Effects of Thermal Effluents from Wolseong Nuclear Power Plant on Macroalgal Composition and Community Structure

Abstract

Marine algal flora and community structure were seasonally examined at three sites in the vicinity of the Wolseong nuclear power plant in Korea from February to November 2006. A total of 126 seaweeds including 25 green, 31 brown, 70 red algae, and 1 marine plant were identified. The greatest number of species occurred at Jeonchonri (101 species) followed by intake (88 species) and discharge (29 species) during the study period. Of 126 seaweeds, 76 annuals and 13 warm tolerance species were recorded. Dominant species based on important value (IV > 10) were Ulva pertusa and Enteromorpha linza at intake, U. pertusa and Padina arborescens at discharge, and Sargassum horneri and Corallina pilulifera at Jeonchonri shore. Annual average biomass exhibited a wide range of variations, from 40.67g m -2 in dry weight at discharge to 133.69g m -2 at Jeonchonri. Among six functional groups, dominant group was coarsely-branched form at intake and Jeonchonri, but it was different at discharge site as filamentous form. Seaweed community structures of discharge site were distinguishable in decreasing species richness, biomass, species diversity index (H'), richness index (R), and evenness index (J'). Also, the ratios of green algae, warm tolerance species, annual algae, filamentous form and dominance index (DI) remarkably increased. Such phenomenons of discharge site are usually found under environmentally stressful conditions such as high disturbance. Thus, I can conclude that the heated effluents of nuclear power plant act as environmental stress influencing seaweed community structures and it can be detected with various community indices.

The impact assessment of thermal pollution on subtidal sessile assemblages: a case study from Mediterranean rocky reefs

“…Other studies in the region highlighted that the increased hydrodynamism caused by the outflow, with the ensuing increase in resuspension of sediments, could affect macrobenthic assemblages nearby the effluent (Marano et al, 2000). The proliferation of filamentous algae at I, and found in other areas subjected to thermal discharge (e.g., Choi, 2008), can be interpreted as a symptom of generalized environmental stress caused by the increase in seawater temperature (Johnson et al, 2017;Dijkstra et al, 2019), turbidity and sedimentation which favored this group of tolerant and opportunistic algae (Airoldi, 1998).…”

High-temperature thermal discharge inhibits plankton community metabolism in a partly eutrophicated bay in China

“…Marine plankton metabolic processes mainly include the gross primary production(GPP) and community respiration (Del Giorgio and Williams, 2005;Ducklow and McAllister, 2005), and directly affect the oceanic carbon cycle (Xiang et al, 2022).The key ecological processes affecting the carbon budget in marine ecosystems remain unknown, and related studies primarily focus on the response of plankton community metabolism to warming due to global climate change (Nguyen et al, 2012;Wang, 2014). Warming caused by thermal discharge could raise the adjacent water temperature in the nuclear power plant by over 8°C (Kim et al, 2007;Choi, 2008). However, effects of thermal discharge on planktonic community metabolic characteristics, especially net community production (NCP), have rarely been reported in surrounding waters.…”

An Ecological Evaluation of Marine Algal Vegetation in the Coastal Waters of Goseong, Southern Korea

“…. 1,903.8 g/m 2 , (Nam and Kim, 1999;Kang et al, 2008 (Orfanidis et al, 2001(Orfanidis et al, , 2003Lee et al, 2007;Choi, 2008;Kim et al, 2008).…”