Macrobenthic communities of the Pechora Sea: the past and the present on the threshold of the Prirazlomnoye oil-field exploitation

On data of bottom sampling, carried out by means of grab, trawl and underwater photography in August-September 1993 in the area of the Pechora Sea, quantitative regularities of macrobenthos distribution are described for the ecological monitoring purposes. Maps of α-biodiversity and biomass indices, bottom communities and trophic zones, singled out by dominant method, are presented. Assessment of structure changes of the investigated area bottom communities during the last 60-70 years is fulfilled. It is shown that the described communities on the whole are of natural undisturbed character and that the revealed changes are within the natural fluctuations in the abundance of benthic populations or may be interpreted in terms of methodical differences in the data analysis and generalization by different authors. (author)