Photo: Ilya Sergeevich Darevsky (1924-2009) (from the Program of the IX Congress of the A.M. Nikolsky Herpetological Society) December 18, 2024 marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences Ilya Sergeevich Darevsky, a leading Russian herpetologist, founder and first President of the A.M. Nikolsky Herpetological Society, long-term head of the Herpetology Department of the Zoological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences. His life, numerous achievements, and contribution to world herpetological science are described in detail in articles and a book dedicated to him (Ananyeva N.B., Doronin I.V. Ilya Sergeevich Darevsky: Portrait of a Herpetologist. Photo Album. St. Petersburg: ZIN RAS. 2015. 103 p.). Darevsky was a recognized leader of Soviet and Russian herpetological science. He is credited with a world-scale discovery - the phenomenon of parthenogenesis in lizards. He is the author of 466 publications, and 31 animal species are named in his honor. Ilya Sergeevich was the scientific supervisor of 29 candidates of science. Fig: Darevsky's mabuya (Eutropis darevskii Bobrov, 1992) is a skink lizard found in the Son La Province and described by the author of the article as a species new to science. Separately, it is necessary to talk about the contribution of I.S. Darevsky to the knowledge of the herpetofauna of Vietnam. In total, he took 13 expedition trips to this country from 1982 to 1996. He published 37 articles devoted to Vietnam, described one new genus of lizards and 18 new species of reptiles. In recognition of his merits in the study of the herpetofauna of Vietnam, two Vietnamese species of lizards, as well as several species of insects, were named after him. Two of Darevsky's students defended their PhD dissertations under his scientific supervision on various representatives of the herpetofauna of Vietnam: V.V. Bobrov on lizards and N.L. Orlov on amphibians. Ilya Sergeevich laid a powerful foundation for the study of the herpetofauna of Vietnam. Already in our time, herpetological research within the Russian-Vietnamese Tropical Center in this country is developing intensively, which made the Vietnamese herpetofauna the most studied in Southeast Asia. An article devoted to the description of I.S. Darevsky's contribution to the knowledge of the herpetofauna of Vietnam was published in the journal "Vietnamese Studies" (WoS, Q3): Bobrov V.V. On the 100th anniversary of I.S. Darevsky - the first Russian researcher of the herpetofauna of Vietnam // Vietnamese Studies. 2025. Vol. 9. No. 1. P. 158-161. DOI: 10/54631/VS.2025.91-677686

We continue to tell the stories of the employees of the IEE RAS who participated in the Great Patriotic War. In 1934, Valent Viktorinovich Kucheruk entered the biology department of Moscow State University and immediately got involved in scientific work. He participated in field studies of natural foci of tularemia and plague, and also organized three expeditions to study tundra ecosystems in Yamal. Kucheruk's published student works placed him among the outstanding medical zoologists, theriologists and ecologists of the country. After graduating from the university, Valent Viktorinovich went to work in the Borzinsky department of the Chita anti-plague station, where he was by the time of the start of the Great Patriotic War. He served in the rank of senior lieutenant of the administrative service and held the position of leading zoologist of the front-line sanitary and epidemiological laboratory of the Transbaikal Front. Later, he became a senior specialist in the frontline anti-plague units working to suppress a major epidemic of pneumonic plague among the population of Inner Mongolia. He was the first to discover the plague epizootic of rats and organize their extermination. For the elimination of this outbreak, V.V. Kucheruk was awarded the Order of the Patriotic War, 2nd degree. The collected materials on epizootology later formed the basis of his PhD dissertation, defended in 1947. In 1946, V.V. Kucheruk came to work at the Institute of Epidemiology, Microbiology and Infectious Diseases of the USSR Academy of Medical Sciences (later the N.F. Gamaleya Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology), in the department of natural focal infections. In 1960, he defended his doctoral dissertation on the topic "Mammals of the Palearctic steppes, natural foci of plague in the steppe and some theoretical issues of the natural focality of this infection" and headed the laboratory of medical zoology, which he headed for more than 25 years. From 1970, for 15 years, he headed the department as a whole. From 1987 until the last days of his life, Valent Viktorinovich worked at the Institute of Evolutionary Morphology and Ecology of Animals (now the Institute of Ecology and Evolution of the Russian Academy of Sciences). V.V. Kucheruk was one of the country's outstanding ecologists and theriologists. He was well aware of fundamental studies on the ecology and distribution of various mammal species, their role in tundra, steppe and desert ecosystems, as well as their interaction with vegetation, soil formation and microrelief. As an original zoogeographer, he made a significant contribution to the study of mammal faunal complexes and developed new principles of faunal analysis, which made it possible to implement modern zoogeographical zoning of the Palearctic. V.V. Kucheruk was a major organizer of domestic medical and biological science and trained a small galaxy of numerous students and followers. He was a member of scientific councils and commissions of the USSR and RSFSR Ministry of Health, the USSR Academy of Sciences and Academy of Medical Sciences, for more than a quarter of a century he was the chairman of the USSR Academy of Medical Sciences problem commission "Natural focal infections in humans", and also vice-president and honorary member of the All-Union Theriological Society. Under his editorship, a series of collections "Fauna and Ecology of Rodents" were published, as well as a number of monographs, collections and meeting materials. V.V. Kucheruk was a member of the editorial board of the international journal "Folia Parasitologica", and from March 1979 to April 1987 he headed the editorial board of the journal "Medical Parasitology and Parasitic Diseases".

For May 9, the Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution of the Russian Academy of Sciences (IEE RAS) opened the exhibition "Scientific Regiment. 80 Years of Victory". It presents information about the Institute's activities during the Great Patriotic War: about the Institute's employees who did not return from the war, as well as those who fought at the front, worked in the rear, and conducted scientific research during the evacuation. The exhibition includes biographies of individual employees and tells about the national economic, defense, and medical work that was carried out during these years, about the contribution of scientists to bringing the end of the Great Patriotic War closer. It also tells about the continuation of fundamental scientific research, which did not stop, despite the hardships of wartime. The exhibition is illustrated with rare archival photographs. We invite you to visit the exhibition and learn about the Institute's contribution to the Victory! The exhibition is open in the Institute's building on Leninsky Prospekt, Building 33, on the first floor (near the library).

Today we will share another story of an employee of the IEE RAS who participated in the Great Patriotic War. Ivan Aleksandrovich was born on March 27, 1907 in the village of Gonba, Barnaul District, Altai Krai. He received higher education at Tomsk State University. In 1929 and 1930, during the summer holidays, he participated in expeditions to study the fauna of Khakassia and Mountain Shoria. In 1931, he entered graduate school at Tomsk University in the Department of Vertebrate Zoology. During his graduate studies, he conducted faunistic research in four districts of the Omsk Region and three districts of the Baraba Steppe, mainly studying birds. In 1931, he also participated in a faunistic expedition to the upper reaches of the Mrassu River, Bolshoy Abakan and Tom. In 1934, he completed the theoretical course of his postgraduate studies and went on a business trip to the Zoological Institute of Moscow State University, to the Department of Comparative Anatomy. In 1935, he was enrolled in the doctoral program of the Institute of Evolutionary Morphology of the USSR Academy of Sciences, where he worked from 1937 to 1941. While working at the IEM, he conducted collections on the embryonic development of birds (in the area of ​​the Baraba Lakes in 1936), and in 1938 he studied the embryonic development of sturgeon and stellate sturgeon on the Volga. In 1939–1941, he worked at the experimental smoking plant. From September 1941 to November 1945, he fought in the fighter anti-tank artillery. In 1944–1945, he fought in Poland, and in 1945, in Germany. From 1941 to 1945, he was a battery commander on the Western and Belorussian fronts. From October 5 to December 25, 1941, he was surrounded in the Smolensk region. Military rank: lieutenant. In 1943, he was shell-shocked, and in 1944, he was wounded, but again returned to the front. He was awarded three orders and two medals: the Order of the Patriotic War, the Order of the Red Star (twice), the medal "For the Salvation of the Fatherland" and the medal "For Labor and Valor". In 1946, he returned to work at the IEM as a junior researcher. In December of the same year, he defended his PhD thesis. He was involved in the artificial breeding of sturgeon fish.

Fig.1: Figure explaining temperature-dependent lysogeny of bacteria by phages (for the system of the bacterium Burkholderia pseudomallei and the phage AMP1). In a high temperature environment (T>350C), the phage infects the pathogenic bacterium following the lytic cycle (killing the bacterial cell during lysis), but at lower (moderate) temperatures, the phage penetrates the bacterium without killing it (lysogenic infection cycle). In a hot environment (tropics/subtropics), most pathogenic bacteria do not contain an integrated phage, i.e. they are not lysogenic, so infection of a warm-blooded host, such as a human, causes disease. In contrast, in a cold environment, most pathogenic bacteria are lysogenic, i.e. they contain a phage, so when a warm-blooded host is infected by the pathogen, the bacteria lyse, i.e. the pathogen, kills the host. The infection does not cause further disease. Switching between two types of phage infection cycle (lysogenic and lytic) in the natural environment occurs due to daily, seasonal, and interannual temperature variations. Ongoing climate change and human activities are transforming the dynamics of pathogenic bacterial populations in the natural environment, increasing the risk of infectious diseases. Among the key mechanisms of bacterial population amplification is the disruption of their natural regulation by phages (bacterial viruses). Some phages that control pathogenic bacteria are characterized by temperature-dependent lysogeny. In this case, the type of phage infection of a bacterium (lytic or lysogenic) is determined by the temperature of the environment. In particular, at high temperatures, phages infect bacterial cells and undergo a lytic cycle, which leads to lysis of the infected cells and the release of free phages. However, at lower temperatures, phages mainly lysogenize their host: the phage remains inside the bacterial cell, without causing its lysis. Temperature-dependent lysogeny is schematically shown in the figure. The best known example of temperature-dependent lysogeny is the system involving the highly pathogenic bacterium Burkholderia pseudomallei and the phage AMP1. B. pseudomallei causes melioidosis, an extremely dangerous disease in Southeast Asia and other tropical/subtropical regions of the planet (about 90,000 deaths per year). Human infection occurs by acquiring phage-free bacteria from the environment, whereas ingestion of a lysogenized pathogen into a warm-blooded host would pose a much lower risk. Indeed, in a warm environment inside the host (with temperatures > 350C), phage-lysogenized bacteria will switch to the lytic cycle of infection with final lysis of the pathogen, thus causing no harm to the host (human). Until recently, the regulation of B. pseudomallei density by phages in the environment and the role of phages in pathogen infectivity have been largely ignored in the scientific literature. However, available empirical data suggest that phages have the potential to control B. pseudomallei density in water or soil. The switch between infection cycle types in this system occurs at 350C, so in geographic areas where temperatures fluctuate around this critical value, further warming due to global climate change may result in the dominance of non-phage pathogens, leading to an expansion of melioidosis endemic areas. Using mathematical modeling, a team of scientists, including A.Yu. Morozov, a senior researcher at the A.N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution of the Russian Academy of Sciences (IEE RAS), studied how climate change and the use of standard agricultural methods affect the interaction of bacteria with a phage characterized by temperature-dependent lysogeny. “With the help of mathematical modeling, a prognosis was made for the dynamics of the phage-pathogen system in Thailand for the period 2024-2044 (melioidosis is particularly rampant in this country). Both spatially homogeneous and spatially heterogeneous mathematical models were considered to simulate the dynamics of the B. pseudomallei population in the surface waters of rice fields and in the soil of Thailand,” said A.Yu. Morozov. Computer calculations based on the model predict a sharp increase in the pathogen density due to less effective control by the phage caused by global warming. The modeling also predicts that some modern agricultural practices (e.g. heavy use of herbicides) may increase the risk of acquiring melioidosis by changing the density of the pathogen in the environment. The results are published in Scientific Reports. Morozov, A., Ageel, A., Bates, A. and Galyov, E., 2025. Modeling the effects of climate change on the interaction between bacteria and phages with a temperature-dependent lifecycle switch. // Scientific Reports, 15(1), p.6428.

Photo: Taimyr Nature Reserves As part of scientific and scientific-technical cooperation between the A.N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution of the Russian Academy of Sciences (IEE RAS) and the Federal State Budgetary Institution "Taimyr Nature Reserves", a meeting with colleagues from the specialized institute was held in the office of the Taimyr Nature Reserves ahead of the field season for studying the polar bear in the waters, islands and coast of the Kara Sea. Before the start of field work, details of the joint expedition were discussed in accordance with the Work Program for the study and monitoring of the Kara subpopulation of the polar bear in the spring (ice) period in the area of ​​the northwestern coast of Taimyr and the islands of the Kara Sea. Photo: Taimyr Nature Reserves The plans include large-scale aerial work to count this animal over an area of ​​several hundred thousand square kilometers. In addition, it is planned to carry out a set of works on catching, tagging with satellite radio beacons and taking biological samples to study the health status of these predators in the specified area, as well as for the purposes of genetic analysis of the animals. Recall that within the framework of the project "Study and monitoring of the Kara subpopulation of the polar bear in the context of climate change," all work on studying this endangered animal is being carried out jointly with the Rosneft company. Mikhail Bondar, Deputy Director for Science and Environmental Education. Related materials: Education and science in the Russian Arctic: "The 2025 field season for studying the Kara subpopulation of polar bears opens" Vedomosti: "Rosneft's expeditions to study the polar bear population have started" MPO Rosneft: "Rosneft's expeditions to study the polar bear population have started" Time to go to the Arctic: "Scientists have opened the field season for studying polar bears in the waters, on the islands and coast of the Kara Sea" Rosneft: "Rosneft's expeditions to study the polar bear population have started" NIA Zapolyarye: "Scientists are monitoring the polar bear population" NIA Ecology: "Rosneft has once again launched expeditions to study the polar bear" Lenta.ru: "In the villages of Dikson and Sabetta scientific expeditions to study polar bears have begun" Taimyr Telegraph: "Scientists from Norilsk are participating in polar bear research" Severny Gorod: "Scientists from Norilsk and Moscow are participating in joint polar bear research" Zapolyarnaya Pravda: "Taimyr Nature Reserves are opening a new field season" Anonsens: "The health of polar bears will be studied in Yamal"

We continue recounting the stories of the employees of the IEE RAS who participated in the Great Patriotic War. Vladimir Aleksandrovich Sveshnikov was born in Moscow in the family of an artist. In 1941 he entered the biology department of Moscow State University, which he graduated only in 1948, since in 1942 he went to the front. He took part in military operations on the Karelian Isthmus and in the south of Ukraine. In 1945, on the territory of Hungary, in battles against elite SS divisions, V. A. Sveshnikov was seriously wounded and was confined to a hospital bed for a year. For his exploits on the fronts of the Great Patriotic War, V. A. Sveshnikov was awarded 17 military orders and medals. He took his first steps in scientific work under the supervision of Professor L. A. Zenkevich, as well as Leningrad zoologists P. V. Ushakov and A. V. Ivanov. After graduating from the university, he worked at the Department of Zoology and Comparative Anatomy of Invertebrates at Moscow State University, rising from assistant to professor. From 1975 until his death, V.A. Sveshnikov headed the laboratory at the A.N. Severtsov Institute of Evolutionary Morphology and Ecology of Animals of the USSR Academy of Sciences. V.A. Sveshnikov is known for his studies of the morphology, biology and larval development of polychaete worms, as well as his works on the ecological morphology and life cycles of marine invertebrates. For many years, he taught courses in invertebrate zoology and invertebrate embryology at Moscow State University, conducted a large practical course, and taught students the basics of biological drawing and histology of invertebrates. V.A. Sveshnikov worked in the Higher Attestation Commission for more than 20 years, and many hundreds of zoologists received a start in science thanks to his attentive and invariably friendly attitude.

Scientists from the A.N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution of the Russian Academy of Sciences (IEE RAS) have demonstrated the successful use of nanomaterials (silver, silicon, selenium, and nickel nanoparticles obtained by laser ablation) to combat nematodes. 🍅 The experiment was conducted on tomato seeds. Before planting, the seeds were soaked in colloidal solutions of the indicated nanoparticles for 2 hours. Three weeks after germination, some of the plants were infested with nematodes (Meloidogyne incognita and M. Arenaria) and sprayed with solutions of the preparation in the same concentrations that the seeds were treated with. The results of the experiment showed that exogenous treatment of plants with nanoparticles inhibited the morpho-physiological parameters of parasites in the roots, and also reduced the infestation of roots with nematodes. In addition, the use of nanomaterials stimulated the processes of plant growth and development, and also had a stimulating effect on plant resistance indicators. Thus, the obtained results allow us to consider nanoparticles as new abiogenic inducers of systemic plant resistance to nematodes. Source: GlavAgronom

Fig. 1. New species Gnathophis johnsoni sp. nov., holotype, IORAS P.03671, length 321 mm: A–Б – side view, A – freshly caught specimen, Б – fixed specimen, В – radiograph, Г – caudal fin. Scientists from the A.N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution of the Russian Academy of Sciences (IEE RAS), the P.P. Shirshov Institute of Oceanology of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the N.I. Vavilov Institute of General Genetics of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and the All-Russian Research Institute of Fisheries and Oceanography have described a new species of conger eels from the waters of the underwater Emperor and Hawaiian Ridges. Currently, the genus of conger eels Gnathophis Kaup, 1860 includes 27 valid species, of which only three species: G. ginanago (Asano, 1958), G. heterognathos (Bleeker, 1858), and G. xenica (Matsubara et Ochiai, 1951) have been recorded in the western and central parts of the North Pacific, although some unidentified species have also been reported previously. During the expedition of the research vessel Professor Kaganovsky in 2019, five specimens of a previously unknown representative of the genus Gnathophis were caught on the Koko seamount, which is part of the Imperial underwater ridge. These specimens served as the basis for the description of a species new for science, Gnathophis johnsoni sp. nov. Fig. 2. Map of captures of four morphologically similar Gnathophis species in the Pacific Ocean, based on the examined specimens, literature data and the open GBIF database: squares - G. cinctus; stars - G. johnsoni sp. nov.; circles - G. heterognathos (× - doubtful captures); triangles - G. smithi. The locations of holotype finds are marked in red, one symbol may denote several captures. The new species (Fig. 1) is most similar in its morphological characters to G. bathytopos (Atlantic Ocean), G. cinctus (eastern Pacific Ocean) and G. smithi (Nazca and Salas y Gomez seamounts in the southeastern Pacific Ocean) (Fig. 2). Although most morphological characters of the new species and its closely related species are similar, the results of multivariate statistical analysis clearly separate this species from the others. The results of molecular genetic analysis showed the closest relationship (Fig. 3) between the new species and G. cinctus (genetic divergence 1.81%), which significantly exceeds the differences between haplotypes belonging to the same species (0.36-1.08% divergence, usually no more than 0.9). Fig. 3. Phylogenetic relationships of Gnathophis johnsoni sp. nov., closely related species, and outgroup species based on mtDNA COI gene sequences. Haplotypes are indicated by numbers, the number of nucleotide substitutions is given in brackets. The close relationship of G. johnsoni sp. nov. and G. cinctus represents a rare case of biogeographical connection between the faunas of bottom fishes of the western and eastern parts of the Pacific Ocean. Molecular genetic data indicate that some morphologically similar species may represent independently evolved lineages, although the Gnathophis group, which has raised lateral line pores, is probably monophyletic. Published data of the article: Prokofiev A.M., Frable B.W., Emelianova O.R., Saveleva S.Yu., Orlov, A.M. 2025. A new species of the eel genus Gnathophis (Congridae, Anguilliformes) from the seamounts of the Emperor–Hawaiian Chain, western and central North Pacific // Journal of Marine Science and Engineering. Vol. 13, Article 772.

We continue to relay the stories of the employees of the IEE RAS, participants of the Great Patriotic War. Ilyenko Andrey Ivanovich at the beginning of the war was on duty on the roof of the old university, on Mokhovaya. Then there was a short evacuation and work in Prokopyevsk. Then the Sverdlovsk Artillery School and the Ukrainian Front. He was seriously wounded in connection with this early mobilization. He was awarded the medal "For Military Merit". In 1956 he graduated from the Department of Vertebrate Zoology of the Biology and Soil Faculty of Moscow State University. He defended his PhD dissertation. Ilyenko headed the laboratory of radioecology of the A.N. Severtsov Institute of Evolutionary Morphology and Animal Ecology. He is considered to be the founder of radioecology. The works of A.I. Ilyenko can rightfully be considered the "golden fund" of domestic ecology. Andrei Ivanovich also left his mark on domestic cynology, finding time to improve the West Siberian Laika breed, achieving its versatility. In his memoirs about the war, Andrei Ivanovich wrote: “The beginning of the Great Patriotic War found me in Perm. I was a collector on an archaeological expedition. The expedition stopped its work, since all the male staff (except me) turned out to be of draft age. On June 23, my senior comrades with great difficulty put me on a train, entrusting me with the care of naval pilots who were being transferred to the front. I had a jar of jam and two kilograms of gingerbread. With this supply, I traveled for several days to Moscow. At all the stations and stops, the train stood for a long time, letting echelons with troops, guns and tanks pass to the West. On July 4, 1941, I was already working as an apprentice electrician at the Moscow State University telephone exchange in the old building. The most vivid impressions of this time were the bombing of Moscow. I often had to be on the roof of the main building of the University during the raids. My post was in the attic above the geography department. All MSU employees at that time were either in the fire brigade, or in the ambulance, or in other teams. Everyone was in barracks and spent the night within the walls of the University. When you look from the roof in the city center, an unforgettable military panorama opens up. On the roof of the Moscow Hotel there is an anti-aircraft battery, on the buildings inside the Kremlin there are platforms with anti-aircraft machine guns. The entire Manezhnaya Square is painted to look like the roofs of houses. If the raid began at night, German planes dropped flares over Moscow on parachutes, showering the entire city center with incendiary bombs. Tracer bullets and shells flew into the sky from all sides. Shrapnel clicked on the iron roof. It was beautiful and scary. Once I managed to put out an incendiary bomb in the attic of the University. Then I worked in factories in Siberia and the Urals. Komsomol members were eager to get to the front, held the district committee and the military registration and enlistment office under siege. Everyone, starting with the director, applied, but only one person was accepted. Only later, having deceived the military commissar, I and one of my comrades managed to escape from the plant and join the army. I fought as a loader, and then as a gunner of an anti-tank gun. On December 2, 1943, our brigade went on the offensive with the task of capturing the railway station and the settlement of Čanovichi. In this difficult battle against the German infantry and large tank units, many of my comrades died, and I myself was wounded. The wound was serious. I lay in hospitals until the end of February 1944, and after the commission I was demobilized "due to limited fitness". For me, the war was over. Now, remembering this difficult time for our Motherland, it’s amazing to think what an enormous feat our people accomplished. This is especially true for the youth, who selflessly worked in the rear and showed steadfastness in battle. We had no doubts about our victory."