Home – Home – Jornals – Contemporary Problems of Ecology 2022 number 2

The annual cycles of the Northwestern Siberian warblers are analyzed in order to identify the features that determine the possibilities of further development of the Subarctic in the conditions of current climate change. The penetration of Philloscopus inornatus, Ph. trochiloides and Silvia curruca into the Subarctic is limited by woody vegetation, Ph. borealis - by high willows of the river valleys of the Middle Yamal. Ph. trochilus, Ph. collybita and Acrocephalus schoenobaenus inhabit the strip of subarctic tundra of Yamal. The last three species are moving in a northerly direction. The probable advance of forest-tundra-tundra landscapes to the north under conditions of further warming will entail the northward movement of forest and shrub birds, not only warblers, since there are no factors preventing this.

In this work reconstruction of past vegetation and fire dynamics in north Altai was performed by pollen and charcoal investigation of peat deposits of Maly Labysh Mire located in the upper reaches of the Kondoma River in Gornaya Shoriya National Park (52.6306° N, 88.0829°^{E, 490 м a. s. l.). Lithology and radiocarbon dating has shown that the swamp is of lacustrine origin. The lake originated about 3000 years ago, and about 2200 years ago it turned into a swamp. Spore-pollen analysis of lacustrine and peat deposits revealed repeated changes in the vegetation cover, probably caused by climate instability during the last 3000 years. In general, 2 humid millennial periods (3000-1800 cal. yr. BP and 550-200 cal. yr. BP) were identified when the role of fir ( Abies sibirica ) increased in the forests, alternating with 2 drier periods (1600-900 cal. yr. BP and 200 cal. yr. BP - contemporary) when the fir gave way to birch ( Betula pendula and Betula alba ) forests. The article represents also data on the dynamics of paleo fires in the area of the Maly Labysh Mire based on micro- and macrocharcoal analyzes. It was found, that in peat deposits of Maly Labysh Mire the maxima of micro-charcoals record wetter periods, but macro-charcoals - drier periods, while periodical flooding of the bog with river waters took place. With transition of mire from the flooding regime to unflooding regime, the microcoals and macrocoals began to synchronously reflect drier periods. The results of the study showed that the frequency and intensity of fires in Gornaya Shoriya in the last two thousand years correlate well with previously identified periods of lowering of the groundwater level in the mire [Kuryina, Blyakharchuk, 2020] and with a decrease in the amount of atmospheric precipitation in the Holocene [Arkhipov, Volkova, 1994]. A conclusion is drawn about connection of paleo fires with dynamics of humidity of climate, which in complex influenced on vegetation change in Gornaya Shoriya.}

In this work, a dendroecological study of the parameters of annual rings of Scots pine ( Pinus sylvestris L.) trees in the forest-steppe and steppe zones of Eastern Transbaikalia was carried out. For the first time, two new tree-ring chronologies (Nov and Tz) were built for the study area. They were constructed using digital growth ring anatomy methods and include four parameters: tree ring width, early wood width, late wood width, and late wood optical density. The analysis of the obtained chronologies made it possible to estimate the parameters of tree growth in the conditions of the forest-steppe (Nov) and steppe (Tz) zones and to reveal the presence of a reliable connection between them. Calculation of sliding correlation coefficients revealed periods of falling correlation coefficients below reliable values. This indicates the impossibility of constructing a generalized regional chronology for the forest-steppe and steppe zones of Eastern Transbaikalia. Comparison of the obtained chronologies with meteorological parameters (surface air temperature and atmospheric precipitation), with the calculated indices of aridity and moisture (Selyaninov’s hydrothermal coefficient, Pedya’s aridity index, Palmer drought severity index) showed the most sensitive characteristics of the annual ring in the study area. In the forest-steppe zone, the highest values of the correlation coefficients were obtained between the average annual precipitation and the annual ring width ( r = 0.59), early wood width ( r = 0.59), and also between the average air temperature for a hydrological year and the late wood width ( r = 0.51). For trees of the steppe zone, the largest significant correlation coefficients were obtained between water year precipitation and the annual ring width ( r = 0.43), early wood width ( r = 0.43), as well as between the Palmer drought severity index for June-September and the width of early wood ( r = 0.52).

The properties of a sandy Ferric Podzol over fluvioglacial deposits and the root mass of its 0-20 cm layer with Pinus sylvestris L. fine roots (≤ 3 mm in diameter) were studied in a mid-taiga cowberry-type pine stand. Keeping in mind the structure of the phytogenic field of a tree, the study was subdivided into the “trunk”, “crown”, and “gap” zones. The root mass of the forest floor and the mineral horizons was found to change in different directions in the said zones. In the forest floor, the “trunk” zone was more saturated with roots than the “gap” zone, while the trend in the soil mineral layer was the opposite. The highest root biomass was associated with sites that were the richest in soil nutrients and organic matter (NPKC). The cellulolytic activity and eco-physiological parameters of the microbiota varied in the studied horizons. Cellulolytic activity in the forest floor was the highest near tree trunks, while the spatial variation of this parameter in the mineral body of the soil was less pronounced. A correlation was detected between the contribution of root respiration to total СО₂ emissions from the soil surface and the biomass of fine roots (≤3 mm) in the 0-20-cm soil layer. The effect of the soil thermal regime on root mass in different zones of the phytogenic field was studied. Soil temperature variation due to the redistribution of solar energy by the canopy results in a higher root mass in areas receiving more heat. The zone with better heated soils is the canopy gaps. The effect of the temperature of the soil’s root mass is more explicit in the mineral layer. The results of this study can be used in environmental monitoring and in predictive assessments of the effects of climate change on boreal forest ecosystems.

The abundance, biomass, and size-morphological structure of heterotrophic bacterioplankton were determined in freshwater environments of the Svalbard archipelago (Norway), differing in morphometry and trophic level. The quantitative parameters of bacterioplankton varied within wide limits and increased along the trophic gradient of the waters. Medium-sized cocci and coccobacilli reached up to one third of the total abundance and a half of the total biomass of bacterioplankton. The abundance and biomass of small cocci varied over a wide range, while small rods were, on the contrary, relatively stable in these parameters. With an increase in trophic status, the proportion of small cocci in the community increased, while the proportion of rods and vibrios decreased. The proportion of medium-sized cocci and coccobacilli changed less, although there was a tendency for its increase in the trophic gradient.

Aquatic vascular plants at different stages of their life cycle exhibit different physiological and metabolic activity, resulting in changing habitat conditions for hydrobionts. The hydrochemical parameters of the environment, the concentrations of phytoplankton pigments, the abundance of bacteria and zooplankton were studied in experimental ecosystems (microcosms), including actively vegetating and completing the vegetation of aquatic plants. In microcosms with actively vegetating hornwort Ceratophyllum demersum L. the concentration of P_tot, Mg²⁺ and BOD ₅ increased, and Na⁺ and Ca²⁺ decreased. In systems with a dying arrowhead Sagittaria sagittifolia L. the concentration of K⁺ increased to the greatest extent, P_tot, Cl^-, and BOD₅ to a lesser extent, and the concentrations of SO₄^2- and O₂ dissolved in water decreased. In the presence of plants, higher concentrations of phytoplankton pigments were observed in comparison with the control. The quantitative indicators of bacterioplankton did not differ. The number and biomass of zooplankton in general and the dominant species Daphnia longispina in microcosms with plants exceeded these indicators in the control. The hornwort, which lost half of the biomass, but continued vegetation, had a stronger stimulating effect on the abundance of zooplankton than the arrowhead, which finished vegetation.

This article presents the results of the transformation of natural ecosystems due to an emergency diesel fuel spill at CHPP-3 in the Norilsk Industrial District. Oil products have negatively affected the vegetation of the floodplains of the Bezymyanny and Daldykan creeks and Ambarnaya River. Some of the plant communities have been significantly transformed due to direct contact with diesel fuel, which is expressed in a noticeable decrease in the indices of alpha, beta, and gamma diversity. The vegetation of the lower reaches of the Ambarnaya River is the most polluted. No effect of oil products has been recorded in the floodplain of the Pyasina River. Here, the indices of phytodiversity of conditionally disturbed communities are comparable to those of background vegetation. All bryophytes and some species of vascular plants of dry and drained habitats are extremely nonresistant to oil pollution. Conversely, aquatic and streamside-aquatic species of perennial long- and short-rhizome grasses are resistant to pollution. The diversity of vegetation affected by oil products is represented by five associations and three subassociations of three classes of floristic-sociological classification. We describe three associations ( Chamaenerio latifolii - Sanguisorbetum officinalis ass. nova, Eleocharo acicularis - Arctophiletum fulvae ass. nova, and Equiseto arvensis - Salicetum dasycladi ass. nova) and three subassociations ( Chamaenerio latifolii - Sanguisorbetum officinalis typicum subass. nova, Chamaenerio latifolii - Sanguisorbetum officinalis angelicetosum decurrentis subass. nova, and Caricetum aquatilis cerastietosum jenisejensis subass. nova) for the first time.

On the territory of South Kazakhstan (Almaty region) there are old abandoned warehouses with prohibited and unused pesticides, the active substances and metabolites of which pollute natural water sources and pastures of farm animals located nearby. The analysis of blood samples of 50 heads of cattle from five monitoring points of the Almaty region was carried out for the presence of micronucleus in erythrocytes, genomic mutations and chromosomal aberrations in lymphocytes. Cell cultivation and preparation of preparations were carried out by standard cytogenetic methods. The frequency of erythrocytes with micronucleus in cattle kept in experimental plots was 3.3 %, which is 4.7 times higher than in the control group. The incidence of genomic mutations in the blood system of experimental groups of animals exceeded the same indicator in the control group by an average of 1.6 times, and chromosomal aberrations - by 9.1 times. The proportion of hypodiploid cells was 46 % of the total number of genomic mutations. Polyploidy accounted for up to 17 %, and hyperdiploidy was found in 5 % of cells. Analysis of individual indicators of general cytogenetic instability in the blood system of animals showed that hyperdiploidy and chromosomal aberrations are the main components of this indicator, which, on average for five monitoring sites, exceeded the control data by 7.9 times. Statistical data processing allows us to make a conclusion about the genotoxic effect of prohibited and unused pesticides on the body of cattle, which have clastogenic, aneugene and mutagenic effects even after 30 years.

Introduced woody plants are widespread in the green spaces of Siberia, the mycobiota of which is formed on the basis of widespread local species. As a result of studying the biota of fungi associated with Populus balsamifera L., Acer negundo L., Ulmus pumila L., Prunus maackii Rupr. and Tilia cordata Mill. 105 species of mainly agaricoid macromycetes, common for Siberia, were identified and characterized mainly by a wide trophic and topical specialization. Many of them are characterized as synanthropic organisms. The largest number of macromycete species is generally associated with A. negundo (61), the smallest with U. pumila (16 species). The mycobiota of all tree species, except for T. cordata , is dominated by wood-destroying species. More than half of the identified wood-destroying fungi are capable of parasitism, and in the green plantations of Krasnoyarsk they form fruit bodies more often on living tree introduced species, while outside the city on aboriginal tree species, fruiting of these mushrooms begins only after the tree dies. The largest number of wood destroyers was found on A. negundo (39), among which Flammulina velutipes (Curtis) Singer dominate. and Bjerkandera adusta (Willd.) P. Karst. With a relatively rich biota of ground macromycetes associated with A. negundo (22 species) and T. cordata (17 species), there is a significant difference in the ratio of its constituent ecological-trophic groups: soil and litter saprotrophs are mainly associated with the first tree species (dominated by representatives of families Agaricaceae , Marasmiaceae and Psathyrellaceae ), with the second - mycorrhiza formers (dominated by Inocybe spp ., Inocybaceae ). In general, among the macromycetes of green spaces formed by introduced tree species, the mycobiota of U. pumila and P. maackii is distinguished by the least taxonomic and ecological-trophic diversity.