Woo-Myung Heo

The effect of artificial destratification on phytoplankton in a reservoir

The effects of artificial destratification on limnological conditions and on phytoplankton were surveyed for 6 years (1995-2000) in Lake Dalbang (South Korea), a water supply reservoir receiving nutrients from agricultural non-point sources. In order to reduce odor problems caused by cyanobacterial blooms, six aerators were installed in 1996 and operated regularly during the warm season. Aeration destratified the water column of the reservoir and produced homogeneous physical and chemical parameters. The maximum surface temperature in summer decreased from 28.9 °C before aeration to 20.0-26.4 °C after aeration, whereas the maximum hypolimnetic temperature increased from 8.0 to 17.0-23.7 °C. Despite these changes, surface water concentrations of total phosphorus (TP) and chlorophyll a(CHLA) and their seasonal patterns did not change with destratification. Phosphorus loading was concentrated in heavy rain events during the summer monsoon, and TP and CHLA reached maximal concentrations in late summer after the monsoon. Because the hypolimnion was never anoxic prior to aeration, internal loading did not seem to be substantial. Cyanobacteria were the dominant phytoplankton in summer before aeration, but diatoms replaced them after operation of the aerator. Cyanobacteria blooms were eliminated. In contrast, total algal biomass in the water column (as CHLA integrated over depth) increased from 190 mg m−2 in 1995 to 1150, 300, 170, and 355 mg m−2 in 1997, 1998, 1999, and 2000, respectively. The increased ratio of mixing depth to euphotic depth to 2.5 may have resulted in a net reduction in the amount of underwater irradiance experienced by phytoplankton cells, and this may have favored the switch to diatom dominance. Furthermore, the mixing may have allowed diatoms to flourish in summer by lowering their settling loss that would be critical in stratified water columns. In conclusion, the destratification in this reservoir was effective in preventing cyanobacteria blooms, but not in reducing the total algal standing crop.

Habitat-specific variation in stable C and N isotope ratios of pond smelt (Hypomesus nipponensis)

Abstract The aim of this study was to investigate differences in δ13C and δ15N of pond smelt (Hypomesus nipponensis) collected from three brackish lagoons, which have different characteristics, the principal one being the presence or absence of a weir located near the mouth of the outlet channel. The presence or absence of a weir is reflected in a difference in salinity among the study lakes. We found a general pattern of lower pond smelt δ13C values in Lake Mae with lower salinity and higher pond smelt δ13C values in Lake Hwajinpo and Lake Youngrang (lagoons with higher salinity). Pond smelt δ13C values showed little variation among the three lagoons related to pond smelt length, but likely reflected the availability of freshwater prey in Lake Mae. Among the lagoons, we found that pond smelt δ15N values were lower in Lake Hwajinpo compared with pond smelt δ15N values in Lake Youngrang and Lake Mae. This pattern likely shows a difference in anthropogenic nitrogen (N) loading among the lagoons. The results of this study emphasize the utility of stable isotope measurements to better understand how structural characteristics of aquatic ecosystems (presence or absence of a weir) and anthropogenic disturbances can affect stable isotope patterns in aquatic food webs. This stable isotope approach may be a general technique for evaluating fish habitat and restoration or management of coastal lagoon ecosystems.

SPATIAL AND TEMPORAL VARIABILITIES IN NITROGEN AND PHOSPHOROUS IN THE NAKDONG RIVER SYSTEM, KOREA

The concentrations of nitrogen (N) and phosphorous (P) species and relevant hydrographic parameters were determined in main stream and tributary waters of the Nakdong River system during the periods of May through October 1994. During the entire period, the total N (TN) and total P (TP) concentrations in surface waters were found within the ranges of 0.4–7.0 (N=241) and 0.02–1.536 mg L-1 (N=241), respectively. To help derive meaningful interpretations of temporal and geographical variabilities in the nutrient bahavior, the entire data were evaluated for each individual parameter after employing several different grouping schemes. The results of this comparative analysis can be expressed in terms of: (1) high summer/fall ratios for most of nutrient species; and (2) low summer/fall ratios for most of nutrient-to-nutrient ratios and relevant hydrographic parameters. Interestingly, while the former case was found to be more significant in tributary waters than main stream waters, such geographical dependence was not strongly evident for the latter case. A z-statistic test, conducted to check the significance of temporal (between summer and fall) and spatial (between tributary and main stream regions) differences, confirm that the observed variabilities are in most cases strong enough for most of variables studied – nutrient species, their ratios, and relevant hydrographic parameters. In addition, comparison of nutrient species between dissolved and particulate phases reveals several interesting features. Unlike dissolved nutrient species, the concentrations of particulate N or P (PN or PP) exhibited quite extraoridanry behavior. While PN appears to be rather minor component of the total N budget for the Nakdong river, PP seems to make rather strong contributions to its total P budgets with its strong input from tributary waters during rainy summer season. Through an application of correlation analysis, relationships between different parameters were investigated for both before and after the grouping of data sets. The overall picture of this analysis showed that nutrient species were strongly correlated with each other, while the strongest correlations were among such hydrographic parameters as DO, BOD, COD, and conductivity. This analysis was further conducted to more deliberately divided data groups. The results of analyses on these sub-grouped data sets indicate that the occurrences of significant corelations were common from tributary waters relative to main streams for both (1) between different nutrient species and (2) between nutrient and hydrographic parameters. Using the line of evidence gathered from the statistical tests and from the correlation analysis, we conclude that the environmental health of the Nakdong river system is affected by the combined effects of various factors and processes.