Integral patterns of quantitative distribution of mass zooplankton species in Far Eastern seas and the North-western Pacific Ocean basing on the annual mean data of 1984-2006

From 1984 through 2006 altogether 8808 plankton samplings were taken in the Russian Fishery Zone (Sea of Okhotsk, Bering Sea, and North-western Pacific Ocean); in addition 419 samplings were taken in eastern and central areas of the Bering Sea in 2003-2006 in the framework of the BASIS program. These data allowed the composition of maps of the horizontal distribution of zooplankton by fractions, species, and groups of species, which make up the general share of its biomass, as well as the feeding base for nekton. To draw the maps, data were averaged over one-degree squares; gradations were selected in such a way that areas with significantly different abundances contrasted and fine spottiness was leveled. This allowed obtaining a maximally generalized pattern with areas and sites of higher and lower abundances of studied objects, i.e., so-called quasistationary zones, in which dense concentrations of the studied plankters should be expected.