• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
• /
• v.28 no.3
• /
• pp.125-132
• /
• 2010

In order to assess the effect of pollution on marine ecosystem, we examined the plankton health assessment at 16 stations during summer season in Jinhae Bay. The organic and inorganic pollutant sources (dissolved organic carbon; DOC, chemical oxygen demand; COD and Chlorophyll a; Chl.a), including planktonic orangism such as enterobacteria Escherichia coli, heterotrophic bacteria (HB), autotrophic nano-flagellates (ANF), heterotrophic nano flagellates (HNF), ciliate and harmful algal bloom species (HABs) were used to characterize marine ecosystem health assessment. Of these, we tentatively selected those items Chl.a, HABs, HB and E. coli for plankton health index (PHI). Also, the scoring criteria for each metric were based on a statistical analysis and then, the grades are rated on four levels. As a result, the ecological assessment of these data reveals that PHI in Jinhae Bay is rated as "Good or fair" for overall conditions. The present study suggests that the PHI might be considered as one of important management tool to assess marine ecosystem health of Jinhae Bay.

• The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
• /
• v.4 no.4
• /
• pp.349-362
• /
• 1999

To understand the role of protozoa in the early formation of microbial fouling community, the studies on the formation of microbial film, the succession of microbial fouling communities, and the grazing pressure on bacteria population in microbial film were carried out in the laboratory, Inchon outer port and Inchon inner harbour. Bacteria and heterotrophic flagellates formed primary microbial film on the aluminum surface within 6 hours and oligotrich ciliates were observed 2 cells $mm^{-2}$ on the same surface at 9 hours in Inchon inner harbour which had physically stagnant condition. The larvaes of Balanus albicostatus which were dominant meiobenthos in Inchon coastal area attached on the glass surface at the first day of experiment. Heterotrophic flagellates showed maximum abundance of 465 cells $mm^{-2}$ at the 13rd day and ciliates showed maximum abundance of 63 cells $mm^{-2}$ at the 11st day in the Inchon inner harbour. In the Inchon outer port which opens to the outer sea, the maximum abundance of protozoa occurred at early phase, but not so many. The dominant heterotrophic flagellates were Metrornonas simplex and Bodonids. Dominant ciliates were small tintinnids and oligotrich ciliate Strombidium sp., Large Strombidium (oligotrich ciliate) and sessile Acineta turberosa (suctorian ciliate) occurred after 10 days. The attached larvae of Balanus occurred as biofouling organism on the early surface and showed maximum abundance of 18 indiv. $cm^{-2}$ at 7th day. At that time, adult barnacles were observed on the surface and dead barnacles were observed after two days. Except barnacles, the larvaes of Anthozoa sp., Oysters (Crassostrea gigas) and Polychaeta were observed on the surface from 3rd day. 3 benthic copepods including Harpacticus sp., I isopod, 1 polychaeta and 1 gastropoda were observed as predators of the microbial film on the surface after 7 days when microbial film developed very well. Although the ingestion rates of protozoa on the bactctia of the rnicrobi31 film were relatively low, the average grazing rate of protozoa on bacteria was high of 0.058 $h^{-1}$. This implied that the grazing pressure of protozoa influences the mortality of bacteria populations on the microbial film. but protozoa cannot get enough energy from only bacteria on the microbial film.

• Ocean and Polar Research
• /
• v.29 no.4
• /
• pp.327-337
• /
• 2007

Plankton communities have close relationships with environmental changes in water columns. Thus, the use of plankton as a biological tool for assessing the marine ecosystem health may be effective. Major issue regarding coastal pollution has been usually recognized as phytoplankton blooms or red tides caused by the eutrophication, an increase in concentration of inorganic nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus. However, in order to understand the effects of the overall pollution on marine ecosystem, the organic pollutants as well as the inorganic nutrients should be also considered. For understanding the effects of the organic pollution, among the planktonic organisms, heterotrophic bacteria, heterotrophic flagellates and ciliates should be investigated. Generally, there are three approaches for assessing the marine ecosystem health using the plankton taxa or plankton communities. The first one is a community-based approach such as diversity index and chlorophyll a concentration which are common in analysis of the plankton communities. The second is an indiviual-based approach which is to monitor the pollution indicative species. This approach needs one's ability to identify the plankton to species level. The last approach is a bioassay of toxicity, which can be applied to the plankton. A pilot study in Masan Bay was conducted to assess the effects of the inorganic and organic pollution. In this article, a new approach using plankton communities was tentatively presented as a biological tool for assessing the ecosystem health of Masan Bay.

• 한국해양학회지
• /
• v.30 no.5
• /
• pp.413-425
• /
• 1995

Abundances and bacterivory of heterotrophic and mixotrophic nanoflagellates were investigated fourtimes between October 1993 and March 1995 in an estuarine system of the Mankyung and Dongjin rivers to understand distributions of nanoflagellates and ecological significance of bacterivory of nanoflagellates. Bacterivory of nanoflagellates were measured with fluorescently labeled bacteria (FLB). Heterotrophic and autotrophic flagellates showed a rage of 438-4,159 cells ml/SUP -1/ (mean of 2,145 cells ml/SUP -1/, n=20) and 971- 4,935 cells ml/SUP -1/ (mean of 2,2226 cells ml/SUP -1/, n-20), respectively. These two groups of nanoflagellates generally showed similar distributions of abundance. Abundances of heterotrophic nanoflagellates, known as major grazers of bacteria, and those of autotrophic nanoflagellates with chloroplasts showed statistically significant correlations with bacterial abundance (respectively, r$^2$=0.51 and r $^2$=0.47, p>0.05). Mixotrophic nanoflagellates seemed to comprise at least 4-23% of autotrophic nanoflagellate populations. Individual predation rates of heterotrophic nanoflagellates ranged from 2.2 to 14.2 bacteria flagellate/SUP -1/ h/SUP -1/ (mean of 4.9 bacteria flagellate/SUP -1/h/SUP -1/, n=16), and those of mixotrophic nanoflagellates from 1.6 to 9.7 bacteria flagellate/SUP -1/ h/SUP-1/ (mean of 3.7 bacteria flagellate /SUP -1/ h/SUP -1/, n=16). Bacterivory by mixotrophic nanoflagellates comprised from 30 to 69% of total nanoflagellates grazing on bacteria, indicating the significant role of mixotrophic nanoflagellates as grazers on bacteria in the study area. The ratios of grazing rates on bacteria to bacterial secondary production ranged widely from 0.06 to 1.23. In June, when abundances of total nanoflagellates were low, removal of bacteria by bacterivory of nanoflagellates was also a small fraction (0.08${\pm}$ 0.01, n=4) of bacterial production. In other seasons, nanoflagellates usually grazed on bacteria in significant fraction (0.06${\pm}$0.37, n=9) of bacterial production. Both heterotrophic and mixotrophic nanoflagellates appear to be major grazers on bacteria, and might transfer bacterial secondary production to higher trophic level in an estuarine system of the Mankyung and Dongjin rivers.