АКУМУЛЯЦІЯ РЕЧОВИНИ ТА ЕНЕРГІЇ НА МОРСЬКІЙ ПОВЕРХНІ ТА ЕФЕКТ МОРСЬКОГО НЕЙСТОНУ

As a result of permanent matter and energy accumulation on the sea surface, a specific community of organisms and a new ecomorph were discovered. This is the marine neuston (MN), a very numerous global scale association composed by bacteria, fungi, algae, invertebrate, fish eggs, larvae and fry. All of them are well adapted to the specific environmental conditions of the surface habitat, including bright protective coloration against UV radiation, preda-tors from the water and air, behavioural reactions. These characters and features are useful only at the sea surface and useless or harmful in the water column. This is why neustonic organisms are very rare or lacking in the water col-umn. Thanks to the predominance of early ontogenetic stages, the MN is a key community responsible for the reproduction of many marine organisms, including commercially important species of invertebrate and fish which in adult state are inhabiting the water column and the bottom. Because of its surface position, the MN proved to be an ecological target for different kinds of man-made impacts inter alia of chemical and radioactive pollution, which adversely affects the population’s number of neustonic species. The monitoring of MN is an efficient method of assessment of the ecological status of the marine environment.