Importance of the fish predation on the composition and structure of copepods communities in the Franz Josef Land area (the northeastern Barents Sea)

No abstracts are to be cited without prior reference to the author.

The Franz Josef Land area is a region of a great scientific interest in the northern Barents Sea where rapid and significant changes in the mesoplankton community (especially in copepods) have been recently observed. Both Arctic (Calanus glacialis, C. hyperboreus, Pseudocalanus minutus and other species) and boreal (C. finnmarchicus) species occur in the area and some of them are important prey species for abundant pelagic fishes (capelin and polar cod). The feeding preferences of pelagic fish for different copepods are determined by their species, size and developmental stages. Capelin prefers to feed on large mature females of C. glacialis, whereas small individuals of P. minutus are virtually absent in the fish diet. Changes in the species composition, the predominance of various species, the total abundance and biomass of copepods as well as impacts of the fish predation on the copepods community in the Franz Josef Land area in 2008-2011 are discussed in this paper.