Summary of Working Paper No. 9-1995
II.1: Initial Survey of Russian Data Sources
By Maria Gavrilo, Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute and Boris Sirenko,
Zoological Institute of Russian Academy of Science, St. Petersburg, Russia.
Russian investigations of biota of the northern seas including algae,
invertebrates and fishes, began more than 200 years ago. Among the seas through which
the NSR passes, the Kara Sea is studied best of all. The Laptev Sea and the
Chukchi Sea are less studied. Flora and fauna of the East-Siberian Sea is
investigated least of all due to long distance from the western ports and the heavy ice
conditions at the Long Strait. The water bodies of each sea are also studied
unevenly in terms of hydrobiology
The state of knowledge on biota along the Northern Sea Route area is
considered within the work on the INSROP project II.1. A references database of Russian
sources dealing with this biota was created. It numbers 963 references. The
publications on different groups of plants and animals were analysed and annotated
separately. All references are supported by 3 types of keywords including
taxa, geography and problems discussed. A list of 36 references for general
geographical and biological publications was created. A list of botanical publications
concerning both coastal and marine flora numbers 57 references. A list of
hydrobiological publications including works on invertebrates and protozoon
consists of 297 items. For vertebrates (fishes, marine birds and mammals) 562
publications were found and annotated. All references are available both in the form of
the list (Annex 5) and database (see description in the Annex 4). Published
works can be found in different Russian libraries (see Annex 3).
An overview both of materials kept in different Russian institutions and
ongoing and planned projects is given in the report. It contains information about
the volume and quality of materials including reliability, availability, studied
objects , covered area etc. as well as contact persons and addresses.
The analysis of published data on biota along the NSR area and corresponding
material existing in different Russian institutions suggests that the main
problems facing Arctic research are as follows:
The understanding of annual cycles of hydrobios, trophic relations and other
aspects of ecosystem functioning is limited. Only few works deal with the
assessment of the ecological situation in the local regions of high anthropogenic
activity.
There are no data about possible effects of pollution on all mentioned species
within the area considered. I.a. there is not sufficient information about
biology and ecology to accurately assess the anthropogenic influence upon sea
mammals.
Our preliminary analysis suggests the existing material to be useful for a
general description of the ecological state of all seas along the NSR.
All this knowledge as well as the experience of experts involved in this study
enabled the execution of an analysis of the deficiencies and a substantiation
of the necessity of a special expedition.
Key words: Arctic ecology, literature, state of knowledge, Northern Sea Route
(NSR) area, collection, distribution, biota, plankton, benthos, fishes, marine
birds, marine mammals.
uneven information support within the Arctic region, background data are
absent for some regions;
dissimilar data format derived from different extent of primary data
treatment. As a rule only published data are fully available. Unpublished primary data
kept in archives, unexamined collections, daybooks, databases will become
available only after treatment by their possessors;
most ongoing projects are studies not concerning the INSROP needs and combined
they will not close all gaps in the knowledge.