The ecological state of the marine shallow water ecosystem (the case of the Sevastopol Bay) is analyzed by the ratio of assimilative capacity and E-TRIX index depending on the anthropogenic load level for the whole bay ecosystem. As part of analysis, the eastern, central, western parts of the bay were distinguished as well as the Yuzhnaya Bay (southern part). Calculations of the assimilative capacity and E-TRIX index for ecosystems of different parts of the Sevastopol Bay were performed using the in situ data of inorganic nitrogen for the period 1998–2012 obtained from the MHI RAS oceanographic data bank. The paper compares values of ecosystem assimilative capacity calculated for inorganic nitrogen as a prevailing pollutant in municipal and storm wastewaters and E-TRIX trophic index of the sea ecosystem, with the technogenic load and biological process seasonality (warm and cold periods) of nutrient income taken into account. This allowed to properly distinguish water areas, which are most vulnerable in terms of formation of negative ecological events, up to disasters. According to the obtained data, such an area is that of the Yuzhnaya Bay. The second vulnerable water area is the eastern apex part of the Sevastopol bay exposed to the Chernaya River discharge. As the results showed, the situation worsens during winter and spring freshets due to increase in content of inorganic nitrogen forms in the Chernaya River runoff. The ecosystem of the western bay part adjoining the open sea is the safest in terms of nitrate nitrogen assimilative capacity, whereas the central part ecosystem appears to be the cleanest in terms of E-TRIX. The ecosystem most exposed to ecological risks in terms of both indices (assimilative capacity and E-TRIX) is that of the Yuzhnaya Bay (the southern part of the Sevastopol Bay). The observed imbalance of distribution of the calculated trophic index E-TRIX and assimilative capacity in different parts of the Sevastopol Bay is due to various nature of these quantities. The assimilative capacity of an ecosystem is defined by physical, chemical and biological processes given a dynamic removal of pollutants from the ecosystem, whereas E-TRIX is determined, in general, by seasonal variability of nutrient income into the ecosystem.
We demonstrate the importance of investigation of the behavior of methane as a source of energy and an element of the Black-Sea ecosystem affecting the global behavior of the climate. We describe the genesis of methane and the processes of its aerobic and anaerobic oxidation. An especially important biogeochemical and ecological role is played by the anaerobic oxidation of methane guaranteeing the formation of its effective sink inside the anaerobic zone and preventing its penetration into the atmosphere as a greenhouse gas. On the basis of the analysis of the experimental data available from the literature, we also discuss the principal regularities of the distribution of concentration of methane and its flows. It is shown that the formation of methane hydrates at the bottom in the abyssal part of the Black Sea and the events of jet gas release on the periphery of the basin can be regarded as the components of a single global process of gas release from the bottom of the Black Sea. We present estimates of the components of methane budget in the Black Sea. The results of simulation of the dynamics of methane bubbles and the processes of their gas exchange with the medium are analyzed. The data of hydroacoustic measurements are used to evaluate the distribution of methane bubbles in sizes and the mass transfer of methane through the ocean-atmosphere interface. Finally, we consider the methods of mathematical simulation of the distribution of methane in the ecosystem of the Black Sea.
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