• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.54 no.3
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• pp.221-228
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• 2021

Recently, environmental DNA (eDNA)-based metabarcoding approaches have been proposed to evaluate the status of freshwater ecosystems owing to various advantages, including fast and easy sampling and minimal habitat disruption from sampling. Therefore, as a case study, we applied eDNA metabarcoding techniques to evaluate the effects of an abandoned mine land located near a headwater stream of Nakdonggang River, South Korea, by examining benthic macroinvertebrate diversity and compared the results with those obtained using the traditional Surber-net sampling method. The number of genera was higher in Surber-net sampling (29) than in the eDNA analysis (20). The genus richness tended to decrease from headwater to downstream in eDNA analysis, whereas richness tended to decrease at sites with acid-sulfated sediment areas using Surber-net sampling. Through cluster analysis and non-metric multidimensional scaling, the sampling sites were differentiated into two parts: acid-sulfated and other sites using Surber-net sampling, whereas they were grouped into the two lowest downstream and other sites using eDNA sampling. To evaluate freshwater ecosystems using eDNA analysis in practical applications, it is necessary to constantly upgrade the methodologies and compare the data with field survey methods.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.36 no.1 s.102
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• pp.29-37
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• 2003

Benthic macro-invertebrates were seasonally collected in the Onchen Stream in Pusan, from July 2001 to March 2002. Generally 4 phylum 5 class 10 order 19 family 23 species were observed in the study sites. Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera and various species appeared in headwater stream while Oligochaeta and Chironomidae were dominated in downstream sites. Community abundance patterns, especially the dominant taxa, Oligochaeta and Chironomidae, appeared to be different depending upon the sampling months. Oligochaeta was usually observed in July, December and March while Chironomidae was appeared in September. The biological indices, TBI(Trent Biotic Index), BS (Biotic Score), BMWP (Biological Monitoring Working Party)were calculated with the appeared communities of the sampling sites through the survey months. TBI showed 1 to 8, BMWP was 1 to 93 and CBI appeared 9 to 387 in the different sites. The biological indices decreased from headstream to downstream sites, We implemented the unsupervised Kohonen network for patterning of community abundance of the sampling sites. The patterning map by the Kohonen network was well represented community abundance of the sampling sites. Also, we conducted RTRN (Real Time Recurrent Neural Network) for predicting of the biological indices in the different sites. The results appeared that the predicting values by RTRN were well matched field data (correlation coefficient of TBI, BMWP and CBI were 0.957, 0.979 and 0.967, respectively).

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.21 no.5
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• pp.631-648
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• 2012

The integrative ecological approaches of chemical assessments, physical habitat modelling, and multi-metric biological health modelling were applied to Gwanpyeong Stream within Gap-Stream watersheds to evaluate environmental impacts on the constructions of residential and commercial complex. For the analysis, the surveys conducted from 45 sites of reference streams within the Gap-Stream watershed and 3 regular sites during 2009 - 2010. Physical habitat health, based on the habitat model of Qualitative Habitat Evaluation Index(QHEI) declined from the headwaters(good - fair condition) to the downstream(poor condition). Chemical water quality, based turbidity and electric conductivity(EC), was degraded toward to the downstream, and especially showed abrupt increases, compared to the values of control streams(CS). Also, concentrations of chlorophyll-a in the downstreams were greater compared to the control stream(CS), indicating an eutrophication. Biological health conditions, based on the Index of Biological Integrity(IBI) using fish assemblages, averaged 19.3 which is judged as a fair condition by the biological criteria of the Ministry of Environment, Korea. The comparisons of model metric values in sensitive species and riffle-benthic species on the Maximum Species Richness Line(MSRL) of 45 reference streams indicated a massive disturbances in all sampling locations. Also, tolerance guild and trophic guild analyses suggest that dominances of tolerant species and omnivores were evident, indicating a biological degradation by habitat disturbances and organic matter pollutions. There was no distinct longitudinal variations of IBI model values from the headwater to the downstream in spite of slight chemical and habitat health gradients among the sampling sites. Overall, integrative ecological health(IEH) scores, based on the chemical, physical, and biological parameters, were low compared to the 45 reference streams due to physical and chemical disturbances of massive constructions of the residential and commercial complex. This stream, thus showed a tendency of typical urban streams which are disturbed in the chemical water quality, habitat structures, and biological integrity. Effective stream management plans and restoration strategies are required in this urban stream for improving integrative stream health.

• Proceedings of the Korea Water Resources Association Conference
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• 2015.05a
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• pp.106-106
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• 2015

The information of flow regimes continues to be norm in water resource and watershed management, in that stream flow regime is a crucial factor influencing water quality, geomorphology, and the community structure of stream biota. The objectives of this study were to estimate Korean stream flows from landscape variables, classify stream flow gages using hydraulic characteristics, and then apply these methods to ungaged biological monitoring sites for effective ecological assessment. Here I used a linear modeling approach (MLR, PCA, and PCR) to describe and predict seasonal flow statistics from landscape variables. MLR models were successfully built for a range of exceedance discharges and time frames (annual, January, May, July, and October), and these models explained a high degree of the observed variation with r squares ranging from 0.555 (Q95 in January) to 0.899 (Q05 in July). In validation testing, predicted and observed exceedance discharges were all significantly correlated (p<0.01) and for most models no significant difference was found between predicted and observed values (Paired samples T-test; p>0.05). I classified Korean stream flow regimes with respect to hydraulic and hydrologic regime into four categories: flashier and higher-powered (F-HP), flashier and lower-powered (F-LP), more stable and higher-powered (S-HP), and more stable and lower-powered (S-LP). These four categories of Korean streams were related to with the characteristics of environmental variables, such as catchment size, site slope, stream order, and land use patterns. I then applied the models at 684 ungaged biological sampling sites used in the National Aquatic Ecological Monitoring Program in order to classify them with respect to basic hydrologic characteristics and similarity to the government's array of hydrologic gauging stations. Flashier-lower powered sites appeared to be relatively over-represented and more stable-higher powered sites under-represented in the bioassessment data sets.

• Journal of the korean society of oceanography
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• v.37 no.4
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• pp.232-241
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• 2002

The potential role of environmental factors on extractable lipofuscin accumulation rate in the blue crab was studied by examining the effect of temperature on laboratory reared blue crabs and the effect of trace metals from samples collected at impacted sites (Baltimore Harbor) and a relatively pristine site (outdoor ponds at Horn Point Laboratory, Cambridge, MD, USA). Lipofuscin levels did not significantly related with sampling sites or heavy metal concentrations in the crab tissue. Heavy metal body burden was highly variable among sampling sites and tissue types but significantly higher for both impacted areas (Curtis Creek and Inner Harbor) in comparison to the reference site. Among tissue types, gills showed the highest metal concentrations with the exception of Hg, which was highest in muscle tissue. For two groups of crabs that were held at either ambient (4 to 1$0^{\circ}C$) or heated seawater (19$^{\circ}C$) for two months, normalized-lipofuscin levels were significantly different (P-0.001). Results suggest that temperature may affect lipofuscin accumulation (=0.25ng-lipofuscin/mg-protein/temperature-degree day). Therefore, temperature should be considered for accurate age calibration of crab populations using lipofuscin.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.23 no.5
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• pp.807-817
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• 2014

Benthic macroinvertebrates were seasonally sampled from upstream and downstream of the Gunwi Dam construction site from 2006 to 2012. Totally 148 and 165 species were collected at the upstream and downstream sampling sites, respectively. At the upstream area after dam construction, there was no significant change of the numbers of non-insect taxa, but at the downstream area, the non-insect taxon numbers were increased gradually. The individual ratio of Ephemeroptera and Diptera had higher value than the other taxa in both of up and downstream. The trichopteran individual ratios were increased in upstream sites, but decreased in downstream sites from 2010. Also, non-insects and coleopteran individual ratios were decreased in upstream, but increased in downstream after completion of dam construction. The annual range of fluctuation in community indices narrowed after construction. According to a functional feeding group analysis, the individual ratios of FC (Filtering Collector) were increased, and GC (Gathering Collector) and SC (Scraper) were decreased in upstream sites annually. In contrast, the annual individual ratios of FC were decreased, and GC and SC were increased in the downstream sites.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.156-163
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• 2008

This study was to introduce a methodology of ecological health assessment for efficient management and to provide some diagnostic results of the survey. We evaluated ecological health assessment at five sampling locations of Sikjang Mountainous Stream using the index of biological integrity (IBI) and Qualitative Habitat Evaluation Index (QHEI) during May - October 2006. The health condition, based on the IBI model, averaged 32 and varied from 27 to 37 depending on the sampling sites. Thus, the stream health was judged as "good" to "fair" conditions. IBI values showed slight differences between upstream and downstream sites. Whereas, QHEI values varied from 75 (fair condition) to 196 (excellent condition) and QHEI at St. 4~5, indicating the downstream reach had significantly lower than the headwater site (St.1). Regression analyses also showed that QHEI values had a linear decrease from the headwater to downstream. This result indicated that habitat quality was rapidly degradated by human influence. Overall, data of IBI and QHEI suggested that the stream health was maintained well in the present but the habitat and biological quality were partially degradated in the downstream. So, the human interference should be minimized to protect the downstream environment.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.309-318
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• 2013

This study was conducted for determining the influence of artificial structures on benthic macroinvertebrate communities in stream. Sampling was taken at upper(pool), down(riffle) and control(riffle) from two check dams, two weirs, one agricultural reservoir, and one multipurpose dam in northern part of Gyeongsangbuk-do. The benthic macroinvertebrate communities of these structures were surveyed during 2009 to 2011. The simple habitat of benthic macroinvertebrates occurred at the upper sites due to pooling effects from artificial structures. Specifically, Check dam1, Jusanji, Imha dam showed very low biological attribute values compared to the down and control sites, which have greater difference in substrate characteristics. However, in the upper sites of Check dam2, Weir1 and Weir2, the difference of values of biological attributes was relatively smaller. Also, proportion of functional feeding groups and functional habit groups were relatively simpler at upper stream and the degree of community differences was greater between upper and down, control sites. Spearman's correlation between biological attributes and substrate characteristics, water quality parameters had significant correlations; particularly, the substrate characteristics were more significantly related. In conclusion, the pool caused by artificial structures had negative effects on benthic macroinvertebrate communities thus leading to simplified stream habitats at upper stream ecosystems.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.420-426
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• 2008

This study compared and analyzed EPT ratio, EPT richness and EPT number(number of species and individuals) of a total of 9 selected sites individually using EPT-group of aquatic insects in Musim stream, also compared similarity ratio between the sampling sites using UPGMA(Unweighted Paired Group Method using Arithmetic average) based on analysis subsequent to species structure of aquatic insects, and compared and analyzed a functional feeding groups(FFGs) of aquatic insects based on stream order. As a result, the aquatic insect group of 2,269 individuals is classified as 71 species, 36 families, and 8 orders, and EPT ratio and EPT richness at sites 3(0.72 and 3.89, respectively) were found to be relatively higher than those at the other sites; by contrast, those at site 9(0.03 and 0.09, respectively) were relatively low. EPT number of species and individuals was found to be lowest at site 9. As a result of UPGMA analysis, the sampling sites in Musim stream were divided into three groups, including A1(site 1, 7, 8), A2(site 2, 3, 4, 5, 6) and B(site 9). According to the results of FFGs, there was not shown specific difference in the number of functional feeding groups by each sites; however, there appeared a little more shredders and scrappers in the upper and mid stream comparing to other sampling sites while collector-filterers and collector-gatherers were found to be dominant in number in the lower stream. According to this research result, the sampling sites in Musim stream were found to have an effect on not only EPT richness, EPT ratio, and EPT number but also FFGs structure.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.42 no.4
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• pp.422-431
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• 2009

This study was to provide basic data for aquatic ecosystem research using fishes. Field sampling was carried out at five selected sites of Gap Stream, and fish samples, especially for a selection of sentinel species were collected three times in June, September, and October 2007. We analyzed total length distribution of Zacco platypus in relation with the season and the sampling sites, and then compared with total body weight, condition factor (K), and age distribution of the fish. The fish population data were compared with physico-chemical water quality, obtained from the Ministry of Environment, Korea. Water quality analysis showed a significant nutrient enrichment, based on total nitrogen (TN) and total phosphorus (TP), and organic matter pollution, based on biological oxygen demand (BOD) and chemical oxygen demand (COD) in the Site 5, which is directly influenced by wastewater disposal plant (WDP). Population analysis of the sentinel species showed that the total number of individuals, age distribution, and the population size-structure were influenced by the effluents from the WDP, and that reproductive failure of young-age population were evident in Site 5. According to the relation analysis of total weight to K, the disturbed population was mainly attributed to combined effects of habitat modifications and chemical degradations. Regression analysis of K values against water quality parameters showed significant (p<0.05) positive relations with nutrient and organic matter contents. Our data suggest that the population structure using a sentinel fish species reflected the ambient water quality in the stream and that diagnosis of aquatic ecosystem health using Z. platypus population may be practical for water resource and ecosystem conservations.