In Sevastopol, scientists calculated the danger of extinction of the most important inhabitant of the sea
CrimeaPRESS reports:
Specialists from scientific institutions in Sevastopol — the Marine Hydrophysical Institute (MGI) of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Institute of Biology of the Southern Seas (InSBI) of the Russian Academy of Sciences — collected data and developed a mathematical model demonstrating how global warming and ocean pollution threaten a key species of plankton in the Black Sea. This was reported by the press service of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation.
The model predicts that changes in the population of the tiny crustacean Calanus euxinus could lead to serious consequences for the marine ecosystem in the coming decades— quotes the press service message TASS.
The MHI press service explained to the agency that a lot of work was done to create the model. Employees of the Institute of Yugoslavia, studying the inhabitants of the Black Sea, provided an extensive array of data, and the Hydrophysical Institute provided mathematical calculations.
Calanus euxinus is a species of cold-water crustaceans that form the basis of nutrition for many fish in the Black Sea. These barely noticeable organisms, also called copepods, make vertical migrations every day: at night they rise to the surface to feed on microalgae — phytoplankton, and during the day they sink into the depths so as not to be eaten by predators, and spend time there in a state of peculiar hibernation, called diapause.
However, it is becoming increasingly difficult for the crustacean calanus to avoid its enemies. For safety, it needs oxygen at depth, and over the past decades, the upper limit of the oxygen-free zone in the Black Sea, to which Calanus dives, has risen by almost 50 m.
There is no beast more terrible than sprat
Until the 1980s, anoxic waters were at a depth of about 120 m. Kalyanus was hidden in the depths, since sprat, its main enemy, only descends to 100 m. Since the 1980s, the situation has changed. Due to pollution and climate change, oxygen levels in deep waters have decreased by 44%. The oxygen-free zone rose to depths of 75-80 msaid leading researcher at the Institute of Biomedical Sciences of the Russian Academy of Sciences Viktor Melnikov.
To understand the impact of these changes on the copepod population, scientists developed a mathematical model.
[Данная модель] takes into account key parameters that influence the dynamics of the calanus population and allows us to assess changes in its numbers and structure both in relatively stable conditions and under increasing pressure from predators,” explained MHI Deputy Director Elena Vasechkina.The results of simulation modeling indicate that increased predation pressure on Calanus in diapause will lead to serious degradation of the copepod population within two years.
Further reduction in the living space of Calanus can lead to big problems at the level of the ecosystem of the deep-sea part of the Black Sea. The study was published in the scientific journal Journal of Marine Systems.
source: TASS
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