• Korean Journal of Organic Agriculture
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.743-760
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• 2014

This study aimed to isolate and identify freshwater algae from the organic agricultural ecosystems and investigate its biological characteristics to study the possibility of utilizing a biomass freshwater algae in organic farming. In the survey area, average water temperature was $12.4{\sim}28.2^{\circ}C$ and the pH ranges were from 6.1 to 8.5. The solid culture method is more suitable than liquid culture method for isolation of freshwater algae with lower contamination level and higher isolation frequency. A total of 115 strains were isolated from six freshwater algae habitats in nine regions in Korea. BGMM (BG11 Modified Medium) amended with NaNO3 and $KNO_3$ as a nitrogen, and $Na_2CO_3$ as carbon source was designed to isolate and culture freshwater algae. Absorbance of freshwater algae culture has increased dramatically to four days and decreased after eight days after inoculation. CHK008 of the seven isolates showed the highest absorbance in seven days after culturing in BGMM. The optimal pH of BGMM for culturing freshwater algae was pH 6-7. As light intensity increased, growth of freshwater algae increased. Among the five kinds of carbon sources, glucose and galactose promoted good growth of freshwater algae in BGMM. The colony color of purified 16 green algae isolates showed a separation of green, dark and light green, and of them, eleven algae strains showed a strong fluorescent light under fluorescence microscopy. Cell size of the green algae showed a wide range of variation depending on the species. General morphology of the green algae strains was spherical. Chlamydomonas sp. was elliptical, and Chlorella sorokiniana was ellipsoidal and cylindrical. All strains of the green algae except for Chlamydomonas sp. did not have flagella. One isolate of Chlamydomonas sp. and five isolates of C. sorokiniana secreted mucus. Sixteen isolates of 16 green algae were identified as two family and six species, Chlorella vulgalis, C. sorokiniana, C. pyrenoidosa, C. kessleri, C. emersonii, and Chlamydomonas sp. based on their morphological characteristics.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.48 no.3
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• pp.147-152
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• 2015

Nitrogen (N) loading from domestic, agricultural and industrial sources can lead to excessive growth of macrophytes or phytoplankton in aquatic environment. Many studies have used nitrogen stable isotope ratios to identify anthropogenic nitrogen in aquatic systems as a useful method for studying nitrogen cycle. In this study to evaluate the precision and accuracy of Kjeldahl processes, two reference materials (IAEA-NO-3, N-1) were analyzed repeatedly. Measured the ${\delta}^{15}N-NO_3$ and ${\delta}^{15}N-NH_4$ values of IAEA-NO-3 and IAEA-N-1 were $4.7{\pm}0.2$‰ and $0.4{\pm}0.3$‰, respectively, which are within recommended values of analytical uncertainties. Also, we investigated spatial patterns of ${\delta}^{15}N-NO_3$ and ${\delta}^{15}N-NH_4$ in effluent plumes from a waste water treatment plant in Han River, Korea. ${\delta}^{15}N-NO_3$ and ${\delta}^{15}N-NH_4$ values are enriched at downstream areas of water treatment plant suggesting that dissolved nitrogen in effluent plumes should be one of the main N sources in those areas. The current study clarifies the reliability of Kjeldahl analytical method and the usefulness of stable isotopic techniques to trace the contamination source of dissolved nitrogen such as nitrate and ammonia.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.56 no.4
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• pp.281-302
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• 2023

Carbon is not only an essential element for life but also a key player in climate change. The radiocarbon (¹⁴C) analysis using accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) is a powerful tool not only to understand the carbon cycle but also to track pollutants derived from fossil carbon, which have a distinct radiocarbon isotope ratio (Δ¹⁴C). Many studies have reported Δ¹⁴C of carbon compounds in streams, rivers, rain, snow, throughfall, fine particulate matter (PM_2.5), and wastewater treatment plant effluents in South Korea, which are reviewed in this manuscript. In summary, (1) stream and river carbon in South Korea are largely derived from the chemical weathering of soils and rocks, and organic compounds in plants and soils, strongly influenced by precipitation, wastewater treatment effluents, agricultural land use, soil water, and groundwater. (2) Unprecedentedly high Δ¹⁴C of precipitation during winter has been reported, which can directly and indirectly influence stream and river carbon. Although we cannot exclude the possibility of local contamination sources of high Δ¹⁴C, the results suggest that stream dissolved organic carbon could be older than previously thought, warranting future studies. (3) The ¹⁴C analysis has also been applied to quantify the sources of forest throughfall and PM_2.5, providing new insights. The ¹⁴C data on a variety of ecosystems will be valuable not only to track the pollutants derived from fossil carbon but also to improve our understanding of climate change and provide solutions.

• Current Research on Agriculture and Life Sciences
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• v.4
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• pp.132-140
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• 1986

Eighty one products from 36 kinds of vitamin and mineral feed supplement collected during August, 1984 to February, 1985 were examined for microbiological contamination. In addition, 83 strains of coliform isolated from the samples were tested for the resistance to 8 kinds of antimicrobial drugs and distribution of R plasmid. General bacteria were detected in all of samples tested. Bacterial population was varied from less than 10 per gram of the sample to 1,400,000 per gram and 34 (42%) of 81 samples were contaminated with 100 to 1,000 cells per gram. Coliform isolation, which was more frequent in samples with larger number of general bacteria, was possible in 14 (17.3%) out of 81 samples tested and 6 (33.3%) out of 18 companies were coliform positive in their products. Forty one (49.4%) out of 83 coliform isolates were fecal coliform. The frequency of resistant strains was the highest to sulfadimethoxine (Sa) with 92.8% and followed by streptomycin (Sm, 67.5%), tetracycline (Tc, 50.6%), kanamycin (Km, 26.5%), chloramphenicol (Cm, 18.1%) and ampicillin (Am, 15.7%). No strain was resistant to nalidixic acid (Na) and gentamicin (Gm). The resistance frequency of fecal coliform strains were higher compare to non-fecal coliform strains. There were minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of $3,200{\mu}g/m{\ell}$ or higher in 7 strains to Am, 3 to Sm and 3 to Km, and 70 strains had MIC of $1,600{\mu}g/m{\ell}$ of higher to Sa while Tc had MICs from $1.6{\mu}g/m{\ell}$ to $400{\mu}g/m{\ell}$. All strains had MICs of $6.3{\mu}g/m{\ell}$ of lower to Na and $3.1{\mu}g/m{\ell}$ of lower to Gm. Seventy nine (95.2%) of 83 strains were resistant to one or more drugs tested. The most frequent resistance patterns were SaSm (14.5%) and followed by SaSmTc(12%), SaSmTcKm(8.4%) SaTc (8.4%) and SaSmKm (7.2%) ; total 19 different patterns were noted. Thirty two (40.5%) of 79 resistant strains were transferred all of a part of their resistance to Escherichia coli ML 1410. The frequency of transferable resistance was high in Am (100%) and Cm (80%) while low in Tc (38.1%), Sa (18.2%), Sm (17.9%) and Km (4.5%).