Contemporary state of the meiobenthos in the western Black Sea.

Abstract

The formation of qualitative and quantitative meiobenthic indices on the Black Sea western shelf has been considered. Comparative characteristics of meiobenthic abundance and biomass have been made for different parts of the shelf of three countries — Bulgaria, Romania and Ukraine. Also results of the comparative analysis of quantitative indices of the late 1990s and early 2000s have been provided. According to the meiobenthic indices in contrast to the 1980s and 1990s the current ecological situation on most of the western shelf has improved, changing insignificantly only on the Ukrainian shelf.