Table of Contents 



Page 



Foreword iii 



Protocol of the Third Joint US-USSR Bering & Chukchi Seas Expedition on the RA' Akademik Korolev v 



Acivnowledgements viii 



Frontispiece xii 



Chapter 1 : GENERAL ECOLOGY 1 



1 . 1 Program on Long-Term Ecological Investigations of the Bering Sea and Other Pacific 



Ocean Ecosystems (BERPAC Program) 3 



1.2 Polar Marine Ecosystems and Climate 7 



Chapter 1 References 13 



Chapter!: OCEANOGRAPHY 15 



2.1 Northern Bering-Chukchi Sea Ecosystem: The Physical Basis 17 



2.2 Water Mass Modification from the Bering into the Chukchi Sea 27 



Chapter 2 References 35 



Chapter 3: HYDROCHEMISTRY 37 



3.1 Biogenic Nutrient Content 39 



Chapter 3 References 49 



Chapter 4: MICROORGANISMS AND MICROBIOLOGICAL PROCESSES 51 



4. 1 General Characteristics of the Bacterial Populations 53 



4.1.1 Total Number. Biomass and Activity of Bacterioplankton 55 



4. 1 .2 Thymidine Incorporation, Frequency of Dividing Cells and Growth Rates of 

 Bacterioplankton 60 



4. 1 .3 Bacterial Production and Destruction of Organic Matter 75 



4.2 Heterotrophic Saprophytic Microflora 79 



4.2.1 Distribution of Indicator Groups of Marine Heterotrophic Microorganisms 81 



4.2.2 Taxonomic Composition of Heterotrophic Bacteria 87 



4.3 Microbiological Transformation of Organic Matter 91 



4.3.1 Transformation of Benzo(a)pyrene 93 



4.3.2 Transformation of Polychlorinated Biphenyls by Marine Bacterioplankton 95 



4.4 Biologic Characteristics of Marine Microorganisms 101 



4.4. 1 Biological Features and Genotoxic Properties of Microorganisms 103 



Chapter 4 References 1 1 1 



Chapters: PLANKTON 117 



5.1 Phytoplankton 119 



5.1.1 Certain Characteristics of Phytoplankton 121 



5.1.2 Phytoplankton Biomass Distribution in the Northern Bering Sea and Southern 



Chukchi Sea 123 



5. 1 .3 Distributions of Algal Pigments in Near-surface Waters 127 



5.1.4 Complex Hydrooptic Researches 135 



