Taihun Kim

Korean Institute of Ocean Science and Technology | KIOST · Jeju Research Institute

Kelp forests in Korean waters, mainly consisting of Ecklonia cava, provide ecologically and economically important ecosystems. However, they are severely threatened by increasing sea surface temperature (SST). In 2023, an unusually high SST was observed in the northern East China Sea, where the average SST from August to November 2023 was found to...

Aim of study Marine climatic transition zones are boundary areas of major climate zones, here the boundary between the subtropical and temperate zones. They present areas containing high abundance of organisms living at the limit of their physiological tolerance. These marginal populations are particularly sensitive to changes in their environment....

Assessing the effectiveness of artificial structures as a monitoring tool for benthic diversity in temperate reefs is crucial to determining their relevance in reef conservation and management. In this study, we utilized Autonomous Reef Monitoring Structures (ARMS) to evaluate sessile benthic communities that colonized ARMS units after 12 and 34 mo...

Progressive shifts in the benthic ecosystem are observed in temperate environments such as Jeju Island. It is essential to continue studying high-latitude coral communities, which are excellent sentinels of climate change.

This study was carried out to determine the levels of resistance and resilience of kelp forests to large-scale physical disturbances. Our study site, Seongsan, Jeju Island, was impacted by super typhoon ‘Hinnamnor’. Before the typhoon, Seongsan had shown high ecosystem stability. Our results indicated that the ecological stability of a kelp forest...

Technology for monitoring natural environments can provide a basic understanding of ecosystem changes and information for resource management. The Natural Geography in Shore Areas project is an international collaborative effort for inventorying and monitoring marine biodiversity, and it indicates that Korea is one of the most species-rich regions...

The genus Semicytherura Wagner, 1957 has nearly 300 species, is common in shallow and marginal marine habitats, and has a worldwide distribution. It is divided into several species groups, of which the Semicytherura henryhowei Hanai & Ikeya, 1977 group is one of the most frequently recorded in temperate Asia. A previous study indicated that many of...

Benthic habitat zonation is described from in situ observations and seabed photographs taken from the coastal area of Weno Island, Chuuk, Micronesia. Habitat groups, types, and boundaries are defined by visible substratum characteristics (i.e., in situ and by digital imaging of photo-quadrats along transect lines), and by cluster and ordination ana...

Environmentally adapted and resistant hard and soft coral communities within the high-latitude Asia–Pacific marginal distribution zone are thriving, despite their comparably stressful environment (unfavorable winter water temperature and light regimes). Korea’s Jeju Island is famous for its diverse and abundant soft coral communities, which coexist...

Alveopora japonica is restricted to the Asia-Pacific region, ranging from subtropical to temperate waters. In 2016, a massive bleaching event of an A. japonica population was observed at the south coast of Jeju Island, South Korea, which is within its northernmost limit. After the bleaching event, most of the colonies had recovered by 2017.

Fatty acids (FAs) are the main components of lipids in corals. We examined FAs profiles from five symbiotic coral species belonging to five different genera (Acropora, Pavona, Turbinaria, Favites, and Platygyra) and four different families (Acroporidae, Agariciidae, Dendrophyllidae, Faviidae). We separated symbionts from the coral host tissue to in...

Fatty acids (FAs) are the main components of lipids in corals. We examined FA profiles from five symbiotic coral species belonging to five different genera ( Acropora , Pavona , Turbinaria , Favites and Platygyra ) and four different families (Acroporidae, Agariciidae, Dendrophyllidae, Faviidae). We separated symbionts from coral host tissue to inv...

Symbiotic corals receive energy not only by ingesting food (e.g. plankton, inorganic/organic matter, i.e. heterotrophy), but also by endosymbiosis, which supplies photosynthates (dissolved inorganic carbon, i.e. autotrophy). These two sources of energy have distinct fatty acid (FA) profiles, which can be used to differentiate corals by their primar...

Historical coral skeleton (CS) δ18O and δ15N records were produced from samples recovered from sedimentary deposits, held in natural history museum collections and cored into modern coral heads. These records were used to assess the influence of global warming and regional eutrophication, respectively, on the decline of coastal coral communities fo...

Economic development and environmental conservation are often seen as opposing forces in the arena of government policy-making. With more than 7 million people and a rich diversity of marine species and habitats, Hong Kong is an excellent case study to explore this dynamic. Despite anthropogenic impacts, Hong Kong still hosts more than 90 species o...