Seasonal Distributions of Phytoplankton and Environmental Factors Generate Algal Blooms in the Taehwa River, South Korea.

Algal blooms have occurred in the Taehwa River estuary in South Korea despite the improvement of water quality since environmental renewal projects in the 1990s. In this study, we investigated the causes of algal blooms by measuring the water retention time using a floating buoy, water quality parameters, and phytoplankton distribution data from 2012. An algal bloom did not occur in February because of phosphate limitations in the Taehwa River estuary; however, the concentration of nutrients in the water inflow from the basin triggered a significant algal bloom in the upper estuary in the month of May. In this regard, the phytoplankton population was dominated by nano- and pico-sized flagellates. In August, the freshwater inflow into the estuary greatly increased due to heavy rainfall, resulting in a shorter retention time of the water bodies, which seemed to prevent an algal bloom. In November, a bloom of Cryptophyceae occurred at one of the sites (the U2 site) due to sufficient nutrients in the water and the long retention times of the water bodies. Our results indicate that a decrease in the nutrients (N and P) supplied from the basin is required for a reduction in algal blooms in the Taehwa River estuary. Additional studies are needed to further elucidate the effects of the land-based, nutrient-rich pollutants flowing into the Taehwa River estuary on algal bloom generation considering the fact that the streams have different environmental characteristics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]