Seventeen species of chaetognaths belonging to nine genera and three families were recognized from the samples collected in estuaries of Tamshui River and Kaoping River from February 2003 to November 2003. In Tamshui River estuary, eleven species belonging to eight genera and three families were recorded, with the mean abundance of 807 ¡Ó 1154 ind./100m3, while in Kaoping River estuary, fourteen species belonging to nine genera and three families were identified, with the mean abundance of 1601 ¡Ó 2796 ind./100m3. The three most dominant species in both estuaries were Flaccisagitta enflata, Aidanosagitta crassa and A. neglecta, and together they comprised ¡Ö95¢Mof the total chaetognaths. The abundance of chaetognaths showed apparent seasonal changes, higher abundance in February in Tamshui River estuary and in May in Kaoping River estuary. The abundance of chaetognaths showed no significant correlation with temperature in both estuaries, but displayed higher relationships to salinity and copepods. The body length¡]BL¡^ of Flaccisagitta enflata showed significant seasonal and spatial differences, with larger in both February and May in Tamshui River estuary but only in May in Kaoping River estuary. Aidanosagitta crassa showed significantly larger in BL in February than in other months in Tamshui River estuary, but it was not in Kaoping River estuary. The stage I of chaetognaths dominated in this study area and occupied ¡Ö80¢Mof the total count. Other stages mostly presented in February in Tamshui River estuary and in May in Kaoping River estuary. Only Fl. enflata was found to have gut content, all copepods, in February and May. The estimated daily predation impact on the standing stock of copepods ( by number ) was insignificant, only ¡Õ1¢H in both estuaries.

Abstract Resent studies have demonstrated that rivers in the western Pacific islands can be very important in affecting global riverine material flux. The Kaoping River is a typical tropical, island-type river with the largest drainage area in Southern Taiwan. Material outputs from the Kaoping River are expected to play a major role in affecting the local coastal environment. Therefore, this study aims at understanding processes and mechanisms for generation, transport and transformation of terrigenous materials in the Kaoping drainage basin. The temporal and spatial distributions of hydrochemical parameters, total suspended matter (TSM), major ions, nutrients, and particulate and dissolved species of C, N and P (DOC, DIN, DIP, DON, DOP, POC and PON) were measured in the Kaoping River from August 1999 to August 2000. The collected data are used to elucidate sources and the influence of external forcing on fluxes of sediment, carbon and nutrients form the Kaoping drainage basin. Based on the fluxes of TSM and total dissolved solid (TDS) observed in the Kaoping River, the total, physical and chemical weathering rates were estimated about 7,368, 5985 and 1,383 g/m2/yr, respectively. The significant correlation between TSM-load and water discharge suggested that the sediment flux was primarily controlled by the runoff in the drainage basin. The generation of total carbon (DIC¡ÏDOC¡ÏPIC¡ÏPOC) in the Kaoping drainage basin was about 191g C/m2/yr. The yields of DIC, DOC, PIC and POC were 110 (60%), 2.27 (1.7%), 35.6 (17%) and 42.6 (21%) g C/m2/yr, respectively. These values of carbon yield from the Kaoping drainage basin were very high in comparison with ones obtained from the Lanyang River and the other major rivers in the world. The annual fluxes of riverine DIC, DOC, PIC, POC and TC from the Kaoping River were about 34.5, 0.705, 11.0, 13.2 and 63.2 x 1010 g C, respectively. Regarding the nutrient results, the riverine fluxes of dissolved and particulate nitrogen were 2.298 x 109 mole/yr and 1.55 x 108 mole/yr, respectively. By taking out the natural input of total dissolved nitrogen, anthropogenic input of total dissolved nitrogen in the Kaoping River was about 5-6 x 104 kg/day that is similar to the one (56,779 kg/day) reported by the EPA. The fluxes of total dissolved phosphate and silicate were 3.378 x 107 and 1.285 x 109 mole/yr, respectively. The high riverine flux of silicate also reflects the high weathering rate in the Kaoping drainage basin. The flux of anthropogenic phosphate from the Kaoping River was about 4 - 8 x 103 kg/day which was similar to that estimated from the Tanshui River. Taking the nutrient content in the Kaoping upstream as background level, the natural fluxes of total nitrogen and phosphate in the Kaoping River were estimated to be 8 x 103 and 4 x 103 kg/day which were equivalent to 16% and 57% of the anthropogenic inputs, respectively. Anthropogenic input appears to be the major source of riverine nutrients in the Kaoping River. Overall, human activities play a major role on affecting the generation, transport and transformation of terrigenous materials in the Kaoping drainage basin. This study also confirms that rivers in Taiwan may be very important in affecting the local and/or the global fluxes of terrestrial materials.

Abstract This study aims to understand the influence of weathering and human perturbation on spatial and temporal variability of major and trace element distributions in the Kaoping River basin. The collected data are used to elucidate the production, transport and export of major and trace elements from the Kaoping River basin. Experimental results show that the weathering index of the Kaoping River basin is rather high. The significant loss of major ions and enrichment of iron and aluminum from river suspended matter indicate the characteristic of high weathering rate in most tropical rivers. Particulate Si/Al mole ratios range from 1 to 2 showing that the distributions of dissolved and particulate matter are largely controlled by the weathering process of kaolinite and /or smectite formation. During the study period (2002), the physical and chemical weathering rates were estimated about 655.8 and 416.2 g/m2/yr, respectively. Both physical and chemical weathering rates are much lower than those estimated by Yang (2001) during the period of 1999-2000 [3601 g/m2/yr (physical weathering rate), 1146 g/m2/yr (chemical weathering rate)], due to significant difference in river discharge. However, the estimated physical and chemical weathering rates are still much higher than the world averages of physical (150 g/m2/yr) and chemical (33-40 g/m2/yr) weathering rates. The marked difference between this and Yang¡¦s estimates is caused from large difference in river discharge. Silicate weathering was estimated about 97.09 ¡Ó 2.41% of total chemical weathering in the Kaoping River basin. The temporal variations of enrichment factor (EF) for most particulate trace metals (Mn, Zn, Cu, Cr, Pb, Cd, and Hg) reveal a greater pollution status in the dry season than in the wet season. Spatial variations of EF also reveal a greater pollution in the downstream zone than in the upstream zone. Time-series observation showed that concentrations of particulate trace elements were inversely correlated with discharge. The significant correlation between the fluxes of dissolved and particulate trace elements and discharge suggesting that river discharge controlled largely the fluxes of major and trace elements. The annual variations of elemental fluxes were determined critically by the annual difference of river discharge. The distributions of particulate organic carbon (POC) and particulate nitrogen (PN) were similar between suspended matter in the Kaoping River and surface sediments in the Kaoping Canyon. The data of £_13Corg show that about 77.2% of organic matter derived from the Kaoping River basin deposit in the Kaoping Canyon. The Kaoping Canyon appears to play an important role on the transport and deposition of organic matter from the Kaoping River basin.

Constructed wetlands had been used for water treatment worldwide. The efficiency of wastewater treatment in a constructed wetland depends on its design, types of aquatic plants and microbial community present in this wetland. The goal of this study is to analyze the microbial populations in KaoPing River Rail Bridge constructed wetland which was designed to remove the polluted material from municipal sewage and industrial wastewater. Sediment and water samples were collected every 3 months from April, 2007 to April, 2008. The bacterial community diversities were analyzed by PCR-DGGE of the bacterial 16S rRNA gene. Results show approximately 60% BOD, 41% COD, 46% nitrate, 22% total nitrogen, and 97% coliforms were removed by this wetland system. DGGE profiles revealed the bacterial community diversities shifted progressively from the entry to the exit of both A and B systems in this wetland. The microbial populations in water, sediment, biofilms on plants, and soil were quite different from each others. The fecal indicator Escherichia coli was used as a marker to monitor the fecal contamination in all samples. From PCR-DGGE profiles, E. coli could be successfully removed by this wetland system. In conclusion, this constructed wetland is a very successful system for wastewater treatment and is able to remove most of the pollutants before they are discharged into KaoPing River. The results of this study provided useful suggestions for the government to assess the bacterial diversities and the efficiency of this wetland system, to protect people from hazardous risks, and to manage a constructed wetland in the future.