Open AccessDYNAMICS OF ZOOBENTHOS DEVELOPMENT WITHIN THE WATER AREA OF THE YURI KORCHAGIN FIELD IN THE NORT PART OF THE CASPIAN SEA
Author(s) -
Semen Nikolaevich Studnikov,
Lyubov Vasilievna Malinovskaya,
Alexey Vladimirovich Kuzin
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
vestnik astrahanskogo gosudarstvennogo tehničeskogo universiteta. seriâ: rybnoe hozâjstvo
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2309-978X
pISSN - 2073-5529
DOI - 10.24143/2073-5529-2018-2-89-97
Subject(s) - benthic zone , fauna , dominance (genetics) , invertebrate , population , biomass (ecology) , ecology , population density , biology , oceanography , fishery , geology , biochemistry , demography , sociology , gene
One of the main purposes of the monitoring studies is a long-term research of benthic communities of the north part of the Caspian Sea. Analysis of quantitative and qualitative characteristics is the only means to formulate main laws of the development of benthic biocenosis in terms of enhanced oil and gas field development, as well as to provide a forecast of the state of the fields and of the human impact on them. In the survey period, from 2014 to 2016, 43 species of benthic invertebrates, namely 2 species of Annelida, 32 species of Crustacea and 9 species of Mollusca, were identified as the result of zoobenthos development study. In that period, total average population density of the benthic fauna within the Yuri Korchagin field water area made 6 716 organisms per square meter, while the general average biomass constituted 77.324 grams per square meter. During the whole period of the research such zoobenthos species as Crustaceans and mainly Gammarids, including Ch. Ischnus and St. similis , dominated in terms of population density. As to biomass, the most abundant zoobenthos species were molluscs - Mediterranean species M. lineatus and A. ovata with D. protracta - a marine species - dominating in different years. Zoobenthos diversity, quantity fluctuations and dominance of given species in biomass and population density at certain stations of the studied water area were linked principally to the water salinity, type of soil and food resources availability. The study of benthic invertebrates showed that Yuri Korchagin field area in the north part of the Caspian Sea is characterized by a high development of euryhaline and marine benthic invertebrates.