Year: 2019, Number: 2, Pages: 48-65
The article presents a comparative analysis of the species composition, quantitative characteristics and trophic structure indices of polychaetes dwelling on natural hard substrates (rocks, boulders) at coastal reserves of the Crimea (“Cape Martyan”, Karadag, Kazantip, Opuk) and the Caucasus (“Utrish”). Totally 36 species of polychaetes were identified. The greatest species richness (24 species) was registered in the area of the Karadag natural Reserve; these species are belonged to 13 families of 18 recorded in all studied sites. The poorest species composition was revealed in the Kazantip Reserve water area there only three species of polychaetes belonging to three families were found. The most diverse in species richness are polychaetes families Syllidae (7 species), Nereididae (4) and Phyllodocidae (4). In the other 15 families only 1–2 species were found in each. Within the studied areas, the average values of polychaetes abundance varied from 1 to 785 ind./m2, and the biomass ranged from 0,0004 to 7,824 g / m2, respectively. The top positions in the ranked row for these indices are polychaetes of the Nereididae family, which were recorded in 4 of the 5 surveyed areas. The contribution of these species to the total polychaetes abundance was about 60 %, to the total biomass – 86 %. The frequency of polychaetes occurrence ranged from 3 to 100 %. A high percentage of low-occurred species was usual for all near shore sites, excepting the Kazantip water area. On average, 52 % of polychaetes species from all studied areas displayed low occurrence values; the groups of characteristic and leading species account for 24 % in each. Among the common species, two rare for the Black Sea polychaete species were encountered, i. e. Neodexiospira pseudocorrugata (Bush, 1905) and Protoaricia capsulifera (Bobretzky, 1870). In the feeding structure of the Polychaeta taxocene five trophic groups: detritophages, phytophages, polyphages, carnivores and sestonophages, were observed.