摘要
Statistical methods for assessing the spatial distribution of benthic communities in different parts of watercourses have been considered as applied to lowland rivers of the Lower Volga region. The applicability domains are described for different response models, gradient analysis, and random skewers methods, which are used to analyze the distribution of aquatic organisms in bottom sediments. Stationarity and autocorrelation criteria for the description of generalized characteristics of macrozoobenthos communities are analyzed. The problems of identification of statistically significant isolated zones at whose boundaries the succession change of the species composition of aquatic organisms are discussed. The results of nonparametric dispersion analysis of species similarity matrices, the formation of dendrites, and the search for barriers between individual areas are given (based on Delaunay triangulation and Monmonier’s maximal-diversity algorithm).