• Ocean and Polar Research
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.113-120
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• 2004

The abundance, biomass and distribution of phytoplankton, bacterioplankton and heterotrophic protists in the Bering Sea were investigated from July to August 1999. Chlorophyll a concentrations in the surface waters ranged from 0.16 to $3.79{\mu}g\;l^{-1}$ Nano-phytoplankton were found to constitute from 63 to 98% of the total phytoplankton biomass, and were clearly the dominant primary producers. The biomass of bacterioplankton in the surface layers varied from 1.46 to $20.2{\mu}g\;C\;l^{-1}$ and accounted for 30% of the total phytoplankton biomass. The biomass of bacterioplankton integrated over a depth of 0 to 100m averaged 65.4% of the total phytoplankton biomass. The surface biomass of heterotrophic protists ranged from 1.2 to $27.4{\mu}g\;C\;l^{-1}$, and was within the same order of magnitude as that of bacterioplankton. Of the total biomass of heterotrophic protists in the upper 100m of the water column, 65% was attributed to protists in the nano-size class. The results of this study suggest that bacteria and nano-protists are important components of the planktonic community in the Bering Sea during the summer season. The abundance of bacterioplankton and planktonic protists decreased from the western to northeastern and eastern regions of the Bering Sea. The abundance of these organisms also decreased with depth. The available evidence suggests that variation in the abundance and distribution of these organisms may be affected by water currents and vertical temperature variation in the Bering Sea.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.38 no.4 s.114
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• pp.503-509
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• 2005

The growth characteristic of a predominant planktonic blooming species, Mallomonas elongata in a small shallow eutrophic pond was investigated In the field (from October 2004 to September 2005) and laboratory, Dense blooming (max. 17,600 cells $mL^{-1}$) of this silica-scaled chrysophytes was observed for a short time period in early spring (water temperature 12-$18^{\circ}C$ and pH 8.4-9.5), The growth characteristics of M. elongata isolated from this pond was investigated at various temperatures and pH under batch culture. The unialgal culture of M. elongata showed maximum growth rate (${\mu}max$) at $15^{\circ}C$ similar to the natural conditions. However, the optimal pH of the isolated batch culture was lower than the pond water pH at which M. elongata appeared in large population density.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.23 no.12
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• pp.1673-1682
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• 2013

Citrobacter sp. is a cause of significant opportunistic nosocomial infection and is frequently found in human and animal feces, soil, and sewage water, and even in industrial waste or putrefaction. Biofilm formation is an important virulence trait of Citrobacter sp. pathogens but the process and characteristics of this formation are unclear. Therefore, we employed in vitro assays to study the nutritional and environmental parameters that might influence biofilm formation of C. werkmanii BF-6 using 96-well microtiter plates. In addition, we detected the relative transcript levels of biofilm formation genes by RT-PCR. Our results indicated that the capacity of C. werkmanii BF-6 to form biofilms was affected by culture temperature, media, time, pH, and the osmotic agents glucose, sucrose, NaCl, and KCl. Confocal laser scanning microscopy results illustrated that the structure of biofilms and extracellular polysaccharide was influenced by 100 mM NaCl or 100 mM KCl. In addition, nine biofilm formation genes (bsmA, bssR, bssS, csgD, csgE, csgF, mrkA, mrkB, and mrkE) were found to contribute to planktonic and biofilm growth. Our data suggest that biofilm formation by C. werkmanii BF-6 is affected by nutritional and environmental factors, which could pave the way to the prevention and elimination of biofilm formation using proper strategies.

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

• 한국해양학회지
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.31-41
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• 1978

The planktonic algal communities of the Han River with a particular emphasis on water pollution was studied over a twelve month of period. Results of observing many algal communities from 7 stations of the Han River have shown that these communities are generally composed of many species, most of which have relatively small populations with a few exceptional dominant species. The distribution of the total standing crop of phytoplankton in the studid area is characteristic, summer in the polluted zone. Diversity indices of all samples were computed and have shown that the H values of 7 stations are relatively low. However, a detailed examination of these H values reveals that the seasonal fluctuations of the species diversity remarkably coincide with those fo phytoplankton standing crop.No reduction in the species diversity at stations 4, 5, 6, and 7 where the water is heavily polluted indicates that a great number of species capable of invading stations, 4, 5, and 6 from the various tributaries, and the station 7 from the contaminated with sea water are probably more important in the functional changes of the communities than the size of sampling area. It is evident that the diversity index in a lotic environment does not indicate water quality as far as phytoplankton communities are concerned.

• Journal of Microbiology
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• v.44 no.2
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• pp.226-232
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• 2006

Swarming has proven to be a good in vitro model for bacterial surface adherence and colonization, and the swarming differentiation of a bacterium has been shown to be coupled with changes in the expression of virulence factors associated with its invasiveness, particularly in the early stages of infection. In this study, we attempted to determine whether the expression of vvhA, which encodes for hemolysin/cytolysin (VvhA), is either upregulated or downregulated during the swarming differentiation of V. vulnificus. The insertional inactivation of vvhA itself exerted no detectable effect on the expression of V. vulnificus swarming motility. However, in our lacZ-fused vvhA transcriptional reporter assay, vvhA expression decreased in swarming V. vulnificus as compared to non-swarming or planktonic V. vulnificus. The reduced expression of vvhA in swarming V. vulnificus increased as a result of the deletional inactivation of luxS, a gene associated with quorum sensing. These results show that vvhA expression in swarming V. vulnificus is downregulated via the activity of the LuxS quorum-sensing system, suggesting that VvhA performs no essential role in the invasiveness of V. vulnificus via the adherence to and colonization on the body surfaces required in the early stages of the infection. However, VvhA may playa significant role in the pathophysiological deterioration occurring after swarming V. vulnificus is differentiated into planktonic V. vulnificus.

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

• ALGAE
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.61-78
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• 2020

Species belonging to the dinoflagellate genus Prorocentrum are known to cause red tides or harmful algal blooms. To understand the dynamics of a Prorocentrum sp., its growth and mortality due to predation need to be assessed. However, there are only a few Prorocentrum spp. for which heterotrophic protist predators have been reported. We explored feeding by the common heterotrophic dinoflagellates Gyrodinium dominans, Oxyrrhis marina, Pfiesteria piscicida, Oblea rotunda, and Polykrikos kofoidii and the naked ciliate Strombidinopsis sp. (approx. 90 ㎛ cell length) on the planktonic species Prorocentrum triestinum, P. cordatum, P. donghaiense, P. rhathymum, and P. micans as well as the benthic species P. lima and P. hoffmannianum. All heterotrophic protists tested were able to feed on the planktonic prey species. However, O. marina and O. rotunda did not feed on P. lima and P. hoffmannianum, while G. dominans, P. kofoidii, and Strombidinopsis sp. did. The growth and ingestion rates of G. dominans and P. kofoidii on one of the seven Prorocentrum spp. were significantly different from those on other prey species. G. dominans showed the top three highest growth rates when it fed on P. triestinum, P. cordatum, and P. donghaiense, however, P. kofoidii had negative growth rates when fed on these three prey species. In contrast, P. kofoidii had a positive growth rate only when fed on P. hoffmannianum. This differential feeding on Prorocentrum spp. between G. dominans and P. kofoidii may provide different ecological niches and reduce competition between these two common heterotrophic protist predators.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.38 no.4
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• pp.619-627
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• 2015

Cyanobacteria were sampled at five sites in the Han River, Nakdong River, and Geum River watershed from June 2014 to May 2015 and then cultivated. Two genera and five species of the cyanobacteria were newly recorded in Korea. The newly recorded species were Limnothrix redekei, Pseudanabaena galeata, Pseudanabaena amphigranulata, Sphaerospermopsis aphanizomenoides, and Calothrix parietina. As a result, the Korean flora of the cyanobacteria now include four orders, 22 families with 73 genera, 143 species, and two varieties, giving a total of 146 taxa.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.37 no.4
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• pp.341-350
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• 2014

In this study, aquatic and aerial algae were collected in various environments in Hongcheon-river of Gangwan-do between December 2011 and June 2012, with the aim of adding newly described genera and species to the Korean flora. As a result, five genera and eight species were recorded for the first time in Korea. These newly recorded genera and species were Cylindrocapsa geminella, Leptosira mediciana, Pseudendoclonium basiliense var. brandii, Stichococcus minor, S. deasonii, Eustigmatos polyphem, Nephrodiella lunaris, and Xanthonema exile. The eight taxa identified in this study mostly corresponded to their reported morphological characteristics. However, some differences from previous published descriptions were found; N. lunaria, reported to be an aquatic species in a previous study, was found to be an aerial algae inhabiting on rocks and mosses. Cylindrocapsa geminella was found to transform into attached or planktonic algae depending on the environmental condition, and the cell wall was found to be changed. Likewise, E. polyphem was seen to change cell-shape or chloroplast color according to the environment.