Laboratory of Marine Ecosystem Dynamics

Scientific Head: Maiorova A.S., senior researcher, Cand. Sci. Biol.

Main fields of research:

• Spatial structure, monitoring and evaluation of bioresource potential of bottom communities using ROV surveying;
• Trophic relationships in aquatic ecosystems and their dependence on production parameters of the environment;
• Development of methods and technologies for cultivation of marine organisms under natural and artificial conditions;
• Effect of plastic particle (micro- and nanoplastics) pollution of aquatic ecosystems on physiological and biochemical functions of aquatic organisms;
• Patterns of periphyton communities dynamics and development of methods of fouling control;
• Geochemical cycles of nutrients in bottom sediments of marine ecosystems.

Approaches and methods used

• Laboratory and in situ experimental research methods;
• Non-contact methods of studying bottom communities structure and point sampling with ROVs;
• Sample collection using traditional hydrobiological gear and modern tools: plankton nets, trawls, dredges, bottle samplers, bottom grabs, box-corers, multicorers, sediment tubes, bottom sledges;
• Instrumental (CTD profiler) and hydrochemical methods for studying aquatic environment parameters;
• Mass spectrometry (stable isotopes distribution);
• Microscopic and histological methods of taxonomic research;
• Chromatographic methods for studying biogeochemical processes in bottom sediments.

Range of organisms and objects under study

• Echinoderms, polychaetes, sponges, echiurans, bivalves, crustaceans;
• Hydrochemical parameters of water and bottom sediments as a habitat;
• Biogeochemical microbiological processes in bottom sediments.

Geography of research

• Far Eastern seas: Sea of Okhotsk, Sea of Japan/East Sea, Bering Sea;
• Northwest Pacific;
• Arctic seas: Laptev Sea, Kara Sea, East Siberian Sea, Chukchi Sea;
• South China Sea.

Information provided by the senior researcher A.S. Maiorova.