• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.34 no.5
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• pp.536-544
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• 2001

Three harmful algal bloom species with similar morphology, Cochlodinium polykrikoides, Gyodinium impudicum and Gymodinium catenatum have damaged to aquatic animals or human health by either making massive blooms or intoxication of shellfishes in a food chain. Eco-physiological and hydrodynamic studies on the harmful algae offer useful informations in the understanding their bloom mechanism by giving promising data for the prediction and modelling of harmful algal blooms event. Thus, we studied the abundance of these species in the coastal area of South Sea of Korea and their effects of temperature, salinity, irradiance and nutrient on the growth for the isolates. The timing for initial appearance of the three species around the coastal area of Namhaedo, Narodo and Wando was between Bate July and late August in 1999 when water temperature ranged from $22.8^{\circ}C\;to\;26.5^{\circ}C$ Vegetative cells of C. polykrikoides and G. impudicum were abundant until late September when water temperature had been dropped to less than $23^{\circ}C$. By contrast, vegetative cell of G. catenatum disappeared before early September, showing shorter period of abundance than the other two species in the South Sea. Both G. impudicum and G. catenatum revealed comparatively low density with a maximal cell density of 3,460 cells/L and 440 cells/L, respectively without making any bloom, while C. polykrikoides made massive blooms with a maximal cell density more than $40\times10^6$cells/L, The three species showed a better growth at the relatively higher water temperature ranging from 22 to $28^{\circ}C$ with their maximal growth rate at $25^{\circ}C$ in culture, which almost corresponded with the water temperature during the outbreak of C. polykrikoides in the coastal area of South Sea. Also, they all showed a relatively higher growth at the salinity from 30 to $35\%$. Specially, G. impudicum showed the euryhalic characteristics among the species, On the other hand, growth rate of G. catenatum decreased sharply with the increase of water temperature at the experimental ranges more than $35\%$. The higher of light intensities showed the better growth rates for the three species, Moreover, C. polykrikoides and G. impudirum continued their exponential growth even at 7,500 lux, the highest level of light intensity in the experiment, Therefore, It is assumed that C. polykrikoides has a physiological capability to adapt and utilize higher irradiance resulting in the higher growth rate without any photo inhibition response at the sea surface where there is usually strong irradiance during its blooming season. Although C. poiykikoides and G. impudicum continued their linear growth with the increase of nitrate ($NO_3^-$) and ammonium ($NH_4^-$) concentrations at less than the $40{\mu}M$, they didn't show any significant differences in growth rates with the increase of nitrate and ammonium concentrations at more than $40{\mu}M$, signifying that the nitrogen critical point for the growth of the two species stands between 13.5 and $40{\mu}M$. Also, even though both of the two species continued their linear growth with the increase of phosphate ($PO_4^{2-}$) concentrations at less than the $4.05{\mu}M$, there were no any significant differences in growth rates with the increase of phosphate concentrations at more than $4.05{\mu}M$, signifying that the phosphate critical point for the growth of the two species stands between 1.35 and $4.05{\mu}M$. On the other hand, C. polykrikoides has made blooms at the oligotrophic environment near Narodo and Namhaedo where the concentration of DIN and DIP are less than 1.2 and $0.3{\mu}M$, respectively. We attributed this phenomenon to its own ecological characteristics of diel vertical migration through which C. polykrikoides could uptake enough nutrients from the deep sea water near bottom during the night time irrespective of the lower nutrient pools in the surface water.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.49 no.1
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• pp.30-37
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• 2013

This study was carried out to assess the spatial and tidal effects on the water quality in the lower reaches of Taewha River, Ulsan, Korea and to understand the environmental factors affecting winter algal bloom in the river. From May, 2010 to January, 2011, water samples were collected at five locations (New Samho Bridge, Old Samho Bridge, Mungjung Stream, Taewha Bridge, and Mungchon Bridge) along the river at high and low tides of spring tide. We measured environmental parameters including salinity, dissolved oxygen (DO), biological oxygen demand (BOD), chemical oxygen demand (COD), chlorophyll a (Chl a) and various nutrient concentrations. Salinity increased towards the downstream direction. Average values of Chl a concentrations ranged $10-26mg/m^3$ at high tide and $11-53mg/m^3$ at low tide depending on sampling locations. It was noteworthy that there were strong increases in Chl a concentrations during the November 21 to December 22 sampling period especially at the Taewha Bridge. At the location, Chl a concentrations were measured as $138-296mg/m^3$ for the period; Rhodomonas lacustris of class Cryptophyceae was the dominant algal species. Chl a concentrations at the Taewha Bridge were positively correlated with such parameters as salinity, BOD, DO, COD, pH, and T-N, and negatively correlated with temperature and $NO_3{^-}$-N. On the other hand, at the Mungchon Bridge the highest concentration of Chl a was $55mg/m^3$ on August 25, and Chl a concentrations were positively correlated with $NH_3$-N, T-N, $PO_4{^{3-}}$-P, T-P, and heterotrophic plate counts. The results suggested that water quality in the lower Taewha River fluctuated a lot with the sampling locations and the patterns of algal blooms were different between Taewha Bridge and Mungchon Bridge sampling locations.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.39 no.1 s.115
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• pp.119-130
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• 2006

As unialgal cultures to examine the growth kinetics of an algal species, Microcystis aeruginosa was grown in chemostats with nitrogen and phosphorus limitation. The nutrient concentrations of $NH_4\;^+\;and\;PO_4\;^{3-}$ to limit the growth of M, aeruginosa were approximately 200 ${\mu}M$ and 7 ${\mu}M$, respectively. Cell size of the algae decreased towards the $NH_4$-nitrogen limitation under a constant dilution rate, while it increased in the $PO_4$-limitaion. The cell quota of nitrogen under nitrogen-limited conditions was 6.1 ${\mu}mol$ mg $C^{-1}$ and, under nitrogen sufficient conditions, ranged from 9.5 ${\mu}mol$ mg $C^{-1}$ to 12.4 ${\mu}mol$ mg $C^{-1}$. In addition to the cell quota, the half-saturation constants for nitrogen uptake ($K_s$) and the growth rate (${\mu}_m$) was 36 ${\sim}$ 61 ${\mu}M$ and 0.28 ${\sim}$ 0.35 ${\mu}mol$ cell ${\cdot}$ $hr^{-1}$ to show high values in comparison with other algal species. As the limiting concentration, cell quota and uptake rate of M. aeruginosa were higher than those of any other species, the its nitrogen requirement would be great. In the other side, as the half saturation constant ($K_s$) for nitrogen uptake was higher, and the ratios ofmaximum uptake rate ($V_m$) and $K_s$ was relatively low, the species would have the low competitive ability in the low nitrogen concentration in the ambient water. However, the low concentration of nitrogen in the Nakdong River during the Microcystis outbreak would be the inevitable results of the algal blooms. In the lower Parts of the Nakdong River, the nutrient status was coupled with the growth kinetics of the blooming algae to have clear seasonal variations through a year.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.41 no.3
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• pp.402-411
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• 2008

Grazing effects of two freshwater shellfish, Unio douglasiae (UNIO) and Cipangoplaudina chinese malleata (CCM), on the hibernal diatom communities in eutrophic water was examined in a laboratory. Two animals having different feeding types used in the study were collected from Keum River (Boryeong, Korea), acclimatized in the artificial management system in a laboratory over at least one month, and starved in a laboratory for 2 days before the experiment. Experimental waters, which dominated by Synedra ulna-Scenedesmus sp. (ca. 80%), was collected from eutrophic lake, Lake Ilgam (Seoul) in Feb., 19, 2008 at AM 10:00, and used in the study after the filtration with 1 mm Nylon mesh. Feeding experiments were largely divided into three kinds of animal treatments; five densities of UNIO (U0, U1, U2, U3, U4) and CCM (C0, C1, C2, C3, C4), and four combined densities of two shellfish (M0, M1, M2, M3). U0 and C0 were control (no addition of UNIO or CCM), U1 or C1 (each animal density at 0.5 ind. $L^{-1}$), U2 or C2 (1.0 ind. $L^{-1}$), U3 or C3 (1.5 ind. $L^{-1}$), and U4 or C4 (2.0 ind. $L^{-1}$), respectively. Four combined treatments were consisted of M0 (no animals), M1 (U1+C3), M2 (U2+C2), and M3 (U4+C1), respectively. Under the presence of animal, the concentration of Chl-a and algal abundance were clearly decreased with the increase of UNIO density and the treated time, while in combined group a strong decrease of algal density showed with the increase of UNIO density. Total phytoplankton density shifted as the similar patterns to that of Chl-a concentration (r=0.6527, p<0.0001), however, there showed the differences following a species. There were strong decreases of dominant species Synedra ulna, Scenedesmus sp., Ankistrodesmus falcatus in UNIO treatment group, Diatoma vulgare in combined group, while Cryptomonas ovata in high density of CCM increased about 20% in algal density. Grazing rates (GRs) based on the concentration of Chl-a was depend on the kind of shellfish and treatment time; a strong feeding of CCM showed in the initial stage, and four hours later, UNIO and combined group with high UNIO density showed the high GRs. Interestingly, faeces production of shellfish was highest in combined group with high density of CCM, while their size over 60 ${\mu}m$ was much higher in production magnitude than that less 60 ${\mu}m$. Collectively, these results suggest that two domestic shellfish and its combined treatment have a strong potential as an effective biological controller of diatom bloom in cold eutrophic waters.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.39 no.3 s.117
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• pp.402-412
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• 2006

The Shihwa constructed wetland was established to treat the severely polluted water from Banwoul, Donghwa and Samhwa streams. This study was focused on investigating the dynamics of epiphytic algal communities on reed (Phragmites communis) planting area at 5 stations from October 2001 to June 2002. The concentration of total nitrogen and phosphorus of inlet stations from the streams were decreased after flowing through the wetland. However, the TN : TP ratios at all stations were slightly over 16 indicating that the total phosphorus may play some role as a limitation factor. Epiphytic algae on the reed were total 329 taxa which were composed of 295 species, 13 varieties, 3 forma and 18 unidentified species. The species numbers were recorded in the order of Chlorophyceae-Bacillariophyceae-Cyanophyceae-Euglenophyceae-Chrysophyceae. The relative percentage showed a seasonal variation from Cyanophyceae to Bacillariophyceae and to Chlorophyceae. The biomass of epiphytic algae measured by chlorophyll-a concentration ranged from 0.6 to $36.4\;{\mu}g\;cm^{-2}$. Dominant species were 16 taxa which were Lyngbya angusta of Cyanophyceae in the early investigation, and were changed to Stigeoclonium lubricum of Chlorophyceae, and Nitzschia palea of Bacillariophyceae etc. in the late. Species number, standing crops and chlorophyll-a concentrations of epiphytic algae showed higher values at the inlet stations than the stations after flowing through the wetland.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.446-452
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• 2008

This study was conducted to research the biosorption characteristics using algae, Spirulina platensis, for the removal of Pb and Cu ions in wastewater. Both of free algal cell and immobilized algae by Ca-alginate were used as bioadsorbent, and experiment was proceed in batch reactor for Pb and Cu ions removal, respectively. In the biosorption of Pb and Cu ions by free Spirulina platensis cell, the adsorption equilibrium reached within 20 minute. The higher adsorbed amount of Pb and Cu was shown as increasing of initial concentration of Pb and Cu, and pH of solution, respectively, and the optimum pH was 4.5$\sim$5.0. Under the conditions of initial concentration of Pb or Cu are 200 mg/L, the maximum amounts of Pb and Cu adsorbed to the unit weight of Spirulina platensis were 86.43 and 57.02 mg/g, respectively, and these values were 1.94 and 1.48 times higher than those of activated carbon under same conditions, respectively. The biosorption kinetics of Pb and Cu ions by free Spirulina platensis cell fitted very well to the Freundlich and Langmuir isotherm. The maximum amount of Pb or Cu adsorbed to the unit mass of adsorbent by the Langmuir isotherm($q_{max}$) represented as 95.24 and 62.50 mg/g, respectively. The FT-IR results of free Spirulina platensis biomass showed that biomass has different functional groups and these functional groups are able to react with metal ions in aqueous solution. In the biosorption of Pb and Cu ions by Ca-alginate immobilized algae Spirulina platensis, the adsorption equilibrium reached within 40 min. and observed a little diffusion limitation differed from the free algal cell adsorption.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.37 no.1
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• pp.48-59
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• 2019

This study analyzed the water quality characteristics and developed empirical models prior to and after the construction of Baekje Weir, in the Geum River watershed between 2004-2017. The comparative evaluation of the surface water chemistry before and after the four major river projects on the weirs indicated that total phosphorus (TP), based on annual data, rapidly decrease after the construction of the weir while the total nitrogen(TN) decreased. Conversely, chlorophyll-a (CHL) concentration, which is a good indicator of primary productivity, increased after the construction of the weir together with an increase in specific conductivity. Simply put, the construction of the weir led to the decrease in concentrations of N and P due to the increased water residence time (WRT), whereas the CHL :TP ratio greatly increased in magnitude. The regression analysis of the empirical model indicated that CHL had no significant relation (r=0.068, p=0.6102, n=58) with TP before the weir construction, but had a relation with TP after the weir construction (r=0.286, p<0.05, n=56). Therefore, such conditions resulted in an increase in primary productivity on a given unit of phosphorus, resulting in frequent algal blooms. In contrast, seasonal suspended solids (SS) and TP increased during the monsoon period, compared to the pre-monsoon, thereby showing positive correlations (r>0.40, p<0.01, n=163) with precipitation. If the government consistently discharges water from the weir, the phosphorus concentration will be increased due to its reversion to a lotic waterbody from a lentic waterbody hereby reducing algal blooms in the future.

• Journal of Korea Water Resources Association
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• v.56 no.3
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• pp.173-184
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• 2023

Due to climate change, algal blooms frequently occur not only in Korea but also around the world, and the risk of toxicity of harmful algae has recently been issued. It is known that the representative harmful algae, cyanobacteria, are caused by the intersection of three factors: water temperature, residence time, and nutrients. In this study, water quality simulation was carried out using EFDC, a three-dimensional numerical model, to analyze the variations in water quality due to the decrease of residence time according to the opening of Yeongju Dam in Naeseong-Cheon. In fact, the concentration of chlorophyll-a in Yeongju Dam in the summer of 2021 was significant, exceeding the 'algae warning' for a long time based on the previous algae warning system. On the other hand, as a result of performing the simulation under the condition that the dam gate was completely opened, the concentration of chlorophyll-a was mostly reduced below the 'algae warning' level during the simulation period. It was confirmed that reducing the residence time by restoring the flow of Naeseong-Cheon is a way to immediately reduce algae in Yeongju Dam.

• Journal of the Institute of Convergence Signal Processing
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.27-33
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• 2023

Recently, water shortages have occurred due to climate change, and the need for water management of agricultural water has increased due to the occurrence of algal blooms in reservoirs. Existing algae prevention is operated by putting many people on site and misses the optimal spraying time due to movement through boats. In order to solve this problem, it is necessary to block contamination in advance and move within time to uniformly spray complex microorganisms uniformly. Control drones are used for pesticide spraying and can be applied to algae prevention work by utilizing control drones. In this paper, basic research for the establishment of a marine control system was conducted for application to the reservoir environment, and as one of the results, the characteristics of a drone nozzle, a core technology that can be used for control drones, were calculated. In particular, it was found that the existing agricultural control drones had a disadvantage that the concentration was non-uniform within the suggested spraying interval, and to compensate for this, nozzle positioning and nozzle spraying uniformity were calculated. Based on the experimental results, we develop a core algorithm for establishing an algal bloom monitoring system in the reservoir environment and propose a precision control technology that can be used for marine control work in the future.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.42 no.1
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• pp.127-134
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• 2024

The feathery branched green alga Bryopsis plumosa (Hudson) C. Agardh bloomed at Songji Beach, Haenam, Korea, in November 2022. A terrible stench was present on the beach, and the bottom was covered in a thick green mat of green algae. The alga was identified as B. plumosa, which is an opportunistic species currently distributed worldwide. Dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN) and dissolved inorganic phosphorus (DIP) were analyzed in the bloomed area and compared with those of other vicinities. The DIN and DIP concentrations were 1.067 and 0.461 mg L^-1, respectively, which were 6 to 19 times higher than the average concentrations on southwest coasts, including Haenam. The B. plumosa bloom at Songji Beach in November 2022 appears to have depended on DIN and DIP concentrations in seawater. In this study, we report on the mass occurrence of B. plumosa, which appeared for the first time in Korea. This occurrence was found to be closely related to the concentration of nutrients in seawater. Therefore, it is necessary to manage the concentration of nutrients on land flowing into coastal waters to control green algal blooms such as Bryopsis.