Sergey Valerievich Naidenko. Photo by Olga Merzlyakova / Scientific Russia What do we know about ecology as a science? How is it related to evolution? Why is the activity of the nature conservation enthusiasts not always beneficial? How can we ensure that the advice and warnings of scientists are heard? What are the environmental consequences of the oil spill in the Black Sea? What can each of us do to preserve nature? Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences Sergei Valerievich Naidenko, Director of the A.N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution of the Russian Academy of Sciences, talks about this. Sergey Valerievich Naidenko is a zoologist, Doctor of Biological Sciences, Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and a specialist in remote observation of animals, ecology and reproductive biology of wild cats. He defended his PhD thesis on the topic of "Social behavior of lynx and features of its formation in ontogenesis" and his doctoral dissertation on the topic of "Biology of reproduction of felines. Mechanism of reproductive success". His scientific interests include the study of the physiological state of vertebrates, behavioral ecology of mammals, and the formation of species-specific behavior in ontogenesis. — Many people think that ecology is not polluting the environment. In fact, it is a science that is studied by more than one institute. What is it? — Ecology is the science of the relationship between organisms and the environment. These are adaptations, adaptations of organisms, reactions to environmental factors, which include other animals and humans. But now, unfortunately, this term has such a huge number of interpretations that it is not very clear how to interpret it correctly in a specific situation. When people start talking about environmental ecology, I do not really understand what they are talking about, because there is no such concept. Now, in the common sense, everything that is connected with our environment is ecology. — How is ecology connected to evolution? — In the most direct way possible, because the process of evolution is, in fact, a process of adaptation to certain environmental conditions. If the territory is open, it is very important for you to run fast, if it is closed, then using the example of my beloved cats, we see that it is important for you to sneak up carefully. If it is cold around, you need to adapt to the cold. Thus, all evolution is a process of adaptation. It follows that as soon as external conditions change (temperature, humidity in a particular region), the biotope changes, the forest is cut down or burns out, the adaptation of organisms to new conditions begins. Some die out, some die locally, some appear in their place, some organisms simply change, adapting to the environment. A classic story: in England, milk was carried in bottles covered with foil and left in front of the house. A new food resource appeared for tits, but they had to learn how to open the foil covering. They learned, they opened it. There you have it: the environment changed, a new adaptation appeared, ecological changes occurred in the species. — Didn’t they stop bringing such bottles? — Yes, then the resource disappeared and the tits had to adapt again. What is happening now with the tiger in the Far East is a big, although expected, problem. The tiger is adapted to the fact that its main prey is the wild boar. It is not for nothing that the tiger is known as a "boar herder": it follows the herds, kills a young pig, eats it for five to seven days, staying in one place, then goes on to pursue the herd. The share of wild boar in its diet is 50-60%. Now in the Russian Far East, as a result of African swine fever, the number of wild boar has sharply decreased by two orders of magnitude. And that's it — the tiger has nothing to eat. — What do they eat now? — Then the tiger begins to adapt, actively hunting sika deer, somewhere — red deer, in the northern regions there is also elk. But the number of these prey is absolutely insufficient to feed the tiger. In addition, unlike all the ungulates listed, which give birth to one cub per year, a pig can give birth to 12 piglets, which will grow up by autumn and provide excellent food for the tiger. And now there is hunger, winter, it is difficult to hunt ungulates, there are few wild boars, the tiger is looking for at least something. It goes to villages, finds dogs, sometimes livestock. This scares people. — Maybe they should throw out domestic pigs to feed the tigers? — No one will throw out pigs in such quantities. It will be very expensive. We currently have about 750 tigers, one tiger eats 50 ungulates per year, one per week. We’d need to provide 35 thousand pigs. — In the Sailyugem National Park, where the main protected species is the snow leopard, which feeds mainly on ungulates, there is also a problem of food shortage. Snow leopards raid grazing domestic ungulates, and the national park began to compensate the local population for these material losses from the funds of the specially created Irbis Fund. What is your attitude to this? — This is a real problem, and the solution is real, it works. Moreover, it works in the Far East, at least there the Far Eastern Leopard Fund adheres to the same strategy. As for the tiger, I am not ready to say whether the Amur Tiger pays or not. At some point, tiger sacrifices were paid. But the main thing here is to build this system correctly. Both the leopard and the snow leopard in Sailyugem have it a little easier, because these are relatively small areas. When we talk about a tiger in the Far East, these are huge territories: half of the Khabarovsk Territory, the entire Primorsky Territory, the Amur Region and a little bit of the Jewish Autonomous Region. But we need to check that those are really tigers feeding, otherwise it will be a scam, people will come and say that a cow has disappeared again, they should pay. Secondly, the problem now is not so much that people are worried and want to get money for their dogs. Some have lost a friend who was taken straight off the chain a few meters away from home. This means that a tiger simply comes to a village and walks through the village at night. Nobody likes this anymore, because everyone has children, and adults do not want to meet a tiger. I would not want to either. There is another problem here - not only monetary compensation, but also safety. This is a standard situation for the winter period, it is just very pronounced now because of the situation with the wild boar. It will ease by summer. — But then winter will come again. Is there a more permanent solution? — There are several solutions, we discuss them often. Firstly, we need to very clearly combat poaching, primarily with regard to ungulate species. There was even talk about a complete ban on hunting, but I am a pragmatic person and I do not think that this is possible in principle, given the Far East. Hunting will take place, but ideally it would be better to make this hunting completely legal and carried out according to the calculated standards: how many deer can be harvested, how many moose. — Is this realistic? — It is very difficult to eliminate poaching because of the vast spaces, but this is the most necessary measure. Secondly, we need to reduce the anthropogenic pressure on the collection of pine nuts. Now the nuts are collected in tons, exported to China, and all this is animal feed, especially in the autumn, when fattening is taking place and it is important to eat something. For ungulates, including wild boar and deer, these are the main sources of food. Logging was very active, some of the productive forests in terms of animal feed have already been destroyed. But the most unpleasant thing is not even that they have been destroyed, but that a lot of logging roads have been laid in the forest, which provide an opportunity for people in cars - hunters, poachers - to penetrate deeper into the forest, take the prey. — How can we increase the number of wild boar? — This is the most painful question. I don’t have an answer. The problem is big. Theoretically, we can say that we need to develop a vaccine against African swine fever. The institute can’t handle it, it’s not our profile. Colleagues haven’t managed it yet either. The result is that the mortality rate of wild boar is extremely high, almost all of them die from it. I don’t believe in a quick recovery of wild boar precisely because the plague doesn’t go away, it remains — the virus remains active for a long time, is present in wild boar populations. But this is not only our problem, no one has created a vaccine yet. — If it were suddenly created, how would you use it? — Vaccination of some animals is already a big plus. This means that at least some of the animals survive the outbreak of the epizootic and can reproduce. This means that at some point there will be a guaranteed increase in numbers. Secondly, we have large pig farms, and veterinarians have one approach — we need to shoot the wild boar. This is called "depopulation": a sharp reduction in its numbers so that it cannot spread the pathogen and in no case bring it to the pig farm, otherwise it will become a big problem, the entire herd will die. In this situation, you can at least vaccinate the pigs in the pig farms and not try to shoot the boar, leave it alone. — Environmental organizations promoting so-called green living are very active now. I heard that sometimes their activities bring not only pluses, but also minuses. Is that true? Sergey Valerievich Naidenko. Photo by Olga Merzlyakova / Scientific Russia — You noticed correctly. Very different organizations, very different people. What I like most about people is the ability not only to listen, but also to hear and understand what they are being talked about, what is needed and what is not. My colleagues and I now have the following situation with the Black Sea, with the fuel oil spill: colleagues from the centers that accept birds are trying to save them, complained about the environmentalists, who can even interfere with work. There is quite a lot of waste there, because when a bird gets covered in fuel oil, it is difficult to save it. People try, they try, they are great, but not all birds need to be saved. Recently, these centers have been receiving migratory birds that flew past and, as often happens, hit themselves somewhere, weakened somewhere. From the point of view of the same ecology, the interaction of organisms with the environment, it is clear that during bird migrations there is always a certain waste and you can’t get away from it, that’s how life works. — By waste, do you mean the loss of a certain number of animals? — Yes, those that die during flights and short rests. But they try to save them too. This is motivated by empathy for wildlife, and perhaps this is a good thing. I myself love wildlife, but our human society treats it very differently. In some places we save migratory birds, and in others we build a high-speed highway, cutting down good habitats for the same birds. More will die there, but no one pays much attention to it. It seems to me that environmentalists in this sense sometimes stray from a reasonable balance and look in the wrong direction. — In the situation with the same fuel oil spill in the Black Sea, they are now talking about how many dolphins died and are raising money for hospitals for them. I know that your institute has a different point of view on this issue. — The way the dolphin works, it is extremely difficult for it to die by choking and poisoning with fuel oil. This is not a very feasible program. Perhaps this can happen, but it is hard to believe that this would cause mass death. It is more likely that this could be the death of animals in their nets: in such situations, fishermen, when they find a dolphin in their nets, simply release it, throw it back into the sea, and then this dolphin swims in an oil slick, all dirty, then it is thrown ashore - and the conclusion is made that it died from fuel oil. We are not at all sure of this. We are trying to participate in this, to get permission to autopsy the animals that die, but so far we have not succeeded. — Why? — It's hard to say. We contacted Rosprirodnadzor, talked to them for a long time, they told us to write a letter to get such permission. We wrote, they replied that they give permission to remove live animals from the wild, and dead ones are no longer their competence, you need to contact the veterinary service, but local veterinarians just take the dolphins away without doing an autopsy. Therefore, we cannot say anything objectively. — Black Sea dolphins are a rare, protected species, and it would seem that the state is interested in conducting a thorough investigation of what is happening to them. — Morally, it seems, they are interested, but in reality, everyone works within the scope of their authority. So far, interaction here has not been established. — Your institute has a marine biological station in Utrish, and it has signed an agreement with this department to monitor the fate of the injured animals. But, as the head of this station, Andrei Valerievich Abramov, told me, not a single call has been received since the disaster, which occurred back in December. — Maybe it’s because not everyone knows about us yet. One way or another, the question of how much the dolphins suffered from this ecological disaster remains open. — But the fact that this is an ecological disaster is indisputable to you? — Of course. — What are the environmental consequences? — Humans have destroyed some coastal biotopes where fuel oil was dumped. Then it was torn off along with the soil, and this aggravated the situation. These are different organisms living in the soil, worms, mollusks, other invertebrates. This is the most severe shock to the ecosystem. — And the benthos, the birds? — We have already talked about the birds — this is a problem, but the scale is not very clear. On the one hand, there are indeed a lot of birds, they number in the thousands, but within the framework of the entire group living in the Black Sea region... Here it is more likely that we need to assess individual rare species and the damage to them. I don’t know about the benthos, it seems to me that this is one of the least affected groups. — Why? — The problem with fuel oil is that its density changes depending on the temperature and it can move in water layers. I don’t think it all settles to the bottom, making life very difficult for benthos. It seems to me that benthos suffers significantly less compared to the littoral (coastal zone). — The average person will read this and say: big deal, worms suffered — what a trifle. What harm is there? — This is a food source for other invertebrates, and for birds, and for fish. Damage to the food source is bad, difficult. We don’t know how quickly natural communities will recover after this spill. But there could also be a separate story about the humans for whom all this could be very dangerous. — Tell us about it. — Heavy organic compounds, aromatic hydrocarbons are obtained, and they will be present in the environment for quite a long time. Then — their transformation into dioxins, organochlorine compounds, one of the most dangerous and most persistent pollutants of the environment. They were used during the Vietnam War as defoliants, causing trees to shed their leaves so that Vietnamese partisans could be found later. Dioxins are very dangerous for the human body too, and they are formed quite well when chlorine comes into contact with aromatic hydrocarbons. Chlorine is present in sea water, you just need to understand how intensively the formation occurs depending on the temperature and illumination. In addition, this fuel oil is burned, and dioxins are formed during combustion. This is the most dangerous thing. All this does not go anywhere — it either flies into the air or remains in the ground and can lead to serious consequences for humans. This is a change in the genetic activity of various cells of living organisms. — Summer is coming. What will happen to these chemical processes? Will they accelerate? — It is better to ask chemists about this, especially in terms of conversion to dioxins. However, I can say for sure: dioxins are already present there and are unlikely to disappear, especially after burning. As for the fuel oil that remains in the water, apparently, all new portions will gradually rise from the bottom, new emissions will occur. How intense, I can’t judge yet, but they will definitely happen. — Can people do something really useful here? — Volunteers are very useful: in general, this is saving animals, cleaning beaches. Rospotrebnadzor, in my opinion, does quite a lot, monitoring the situation in various regions, assessing the presence of certain harmful compounds in the water, in the air, taking measures to clean the shores. Control work is underway. The most important thing, probably, is to try to extract the second tanker that sank. It seems to have no leaks, but at the moment it has turned into a ticking time bomb. Sooner or later, if not now, then in ten years, when the ship's hull rots, this will happen. This is probably the most important task now. Well, and cleaning up what continues to spill and will be spilling for some time. — Is it worth going on vacation to the Black Sea? Surely everyone is interested in this question. — I am not ready to give advice on this. Listen to Rospotrebnadzor. — How should an ordinary person behave in nature so as not to harm it? — I think the worst thing is a lot of plastic. If you have the opportunity to reduce the amount of plastic bags and plastic packaging you consume, that's good. I'm not talking about completely obvious things now, like not throwing it anywhere. I don't really trust biodegradable plastic, which is often sold in some stores. As a rule, all this turns into microplastic, which decomposes and still doesn't go anywhere. And it's even more dangerous. — Chemists say that completely degradable plastic will appear soon. — God willing. We're talking about what everyone can do by themselves. Reducing any amount of waste, in my opinion, is the main thing. When you're in the forest, please think about the trees around you, about the plants and animals that are nearby. If you see a hollow from which an owlet is peeking out, don't climb in there and check what it is and how many of them are there. There should be an understanding of a gentle attitude towards nature: if you went to the Losiny Ostrov National Park in the spring and saw a large number of primroses, do not pick them. This argument - "I picked three, what harm could that do, look how many there are" - is absolutely wrong. How many people came? You need to start with yourself. — If we go back to Utrish, another ecological disaster recently happened there — a huge fire in the reserve. The staff told me that there have been many such fires over the years and all of them are man-made. — Most of the fires here, and not only in this region, are man-made. In some cases, these are arson attacks, when people try to burn out some piece of dry grass either at their dacha or in the wild. In the Far East, they believe that if you burn out dry grass, it is easier to collect ferns — they are easier to see when they sprout. As a rule, this is not limited to the piece you want to burn. So the fire starts — either something flew out of your garden, or someone burned it out on purpose. This is the first approach. The second — of course, if you are in the forest with a fire, you need to think about where to make it, and generally listen to recommendations on whether it is possible to make it. In very dry weather, it is strongly recommended not to make fires, because you can underestimate what is happening around you, you can accidentally make a fire on a peat bog, and then you will not be able to put it out. In all cases, you need to watch the fire, carefully put it out after you leave. And thirdly, cigarette butts. A burning cigarette butt can easily set dry grass on fire. It is easy to light, but extremely difficult to stop. — What consequences can such fires have if they happen too often? Is it true that the ecosystem does not have time to recover? — Some fires are natural in origin — maybe lightning struck. Sometimes this happens. Ecosystems recover after this, although certain changes occur. Colleagues have studied: for example, the soil fauna changes very clearly there. Relatively large animals, if the fire was big, and also individuals were trapped in the fire, there can be very large losses. Everything depends on the intensity of the fire, because burrowing animals can wait it out, and sometimes everything burns out completely. An ashen waste appears in place of the forest, and the new forest will take much longer to recover. Since this is a burnt-out forest that gradually overgrows, a different composition of the soil biota appears, which causes different mammals to come there. But it is one thing when this happens once every 100 years, and another thing when this starts happening every five years in the same place, burning everything out. There is even a new term for the Far East: "pyrogenic oak forests." The Mongolian oak is not the largest, and there are very small oaks there that burn every year. There is a ground fire, all the grass burns out - and there is a relatively bare forest with oaks, which do not all bear fruit, because they have a hard time after the fire. Their importance as a food resource for the same ungulates is sharply reduced. In other words, as a result of regular fires, the ecosystem changes to something that is not typical for this region. "Eternal succession" occurs - the replacement of one biotope with another. — Do you think that the global ecologization of human consciousness can happen, when all people understand how to behave in nature? — I really hope so. We'll see how it will be in reality. There is a theory of animal behavior called "evolutionarily stable strategies" — the strategy of the dove and the hawk. In short, it looks like this: doves live, somehow compete with each other for resources, sort things out. Then suddenly a hawk appears — it will kill a dove, and will always kill others. There are many doves, one or two hawks, and the hawks feel very good about this, just great. They begin to actively reproduce, there are more of them, they begin to fight among themselves for food, compete, and at some point they no longer really care about doves. And suddenly it becomes more profitable to be a dove than a hawk. What I mean is that, unfortunately or fortunately, this system works in our human society, and this can be clearly seen at various stages. Everyone grows organic products - everything is absolutely clean, without fertilizers, and we all start competing on equal terms. Then someone appears and says: "Let me sprinkle some chemicals here." And his watermelons are three times bigger! Everyone watches and also starts using chemicals. At some point, it turns out that people who grow clean products are the winners: the harvest may be small, but it is harmless. I have a feeling that it is almost the same with the same fires, with the same plastic. Almost everyone has stopped burning grass, and one says: "I will still set it on fire and collect four times more ferns." I don't know how to break this, but let's hope that it will work. — How can this happen? What can you, your institute, do here? — First of all, we need to start working with children. We actively participate in the Science 2.0 festivals, we show how science works, how to treat nature. We are primarily a scientific institute, but we are actively involved in this: we act as partners in a variety of initiatives to preserve both individual species and ecosystems. — How do children react? Are they interested? — Children are very interested in this, and it seems to me that the following phrase is appropriate here: “Now you will never be able to forget what you have learned.” When they have heard about it since childhood, felt it since childhood, it is harder for them to give it up. — Employees of various reserves told me that such children even stop their parents when they do something wrong in nature: don't touch the turtle, don't pick a flower. And the parents feel ashamed. Is there such a tendency? — Yes, it's true, and it's normal. So my main hope is for these children who have heard us today, and tomorrow with their reverent attitude to nature they will change the planet. The interview was conducted with the support of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation

The electronic monograph by I.N. Pospelov and E.B. Pospelova "Flora of vascular plants of the Anabar-Kotuy mountain range and its northern framing" has been published. This electronic publication is a harmonious addition to the monographs previously published by these authors - "Flora of vascular plants of Taimyr and adjacent territories" and "Flora of vascular plants of the World Heritage Site "Putorana Plateau" and its buffer zone", which now cover a huge region, characterizing the diversity of vascular plants of almost the entire north of Central Siberia. Pdf of the monograph: https://sev-in.ru/sites/default/files/2025-06/anabar_kotuy_flora_final.pdf The monograph provides an annotated list of vascular plants growing in the northern Anabar-Kotuy mountain range and adjacent forest-tundra areas, the flora of which has been almost unexplored before. The list is based on the results of many years of our own field research, taking into account the few literary data and herbarium funds. The history of the territory's survey is described, its general physical and geographical characteristics are given (geology, relief, climate, hydrological objects), and a detailed description of the vegetation of 29 key areas is given. A comparison of the flora of the entire territory and individual areas with regional floras of adjacent territories in the north of Central Siberia is made. One of the results of this monograph was the conclusion about the highest similarity of the flora of the Anabar-Kotuysky massif, both in taxonomic composition and in geographical and ecological-cenotic structure, with the flora of the east of Putorana, which is due to the similarity of mesoclimates and similar Pleistocene history of their territories. The book is intended for general botanists, botanical geographers, specialists in the flora and vegetation of the northern Subarctic. In the future, it is expected that the monograph will also be published in paper form. Researcher of the Laboratory of Biodiversity Conservation and Use of Bioresources of the IEE RAS I.N.Pospelov.

Boris Aleksandrovich Levin. Photo by Andrey Afanasyev Boris Levin, PhD in Biology and leading researcher at the Institute of Ecology and Evolution of the Russian Academy of Sciences, gave an interview to the journal Science and Life about how speciation occurs, where it begins, and what stages it goes through. - Boris Alexandrovich, you have been studying fish your entire scientific life… — I started out studying the fish fauna of the Volga and Don in the watershed zone when I was still a student, and I defended my dissertation as a fish morphologist. Then I took up evolutionary developmental biology — modification of ontogenesis, when, by stimulating or suppressing the activity of the fish thyroid gland during early ontogenesis, we caused completely different states of phenotypes that could be attributed to different fish species, so different was their morphology. In the course of this work, we found a unique fish species that is hypersensitive to thyroid hormones (blue bream, Ballerus ballerus, from the Cyprinidae family). It lives in reservoirs of European Russia, in particular, we worked with blue bream from the Rybinsk Reservoir. When the blue bream’s natural level of thyroid hormones was measured, it turned out to be the lowest among all the fish species studied. Then we artificially increased the level of thyroid hormones in the blue bream larvae and obtained... a phenotypic analogue of another species - the white-eye, Ballerus sapa, which has a natural hormone level that is actually higher than that of the blue bream. Moreover, these two, although they are sister species (i.e. the closest to each other), differ significantly in nature in morphology, ecology, and even genetics. That is, there is no doubt that these are different species. — Thyroid hormones, aren’t those hormones from the thyroid gland? Why did you decide to study them? — Because they are very powerful morphogens, that is, compounds that affect the formation of organs and body parts. In our experiment with the blue bream, we discovered a mechanism according to which an evolutionary scenario could be realized in this line of fish. For example, if a mutation occurs that increases or decreases hormone production, this leads to a radical restructuring of morphology. In other words, a single mutation can lead to morphological changes at the species or generic level — in fact, macroevolution occurs. In general, the transition from micro- to macroevolution is not entirely clear; experts cannot yet determine whether there are clear boundaries here... More details: https://nkj.ru/archive/articles/54522/

The cooperation agreement between the environmental foundation "Compass" and the A.N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution of the Russian Academy of Sciences (IEE RAS) opens up new opportunities for research. "The Compass Foundation has established itself in the field of environmental policy of the Russian Federation. We have common ground and I think that our cooperation will be fruitful. For example, on issues of preserving the Caspian seal population. The foundation conducts research with the involvement of scientists from other countries, we have our own developments, it is interesting to compare all this. Another promising area of ​​​​joint work is the preservation of the biodiversity of Lake Baikal," said Sergei Valerievich Naidenko, Director of the IEE RAS. As part of the cooperation agreement, the organizations also plan to combine efforts in the field of environmental education of the population. Compass: "The Compass Foundation and the A.N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution of the Russian Academy of Sciences have agreed on cooperation"

The staff of the V.N. Sukachev Laboratory of Biogeocenology of the A.N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution of the Russian Academy of Sciences (IEE RAS), together with 45 co-authors from 22 scientific institutions, prepared a catalog of ecological-climatic monitoring stations of Russia, providing information on observations of greenhouse gas flows between ecosystems and the atmosphere as of May 2025. The current version of the catalog includes information on 35 stations in ecosystems of various natural zones - from steppes to tundra. Fig.1: Map and list of stations in the catalog. Types and zones of vegetation zonation in Russia and adjacent territories. The catalog includes updated information about stations operating within the framework of the Most Important Innovative Project of National Importance "Creation of a Unified National System for Monitoring Climate-Active Substances", as well as about stations of teams supervising the work of the stations within the framework of the project of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation to create carbon polygons. The catalog is published in electronic format and updated as information is provided by those responsible for the stations, the RuFlux network is developed, and new stations appear within the framework of other programs and projects. Fig.2: Example of a page from the catalog Greenhouse gas flows are monitored using the turbulent pulsation method, which allows direct estimates of the balance of greenhouse gases between the earth's surface and the atmosphere on an ecosystem scale of averaging. Measuring systems include infrared gas analyzers, acoustic anemometers, and other meteorological instruments that are installed on masts (towers) from 2 to 50 meters high. The objectives of creating this catalog are: systematization of information on stations monitoring ecosystem flows of greenhouse gases, encouragement of scientific cooperation in the field of studying ecosystem-atmospheric exchange, provision of information on stations to all interested parties. Related materials: Bulletin of the Earth Sciences Department of the Russian Academy of Sciences: "A Catalog of Ecological-Climatic Stations of Russia Has Been Compiled" CarbonPlatform: "A Catalog of Ecological-Climatic Stations of the Russian Federation Has Been Compiled at the IEE RAS" Roshydromet. Climate Change: "A Catalog of Ecological-Climatic Stations of Russia Has Been Compiled" RAS: "A Catalog of Ecological-Climatic Stations Will Help Monitor Ecosystem Flows of Greenhouse Gases" BezFormata: "A Catalog of Ecological-Climatic Stations of Russia Has Been Published"

The Wildlife Conservation Center published a book by Alexander Oleksenko, ““Meeting any animal… Is Always a Miracle.” V.M. Smirin in Search of Himself and His Life’s Work.” Russian animal painting of the 20th century is a powerful and original phenomenon, largely undiscovered. One of the greatest masters of the tradition is Vladimir (Vadim) Moiseevich Smirin (1931-1989). The first book of the two-volume work tells about his childhood, youth, development as a zoologist and artist, and his teachers — B.V. Pestinsky, V.A. Vatagin, A.N. Formozov. Particular attention is paid to the birth of the grandiose idea of ​​the Atlas of Mammals of Eastern Europe and Northern Asia based on life drawings. No one before Smirin had dared to undertake such a project and is unlikely to do so in the future. The author of the book, Alexander Oleksenko, has been studying the work of V.M. Smirin and other masters of animalism for a quarter of a century and has developed an original idea of ​​this tradition, according to which the basis of the work of its masters is the gift of involvement with nature and animals. Before you is a study and at the same time a unique film, assembled into a whole from a mosaic of drawings, photographs, autographs of documents, fragments of memories of direct participants in the events. Most of the materials are published for the first time. This book is part of one of the largest projects on animalistic graphics of the 20th century, the core of which is the multi-volume atlas by V.M. Smirin "Portraits of Animals of Northern Eurasia". The first three volumes have been published: "Pinnipeds" (2010) https://www.biodiversity.ru/publications/books/ecoeducation/Smirin_Pinnipeds_2010_sm.pdf "Predatory" (2011) https://www.biodiversity.ru/publications/books/ecoeducation/Smirin_Carnivores_2011_web.pdf "Lagomorphs" (2018) https://www.biodiversity.ru/publications/books/ecoeducation/Smirin_Lagomorphs_2018_web.pdf With the support of the Presidential Fund for Cultural Initiatives, an electronic version of the book ""Meeting with every animal ... is always a miracle." V.M. Smirin in search of himself and his life's work" was created in 2023, which can be viewed and downloaded. Page-by-page version https://www.biodiversity.ru/publications/books/ecoeducation/ALWAYS_MIRACLE_book_about_VM_Smirin_v1.pdf Version with page spreads (the artists of the book claim that this is the best way to understand it as a whole). https://www.biodiversity.ru/publications/books/ecoeducation/ALWAYS_MIRACLE_book_about_VM_Smirin_v1_spreads.pdf In the future, it is planned to release a printed version of the publication.

Alexey Kotov and Dmitry Karabanov on an expedition. Photo: Alexey Kotov Biologists have found that the cladoceran Pleuroxus truncatus, which is widespread in the freshwater bodies of Northern Eurasia, can be divided into two large genetic lines. Representatives of the first, “western,” are found mainly in the European part of Russia, while the second, “eastern,” is found in Siberia, the Far East, and Mongolia. These lines became isolated in the late Pleistocene, approximately 10,000–300,000 years ago, probably during the era of glaciation and desertification, which led to the isolation of individual populations. The data obtained will help to better understand the processes of evolution and dispersal of freshwater crustaceans, as well as predict their adaptation to climate change. The results of the study, supported by a grant from the Russian Science Foundation (RSF), are published in the journal PeerJ. Petr Garibyan takes samples. Photo: Alexey Kotov Cladocera are an important component of food chains in continental waters. They serve as a primary food source for many fish species, insect larvae, and even some waterfowl. Despite their relative abundance, nearly 95% of genetic studies on them have focused on planktonic crustaceans, such as Daphnia, while other groups, including members of the genus Pleuroxus, which is widespread in Eurasian lakes and rivers, are poorly understood. This situation limits our understanding of freshwater crustacean evolution because it is unclear to what extent the patterns observed in planktonic Daphnia are also characteristic of other crustaceans with different lifestyles, such as those living in aquatic plant beds and on the bottom of reservoirs. Research team member Dmitry Karabanov. Photo: Alexey Kotov Scientists from the A.N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Moscow) studied populations of the crustacean Pleuroxus truncatus, common to Northern Eurasia, individuals of which were caught in water bodies in the European part of Russia, Siberia, the Far East and Mongolia. The authors assessed the relationship of individuals from different populations to each other by analyzing the sequences of four genes. Two of them were in the DNA of mitochondria (the "energy stations" of the cell), and two more were in the nuclear DNA. This set made it possible to most accurately trace the evolutionary history of the species due to the fact that mitochondrial DNA changes quickly during evolution, while the studied nuclear genes, on the contrary, are conservative. Anna Neretina catches freshwater crustaceans. Photo: Alexey Kotov The analysis showed that all populations of Pleuroxus truncatus are divided into two main genetic lines: "western", whose representatives are found mainly in the European part of Russia, and "eastern", more typical for Siberia, the Far East and Mongolia. However, biologists have also discovered several populations of the "eastern" line in the European part of Russia. General view of a female Pleuroxus truncatus. Photo: Alexey Kotov The differences between the genetic lines were relatively small, indicating their recent separation. According to the authors, it occurred approximately 10,000 to 300,000 years ago, that is, during the late Pleistocene, when the climate on Earth was quite harsh - cold and very dry. This allowed biologists to assume that the identified genetic division of the Pleuroxus truncatus species into two lines may be associated with this unfavorable time for freshwater animals. Populations of Pleuroxus truncatus could have been isolated in separate refugia (refuges) in the western and eastern parts of the continent, which led to their genetic separation. After warming and the retreat of glaciers, these lines again expanded their ranges, partially mixing in contact zones, but retained differences due to limited genetic exchange. "The data we have obtained not only allow us to reconstruct the history of species distribution, but also to predict possible paths of future transformation of faunas in the context of global climate change. In the future, we plan to continue similar work on representatives of other genera living both in thickets of aquatic plants and directly on the bottom of water bodies. We will pay special attention to the fauna of cladocerans of the south of the European part of Russia, which has not been sufficiently studied. Such a paradoxical situation has arisen because a number of previous projects of our team were focused on the Far East and adjacent territories, on which many works have already been published," says the head of the project supported by a grant from the Russian Science Foundation, Alexey Kotov, Professor of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Doctor of Biological Sciences, Chief Researcher of the Laboratory of Ecology of Aquatic Communities and Invasions of the A.N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Related materials: Novaya Nauka: "Russian scientists have uncovered the secrets of the evolution of freshwater crustaceans" Zhukovsky Life: "Cladocerans are divided into two genetic groups" Rambler: "Scientists have identified the "western" and "eastern" genetic lines of Eurasian cladocerans" RAS: "The "western" and "eastern" genetic lines of Eurasian cladocerans have been identified" Nauka.Mail: "Glaciering has divided Eurasian crustaceans into two genetic lines" RSF: "Evolutionary processes. The "western" and "eastern" genetic lines of Eurasian cladocerans have been identified"

Figure 1. Ural gudgeon Gobio uralensis caught in different places of the Ural River basin. Source: Turbanov et al. / Zoosystematics and Evolution, 2025. Scientists have described a new species of gudgeon from the Ural River basin and therefore named it Gobio uralensis. It turned out that this species is closest in external features (morphology) to the Volga gudgeon, which inhabits the European part of Russia, and genetically to the Markakol gudgeon, which inhabits the rivers of Kazakhstan and China. This may indicate that the Ural gudgeon appeared in the distant past as a result of hybridization of European and Asian gudgeon lines. The results of the study, supported by a grant from the Russian Science Foundation (RSF), were published in the journal Zoosystematics and Evolution. Figure 2. Map of collections of different species of gudgeons. Source: Turbanov et al. / Zoosystematics and Evolution, 2025. Freshwater fish make up half of the total species diversity of fish, despite the fact that freshwater bodies occupy only 0.8% of the surface of the globe. At the same time, even in the most well-studied regions, previously unknown fish species are still sometimes found. For example, it was long believed that the gudgeon species Gobio gobio, which is widespread throughout almost all of Eurasia and looks different in different parts of the continent, is simply characterized by high intraspecific variability. However, scientists have shown using genetic analysis that there are several separate species of gudgeon in Europe and Asia, which were previously classified as the common gudgeon Gobio gobio. At the same time, there remains a high probability that not all species have been discovered and described. Biologists from the A.N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution RAS (Moscow), I.D. Papanin Institute of Biology of Inland Waters RAS (Borok) and the Zoological Museum of M.V. Lomonosov Moscow State University (Moscow) studied gudgeons living in the Ural, Volga and Ob basins to better understand what species are found there. Figure 3. Type locality (the place where the most typical representatives were taken) of the Ural gudgeon Gobio uralensis, the Bolshoy Kizil River, a right tributary of the Ural, in Bashkortostan. Source: Turbanov et al. / Zoosystematics and Evolution, 2025. The authors caught the fish, examined their external features (morphology) and conducted a genetic analysis. Using morphological and genetic analysis, the researchers identified four species of gudgeon - Gobio volgensis, Gobio sibiricus, Gobio acutipinnatus and a previously unknown species, which they called the Ural gudgeon Gobio uralensis. The choice of name is due to the fact that scientists discovered this species in the upper and middle reaches of the Ural River, which is considered the border between Europe and Asia. The Ural gudgeon turned out to be most similar in appearance to the Volga gudgeon Gobio volgensis, which lives in the Volga in the European part of Russia, but is genetically very distant from it. Based on mitochondrial DNA sequences, which are often used to establish the relationship of organisms, Gobio uralensis was closest to the Markakol gudgeon Gobio acutipinnatus, which lives in the upper Irtysh basin (Ob River system) within Kazakhstan and China. Figure 4. Pharyngeal teeth of the Ural gudgeon. Source: Turbanov et al. / Zoosystematics and Evolution, 2025. Accordingly, the intermediate position of the new species' range between Europe and Asia has affected its proximity to two groups of gudgeons at once: morphologically to the European ones, and genetically to the Asian ones. It is possible that the Gobio uralensis species could have arisen in the distant past as a result of hybridization of ancient lines leading to the modern species Gobio acutipinnatus and Gobio volgensis, when the Caspian basin (the Ural river system) could have been connected with the Ob river system through the Turgai trough during the glacial-interglacial periods of the Pleistocene (2.58 million years ago - 11.7 thousand years ago). During this connection, different evolutionary lines of fish were moving along with the water masses, penetrating into the range of other closely related species. Figure 5. Radiograph of the Ural gudgeon. Source: Turbanov et al. / Zoosystematics and Evolution, 2025. "Our study shows that the Ural River is inhabited by an endemic species of gudgeon, characteristic only of it. At the same time, Gobio uralensis is currently the only known endemic fish inhabiting this basin. In the future, we plan to study in more detail the genetic diversity and ancient contacts of various fish species inhabiting the upper reaches of the Caspian basin, which have a common watershed with Siberian rivers. This will allow us to better understand the origin of the local fauna and clarify the biogeographic relationships between Asian and European fish species," says Boris Levin, PhD in Biology, leading researcher at the Papanin Institute of Biology of Inland Waters of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution of the Russian Academy of Sciences, who is the head of the project supported by a grant from the Russian Science Foundation. The work was published in the journal Zoosystematics and Evolution: On the border of Europe and Asia: Gobio uralensis, a new species of gudgeons (Cypriniformes, Gobionidae) from the Caspian Sea basin, Ilya S. Turbanov, Aleksey A. Bolotovskiy, Oleg N. Artaev, Aleksandr A. Gandlin, Marina A. Levina, Ekaterina D. Vasil’eva, Boris A. Levin, 101(2): 855-874 (https://zse.pensoft.net/article/147368/). Related materials: National Scientific Network: "Scientists have discovered a new species of fish on the border of Europe and Asia" RAS: "A new species of fish has been discovered on the border of Europe and Asia" Rambler: "A new species of fish has been discovered in the Ural River basin" Zhukovsky Life: "A new species of gudgeon has been discovered in the Urals" Naked Science: "A new species of fish has been discovered in the Urals" Agro XXI: "Unique gudgeon are found in the Ural River and are found nowhere else in the world" Indicator: "Scientists have discovered a new species of fish on the border of Europe and Asia" XX2 century: "A new species of fish lives on the border of Europe and Asia" Poisk: "Gudgeons from the Ural basin. A new species of fish has been discovered on the border of Europe and Asia" MK: "A new species of fish has been discovered in the Ural River basin" Nature.Kremlin: "A new species of fish has been discovered on the border of Europe and Asia"

The fish rotan (Perccottus glenii). Photo by A.N. Reshetnikov The fish rotan (=Amur sleeper, = Chinese sleeper) Perccottus glenii (Odontobutidae) is one of the most successful invaders in freshwater environments, damaging native ecosystems. Its invaded range has covered over 100 longitudinal degrees in northern Eurasia since 1916. This fish appeared in Western Siberia more than 50 years ago and is now recorded in many water bodies of this vast region. Scientists from the A.N. Severtsov Ecology & Evolution Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences (IPEE RAS), together with colleagues from other scientific institutions, conducted several expeditions to the regions of Western Siberia to collect data on the current distribution and ecology of the fish rotan. During route expedition in the Ob’ river basin Scientists have ‘decoded’ the details of the half-century invasion history of rotan in Western Siberia. At least five independent initial introductions of the rotan were identified, which gave rise to centres of secondary dispersal: Chelyabinsk, Tomsk, Tyumen’, Upper Ob’-1, and Upper Ob’-2. The Chelyabinsk and Tomsk centres appeared first (in the 1970s), the other centres became known later, at the turn of the XX-XXI centuries. Three stages of invasion of Western Siberia by the rotan can be distinguished. At the first stage, its spreading was along the trans-Siberian highway P-254, which was probably facilitated by irresponsible behaviour of fishermen using rotan as a live bait, as well as by the transportations of commercial fish species (unsorted stocking material) between fish farms. At the second stage, the rotan penetrated into floodplains and began to spread rapidly downstream of large Siberian rivers (Tobol, Irtysh, Tom, Ob’), expanding its range, year by year, in a northerly direction, and has already reached Khanty-Mansiysk at the confluence of the Irtysh and Ob’. At present, the third stage is observed: the rotan is slowly but steadily expanding its range, penetrating into tributaries of large rivers and water bodies of interfluves. The rotan reaches the greatest number in shallow ponds and lakes, as well as in shallow warmed river oxbows, the number of which is incalculable in the expanses of Western Siberia. Analysis of the invasion history of the fish rotan (Perccottus glenii) in Western Siberia: five regions of initial introductions were identified (Reshetnikov et al., 2025) Results were obtained using a combination of different methods: 1. Spatio-temporal analysis of the georeferenced records; 2. Molecular genetic analysis; 3. Parasitological analysis to determine the invasion vectors and to trace the dispersal pathways of the host fish. The paper discusses in detail the advantages, disadvantages and limitations of different methods to study the invasion history. As a result, the study has convincingly demonstrated the advantage of a combined approach with the simultaneous use of different methods aimed at reconstructing the invasion history of the studied alien species. The results of the study are published in the international journal Biological Invasions (Q1, IF 2.8): Reshetnikov A.N., Interesova E.A., Borovikova E.A., 2025. Using a combined approach to analyse the invasion history of the fish rotan, widespread in northern Eurasia. Biological Invasions 27(2), article number 84, pp. 1-19. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10530-025-03550-3 The pdf is available for free due to courtesy of Springer Nature Content Sharing Initiative: https://rdcu.be/d9Fjv

Rosneft conducted two scientific expeditions to study the populations of polar bears and marine mammals of the Kara Sea. Specialists from the A.N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution took part in the field work in the north of Krasnoyarsk Krai and on the Yamal Peninsula. The main goal of the research is a full-scale census, assessment of the distribution of polar bears and marine mammals using instrumental (photo and infrared aerial photography) and aerial visual methods. The expeditions are being conducted as part of Rosneft's corporate program for the conservation of Arctic biodiversity, called "Tamura". The polar bear is a bioindicator species. Based on the health of these endangered predators, scientists draw conclusions about the sustainability of northern ecosystems as a whole. From the village of Sabetta in Yamal, 8 flights of the AN-28 laboratory aircraft were made for a comprehensive survey of the inner delta of the Gulf of Ob and the southeastern part of the Kara Sea. The total length of the routes was almost 10 thousand km, more than 90 thousand images were taken, which will be processed using neural network algorithms. During the aerial visual observations, 22 polar bears, 23 walruses, 616 seals, 77 belugas, as well as rare bird species were recorded. Ten flights of the Mi-8MTV-1 helicopter were made from the village of Dikson to survey the ice of a number of islands, as well as the ice in the Yenisei Gulf to Sever Bay and along the northern coast of the Taimyr Peninsula to the mouth of the Uboynaya River. The length of the routes was almost 5 thousand km. During the work, 37 polar bears of various ages and both sexes were registered. Fifteen adult bears were captured, 10 animals were tagged with satellite collars and ear tags for remote tracking of migration routes. Scientists also took blood samples and fur samples from polar bears to study their health and genetic affiliation to a particular subpopulation. Reference: Rosneft and the Russian Ministry of Natural Resources continue research work in the Arctic region as part of the national project "Ecology". From 2024 to 2027, Rosneft plans to conduct research work in the north of the Krasnoyarsk Territory and the Kara Sea. In 2024, the Company's Arctic Research Center organized 5 expeditions, during which scientists studied the Kara subpopulation of polar bears, wild reindeer and rare bird species. The total length of air routes was almost 17,000 km, water routes - more than 3,000 km. Related materials: Taimyr Telegraph: "Rosneft conducted a large-scale expedition to study polar bears in the Arctic" Rubrik: "Visiting the Guardians of the North" Zapolyarnaya Pravda: "Polar bears and marine mammals are being counted in the north of the region" Lenta: "Rosneft conducted expeditions to study polar bears" Arguments of the Week: "Tamura - the wealth and value of native nature" Regnum: "Scientists studied populations of marine animals in the Arctic" Trud: "Preserving biodiversity" Vedomosti: "Metallurgists created an expert council on biodiversity" Severstal: "Severstal" created the first expert council on biodiversity in the Russian metallurgical industry"