Home – Home – Jornals – Contemporary Problems of Ecology 2004 number 5

The problem connected with the development of integrated ideology of cognition of biological diversity is considered. The ideology is based on the use of universal information systems, including the necessity of formalization of the concept and terminological means. The system of the main concepts and terms characterizing the spatial and temporal structure and hierarchy of biodiversity is discussed. Its description is presented for the population-species and ecosystem levels of organization of the living matter. A group of terms related to the term of taxocene is considered separately.

Emergence of novel morphotypes of plants and animals and their relationships with evolution of ecosystems is an important problem of general biology. In the paper, the organization and evolution of gene networks of animal embryogenesis and higher plant development are considered. Similar features of these gene networks, including block-wise organization, hierarchy, and overlapping of subsystems, enable to suppose common mechanisms of rapid evolution of morphogenesis by reorganization of relations of gene networks due to mutations of not many genes being the central regulators. Contours with negative feedback are able to make the effect of such mutations "neutral", thus slowing down the evolution of morphogenesis. Disruption of such contours occurring due to changing direction of the vector of selection causes the penetration of the whole spectrum of previously "neutralized" mutations, hence, it stimulates an explosion-like emergence of novel morphotypes, which provokes the crisis of an ecosystem. In the paper, the correspondence of this scenario to paleoecological data is discussed.

Emergence of novel morphotypes of plants and animals and their relationships with evolution of ecosystems is an important problem of general biology. In the paper, the organization and evolution of gene networks of animal embryogenesis and higher plant development are considered. Similar features of these gene networks, including block-wise organization, hierarchy, and overlapping of subsystems, enable to suppose common mechanisms of rapid evolution of morphogenesis by reorganization of relations of gene networks due to mutations of not many genes being the central regulators. Contours with negative feedback are able to make the effect of such mutations "neutral", thus slowing down the evolution of morphogenesis. Disruption of such contours occurring due to changing direction of the vector of selection causes the penetration of the whole spectrum of previously "neutralized" mutations, hence, it stimulates an explosion-like emergence of novel morphotypes, which provokes the crisis of an ecosystem. In the paper, the correspondence of this scenario to paleoecological data is discussed.

Models of the molecular evolution of neutral nucleotide sequences are presented in individually oriented models of disruptive selection. It is demonstrated that evolutionary history can be reconstructed using the resulting molecular data. The suggested procedure gives an opportunity to estimate confidence limits for the observed intensity of an increase in genetic diversity in the population. It is demonstrated that the proposed approach allows one to distinguish between the forms of action of environmental changes on the evolution history of model populations.

Mechanisms and history of formation of chromosome variations of modern species of small mammals in Palearctic are discussed on the example of the common shrew (Sorex araneus L.), a species characterized by a wide range of karyotypic variability. Fragmentation of the species areas during the last glaciation and drift of allelic and chromosomal variants apparently played a leading role in the formation of the species structures. structures.

Karyotypes and chromosomal polymorphisms were studied by analysis of sets and frequencies of polytene chromosome banding sequences in 90 Chironomus species. It was shown that most of Chironomus species investigated have a high level of chromosomal polymorphism. Numbers of banding sequences between karyopools of different species vary from 7 to 60. A karyopool of all 90 species studied includes more than 1200 banding sequences. A clear-cut cytogenetic divergence of natural populations inside the species was established. It was based on different sets and frequencies of banding sequences. The most strong cytogenetic divergence was observed between Palearctic and Nearctic populations of Holarctic species such as Chironomus plumosus and Chironomus entis. Intercontinental cytogenetic distance between populations for these species was 10 times higher than intracontinental one. Palearctic and Nearctic populations of C. tentans have diverged so deep that two sibling-species were formed (Nearctic C. dilutus and Palearctic C. tentans).
The philogenetic ACDEF-tree based on comparison of 315 Chironomus banding sequences in 5 chromosomal arms of 63 species demonstrates a clear correlation between karyotype divergence and species divergence.

Some methods and approaches to phylogenetic modelling are considered in methodological aspect. A new divergent-parallel model of polymorphic taxa phylogeneses based on the genesis of new characters is elaborated. The possibilities of tuning the model for isomorphic reflection of natural process are discussed. Analysis of the relationships between the sections of the Euphorbia genus in Northern Asia was performed as an example of modelling. Investigations were supported by RFBR (04-04-48493, 04-04-49810) and Siberian Branch of RAS (integration grant No. 145), grant of President of the Russian Federation for young scientists (MD-2030.2004.4).

Approaches used for the subject mapping of the distribution of biomasses of six functional taxonomic groups of land invertebrates on the West Siberian Plane are characterized. The general regularities of this distribution are discussed.

The results of multivariate analysis of the population of amphibia, birds, including fowl, and small mammals of plain part of the Khanty-Mansy autonomous district are reported. The results of classification are presented as graphs depicting the main directions of changes in the communities and mapped schemes. The strength and commonality of the connection between the heterogeneity of environment and animal population are estimated. These data are used to justify the right for extrapolation of the obtained data for map making.

Syntaxonomic diversity of the forests and their spatial arrangement was studied in the Southern part of the Western Sayan. All types of boreal, hemiboreal forest and subalpine forests were attributed to 5 classes, 7 orders, 7 alliances, 24 associations, 3 subassociations, 12 varians. New units are: Order Ledo palustris-Laricetalia cajanderi Ermakov ord. nova hoc loco (nom. type - the all. Ledo palustris-Laricion cajanderi), diagnostic species: Ledum palustre, Vaccinium uliginosum, Empetrum nigrum, Aulacomnium palustre, Polytrichum commune, Carex globularis, Carex pallida, Sphagnum girgensohnii, Sph. warnstorfii, Sph. fuscum, Tomentypnum nitens. Alliance Ledo palustris-Laricion cajanderi Ermakov all. nova hoc loco (nom. type - the ass. (Ledo palustris-Laricetum cajanderi Ermakov, Cherosov, Gogoleva, 2002), diagnostic species: Calamagrostis lapponica, Duschekia fruticosa, Equisetum pratense, Polytrichum jensenii, Salix myrtilloides, Arctagrostis latifolia, Pedicularis labradorica. Alliance Pino sibiricae-Laricion sibiricae Ermakov all. nova hoc loco (nom. type - the ass. Carici iljinii-Laricetum sibiricae), diagnostic species: Pinus sibirica, Calamagrostis obtusata, Poa sibirica, Carex iljinii, Luzula parviflora). Association Carici iljinii-Laricetum sibiricae Ermakov ass. nova hoc loco (diagnostic species are the same as for Pino sibiricae-Laricion sibiricae. 34 syntaxa of the lower rank (associations and subassociations) were organized into spatial units - series and micro-combinations. The relations of distribution of forest types with the limiting ecological and topographic factors (altitude and exposition of mountain slopes) were revealed using DCA ordination. On the basis modeling of the relief (scale of 1 : 200

The problems connected with the use of GIS technologies in building up a digital map model for the northern taiga key range of West Siberia are considered. The necessity to compose a digital model of the relief involving the Arcview software is first of all due to the fact that the relief is a leading factor of differentiation of natural complexes (soils, vegetation, etc.). The possibilities and disadvantages of programming modules for the construction of 3D model for territories where the scale of vertical and horizontal partitions is small and accounts for several ten metres are noted.

An ecological database was developed using GIS to improve estimates of the current state, successional dynamics, and biodiversity of forest ecosystems. The database is a system of many hierarchic levels that incorporate the major forest component information arranged in a systematic manner. The database structure and tasks are described, along with an algorithm of automated forest environment classification resting on a digital relief model. The ecological database local level was successfully used to identify spatial vegetation dynamics trends in a north taiga forest study site. Computer-generated maps of forest environment types and vegetation dynamics units were obtained. Standing crop volume changes caused by succession in different forest environment types are presented for larch regeneration sequences. At a regional level, the database allows to look at geo-specific characteristics of forest regeneration processes. A comparison of biodiversity between vegetation communities is illustrated by an example of background regeneration sequences found for different vegetation zones.

Relationships between species diversity (alpha-diversity) of higher vascular plants and climatic resources of their habitats are analyzed at different levels of the plant organization from botanic-geographical (floristic) regions and large typological subdivisions (steppe types) to specific phytocenoses. The dependence of some aspects of the ecosystem biological diversity ((e.g. tree species and ground layers compositions) and population diversity (for the Pinus sylvestris L. and Larix sibirica Ledeb. climatypes as examples) on climatic factors is also shown. At all the levels of the plant cover organization, species diversity increases with an increase in warmth under unlimited water. With limited water resources, plant diversity decreases. For large territorial units (floristic regions), the species diversity increases in proportion to an increase in climatopic diversity of the territory, estimated using the number of combinations of climatic parameters per unit area.

In order to evaluate the functional status of autochthonal larch associations of the cryolite zone of Central Siberia, a methodic approach was applied which united development of standard distributions of species (geometric rows and MacArthur) corresponding to the experimental one, and their subsequent comparison with the help of normalized Shennon index. It was demonstrated on the basis of the performed research that the time of stabilization of autochthonal larch forests after fires, determined on the basis of the structure of relative coating of species starting from which the communities can be considered as autochthonal (climacteric), is 90-100 years. The recovery of the initial species composition embraces 7 seral stages. Recovery of the vertical structure of the association is completed in 20 years after a fire. The dominants of the corresponding tiers recover their positions after 50 years.

A conceptual model of the climatic dependence of structural biodiversity of boreal forests of Northern Eurasia is developed; the coordinates "continentality - warmth" are used, along with the ordination of zonal types of forest lands plotted in the same system previously. The basis of the portrait ordination model was composed of the landscape-important biomorphocycles of biocenosis types, which play a leading part in zonal complexes of forest types. The most characteristic features of longitudinal sector and latitudinal zonal changes of cycles and biomorphocycles in the space of two-dimensional bioclimatic model of the forests of Northern Eurasia are shown.
The investigation was supported by RFBR (03-04-49746, 03-04-96025, 03-07-96837)

The information structure of the electronic library "Diversity of plant communities of Northern Eurasia" is presented. The existing standards of electronic representation of ecological and biological data are considered, and new ones are proposed, including a document characterising a plant unit of any rank. Examples of the databases intended for applied directions of the investigation of the vegetation are described, both nature-conservative and resource ones. The technology of developing information systems on the diversity of vegetation is described. The work was supported by RFBR, Project No. 03-04-49746, 03-04-96025, 03-07-96837 and the Integration Project of the SB RAS No. 145.

The structure, classifiers and links of two digital libraries are considered: Catalogue of vascular plants of Siberia and Collections of Herbarium specimens (web site: http://www-sbras.nsc.ru/win/elbib/atlas/flora) created on the server of SB RAS when implementing the RFBR project No. 99-07-90222 "Digital Atlas on animal and plant lives biodiversity of Siberia" 03-04-49746, 04-04-48493, 04-04-49810, interdisciplinary integration projects of SB RAS No. 66 "Basic research in biodiversity and dynamics of ecosystems", and No. 145 "Biodiversity and dynamics of ecosystems: information technologies and modeling".

The world trend in the area of conservation, processing and transmission of scientific information is the development of integrated global information resources on the grounds of uniting databases, software packages for analysis and modelling, which allows carrying out complex investigations. It is principally important to use modern technologies in accumulating, day-to-day management of large amounts of data for solving large-scale theoretical and applied tasks.
Large number of genetic collections for use in many areas of biology, starting from selection and

A simplified one-dimensional mathematical model of the vertical distribution of carbon and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere is proposed for the purpose of obtaining analytical solutions and establishing the regularities in stratification of the atmospheric gaseous components. Test examples for the tasks which are two-dimensional in the vertical plane are composed; adequacy of the proposed one-dimensional model is carried out.