Journal of Environmental Biology

Water quality improvement by natural plant-mineral composites and field temperatures of a eutrophic lake in South Korea

Byung Jung-Hwan¹, Ha-Kyung Kim¹, Sun-Ki Mun² and Baik-Ho Kim³*

¹Department of Environmental Science, Hanyang University, Seoul 133 791, South Korea

²MCE-Korea Co., Seongnam-si, Gyeonggi 463 712, South Korea

³Department of Life Science, Hanyang University, Seoul 133 791, South Korea

*Corresponding Author E-mail: tigerk@hanyang.ac.kr 

Publication Data

Paper received:

23 September 2013

Revised received:

31 January 2014

Accepted:

14 February 2014

Abstract

To improve the water quality of Shingal Reservoir, a eutrophic lake in South Korea, field tests were performed to assess the influence of water temperature on water quality improvement (WQI) ability of domestic plant?mineral composites (PMCs). Interestingly, Cyanobacterium was found to be dominant even in low-temperature seasons, especially winter leading to more effective for diatom growth. Factors such as phytoplankton, biological oxygen demand (BOD) and phosphorous showed high WQI over 70% at 20?C, but declined to 40% at temperatures above 25?C. WQI for Cyanobacteria decreased with increasing water temperature, whereas for diatoms WQI was 90% regardless of water temperature. Additionally, bacterial density and total nitrogen showed very low WQI without water temperature. Collectively, the results indicate that high water temperature decreased WQI ability of a PMC to control phytoplankton (Microcystis aeruginosa) and increased their ability to control diatoms. ?

 Key words

Allelochemicals, Field temperature, Phytoplankton, Plant-mineral composite, Water quality

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