• Ocean and Polar Research
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.339-348
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• 2007

In this work, we compared the characteristics of three benthic biotic indices (BPI, AMBI, BIBI) which indicates the health condition of benthic communities in Masan Bay, Korea where anthropogenic impacts have been concentrated. Also we evaluated the usefulness of these benthic indices and some problems if they were applied to the Korean coastal waters. For this we used the macrozoobenthos data collected using van Veen grab ($0.1\;m^2$) at 21 sites in Masan Bay in February and August 2004. Based on the BPI values, two stations in the inner bay were found in a very hard polluted condition and three stations in the middle bay were also in a highly polluted condition. Only one station located in the bay mouth was in a normal condition. The inner bay stations showed very high AMBI values (${\geq}5.0$), indicating a highly polluted condition. The bay mouth station was assessed in a moderately polluted condition. The overall BIBI values in Masan Bay were in the range between 1.0 and 3.0. The inner bay stations showed low BIBI values (${\leq}2.0$) in the severely degraded condition. The bay mouth station with high BIBI value over 3.0 was assessed as a normal condition. All three benthos indices showed that macrozoobenthic communities in the inner bay were in a seriously polluted condition all year round, and macrobenthic faunas in the bay mouth seemed in a bad healthy condition (slightly polluted) based on AMBI during summer season. These three benthic biotic indices showed the similar assessment result, and thus we consider that each of them is a useful tool for the assessment of coastal benthic ecosystems under the organic enrichment in sediment.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Marine Environment & Safety
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.20-31
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• 2024

This study was conducted to investigate the changes in the structure of benthic communities resulting from aquaculture activities and to assess the benthic health status of surface sediment in Gangjin Bay, a region known for concentrated shellfish aquaculture on the southern coast of Korea. Survey stations were divided into longline culture, bottom culture, and non-cultivation areas. The spatiotemporal distribution of physiochemical factors such as the grain size, water temperature, salinity, and total organic carbon in Gangjin Bay showed no significant differences between sampling stations. However, the species number, density, and diversity were relatively lower at the sampling stations in the bottom culture areas than at the other stations throughout the entire survey period. Cluster analysis and principal coordinates analysis also clearly distinguished the benthic communities in the bottom culture areas from those in the other sampling areas. At the sampling stations in the longline culture and non-cultivation areas, Scolectoma longifolia and Sigambra tentaculata, which are indicator species of organically enriched areas, appeared as dominant species. However, excluding some stations influenced by physical factors such as the water depth and current speed, the occupancy rate was not high. The health assessment results, conducted using the fisheries environment assessment method, revealed good conditions with Grades 1 and 2 across the entire area. However, an examination of the spatiotemporal changes in benthic communities and the benthic health index indicated that the benthic environment in the bottom culture areas was affected by physical disturbances.

• Journal of Marine Life Science
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.21-28
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• 2022

Benthic animals are important indicators in benthic environmental quality assessment. This study investigated the environmental characteristics and the distribution pattern of benthic animals, and assessed the benthic ecosystem using AMBI (AZTI's marine biotic index) and WQI (water quality index) in the subtidal zone of Muan bay. Samplings were collected from 10 stations in the subtidal zone of Muan bay on summer. In the upper area of Muan bay, grain size was finer and organic content was higher than those of in the lower area. The pollution indicator organism such as Musculista senhousia, Theora fragilis and Lumbrineris longifolia were dominant at some stations. The benthic community was distinguished into three groups of upper, center and lower area of Muan bay, and which were coincided with the results by correlation analysis between organic matter content and benthic health assessment (WQI and AMBI). As a result of this study, the health condition of the subtidal zone in Muan bay were good. However, from the results that benthic animals were not evenly distributed, and also the opportunistic species appeared, the load of organic matter in Muan bay seems to be increasing.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.44 no.6
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• pp.581-590
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• 2018

Objectives: We aimed to investigate the species composition of fish and benthic macroinvertebrates in the Namgang Dam reservoir and assess the reservoir's ecological quality. Methods: Fish and benthic macroinvertebrates were seasonally sampled around the Namgang Dam reservoir from October 2013 to September 2014. Results: A total of 970 fish specimens were collected for this survey, including 4 orders, 14 families, and 25 species. Fourteen endemic species were observed, including Coreoleuciscus splendidus. The most observed among the endemic species caught was Zacco koreanus (14.4%). A total of 9,093 benthic macroinvertebrates, including 51 families and 92 species, were also found. The predominant species in the study area was Chironomidae sp. 1. Diplonychus esakii, whose habitat is distribution-specific as designated by the Korean National Institute of Environmental Research (NIER), were also observed. A total of 386 specimens were collected of the invasive alien species Lepomis macrochirus, and the percentage of Lepomis macrochirus and Micropterus salmoides made up 42.0% of all specimens collected in the area. Conclusion: The mean ecological score of the benthic macroinvertebrate community (ESB) ranged between 24 and 40, which indicates that the environmental condition of the target sites is somewhat poor. Based on the results of this research, building habitats for benthic macroinvertebrates should be considered, and extermination plans for invasive alien fish species should be prepared.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Marine Environment & Safety
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• v.28 no.5
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• pp.735-745
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• 2022

In this study, a health assessment was conducted using the Benthic Health Index (BHI) to assess fish cage farms, where a fishery environment assessment was also performed. A total of 43 farms were evaluated located in the East Sea, West Sea, and South Sea in Korea. The results of the BHI health evaluation included 8 grade 1 farms, 4 grade 2, 12 grade 3, and 19 grade 4. The grade 1 farms included sandy sediment farms and those with low intensity aquaculture, while the grade 2 farms included those located in areas with active seawater circulation. The fish cage farms belonging to grade 3 and 4 included the majority of farms with high-intensity aquaculture activities. There was no significant difference in total organic carbon between grade 3 and 4 farms, but the results of polychaete community analysis show that organic matter concentration was significantly higher in grade 4 farms.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.40 no.4
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• pp.510-524
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• 2022

For the assessment of the benthic community health of Jinhae Bay using the Benthic Pollution Index, macrobenthic fauna samples were seasonally collected from 23 different sites between February, 2011 and November, 2012. The macrobenthic community health status was classified as "Poor" or "Very Poor" except for the bay mouth part of Jinhae Bay at the northern part of Geoje Island. A large proportion of functional Group IV and even azoic conditions appeared due to summer hypoxia at sites in sheltered regions of Jinhae Bay. Some of the dominant species recruited after summer hypoxia were Paraprionospio patiens, Sigambra bassi, and Theora fragilis belong to typical opportunistic species. By comparing the BPI values of the macrobenthic communities from other special management areas of Korea, Jinhae Bay was considered to have the lowest condition that was heavily polluted among special management areas.

• Ocean and Polar Research
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• v.43 no.2
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• pp.73-88
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• 2021

The community structure and health status of macrobenthos assemblages were investigated in the subtidal area of the Nakdong River estuary, Southern Coast of Korea. Benthic fauna samples were collected seasonally at 8 stations in the subtidal area of the Nakdong River estuary from February 2013 to October 2015. During the survey, a total of 380 species and 4,603 ind./m² of macrobenthos in all sampling areas were collected. The major dominant species were the polychaetes Minuspio japonica, Pseudopolydora kempi, Heteromastus filifomis, Capitella capitata, the amphipod Grandidierella japonica and the bivalvia Arcuatula senhousia. Some species of polychaetes found in the study area consisted of opportunistic species that showed high densities when habitat condition was poor. On the other hand, macrobenthos assemblages in the study area were divided into brackish water and marine groups. Abundance was high in the brackish group, while the number of species and diversity index were high in the oceanic group. The three indices (AMBI, M-AMBI, and BHI) in the assessment of health levels based on the ecological characteristics and number of species in macrobenthic were commonly shown to be in good condition in the group of oceanic stations, while relatively poor conditions were reflected in the group of brackish stations. Compared to other indices, the M-AMBI index of the three indices for health assessment was considered to be a relatively more suitable one to assess benthic ecological conditions.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Marine Environment & Safety
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• v.28 no.5
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• pp.835-842
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• 2022

Several countries are establishing management systems for aquaculture environment, and fishery environment assessment is one of them. The fishery management law amended in 2013 stipulates that a fishery environment assessment should be performed when a fish cage farm's license is extended. The purpose of the fishery environment assessment is to promote sustainable fishery, increase the fishery production capacity, and increase the fishermen incoming by implementing evaluation and improvement measures through scientific methods. The analysis items of fishery environment assessment include the Benthic Health Index (BHI), which is a biological index based on the macrobenthic polychaetes community, and total organic carbon (TOC), and the two items are scored and used for evaluation as a single grade. This study explains the selection process of BHI and TOC, which are evaluation items for fishing ground, and ecological significance of the calculated evaluation grades.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.31 no.6
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• pp.508-519
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• 2017

There have been many studies on monitoring of biodiversity changes and preservation of Gwangneung Forest Biosphere Reserve (GFBR) in South Korea in recognition of the rare ecosystem that has been preserved for a long period. However, there are few studies on diversity and community characteristics of benthic macroinvertebrates as an indicator of stream health of GFBR. The purpose of this study was to assess the water quality of Bongseonsa Stream that penetrated through Gwangneung Forest and the nearby torrents by analyzing the benthic macroinvertebrates community during April to September 2016. The investigation collected a total of 114 species of benthic macroinvertebrates belonging to 56 families, 17 orders, 8 classes, and 5 phyla from the Bongseonsa Stream and Kwangneung Stream. Ephemeroptera and Trichoptera were the largest groups in species diversity with 30 species (32.3%) and 16 species (17.2%), respectively, and Tubificidae sp., Baetis fuscatus, Antocha KUa, and Cheumatopsyche brevilineata, which usually habit in contaminated streams, appeared frequently. Among the feeding function groups, the gatherers and hunters appeared relatively frequently, and the shredders and scrapers appeared frequently in the torrents. Among the habitat oriented groups, the clingers and burrower appeared more frequently and represented the microhabitats in the shallow areas. The result of the analysis of benthic macroinvertebrates community showed that the dominant index was $0.48{\pm}0.10$ in average while it was lowest with 0.33 in GS 8 of the Gwangneung Forest torrent and highest in BS 1 of Bongseonsa Stream. The diversity and richness indices were inversely proportional to the dominant index and were 2.53 and 4.22, respectively, in GS 8 where the dominant index was low. The result of the analysis of community stability showed that area I, which had high resistance and restoration, was high in Bongseonsa Stream while the area III, which had low resistance and restoration, was high in Gwangneung Forest, indicating that the water system in Gwangneung Forest had a wider distribution of specifies sensitive to agitation. The biological water quality assessment showed ESB of $50.88{\pm}17.69$, KSI of $1.11{\pm}0.57$, and BMI of $78.55{\pm}11.05$. GS 8 of Gwangneung Forest torrent was judged to be the highest priority protective water area with the best water environment and I class water quality with ESB of 63, KSI of 0.55, and BMI of 89.9. On the contrary, BS 1 of Bongseonsa Stream was judged to be the high priority improvement area that had the lowest water quality rating of III with ESB of 25, KSI of 2.13, and BMI of 62.7. Although the diversity of water beetle was higher in the water system of nearby Bongseonsa Stream than the water system inside the Gwangneung Forest, the annual community structure appeared to have distinct differences.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.183-201
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• 2018

The tolerance of Korean benthic macroinvertebrates to organic pollution has been analyzed since the early 1990s. However, considering the fact that there have been related studies carried out in some European countries since the early 20th century, the history of the research in Korea is very short and there is still much knowledge to supplement. We revised the saprobic valency, the saprobic value and the indicator weight value of 190 benthic macroinvertebrates taxa through the data of water quality and individual abundance collected from 7,086 sampling units in Korea from 2008 to 2014. The individual abundance of Uracanthella (Ephemeroptera) as a representative, one of the most common and abundant taxa in Korea, showed a typical lognormal distribution to 5-day biochemical oxygen demand (BOD5) concentration, and a normal distribution to the class interval of BOD5 concentration according to saprobic series. The value combining the mean individual abundance and the relative frequency of occurrence was a more efficient indicator value than that of each property alone. Benthic Macroinertebrates Index (BMI) was newly proposed as a modification of the saprobic index of Zelinka and Marvan (1961). BMI showed extremely significant correlation (determination coefficient $r^2$ > 0.6, n = 569 sites) with the concentration of BOD5, and the coefficient was a little higher than those of the previous indices. Until now, there has been very little research on the assessment of biological integrity of benthic macroinvertebrates community in Korea. While continuing researches into improve the reliability of BMI, it is necessary to develop multimetric indices for evaluating the integrity, including the composition of species and functional guilds, and the richness and diversity of the community.