• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
• /
• v.34 no.4
• /
• pp.304-313
• /
• 2016

One of the issues currently facing nuclear power plants is how to store spent nuclear waste materials which are contaminated with radionuclides such as $^{134}Cs$, $^{135}Cs$, and $^{137}Cs$. Bioremediation processes may offer a potent method of cleaning up radioactive cesium. However, there have only been limited reports on $Cs^+$ tolerant bacteria. In this study, we report the isolation and identification of $Cs^+$ tolerant bacteria in environmental soil and sediment. The resistant $Cs^+$ isolates were screened from enrichment cultures in R2A medium supplemented with 100 mM CsCl for 72 h, followed by microbial community analysis based on sequencing analysis from 16S rRNA gene clone libraries(NCBI's BlastN). The dominant Bacillus anthracis Roh-1 and B. cereus Roh-2 were successfully isolated from the cesium enrichment culture. Importantly, B. cereus Roh-2 is resistant to 30% more $Cs^+$ than is B. anthracis Roh-1 when treated with 50 mM CsCl. Growth experiments clearly demonstrated that the isolate had a higher tolerance to $Cs^+$. In addition, we investigated the adsorption of $0.2mg\;L^{-1}$ $Cs^+$ using B. anthracis Roh-1. The maximum $Cs^+$ biosorption capacity of B. anthracis Roh-1 was $2.01mg\;g^{-1}$ at pH 10. Thus, we show that $Cs^+$ tolerant bacterial isolates could be used for bioremediation of contaminated environments.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
• /
• v.30 no.10
• /
• pp.999-1005
• /
• 2008

The main reaction for soil washing with using sodium hydroxide(NaOH) and hydrogen peroxide(H$_2$O$_2$) was desorption and flotation of petrochemical contaminant by means of oxygen bubble. We found the rate of decomposition by rate constant according to various temperature. For the purpose of optimizing the operation factor, we examined the effect of concentration of NaOH and H$_2$O$_2$, washing time, and soil:water ratio. The rate of decomposition for H$_2$O$_2$ in liquid phase is the first order reaction by its concentration. The rate constant of k$_1$ was 0.9439 $\times$ exp(-1376.82/RT) when concentration of NaOH was lower than 0.1 M, and the rate constant of k$_2$ was 17.3588 $\times$ exp(-2320.06/RT) when it was higher than NaOH of 0.1 M. It found that NaOH was facilitated at the beyond of specific concentration. We confirmed the optimum concentration of NaOH/H$_2$O$_2$ by means of rate constants during soil washing. Also, the optimum conditions during soil washing were washing time of 15 min, soil : water ratio of 1 : 3, and NaOH/H$_2$O$_2$ concentration of 0.25 M/0.1 M.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
• /
• v.31 no.2
• /
• pp.137-145
• /
• 2012

BACKGROUND: Along with the surplus rice production, introduction of upland crop cultivations into newly reclaimed tidal areas has gained public attentions in terms of farming diversification and farmers income increase. However, its impacts on the surroundings have not been well studied yet, especially associated with nutrient balance from reclaimed upland cultivation. The objective of this study was to investigate water and nutrient balance during winter barley cultivation as affected different fertilization methods. METHODS AND RESULTS: TN and TP balance for three different plots treated by livestock compost, chemical fertilizer, and no application were monitored during winter green barley cultivation (2010-2011) at the NICS Kyehwa experimental field in Jeonbuk, Korea. Nutrient content in soil and pore water near soil surface appeared to increase, while sub-soil layer remained similar with no fertilization plot. Livestock compost application appeared to increase organic matter content in surface soil compared to chemical fertilization. Crop yield was the greatest with livestock compost application (10.6 t/ha) followed by chemical fertilization (6.9 t/ha) and no application (1.8 t/ha). The nitrogen uptake rate was also greater with livestock compost (52.4%) than chemical fertilizer (48.1%). Phosphorus uptake rate was much smaller (about 7.0%) compared to nitrogen. Nutrient loss by surface and subsurface runoff seemed to be minimal primarily due to small rainfall amount during the winter season. Most of the remaining nutrients, particularly phosphate seemed to be stored in soil layer. Phosphate accumulation appeared to be more phenomenal in the plot applied by livestock compost with higher phosphorus content. CONCLUSION: This study demonstrated that livestock compost application to tidal upland may increase barley crop production and also improve soil fertility by supplying organic content. However, excessive phosphorus supply with livestock compost seems likely to cause a phosphate accumulation problem, unless the nitrogen-based fertilization practice is adjusted.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
• /
• v.31 no.4
• /
• pp.318-327
• /
• 2012

BACKGROUND: For Non-Point Source(NPS) loads reduction, pollutant loads need to be quantified for major farming methods. The objective of this study was to evaluate impacts of farming methods on NPS pollutant loads from a paddy rice field during the growing season. METHODS AND RESULTS: The height of drainage outlet, amount of fertilizer, irrigation water quality were considered as farming factors for scenarios development. The control was derived from conventional farming methods and four different scenarios were developed based combination of farming factors. A field scale model, CREAMS-PADDY(Chemicals, Runoff, and Erosion from Agricultural Management Systems for PADDY), was used to calculate pollutant nutrient loads. The data collected from an experimental plot located downstream of the Idong reservoir were used for model calibration and validation. The simulation results agreed well with observed values during the calibration and validation periods. The calibrated model was used to evaluate farming scenarios in terms of NPS loads. Pollutant loads for T-N, T-P were reduced by 5~62%, 8~37% with increasing the height of drainage outlet from 100 mm of 100 mm, respectively. When amount of fertilizer was changed from standard to conventional, T-N, T-P pollutant loads were reduced by 0~22%, 0~24%. Irrigation water quality below water criteria IV of reservoir increased T-N of 9~65%, T-P of 9~47% in comparison with conventional. CONCLUSION(S): The results indicated that applying increased the height of drainage after midsummer drainage, standard fertilization level during non-rainy seasons, irrigation water quality below water criteria IV of reservoir were effective farming methods to reduce NPS pollutant loads from paddy in Korea.

• Journal of Wetlands Research
• /
• v.5 no.2
• /
• pp.15-32
• /
• 2003

The ecological study on seven wetlands of Haman area in Kyungsangnamdo, Korea, was carried out. In especial, the biological data of the sites were unknown. In this study, water quality including water temperature, pH, DO, COD, T-N, T-P, SS were tested. On the survey of plants and animals, vegetation and flora were investigated and the fauna of insects, fish, and amphibians were studied on each wetland. Water of wetland Oksu was heavily polluted and wetlands Pyungy and Dodulyangy were relatively clean. The water pollution was most severe in winter at all of the wetlands. Plant communities were classified into 9 natural communities and 1 artificial community. On the vegetation, wetland Sugok showed the highest plant taxa, and 41 families, 78 species and 16 varieties were classified. There was remarkable difference in number of plant taxa. The difference may be caused by the variances of wetland sizes, the influence from terrestrial environment. Wetland Sugok showed most rich insect fauna, and 10 orders, 76 families 224 species and 1082 individuals were identified. The species diversity was 2.05 and the species richness was 73.49. Wetland Ddun showed poor insect fauna, and 6 orders, 23 families, 29 species and 81 individuals were identified. Total collected fish were 4 orders, 7 families and 11 species. The fish fauna was most rich in wetlands Oksu and Pyungy, but poor in wetland Unan. Total collected amphibians were 2 orders, 3 families and 4 species.

• Journal of Korea Water Resources Association
• /
• v.53 no.6
• /
• pp.427-436
• /
• 2020

It is uncertain how global climate change will influence future drought characteristics over the Korean peninsula. This study aims to project the future droughts using climate change and land use change scenarios over the Korean peninsula with the land surface modeling system, i.e., Weather Research and Forecasting Model Hydrological modeling system (WRF-Hydro). The Representative Concentration Pathways (RCPs) 2.6 and 8.5 are used as future climate scenarios and the Shared Socio-economic Pathways (SSPs), specifically SSP2, is adopted for the land use scenario. The using Threshold Level Method (TLM), we identify future hydrological and ecological drought events with runoff and Net Primary Productivity (NPP), respectively, and assess drought characteristics of durations and intensities in different scenarios. Results show that the duration of drought is longer over RCP2.6-SSP2 for near future (2031-2050) and RCP8.5-SSP2 (2080-2099) for the far future for hydrological drought. On the other hand, RCP2.6-SSP2 for the far future and RCP8.5-SSP2 for the near future show longer duration for ecological drought. In addition, the drought intensities in both hydrological and ecological drought show different characteristics with the drought duration. The intensity of the hydrological droughts was greatly affected by threshold level methods and RCP2.6-SSP2 for far future shows the severest intensity. However, for ecological drought, the difference of the intensity among the threshold level is not significant and RCP2.6-SSP2 for near future and RCP2.6-SSP2 for near future show the severest intensity. This study suggests a possible future drought characteristics is in the Korea peninsula using combined climate and land use changes, which will help the community to understand and manage the future drought risks.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
• /
• v.16 no.4 s.50
• /
• pp.411-427
• /
• 2006

This study aimed to recognize characteristics of groundwater flow in fractured bedrocks based on zonal pump-ing tests, slug tests, water quality logs and borehole TV camera logs conducted on two boreholes (NJ-11 and SJ-8) in the city of Naju. Especially, the zonal pumping tests using sin91e Packer were executed to reveal groundwater flow characteristics in the fractured bedrocks with depth. On borehole NJ-11, the zonal pumping tests resulted in a flow dimension of 1.6 with a packer depth of 56.9 meters. It also resulted in lower flow dimensions as moving to shallower packer depths, reaching a flow dimension of 1 at a 24 meter packer depth. This fact indicates that uniform permissive fractures take place in deeper zones at the borehole. On borehole SJ-8, a flow dimension of 1.7 was determined at the deepest packer level (50 m). Next, a dimension of 1.8 was obtained at 32 meters of packer depth, and lastly a dimension of 1.4 at 19 meters of packer depth. The variation of flow dimension with different packer depths is interpreted by the variability of permissive fractures with depth. Zonal pumping tests led to the utilization of the Moench (1984) dual-porosity model because hydraulic characteristics in the test holes were most suitable to the fractured bedrocks. Water quality logs displayed a tendency to increase geothermal temperature, to increase pH and to decrease dissolved oxygen. In addition, there was an increasing tendency towards electrical conductance and a decreasing tendency towards dissolved oxygen at most fracture zones.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
• /
• v.18 no.2
• /
• pp.167-176
• /
• 2008

The variation characteristics of groundwater level with distance from shoreline at Jeju Island was investigated using groundwater level data monitored from 257 wells for dry season (December 1998) and wet season (July 1997), respectively. Groundwater levels of the dry season were $7.46{\sim}203.8\;m$ with an average of 60.49 m, while those of the wet season were $4.01{\sim}204.10\;m$ with an average of 57.66 m. Groundwater level of the dry season was higher than that of the wet season, which was caused by heavy rains between June and October, 1998 at the Jeju Island. Correlation coefficients between altitude and groundwater level for dry and wet seasons were above 0.86, and those between dry season and wet season groundwater levels were very high above 0.95. 257 groundwater level data were classified at an interval of 500 m. Average values for altitude, groundwater levels and distance from shoreline were calculated for 17 intervals. Altitude and groundwater level fur dry and wet seasons at $0{\sim}4\;km$ intervals were increased with distance from shoreline, but those at $4{\sim}9\;km$ intervals were irregularity. Linear functions of the groundwater level for dry and wet seasons as distance from shoreline were estimated, and the coefficient of determinant at $0{\sim}4\;km$ interval data was higher than it at $0{\sim}9\;km$ interval data. Increasing rate of groundwater level at $0{\sim}4\;km$ intervals was more 2 times than it at $0{\sim}9\;km$ intervals. This results are caused by linear increase of groundwater level to 4 km from shoreline and by irregularity of groundwater level at the $4{\sim}9\;km$ intervals.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
• /
• v.55 no.1
• /
• pp.60-75
• /
• 2022

The Bayesian algorithm model is a model algorithm that calculates probabilities based on input data and is mainly used for complex disasters, water quality management, the ecological structure between living things or living-non-living factors. In this study, we analyzed the main factors affected Korean Estuary Trophic Diatom Index (KETDI) change based on the Bayesian network analysis using the diatom community and physicochemical factors in the domestic estuarine aquatic ecosystem. For Bayesian analysis, estuarine diatom habitat data and estuarine aquatic diatom health (2008~2019) data were used. Data were classified into habitat, physical, chemical, and biological factors. Each data was input to the Bayesian network model (GeNIE model) and performed estuary aquatic network analysis along with the nationwide and each coast. From 2008 to 2019, a total of 625 taxa of diatoms were identified, consisting of 2 orders, 5 suborders, 18 families, 141 genera, 595 species, 29 varieties, and 1 species. Nitzschia inconspicua had the highest cumulative cell density, followed by Nitzschia palea, Pseudostaurosira elliptica and Achnanthidium minutissimum. As a result of analyzing the ecological network of diatom health assessment in the estuary ecosystem using the Bayesian network model, the biological factor was the most sensitive factor influencing the health assessment score was. In contrast, the habitat and physicochemical factors had relatively low sensitivity. The most sensitive taxa of diatoms to the assessment of estuarine aquatic health were Nitzschia inconspicua, N. fonticola, Achnanthes convergens, and Pseudostaurosira elliptica. In addition, the ratio of industrial area and cattle shed near the habitat was sensitively linked to the health assessment. The major taxa sensitive to diatom health evaluation differed according to coast. Bayesian network analysis was useful to identify major variables including diatom taxa affecting aquatic health even in complex ecological structures such as estuary ecosystems. In addition, it is possible to identify the restoration target accurately when restoring the consequently damaged estuary aquatic ecosystem.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
• /
• v.34 no.1 s.93
• /
• pp.30-44
• /
• 2001

In this study limnological characteristics of Lake Juam was surveyed from June 1993 to May 1994 in order to provides important information regarding water resources. Secchi disc transparency, epilimnetic chlorophyll a (chi-a), total nitrogen (TN), total phosphorus (TP) concentration and primary productivity were in the range of $2.0{\sim}4.5\;m$, $0.9{\sim}13.6\;mgChl/m^3$, 0.78$\{sim}$2.32 mgN/l, $11{\sim}56\;mgP/m^3$, $270{\sim}2.160\;mgCm^{-2}\;day^{-1}$, respectively. On the basis of TP, Chl-a and Secchi disc depth, the trophic state of Lake Juam can be classied as mesotrophic lake. The phosphorus inputs from non-point sources are concentrated in heavy rain episodes during the monsoon season. As a result, phosphorus concentration are higher in summer than in winter. TP loading from the watershed were estimated to be $0.9\;gPm^{-2}yr^{-1}$, which correspond to a boundary of the critical loading ($1.0\;gPm^{-2}yr^{-1}$) for eutrophication. From the results of the algal assay, both phosphous and nitrogen act as limiting nutrients in algal growth. The seasonal succession of phytoplankton community structure in Lake Juam was similar to that observed in other temperate lakes. Diatoms (Asterionella formosa and Aulacoseira granulate var. angustissima)fujacofeira BraHuJafa uar. aHgusHrsiaia) weredominant in spring and winter, cyanobacteria) were dominant in warm season. The organic carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus content of lake sediment were $9.5{\sim}14.0\;mgC/g$, $1.01{\sim}1.82\;mgN/g$ and $0.51{\sim}0.65\;mgP/g$, respectively. The allochthonous organic carbon loading from the watershed and autochthonous organic carbon loading by primary production of phytoplankton were determined to be 1,122 tC/yr and 6,718 tC/yr, respectively. To prevent eutrophication of Lake Juam, nutrient management of watershed should be focus on reduction of fertilizer application, proper treatment of manure, and conservation of topsoil as well as point source.