Responses of Algal Communities of the North-Western Black Sea to the Impact of Local, Regional, and Global Factors

摘要

Reactions of phytobentos and phytoplankton communities of the northwestern part of the Black Sea to the factors of local, regional, and global levels were investigated using techniques of morphofunctional ecology and methodology of a holistic approach. The effect of factors of each level on algal communities was estimated using a scale with seven grades. The strongest negative impact on communities of benthic algae at the local level resulted in intensive transformation of natural habitats in the coastal zone. At the regional level, processes of significant reduction of algal communities due to a decreasing eutrophication of the sea were discovered. At the global level, climate anomalies seem to be the main reason for the growth of negative trends in algal communities; in the last decade they became a significant factor affecting production, structure, and functional organization of benthic and plankton communities of algae.