergii, Neorhodomela aculeata, and Corallina pilulifera, and ephemeral Monostroma grevillei, Porphyra yezoensis, and Ulva pertusa. Their vertical distribution were N. aculeata – P. yezoensis, M. grevillei, and U. pertusa – C. pilulifera from high to low intertidal zone. The average biomass of medicinal seaweeds varied from 34.17 g m–2 in spring to 56.41 g m–2 in summer. At Kkotji shore, the opportunistic species (Enteromorpha, Ulva, and Cladophora) and turf-forming algae (Caulacanthus okamurae and Gelidium divaricatum) were easily observed. Such fast growing ESG II (ecological state group) was 87.50% and slow growing perennial algae, ESG I was only 12.15%. Also, diversity index (H’) and dominance index (DI) indicate that the seaweed community of Kkotji is unstable. Therefore, Kkotji rocky shore should be more protected from human activities such as turbulence and eutrophication in order to maintain species diversity and abundance of medicinal seaweeds.