Abstract
Our study aims to identify the spatial characteristics of water quality and sediment conditions in relation to fisheries resources, since the productivity of fisheries resources is closely related to the ambient conditions of the resource areas. We collected water quality samples and sediment contaminants from twenty-one sites at Gwangyang Bay, Korea, in the summer of 2018. Our study sites covered the area from the Seomjin River estuary to the inner and outer bays. To spatially characterize physicochemical features of Gwangyang Bay, we used Self-Organizing Map (SOM), which is known as a robust and powerful tool of unsupervised neural networks for pattern recognition. The present environmental conditions of Gwangyang Bay were spatially characterized according to four different attributes of water quality and sediment contamination. From the results, we put emphasis on several interesting points: (i) the SOM manifests the dominant physicochemical attributes of each geographical zone associated with the patterns of water quality and sediment contamination; (ii) fish populations appear to be closely associated with their food sources (e.g., shrimps and crabs) as well as the ambient physicochemical conditions; and (iii) in the context of public health and ecosystem services, the SOM result can potentially offer guidance for fish consumption associated with sediment heavy metal contamination. The present study may have limitations in representing general features of Gwangyang Bay, given the inability of snapshot data to characterize a complex ecosystem. In this regard, consistent sampling and investigation are needed to capture spatial variation and to delineate the temporal dynamics of water quality, sediment contamination, and fish populations. However, the SOM application is helpful and useful as a first approximation of an environmental assessment for the effective management of fisheries resources.
Highlights
Coastal ecosystems typically retain high economic and environmental values in light of aquatic resources and biodiversity [1]
We put emphasis on several interesting points: (i) the Self-Organizing Map (SOM) manifests the dominant physicochemical attributes of each geographical zone associated with the patterns of water quality and sediment contamination; (ii) fish populations appear to be closely associated with their food sources as well as the ambient physicochemical conditions; and (iii) in the context of public health and ecosystem services, the SOM result can potentially offer guidance for fish consumption associated with sediment heavy metal contamination
We successfully characterized the dominant pattern of physicochemical attributes at Gwangyang Bay using SOM
Summary
Coastal ecosystems typically retain high economic and environmental values in light of aquatic resources and biodiversity [1]. Many coastal areas play an important role in operating fisheries and related industries around the world [2]. In East Asia, fisheries resources are at the core of the marine industry in several countries including South Korea, East China, and Japan; this is due to the high biodiversity and high productivity in the coastal regions [3,4]. Biodiversity and productivity are closely linked to biogeochemical processes among water column, sediment, and biological entities. This complicated ecological interplay of the coastal ecosystem can respond differently to the surrounding environmental conditions, which are driven by anthropogenic disturbances as well as. Public Health 2019, 16, 409; doi:10.3390/ijerph16030409 www.mdpi.com/journal/ijerph
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