Oil and protein response of soybean (Glycine max L.) seeds to water deficit. – Behtari B., Ghassemi Golezani K., Dabbagh Mohammadi Nasab A., Zehtabe Salmasi S., and Toorchi M. – A split-split-plot experiment with a randomized complete block design in three replications was conducted at the Research Farm of the Faculty of Agriculture, Tabriz University, Tabriz, Iran, in 2004. The limited-irrigation effect on the oil and protein accumulation in seeds for two soybean varieties (Zane and Hack) was investigated in field conditions. Several irrigation regimes I₁, I₂, I₃, and I₄ were assigned to the main plot, which were defined from the cumulative evaporation of 60±3, 80±3, 100±3, and 120±3 mm, from the pan (class A), respectively. The two soybean cultivars and few harvest stages were considered as subplots and subsubplots. The results indicated that the percentages of oil and protein in the seeds of various harvests were not significantly affected by water deficit. However, both oil and protein output per unit area was significantly reduced, as water deficit increased. Besides, when the mean weight of 100 seeds increases, the oil content decreases but the protein content rises. It is assumed that the soybean oil and protein production per unit area under full and limited irrigation conditions could be improved by increasing seed yield via selection of high-yielding varieties.

Key words: Glycine max, accumulation, oil, protein, seed yield, water stress.

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Life cycles of some prevalent species of the ground beetles (Coleoptera, Carabidae) in the Northwest Caucasus Mountains. – Bondarenko A. S. and Zamotaylov A. S. – The life cycles of eight mass ground beetle species in the mountains of the Northwest Caucasus were studied. Their short annual development as well as prolongation of their ontogenesis up to two years with the formation of two intrapopulation groups reflect adaptations to the specific environment.

Key words: ground beetles, life cycles, Northwest Caucasus.

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Diatom algae in mountain lakes of the Dzherginskiy reserve (the Baikal region). 2. Pennatophyceae. – Genkal S. I. and Bondarenko N. A. – First data on the composition of pennate diatoms in some mountain lakes of the Dzherginskiy Nature Reserve were obtained on the basis of electron microscopy. 225 taxa belonging to 61 genera including 64 forms new for the flora (37 identified to the genus) have been found. Most of them have been described recently as belonging to the North Alpine species.

Key words: Pennatophyceae, diatom algae, phytoplankton, flora, mountain lakes, Dzherginskiy reserve, Baikal region.

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Vertical distribution of bacteriochlorophylls in humic lakes of the Volga-Kama National biosphere reserve (Tatarstan Republic). – Gorbunov M. Yu. – Vertical profiles of the concentrations of photosynthetic pigments and some environmental parameters were studied in several stratified lakes of the Volga-Kama National biosphere reserve (Tatarstan Republic, Russian Federation). The presence of bacteriochlorophylls in the meta- and hypolimnion of all the polihumic and two of the mesohumic lakes indicates the development of purple (phototrophic Proteobacteria) and green (Chlorobiales and/or Chloroflexales) phototrophic bacteria. Ecological peculiarities of the communities of anoxygenic phototrophic bacteria in the studied lakes are discussed.

Key words: bacteriochlorophylls, freshwater lakes, humic compounds, anoxigenic phototrophic bacteria, vertical distribution.

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Ecosystematic diversity reflection in medium-scale maps. – Dimeyeva L. A. – Ecosystematic diversity was assessed for the territory affected by the Aral ecological crisis. A classification and a medium-scale map of ecosystems have been worked out for the North-Eastern Aral region. Our classification of the ecosystems is based on complex evaluation of the vegetation cover, soils, and topography. The hierarchy of levels contains an elementary ecosystem, the type of the ecosystem, a group of ecosystems, a class of ecosystems, and an order of ecosystems, which were used as mapping units in a legend. Ecosystem desertification problems are discussed. Inventory of the ecosystems on typological and topological levels is a necessary requirement for decision-making on reduction of ecological crisis consequences.

Key words: desert ecosystems, classification, mapping, desertification.

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Biotopical distribution of periphytic chironomids (Diptera, Chironomidae) in water reservoirs of the Saratov region. – Durnova N. A., Voronin M. Yu., and Sukhova E. I. – The specific composition of periphytic chironomids inhabiting the riverside brushwood of water reservoirs in the Saratov region (21 species from 12 genera) was established. There were 7 basic groups of periphytic chironomids differing by their submerged substrata, namely, the acceretors of any submerged substrata; the eurytopic species combining accretion and mining; the miners of carrion plant tissues; the miners of both alive and carrion macrophyte tissues; the miners of only alive macrophyte tissues; the miners of semi-carrion wood; the obligate and facultative miners of freshwater sponges (commensals). The most eurytopic larvae of Glyptotendipes glaucus accrete and mine various substrata, while the most stenotopic species mine only the tissues of sponges (Xenochironomus sp., X. xenolabis, Demeijerea rufipes) or wood (Stenochirоnomus gibbus). No attachment of chironomid species larvae to a certain type of macrophytes was revealed, but a relationship of the specific composition with the substrate destruction degree was noted.

Key words: chironomid, periphytic, substrates, Saratov region.

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Ecocenotic characteristics and dynamics of flood-land oak-groves in the Khoper riverside. – Zolotukhin A. I., Ovcharenko A. A., Zanina M. A., and Shapovalova A. A. – An improvement of the status of flood-land oak-groves of the Khoper river middle watercourse after their former mass dying off has been found by our long-term surveys. The structure of all wood layers was analyzed, the ontogenetic spectra of main wood formers were studied, and partial structure dynamics was revealed. For the first time, four levels of wood-pathological and anthropogenic transformation of the regional flood-land oak-groves were established on the basis of studying floristic and phytocenotic changes occurring in disturbed wood communities. Diagnostic criteria have been developed for their detection.

Key words: biodiversity, forest ecosystem, age structure, flood-land oak-grove, Saratov region.

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Selenium accumulation and migration in components of the biogeochemical soil – plants – man food chain in Moldova. – Kapitalchuk M. V., Kapitalchuk I. P., and Golubkina N. A. – Systematic studies of selenium accumulation and migration in components of the ecosystem (water, soils, plants, and human body) were made in Moldova for the first time. High selenium concentrations in natural waters are typical. In general, the selenium level in soils corresponds to the optimum, but several areas show a decreased selenium content, down to selenium deficiency. Peculiarities of selenium accumulation in agricultural plants were revealed. The Dniester valley residents possess a high selenium level in their bodies. The effect of biogeochemical factors on the human selenium status was evaluated.

Key words: selenium, migration, bioaccumulation, biogeochemical factor, water, soil, plant, human being, serum.

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Avifauna structure in the Upper Pechora region. – Kochanov S. K. and Selivanova N. P. – Avifauna peculiarities in mountain, foothill and plain habitats of the Upper Pechora region are considered. 198 bird species from 16 orders (among which 149 species are nesting) inhabit the Upper Pechora region. The highest bird specific diversity (169 species) has been found in plain forests, and as the mountains are approached the diversity becomes poorer (109 species in the mountain area). Besides common Palearctic species (54%), representatives of the Arctic, Siberian, European, Mediterranean, Tibetan and Chinese faunas were found. The fraction of the Siberian and European species reaches 23 and 16%, respectively, while that of the Arctic birds does not exceed 5%. 31 protected species were registered in the area surveyed. The highest number of such species inhabits the plain and foothills, 30 and 28, respectively, and 14 species were registered in the mountain area. 46 bird species have strong economical significance in the Upper Pechora region.

Key words: Upper Pechora region, avifauna, protected birds, hunting birds.

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Influence of the vital activity products of semi-aquatic birds on the small lake littoral zooplankton (the Oka river basin). – Kulakov D. V., Ivanchev V. P., and Krylov A. V. – The zooplankton structure of the littoral of two small lakes under the influence of vital bird activity products is described. In the zooplankton of the larger (by square) lake under bird influence, the abundance and biomass of Copepoda reliably increased, the abundance of Rotatoria reduced, whereas in the smaller lake the tendency of primary development of Rotifera and Cladocera was found. The observed distinctions in the zooplankton structure of the littoral of the two lakes under survey have been hypothesized to be determined by their square and quantity of nesting birds.

Key words: small lake, littoral, zooplankton, vital bird activity product.

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Concerning the methodology of using floristic structure of afforestations for biotope characteristics in steppe. – Matveev N. M. – In this article composing ecological code of afforestations on the basis of their floristic structure to offered. Ecological code includes data about soil, their riches, granulometric structure, humidity, light structure of forest stand, light mode, age stage of wood, density, structure and forest age.

Key words: steppe forests, floristic structure, ecomorphes, ecological code of biotope.

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Post-technogenic successions of the ornithocomplexes of the Eastern Upper-Volga region. Part I. Avifauna dynamics at initial succession stages of forest vegetation after continuous wood-cutting-area felling. – Melnikov V. N. and Gridneva V. V. – Regularities of the bird population dynamics in overgrown felling areas of the Eastern Upper-Volga region are considered. Several types of the dynamics of sole species and bird groups in the process of ecological succession, the influence of a pyrogenic factor, the meaning of forest felling for rare and dispersed species of the region are analyzed on the basis of square counts.

Key words: avifauna, bird population, dynamics, ecological succession, ecological factor.

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On the ecology of Field Mouse (Apodemus agrarius Pall.) in the forest-steppe Black Earth region. II. Biotopes and nutrition. – Okulova N. M., Kalinkina E. V., Mironova T. A., Sapelnikov S. F., Yegorov S. V., Vlasov A. A., and Mayorova A. D. – The field mouse in this country prefers fields, fallow lands, gardens, kitchen-gardens, water side verdures. In the low-number years it is more usual in anthropogenic biotopes, while in the peak-number years it more often inhabits fields and fallow lands. Southerly, it is more and more found in waterside reeds. In the Caucasian lowlands and in Far-East monsoon climate conditions it also inhabits deciduous forests. Unlike other mice species, the role of animal food in the field mouse nutrition is greater. The fraction of green and chitin-contaning fodders in the Black Earth region is maximal and minimal, respectively, in comparison with other parts of the habitat.

Key words: field mouse, biotopical distribution, nutrition.

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Influence of environment-transforming activity of river beaver Castor fiber L. on the fish associations of small rivers in the Privolzhskaya Lesostep reserve. – Osipov V. V. – The influence of the environment-transforming activity of beaver Castor fiber L. on the fish population of small rivers in the Privolzhskaya Lesostep reserve was followed on the basis of our field survey. The hydrological regime of the upper stream of the Sura River has changed because of beaver dams. This caused flow deceleration and a lower level of dissolved oxygen. The influence of these factors may affect the spatial distribution and population abundance of oxy-rheophilic fish species.

Key words: Castor fiber, fish population, small river, nature reserve.

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Status of Onega Lake bays affected by commercial rainbow trout cultivation. – Sterligova O. P., Kitayev S. P., Ilmast N. V., Komulainen S. F., Kuchko Ya. A., Pavlovsky S. A., and Savosin E. S. – The results of our study of the status of three Lake Onega bays used for commercial rainbow trout rearing are presented. Our data analysis has shown that, according to the quantitative plankton and benthos development level, the Unitsa Bay can be characterized as oligotrophic, Svyatuha and Keften Bays as mesotrophic ones. Our calculations of the biogenic loading show that the modern total phosphorus and nitrogen loadings do not reach their MACs in the Unitsa Bay, in the Svyatuha Bay they come nearer to them, and in the Keften Bay they exceed them. We estimate the optimum annual volumes of trout cultivation in the Unitsa, Svyatuha, and Keften Bays as 600, 250 – 300, and 200 tons, respectively.

Key words: freshwater ecosystem, Lake Onega, trout cultivation, biogenic load.

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