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Analysis of long-term data (1987–2019) was carried out on the morphology and autecology of the benthic colonial large-cell species Striatella unipunctata (Lyngbye) C. A. Agardh, 1832 in the microphytobenthos of the Black Sea and Sea of Japan, including water areas of specially protected natural areas of Russia. The species is widely found on natural and artificial substrates in the Black Sea year-round, and in the Sea of Japan, at a water temperature down to −1.5 °C. St. unipunctata quantitative data were determined by direct cell counting in the Goryaev camera under light microscopes (LMs) Biolam L-212, Axioskop 40, and Olympus BX41. Species morphology, phytogeography, and ecology are described. The cell size range of populations is presented: for the Black Sea, valves 25–148 µm long, 8–22 µm wide, frustules 36.3–50.4 µm wide, 18–24 fibulae in 10 µm, and 7–8 girdle bands in 10 µm; for the Sea of Japan, valves 85–125 µm long, 12–21 µm wide, 7–8 girdle bands in 10 µm, 20–25 fibulae in 10 µm, frustules 32.0–34.3 µm long, 10–11 µm wide, and 25 fibulae in 10 µm. For the first time, St. unipunctata valves and frustules were studied in vivo under LMs, and frustule ultrastructure, under a scanning electron microscope (SEM). For the first time, quantitative indicators of the species populations from the Black Sea and Sea of Japan were compared. The morphology of the frustule ultrastructure of St. unipunctata was studied under a Hitachi SEM, model SU3500 (Japan), in Leica EM ACE200 gold-palladium-coated samples. In the Kazachya Bay of the Black Sea near the Oceanarium, the absolute maximum abundance was recorded – 41.6·10³ cells·cm−2 with a biomass of 1.73 mg·cm−2 in January (t = +6.9 °C) in the epizoon of the cultured mussel Mytilus galloprovincialis Lamarck, 1819 at a depth of 0.5 m at excessive organic pollution of water. The minimum values were of 0.26·10³ cells·cm−2 and 0.011 mg·cm−2, respectively, in July (t = +23.5 °C) at a depth of 2.5 m. In the Paris Bay (Russky Island) of the Sea of Japan in the water area of the Marine Mammal Research Base of the Primorsky Oceanarium (Vladivostok), the abundance in the asbestos plates periphyton was of 207·10³ cells·cm−2 in the summer. For the first time, unique micrographs of the species in vivo were obtained under a LM, and of purified frustules – under a SEM.

This article presents the results of studies of the cyanobacteria from foulings of natural and anthropogenic substrates of the intertidal zone of the Kola Bay of the Barents Sea for the period from 2010 to 2019. Ninety-five cyanobacterial species from 46 genera, 20 families, and 6 orders were found; 22 species are given for the first time for the Barents Sea. A majority of cyanobacterial taxa belong to benthic species (70%), which live mainly on natural substrates. The species abundance decreases from the lower intertidal zone to the supralittoral. The proportion of planktonic and bento-planktonic species was 12% and 18%, respectively. Freshwater (44%), marine (37%), brackish-water (3%), and euryhaline (16%) species have been found in the intertidal zone of the bay. The study has revealed 27 indicator species; most of them were oligo- and oligo-betamezosaprobionts. The cyanobacteria of the Kola Bay were predominantly boreal-tropical-notal (26%), cosmopolitan (23%), and boreal (18%) species. Peaks of the number of species were recorded in the early spring (March) and autumn (October). Areas with increased anthropogenic pressure from seaport cities showed the lowest index of species similarity.

This article presents key technical solutions for converting two TPP-210A boilers with 300 MW power units to burning gas coal at the Tripillya thermal power plant with the maximum use of existing equipment. It describes difficulties that were overcome during the reconstruction and commissioning of the boilers, as well as the operational characteristics of the boilers after the reconstruction. The technical solutions developed enable implementation of the transition from gas coal to lean coal and vice versa in the boiler of power unit No. 3 without changing the equipment composition, but using only the operating parameters of coal pulverization and combustion.

The species composition of diatoms and cyanobacteria of the periphyton of experimental synthetic polymer materials, which are anthropogenic waste products and damage marine coastal ecosystems, are presented for the first time. A vertical collector with polymer material samples was exposed in Karantinnaya Bay (the Black Sea) at a depth of 1 to 12 m from August 4 to September 18, 2018. A total of 94 taxa of Bacillariophyta (67) and Cyanobacteria (27) have been found. Two diatom and 15 cyanobacteria species have been detected in the Crimean coastal waters of the Black Sea for the first time. Benthic species are predominant, of which 74% are marine; two major groups are constituted by cosmopolites (58%) and arctic–boreal–tropical species (37%). In total, 32 species–indicators of saprobity are identified; among them, 21% are beta-mesosaprobiont diatoms living in the conditions of moderate organic pollution. The largest number of diatom and cyanobacteria species are detected on the surface of mesh collectors (48/19) and containers (40/7). These organisms actively participate in transforming and reorganizing the architectonics of fouling on the surface of the polymer samples. Thus, it is shown that synthetic materials may obtain novel biochemical properties, which can be used in the future in different areas of science and technology (medicine, biotechnology, etc.).

The note describes a new species of toxic cyanobacteria Microcystis wesenbergii (Komarek) Komarek ex Komarek, 2006, which was discovered after the study of the periphyton community of synthetic polymeric materials during experimental vertical exposure of 45 samples of polyethylene terephthalate (PET), high-density polyethylene (HDPE), and polypropylene (PP). The experimental vertical module was located in the water column of the Karantinnaya Bay of the Black Sea near Sevastopol (44°37′23.0′′N, 33°29′38.5′′E) from August to September 2018, when the water temperature varied from +22.4 to +26.6 °C and water salinity – from 17 to 18 ‰. Microcystis wesenbergii was found at a depth of 7.6 to 9.2 m on samples of HDPE, green PET, PP, and fragments of plastic containers for polymer samples. Microcystis wesenbergii is a polymorphic, planktonic species that occurs in small quantities in the water column of stagnant and slowly flowing eutrophic and mesotrophic freshwater reservoirs; it is toxic, sometimes forming blooms; cosmopolitan, except subpolar regions. The species was found in complex colonies consisting of subcolonies reaching a maximum length of 3700 μm; the diameter of young spherical colonies ranged from 240 to 367 μm. The diameter of M. wesenbergii cells was larger than the diagnosis [(10.19 ± 0.79) μm]; the color of the cells was predominantly light brown instead of blue-green. The discovery of toxic M. wesenbergii in the Karantinnaya Bay of the Black Sea indicates high latent diversity of cyanobacteria in this water area.

The note describes a new species of toxic cyanobacteria Microcystis wesenbergii (Komárek) Komárek ex Komárek, 2006, which was discovered after the study of the periphyton community of synthetic polymeric materials during experimental vertical exposure of 45 samples of polyethylene terephthalate (PET), high-density polyethylene (HDPE), and polypropylene (PP). The experimental vertical module was located in the water column of the Karantinnaya Bay of the Black Sea near Sevastopol (44°37′23.0″N, 33°29′38.5″E) from August to September 2018, when the water temperature varied from +22.4 to +26.6 °C and water salinity – from 17 to 18 ‰. Microcystis wesenbergii was found at a depth of 7.6 to 9.2 m on samples of HDPE, green PET, PP, and fragments of plastic containers for polymer samples. Microcystis wesenbergii is a polymorphic, planktonic species that occurs in small quantities in the water column of stagnant and slowly flowing eutrophic and mesotrophic freshwater reservoirs; it is toxic, sometimes forming blooms; cosmopolitan, except subpolar regions. The species was found in complex colonies consisting of subcolonies reaching a maximum length of 3700 μm; the diameter of young spherical colonies ranged from 240 to 367 μm. The diameter of M. wesenbergii cells was larger than the diagnosis [(10.19 ± 0.79) μm]; the color of the cells was predominantly light brown instead of blue-green. The discovery of toxic M. wesenbergii in the Karantinnaya Bay of the Black Sea indicates high latent diversity of cyanobacteria in this water area.