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In the paper the statistical relationships between the size and production characteristics of phytoplankton and zooplankton of the Vistula and Curonian lagoons, the Baltic Sea, were investigated. Research phytoplankton and zooplankton within the Russian part of the area of the Vistula and the Curonian lagoon was carried out on the monthly basis (from April to November) within the framework of long-term monitoring program on evaluating of ecological status of the lagoons. The size structure of plankton is the basis for understanding of the development of production processes, mechanisms of formation of the plankton species diversity and functioning of the lagoon ecosystems. As results of the work it was found that the maximum rate of photosynthesis and the integral value of the primary production with a change in cell volume of phytoplankton are changed according to a power law. The result shows that the smaller the size of algal cells in phytoplankton communities the more actively occur metabolism and the more effective they assimilate the solar energy. It is shown that the formation of plankton species diversity in ecosystems of lagoons is closely linked with the size structure of plankton communities and with features of development of the production processes. It is proposed the structure of a spatially homogenous mathematical model of the plankton food chain for the lagoon ecosystems taking into account the size spectrum and the characteristics of phytoplankton and zooplankton. The model parameters are the sizedependent indicators allometrically linked with average volumes of cells and organisms in different ranges of their sizes. In the model the algorithm for changes over time the coefficients of food preferences in the diet of zooplankton was proposed. Developed the size-dependent mathematical model of aquatic ecosystems allows to consider the impact of turbulent exchange on the size structure and temporal dynamics of the plankton food chain of the Vistula and Curonian lagoons. The model can be used to study the different regimes of dynamic behavior of plankton systems depending on the changes in the values of its parameters and external influences, as well as to quantify the redistribution of matter flows in ecosystems of the lagoons.

The biohydrochemical portrait of the White Sea is constructed on the CNPSi-model calculations based on long-term mean annual observations (average monthly hydrometeorological, hydrochemical and hydrobiological parameters of the marine environment) as well as on updated information on the nutrient input to the sea with the runoff of the main river tributaries (Niva, Onega, Northern Dvina, Mezen, Kem, Keret). Parameters of the marine environment are temperature, light, transparency, and biogenic load. Ecological characteristics of the sea “portrait” were calculated for nine marine areas (Kandalaksha, Onega, Dvinsky, Mezensky Bays, Solovetsky Islands, Basin, Gorlot, Voronka, Chupa Bay), these are: the concentration changes of organic and mineral compounds of biogenic elements (C, N, P, Si), the biomass of organisms of the lower trophic level (heterotrophic bacteria, diatomic phytoplankton, herbivorous and predatory zooplankton) and other ones (rates of substance concentration and organism biomass changes, internal and external substance flows, balances of individual substances and nutrients as a whole). Parameters of the marine environment state (water temperature, ratio of mineral fractions N < P) and dominant diatom phytoplankton in the sea (abundance, production, biomass, chlorophyll content a) were calculated and compared with the results of individual surveys (for 1972–1991 and 2007–2012) of the White Sea water areas. The methods for estimating the values of these parameters from observations and calculations differ, however, the calculated values of the phytoplankton state are comparable with the measurements and are similar to the data given in the literature. Therefore, according to the literature data, the annual production of diatoms in the White Sea is estimated at 1.5–3 million tons C (at a vegetation period of 180 days), and according to calculations it is ~2 and 3.5 million tons C for vegetation period of 150 and 180 days respectively.