• Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.171-179
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• 2021

To better understand the ecological functioning of the coastal ecosystem in Gamak Bay on the southern coast of Korea, seasonal changes in the density, biomass, and secondary production of the copepod community were investigated. Environmental measurements (temperature, salinity, and chlorophyll a) and copepod sampling were performed seasonally from January to December 2006. The mean density of copepods (excluding nauplii) varied from 949 to 5,999 ind · m^-3; copepod density was at its highest from March to July. The copepod community comprised 32 taxa, including Calanoida, Cyclopoida, and Harpacticoida. The predominant species were Paracalanus parvus s. l., Acartia omorii, Eurytemora pacifica, Oithona similis, A. erythraea, Centropages abdominalis, Pseudodiaptomus marinus, and Calanus sinicus. There were significant spatial and seasonal variations in copepod total biomass, which ranged from 0.33 to 43.10 mg C m^-3. Mean secondary production of the copepods in Gamak Bay, estimated as 2.05 ± 1.63 mg C m^-3 d^-1 using the Huntley and Lopez growth model, was over 2 times higher than the value given by application of the Hirst and Bunker model (1.09 ± 0.85 mg C m^-3 d^-1). The daily production rate to biomass (P/B) ratio varied between 0.08 and 0.86 d^-1 (Huntley and Lopez model), and 0.18 and 0.33 d^-1 (Hirst and Bunker model). Our results emphasize the ecological significance of using models to estimate the secondary production of copepods and provides the first report of copepod production in Gamak Bay.

• Ocean and Polar Research
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• v.45 no.2
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• pp.43-55
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• 2023

This study was conducted to understand the seasonal patterns and variation of the copepod community in the Anma Islands of Yeonggwang, Yellow Sea, with a focus on seasonal surveys to assess the factors affecting their occurrence. Throughout the survey period, Acartia hongi, Paracalanus parvus s. l., and Ditrichocorycaeus affinis were dominant species, while Acartia ohtsukai, Acartia pacifica, Bestiolina coreana, Centropages abdominalis, Labidocera rotunda, Paracalanus sp., Tortanus derjugini, Tortanus forcipatus occurred differently by season and station. As a results of cluster analysis, the copepod communities were distinguished into three distinct groups: spring-winter, summer, and autumn. The results of this study showed that the occurrence patterns of copepod species can vary depending on environmental conditions (topographic, distance from the inshore, etc.), and their spatial occurrence patterns between seasons were controlled by water temperature and prey conditions. One of the physical mechanisms that can affect the distribution of zooplankton in the Yellow Sea is the behavior of the Yellow Sea Bottom Cold Water (YSBCW), which shows remarkable seasonal fluctuations. More detailed further studies are needed for clear grounds for mainly why to many Calanus sinicus in the central region of the Yellow Sea are seasonally moving to the inshore, what strategies to seasonally maintain the population, and support the possibilities of complex factors.

• Journal of the korean society of oceanography
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• v.38 no.3
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• pp.111-121
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• 2003

The seasonal succession of zooplankton communities in the coastal area off Incheon, Kyeonggi Bay, was investigated with the samples collected at intervals of 10 to 15 days from January 1999 to December 2000. Total abundance of zooplankton communities showed remarkable seasonal variations, ranged from 1,100 to $120,400{\;}indiv./\textrm{m}^3$, and annual mean abundance was $22,000{\;}indiv./\textrm{m}^3$. There were several times of the total abundance during a year, and the timing ofhigh abundances were about the same in 1999 and 2000. During the study period except summer, the abundance of dinoflagellate Noctiluca scintillans and copepod Acartia hongi contributed to the most part of total zooplankton. Whereas, during summer, smaller copepod Oithona davisae and Paracalanus crassirostris were dominant species. Zooplankton communities in the coastal waters off Incheon showed typical characteristics of coastal-estuarine communities, which were dominated by a few species, and abrupt seasonal variations in abundance. We suggest that the seasonal succession and abundance variations of zooplankton communities were caused by the seasonal variations in water temperature and by the seasonally varying phytoplankton biomass in the study area.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Marine Environment & Safety
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.369-379
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• 2010

Zooplankton community structure and copepod production in Seomjin River estuary were investigated at 10 stations along the salinity gradients from May 2009 to February 2010. Total zooplankton taxa were identified to be 31 in the study area and seasonal average abundance of zooplankton was $4,151\;ind.{\cdot}m^{-3}$ during the study period. Zooplankton community was mainly composed of coastal species in dry season. However, brackish species dominated in upper or middle part of this estuary in flood season. This study showed that the growth rates of Acartia spp. and Paracalanus parvus s.l. measured from field experiments were regulated by the variations of Hater temperature and salinity; The annual copepod production estimated by dominant copepod species was $3.49\;g\;C{\cdot}m^{-2}yr^{-1}$, and the relatively high production value could be explained by the high phytoplankton standing stocks and the mass occurrence of coastal and brackish species with relation to various salinity gradients in Seomjin River estuary.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.223-229
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• 2015

Pre-monsoon dynamics of zooplankton community were investigated in the downstream of the Gagok stream flowing into the East Sea of Korea. Monthly sampling was carried out to collect zooplankters at five sites in the stream during the period between April and July 2014. Dissolved oxygen contents exceeded $7.0mg\;L^{-1}$ all the time. Water temperature was in a range of 15.7 to $24.9^{\circ}C$ and pH 7.4 to 8.8, respectively. A total of 75 taxa consisted of 36 species of rotifers, 16 species of cladocerans, 16 species of copepods, four kinds of aquatic insects, two kinds of decapods and one nematod was occurred. One species of marine copepod and one cladoceran, and one species of brackish rotifer and one copepod distributed at the station located in the stream mouth. Zooplankton abundance showed to vary from 42 to 4202 individuals $m^{-3}$ due to the explosion of aquatic insects and Alona sp. at site 2 located in the downstream in April. Heavy rainfall during the monsoon period seems to decrease the zooplankton abundance caused by diffusion and drifting to the sea. Species diversity indices were generally high between 1.2~2.3 and were recorded to be high at the downstream throughout the study period. With the zooplankton dynamics, the influence of the input of sea waters into the stream seemed to be confined to some hundred meters of the stream mouth facing the East Sea.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.392-399
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• 2003

The spatial distribution and composition of the mesozooplankton community in the southeastern Barents Sea were observed at 17 stations, from 12 to 28 July 2002. Six taxa of zooplankton were found, including tintinnids, copepods, cumaceans, appendicularians, polychaetes, and barnacle larvae. Copepods were dominant, comprising 74% of the community. The copepod species Limnocalanus grimaldii, Pseudocalanus acuspes, Calanus glacialis, Calanus finmarchicus, and Microsetella norvegica, and the cumacean species Diastylis rathkei and Campylaspis rubicunda were identified. The overall mean abundance of the zooplankton was 72 indiv.l0 $\mu \textrm m^{-3}$ in the study area, ranging from 4 to 197 indiv.l0$\mu \textrm m^{-3}$. Zooplankton was more abundant at the oceanic than the coastal stations. The highest biomass measured was 97.4mg $\mu \textrm m^{-3}$, the mean biomass was 36.9 mg 10$\mu \textrm m^{-3}$, 93% of which was copepods. Pseudocalanus acuspes, C. glacialis, and C. finmarchicus predominated, accounting for 61% of abundance and 86% of biomass. Spatial distributions of the zooplankton community in the study area depended on the variations in water temperature and salinity, which were influenced by freshwater runoff from the continent.

• Ocean and Polar Research
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• v.42 no.4
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• pp.271-281
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• 2020

We investigated mesozooplankton in the Yellow Sea in spring to understand its community structure and relationship with environmental factors. Total mesozooplankton density ranged from 1,542 to 7,367 ind. m-3 and the biomass ranged from 3 to 42 mg C m-3. The total density and biomass had a positive relationship with chlorophyll-a (chl-a) concentration. The mesozooplankton community was divided into two groups at 125.5 E by cluster analysis: one was an inshore group and the other was an offshore group. The inshore group of mesozooplankton was of high density but low diversity, while the offshore group was of high diversity but low density. Copepod Acartia hongi and its copepodites were the most abundant species, comprising 27.8% of the total mesozooplankton density. A. hongi was especially abundant at the inshore, serving as the indicator species of the inshore group. Redundancy analysis found a positive relationship between the density of A. hongi and chl-a concentration. Oithona similis and Centropages abdominalis were 2nd and 3rd dominant species comprising 9 and 7% of the total density, respectively. The density of O. similis was positively related to water depth, but C. abdominalis was related to chl-a concentration. Chl-a concentration seems to influence significantly the mesozooplankton community structure in the Yellow Sea in spring, rather than water temperature or salinity.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.37 no.3
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• pp.406-425
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• 2019

To observe the seasonal fluctuation of the meiobenthic fauna community around the coastal area of Jeju island, 20 stations were selected and seasonal surveys were conducted. Three-replicate meiobenthic samples were collected from each station in April, July, and November 2017; February, May, August, and November 2018; and February in 2019, in a total of eight months from 2017 to 2019. The total density of meiobenthos at each station ranged from 733 to 2,505 ind. 10 cm^-2. The month in which the highest habitat density appeared in most stations was April 2017 and the month in which the lowest habitat density was seen was February 2019. Nematodes were the most dominant faunal group among the representative 13 meiofaunal groups at all stations. The subdominant groups were benthic harpacticoid copepods and nauplius. The nematode/copepod (N/C) ratio, reflecting the health indices within the ecosystem, varied from 0.02 to 87.40 over the entire season and the average station values ranged from 2.00 to 16.80. The lowest N/C ratio value was found in April 2017 (0.02) and the highest N/C ratio was found at Station 11 in February 2019, which was 87.40, indicating the highest level of pollution. Seasonal and regional meiobenthos community structure similarity was divided into three groups through group analysis and multi-dimensional scaling (MDS) analysis, which showed that the meiobenthos community structure was affected by seasonal variations, rather than by regional differences.

• Ocean and Polar Research
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• v.41 no.4
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• pp.251-263
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• 2019

We investigated the mesozooplankton community structure during autumn in the southern Yellow Sea. Mesozooplankton density generally ranged from 352 to 2,954 ind. m^-3 and varied according to different sampling stations. The copepod Paracalanus parvus s.l. and its copepodites dominated in the communities, corresponding to 57.3% in density of the total. Surface and water-column averaged salinity were positively correlated with density of total mesozooplankton, copepods and a few dominant species, and the tunicate Thalia rhomboides was negatively related to chlorophyll-a concentration. The mesozooplankton community of the study area was divided into three groups according to the cluster analysis using species composition and density: one in the northern coastal region, another in the northern offshore region, and the other in the south. The most significant indicator species for each of the groups were Labidocera euchaeta in the northern coastal region, T. rhomboides in the northern offshore region, and Themisto sp. juveniles in the south. This study provides recent data on the characteristics of the mesozooplankton community in the southern Yellow Sea, which may be valuable for gaining a better understanding of changes in the pelagic ecosystem of the Yellow Sea.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.27 no.6
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• pp.776-783
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• 2011

In a natural water body, a useful ecotechnology to reduce standing crops of phytoplankton is to strengthen the top-down force of zooplankton. However, the predation of fish for zooplankton can make the force weak. This study was conducted to find out the effect of fish on the grazing pressure of zooplankton in the mesocosms established in a eutrophic stream (Kyongan Stream) from October to November in 2010. In the corral with fish, chlorophyll a concentration increased, and a small size cladoceran Bosmina longirostris was dominant. In the corral without fish, chlorophyll a concentration decreased along with the domination of a large cladoceran Daphnia galeata and a large copepod Eudiaptomus japonicus. The size-selective predation of fish appeared to miniaturize the zooplankton community, to narrow their food-size spectrum, and to weaken the top-down force.