NEWLY DISCOVERED AND UNCODIFIED INTERTIDAL MARINE HABITATS OF THE NORTH-WESTERN BLACK SEA AND NEARBY AREAS

Abstract

Uncodified intertidal marine habitats of the NWBS and nearby areas were inventory. Because of research, 17 new habitats were identified: “Pontic supralittoral rock with marine Diptera”, “Limestone pavement with supralittoral rockpools”, “Drainage of fresh water on the rocks”, “Diptera and Enchytraeidae on strandline”, “Pontic multispecies communities on strandline”, “Freshwater springs on the sandy beaches and associated pools”, “Long-existing pools and ponds with marine fauna on the sandy beach”, “Pontic mediolittoral granule with Saccocirrus papillocerus”, “Mediolittoral sands with Enchytraeidae”, “Pontic mediolittoral gravel with Donacilla cornea and Saccocirrus papillocerus”, “Pontic mediolittoral fine-medium sands with Pontogammarus maeoticus and bivalves”, “Pontic mediolittoral shelly gravel with crustaceans”, “Pontic soft rock beds with Barnea candida burrows”, “Pontic infralittoral coarse sediments with Rhodophyta”, “Pontic infralittoral sands with crustaceans”, “Pontic scoured sublittoral cobbles and pebbles with Mytilaster”, “Aggregation dead remnants of angiosperms in infralittoral zone”. Some of the selected habitats are covered by the less detailed “Bern” habitats “A2.2: Littoral sand and muddy sand”; “Bern” habitat “A3: Infralittoral rock and other hard substrata”; “Bern” habitat “A5: Sublittoral sediment”. These habitats should be protected for a long time by creating the Emerald Network of Ukraine. Selected habitats relatively well covered by protected areas, with the exception of those associated with soft rocks. The creation of protected areas covering these landscapes between Chornomorsk City and Tiligul Liman is necessary.