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Ecological differentiation of mouse-like rodents in the mountain forest belt of the southern Middle Siberia. – Abramov S. A. and Vinogradov V. V. – The distribution regularities of mouse-like rodent species within the ecological space of the mountain forest of the southern Middle Siberia and the formation of multi-species communities are considered on the basis of our long-term research and literature data. Significant factors of the 3D ecological space were identified by using multidimensional statistical analysis (multidimensional scaling, cluster and canonical discriminant function analysis). The differences in the sensitivity of species to environmental factors are shown to cause a divergence of their ecological niches, which provides the independence of these species within their community.
Key words: mouse-like rodents, forest belt, environmental factors, ecological niche.
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Ecological status evaluation of soils in Saratov City. – Abrosimova O. V., Troyanov-skaya E. S., Merkulova M. Yu., and Tikhomirova E. I. – The ecological status of soils in some areas of Saratov City was studied by determining the numbers of different ecological trophic groups of microorganisms. In comparison with some reference soil samples taken outside of the urban limits, the urban soils had double amounts of actinomycetes and micromycetes. A lower level of biological activity in the urban soils was found. Morphometric trait differences in test objects activated on the soil samples have been observed.
Key words: urban areas, topsoil, microorganisms, soil biological activity, phytotoxicity.
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Mercury contents in the organs of musteline (Mustelidae) mammals in the Vologda region. – Komov V. T., Stepina E. S., Gremyachikh V. A., Poddybnaya N. Ya., and Borisov M. Ya. – The mercury concentrations in some organs of predatory musteline mammals in the Vologda region vary over a wide range: from 0.03 mg/kg in the ermine’s brain to 6.29 mg/kg in the marten’s liver. The average content of the metal in the organs of large representatives of mustelids (minks and martens) is higher than that in smaller animals (ermines and weasels). The mercury concentrations in the organs of martens from the western districts of the Vologda region two-three times exceed those in the animals from the eastern districts.
Key words: mercury, carnivorous mammals, food webs mustelidae.
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Spatial plankton distribution in the Upper and Middle Volga reservoirs in some years with different thermal conditions. – Lazareva V. I., Mineeva N. M., and Zhdanova S. M. – The spatial distribution of phytoplankton chlorophyll, the structure and abundance of zooplankton in three large Volga river reservoirs (the Rybinsk, Gorky, and Cheboksary reservoirs) in the summer of 2008 and 2010 was studied. Factors influencing the pigment content and zooplankton abundance were analyzed. In the anomalously hot 2010, the concentration of chlorophyll and zooplankton exceeded the typical values of the reservoirs. Changes in the zooplankton structure, a decrease in the cladoceran fecundity, the occurrence frequency of benthic species, and a low density of Dreissena veligers were observed.
Key words: chlorophyll, zooplankton, water temperature, Volga river reservoirs.
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Influence of Amanita muscaria spore inoculation on the mineral nutrition, photosynthesis and biological productivity of Larix sibirica and Pinus sylvestris seedlings. – Lebedev E. V. – Our study of the reaction of Siberian larch and Scots pine seedlings to various concentrations of red fly-agaric spores, carried out at the level of the whole organism in a microfield experiment on sod-podzolic soils of the southern taiga subzone, showed that inoculation of plants with red fly-agaric spores increased the biological productivity of the plants and carbon deposition.
Key words: scots pine, siberian larch, sod-podzolic soils, mycorrhiza, red fly-agaric, photosynthesis, mineral nutrition, biological productivity, carbon deposition.
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Plant pigment content in the Rybinsk reservoir deposits in a year with an extremely hot summer (2010). – Sigareva L. Ye. and Timofeeva N. A. – The stock of plant pigments in the bottom sediments of a reservoir with their mosaic structure in several years with various temperature conditions (2009 was normal and 2010 was extreme) was studied. The results were analyzed by considering the long-term chlorophyll dynamics in the plankton and bottom sediments. It was found that the absolute concentrations of chlorophyll with pheopigments increased and the relative content of carotenoids decreased in an abnormally hot year. The ratio between the sedimentary pigment (chlorophyll + pheopigments) concentrations in the 0 – 2.5 and 2.5 – 5 cm sediment layers in the extreme year was higher than that in the normal year. Preconditions for an future increase in the phytoplankton productivity were assumed to appear in 2010.
Key words: plant pigments, bottom sediments, Rybinsk reservoir, extreme heat, 2010.
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Collembola community dynamics in inundated forests in the middle taiga. – Taskae-va A. A. and Lapteva E. M. – Fluctuating collembolan communities are shown to form in an inundated birch-aspen forest, which distinguish from stable ones by the variation amplitude of, first of all, the dominant and vital form spectra. Their population density fluctuations are high. The abundance variability of epigeic species is expressed more strongly in comparison with hemi- and euedaphic forms.
Key words: floodplains, birch-aspen forest, collembolan, dynamics.
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Abundance dynamics and population structure of mouse-like rodents in the inundated woods and steppes of the Khopyor river area. – Tsvetkova A. A. – The communities of small mammals in the wood and anthropogenous habitats in the Right bank of the western Saratov region in the Khoper River flood plain are similar by their specific structure and generally formed by representatives of the wood faunistic complex (Sylvaemus uralensis, Apodemus agrarius, S. flavicollis, Myodes (Clethrionomys) glareolus), they are characterized by polydominant nature and high total numbers. The abundance dynamics character of these populations is variable and has specific features. M. (Cl.) glareolus and S. flavicollis show a trend of cyclic abundance fluctuations. Inundated oak groves play a significant role in the formation and maintenance of the mammal community biodiversity in transformed steppe landscapes.
Key words: small mammals, inundated oak groves, anthropogenous habitats, steppe, abundance dynamics, Saratov Right-Volga-bank region.
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Changes of the structural-functional characteristics of the photosynthetic apparatus of Elodea densa Planch. under the influence of heavy metals. – Chukina N. V. and Borisova G. G. – A study was made of the structural-functional organization of the photosynthetic apparatus of some aquatic plants grown in water with raised concentrations of heavy metals. The changes of the Elodea densa mesostructural parameters in our modeling conditions depended on both the nature of the metal and its concentration in the water. A change of the mesostructural characteristics of the photosynthetic apparatus in stress conditions is a plant adaptive reaction featuring slow rates in comparison with other adaptations.
Key words: adaptation, stability, stress, pollutants, heavy metals, aquatic plants, photosynthetic apparatus, mesostructure.
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Ecological despecialization of some species of the family Orchidaceae Juss. in the territory of the Northern Lower-Volga region. – Berezutski M. A., Reshetnikova T. B., Serova L. A., and Kashin A. S. – Findings of some species of the orchid family (Orchidaceae) on various types of anthropogenous habitats in the Saratov region (artificial wood plantings, embankments, and urbanized territories) are reported. Of particular interest are our findings of several plants from the 2008 Red Book of the Russian Federation in artificial biotopes, namely, Cephalanthera rubra (L.) Rich., Cephalanthera longifolia (Huds.) Fritsch., and Orchis militaris L.
Key words: orchid, anthropogenous habitats, protected plant, Saratov region.
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Ravine Oak forests of Ural River middle reach basin as Important Plant Areas of West Kazakhstan region. – Voronkova E. V. – The paper considers organizing new forms of specially protected nature areas in the West-Kazakhstan Region. It gives theoretical pre-requisites for organizing, methods and approaches to resolve Important Plant Areas (IPA) according to the European IPA Program guidelines. Oak forests located in large ravines and gullies amidst sheep fescue and feather grass steppes of the Poduralskoye Plateau and Obshy Syrt are considered as Important Plant Areas of the region under survey. The uniqueness of the plant cover of the studied oak forests and the necessity of their protection are shown. As a result of our plant cover study, the ravine oak forests analyzed are identified as IPA.
Key words: Important Plant Areas, biodiversity, ravine oak forests, flora, rare species, unique community associations, habitat, criteria.
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Structure peculiarities of reed brake birds communities of the middle zone of the Volgograd reservoir. – Piskunov V. V. and Oparin M. L. – Species correlations in several type of reed brake habitats were studied in a very changed plot of the Lower Volga. Two structurally different groups of bird communities were revealed. Some communities are similar with the flood plain bird communities while the others are with the Trans-Volga pond bird ones.
Key words: bird community structure, reed brake, Volgograd reservoir.
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Georissidae (Coleoptera: Hydrophiloidea) as a new riparian beetle family in the Saratov regional fauna. – Sazhnev A. S. – The family Georissidae (Coleoptera) is recorded for the Saratov regional fauna for the first time. Modern records of Georissus (s.str.) crenulatus (Rossi, 1794) in the Saratov region are listed, a short description of its biotopes is given, and the geographic distribution of this family in the adjacent territories is clarified.
Key words: Coleoptera, Georissidae, Georissus crenulatus, riparian biotops, Saratov region.
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All-Russia Conference «Volga river basin in the 21st century: the structure and functioning of reservoir ecosystems». – Krylov A. V., Dgebuadze Yu. Yu., Kopylov A. I., and Poddubnyi S. A.
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Inna L. Pyrina
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