Spatio-temporal organization of microbenthic communities in the intertidal and upper subtidal zone of the White Sea

This research topic has evolved from the demo ecological study conducted at the White Sea, where in the course of long-term (since the seventies of the last century) monitoring of the bivalve population their biotic environment was evaluated at each sampling. Since 2006 (in the sublittoral zone) and 2008 (the littoral zone) the structure of benthic communities has been the subject of specific study. Major aspects of the ongoing research are following: the identification of biocenotic groups at soft soil littoral zone and upper subtidal zone of the White Sea, assessment of the impact of abiotic conditions (soil characteristics, temperature, salinity, etc.) on the structure of benthic communities, the study of the interannual changes in the structure of benthic communities, patterns of spatial distribution of benthic habitats within the local area, contingency in the distribution of individual species as a basis for the analysis of interspecies relationships. One of the line of research has a strong methodological focus, namely the study of the effect of sampling regime on the description of community structure.