Composition and location of trophic groupings of zoobenthos in the Arctic Ocean

Abstract

This study is devoted to the distribution of trophic groups of zoobenthos in the Arctic Ocean. The patterns of distribution of detritus feeders, seston feeders, and predators along the bottom of the Arctic polar basin are analyzed. The object of the study is the geoecology of the distribution of food groups of benthic animals in the polar regions. The subject of the study is the methods used in assessing the distribution of zoobenthos with different types of nutrition in the polar regions. The results of the work are based on the analysis of the vertical and horizontal structures of the distribution of benthic fauna, reflected in the map of the distribution of trophic groups of zoobenthos and systematized in the distribution table of the leading species of zoobenthos in the Arctic Ocean. To assess the patterns of geoecological distribution of zoobenthos according to the method of feeding, the following were used: actual and cartographic scientific data on the relief, soils, waters, ice cover, maps on the distribution of plankton and the content of organic matter in bottom sediments, as well as data on the trophic characteristics of the benthic fauna of the polar regions, leading biocenoses of the polar regions and geoecological conditions for the existence of benthic fauna in the polar regions. This article presents a map of the distribution of zoobenthos in the Arctic Ocean (according to literary sources), developed by the author, and a table of distribution of guide species of zoobenthos trophic groups in various areas of the Arctic Ocean, compiled by the author based on literary sources. The obtained results of the distribution of food groups of zoobenthos can be used in further detailed assessment of food reserves of bioresources in the polar regions of the World Ocean and their consumption; when designing the economic development of the polar regions; during landscape monitoring.

Keywords

• benthic fauna
• zoobenthos
• trophic structure
• food groups
• detritus feeders
• seston feeders
• predators