Restoration of the Biocoenosis of the Black Sea Scallop Flexopecten glaber (Bivalvia: Pectinidae) off the Coast of Crimea (Laspi Area)

N. K. Revkov*, N. A. Boltachova

A.O. Kovalevsky Institute of Biology of the Southern Seas of RAS, Sevastopol, Russia

* e-mail: nrevkov@yandex.ru

Abstract

The paper presents a description of the quantitative representation, taxonomic structure and formation features of the Black Sea scallop Flexopecten galaber biocoenosis in the southwestern section of the Crimean shelf (Laspi area), after its depopulation off the coast of Crimea, which coincided with the period of ecological crisis of the Black Sea ecosystem during the second half of the 20th century. The material was benthic samples collected by SCUBA divers using a manual grab sampler in October 2020. A total of 64 macrozoobenthos species were identified in the scallop biocoenosis formed in the biotope of slightly silted sand with shell debris at a depth of 13–34 m. The total list of species was represented by Crustacea (12 species), Mollusca (21), Polychaeta (26), Miscellaneous group (5) and by not identified to species level of Acari, Gromia, Nematoda, Nemertea, Turbellaria. The mean abundance and biomass (after removing the mantle cavity fluid of bivalves) values of macrozoobenthos reached 11,231±2,424 ind./m2 and 247.7±156.3 g/m2, respectively. It is assumed that the forerunner to the Flexopecten biocoenosis in the area of its detection was the Gouldia biocoenosis. The zoobenthos biomass (with mantle cavity fluid of bivalves) in the Flexopecten biocoenosis (351 g/m2) was similar to that values in the Chamelea biocoenosis at comparable depths off the coast of Crimea in the 1930s (388 g/m2), 1957 (354 g/m2), and 1981–2004 (475 g/m2); Chamelea biocoenosis is classified as one of the most abundant coastal belt biocoenosis of the Black Sea basin. The recovery of F. glaber beds observed off the coast of Crimea and its transformation into a coenoses-forming species are in line with the modern recovery processes in the benthos of various areas of the Black Sea shelf, after the crisis period of 1980–1990s, which are associated with de-eutrophication and the improvement of the ecological status of its water areas.

Keywords

Flexopecten galaber, macrozoobenthos, Black Sea, biocoenosis

Acknowledgments

The work was carried out under state assignment of the Federal Research Center of the IBSS on the topic “Regularities of formation and anthropogenic transformation of biodiversity and bioresources of the Azov-Black Sea basin and other regions of the World Ocean” (registration no. 121030100028-0). The authors are very grateful to O.Yu. Vyalova for collecting the material, L.V. Bondarenko for taxonomic identification of crustaceans, L.V. Lukyanova for assistance in laboratory processing.

For citation

Revkov, N.K. and Boltacheva, N.A., 2022. Restoration of the Biocoenosis of the Black Sea Scallop Flexopecten glaber (Bivalvia: Pectinidae) off the Coast of Crimea (Laspi Area). Ecological Safety of Coastal and Shelf Zones of Sea, (4), pp. 90–103. doi:10.22449/2413-5577-2022-4-90-103

DOI

10.22449/2413-5577-2022-4-90-103

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