All issues

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.

The spatiotemporal dynamics of a three-component model for food web is considered. The model describes the interactions among resource, prey and predator that consumes both species. In a previous work, the author analyzed the model without taking into account spatial heterogeneity. This study continues the model study of the community considering the diffusion of individuals, as well as directed movements of the predator. It is assumed that the predator responds to the spatial change in the resource and prey density by occupying areas where species density is higher or avoiding them. Directed predator movement is described by the advection term, where velocity is proportional to the gradient of resource and prey density. The system is considered on a one-dimensional domain with zero-flux conditions as boundary ones. The spatiotemporal dynamics produced by model is determined by the system stability in the vicinity of stationary homogeneous state with respect to small inhomogeneous perturbations. The paper analyzes the possibility of wave instability leading to the emergence of autowaves and Turing instability, as a result of which stationary patterns are formed. Sufficient conditions for the existence of both types of instability are obtained. The influence of local kinetic parameters on the spatial structure formation was analyzed. It was shown that only Turing instability is possible when taxis on the resource is positive, but with a negative taxis, both types of instability are possible. The numerical solution of the system was found by using method of lines (MOL) with the numerical integration of ODE system by means of splitting techniques. The spatiotemporal dynamics of the system is presented in several variants, realizing one of the instability types. In the case of a positive taxis on the prey, both autowave and stationary structures are formed in smaller regions, with an increase in the region size, Turing structures are not formed. For negative taxis on the prey, stationary patterns is observed in both regions, while periodic structures appear only in larger areas.