In the photo: the small shrew S. minutus, caught in November 2023 in the south-west of Moscow (photo taken by Sergei Viktorovich Ogurtsov, Moscow State University). Specialists from the Institute of Ecology and Evolution of the Russian Academy of Sciences, with the help of colleagues from the Faculty of Biology of Moscow State University have developed a reliable method for identifying current sources of environmental pollution with super-ecotoxicants such as dioxins, based on the use of the biological characteristics of insectivorous and rodent species, including those inhabiting biotopes polluted by humans. Dioxins - polychlorinated dibenzo-para-dioxins and dibenzofurans (PCDD/F) and dioxin-like polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) - persistent organic pollutants, identifying the sources of their emission, which can be, for example, unequipped waste storage facilities, is a labor-intensive and expensive, but necessary environment protection task. Its implementation is complicated, firstly, by the many ways in which these pollutants spread from potential sources - through water, soil, air, and secondly, by their background presence due to pollution in previous periods and/or global transfer from distant places. Unique forest animals can help in solving this problem - insectivorous shrews, representatives of the genus Sorex (order Eulipotyphla, family Soricidae) - common (S. araneus, L. 1758), and small (S. minutus, L. 1766). These shrews are the most common inhabitants of forest biocenoses throughout the European territory, the common shrew is the most numerous, the small one (pictured) is the second most numerous species; In the forests and forest parks of Moscow and the region, one or two representatives of the second species fall into live traps for every ten of the first species. The common shrew is slightly larger, the body length of its adults is about 8 cm, the small one is about 6 cm, the weight of the first reaches 13, the second - no more than 7 g. Both have a dark back and a lighter belly, the small one has a relatively thick tail at the base (photo). In the small karyotype there are 42 chromosomes, and in the ordinary karyotype there can be from 20 to 33 chromosomes due to different combinations of fusion of the chromosome arms of 12 autosomes - the so-called variable part of the karyotype, which made this species a model object for population genetic studies. These small predators are unique in that per day they hunt and eat twice their own weight, mainly invertebrates, but also all other animal food available to them - carrion and young mouse-like rodents, small amphibians. Plant food is used in small quantities, mainly in winter. Differences in diet: the common shrew is the main consumer of soil insects, the small shrew prefers terrestrial ones. It turned out that samples from individuals of these species can serve as the best indicator of environmental pollution with dioxin-like ecotoxicants. The fact is that the toxicity of these substances for biota and humans is associated with their ability to bioaccumulate and interfere, even in trace quantities, with the vital processes of the body; accordingly, their content is most significant in the tissues of wild-living small mammals. The feeding method of shrews and the composition of the feed they use determines the maximum accumulation of dioxins in the body, and reflects the entry of pollutants through the filtrate produced by their emission sources, along the way - groundwater, soil, soil insects, and predators. Using in the study, in addition to an insectivorous species, a representative of a taxon with a different type of diet, a herbivorous rodent, makes it possible to better reflect the deposition of pollutants on the green parts of plants due to airborne transport. The combination of insectivorous and herbivorous species in biomonitoring takes into account the different ways in which ecotoxicants enter the mammalian body and represents an integral indicator of environmental pollution. To differentiate background pollution and the contribution of the source, sampling should be carried out close to and at a significant distance (10-50 km) from it, to completely exclude its influence. The excess of the concentrations of ecotoxicants in samples of individuals caught near the object under study over the background values obtained when they were caught at a distance, in a conditionally clean area, indicates the influence of the source. The determination of PCDD/Fs and PCBs is carried out, after appropriate sample preparation, by high-resolution gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. As an example, we present a study of a total of 8 samples - two individuals of each species (the insectivorous common shrew S. araneus and the herbivorous bank vole Cl. glareolus), captured in two locations in the Moscow region - near a potential local source of ecotoxicant emissions (landfill) and at a distance of about 50 km from it, in a natural reserve (Zvenigorod Biological Station named after S.N. Skadovsky, ZBS MSU). In all samples of the bank vole and the common shrew, dioxins were found, and the values of the total equivalent of their toxicity (WHO-TEQ2005) in the shrew samples were more than 10 times higher than those in the vole samples (Table), which apparently reflected the different composition of the feed of these species. Table. Average content of the most dangerous isomer, 2,3,7,8-PCDD and total toxicity equivalent WHO-TEQ2005 dioxins (pg/g dry weight) in samples of shrews and bank voles caught near the landfill (source) and in a conditionally clean area (background) Moscow region The dioxin content in samples of animals caught near the landfill for both species was almost three times higher than background values, which indicates the contribution of this source to environmental pollution, while the excess concentrations in shrew samples primarily indicate water (filtrate-groundwater, soil insects), and the green-eating bank vole on the airborne (deposition on green parts of plants) path of pollutant spread. The shrew proved to be the best indicator for detecting the emission of these ecotoxicants. The proposed method, based on the combination of biomonitoring of herbivorous and insectivorous species of small mammals from two locations, made it possible, with a minimum number of samples, to obtain a reliable gradient of dioxin concentration values in samples, not only to detect the contribution of a local source, but to indicate the distribution paths of these pollutants, which provides the necessary information when analyzing the state of ecosystems and assessing environmental risks. (Euthanasia of animals was carried out humanely in accordance with the requirements of Article 6 and Annex IV of Directive 2010/63/EU.) Patent No. 2792606 C1 Russian Federation, IPC G01N 30/88. Method for determining the contribution of local sources of emission of dioxin-like ecotoxicants to environmental pollution: No. 2022120758: application. 07/28/2022: publ. 03/22/2023 / E. S. Levenkova; applicant Federal State Budgetary Institution of Science A.N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution of the Russian Academy of Sciences. – EDN NQOIGD.

During the visit of RAS Academician V.V. Rozhnov and senior researcher A.A. Yachmennikova in September 2023, documents were signed in China confirming at the official international level the extension of cooperation between the Institute of Ecology and Evolution of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Institute of Natural Resources and Ecology of the Academy of Sciences of Heilongjiang Province. In accordance with the signed documents, for the exchange of experience and for the development of international cooperation, from November 22 to December 14, the Institute was visited by the coordinator of international cooperation from the Institute of Natural Resources and Ecology of the Academy of Sciences of Heilongjiang Province - Zhu Shibing. During Zhu Shibing’s work at the Institute, materials for publication were discussed and prepared based on data previously collected by the Russian-Chinese team in the PRC (2018-2019). We also discussed and agreed on a joint work plan for 2024, which includes the development and continuation of work on the characteristics of the tiger’s habitat in connection with the spread of permafrost. Earlier, at the conference “Mammals of Russia: faunistics and issues of theriogeography”, held in the city of Rostov-on-Don, April 17–19, 2019, abstracts on this issue were published, but the COVID-19 pandemic interrupted the planned work for 4 years: Rozhnov V .V., Zhu Sh., Chu I, Kotlov I.P., Sandlersky R.B., Yachmennikova A.A. Permafrost as a possible factor in the formation of the Amur tiger's habitat. Proceedings of the conference "Mammals of Russia, Faunistics and Theriogeography Issues", April 17-19, 2019, Rostov-on-Don, KMK Scientific Publications Partnership, Rostov-on-Don 2019 P. 233-236. In addition to the ongoing joint work on studying the Amur tiger in China, the prospects for cooperation between the Institutes in a new direction were discussed: joint research on monitoring greenhouse gas emissions, which is planned to be implemented jointly with the V.N. Sukachev Laboratory of Biogeocenology (under direction of Yu.A. Kurbatova, Institute of Ecology and Evolution of the Russian Academy of Sciences). For this purpose, Zhu Shibin was organized to familiarize himself with the work of the South Valdai Ecological Observatory “Okovsky Forest” of the Institute of Ecology and Evolution of the Russian Academy of Sciences, located in the area of the Central Forest Nature Reserve. Data from environmental-climate stations are the basis for scientific monitoring of gas exchange processes in ecosystems and greenhouse gas emissions. With the help of off-road special equipment, employees of the Institute of Ecology and Evolution of the Russian Academy of Sciences, with the assistance of colleagues from the Central Forest Reserve, visited two such stations and became acquainted with the operation of the equipment installed on them. The Chinese side is certainly interested in the development of carbon testing sites on its territory and, due to the relevance of such work on the territory of the PRC, they are actively adopting the successful Russian experience.

Thanks to funding from the State Science Foundation under the program “State support for scientific research conducted under the guidance of leading scientists in Russian educational institutions of higher education, scientific institutions and state scientific centers of the Russian Federation” (9th stage), a laboratory of evolutionary trophology was created in 2022. The institute's new laboratory specializes in studying nutrition, digestion and parasites in fish, amphibians and reptiles. It included experts in the field of research of the digestive system and vertebrate ecology, as well as undergraduates, graduate students and support staff. The laboratory was headed by the outstanding Spanish scientist Enric Gisbert Casas. In 2023, we completed the construction of the main laboratory complexes, resulting in the creation of a multi-purpose scientific base where a wide range of genetic studies of eukaryotic and prokaryotic organisms can be carried out. In addition, an instrument base has been formed to study the composition of digestive enzymes, study the biochemistry of blood and other tissues of organisms, and conduct morphological and histological studies of the digestive system of vertebrates. Over the past year, project participants have been on several large expeditions, the most significant of which included trips to Vietnam, Indonesia and Papua New Guinea. In Papua New Guinea, we became acquainted with the aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems of the surrounding Lake Kutubu, where several endemic fish species live, some of which belong to the complex of eliotris fishes of the genus Magurnda. We were interested in adaptations of the digestive system of representatives of this and other fish genera and associated with the trophic niches they occupy, as well as ecto- and endoparasites of lake ichthyofauna. The expedition was based in the village of Tugiri, where a research center was built through the efforts of the head of the local community, Lawrence Kage. The surroundings of the lake are slopes covered with primary tropical forest and indented by river valleys. Tugiri is located in the floodplain of the Vari River, where we conducted daily excursions in search of herpetofauna. Despite the dry season - July has the least amount of precipitation - we were able to find more than 30 species of reptiles and amphibians, the main representatives of which were small frogs from the family of narrow-mouthed tree frogs (Microhylidae). Not all of them can be identified, and it is quite possible that among the amphibians we caught there may be species new to science. In addition, we tried to establish international relations with representatives of the local scientific community from the National Research Institute (NRI), which can be the basis for further fruitful work by the staff of the Institute of Ecology and Evolution of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The Vietnamese expedition was aimed at studying internal parasites, feeding habits and digestion of tailless amphibians. We worked in Cat Tien National Park, where one of the oldest stations of the Russian-Vietnamese Tropical Center is located, on the basis of which our research was carried out. As objects of study, we chose such amphibian species as Microhyla butleri, M. mukhlesuri, M. heymonsi, Rohanixalus vittatus, Glyphoglossus guttulatus, Polypedates megacephalus. In two model reservoirs, we regularly collected tadpoles that had reached different stages of development. Next, we studied the composition of the parasites, taking samples of body tissue and the contents of the digestive tract for isotope analysis of carbon and nitrogen, as well as intestinal samples for analysis of the enterobiome and the composition of digestive enzymes. In the vicinity of model reservoirs, we caught adult frogs of the same species, which will allow us to compare the studied parameters in tadpoles and adult individuals that have undergone metamorphosis. Primary data showed that the differences in the isotopic signature between tadpoles of different species from the same body of water are much greater than between adult frogs living in the vicinity of the native body of water, and fluctuate slightly between different stages of tadpoles of the same species. To a large extent, interspecific differences reflect trophic adaptations of tadpoles, the essence of which we plan to understand when metagenomic sequencing data of the digestive system microbiome is analyzed. An important achievement was the development of a new method of catching fish at a given depth, which differs from existing methods in that the installation of nets is carried out using weights with buoys submerged at the bottom of the reservoir, supporting the net at any required depth (patent No. 2810000 “Method of installing gill nets at an arbitrary depth in lakes"). The publication results of the laboratory staff are that by the end of the year they published seven scientific articles in high-ranking international journals (Q1-Q2). Thus, during the second year of the project, significant work was done to create an instrument base, collect field material and prepare publications. We hope that the achieved results leave no doubt about the prospects for the development of a new direction of research, will allow us in the future to replenish the fundamental knowledge about the evolution of nutrition in poikilothermic animals and create biological additives for the effective reproduction and rearing of these animals in captivity.

At the Siberian Federal University in Krasnoyarsk, on November 27-29, 2023, the II meeting of the Working Group on Data Processing for Assessing Ecosystem Fluxes of Greenhouse Gases was held. More than twenty researchers from all over the country took part in the meeting. Most of the meeting participants work within the framework of the 4th consortium of the Russian Climate Monitoring System, the most important innovative project of national importance. The meeting was organized by the V.N. Sukachev Forest Institute SB RAS, REC "Yenisei Siberia" (Krasnoyarsk) and Siberian Federal University (Krasnoyarsk), as well as the A.N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution RAS (Moscow). The meeting was opened by the director of the project office of the Yenisei Siberia Research Center Sergei Verkhovets, the Siberian Federal University vice-rector for scientific work Ruslan Baryshev, and the director of the SFU Institute of Fundamental Biology and Biotechnology Vladimir Shishov. The scientific director of Siberian Federal University, Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Doctor of Biological Sciences Evgeny Vaganov addressed the participants with inspiring and warm opening words.Siberian Federal University provided a conveniently equipped auditorium and solutions to technical and organizational issues during the meeting of the Working Group. In addition to teams from the organizers, employees of the following scientific institutions participated: Yugra State University (Khanty-Mansiysk), Institute of Biology of the Komi Scientific Center of the Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Syktyvkar), Institute of Biological Problems of the Cryolithozone SB RAS (Yakutsk), A.M. Obukhov Institute of Atmospheric Physics RAS (Moscow), Institute for Monitoring of Climatic and Ecological Systems SB RAS (Tomsk), National Research Tomsk State University (Tomsk), Federal Scientific Center for Agroecology RAS (Volgograd), North-Eastern Scientific Station (Chersky). The meeting sections were moderated by Ph.D. Anatoly Prokushkin (IL), Ph.D. Yulia Kurbatova and Ph.D. Olga Kuricheva (IPEE RAS), Ph.D. Egor Dyukarev (IMKES). On the first day, researchers from different teams talked about the features of data processing at the environmental and climatic stations that they supervise. The map shows the stations that the participants talked about: at the 1st meeting of the Working Group on 04/2–4/2023 (in blue) and at the 2nd meeting on 11/27–29/2023 (in red). One cannot but be pleased with the expansion of the number of participants in the Second Meeting relative to the First Meeting, held in April of this year. At the II meeting, reports were made on the longest operating stations in Russia, the history of observations at which goes back more than 20 years. These are the Fedorovskoye station in the Central Forest Reserve in the Tver region, belonging to the South Valdai Ecological Observatory “Okovsky Forest” (report by Andrey Varlagin, Ph.D., IEE RAS) and the international station Spasskaya Pad in central Yakutia, the SakhaFluxNet network (report to Biological Sciences Roman Petrov, IBPK SB RAS). The results of measurements on a network of stations in the Komi Republic were introduced to the listeners by Ph.D. Mikhail Miglovets and Doctor of Biological Sciences Svetlana Zagirova (IB Ural Branch RAS). The report by Nikita Zimov (North-Eastern Scientific Station) was devoted to measurements of greenhouse gas flows at a network of stations in the Pleistocene Park near the village Chersky, where a unique natural and climatic experiment is being conducted to create a highly productive pasture Arctic ecosystem. Doctor of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, Prof. of RAS Irina Repina (IAP RAS) spoke about the measuring systems and features of the data at two remote tundra stations in Yakutia, as well as about the dependence of flows on the height of measurements. Ph.D. Vyacheslav Zyryanov (IL SB RAS) made a report on the northern stations of the Krasnoyarsk Territory (KrasFlux network) and on a new mobile complex for measuring turbulent flows. Ph.D. Egor Dyukarev (IMKES SB RAS) summarized the ideas for data filtering that arose at the first meeting of the working group, applying different stages of filtering to data for the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug and the Tomsk region. Ph.D. Olga Kuricheva (IPEE RAS) summarized the international experience of pulsation observation networks. Special mention goes to the representatives of youth laboratories Dmitry Trusov (IL SB RAS) and Elizaveta Satosina (IPEE RAS), who spoke on the second day of the meeting with reports and messages that initiated lively discussions. On the second day, workshops were held on filling in gaps using a script written in Python (Evgeniy Kurbatov and Vadim Mamkin, Institute of Ecology and Evolution of the Russian Academy of Sciences) and on building a footprint using a script written in R (Anna Terskaya, Lund University, Sweden). Photo: Anatoly Prokushkin Participants noted that a working meeting is a very productive format for scientific communication, allowing them to receive positive feedback on their work from competent colleagues and to incorporate new methods into their work. The reports sometimes developed into lively discussions about the operation of the equipment, the features of using the turbulent pulsation method, and the features of data calculation and analysis. The workshops allowed participants to try new methods, while collegial solutions to emerging problems were very convenient. It is planned to continue meetings of the Working Group in 2024.

A Central Asian leopard named Chilmas, released in July 2023 in North Ossetia, made its first foray into neighboring Kabardino-Balkaria at the beginning of winter. He passed through the highlands of the Alania National Park, at an altitude of about 3,700 m above sea level, not far from the site of the first release of leopards in Ossetia in the summer of 2018. This is the southernmost crossing of released leopards from Ossetia to Kabardino-Balkaria. All our other cats who visited the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic earlier (namely, Leo, Laura and Volna) made similar transitions much further north, where human presence was more pronounced and probable, but the territory itself was less risky in terms of topography. While Chilmas was mastering the highlands, he did not show up on our radars for two weeks, which caused us noticeable concern, especially against the backdrop of recent reports regarding Leo. We are very glad that he safely overcame the winter slopes and, hopefully, enjoyed the magnificent views of the snow-capped Caucasian peaks. Chilmas hunted twice during December, but clusters of his locations in the intended hunting areas are currently inaccessible to our field researchers. We hope that during the period when the situation becomes less dangerous for avalanches, there will be an opportunity to examine them and find out who Chilmas was hunting in the highlands. The latest data on his hunts contain information about his prey of ungulates. Since November to date, Chilmas has covered an area of about 1,672 km2 during the survey of new habitats, thereby having developed a total area of about 1,726 km2. It should be noted that from the moment of release, Chilmas was very careful and did not make long treks, preferring the forest area of the Ardon-Urukh interfluve, and only in the second part of November began to actively move to the West-South-West. Over the entire period of his free and independent life, Chilmas traveled a distance of 697 km, of which 143.5 km in December. The maximum distance it has moved from its “starting point” (place of release) is now about 37 km. Since the release of Chilmas, we have registered 15 clusters of locations - places where he hunted. If you visualize Chilmas's track, you can see that it runs tangentially along the tracks previously marked for Laura and Leo. Thus, he followed the tracks of his relatives, which they had left in Kabardino-Balkaria earlier. The team studying the processes of restoration of the Central Asian leopard in the Caucasus sincerely congratulates everyone on the upcoming New Year and Christmas! The program for the restoration of the Central Asian leopard in the Caucasus is being implemented by the Russian Ministry of Natural Resources with the participation of the Sochi National Park, the Caucasus Nature Reserve, the Federal State Budgetary Institution "Reserve Ossetia-Alania", the Moscow Zoo with the assistance of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Scientific support of the Program is provided by the A.N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution of the Russian Academy of Sciences (IEE RAS) in collaboration with the A.K. Tembotov Institute of Ecology of Mountain Territories RAS (IEGT RAS), the Caspian Institute of Biological Resources of the Dagestan Federal Research Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences (PIBR DFRC RAS) and zoologists of protected areas. In North Ossetia, financial support for scientific support of the population restoration program is provided by the RusHydro company.

Fig. 1. Tadpoles of the genus Kalophrynus, top and side view: (A, B) K. interlineatus; (C, D) K. honbaensis; (D, F) K. cryptophonus. Scale bar 5 mm. In 2023, the journal Vertebrate Zoology published an article by Anna Vasilyeva, an employee of the Institute of Ecology and Evolution of the Russian Academy of Sciences (co-authored with Nguyen Thi Van), devoted to the evolution of the larvae of tropical frogs that switched to reproduction in arboreal microreservoirs - phytotelmata. The use of phytotelmata for breeding is widespread among amphibians living in complex tropical ecosystems. On one hand, this strategy allows developing tadpoles to avoid dense interspecific competition and predation pressure. On the other hand, in closed microreservoirs, tadpoles face a lack of food resources. One way to overcome these limitations is oophagy, that is, “egg cannibalism” - feeding on eggs of the same species of frogs to which the tadpoles themselves belong. Larval oophagy is common in many families of frogs whose tadpoles are generally prone to predation (e.g. Hylidae, Leptodactylidae, Rhacophoridae, etc.). However, it is much more surprising for the family of narrowmouths (Microhylidae), whose very specialized tadpoles are adapted to filter small organisms or organic particles from water. The transition from microfiltration to macrophagy and its special case, oophagy, is a complex evolutionary task that requires significant morphological changes in the oral apparatus, gill apparatus (which acts as a filtering structure) and the digestive system. An excellent model for studying this evolutionary transition were the tadpoles of three closely related, very similar species of frogs of the genus Kalophrynus, one of which (K. interlineatus) lives in small still water puddles and is a microfilter, and the other two develop in phytotelms - large water-filled tree hollows (K. honbaensis) and hollow bamboo stems (K. cryptophonus) and are obligate oophages. The gradual transition from open reservoirs to voluminous cavities holding up to several liters of water in tree trunks and logs and to narrow gaps in bamboo internodes with a volume of only 20-50 ml in the series of tadpoles K. interlineatus - K. honbaensis - K. cryptophonus is accompanied by noticeable external changes : flattening of the body, elongation of the tail and reduction of the fins (Fig. 1), which facilitates locomotion in the phytotelm viscous from mucus. Fig. 2. The structure of the elements of the cartilaginous skeleton in tadpoles of the genus Kalophrynus with different trophic specializations. Top: skull, dorsal view; in the center: lower jaw, frontal view; below: hyobranchia, ventral view. (A–B) K. interlineatus; (D–F) K. honbaensis; (G–I) K. cryptophonus. Legend: arso infraorbital bridge, bsb posterior copula, bsh anterior copula, cad otic capsule, cbr ceratobranchial cartilages, cir inferior labial cartilage, cmk Meckel's cartilage, cpo ridge of the auricular capsule, cqd quadratocranial commissure, crh ceratohyal cartilage, csr superior labial cartilage, ctr horns trabeculae, fsoc infraorbital fenestra, part articular process, pas ascending process, pdq palatine quadrate cartilage, plhyp hypobranchial plate, plo larval auricular process, plp posterior lateral process, pranl anterolateral process, prant anterior process, prbrh branchial processes, prlat lateral process. Scale bar 1 mm. The transition from feeding on small organisms and organic particles suspended in water to the absorption of whole eggs - a relatively large, nutrient-rich food - leads to a progressive shortening of the digestive tract and the appearance of a voluminous stomach. In addition, the change in trophic adaptations is accompanied in the same series of tadpoles by an expressive transformation of the cartilaginous larval skeleton (Fig. 2): the skull loses the wide lateral processes (prlat), characteristic of microfilter tadpoles; the posterior part of the palatoquadrate cartilage (pdq) is successively reduced; the weak, thread-like lower labial cartilage (cir) becomes more powerful, adapted to capture larger food; the gill apparatus increasingly loses its filtering functions: the openwork gill basket (cbr I-IV) is gradually reduced, the hyobranchium as a whole becomes more robust, adapted for more powerful suction. The results obtained clearly show how the adaptive evolution of tadpoles occurs as they develop new ecological niches in tropical ecosystems, and how the larvae of closely related frog species acquire greater morphological diversity than adults. The study was carried out on the basis of the Joint Russian-Vietnamese Research and Technology Center. Publication imprint: Vassilieva A.B., Nguyen T.V. (2023) Restricting living space: Development and larval morphology in sticky frogs (Microhylidae: Kalophrynus) with different reproductive modes. Vertebrate Zoology 73: 367-382. https://doi.org/10.3897/vz.73.e98618

Bolshoi Shantar Island: Bolshoye Lake (top) and researchers at work (middle); Tugur Peninsula: Lake Ongachan Photos by R.R. Borisov After the cessation of research in the first half of the 20th century and the closure of whaling, the Shantar Islands, located in the north of the Khabarovsk Territory, fell out of the orbit of the practical interests of society. Lately, the archipelago has received a lot of attention from tourists eager to admire the rocky shores, fog and whales. This trend was broken by scientists from the A.N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution RAS. Together with colleagues from the All-Russian Research Institute of Fisheries and Oceanography and Moscow State University they studied the fauna of invertebrate organisms in lakes, streams and rivers of the Shantar Islands. The work performed is the first attempt to study the hydrobionts of the archipelago, including the analysis of both zooplankton living in the water column and benthos inhabiting the bottom. More than 150 species of freshwater and brackish-water invertebrates were discovered for the first time in the reservoirs of the Shantar Islands. The fauna is represented mainly by species with wide ranges, with a small proportion of species confined to the Arctic zone of Eurasia, Eastern Siberia and the Far East. When comparing the fauna of the Shantar Islands with other regions of the Far East, a smooth increase in species richness was discovered from the northern to the southern regions. At the same time, the proportion of species with a wide distribution gradually decreases in the same direction. These trends persist for all major groups of aquatic invertebrates. On the Shantar Islands, at the edge of land and sea, there is a continuous competition between fresh and salt waters. Rains and fogs flowing from the slopes of the ridges are gradually trying to reclaim the bays from the sea, turning them into brackish lagoons. In turn, the Sea of Okhotsk hits the shore with waves, penetrating into river mouths. Lake Bolshoye, located on the island of Bolshoi Shantar, experiences constant fluctuations in salinity, associated both with daily tidal cycles and with river and rain runoff. Due to its considerable extent, the lake maintains a salinity gradient. In this regard, the abundance of zooplankton in it changes abruptly, reaching a maximum in the zone of mixing of river and brackish waters, located in the middle part of the lake. In the same part of the lake, there is a sharp change in macrozoobenthos communities, when insect larvae, which predominate in the desalinated part of the water area, are replaced by crustaceans - amphipods. The research is a significant contribution to the study of the fauna of protected areas of the Russian Far East. Such work is necessary for the development of monitoring programs, as well as the development of environmental education within the framework of tourist local history routes in the Khabarovsk Territory. The research was carried out with the support of the Association of Nature Reserves and National Parks of the Khabarovsk Territory "Zapovednoe Priamurye" and LLC "Far Eastern Expeditions". Novichkova A.A., Borisov R.R., Vorobjeva L.V, Palatov D.M., Chertoprud M.V., Chertoprud E.S. The Influence of Salinity Gradient and Island Isolation on Fauna Composition and Structure of Aquatic Invertebrate Communities of the Shantar Islands (Khabarovsk Krai) // Diversity. 2023. 15. 1198. https://doi.org/10.3390/d15121198

Fig. 1. Parental species of hybrids - Djungarian hamster (left) and Campbell hamster (right). Scientists from the Institute of Ecology and Evolution of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Faculty of Biology of Moscow State University conducted a pioneering study on the inheritance of the structure of ultrasonic calls in interspecific hybrids. Until now, it was known that when closely related species with very different sound signals hybridize, in hybrid individuals the sounds produced by phonation - vibrations of the vocal cords - have a structure intermediate between the two parental forms. However, the question of the inheritance of ultrasonic calls, which are whistles based on air turbulence, remained a blank spot. A description of ultrasounds was carried out in the young of laboratory lines of the Campbell hamster from the eastern (Mongolian line) and western (Kosh-Agach line) parts of the range, the Djungarian hamster, as well as hybrids between male Djungarian hamsters and female Kosh-Agach Campbell hamsters (Fig. 1). A total of 4,000 sounds were analyzed from 80 pups aged 4-8 days in the “isolation test”. All groups studied produced two categories of ultrasonic signals: low frequency, centered around 41 kHz, and high frequency, centered around 60 kHz, but in different percentages. Low- and high-frequency components could be present in the calls, either individually or together, forming ultrasound with two frequencies. Interestingly, when comparing different lines of Campbell’s hamster, it was found that there were more ultrasonic calls with a high-frequency component in the pups of the Mongolian line, and calls with two components in the pups of the Kosh-Agach line. In terms of the composition of calls, the hybrids did not show expected intermediate values between the parent species, but demonstrated signals with their own characteristics - ultrasounds with a low-frequency component were less common in them than in Campbell's hamsters, ultrasounds with a high-frequency component were less common than in Djungarian hamsters. Ultrasounds with two components were represented more often in hybrids than in both parental species (Fig. 2). Fig. 2. Occurrence of ultrasonic screams with low-frequency, high-frequency and two components. P.campM - Campbell's hamsters of the Mongolian line; P.campK - Campbell's hamsters of the Kosh-Agach line; P.sung - Djungarian hamsters; Hybrids - hybrids from a male Djungarian hamster and a female Campbell hamster of the Kosh-Agach line. Parameters such as duration and peak frequency were used to describe sounds and make intergroup comparisons. According to these characteristics, the calls of hybrids differed sharply from those of the young of the parent species - in hybrids, low-frequency calls were shorter and characterized by a lower frequency than in both parent forms, while high-frequency calls were longer, and the peak frequency was lower than in one of the parent species - Djungarian hamster (Fig. 3,4). It should be noted that the low-frequency signals of the pups of the two lines of Campbell's hamster differed significantly in both duration and peak frequency (Fig. 3). Fig. 3. Comparison of the parameters of low-frequency (LF USVs) and high-frequency (HF USVs) ultrasonic calls in baby hamsters of four experimental groups. The center point is the mean, the whiskers are SE. P.campM - Campbell's hamsters of the Mongolian line; P.campK - Campbell's hamsters of the Kosh-Agach line; P.sung - Djungarian hamsters; Hybrids - hybrids from a male Djungarian hamster and a female Campbell hamster of the Kosh-Agach line. Different letters indicate significant differences between values (p>0.05, Tukey post hoc). It was shown for the first time that for the whistling calls of mammals, the fundamental frequency of calls of interspecific hybrids can have values that lie far beyond the frequency range of the parent species. In the context of the known genetic determination of vocalization in rodents, this is an interesting result that raises many new questions for further research into the mechanisms of inheritance of the ability to vocalize. Fig. 4. Spectrograms illustrating low-frequency (LF USVs) and high-frequency (HF USVs) calls of pups from different experimental groups. P.campM - Campbell's hamsters of the Mongolian line; P.campK - Campbell's hamsters of the Kosh-Agach line; P.sung - Djungarian hamsters; Hybrids - hybrids from a male Djungarian hamster and a female Campbell hamster of the Kosh-Agach line. The study was published in the Elsevier journal Behavioral Processes. Semen V. Piastolov, Ilya A. Volodin, Nina Yu. Vasilieva, Anastasia M. Khrushchova, Olga N. Shekarova, Elena V. Volodina. Comparison of ultrasonic isolation calls of pure-breeding and interspecies hybrid Phodopus dwarf hamster pups // Behavioural Processes, 2023, v. 210, 104917 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.beproc.2023.104917

Otomis or African swamp rats are members of the mouse family and occupy the ecological niche of voles in Africa. This is expressed both in food preferences and in the appearance of the animals. The greatest species diversity of representatives of the genus Otomys is observed in the Eastern Afromontane Center of Biodiversity and Endemism, which includes the Ethiopian Highlands. The complex geomorphological structure of the highlands with many mountain ranges separated by the Rift Valley and deep river canyons limits the free movement of otomis, thereby creating the preconditions for active speciation processes. This is also facilitated by the pronounced diversity of habitats along the altitudinal gradient, where forest, heather and Afro-alpine belts are successively replaced. An international team of scientists, including the head of the laboratory of mammalian microevolution of the Institute of Ecology and Evolution of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Doctor of Biological Sciences. Lavrenchenko L.A. and a junior researcher in the same laboratory, A.A. Martynov, conducted a phylogenetic analysis and taxonomic revision of Ethiopian Otomys. The study is based on the combined use of genomic (high-throughput sequencing using the ddRADseq method) and morphometric (skull shape analysis) methods. Figure 1. A – Phylogenetic tree of Ethiopian Otomys. Distribution map of representatives of the phylogenetic groups SIMIENSIS (B) and TYPUS (C). The study results confirmed the presence of six endemic Otomys species in Ethiopia and significantly expanded the ranges of some of them. These six species are divided into two phylogenetic groups, each of which independently colonized the Ethiopian Highlands in the past. In addition, both molecular and morphological data identified a previously unknown lineage of Otomys, which is presumably a new species. The work was carried out within the framework of the Russian Foundation for Basic Research project No. 19-54-26003. The research results were published in the highly rated Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. Mizerovská, D., Martynov, A. A., Mikula, O., Bryjová, A., Meheretu, Y., Lavrenchenko, L. A., & Bryja, J. (2023). Genomic diversity, evolutionary history, and species limits of the endemic Ethiopian laminate-toothed rats (genus Otomys, Rodentia: Muridae). Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 199(4): 1059-1077.

Yulia Kurbatova, head of the V.N. Sukachev laboratory of biogeocenology of the A.N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution RAS, made a report “How the climate-regulating functions of ecosystems in Russia are assessed” at the Expert Discussion Platform “Climate Dialogues”. We publish the abstract of the speech. Special attention must be paid to the organization of high-precision instrumental monitoring of climate-active substances on the territory of Russia, A.N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution RAS, which has been involved in this topic for more than 25 years. The V.N. Sukachev Laboratory of Biogeocenology has many years of experience in researching greenhouse gas flows at various levels of spatial averaging and is a leading Russian team developing a network of observations of ecosystem flows of greenhouse gases in various terrestrial ecosystems of the Russian Federation. The main research base of the Laboratory is the ecosystems of the Tver region is located on the territory of the Central Forest State Natural Biosphere Reserve, one of the oldest reserves in Russia, which represents a reserve of indigenous spruce forests and raised bogs. The Laboratory team is developing a local network of automatic ecological-climatic stations on the territory of the reserve to conduct high-frequency, continuous, year-round observations of the absorption and emission of greenhouse gases and environmental factors in forest and swamp ecosystems. Analysis of experimental data makes it possible to evaluate ecosystems as sinks or sources of greenhouse gases for the atmosphere. According to studies, currently almost all terrestrial ecosystems in Russia are sinks of greenhouse gases. However, different ecosystems are differently sensitive to climate change. Our task is to assess, based on the analysis of long-term data, the sensitivity of our country’s ecosystems to ongoing climate changes. The main result of our work is long-term data series obtained since 1998, which allow us to study the variability of both the concentration of greenhouse gases and their fluxes between the atmosphere and the ecosystems being studied. While the federal program of carbon testing sites is just at the stage of obtaining the first results of experimental observations, a number of teams in our country have been obtaining similar data for more than 20 years. These data are a goldmine for decision-making within the framework of climate change projects. Researchers are now united by the most important innovative project of national importance to create a network for monitoring climate-active sources in our country. A network of environmental and climate stations will be able to become a source of high-quality data on the balance of greenhouse gases for both business and political structures. As a rule, all environmental observatories or biological stations are equipped with modern instrumental bases. Research uses remote sensing tools, including to assess changes in the dynamics of ecosystem structure. Of course, such studies provide the opportunity to work with large data sets for scientific generalizations. Working at our observation sites allows us to participate in project activities; we implement grants from various scientific foundations, including interaction with international scientific teams. Long-term observation of the parameters of energy and mass exchange between terrestrial ecosystems and the atmosphere, in combination with observations of meteorological quantities, makes it possible to reduce the uncertainty in assessing the natural variability of the components of the greenhouse gas balance. We have the opportunity to examine the response of basic terrestrial ecosystem functions to modern climate change, including assessing the role of extreme weather events in the exchange of greenhouse gases. And of course, experimental data is material for clarifying the parameters of predictive models.