ABSTRACT
Analysis of the composition and quantitative distribution of foraminifers in bathyal sediments collected at 14 stations in the Deryugin Basin and at 11 stations in other regions of the Sea of Okhotsk, Sea of Japan, and North Pacific demonstrated specific foraminifer complex in the basin at depths from 1650 to 1800 m associated with cold barite/methane seeps. Oligomixed biocenosis with prevailing agglutinated foraminifers and Saccorhiza ramosa as the dominant was shown to develop in these zones.
Subject(s)
Ecosystem , Marine Biology , Phaeophyceae/isolation & purification , Seawater , Animals , Pacific Ocean , RussiaABSTRACT
Current ecological conditions in the regions of Bol'shoi Keretskii raid and Glubokaya Salma (Kandalaksha Bay, White Sea) were evaluated on the basis of structural and dynamic indices of the upper sediments in the context of specific composition of the benthic foraminiferal community. The distribution of the main species of living foraminifers was determined for the shallow and deep-sea groups. The relationship between populations of the most abundant species of living benthic foraminifers and hydrolytic enzyme activities providing for destruction of bottom organic matter at biochemical rates has been revealed.