From 16 to 26 August 2024, the VII International Field Symposium "West Siberian Peatlands and the Carbon Cycle: Past and Present" was held in Khanty-Mansiysk. As part of the symposium, a section report was presented by a third-year student of the Faculty of Natural Sciences and Geography of the Kozma Minin Nizhny Novgorod State Pedagogical University, Polina Nikolaevna Tyutyaeva, "Features of the Species Composition of Cladocera (Crustacea: Cladocera) in Sphagnum Bogs of the Nizhny Novgorod Region". The work was co-authored with senior colleagues, Anna Nikolaevna Neretina (IEE RAS) and Yulia Yuryevna Davydova (K. Minin NSPU). Participation of A.N. Neretina's project on the study of the morphology of Daphniidae ephippia was supported by the grant of the Russian Science Foundation No. 22-14-00258.
The symposium promoted a broad exchange of knowledge in the field of studying biodiversity, swamping processes and preserving the biosphere functions of peatlands and swamp forests, complex environmental monitoring of peatland ecosystems, the role of peatlands in the global carbon cycle, as well as assessing the anthropogenic impact on the functioning of peatlands and issues of introducing modern low-carbon nature management technologies in the context of climate change. A total of 90 researchers from Russia, Belarus and China took part in the symposium. The participants visited the Kondinsky Lakes Nature Park, the Yurts of the Chaynikovs peasant farm, as well as swamp areas and the SPHAGNUM ECO company's production facilities for the extraction and processing of sphagnum moss.
Special attention at the symposium was given to student reports, since participation in such large events is an important stage in involving talented young people in scientific research activities.
Let's find out what Polina herself says about the trip to Western Siberia: "I received a huge motivation to research and develop thanks to this trip. At first, it was scary and difficult for me to fly so far alone, because this was my first experience of attending international conferences, but it was even more difficult to fly home from the hospitable team of bog scientists. Two weeks gave me many bright and wonderful impressions, senior colleagues willingly shared useful advice and knowledge with me. I would like to once again thank the organizers of the symposium, as well as my scientific supervisors - A.N. Neretina and Yu.Yu. Davydova."
Here is a review of Polina and her work by her scientific supervisor, Anna Neretina:
“It’s always a little scary to let a student go on an independent voyage, especially since we planned to go to the symposium together, and as a possible option we considered an adventurous trip from Nizhny Novgorod to Khanty-Mansiysk by car. And such a trip is still in the plans, as soon as I pass the exams and get my license. However, instead of a business trip to Khanty-Mansiysk, I went to Vietnam to catch water fleas in tropical swamp-like reservoirs. And Polina at this time successfully presented our report at the symposium and collected new samples for her term paper. Now all the material is in the initial stage of processing, but it is already clear that we have fulfilled the plan for bears and mosquitoes for this summer.”