Fig. 1. A male great snipe during courtship display. Photo by S.Yu. Fokin. The great snipe (Gallinago media) is a secretive bird with predominantly nocturnal activity. This small wader (Fig. 1) migrates in the spring from its African wintering grounds to the moist meadows and marshes of the forest and tundra zones of Eurasia to perform a nocturnal mating ritual, select a mate, after which the female raises the chicks alone. In the 19th and 20th centuries, great snipe numbers declined dramatically throughout Europe. They ceased nesting in the lowlands of Western Europe, leading to the formation of an isolated breeding population in the mountains of Scandinavia. Over 80% of the current global population of this species breeds in Russia, but knowledge of many aspects of nesting biology and migrations of great snipes from their main breeding range is extremely incomplete. The extent to which great snipes from different breeding areas are closely related remains unknown; migration routes to wintering grounds of Russian birds and the geographic boundaries of the species' populations in Africa remain only speculative. The nesting population of great snipes in the Moscow region is listed in the Red Book, but until now it was unclear how long local birds remain in the Moscow region, when they migrate to their wintering grounds, and where these wintering grounds are located. Fig. 2. Snipes are caught at their leks at night. To answer these questions, researchers from the A.N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution of the Russian Academy of Sciences (IEE RAS) captured and fitted GPS trackers to 10 great snipes in the Zhuravlinaya Rodina Nature Reserve near Moscow (Figs. 2, 3). Satellite tracking technologies allowed us to gain new insights into the migration strategy and winter distribution of great snipes from their breeding range in European Russia and compare our data with those of studies conducted in other countries. It was discovered that both local birds and great snipes are present at leks forming in Central Russia in the spring, which then migrate to breed in the tundra regions of northern European Russia. The longest migration route from the Moscow region to the wintering grounds was undertaken by a female, who flew approximately 11,000 km with 16 stops in three European and five African countries, reaching Zambia. Fig. 3. A snipe equipped with an ICARUS satellite transmitter. It turned out that the stopover and wintering sites of great snipes from an isolated mountain nesting population in Scandinavia and from the lowland regions of Eastern Europe overlap significantly in Africa (Fig. 4). These results highlight the need for further research, including molecular genetics, into the species' population structure. Fig. 4. Migration pattern and wintering ranges of great snipes from different breeding populations in Europe (from Sviridova et al., 2026). 1 – location of great snipe tagging with satellite trackers in the Moscow region; 2 – location of great snipe tagging with trackers-geologists in Scandinavia; 3 – location of great snipe tagging by geologists and satellite trackers in Poland. Red lines – migration routes of birds from Europe to Africa, black lines – long-distance flights of birds within Africa (for Scandinavian birds according to Lindström et al., 2016, 2021). Dark grey shading – stopover and wintering grounds of great snipes from Scandinavia (according to Lindström et al., 2016, 2021) and Poland (according to Korniluk et al., 2015); light grey – stops and wintering areas of snipes from the European part of Russia. New technologies, such as GPS tracking, allow scientists to closely monitor bird movements, helping them understand how the birds use their habitat and which areas are most important for their conservation. "Unfortunately, we have to acknowledge the high mortality rate of great snipes during migration, especially when crossing the Sahara Desert. In many countries where great snipes are found, they are hunted," said Tatyana Sviridova, PhD in Biology and a senior researcher at the Institute of Ecology and Evolution of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Only a small proportion of migratory stopovers (18%) and wintering grounds (13%) used by great snipes in the Moscow region were within protected areas. These findings highlight the need for coordinated conservation measures for this wader, which is currently declining in numbers. These measures can only be developed through the joint efforts of specialists from countries where great snipes nest, stop during migration, and winter. The study was conducted as part of the global ICARUS (International Cooperation for Animal Research Using Space) project and the Uragan space experiment on the Russian segment of the ISS (Belyaev et al., 2022) in collaboration between the IEE RAS, the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior (Germany), and the Institute of Geography of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The work was also supported by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Biodiversity (NABU), the Manfred-Hermsen Foundation for Nature and Environment (Manfred-Hermsen-Stiftung), and the Russian Society for the Conservation and Study of Birds. The research results were published in March 2026 in the international journal Avian Research (Sviridova et al., 2026).

Photo: vk.com/public196632357 Journalists from the publication "Ecology of Russia" spoke with Marina Rutovskaya, Doctor of Biological Sciences, a senior researcher at the A.N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution of the Russian Academy of Sciences, about how the desman was listed in the Red Book, why it is important to promote this animal on social media, at exhibitions and seminars, and the main challenges of restoring the population. – Your social media project is called Desmana. Why? It's a very beautiful and unusual name. – It's quite simple: Desmana is the Latin name for the desman. We also have another name, without involving Latin - "The Russian Desman Friends Club." – Russia boasts exceptional biodiversity. Why were you drawn to the desman? What makes this animal so special? – I initially became involved with studying the desman by chance; I picked up the topic from another researcher at our institute back in 1993. But this species simply captivated me. The desman is truly special. This animal is currently endemic to our country. Endemic means "lives only here and nowhere else." It was previously believed that the desman was endemic to the USSR, as there were small pockets of its habitat in Kazakhstan and Ukraine. But now no one knows whether they remain there. This animal is unique and very interesting in its biology, habits, and impact on the environment. It's an insectivorous species that lives partly in water and partly on shore. The desman is very secretive, making it difficult to observe in the wild. But as a researcher, I observed them extensively when several individuals lived for a time at my experimental station. The peculiarities of their adaptation to an aquatic lifestyle are of particular interest, for example. And, although this species is seemingly familiar to us, there's still much that remains to be explored. Photo : vk.com/public196632357 – Today, this species is listed as endangered. What are the reasons for its decline, and how did it get there? – Unfortunately, humans "helped" it get there. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, these animals were actively hunted for their skins. Desmans were very numerous at the time. But by the 1930s, their numbers began to decline sharply. In 1935, three reserves were established specifically for the conservation of desmans: Khopersky, Oksky, and Klyazmensky. The first two still exist and retain their status as reserves, while Klyazmensky was closed, and a wildlife sanctuary was subsequently established in these areas. At first, a temporary ban was imposed on desman hunting, but this didn't help much. In the 1950s, hunting for this species was banned completely. In 1975, the animal was listed in the Red Book – a necessary step, as desman populations were not recovering. And it wasn't just a matter of capture; the desman had simply experienced significant anthropogenic impact on its habitat. After all, it lives only in the floodplains of certain rivers. The desman's lifestyle is tied to floodplain water bodies and spring floods, and these animals do not reproduce outside of floodplain lakes far from rivers. And the 1930s–1970s coincided with the period of active construction of hydroelectric power plants on the Volga, which resulted in severe damage to the floodplains of the Volga and its tributaries. Vast areas suitable for the animal's habitat simply disappeared under water as a result of the construction of reservoirs. The next stage was melioration. This resulted in the desman's habitat becoming significantly shallower in many places. The species also cannot survive in small lakes, as they freeze completely in winter. The next shock to the desman came in the 1990s, when social instability led to a decline in the protection of small bodies of water. Poachers began fishing with cheap fishing nets, almost without restraint. The desman became entangled in the nets and died. Thus, the population was completely destroyed. All of this led to habitat fragmentation. The desman now lives only in small, widely spaced areas of its range. And, of course, its population has declined significantly. In recent years, it has stabilized, but remains at a very low level. Currently, there are approximately 10,000 desmans in the country, according to rough estimates. In early April 2020, the Russian Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment approved new lists of species included in the Red Data Book, and the desman is now classified as a Category 1 species: endangered. Unfortunately, few people are currently working on this species, except for a couple of nature reserves where it lives and my team. Photo : vk.com/public196632357 – Do you collaborate with these nature reserves? We know you built a breeding center in 2020 - do you plan to breed desmans there and release them in the reserves? – Of course, we collaborate with the reserves. But what you've said poses a major problem. So far, desmans haven't reproduced in captivity. We did build a breeding center for this purpose, and this isn't the first attempt to breed the animal in captivity. It's a desperate attempt, you might say, because their numbers in the wild continue to decline. Currently, desmans survive in captivity, of course; their lifespan is about five years. But they stubbornly refuse to leave offspring. No zoos keep desmans, and in fact, a reserve population in captivity doesn't exist. We don't even yet know what special conditions a desman needs to decide to "continue their lineage" in captivity. Most likely, it's a certain temperature range, plus a simulated flood, plus something else. Plus, the desman is a very delicate animal, not very resilient to stress. Therefore, we still need to figure out how to protect it from stress and preserve the brood if we do manage to breed offspring in captivity. We've established a special breeding facility at the Kropotovo Biological Station of the N.K. Koltsov Institute of Developmental Biology of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and we're currently awaiting permission to capture several individuals. We'll capture them and try to arrange for their reproduction. Incidentally, capturing this animal isn't easy either, as they're very rare in the wild and very secretive. We won't be searching for desmans in nature reserves, as that's prohibited, but in the protected areas around them, or in other unprotected areas where their presence has been confirmed. Again, timing is crucial. We simply won't find desmans during flood season. The animals will now enter their breeding season, and they must not be disturbed under any circumstances. Therefore, the capture will likely be scheduled for the fall of 2021. We'll then bring the animals to the breeding center and experiment with different conditions to see which they prefer. Once again, we have some ideas on how to make life comfortable for the desman in captivity. But these are just ideas; they don't guarantee anything. Everything needs to be tested. – But this won't be a completely new experiment. Do you already have some groundwork? How long has your project been in existence? – Of course, it won't be completely new. I learned a little about the desman from the animals I kept from 2004 to 2015 at the Chernogolovka Experimental Base of the Institute of Ecology and Evolution of the Russian Academy of Sciences. But on the other hand, when I observed them, I realized that without understanding how desmans live in the wild, we would make a lot of mistakes. That's how expeditions to monitor desmans in the wild came about. Speaking of this monitoring program, my students and I have been running it for 10 years now. The breeding project, however, is a relatively new one; we're building it with funds from a Presidential grant received by the Wildlife Conservation Center charitable foundation in 2020. Now, all our work is focused on finally starting to breed these animals in captivity. If we manage that, then we will set ourselves the task of starting to return the desman to the places from which it disappeared. Photo : vk.com/public196632357 – You've made several films about monitoring the Russian desman. What are they about, and where can I watch them? – All of our materials, including videos, can be viewed on the website. These are video reports from our trips and expeditions to the places where we search for desmans and keep a census. However, these aren't scientific reports, but rather live images. Many volunteers participate in our desman monitoring projects, mostly students. Our films, as well as seminars and other events, are a way to popularize knowledge about the desman. Right now, for example, the "Primordial Russia" wildlife photography exhibition and festival is taking place in Moscow, and my students gave a talk about the desman there. As I understand it, the talk was a great success. So we try to take every opportunity to talk about this animal. - And how successful is it? Are ordinary people interested in this animal? - I think so. For example, our monitoring expeditions used to involve almost exclusively students. But now, with the widespread awareness of the desman and our project, firstly, there are more volunteers overall, and secondly, we're getting requests from wildlife enthusiasts, even students who aren't majoring in the field, asking to join our expeditions. They learn about us on websites, social media, and at seminars. Now, we don't even always take everyone who wants to go because there's not enough space in the expedition vehicles. Photo : vk.com/public196632357 - How do you monitor desmans? Is it true that you search for them using bubbles? Tell us about this method. - Bubble detection is only possible in isolated cases. This year, for example, we had the opportunity to use this method. This is possible when the lake surface freezes over and the ice remains transparent (which doesn't happen every year). Unfortunately, when we went out to catch the animals this fall, we were a day late: snow had fallen before our arrival, and then it froze to the surface of the ice. That's it, you can't see anything anymore. When the ice is transparent, all animals that spend time underwater (not just desmans, but also beavers and muskrats) exhale air, and it rises to the surface in a chain of bubbles. Bubbles also rise from the fur, as a lot of air gets trapped there. These chains are clearly visible. Incidentally, desmans "befriend" beavers because beavers raise the water level in lakes, and desmans enjoy this. If beavers are spotted in a body of water, the likelihood of a desman living there increases. They often make burrows right in beaver burrows. It's the same with muskrats: if a body of water lacks suitable burrowing sites, a desman and a muskrat may even share a single dwelling. So, getting back to the bubbles: when you see a chain of bubbles under the ice, you can very clearly determine which of the three species they belong to. Beavers have the largest bubbles. Muskrats and desmans have smaller ones, roughly the same size. But you have to look at the location: muskrat bubbles always follow the shoreline, where they gather vegetation. Desmans, on the other hand, typically leave distinct trails of bubbles extending into the lake's depths. That's where they dive for mollusks and other small prey. As you can see, it's all very simple! Nevertheless, we usually go on expeditions before winter, when the waters are not covered with ice. It's quite physically demanding: we don special waterproof suits, walk along the shore in the water, and search for desman dens by the characteristic grooves leading away from them. But what a joy it is when we find our "hokhulya"! Related materials: Дзен: "Питомник в Подмосковье пытается спасти популяцию русской выхухоли" Регионы: "Как подмосковные ученые спасают русских выхухолей" Вечерняя Казань: "Вымирающая русская выхухоль стала источником вдохновения для поэтов и писателей"

The book "Valery Dmitrievich Ilyichev (1937–2013) – an Outstanding Russian Ornithologist: His Life and Research in Essays and Memoirs" was published by KMK Publishing House. The book is dedicated to Professor V.D. Ilyichev, a prominent ornithologist and organizer of Soviet and Russian science. It features the memoirs and reflections of Valery Dmitrievich's colleagues, students, and friends, reflecting events not only from his professional career but also from his personal life. The essays by various people who interacted with Valery Dmitrievich in varying degrees reveal the complex, multifaceted, and undoubtedly unique personality of this scientist, who defined an entire era in the development of ornithology as a science. The book is intended for ornithologists, zoologists, ecologists, specialists in aviation and other areas of applied ornithology, and historians of science. Editor-in-Chief: O.L. Silaeva. Scientific Editor: O.F. Chernova. Compiler: E.E. Shergalin. Edited by L.M. Kozyreva. Reviewers: Doctor of Biological Sciences: B.D. Abaturov, Candidate of Biological Sciences: P.G. Polezhankina. ISBN 978-5-908015-45-5 The book in digital PDF format with a free sample can be ordered at an affordable price from the following platforms: — Ozon — Yandex Market — Litres For inquiries regarding purchasing the printed book, please email enigma_pro@mail.ru

Figure 1. Lake Tana, Bahrdar Bay. Source: Boris Levin. Scientists have discovered that barbs from Ethiopia's Lake Tana have remained virtually unchanged in their feeding habits despite catastrophic ecosystem changes. Even in the face of critical population declines, increasing pressure from invasive species, pollution, and turbid waters, different barbel species continue to feed differently: some feed on small fish, others on mollusks, and still others on insects and other resources. These observations will help better understand how to preserve the species diversity of lakes in densely populated areas of the planet. The results of the study, supported by a grant from the Russian Science Foundation (RSF), were published in the journal Ecology and Evolution. During evolution, related groups of organisms descended from a common ancestor often quickly diverge into numerous new species. During this process, these emerging species acquire specific traits that enable them to adapt to different environmental conditions and new food sources. For example, in Lake Tana in Ethiopia, in just 16,000 years (a very short time by evolutionary standards), 15 species of African barbels of the genus Labeobarbus (fish of the Cyprinidae family) emerged. Figure 2. Diversity of the Tang longhorn beetles of the genus Labeobarbus. Source: Evgeny Esin et al. / Ecology and Evolution, 2026. Research in the 1990s revealed that barbel species varied greatly in appearance, habitat, and feeding habits (including predators, as well as species that feed on plankton, aquatic vegetation, mollusks, and aquatic insect larvae). However, until now, it was unknown how human activities over the past 30 years—lake pollution, dam construction, and overfishing—have impacted this diversity, ecological, and feeding preferences of African barbel. Scientists from the A.N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution of the Russian Academy of Sciences (IEE RAS) (Moscow) and the Bahir Dar Fishery and Other Aquatic LIfe Research Center (Ethiopia) captured 11 African barbel species during an expedition to Lake Tana. The authors collected muscle samples from all the fish and analyzed their stable nitrogen and carbon isotopes and fatty acids. Isotopes are varieties of the same chemical element that differ in mass. Figure 3. Multidimensional scaling of the Tana barbels of the genus Labeobarbus based on fatty acid ratios. (a) — 95% confidence interval ellipses for each species are shown; (b) — factor vectors of fatty acids separating the species in the principal component space. Source: Evgeny Esin et al. / Ecology and Evolution, 2026. "Depending on what fish eat, they accumulate different isotope ratios. The composition of fatty acids in their muscles also depends on diet. For example, high levels of short-chain omega-3 fatty acids are characteristic of fish that prefer zooplankton and aquatic insects, while an accumulation of omega-6 fatty acids indicates a diet of mollusks and algae," explains Boris Levin, a leading researcher at the A.N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution at the Russian Academy of Sciences and the head of the project, which was supported by a grant from the Russian Science Foundation. Using these markers, the authors determined that most of the captured barbel species continue to adhere to the same diet they had almost 30 years ago. Only a few species—likely due to human activity—have changed their dietary preferences. Predators have suffered the most in the ecosystem. For example, the barbel Labeobarbus platydorsus switched to a "mixed" diet due to reduced availability of prey, including mollusks and other benthic organisms in its diet, in addition to fish. "We previously assumed that human activity would alter the dietary preferences of African barbels, disrupting the balance of matter and energy flows in the ecosystem. However, despite the critical decline in African barbel populations and changing habitat conditions, their dietary specializations have persisted. It's likely that the evolutionary mechanisms that led to the emergence of trophic niche diversity have proven to be relatively resilient to external changes. This discovery is important for preserving the species diversity of Lake Tana. Furthermore, it helps us better understand the processes of species formation in nature," explains Professor Evgeny Esin, Doctor of Biological Sciences, Head of the Laboratory of Lower Vertebrate Ecology at IEE RAS.

Photo 1: Destruction of polystyrene by Ulomoides dermestoides larvae in 7 days Plastic pollution is a recognized threat to human health and the environment. Its decomposition period, depending on the type and composition, ranges from several decades to 1,000 years. The massive accumulation of plastic in the environment necessitates the development of technologies for the efficient and environmentally friendly disposal of plastic waste. One way to achieve this goal is through the biodegradation of plastic by living organisms, including insects. The ability of insects to degrade various plastics through feeding has been demonstrated in several species, including Tenebrio molitor (Palmer et al., 2022), T. obscurus (Peng et al., 2019), Zophobas atratus (Peng et al., 2020; Yang et al., 2020), and Uloma sp. (Kundungal et al., 2021), Plodia interpunctella (Yang et al., 2014), Achroia grisella (Kundungal et al., 2019), Galleria mellonella (Kong et al., 2019; Lou et al., 2020; Peydaei et al., 2021) and some others. For example, it was found that polystyrene (PS) particles are retained in the intestine of T. molitor for 15-20 hours, and during this time, almost 50% of the consumed plastic is mineralized to CO2, and the remainder is released into the environment with excrement in the form of microparticles (Brandon et al., 2021). Photo 2: Damage to a block of expanded polystyrene by U. dermestoides larvae Polystyrene is a synthetic hydrophobic polymer with a high molecular weight. PS is widely used as disposable tableware, cups, packaging, insulation materials, and more. Its structural stability and difficulty in degradation lead to an abundance of plastic waste in the environment. Therefore, the ability of insects to partially utilize polystyrene opens up new possibilities for solving this problem. The Laboratory of Innovative Technologies at the A.N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution of the Russian Academy of Sciences (IEE RAS) is actively researching insects that degrade polystyrene and the mechanisms of its degradation. In an experiment, the authors demonstrated that the larvae of the darkling beetle Ulomoides dermestoides (Chevrolat, 1878) (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae) are capable of degrading expanded polystyrene (EPS) during their feeding activity. Photo 3: A ‒ polystyrene surface with deformed areas as a result of larval gnawing; B ‒ mouthparts of an older U. dermestoides larva (ventral view). The degree of degradation varied for EPS of different sizes. For 6x6, 3x3, and 1.5x1.5 cm plastics, the mass loss was 44.94±1.11, 51.34±2.54, and 68.3±3.16%, respectively. A negative correlation was observed between EPS size and the conversion rate. The rate of plastic degradation also depended on the developmental stage of the larvae. A significant decrease in EPS mass was observed only after 4 weeks of the experiment, when the larvae reached the fifth instar. Photo 4: Appearance of U. dermestoides larval excrement (A). Enlarged fragment of excrement with marked particles, the elemental composition of which corresponds to PS. The use of polystyrene by U. dermestoides larvae is due to the accessibility of the plastic surface to the larval mouthparts. The recorded damage to the polystyrene is consistent with the size of the U. dermestoides larval gnawing apparatus. After the degradation process is complete, undigested EPS particles corresponding to the microplastic size class are excreted in the feces. EPS had no toxic effect on larval survival. This study was supported by a grant from the Russian Science Foundation (Project No. 25-24-00273) and under State Assignment 9. Scientific Foundations of Environmental Safety (No. 1022061500259-1-1.6.19). The study utilized equipment from the Instrumental Methods in Ecology Center at the Institute of Ecology and Evolution of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

Monitoring the seasonal dynamics of microalgae allows for the timely detection of changes in water quality in reservoirs. The condition of aquatic ecosystems in the Moscow section of Losiny Ostrov National Park is assessed as favorable, according to specialists following the first comprehensive phytoplankton monitoring. The study was organized by the Moscow Department of Nature Management and Environmental Protection, and the research was conducted by scientists from the A.N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution of the Russian Academy of Sciences. They did not identify any dangerous invasive microalgae species, indicating ecosystem stability. The monitoring was part of a long-term comprehensive biodiversity study program for the Moscow section of the park, initiated by the Department of Nature Management and Environmental Protection in 2024. In 2025, scientists surveyed 15 water bodies three times - spring, summer, and autumn - including ponds of various sizes, the Yauza River, and its oxbow lakes. This approach allowed them to track the seasonal dynamics of phytoplankton, the main indicator of water quality in urban water bodies. Based on their research, scientists found that the phytoplankton structure in the water bodies of the Moscow section of Losiny Ostrov is typical of urban water bodies in central Russia. The communities are dominated by green, blue-green, and diatom algae. Moreover, the park's large ponds are distinguished by a high species diversity of microalgae. The highest phytoplankton abundance and biomass were recorded in Los Pond. The short-term appearance of blue-green algae, noted in the summer in Bogatyrsky Pond and in the fall in Los Pond, is considered natural for eutrophic (nutrient-rich) urban water bodies and does not pose a threat to the ecosystem. Specialists did not detect any dangerous invasive phytoplankton species. This confirms the favorable condition of the water bodies and the effectiveness of the capital's environmental monitoring. However, the scientists noted certain water bodies that require closer monitoring due to signs of anthropogenic impact. Moscow Control specialists regularly visit the capital's natural areas and remind residents to observe the rules of conduct in their assigned areas. For example, they should only travel on designated paths and roads, take all trash with them and not throw anything away within the park, and follow expert recommendations when feeding animals and birds. The Moscow Department of Nature Management and Environmental Protection, together with scientists, is conducting extensive research, which forms the basis for ongoing monitoring of the ecosystems in the Moscow section of Losiny Ostrov National Park. New monitoring phases are already planned, which will allow for the prompt detection of changes and timely measures to maintain the ecological balance.

Dear ladies! On behalf of the Institute's management, I congratulate you on International Women's Day, March 8th. I wish you to remain beautiful, cheerful, optimistic, and, most importantly, happy! May those who are with you on this day bring you joy and care for you. We are all very glad that you work with us. Happy Women's Day! Institute Director S.V. Naidenko

Photo: Here lives the new species, Sorex nivicola. In the photo: IEE RAS staff members and co-authors of the publication S.V. Pavlova, B.I. Sheftel, and V.D. Yakushov. September 2018 The reasons for studying and preserving biological diversity are varied and numerous. They relate to research into the structure and functioning of biological communities and ecosystems, environmental conservation, economics, and medicine. It should be noted that species diversity contributes to the stabilization of community productivity and, at the same time, increases the efficiency of resource use. Researchers at the A.N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution of the Russian Academy of Sciences were interested in the question of how high, perhaps even near-maximum, species diversity arises and persists. This was one of the many environmental issues that prompted the organization of a joint Russian-Chinese expedition, which conducted four field seasons of research on the eastern macroslope of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. This region has always attracted the attention of Russian researchers and travelers, having been the destination of N.M. Przhevalsky, P.K. Kozlov, G.N. Potanin, and M.M. Berezovsky. Previous studies, including those by Chinese colleagues, have shown that this region is characterized by increased biodiversity across many groups of organisms. However, the scientists were most struck by the diversity of shrews, and only one group of these very interesting insectivorous mammals. Native striped-back shrews, found exclusively in this region, form more than 10 distinct forms, many of which reach the species level, and these are primarily juvenile species. To study this group of animals, the scientists used a wide variety of methods – morphological, karyological (the study of chromosomes), and molecular. Photo: Sorex nivicola Bannikova, Jenkins, Lebedev, Pavlova, Sheftel, 2025 "We hypothesize that such high biodiversity arises from the phenomenon of 'sky islands.' Sky islands are isolated mountain peaks or ridges with distinct altitudinal vegetation zones. At the summit are alpine meadows, while below lies a belt of coniferous forests, which gives way to deciduous forests. At the foothills are dry meadows with shrubs, and occasionally croplands or pastures. The differences between the vegetation zones are more contrasting compared to mountain ranges located in more northern regions. The group of shrews we studied primarily inhabits the coniferous vegetation zone," explained Boris Sheftel, a leading researcher at the IEE RAS and a PhD in biology. Over millennia, the climate in the region fluctuated. There were cold periods when coniferous forests descended to the foothills of the mountains, sometimes forming continuous taiga-type coniferous forests. As the climate warmed, the coniferous forests retreated, forming isolated belts of coniferous forests on isolated peaks and ridges. During dry, warm periods, specific forms of animals developed on the mountain peaks, which, with prolonged isolation, became independent species. When the weather cooled and continuous taiga forests emerged, all these forms interbred, and those that had differentiated well formed distinct species. Thanks to the highly mosaic landscape, they were able to find their own ecological niches and coexist with one another. Less differentiated forms interbred and disappeared. But this raises the question: does hybridization always lead to the mutual absorption of forms? It turns out that this is not always the case. Specialists discovered a well-defined morphological species, for which karyological and molecular methods demonstrated its hybrid origin. This discovery was sensational, as the description of new mammal species is quite rare these days. But even more surprising was the demonstration that this species is of hybrid origin, meaning that the mitochondrial DNA, which the organism receives from the mother, belongs to one species, and the nuclear DNA, including the Y chromosome, belongs to another species. The question arose: could this simply be modern hybridization, unrelated to speciation? However, the fact that this form was found in different locations, separated by more than 100 km, and the morphological features of individuals at all locations were identical, ruled out this possibility. Comparison of the DNA structure of the new form with known ones revealed which of the currently existing forms was maternal, but the second form was not among them. It has been suggested that the second parental form is now extinct. However, another problem arose that needed to be resolved before describing the new species. In the early 20th century, British expeditions worked in this region, collecting extensive zoological material, including on shrews. Based on these collections, O. Thomas, a theriologist at the Natural History Museum in London, described several shrew species, some of which had not been found by researchers at IEE RAS. Therefore, another important task arose: comparing the morphological features of the species the scientists considered new with those described by O. Thomas. To this end, the scientists turned to Paula Jenkins, curator of the theriological collections at the Natural History Museum in London, who conducted meticulous morphological studies and unequivocally demonstrated that this species was indeed new. As a result, a new species was described: Sorex nivicola Bannikova, Jenkins, Lebedev, Pavlova, Sheftel, 2025.

Figure 1. Research object. A joint study by researchers from the Vertebrate Sensory Systems Laboratory at the A.N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution of the Russian Academy of Sciences (IEE RAS) and the Moskvarium Center for Oceanography and Marine Biology assessed the impact of early hearing loss in a young bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) on the development of its acoustic repertoire. This study addresses a poorly understood area, as most documented cases of hearing loss in dolphins occur in adult animals with a fully developed vocal repertoire. Toothed cetaceans, particularly dolphins, are among the few animals capable of learning to produce new sounds by imitating their relatives. The development of dolphins' acoustic repertoire progresses significantly in the first months after birth, thanks to vocal learning and imitation of significant individuals. A four-year-old male dolphin born at the Moskvarium required a hearing test. According to the trainer, the dolphin's first signs of hearing impairment began to appear at a few months of age; it was noticeable that he relied primarily on eye contact with the trainer and imitating the behavior of other animals. However, the dolphin was actively vocalizing (Figure 1). In the first stage of the study, hearing was assessed using an electrophysiological method, recording auditory evoked potentials. This procedure is painless for the animal and allows for rapid, accurate data collection without the need for special training. The test revealed that the dolphin indeed had profound hearing loss (Figure 2). Figure 2. Dependence of the amplitude of auditory evoked potentials on the sound pressure level of the stimulus for a dolphin with normal hearing (Dolphin_2) and with hearing impairment (Dolphin_1). The horizontal dotted line shows the background level (the average amplitude of all spectral components during the recording of brain electrical activity). The dolphin's vocal repertoire was analyzed and compared with that of healthy individuals. Despite its hearing loss, the test dolphin produced all the types of signals typical of adult dolphins of its species (clicks, whistles, and pulsed-tone signals). However, its signals had certain peculiarities that brought it closer to the basic characteristics of newborns: whistles were significantly shorter in duration than those of normally hearing dolphins; most whistles were combined with clicks; and its individual whistle—a "signature"—could not be identified. An intriguing result of the study was that the hearing-impaired dolphin, its sister, and its mother produced a specific, almost stereotypical signal consisting of a direct (unmodulated) pure tone, matching the frequency of the mother's trainer's whistle, combined with clicks (Figure 3). Apparently, the test dolphin shares a signal with its normally hearing significant individuals. Figure 3. Common signal of a dolphin with hearing loss (Dolphin_1) and healthy individuals (Dolphin_2 and Dolphin_3). The results indicate that the dolphin's hearing problems are not congenital, but rather developed shortly after birth, presumably before the development of the distinctive whistle that most bottlenose dolphin calves typically develop before the age of one year. "This research allowed trainers to establish feedback with a deaf dolphin without using a bridge signal by developing a customized training approach based on visual stimuli. In the future, such a dolphin with confirmed hearing loss could serve as a model for studying the effects of deafness on the acoustic activity, vocal repertoire, and social behavior of young dolphins as they mature and acquire new social roles," said Evgeniya Sysueva, PhD, Senior Researcher at the Institute of Ecology and Evolution of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Note from the authors: It is with deep regret that we report that Alexander Yakovlevich Supin, one of the authors of this article, passed away on February 21, 2026. His contribution to this work, as well as to marine mammal science in general, was invaluable. We are grateful for the opportunity to work with him and will cherish his memory with fondness. This paper was published in the journal: Sysueva E, Sidorova I, Suvorova I, Supin A, Nechaev D, Tkachenko A, and Popov V (2026) Hearing abilities and acoustic signaling of the bottlenose dolphin Tursiops truncatus with early hearing loss. Front. Mar. Sci. 12:1634494. doi: 10.3389/fmars.2025.1634494 Related materials: Science.Mail: "The characteristics of the deaf dolphin's 'language' have been studied in Russia"

Armoured catfish Non-native armoured catfish of the genus Pterygoplichthys exhibit high plasticity, which facilitates their spread in the highland rivers of Central Vietnam. These rivers are characterized by greater habitat heterogeneity than water bodies located on the plains. The spread of catfish with rapidly increasing density poses a high risk not only to rare and endemic ichthyofauna species but could also profoundly transform freshwater ecosystems and the structure of hydrobiont communities. The high adaptive potential of armoured catfish to new environmental conditions is related to their physiological and biochemical features, which ensure stable functioning of the organism under habitat heterogeneity. Researchers from the A.N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution of the Russian Academy of Sciences, together with Vietnamese colleagues from the Russian-Vietnamese Tropical Center, assessed the concentrations of several blood biochemical parameters of armoured catfish from two highland rivers of Lam Dong Province: the Da Nhim River and the Krong No River. The main objective of the present study was to assess the relationships between blood parameters and growth, maturity stage, and habitat characteristics in different river locations, different rivers, and different fish generations. The Da Nhim River Seven blood biochemical parameters were analyzed to estimate the cost of energy resources and the internal functions of the organism: total and free fractions of triiodothyronine, cholesterol, triglycerides, total protein, creatine, and bilirubin. These parameters are good indicators of changes in energy metabolism, as well as lipid and protein metabolism. The thyroid axis of armoured catfish was stable and resistant under the influence of environmental conditions, as well as across different fish generations. This indicates stable homeostatic function, which is an important feature for successful spreading. Parameters of lipid and protein metabolism significantly differed in fish from different rivers and generations, which is likely related to the characteristics of the food spectrum and its availability in different water bodies, or within a single water body at different times of observation. However, such metabolic changes in catfish are also related to their density in the studied rivers. Dr. Efim Pavlov, Senior Research Scientist at the A.N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution, Russian Academy of Sciences, notes: “The present study indicates that the successful spread of armoured catfish is partly related to the stable functioning of the thyroid axis and the regulation of homeostasis under significant environmental changes. The ability of catfish to maintain stable thyroid synthesis accompanied by appropriate metabolic adjustments could be one of the key mechanisms enabling these fish to become successful invaders in numerous water bodies characterized by a wide range of feeding conditions.” The Krong No River The study shows that investigating the physiological responses of fish can contribute to understanding global ecological processes (biological invasions) under conditions of global warming and anthropogenic pressure. The article (Dien TD, Ganzha EV, Pavlov ED, 2026) was published in Hydrobiology: https://doi.org/10.3390/hydrobiology5010005