The western Chukchi Sea ecosystems are among the most productive systems in waters of the Russian sector of the Arctic. Chukchi Sea is of exceptional interest not only for the assessment of biological resources, but also for the analysis of quantitative distribution of key species in the study of long-term zooplankton fluctuations under the effect of various natural and anthropogenic factors. In this study, we compared the zooplankton composition, abundance, biomass, and spatial distribution in relationship with water characteristics on the western Chukchi Sea shelf. The community was dominated in number by copepods of the genera Pseudocalanus, Oithona, Microsetella, and bivalve larvae; in biomass, it was dominated by the copepod Calanus glacialis. The highest abundance and biomass of zooplankton were observed at the stations with the cold Winter Water and Melt Water. The zooplankton communities in the eastern corner of the Herald Canyon were influenced by the Anadyr/Bering Sea Water; in contrast, the zooplankton in the western corner of the Herald Canyon was more similar to the communities of the shallow Arctic seas. The trend of changes in the Chukchi Sea zooplankton community structure towards the predominance of small-sized crustacean species and their southward expansion along the southwestern Chukchi shelf are discussed.

楚科奇海西部生态系统是俄罗斯北极地区水域中生产力最高的系统之一。楚科奇海不仅对生物资源的评估特别重要，而且对于在各种自然和人为因素的影响下长期浮游动物波动的研究中关键物种的定量分布分析也具有特别的意义。在这项研究中，我们比较了楚科奇海陆架西部浮游动物的组成，丰度，生物量和空间分布与水特征的关系。社区是由属的桡足类数量为主Pseudocalanus，长腹剑水蚤，Microsetella和双壳类幼虫; 在生物质中，它被the足类动物占主导冰川。在寒冷的冬季水和融化水站，浮游动物的丰度和生物量最高。先驱者峡谷东角的浮游动物群落受到阿纳德尔/白令海水的影响。相反，先驱峡谷西角的浮游动物与北极浅海群落更为相似。讨论了楚科奇海浮游动物群落结构的变化趋势，即小型甲壳类动物占优势并沿西南楚科奇大陆架向南扩展。