QUANTITATIVE CHARACTERISTICS OF MICROBIAL COMMUNITIES IN CURRENT MARINE BOTTOM SEDIMENTS OF EAST MURMAN

Pugovkin, D. V., Ivanova, N. S., Usyagina, I. S., Venger, M. P., Meshcheriakov, N. I.

Murmansk Marine Biological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Murmansk, Russian Federation)

The article was received on May 16, 2025

Bibliographic description: Pugovkin D. V., Usyagina I. S., Ivanova N. S., Venger M. P., Mescheriakov N. I. Quantitative characteristics of microbial communities in current marine bottom sediments of East Murman. Arctic: Ecology and Economy, 2025, vol. 15, no. 4. (In Russian).

Abstract  

The authors investigate quantitative characteristics of microbial communities in the bottom sediments of the Zelenetskaya and Yarnyshnaya bays of the Barents Sea formed in the first half of the 20th century. In the surface sediments of the Zelenetskaya bay, exposed to anthropogenic influences, the number of bacteria is higher than in the Yarnyshnaya bay. In the columns collected from both bays, a general trend towards a decrease in the number of microorganisms in the vertical profile is observed. Changes in the morphological structure of the bacterial community in the bottom sediments, manifested by a different ratio of coccoid and rod-shaped bacterial groups,
may be due to the particularities of their habitat. The presence of hydrocarbon-oxidizing bacteria in the lower layers of the sediments in Zelenetskaya Bay (up to 31 cm), dating back to the period before the start of active economic development of the settlement of Dalnie Zelentsy (< 1906) suggests that petroleum hydrocarbons are
able to penetrate to a significant depth of the bottom sediment .

Keywords: radionuclides, bottom sediments, Kola Peninsula, coastal zone, microbial communities 

Funding:  Sampling, analysis and interpretation of the material obtained during bottom sediment studies in Zelenetskaya Bay were carried out within the framework of the State assignment of the MMBI RAS. Sampling in the coastal expedition, processing, analysis and interpretation of the material obtained during studies of bottom sediments in Yarnyshnaya bay were supported by the grant from the Russian Science Foundation (No. 22-17-00243-P) “Radiation oceanology and geoecology of the coastal shelf of the Barents and White Seas. Bioinert interactions in the system: bottom sediments — water — macroalgae — microorganisms, their role in the remediation of the marine coastal ecosystem under radiation and chemical pollution in the Arctic”.

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