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Power law and self-similarity principle in describing the species structure of communities. – Gelashvili D.B., Iudin D.I., Rosenberg G.S., Yakimov V.N., Shurganova G.V. – Different aspects of applying the notions of self-similarity and fractal for the description of the species structure of communities are analyzed. Special attention is paid to the relations of these concepts to the power law which has a long history of applications in the ecological literature. Latest achievements in the field are described, including the use of multifractal formalism to describe species diversity.
Key words: self-similarity, power law, fractal, species structure.
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Vegetable cover of anthropogenic landscapes in the alienation zone of the Chernobyl nuclear power station. – Gusev A.P. – A study was made of ecological succession on the anthropogenic landscape territory in the alienation zone (the Vetkovski district of the Gomel region). Some features of vegetable cover formation in the conditions of various anthropogenic ecotops have been established. Changes of some indices of the phytocenotic and ecological structure of vegetable communities and those of the composition and numbers of natural regeneration of arboreal-shrub species in the alienation zone's anthropogenic landscapes are considered.
Key words: succession, plant community, ecological structure, floristic composition, alienation zone, anthropogenic landscape.
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Genesis of natural conditions and basic trends in the modern dynamics of animal habitats in the north of the Lower Volga region. Report IX. Forecasting long-term trends in bird propagation dynamics. – Zavialov E.V., Shlyakhtin G.V., Tabachishin V.G., Yakushev N.N., Lobachev Yu.Yu., Mosolova E.Yu. – A forecasting model of the bird population dynamics in the north of the Lower Volga region is proposed on the basis of our analysis of the manifestation regularities of natural cycles of various scales, succession changes of biotops, and variophasity of habitat dynamics. It involves some trends of short-term cyclic variations of the numbers and distribution of birds, which are not explicitly correlated and which are due to changes in microclimatic conditions, long-term habitat transformations under the influence of macroclimatic trends, various-scale processes because of anthropogenic influence, and predictable and non-predictable mass invasions. A regression orientation of changes in the propagation of more than half the regional ornithofauna representatives or propagation promotion are forecasted, which speaks for its high dynamism. Positive propagation trends are suggested to be peculiar to the dendrophilic and lymnophilic ecological groups while the campophilic species feature negative trends.
Key words: birds, habitat dynamics, anthropogenic factors, Lower Volga region, Russia.
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On the development of domestic taxonomy of Alosa herrings (Pisces, Clupeiformes, Clupeidae) known as «beshenka» in the XIX century (using literature sources). – Kazachkov G.V. – The folk name «beshenka» (the Volga river basin, the XIX century) is proven to mean the following herrings: Alosa kessleri kessleri Grimm, 1887; Alosa kessleri volgensis Berg, 1913; Alosa caspia caspia Eichwald, 1838; Alosa saposchnikovi Grimm, 1887. Attention is paid to some Black Sea herrings being considered or, another time, not considered as part of some Caspian herrings now known as Alosa kessleri kessleri, Alosa kessleri volgensis, and Alosa caspia caspia. Data on the river uprise spaw migration of Alosa caspia caspia and Alosa saposchnikovi are considered and interpreted as speaking for their gradual rejection of the use of river spawning sites.
Key words: herring, «beshenka», Alosa kessleri, Alosa caspia, Alosa saposchnikovi, Volga river.
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Structure and dynamics of mouse-like rodent population in floodplain habitats. – Kolcheva N.E. – Seasonal monitoring of the composition, abundance, and population structure of predominant rodent species in some floodplain habitats of the Bolshoi Ik river was carried out during several years. Seasonal cyclic changes of the population structure and a relationship between the river water level and the spatial-temporal dynamics of the floodplain community were observed. To characterize flood features, an original «inundation index» which integrates the water level and the flood duration is proposed. An inverse dependence between the rodent numbers and the streamflow parameters was established and a linear regression equation was derived. A decrease of the flood impact causes the mechanisms of population homeostasis to manifest themselves and interspecific relations to change. Flood, as an integrated ecological factor, determined the abundance and population structure of rodents in the floodplain habitats; at the same time, some structural modulations adequate to the living conditions determined the resistance of the whole community as well as its populations to this extreme factor.
Key words: flood, rodents, structure and number dynamics, inundation index.
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Distribution and abundance of Galatella villosa (L.) Reichenb. Fil. in the phytocenoses of a representative steppe depending on soil factors and grazing intensity. – Lebedeva T.M., Oparin M.L., Oparina O.S. – Galatella villosa (L.) Reichenb. Fil. has been found to be an indicator of salted soils with a high-gravity mechanical structure in typical forb-feather grass-sheep's fescue steppe of the Privolzhskaya highland. It negatively reacts to grazing of small and large cattle and disappears from steppe sites under an intense pasture load. This plant is steady enough to steppe fires and restores its abundance in a year after every fire. This species cannot be considered as an indicator of pascual degression of vegetation, as it was accepted in the geobotanic literature.
Key words: steppe, grazing of cattle, pascual degression, salification of soils, indicator plants, Galatella villosa.
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Deratization in natural plague foci in the territory of the Russian Federation. – Matrosov A.N., Sludsky A.A., Kuznetsov A.A., Shilov M.M., Popov N.V. – The Russian plague-control system has accumulated unique experience of combating rodents (plague agent carriers in its natural foci). Its analysis and generalization permit us to optimize the methods and techniques of deratization, to minimize the harmful effect of pesticides on the environment, and to provide a high anti-epidemic efficiency. A new concept of disease prevention is formulated, based on differentiation of the territories of foci by the level of their epidemic hazard. The necessity of a complex approach to the problem of non-specific plague prophylaxis is accentuated.
Key words: plague, natural fońi, rodents, plague agent carriers, rodenticides, deratization.
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Record of the little known species – Orthographis impalella (Toll, 1961) (Lepidoptera, Coleophoridae) in the Middle Volga Region. – Anikin V.V. – The description of female Orthographis impalella (Toll, 1961) is given for the first time. Before, this species was known only by the described male from the surrounding of Sarepta (now the district of Volgograd).
Key words: Microlepidoptera, Coleophoridae, distribution, Middle Volga Region, Russia.
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Ecologo-caryological peculiarities of the marsh frogs on the north of the Lower Volga region. – Kaybeleva E.I., Zavialov E.V., Tabachishin V.G. – The results of our chromosome study of the marsh frogs from the Saratov region are presented. The chromosome set has been found to comprise 5 pairs of large and 8 pairs of small chromosomes and to have the formulas: 4m + 7sm + 2st, 2n = 26, N.F. = 52 (the frogs flood-lands) and 5m + 6sm + 2st, 2n = 26, N.F. = 52 (the frogs stagnant water). Some differences in the small chromosome morphology of the frogs inhabiting flood-lands and stagnant water have been revealed.
Key words: Rana ridibunda, chromosome, caryotype, north of the Lower Volga region.
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Wintering ornithofauna of the Kamenka town (the Dniester region). – Tischenkov A.A. – Surveys were carried out in the Kamenka town in December-February of 2002/2003. During this period, 36 species of birds (33 species in the resident area and 28 species in the park) from 5 different orders were registered, namely, Falconiformes – 2 species, Columbiformes – 2, Strigiformes – 1, Piciformes – 5, Passeriformes – 25. The maximum bird density was observed in February (2459.4 ind/km2) and January (364.0 ind/km2) in the resident area and the park, respectively. House Sparrow, Rook, and Tree Sparrow predominated in the resident area. Great Tit, Eurasian Treecreeper, Hawfinch, and Goldcrest predominated in the park.
Key words: ornithofauna, abundance, park, winter, resident area, Kamenka town.
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