COMMISSION OF RAS FOR THE CONSERVATION OF BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY

COMMISSION OF RAS FOR THE CONSERVATION OF BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY

Chairman - Academician of RAS D.S. Pavlov

Deputy Chairman - Academician V.V. Rozhnov

The commission reated on March 26, 2002 for the implementation and further development of the "National Strategy for the Conservation of Biodiversity of Russia", developed with the leading participation of the Russian Academy of Sciences and adopted at the National Forum for the Conservation of Wildlife in Russia (Moscow, June 2001).

The main areas of the Commission's work:

- coordination of scientific research on rare and endangered species,

- diversity of ecosystems,

- nature reserve,

- biodiversity monitoring,

- invasive species,

- health of the environment,

- a variety of domesticated and cultivated forms of living organisms,

- genetic resources,

- informatization of research in the field of biodiversity.

In addition, the RAS Commission on Biodiversity Conservation will act as the Bureau of the Russian National Committee; and as the International Program for the Study of Biological Diversity (DIVERSITAS).

Since 2002, the RAS Section of Reserve Management has become a member of the Commission for the Conservation of Biological Diversity.

In 1982, at the Department of General Biology, by a decision of the Presidium of the USSR Academy of Sciences, a "Commission for the Coordination of Scientific Research in State Reserves of the USSR" was established to provide scientific and methodological assistance to reserves in conducting scientific research and coordinate these studies. The Commission included the country's leading scientists - biologists, geographers, soil scientists and other specialists. Chairman of the Commission - Academician of the RAS V. E. Sokolov, Scientific Secretary - Ph.D. T. M. Korneeva.

The need to organize such a Commission within the framework of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR was dictated by the fact that by the beginning of the 80s about 140 reserves of the USSR were subordinated to 32 departments of the union and republican scales: the Ministry of Agriculture of the USSR, Ministry of Hunt and Nature Reserves (Glavokhot) of the RSFSR, State Committees and Ministries of Forestry of the Union Republics, research institutes, universities, etc.

The departments to which the reserves were subordinate were separated and all questions concerning their activities were solved autonomously. Scientific research carried out in the reserves was not coordinated by anyone. The work of the Commission was as follows:

1. The "Main directions of scientific research in reserves" were developed, approved at the All-Union meeting "Theoretical foundations of reserve management" (Lvov, 1985), and published in the abstracts of this meeting. On the basis of these directions, plans for research work in reserves were drawn up and for the first time a coordination plan for scientific research of reserves in the USSR was prepared.

2. Scientific and methodological support of research work carried out in the reserves.

A. Organization and holding of meetings, seminars, schools.

 

- All-Union (All-Russian) and international meetings dedicated to theoretical issues of nature reserve management

- "Theory and practice of nature reserve management" (1985, Lvov). Meeting materials have been published.

- "Problems of protection of the gene pool and management of ecosystems in the reserves of the steppe and desert zones" (1984, reserve Askania Nova) ,. Meeting materials have been published.

- "Problems of protection of the gene pool and management of ecosystems of the forest zone" (1986, Pushchino). Meeting materials have been published.

- "Reserves of the USSR, their present and future" (1990, Novgorod). Meeting materials have been published.

- "Reserves in new economic conditions" (1995, St. Petersburg). Meeting materials have been published.

- All-Union thematic meetings.

- "Soil Research in Reserves" (1989, Maykop, materials of the meeting published).

- "Hydrobiological research in reserves" (1987, Borok. Materials of the meeting published).

- "Botanical research in reserves" (1989, Berezinsky reserve)

- Regional schools and seminars (2-3 per year) in various areas of scientific research.

- The school-seminar "Organization of Scientific Research in Reserves and Keeping the Chronicle of Nature" was held for the reserves of the forest zone (Petrozavodsk), steppe and forest-steppe (Galichya Gora reserve), the Caucasus and Transcaucasia (Vladikavkaz), Siberia and the Far East (Irkutsk), Central Asia and Kazakhstan (reserve Aksu-Dzhabagly); "Scientific research in the reserves of Siberia" (Novosibirsk, materials published)

- Annual plenary sessions at which the most important problems were discussed and solved, such as "Formation of a geographical network", "The need to regulate the number of animals in reserves" and many others.

B. Publishing activities, including.

 

- Development and publication of scientific and methodological manuals for reserve staff.

- "Chronicle of nature in the reserves of the USSR", K. P. Filonov, Yu. D. Nukhimovskaya.

- "Methodology for soil research", G. V. Motuzov.

- "Keeping the Chronicle of Nature in the Reserves of the Forest Zone" by M. L. Kaletskaya, etc.

- Publication of the results of scientific research carried out in the reserves.

Special thematic collections of the series "Problems of nature reserve management". Founded in 1986

 

1. Results and prospects of nature reserve management in the USSR. Moscow: Nauka, 1986.

2. Problems of inventory of living and nonliving nature. Moscow: Nauka, 1987.

3. Population studies of animals in reserves. Moscow: Nauka, 1989.

4. Population studies of plants in reserves. Moscow: Nauka, 1990.

5. Ornithological research in reserves. M., Science, 1992.

6. Theory and practice of nature reserve management. Published by the RAS Commission. M., 1993.

7. Soil research in reserves. Published by the RAS Commission. M., 1994.

8. Hydrobiological research in reserves. Published by the RAS Commission. M., 1997.

9. Anthropogenic impact on the natural complexes of reserves. Published by the RAS Commission. M., 1998.

10. Study of invertebrates in animals in reserves. Published by the RAS Commission. M., 2001.

 

Series of brochures "Flora and fauna of reserves". Organized to publish annotated lists of animal and plant species in 1987.

 

By the beginning of 2002, 99 issues had been published.

 

1987 year

1. Bryophytes and vascular plants of the Zeya reserve

2. Vascular plants of the Mordovia Reserve

3. Annotated list of vascular plants of the Oka nature reserve

4. Vascular plants of the Pinezhsky Reserve

5. Vascular Plants of the Darwin Reserve

6. Flora of Zhuvintas reserve

7. Lepidoptera of the Karadag Reserve

8. Vascular plants of the Visim reserve

9. Fauna of the Wrangel Island reserve (invertebrates, birds, mammals)

 

1988 year

10. Vascular plants of the Kurgaldzhinsky reserve

11. Fauna of the Darwin Reserve (zooplankton, fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, mammals)

12. Fauna of the Baikal Reserve (higher lepidoptera, mammals)

13. Fauna of the Barguzinsky Reserve (amphibians, reptiles, birds, mammals)

14. Flora of the reserve "Wrangel Island" (vascular plants)

15. Fauna of the Carpathian reserve (terrestrial molluscs, amphibians, reptiles, birds, mammals)

16. Vertebrates of the Pinezhsky Reserve (fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, mammals)

17. Flora of the Carpathian Reserve (vascular plants)

18. Vascular Plants of the Slitere Reserve

19. Flora of the Ukrainian Steppe Reserve (vascular plants)

20. Fauna of the Kivach reserve (cyclostomes, fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, mammals)

21. Vascular Plants of the Galichya Gora Reserve

 

1989 year

22. Flora of the Berezinsky Reserve (vascular plants)

23. Vascular Plants of the Barguzinsky Reserve

24. Flora of the reserve "Askania-Nova" (flowering plants)

25. Fauna of the "Galichya Gora" reserve (amphibians, reptiles, birds, mammals)

26. Fauna of the Karadag reserve (parasite fauna of fish, fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, mammals)

27. Insects of the Berezinsky Reserve

28. Fauna of the reserve "Codru" (fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, mammals)

29. Lepidoptera of the Kivach Reserve

30. Vertebrates of the Kanevsky Reserve (fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, mammals)

 

1990 year

31. Vascular plants of the Malaya Sosva reserve

32. Flora of the reserve "Tigrovaya Balka" (higher spore, flowering)

33. Vascular Plants of the Badkhyz Reserve

34. Hymenoptera of the Galichya Gora nature reserve

35. Vertebrates of the Berezinsky Reserve (fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, mammals)

 

1991 year

36. Lepidoptera of the Darwin Reserve

37. Vertebrates of the Prioksko-Terrasny Reserve (amphibians, reptiles, birds, mammals)

38. Arachnids of the Basegi Reserve

39. Vascular Plants of the Khingan Reserve

40. Vascular plants of the Kanevsky Reserve

 

1992 year

41. Vascular plants of the Sayano-Shushensky Reserve

42. Vascular plants of the Zhigulevsky Reserve

43. Vascular Plants of the Islands of the Far Eastern Marine Reserve

44. Vertebrates of the Oka Nature Reserve (fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, mammals)

45. Vertebrates of the Voronezh Reserve (fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, mammals)

46. Algae, mushrooms, bryophytes of the Karadag reserve

47. Vascular plants of the "Forest on Vorskle" reserve

48. Vertebrates of the Luhansk Nature Reserve (fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, mammals)

49. Vertebrates of the Pechora-Ilychsky Reserve (amphibians, reptiles, birds, mammals)

 

1993 year

50. Invertebrates of the Kanevsky Reserve

51. Spiders of the Kivach reserve

52. Vascular Plants of the Bolshekhekhtsirsky Reserve

53. Vertebrates of the Bolshekhekhtsirsky Reserve (fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, mammals)

 

1994 year

54. Vascular plants of the Olekminsky reserve

55. Lepidoptera of the Prioksko-Terrasny Reserve

56. Vascular Plants of the Basegi Reserve

57. Vertebrates of the Komsomolsk Nature Reserve (fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, mammals)

 

1995 year

58. Vascular Plants of the Karadag Reserve

59. Vertebrates of the Central Forest Reserve

60. Vertebrates of the Khopersky Reserve (fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, mammals)

 

1996 year

61. Invertebrates of the Zhigulevsky Reserve

62. Mosses, algae, lichens of the Nizhnesvirsky reserve

 

1997 year

63. Fauna of the Lapland Nature Reserve (fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, mammals, lepidoptera)

64. Vascular Plants of the Lapland Reserve

 

1998 year

65. Bryophytes of the Pechora-Ilychsky Reserve

66. Vascular Plants of the Taimyr Reserve

67. Vertebrates of the Shulgan-Tash Reserve (fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, mammals)

68. Lichens of the Baikal Nature Reserve.

69. Beetles and ants of the Lazovsky reserve

70. Higher Lepidoptera of the Oksky Reserve

71. Vascular Plants of the Chernye Zemli reserve

72. Vascular plants of the Astrakhan reserve

73. Vertebrates of the Basegi Reserve (fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, mammals)

74. Vertebrates of the reserve "Black Lands" (fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, mammals)

 

1999 year

75. Vertebrates of the Astrakhan Nature Reserve (fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, mammals)

76. Vascular Plants of the Caucasian Reserve

77. Vascular Plants of the Kaluga Zaseki Reserve

78. Flora of the Voronezh Reserve (vascular plants, bryophytes, lichens, mushrooms)

79. Vascular Plants of the Bryansk Forest Reserve

80. Lepidoptera of the Kandalaksha Reserve.

81. Fauna of the Caucasian Reserve (insects (leaf beetles), cyclostomes, fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, mammals)

 

2000 year

82. Vascular Plants of the Kedrovaya Pad 'Reserve

83. Macrozoobenthos of the Kandalaksha Nature Reserve (Belomorskaya water area)

84. Vascular plants of the Kivach reserve

85. Vascular plants of the Orenburg reserve

86. Vertebrates of the Bryansk Forest Reserve (fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, mammals)

87. Vascular Plants of the Bureinsky Reserve

88. Bryophytes and lichens of the Wrangel Island reserve

89. Lichens and lichen-follicle fungi of the Putorana Reserve

90. Vascular plants of the Kerzhensky Reserve

91. Flora and fauna of reservoirs and watercourses of the Barguzinsky reserve

 

2001 year

92. Flora and fauna of reservoirs and watercourses of the Baikal reserve

93. Mushrooms of the Kivach reserve

94. Vertebrates of the Ust-Lensky Nature Reserve (fish, birds, mammals)

95. Coleoptera of the Oka Nature Reserve

96. Lepidoptera of the reserve "Galichya Gora"

97. Terrestrial vertebrates of the Taimyr Reserve (amphibians, reptiles, birds, mammals)

98. Terrestrial vertebrates of the Kaluga Zaseki Reserve (amphibians, reptiles, birds, mammals)

99. Vascular Plants of the Teberda Nature Reserve

Periodic editions. Scientific and methodological notes (Nauchno-Metodologicheskiye Zametki) of the Commission "Zapovednoe delo" (Nature reservation), organized in 1996. Nine issues of the NMZ were published.

 

Since 1982, for 10 years (1982-1992), the Commission performed the functions of a scientific and methodological center of the reserves. The experts of the Commission gave written and oral consultations of a scientific and methodological nature, took part in examinations, resolution of conflict situations, etc.

Since 1992, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the system of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR has been reorganized. The commission was renamed into the "Commission of the Russian Academy of Sciences on nature reserves". Its composition was revised: only Russian specialists began to take part in the work. Chairman of the Commission: Corr. V.N. Tikhomirov, and since 1998 - ac. D. S. Pavlov.

In its activities, the Commission continued to use the traditions of the Scientific Councils of the Academy of Sciences, and was a scientific, methodological and advisory body linking reserves with the scientific potential of the country.

During the same period, the system of protected areas also underwent significant changes. Reserves located on the territory of Russia began to be subordinate to a single body - the Directorate for Reserve Management of the Ministry for Environmental Protection, which was later transformed into the State Committee of the Russian Federation for Environmental Protection, and in 2000 became part of the Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR). This removed the function of coordinator from the Commission for Nature Management, uniting reserves located in various structures.

At present, 6 reserves remain outside the Ministry of Natural Resources - Ilmensky (UO RAS), Kedrovaya Pad, Far Eastern Marine, Ussuriysky (FEB RAS), Galichya Gora (Voronezh University) South Uralsky Reserve (Federal Forestry Service of Russia).

On March 26, 2002, by the Resolution of the Bureau of the General Biology Department, the RAS Commission on nature reserves was transformed into the RAS Commission on the conservation of biological diversity. Publishing activities and other functions of the RAS Commission on Reserve Management are performed by the Section of Reserve Management, which is part of the Biodiversity Commission.