Changes of the Environmental Factors in Upo Wetland

우포늪의 수환경요인 변화

In the Upo wetland, physico-chemical factors were observed during the period from March 2005 to December 2007 on a monthly basis. In the Upo wetland, water temperatures ranged $3.4{\sim}34.5^{\circ}C$. Conductivities were in the range of 133~806 ${\mu}S\;cm^{-1}$, which showed about 140 ${\mu}S\;cm^{-1}$ below in comparison with the precedent studies. The pH levels were between 6.7~9.1 with lower level in summertime. The dissolved oxygens were between 0.06~18.23 mg $L^{-1}$. COD ranged 4.9~20.8 mg $L^{-1}$, and showed a tendency to decrease every year. Nitrogen nutrients such as nitrate nitrogen ($NO_3-N$), ammonia nitrogen ($NH_3-N$) and total nitrogen (T-P) showed that they were generally decreased in comparison with those in the precedent studies. However the total nitrogen (T-N) is still considerably higher than the standard concentration level of eutrophication and algal blooming. Phosphate phosphorus ($PO_4-P$) and total phosphorus (T-P) were also shown as to be reduced considerably comparing with the values in the precedent studies. However, It was found out that total phosphorus (T-P) was dissolved over the criteria concentration of eutrophication. The average of TN/TP ratio was 18 in the Upo wetland, which proved that phosphorus was the limiting factor to the growth of phytoplankton in the Upo wetland. The chl-$\alpha$ was the highest in wintertime and the lowest in summertime, and especially in 2006 summer when the cyanobacterial bloom developed, it showed extremely high concentration.