Abstract
Drastic changes in the water quality and phytoplankton community of the new Saemankeum Lakeduring the first decade following the construction of the Saemankeum Sea Wall has been considered to be unavoidable. Input of eutrophicated water through the Mankyeong River and Dongjin River might produce more direct effects on the water quality and phytoplankton community, which lead us to launch a long-term semi-weekly investigation at the "Mankyeong Bridge" monitoring point to resolve its short-term effect as well as long-term stabilization of the ecosystem in the new Saemankeum Lake. During 15 months starting from June 2006, the water temperature varied in accordance with the typical seasonal variations in temperate on the coasts, and no significant daily variations evoked by tidal cycle could be detected. However, there was an inverse relationship between seasonal precipitation and salinity even though the range in annual variation was drastically reduced right after the construction of the Saemankeum Sea Wall. Species richness in the phytoplankton community was also reduced due to the narrowed annual range of salinity, which would eliminate the mid-high salinity species from the Mankyeong Bridge monitoring point. Similarly, species diversity was decreased with increased dominance of the phytoplankton community after the construction. Between the two summer seasons during the present study, species diversity was higher in 2007 than in 2006, which might indicate the early stage of a gradual stabilization in the ecosystem including the phytoplankton community at the monitoring station. The phytoplankton community thus needs to be monitored on a long-term basis to identify indirect signals that can be used to assess the stability of the ecosystem in the young Saemankeum Lake.
