Аннотация:In the ecosystem of the White Sea, the Zostera marina L. – the only mass species on the silted
stretches of the coast serves as a place for feeding and spawning fish and feed for waterfowl. In the last third of the 20th century, the mass mortality of Z. marina thickets caused by Myxomycetes Labyrinthula macrocystis Cienc was observed, which adversely affected the abundance of Clupea pallasi marisalbi and Gasterosteus aculeatus L.
The monitoring of the population of Z. marina was carried out in 2009-2010 and 2015 and compared
with the literature data. A decrease in the number of shoots has been detected, up to the disappearance in separate bays in different years. The continuous uplift of the Karelian coast of the White Sea forces Z. marina populations to move down the littoral. There is either a catastrophic scenario of mass death of a population in a separate bay, or a gradual rarefaction and disappearance of individual plants. In 2009, new habitats were discovered in the area of the White Sea biological station on the average littoral, in which Z. marina had not previously been noted. Observations in 2015 showed that Z. marina increased the number of vegetative and generative shoots in these sites and is less affected by L. mixrocystis.