Fig.1: Painted wood panel depicting a group of Inuvialuit hunters in canoes pursuing a pod of beluga whales. Smithsonian Institution, Department of Anthropology, #E2545. Collected by R. McFarlane (Hudson's Bay Company), circa 1863. Photo by S. Loring. About 800 years ago, the ancestors of the Inuvialuit came to the Mackenzie River Delta (Northwest Territories, Canada), and beluga whales took a central place in their economy and culture. This is evidenced by the presence of numerous bones of these cetaceans in archaeological excavations in the Mackenzie Delta. The Inuvialuit have been hunting beluga whales for seven centuries and to this day, but little is known about its impact on the beluga population. Using paleogenome and stable isotope analysis of beluga whale zooarchaeological remains and comparing these data with modern beluga tissue samples, an international team of researchers from various fields led by archaeologist Max Friesen (University of Toronto) and paleogeneticist Elaine Lorentzen (University of Copenhagen) and including scientists from the Institute of Ecology and Evolution RAS, investigated the impact of 700 years of fishery on its sustainability, genetic diversity of beluga whales, their population structure and trophic ecology. Analysis of beluga whale bones from archaeological collections in the Mackenzie Delta revealed no changes in population genetic diversity over time, suggesting population continuity and little impact of Inuvialuit harvesting on the genetic diversity of modern beluga whales. Genomic analysis used to determine the sex of beluga whales revealed marked shifts in the ratio of females to males harvested at different times, which may be related to changes in past Inuvialuit resource use of the species, and isotopic analysis revealed simultaneous shifts in the trophic ecology of female and male beluga whales, which may have been influenced by ongoing changes in beluga whale behavior and marine ecosystems. Fig.2: Beluga whale bones on a sandy beach in the Inuvialuit village of Kuukpaq, evidence of hundreds of years of hunting. Photo: M. Friesen. This study is an example of combining genomic sexing and isotopic analysis of zooarchaeological remains to advance our understanding of hunting practices and the historical ecology of animals. Skovrind M., Louis M., Ferguson S.H., Glazov D.M., Litovka D.I., Loseto L., Meschersky I.G., Miller M.M., Petr M., Postma L., Rozhnov V.V., Scott M., Westbury M.V., Szpak P., Friesen T.M., Lorenzen E.D. Elucidating the sustainability of 700 years of Inuvialuit beluga whale hunting in the Mackenzie River Delta, Northwest Territories, Canada // PNAS. 2024. V. 121. No. 34. e2405993121. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2405993121

This year, during the spring and summer, the Central Forest Reserve hosted the filming of the movie "Science of Life" by the "Scientific Film Laboratory" studio. The film will tell about the works of Russian biologists from different fields of science. The idea of ​​its creation belongs to cameramen and directors Mikhail Rodionov and Nadezhda Dorofeeva. Mikhail and Nadezhda have made more than a dozen films about the nature of Russia. They have repeatedly won prizes at Russian and international festivals. Famous and beloved by viewers films are The Beauty of the Grebe, Carnival of Beaks and Pelican Islands. Mikhail has films of his own: I Saw a Snowfowl, Zapovedny Dagestan, 4 Seasons of the Prioksky Forest. Nadezhda - Sea Magpie, Madame Gaga, Lake in the Sea. Footage of work with camera traps to study large and medium-sized mammals was acquired for the film in the Central Forest Reserve. It was recorded with the reserve's leading researcher Sergei Ogurtsov, as well as colleagues from the A.N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Natalia Sidorchuk, a researcher at the Laboratory of Behavior and Behavioral Ecology of Mammals, who studies the biology of the European badger, spoke about the behavior of this fascinating animal. Dmitry Ivanov, an employee of the V.N. Sukachev Laboratory of Biogeocenology, spoke about ecological and climatic studies on the territory of the reserve and the protected zone. From June 31 to the present day, work has been underway to film myxomycetes and fungi with Vladimir Gmoshinsky, senior lecturer at the MSU Biological Faculty. After a rainy week, favorable conditions have developed for the active emergence of fruiting bodies of mushrooms. Several successful shots were captured on camera. During the same period, Vladimir Arkhipov, a sound engineer and senior researcher at the Institute of Theoretical and Experimental Biophysics of the Russian Academy of Sciences, recorded the voices of some forest birds and other sounds of nature in the reserve (the sound of rain, songs of grasshoppers, the creaking of woodworms). He was lucky enough to observe the feeding of a goshawk chick. A recording of robins feeding a cuckoo chick was a stroke of luck. Mikhail also organized a screening of the film "The Beauty of the Grebe" for students of the Biological Faculty of Moscow State University and students of the Moscow School of Arts, who are currently studying at the reserve. The film was, as they say, on topic, since it had many scenes with ornithologist and animal artist Evgeny Koblik, who drew grebes in the frame and talked about the characteristics of representatives of one of the most beautiful and little-known bird families, the Grebe. All viewers were delighted with the screening. The screening of the film "Science of Life" will take place next year. Text and photographs by Elena Shuyskaya, the reserve's scientific department Photos by Mikhail Rodionov

Fig. 1. Spider Masikia caliginosa Millidge, 1984 is one of the dominant spider species on Shokalsky Island, for which a daily periodicity of activity was revealed. Scientists from the A.N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Institute of Plant and Animal Ecology of the Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences conducted a study of the daily rhythms of activity of the most common and diverse Arctic terrestrial arthropods (collembolans, soil mites, dipterans, spiders, beetles) in natural conditions of constant illumination. The aim of the work was to find out whether these organisms maintain circadian periodicity of activity during the polar day and to identify which factors determine their activity in these conditions. Fig.2. In search of a model site on the coastal marshes of Shokalsky Island (Kara Sea) Circadian rhythms are rhythms with a period of about 24 hours. They are characteristic of all living organisms. They regulate many biological processes, including the dynamics of locomotor activity. The study of these rhythms is important for understanding the behavior and adaptation of animals to environmental conditions. Fig. 3. Description of the model site for conducting daily arthropod activity counts It has been established that during the polar day, terrestrial arthropods in the Arctic do not "stretch" their activity over the entire day to compensate for the short duration of the warm season, although they are potentially capable of doing so. For most of the studied taxa, maximum activity was observed during daytime hours with a peak at midday. The similarity of the results in different taxonomic groups suggests that even under continuous illumination in the Arctic and Subarctic, the locomotor activity of most terrestrial arthropods is driven by an external signal or signals. Changes in temperature and illumination intensity, as well as thermal preference, are considered the main factors that limit arthropod activity to daytime hours. Fig. 4. Periodic component of the time series of daily activity of arthropods (by order) The work was published in the journal Polar Biology. Fig. 5. Experimental site on the coastal marsh of Shokalsky Island, Kara Sea Fig. 6. Activity of terrestrial arthropods at different times of the day

Fig. 1. Several objects of research (from top to bottom): Normichthys operosus, Sagamichthys schnakenbecki, Xenodermichthys copei, Borostomias antarcticus. Mesopelagic fishes, inhabiting the water column in the depth range from 200 to 1000 m, play an important role in the ecosystems of the World Ocean, being an intermediate link in the food webs between the lower and higher trophic levels. However, information on their diversity, ecology and abundance in the published literature remains rather limited. Works devoted entirely to the description of otoliths of mesopelagic fish species (hard calcified formations located in pairs in the capsules of the membranous labyrinth of the fish skull and serving as organs of balance) are rare. Scattered and fragmentary data on individual species can be found in several otolith atlases. Various methods are used to study the taxonomy and phylogeny of fishes, but some of these approaches, for example, molecular genetics, are time-consuming and expensive, as well as the use of special technical means. In this regard, the study of otolith morphology represents a cheaper, less time-consuming and technically demanding alternative approach. Fig. 2. Scheme of the study area: dark continuous lines – tacks; blue circles and numbers - trawl stations where the material was collected; pink dashed line – 1000 m isobath; red dashed line – boundary of the exclusive economic zones of Iceland and Greenland. An international team of scientists from Russia, which included employees of the P.P. Shirshov Institute of Oceanology of the Russian Academy of Sciences (IO RAS), the A.N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution of the Russian Academy of Sciences (IEE RAS), and the All-Russian Institute of Fisheries and Oceanography (VNIRO), as well as specialists from New Zealand and Belgium, analyzed the external morphology of a large series of otoliths of 16 species of mesopelagic bony fish (Fig. 1) from the Irminger Sea in the North Atlantic (Fig. 2), which made it possible to trace its ontogenetic and intraspecific variability. The results of the study showed that the morphology of the otoliths of juveniles and adults differs significantly, especially in smooth-headed Alepocephaliformes (Normichthys operosus, Sagamichthys schnakenbecki, Xenodermichthys copei) and the Antarctic borostomia Borostomias antarcticus (Fig. 3). Fig. 3. Examples of images of otoliths of mesopelagic fishes obtained using a scanning electron microscope. Such works find their application in studying the age, growth, migrations of fish and species identification of fish (especially with poorly developed taxonomy and at early stages of development), in paleoichthyological, trophological and population studies. Publisher's note: Hoedemakers K., Jawad L.A., Artemenkov D.V., Benzik A.N., Orlov A.M. 2024. Otolith morphology of mesopelagic fishes collected from the Irminger Sea, North Atlantic Ocean // Zoologischer Anzeiger.

Fig. 1. Male Poecilia wingei with extragonadal teratoma. (a, b) Left and ventral views. (c–f) Enlarged areas of the double tumor mass from different sides. (d) Presumed development of gonopodial structures (arrow). Ird, iridophores; Mel, melanophores; Xnt, xanthophores. Fish have a wide variety of tumors that can arise from all types of cells. Fish tumors are generally less aggressive and metastasize less often than tumors in mammals. A separate interesting group is made up of tumors of embryonic origin, which include teratoma - a tumor consisting of immature or fully formed tissues arising from at least two germ layers. This tumor is found both in the gonads and extragonadal sites. Teratomas in fish are quite rare and remain poorly studied in many species. A researcher from the Laboratory of Evolutionary Morphology Problems at the A. N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution of the Russian Academy of Sciences, together with a colleague from St. Petersburg State University, managed to detect and study extragonadal teratomas in Endler's guppy (Poecilia wingei) (Fig. 1). Fig. 2. Examples of histological structures of extragonadal teratoma in a male Poecilia wingei. (a) Parasagittal section of the double tumor mass. (b, c) Ganglia and hypophysis-like structure. an, anus; b, bone; bv, blood vessel; c, cartilage; cns, central nervous system-like structure; gn, ganglia; h, hypophysis-like structure; nc, notochord; sm, striated muscle, pc, pigment cells; t, testis. Arrow points to renal tubules. In all teratomas, the most common tissues were striated muscle and nervous tissue. In addition, derivatives of all three germ layers were found in the tumors, including structures resembling the developing hypophysis gland and gonopodium (copulatory organ) (Fig. 1 and Fig. 2). The structural features of the teratomas indicate a possible connection between these tumors and a disruption of conservative processes operating in the germ line of cells. Fig. 3. Mating behavior of the tumor-bearing male Poecilia wingei. (a, b) Preliminary courtship with pursuit of the female. (c–g) Turns of the gonopodium with an S-shaped bend of the body. (h, i) “Pushing movements” of the gonopodium forward towards the female genitals with an attempt at copulation. Arrows point to the gonopodium (copulatory organ). It is noteworthy that despite the relatively large teratoma, the male exhibited all types of mating behavior (Fig. 3) and retained the ability to reproduce. The presence of structures of varying degrees of differentiation in teratomas and the possibility of inheritance contribute to further study of the histogenesis (morphology of tumor cells) and biological behavior (in relation to the host: benign or malignant) of teratomas in fish, including in the light of tumor evolution. The work was published in the Journal of Fish Diseases (WoS Q1). . Prazdnikov D. V., Kondakova E. A. (2024). Investigation of extragonadal teratomas in two Poecilia wingei. Journal of Fish Diseases, 47(5), e13929.

Fig. 1. Three studied settlements of rock lizards: near the river (D. valentini), the old bridge and on the hill (D. valentini + D. armeniaca). The ratio of species and sexes in each settlement is shown in the figure. Parthenogenetic lizards, which reproduce without the participation of males, have arisen many times in different families of lizards. Almost all unisexual reptile species are clonal descendants of hybrids between two closely related species, from which they inherit their appearance and physiology. Unisexual females reproduce by laying unfertilized eggs, from which almost identical copies hatch. Peace and order reign in populations of unisexual species, since they do not have to compete for males, and they form settlements with a high population density, characterized by a low frequency of aggressive interactions. The modern range of unisexual hybrid species often overlaps with the range of one of the parents, where parthenogenetic females inevitably encounter males and females of a gonochoric species. In rock lizards of the genus Darevskia, hybrids with an additional set of chromosomes can arise in such places, since the gametes of unisexual females are diploid. In order to understand the specifics of the relationships between males and females of gonochoric and parthenogenetic species, researchers from the A.N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution of the Russian Academy of Sciences compared the reactions of males to females in a settlement where the parthenogenetic species D. armeniaca and its parent D. valetnini live simultaneously with the reactions between individuals in a settlement where only the gonochoric species D. valentini is found (Fig. 1). Both experimental sites were located in northern Armenia near the village of Mets Sepasar. Fig. 2. Mating of a male D. valentini with a female of his own species (A) and a parthenogenetic female D. armeniaca (B). Traces on the body of a female D. valentini left after mating with males (C). This allowed us to analyze the attractiveness of females of both species for males. It turned out that in places where a gonochoric species coexists with a parthenogenetic one, males more often prefer to mate with females of their own species, but they do not avoid females of a single-sex species at all. Visual observation of individually marked lizards produced the same results. At the same time, the number of females of a single-sex and gonochoric species in the studied settlement was more or less similar (Fig. 1). Fig. 3. Aggression of a female D. valentini towards a male of her own species when he attempts to approach her. At first glance, it may seem that unisexual females are unable to compete with hermaphrodite females in their attractiveness to males. However, the fact that we observed multiple matings with them and two-thirds of such females bear traces of mating suggests that they are not completely deprived of attention from males. Like hermaphrodite females, they engage in not only sexual but also social contact with males: they lie with them on rocks in the sun, hug and crawl over each other, which allows males to establish trusting relationships with them. On average, the reactions of gonochoric and hermaphrodite females to males did not differ. Competition between females of different species is evidenced by differences in the behavior of hermaphrodite females towards males in different populations. Where females do not have same-sex competitors, they were more aggressive towards males, and when approaching them during the breeding season, males were often faced with aggressive attacks and an open mouth (Fig. 3). To overcome the resistance of females, males have to "win their trust" by carefully initiating social contacts and accustoming females to their presence. This is especially true for large and old females that are capable of standing up for themselves. However, in conditions of coexistence with females of a single-sex species, this behavioral strategy can turn into a disaster for females of a gonochoric species, so they become more compliant and do not show aggression towards males, just like females of a single-sex species. We believe that the pattern of relationships we have identified indicates that in single-species populations, sexual selection of males works more strictly than in populations where females of a gonochoric species have to deal with competitors who are attractive enough for males and capable of integrating into society on an equal basis with females of a gonochoric species. Unfortunately for males, mating with parthenogenetic females in the studied population does not lead to the appearance of hybrids. The current pattern of relationships between males of a gonochoric species and females of a parthenogenetic species may be part of a competitive exclusion mechanism, since if the reproductive effort of males is wasted on females from whom they do not produce offspring, the gonochoric females may gradually displace their hermaphrodite relatives. The work was supported by the Russian Science Foundation grant 22-14-00227. СсLink to the publication: Eduard A Galoyan, Natalia G Sopilko, Anna V Kovalyeva, Oleg D Nikolaev, Eugene S Iryshkov, Ivan I Kropachev, Ilya A Brinev, Anastasiya E Girnyk, Marine S Arakelyan. 2024. Love bites: males of lizards prefer to mate with conspecifics, but do not disdain parthenogens, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, blae057.

Pink salmon Oncorhynchus gorbuscha is a Pacific semelparous species. In the second half of the 20th century, the species expanded its range as a result of the invasion into the Great Lakes and introduction to the White Sea basin. During the last decade, pink salmon occupied some new watercourses within the Arctic Ocean basin. The non-native pink salmon is an important subject for understanding the adaptation potential of salmonids, due to many other efforts to introduce fish from the Salmonidae family to new habitats have failed. Endocrine regulation coordinates interactions between environmental factors, internal rhythms, and the seasonality of physiological reactions in fish. Usually, to investigate internal physiological processes researchers analyzed a few biochemical parameters, including the mechanisms of spawning migration. In the present work, researchers from the Laboratory of Lower Vertebrate Behavior assessed multiple blood parameters in adult pink salmon. The fish were at an important time point in their life cycle: the run to the Umba River (Murmansk Region, Russia) for spawning. Blood sampling and cryopreservation of the serum were processed according to modern generally accepted protocols. Twenty-two blood parameters of twenty-three female and twenty-four male pink salmon were analyzed. The concentrations of thyroid hormones (energy exchange function), sex steroid hormones (maturation function), parameters of lipid and protein metabolism, and six electrolytes (indicate the osmoregulation activity) were analyzed in individual samples using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) technique and clinical biochemical kits for automated analyzer iCubio. The study results show that the heterogeneity of biochemical parameters in non-native pink salmon was predominantly based on sexual dimorphism. We attributed this result to two key processes: the maturation features of males and females and their different timings of running from seawater to freshwater. Maturation features were characterized by higher concentrations of estradiol-17β, triglycerides and lower activity of alanine aminotransferase in females than males. Both males and females had increased levels of cortisol due to changes from hypoosmotic to hyperosmotic regulation of homeostasis. However, females had higher levels of cortisol, total protein, and calcium compared to males, indicating that pink salmon females run to the river later than males. The observed heterogeneity of blood parameters in pink salmon could be useful as preliminary data for assessing their physiological divergence in the White Sea basin. The study was conducted by financial support of Russian Science Foundation No 19-14-00015 and No 24-14-00111. The article was published in the journal of first quartile.

Senior researcher Dmitry Zlenko spoke about this in an NTV report. Scientists brought special electronic devices from Moscow, with the help of which it is possible to measure the parameters of any environment. These devices, developed by employees of the A.N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution of the Russian Academy of Sciences, are designed to work in particularly extreme conditions - in thermal springs. The data obtained will be used in the interests of balneology, which studies the healing properties of water.

On August 2, the expedition set off from Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky. For 36 days, the scientific team on the R/V Professor Multanovsky will assess the state of coastal marine ecosystems in the Far Eastern seas in the context of global climate change and increasing anthropogenic load. Pavel Chukmasov from the Laboratory of Mammal Behavior and Behavioral Ecology and Sergey Bukreev from the Laboratory of Bird Behavior and Management are participating from the A.N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution of the Russian Academy of Sciences. During the voyage, the scientists will conduct censuses of marine mammals and birds, as well as teach this to students. This year, the IEE RAS staff will work closely with four students - from St. Petersburg, Novosibirsk and Moscow. The IEE RAS staff also plans to work with a remotely operated underwater vehicle (ROV) to survey the benthos in sea otter habitats. Thanks to the “Floating University” program, students and postgraduates selected based on the results of the All-Russian competition of the Winter School 2024 were able to become part of the scientific team. Scientists involve young specialists in their research, who will have to work on current scientific problems together with the heads of the departments during the expedition. The Floating University has a history of more than 30 years, starting with a UNESCO program with the leading role of the Geological Faculty of Moscow State University. Now the program has received a new round of development - the All-Russian scientific and educational program "Floating University" has been created, aimed at involving students, postgraduates and young scientists in scientific research activities. The program unites organizations aimed at providing the field of World Ocean research with highly qualified personnel. The annual cycle of the program includes 3 main stages: (1) Winter School of the Floating University, (2) Training through research in marine expeditions, (3) Integration of participants into the scientific community - through presentations at scientific conferences. Since 2019, 7.5 thousand applications have been submitted to participate in the program, with more than 2.5 thousand students taking part in person. Today, 47 organizations are participating in the program, including universities, scientific and educational organizations, as well as industrial partners. More than 80 percent of students participating in the project continue their activities in the field of Earth sciences. Since 2021, the Floating University project has been implemented within the framework of the UN Decade of Ocean Science, is part of the Science of Winning initiative of the Decade of Science and Technology of the Russian Federation, and is supported by the Ministry of Education and Science of Russia as part of the implementation of the National Project "Science and Universities". By decision of the Interdepartmental National Oceanographic Commission of the Russian Federation, the coordinating role in the development and implementation of the Floating University project has been assigned to MIPT. Floating University website.

A team of Russian researchers took a closer look at the liver fluke (Fasciola hepatica Linnaeus, 1758). This parasitic worm that inhabits the bile ducts of the liver of herbivores and humans is known throughout the world. Fasciola has been found on all inhabited continents and causes a lot of trouble for humane and veterinary doctors and their patients. The main and simplest method of intravital diagnostics of fascioliasis is coproovoscopy, that is, the detection of fasciola eggs in the excrement of the host. It would seem that the morphology of the egg should have been studied in detail over the past centuries. However, it turned out that this is not the case. When examining a zoo reindeer, scientists found eggs that by all appearances resembled fasciola eggs with one exception. Some of these eggs had "tails". A similar feature was described by the Russian researcher D. F. Sinitsyn at the beginning of the last century for a related helminth, the giant liver fluke (Fascioloides magna). Moreover, Sinitsyn claimed that this feature helps to reliably distinguish these helminths. And it is necessary to distinguish them, because the giant (or American) fluke is indeed much larger and lives not in the ducts, but in the parenchyma of the liver, which affects the choice of treatment. Even more paradoxically, Sinitsyn studied both types of liver flukes, but noticed "tails" only in one. To clarify the diagnosis, the researchers isolated and analyzed DNA from the "tailed" helminth eggs obtained from a deer and, at the same time, obtained adult fasciola individuals from a slaughterhouse (from the liver of a bull). The eggs obtained from adult flukes were also equipped with "tails" in about a quarter of cases. It is likely that D. F. Sinitsyn, who studied flukes in Russia and the USA, obtained eggs using different methods. It is known that when using sieves, the "tails" easily break off, unlike the method of successive washings. Thus, it was possible to establish that fasciola eggs in some cases are just as "tailed" as fascioloides eggs, and they cannot be distinguished by this feature. In addition, the thickening of the egg wall at the pole where the "tail" is found also occurs in both types of flukes, and also cannot serve as a differential criterion. To demonstrate the discovered morphological features, the authors turned to a 3D modeling artist to create three-dimensional images of fasciola eggs. OBJ files of 3D models of F. hepatica eggs (with and without "tails") are available to everyone at the link. In addition, molecular phylogenetic methods confirmed the rightful place of reindeer in the list of definitive hosts of fasciola. Another egg, which by all criteria fits the description of an F. hepatica egg, was found in a wild reindeer from Severny Island, Novaya Zemlya. Of course, more research is needed, but this may be the northernmost focus of fascioliasis in the world. The obtained descriptions and images reflect in detail the morphology of liver fluke eggs and should help doctors, veterinarians and biologists around the world in diagnosing fascioliasis. On behalf of the A.N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the following employees of the Laboratory of Taxonomy and Evolution of Parasites of the Parasitology Center participated in the work: Olga Aleksandrovna Loginova, Boris Dmitrievich Efeikin and Sergey Eduardovich Spiridonov. They were assisted by colleagues from the St. Petersburg University of Veterinary Medicine (Anna Alekseevna Krutikova), the Russian Arctic National Park and the N.P. Laverov Federal Research Center for Comprehensive Study of the Arctic, Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Ivan Andreevich Mizin). The article was published in open access mode in the journal Food and Waterborne Parasitology (Q1).