Chief Researcher
DSc (Biological Sciences)

Laboratory of Ocean Benthic Fauna
Marine Ecology

36, Nakhimovskiy prospect, Moscow, 117997,
+7(499)124-85-10, internal phone 0540

Biologist, DSc (Biological Sciences), Chief Researcher.

Born in 1958 in Moscow. In 1980 he graduated from the Faculty of Biology of Lomonosov Moscow State University. He specialized in the Department of Zoology and Comparative Anatomy of Invertebrates under the guidance of Professor G.B. Zevina.

After graduating from the Faculty of Biology, he entered full-time postgraduate studies at the Institute of Oceanology. In 1984 he defended his Ph.D. thesis on the topic "Ecological Relations in the Coral Reef System". Since 1983, he has been on the staff of the Laboratory of the Ocean Benthic Fauna. During his postgraduate studies and subsequent years, he participated in expeditions to study seamounts and guyots, benthic fauna of deep-water basins of the Pacific and Atlantic oceans, hydrothermal vents and cold seeps. He dealt with the taxonomy and ecology of barnacles, breezingid starfish, questions of biogeography and the structure of deep-sea communities.

Since 1985, the main area of ​​scientific interest has been the structure, typology, and geography of hydrothermal communities in the World Ocean. Since 1986, he has participated in almost all expeditions of the Institute dedicated to the study of hydrothermal ecosystems. With his direct participation, the first and only collection of hydrothermal fauna in Russia was assembled, which now numbers several thousand items and is of international importance. He was the first to describe the hydrothermal communities of the Manus Basin (Bismarck Sea) and the communities of gas seeps in the northwestern Sea of ​​Okhotsk.

Many works are devoted to the biology of vestimentifera - the most prominent representatives of the hydrothermal fauna. The morphology and anatomy of these animals have been studied, a family new to science has been described, and an original classification and phylogeny of vestimentifera have been developed. On this topic, a doctoral dissertation was defended (2002) and a monograph was written (in collaboration with V.V. Malakhov).

Much attention is paid to the substantiation and development of a new scientific direction - landscape-ecological research of deep-sea ecosystems using manned submersibles and remote-controlled vehicles.

He developed an original concept of the spatial structure of hydrothermal communities, carried out a comparative analysis of hydrothermal ecosystems in different geographical regions. Biogeographic zoning of hydrothermal waters of the World Ocean on a biocenotic basis has been carried out. All regional types of hydrothermal ecosystems are identified and described in detail. The main regularities of the vertical distribution of hydrothermal communities are revealed. A fundamental statement was made and substantiated that the role of chemosynthetic products in the functioning of benthic ecosystems increases with depth, which is reflected in the complication of the spatial and trophic structure of hydrothermal communities with increasing depth.

S.V. Galkin is a member of more than 40 marine expeditions, many dives of the deep-sea submersibles Pisis and Mir. Developer of a number of underwater observation and sampling methods. He is the author of more than 200 scientific papers, including four monographs. Scientific works of S.V. Galkin were repeatedly noted at the competitions of scientific works of the Institute of Oceanology and MAIK Nauka. Supervises the work of students and graduate students.