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¹ Karelian research center, Institute of Biology, RAS, 185910, Pushkinskaia 11, Karelia, Petrozavodsk, Russia
² A.N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution, RAS DOI : 10.4194/1303-2712-v17_6_17 Viewed : 3434 - Downloaded : 2730 Changes of zoobenthos structure in the main channel, upper reaches and tributaries of the River Mzymta (Sochi region) during four-year Olympic construction activity were analyzed. It was showed that river stretches in the upper reaches and minor tributaries, which were not affected by the construction, were inhabited by typical lithorheophilic fauna, and zoobenthos was characterized by high diversity and biomass. The natural state of the ecosystem in the main river channel was disturbed and the slopes of the flood plain and the channel itself were damaged. The pebble-boulder ground was covered by clay sediments and finely dispersed mineral particles. As a result, in the section of the river from the construction zone until the sea, а distance of about 40 km, the biomass of zoobenthos decreased. Small chironomid larvae began to predominate and the food supply of juvenile Black Sea salmon (Salmo trutta labrax Pallas, 1814) has considerably decreased. Keywords : river, stream, environmental impact assessment, hydroecology, invertebrates