Institute  —  Departments  —  Department of ecological parasitology

Department of ecological parasitology

Staff

Established: 1989.
Head: (from 1989 till present) Prof. Albina V. Gaevskaya, D.Sc. (Biol.), the I. Schmalhausen prize winner (zoology).

In IBSS regular parasitological investigations have been conducted since 1957, first by V.M. Nikolaeva and later by A.V. Dolgikh, N.N. Naidyonova, A.M. Parukhin and A.I. Solonchenko. In 1962 the laboratory of parasitology was organized, V.M. Nikolaeva headed it for 22 years. Scientific contribution made by L.P. Tkachuk, T.N. Mordvinova, V.E. Zaika, A.M. Shchepkina and A.A. Kovalyova has made a significant advancement of marine parasitology.
 


Main research trends:

  • The role that parasites play in biodiversity formation and maintenance and in the substance and energy transformation and circulation in marine communities.
  • The mechanisms responsible for parasitic systems formation and functioning under anthropogenic impacts and on artificial reefs.
  • The transformation and adaptation mechanisms that parasites, as a part of coastal marine communities, evolve to adapt to the changing environment and anthropogenic impacts.
  • Formulating the scientific platform for parasitological monitoring and forecast in coastal seawater ecosystems and for preventing parasitic infection in using aquatic culture technologies.

Major results:

  • The obtained scientific evidence has considerably contributed to the knowledge in the taxonomy of parasites harboured by fish and invertebrates of the World's Oceans: more than 350 species, over 50 genera and about 10 families of parasites new to the science were described. The geographic range of the faunistic investigations is as broad as from the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov to the Gulf of Mexico, from Iceland to the circumpolar (Antarctica) seas, from the western Indian Ocean to the central West Pacific.
  • The studies have provided insight into the present parasitic community of near-shore biocenoses of the Black Sea and have shown that on the Crimean shelf two large faunistic complexes occur: one occupying the area from the southwestern extremity of the peninsula to the Karadag-Sudak zone, and the other - the coastal sea water in the west and the Kerch Strait.
  • The influence that anthropogenic factors produce on the composition and functioning of parasitic systems found in the coastal sea of the Crimea was studied; a series of parasitic population and community characteristics were specified as potential indicators of the environmental quality.
  • The worlds first illustrated manual was compiled; it identifies all taxonomic groups of parasites of fish, mammals and water fowl in the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov. A unique encyclopedic guidebook on the parasitology and pathologies of fish was published (in Russian and in Ukrainian).
  • The parasitological concept of mariculture was formulated; the concept explains why parasitological studies must be an essential component of mariculture biotechnologies. A theoretical model of parasitic system formation and functioning on artificial reefs was devised.
  • 12 dissertations for the degree of Ph.D. were defended.
  • 16 monographs were published.

Recent books:

  • Gaevskaya A.V. 2001. The manual on the diseases and parasites of marine and oceanic commercial fish. - Sevastopol: ECOSEA-Hydrophysica: - 262 pp. (In Russian).
  • Gaevskaya A.V. 2003. The parasitology and pathologies of fish: The encyclopedic guidebook. - Moscow, VNIRO Press: - 231 pp. (In Russian).
  • The present biodiversity of the coastal seawater of the Crimea (Black Sea). / Eds. V.N. Eremeyev, A.V.Gaevskaya. 2003. IBSS Natl.Ac.Sci. Ukraine. - Sevastopol: ECOSEA-Hydrophysica. - 511 pp. (In Russian).
  • Gaevskaya A.V. 2004. The parasites and diseases of marine and oceanic fish in the natural environment and in mariculture. - Sevastopol: ECOSEA-Hydrophysica: - 237 pp. (In Russian).
  • Gaevskaya A.V. 2004. The parasitology and pathologies of fish: The encyclopedic guidebook. - Kiev, Naukova Dumka Publishing House. - 365 pp. (In Ukrainian).
  • Gaevskaya A.V. 2005. Anisakid nematodes and the diseases they provoke in humans and animals. - Sevastopol: ECOSEA-Hydrophysica: - 223 pp. (In Russian).
  • Gaevskaya A.V. 2006. The parasitology and pathologies of fish: The encyclopedic guidebook, 2nd (revised) edition. - Sevastopol:ECOSEA-Hydrophysica: - 390 pp. (In Russian).

 

 

Phone: +380 (692) 54-56-62