Trophic specialization of leaf-beetles (Coleoptera, Chrysomelidae) of the Volga Upland. – Bieńkowski A. O. and Orlova-Bienkowskaja M. Ja. – Observation in nature and in cage revealed that Altica brevicollis consumes Corylus avellana* l., A. lythri – Epilobium l., Aphthona czwalinae – Euphorbia l., A. nigriscutis – envelope of inflorescence of Euphorbia glareosa, Cas-sida nebulosa – Chenopodium l., C. nobilis – Atriplex l., C. panzeri – Lactuca tatarica* l., C. rubiginosa – Carduus* l., C. vibex – Centaurea* l., C. viridis – Lycopus l., Chaetocnema breviuscula – Chenopodium l., Cheilotoma musciformis – Rumex l., Chrysolina limbata russiella – Plantago lanceolata l., Ch. marginata – Achillea millefolium l., Ch. sturmi – Glechoma hederacea l., Clytra laeviuscula – Salix l., C. quadripunctata – l. of Salix and Rumex, Colaphus hoeftii – l. and f. of Sisymbrium loeselii*, Crioceris duodecimpunctata and C. quatuordecimpunctata – Asparagus officinalis l., Cryptocephalus apicalis – Artemisia l., C. bipunctatus – Trifolium pratense f., C. cor-diger – Rosa l., C. laetus – f. of Taraxacum serotinum and Inula, C. quatuordecimmaculatus – Genista tinctoria l., C. schaefferi – Ulmus l., C. sericeus – Salvia l. and Cichorium intybus f., C. violaceus – Taraxacum officinale f., C. virens – Salvia l., Derocrepis rufipes – Trifolium pratense l., Entomoscelis adonidis – l. of Adonis vernalis and f. of Brassicacea, Epitrix pubescens – Solanum dulcamara l., Chrysochus asclepiadeus – Vincetoxicum l., Galeruca pomonae – Arctium* and Salvia* l., Galerucella aquatica – Rumex l., G. calmariensis – Lythrum salicaria* l., G. li-neola – Salix l., G. luteola – Ulmus pumila* l., G. pusilla – Epilobium l., Gastrophysa polygoni – Polygonum aviculare and Rumex l., Hypocassida subferruginea – Convolvulus* l., Labidostomis pallidipennis – Salix l., Leptinotarsa decemlineata – Hyoscyamus niger l., Lilioceris merdigera – Polygonatum and Convallaria majalis l., Longitarsus anchusae – Cynoglossum officinale l., L. lycopi – Glechoma hederacea l., L. nigrofasciatus – Scrophularia nodosa l., L. obliteratus – Salvia verticillata and S. nemorosa l., L. pellucidus – Convolvulus arvensis l., Phaedon armoraciae – Veronica beccabunga* and V. longifolia* l., Phyllotreta procera – Reseda lutea l., Podagrica menetriesi – Althaea officinalis l., Prasocuris phellandrii – l. of Ranunculus sceleratus*, Cirsium* and Lycopus*, Psylliodes affinis – Solanum dulcamara l., P. attenuatus – l. of Cannabis sativa and Humulus lupulus, P. dulcamarae – Solanum dulcamara l., P. reitteri – Phalaroides arundinacea l., Pyrrhalta viburni – Viburnum opulus l., Smaragdina affinis – Salix l. Abbreviations: l. – leaves, f. – flowers. The host plant is marked with an asterisk if the larvae of the respective leaf-beetle have been reared to adults.

Key words: Chrysomelidae, host plants, phytophagоus insects, beetles, Khvalynski National Park, Saratov region.

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«English oak (Quercus robur L., Fagaceae, Magnoliópsida) – beefsteak fungus (Fistulina hepatica (Schaeff.) With., Fistulinaceae, Agaricomycetes)» pathosystem structure in sprout oak forests of the Belgorod region. – Dunaev A. V., Dunaeva E. N., and Kalugina S. V. – The paper analyzes the structure of the «English oak – beefsteak fungus» pathosystem in oak stands of sprout oak forests in the Belgorod region (the southern forest-steppe).

Key words: English oak, beefsteak fungus, pathosystem structure, structural conditions.

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Accumulating capability of plants in areas anthropogenically polluted with heavy metals. – Zhuykova T. V. and Zinnatova E. R. – The paper deals with analysis of heavy metal content in the soil, epiterranean and subterranean parts of the following plants: Plantago major L., Tussilago farfara L., Taraxacum officinale Wigg., Trifolium medium L., Melilotus albus M. grown in both background and anthropogenically affected areas. Convergence of the accumulating capability of these plants in a polluted environment was detected. Within the increasing chemical contamination gradient a decrease of the accumulating and transition coefficients of heavy metals in the plants was revealed. Therefore, there exist some defense mechanisms working in cases of a high rate of contamination. Our study has revealed the threshold concentrations of several chemical elements in the subterranean parts of plants, which marks the level of defense mechanism activation to prevent accumulation of heavy metals in the epiterranean parts of the plants. The lowest threshold concentration and, therefore, the minimum loading rate are characteristic of T. medium, while the highest threshold concentration is determined in analysis of P. major.

Key words: grassy plants, heavy metals, accumulating capability, threshold concentration, toxic load on plants.

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Status, ecologo-coenotic characteristics and perspectives of forest cultures of the drooping birch (Betula pendula Roth, Betulaceae, Dicotyledones) in steppe afforestation. – Zolotukhin A. I. and Zanina M. A. – In the summer of 2010 the thermal damages of the birch in the cultures were 4.2 – 4.8 points according to the authors’ five-point scale. In 2011, the stands of birch trees were weakened to a variable degree, but some healthy stands remained. High-density forest massifs and birch forest belts are more drought-resistant. The grass cover is weakly developed therein. Thinned birch cultures become overgrown with herbs and die out after droughts. The root exudates of shrubs depress the intensity of photosynthesis of steppe plants by 10 – 25%. In vegetation experiments, various species of shrubs stimulate or slow down the growth of shoots, roots and the intensity of photosynthesis of the birch by 10 – 25% on average. It is recommended to grow the birch in forest belts using shrubby borders with high allelopathic activity for biological defense of the soil from overgrowing with weedy and steppe plants.

Key words: drooping birch, underforest shrubs, allelopathy, vegetation experiments, steppe afforestation.

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Interannual changes of the summer zooplankton in lakes of the Khopyor River flood plain. – Krylov А. V. – The lakes of the Khopyor River flood plain on the reserve area can be classified as eutrophic-hypertrophic reservoirs by zooplankton indices. The trophic level of the flood plain lakes has been revealed to increase in a year of intensive overflow of the Khopyor River, the Rotifera variety, numbers, biomass, and relative abundance in the zooplankton rises. It is most evident in the coastal zone, where the total numbers and biomass of the zooplankton decreases. The number and biomass of zooplankton, the fraction of Crustacea, and the Rotifera variety rise at central sites of the lakes. The fraction of Rotifera in the total numbers and the biomass of zooplankton communities increase at central sites of the reservoirs with the longest coast flooding after high water. Simultaneously, the annual flooding lakes are characterized by the maximum specific richness.

Key words: floodplain lakes, zooplankton, number of species, abundance, biomass, high water, eutrophication.

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Spatial organization of summer bird assemblages in North Urals. – Livanov S. G., Vartapetov L. G., and Livanova N. N. – To estimate spatial heterogeneity in article are analyzed results of route bird counts which have been made in different areas in Northern Urals from 1.06 till 15.07 in 1966 – 2005 For all periods of field works 154 bird species are registered. The total length of routes are about 3000 km. The 126 variants of the bird assemblages of are involved in calculations. Based on multidimensional analysis the hierarchical classification of bird assemblages are comprised. The basic are revealed structure-forming factors of environment. Results of the analysis are shown, that the spatial organization of bird assemblages in Northern Urals Mountains and in Northeast Altai are very similar.

Key words: bird assemblages, spatial structure, environmental factors, multidimensional analysis.

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Prospects of using geometric infications of the corolla of the cultural forms of flowered primrose – Primula × polyantha Miller, 1768 (Primulaceae, Magnoliopsida) for bioindication purposes. – Markelov I. N., Gelashvili D. B., Shirokov A. I., and Nizhegorodtsev A. A. – The role and contribution of discriminating indicators of the corolla geometry of 5 cultural forms of flowered primrose (Primula × polyantha Mill.) in the phenotypic variation of primrose as a potential bioindicator were studied. The proposed set of the corolla’s geometric characteristics (the average rotational pseudosymmetry (η_r), the average bilateral pseudosymmetry (η_b), the irregularity index (I_r), the projective cover index (I_pc)) has been found to significantly discriminate between the cultural forms of flowered primrose. The major contribution to discrimination is made by the rotary index of pseudosymmetry (η_r).

Key words: Primula × polyantha, pseudosymmetry, geometric figures, nonparametric discriminant analysis.

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Effect of sodium pyrophosphate wasting on the soil condition when chemical weapon destruction. – Ol’kova A. S. – Contamination of a sod-podzolic soil with sodium pyrophosphate (a specific pollutant of the chemical weapons destruction process) was simulated. Bioassays with bacteria and protozoa have been found to be most effective in the diagnostics of this kind of pollution, while lower crustaceans have shown low sensitivity. The activity of soil catalase and invertase decreased in response to pyrophosphate pollution whereas the urease activity increased. The soil ability to decompose cellulose was suppressed.

Key words: sodium pyrophosphate, sod-podzolic soil, bioassay, enzymatic activity of soil, cellulolytic capacity of soil.

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Metabolic reactions of Apodemus (S.) uralensis (Muridae, Rodentia) to radioactive contamination of the environment as depends on the population number dynamics. – Orekhova N. A. and Rasina L. N. – In order to reveal most important reactions of animal and human bodies on radioactive contamination of the environment, the dependence of biochemical parameters of lipid-, carbohydrate-, and proteо-metabolism on the population number dynamics as a major environmental factor was studied in the рygmy wood mouse (Apodemus (S.) uralensis) within the East-Ural Radioactive Trace (EURT). As the population number within the EURT area increases, an increased level of the oxidative metabolism and cell-tissue functional activity, combined with the protein and lipid biosynthesis inhibition, has been found to get more pronounced in comparison with reference (background) territories. This characterizes the condition of chronic stress with some symptoms of energy resource exhaustion in the body. A differentiated account of the population number enables one to correct the results of radiation effects and their interpretation, emphasizing the need to study major environmental factors in evaluation of technogenic (first of all, radiative) effects on human and animal populations.

Key words: EURT area, рygmy wood mouse, lipid-, proteo-, carbohydrate- metabolism, population number dynamics.

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Population structure of harvestmen (Arachnida, Opiliones) in the Caucasian State Biospheric reserve (Russia). – Snegovaya N. Yu. and Chumachenko Yu. A. – The population structure of harvestmen in the Caucasian State Biospheric Reserve was investigated. 10,113 specimens belonging to 13 species were captured and examined. Among them, Odiellus zecariensis prevails in numbers (81.6% of the total abundance). To perform ecological analysis of the harvestman community structure, ecological indices were calculated, specific richness curves and cluster analysis of faunistic similarity were used. Faunistic and ecological data for each species found are given.

Key words: harvestman, phenology, Caucasian reserve, North-West Caucasus.

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Wintering of Mallards – Anas platyrhynchos (Anatidae, Aves) in Natural and Anthropogenic Habitats on the Eastern Russian Plain. – Solovyov A. N. – Retrospective analysis of several mallard wintering facts in midlatitudes of the European Russia was carried out. The formation of a settled mallard population is determined by the sustainable positive trends with favorable anthropogenic climatic conditions (ice-free waters with artificial heating and spring-fed ponds). The sequence of stages for urban settled mallard populations was established.

Key words: mallard, migrations, wintering, Russian Plain.

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Germination Percentage and Recovery of Lolium perenne L. and Bromus tomentellus Boiss. (Poaceae, Liliopsida) Seeds at Several Osmotic Potential Levels of Iso-Osmotic Solutions. – Tilaki Dianati Ghasem Ali, Gholami Farzaneh, Bezdi Kamal Ghasemi, and Behtari Behzad. – Germination is a most salt-sensitive plant growth stage and severely inhibited with increasing salinity in both glycophytes and halophytes. In the present study, the effect of three levels of a salt (NaCl) and polyethylene glycol 6000 (PEG) on the germination of Lolium perenne L. and Bromus tomentellus Boiss. seeds was studied. The object was to reveal factors responsible for seed germination due to salt toxicity or the osmotic effect. The electrical conductivity (EC) values of NaCl solutions were 0, 5, 7, and 9 dSm^-1. PEG 6000 induced drought conditions at the same osmotic potential of 0, -2, -3, and -4 bar. Our results showed that NaCl and PEG treatments had significant (p = 0.05) effect on the germination percentage and recovery of seed germination. In L. perenne, a lower germination percentage (65.2%) was obtained from PEG compared with NaCl at an equivalent water potential in each treatment but in B. tomentellus, seed germination was better in PEG than in NaCl. When non-germinated seeds under various NaCl and PEG treatments were transferred to distilled water, they were recovered significantly, indicating little ionic and osmotic effect of salinity on viability. Germination inhibition, therefore, appears to be either osmotic or ionic, depending on the species. A similar recovery response was noted when seeds were transferred from a PEG solution to water. PEG had no toxic effect, since the seeds germinated after removing the PEG stress.

Key words: Polyethylene Glycol 6000, NaCl, Salinity, Stress, Ionic and Osmotic Effect.

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