Modern Methods of Rapid Assessment of the Ecological Status of Marine Areas In Situ with Vertical Sounding

Abstract

The study of marine ecosystems’ spatial structuring, interaction of these ecosystems’ various components and investigation of their heterogeneity formation mechanisms are among the most important problems of modern hydro ecology. Bioluminescence as manifestation of an organism vital activity in the form of electromagnetic radiation in the visible spectrum is the most important ecological and optical factor of the marine environment. The impact of biotic, abiotic and anthropogenic factors can significantly change the characteristics of aquatic organisms’ light emission. It is of immediate interest to assess the marine ecosystems’ current state on bioluminescence field’s parameters variability, as it can serve as a sensitive indicator for the degree of plankton organisms’ resistance to the effect of pollutants, and as an express indicator for marine environment’s local and regional pollution. Has been demonstrated the possibility of using the modern probing hydro-biological complex «Salpa-MA» with computer processing of the measured information for the rapid assessment of coastal waters’ ecological condition. This complex allows in a short time in marine environment to obtain synchronous integrated assessments of biotic and abiotic factors, and using laboratory processing of obtained data to reveal marine organisms’ functional linkages with environmental factors, and identify the features of these organisms development.