• Ocean and Polar Research
• /
• v.27 no.3
• /
• pp.341-349
• /
• 2005

Temporal variation of the natural planktonic community in the Southern Sea of Korea was investigated by using low floating enclosed bags (3.2m deep and 2,500 liter) in order to understand the effect of enriched nitrate on the planktonic community in the spring (March-April) of 2002. Prior to beginning the incubation, the bags were placed in two different concentrations of nitrate, which consisted of control (ambient water) and experimental mesocosms (final concentration of $12{\mu}M$). The nitrate concentration in the experimental mesocosms remained significantly higher than those in control mesocosms throughout the study period (ANOYA, p<0.001). Following the addition of nitrate, abundance and chi-a concentration of phytoplankton peaked on Day 1, when diatoms established the peak in the experimental mesocosms. Diatoms consisted mainly of Thalasxiosira decipiens, Pseudo-nitzschia pungem, Leptocylindrus danicu, Thalassionema nitzschioides, Chaetoceros pseudocrinitus and Actinoptychus senariu. However, the peak did not lead to the difference in abundance and composition of phytoplankton between control and experimental mesocosms during the study period. The dinoflagellates began to increase soon after the diatoms decreased in all mesocosms. Copepods, as a dominant group in the rnosozooplankton community, showed no immediate peak in relation to the nitrate addition, but only their own developmental process from the eggs to adult stage during the study period. The bottom-up control from enriched nitrate via phytoplankton to adult copepods was not distinguished in terms of the abundance of the planktonic community. This might stem from the relatively low nitrate availability of phytoplankton at no N-limited seawater and the weak coupling between rapidly sunken diatoms and copepods through the water column.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Marine Environment & Energy
• /
• v.9 no.2
• /
• pp.109-119
• /
• 2006

This study investigated the effect of artificially enhanced mesozooplankton on the phytoplankton dynamics during fall blooming period using a mesocosm in Jangmok bay located in the Southern Sea of Korea in 2001. The four bags with 2,500 liter seawater containment were directly filled with the ambient water. And then, abundances of mesozooplankton in two experimental bags were treated 6 times higher than those in control bags by towing with net($300{\mu}m$) through the ambient water. Phytoplankton community between control and experimental bags were not significantly different in terms of chlorophyll-a(chl-a) concentration and standing crop (one-way ANOVA, p>0.05) during the study period. Initial high standing crop and chl-a concentration of phytoplankton drastically decreased and remained low until the end of the experiment in all bags. Diatoms, accounting for most of the phytoplankton community, consisted of Skeletonema costatum, Pseudo-nitzschia seriata, Chaetoceros curvisetus, Ch. debilis, Cerataulina pelagica, Thalassiosira pacifica, Cylindrotheca closterium, and Leptocylindrus danicus. Noctiluca scintillans dominated the temporal variation of mesozooplankton abundances, which peaked on Day 10 in the control and experimental bags, while the next dominant copepods showed their peak on Day 7. Shortly after mesozooplankton addition, copepod abundance in the experimental bags was obviously higher than that in the control bags on Day 1, however, it became similar to that in the control bags during the remnant period. It was supported by the higher abundance and length of both ctenophores and hydromedusae in experimental bags relative to the control bags. However, the cascading trophic effect, commonly leading to re-increase of phytoplankton abundance, was not found in the experimental bags, indicating that copepods were not able to control the phytoplankton in the bags based on the low grazing rate of Acartia erythraea. Besides that, rapidly sunken diatoms in the absence of natural turbulence as well as N-limited condition likely contributed the no occurrence of re-increased phytoplankton in the experimental bags.

• Journal of Korean Society of Coastal and Ocean Engineers
• /
• v.23 no.5
• /
• pp.358-368
• /
• 2011

Responses of plankton populations to nutrient enrichment in mesocosm experiments in Shihwa lake were simulated using FVCOM. Dissoloved oxygen module was added to the FVCOM to simulate impacts of its decreased levels. The ecological model included the major components of the pelagic ecosystem including nutrients, phytoplankton (pico-, nano-, micro-), zooplankton (two groups of protozoa, mesozooplankton), particulate organic matter, dissolved organic matter and bacteria, and was calibrated using trophodynamic data collected from Gyeonggi Bay and Shihwa Lake. The model was able to reproduce major responses of plankton populations to nutrient enrichment, including phytoplankton of different size groups, change of dominance of protozoa from < 20 ${\mu}m$ oligotrichs to scuticociliates, and reponses to bacteria and low levels of dissolved oxygen in water column of the mesocosms.