A three-week expedition of the A. N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution of the Russian Academy of Sciences to study the Sea of ​​Okhotsk gray whales in the protected waters of the Pacific Ocean has concluded. Further, scientific research in Olga Bay will be continued by employees of the Kronotsky Reserve. During the expedition, scientists identified 62 gray whales, of which half of the animals were encountered off the coast of Sakhalin in previous years. “We registered only 3 mother-calf pairs. This is quite a small amount, but not a problem, since the main feeding area for female gray whales with calves is still the Piltun area on Sakhalin. Kamchatka for them is only a part of the migratory route. As I said, at the very beginning of the feeding season, many individuals look noticeably emaciated. The observations, which will be continued by the staff of the reserve in July and August, will show how successfully the animals were able to fatten. Interestingly, active molting was observed in several individuals. Most likely, this is due to strong water freshening near the coast in places where the whales feed. Basically, they stayed at depths of 6-10 meters,” said Matvey Mamaev, expedition leader, leading engineer of the IEE RAS. Recall that it was the shore of the Olga Bay, near which the red-listed marine giants feed annually during migration, that became the first facility where the accumulated environmental damage was eliminated under the federal program. Work was going on in 2015. 1,300 tons of solid waste and scrap metal were removed from the protected coast, including 5,000 barrels with fuel residues. “Olga Bay is the most important place for the ecosystem of the reserve, for the conservation of biological diversity. Of particular danger to gray whales and other marine mammals were the remains of fuel and lubricants, which gradually seeped out of rusty barrels and eventually ended up in the ocean. The hidden threat was that both gray whales and sea otters mainly feed on benthos - bottom organisms that accumulate harmful substances in their tissues,” said Daria Panicheva, head of the scientific department of the Kronotsky State Reserve. At present, scientists from the IEE RAS are processing the collected information in order to draw maps of the distribution of gray whales in the waters of the Kronotsky Nature Reserve, replenish the catalog of gray whales, etc. Related materials: Ministry of Natural Resources and Ecology: "The places where gray whales congregate inthe Olga Bay of Kamchatka will be put on maps" Interfax: "Moscow scientists counted gray whales off the eastern coast of Kamchatka" Justmedia: "Russian scientists assessed gray whales off the east coast of Kamchatka andnoted that they look emaciated" DV-Ross: "A map of gray whales will be created in Kamchatka" Kam24: "A map of gray whale concentrations will be created in Kamchatka" Kamchatka today: "Gray whale congregations in Olga Bay off the coast of Kamchatka will bemapped" Arguments and facts: "In Kamchatka, scientists published a video with gray whales filmedduring the expedition" Gazeta.ru: "62 red-listed gray whales found in Kamchatka Bay" Teacher's newspaper: "In the Kamchatka bay Olga, Russian scientists found 62 gray whaleslisted in the Red Book" Scientific Russia: "Scientists of the Russian Academy of Sciences have discovered red-listedgray whales in Kamchatka" Iluki: 'Grey whales' gathering places will be put on maps'

From December 7 to April 6, the 87th voyage of the research vessel "Akademik Mstislav Keldysh" took place. During the voyage, the “Integrated Expeditionary Program for Performing Krill Resource Research and Research on the Ecosystem of the Southern Ocean (Antarctic Atlantic Sector)” was carried out, within the framework of which observations of marine mammals and birds were carried out. The starting point of the voyage was the port of Kaliningrad, where the expedition returned upon completion of their studies. The expedition consisted of scientists from the A. N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution RAS Pavel Chukmasov, Andrey Tretyakov, Larisa Tretyakova. Anton Chernetsky., the researcher of the IO RAS, Ph.D., also took part in the observations. For more than 1,400 hours, scientists observed mammals and birds during the expedition, including more than 420 hours in Antarctica. A total of 29 species of marine mammals were recorded during the observation period. 28 bird species have been recorded in Antarctica, 58 bird species have been recorded at the Atlantic crossing. The three most numerous species of marine mammals in the Atlantic sector of Antarctica have been identified: the fin whale Balaenoptera physalus, the humpback whale Megaptera novaeangliae, and the Antarctic fur seal Arctocephalus gazella. Among the birds, the most common species that were encountered during almost the entire period of observations in Antarctica were the Antarctic penguin Pygoscelis antarcticus, Wilson's storm-petrel Oceanites oceanicus, giant petrels Macronectes sp. and the Cape dove Daption capense. An analysis of the results of observations in the Antarctic showed that there are significant differences in the distribution of the two most numerous species of baleen whales. The humpback whale has been sighted mainly in shallower offshore areas in the southwestern Weddell Sea and central Bransfield Sound. Fin whales, on the other hand, are more common in deep waters and in sag areas such as the boundaries of the Powell Basin and the Orkney Trench. The scientists came to the conclusion that the distribution of large whales in the study area depends not only on the bottom topography and hydrological conditions, but also directly on the presence of food objects - krill. Not only the amount of krill itself is important, but also its age composition. It has been observed that humpback whales prefer smaller, younger krill, while fin whales, on the contrary, prefer more mature and large ones. At the moment, the collected data is being processed using statistical methods. This material can be later used for comparison with the data from the same area collected in 2020 during the AMK 79 expedition. The work was carried out under an additional agreement dated May 26, 2021. No. 075-03-2021-535/2 to the state. assignment No. 075-00359-21-01.

Russian scientists have established that glaciations, which occurred repeatedly in the Pleistocene, significantly affected the modern ranges of freshwater daphnia. These crustaceans colonized the waters where they can still be found today from a small number of lakes in Beringia, the land bridge between Eurasia and North America. The data obtained will help in the development of a complete biogeographic zoning of Northern Eurasia. The results of the study, supported by a grant from the Russian Science Foundation (RSF), are published in the journal Water. Cladocerans of the genus Daphnia are one of the most common planktonic organisms in fresh water. They play an important role in ecosystems, in particular, many species of fish feed on them. Daphnia are widespread in many climatic zones, but due to the harsh climate, their diversity in the Arctic and subarctic regions is significantly reduced. At the same time, in the course of the historical development of the Earth, there were several periods of freezing, when the temperatures on its surface were much lower than now. This greatly affected the habitats of living organisms, including crustaceans. For example, during the Pleistocene glaciations, many representatives of the Daphnia genus inhabited the Bering region, including Beringia itself, a wide land bridge connecting Eurasia and North America. Russian researchers have studied the diversity of daphnia in the water bodies of the North-Eastern part of Russia, a region that is extremely interesting from a biogeographical point of view, but very difficult to access. For nine discovered species, the authors determined the sequences of mitochondrial DNA and, by the degree of their similarity, established how Daphnia differ from each other. Within biological species, it was possible to distinguish separate genetic groups. Analysis of DNA segments and the occurrence of different species indicates the features of their demographic history. During the Pleistocene glaciation, individual populations of some species survived in the Beringian region, from where they later quickly re-distributed throughout the northern Holarctic, a region covering most of the Northern Hemisphere and whose southern border runs through Mexico, northern Sahara, the Himalayas and southern China. In addition, some daphnia re-colonized the northeast of Russia from North America through the Beringian land bridge. “We found that the evolutionary scenarios of the various species of Daphnia living in the northeast of Russia were very different. Moreover, this region turned out to be a hotbed of haplotype diversity (sets of individuals that are absolutely identical in the sequence of a certain gene). Interestingly, the species living there are not endemic, although a certain territorial isolation of the area could contribute to this - instead, they turned out to be widespread both in Eurasia and in North America. The patterns we have identified apply not only to daphnia, but also to many other inhabitants of continental waters,” says Alexei Kotov, head of the project, supported by a grant from the Russian Science Foundation, Doctor of Biological Sciences, leading researcher at the A. N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The study was also joined by the scientists from the Institute of Systematics and Ecology of Animals of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Novosibirsk), the Yakut branch of the Russian Federal Research Institute of Fisheries and Oceanography (Yakutsk), the Institute of Biology of the Karelian Scientific Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Petrozavodsk), the Limnological Institute of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Irkutsk) ), the Institute of Natural Sciences of the North-Eastern Federal University named after M.K. Ammosov (Yakutsk) and the Institute of Biological Problems of Permafrost SB RAS (Yakutsk). Related materials: InScience: "Daphnia survived in the Bering region during the Pleistocene glaciation" Scientific Russia: "Daphnia during the Pleistocene glaciation survived in the Bering region" Pro Science: 'Beringia's bodies of water became a refuge for daphnia during the Pleistoceneglaciation'

For many years, IEE RAS has been successfully cooperating with the Kronotsky State Biosphere Reserve, which is included in the UNESCO list of natural sites. The result of cooperation was numerous publications in Russian and foreign editions, dissertations being prepared for defense. In the course of joint work, good business and warm friendly relations have developed between the employees of the Institute and the Reserve. In 2022, the teams of both organizations planned a major expedition to study Lake Kronotskoye, a unique reservoir, the cradle of the richest sympatric salmon complex on the planet in terms of the number of forms. IEE RAS announces with great regret that the work planned for this year, apparently, will not take place, since from July 19, 2022, the reserve is forced to suspend research activities on its territory. The decision of the reserve is connected with the detention of key employees of the organization, accused of embezzlement of funds allocated from the state budget, by the verdict of the city court of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky. According to the opinion of the staff of the reserve and the materials presented on the website of the reserve http://kronokiochistka.wildnet.ru/, numerous violations were committed during the proceedings and the actual materials and eyewitness accounts proving the innocence of the convicted employees were not taken into account. In protest, the director of the reserve and a number of his other employees wrote letters of resignation of their own free will, which led to the suspension of all scientific and excursion work on the territory of the reserve. Employees of the IEE RAS are extremely interested in resuming work on the territory of the reserve and, accordingly, in restoring the normal mode of its work, sincerely hope for a fast and objective consideration of the case in the Court of Appeal.

The researchers analyzed the running movements of the smallest gliding mammal on Earth, the pygmy gliding possum (Acrobates pygmaeus). The specialists of the A.N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution RAS (IEE RAS) tested the hypothesis that the smaller the animal, the easier it is for it to master gliding. To do this, they filmed the runs of animals on a wide flat horizontal surface in a spacious enclosure. As a result, data were obtained that can be compared with typical land mammals. In animals, the sequence of setting the legs (gait), speed-time characteristics of running and kinematics (movement in space of individual parts of the body) were studied. When analyzing footage, the researchers found that feathertail gliders use typical mammalian gaits. It is interesting, however, that all types of gaits used were only asymmetrical, i.e. gallop-like. Despite the fact that it is known from the literature that these pygmy gliders use symmetrical gaits on tree branches (similarly to, for example, the lynx and amble), these gaits were not registered in the experiments of Moscow scientists. As a result, a hypothesis was put forward that these pygmy gliders switch to gallop-like gaits if the width of the support along which they move allows them to put their paws at natural width without narrowing their stride. Scientists also noticed that, unlike most four-legged mammals, the feathertail glider puts its front and hind limbs at the same distance from the body. Moreover, their hind feet almost never overtake their forelegs and imprint on the track on top of their forepaws or even behind them. So the track of feathertail gliders is very characteristic. This feature is most likely due to the fact that when gliding for an animal, in order to stretch the membrane, it is necessary to spread both pairs of limbs wide apart. According to the authors, in the course of evolution, the width of the legs of the feathertail gliders most likely synchronized as the flight membrane grew along the fore and hind limbs. Another important difference in the kinematics of running feathertail gliders is the very wide setting of the limbs. This phenomenon scientists have called "deparasagittalization" - as opposed to "parasagittalization" - a phenomenon that characterizes most land mammals. The evolution of mammals has been in the direction of the parasagittal position of the limbs (when the limbs are located under the body). It turned out that in marsupial flying squirrels, on the contrary, their paws are set so strongly to the side that they can be clearly seen if you look at the animal from above. In this they are more reminiscent of lizards than any four- legged animals. This flattening is somewhat reminiscent of the gliding posture, with the paws stretched out to the side, pulling on the web. It is difficult to explain this feature only by specialization in planning. There are six groups of mammals on Earth that have a membrane and are able to plan. And no one, except marsupial flying squirrels, puts their paws so wide. It is assumed that their arboreal lifestyle and small size led to the “deparasagittalization” of pygmy gliders: the pygmy glider lives on trees, but it is so tiny that even the trunks of the smallest trees turn out to be a wide surface for it. In order to effectively move on such surfaces, the animals have to “spread out”, spreading their paws wide. “As a result of the study, it was concluded that although the gaits of pygmy gliders have not undergone significant changes due to adaptation to gliding, the kinematics of these animals is fundamentally different from other four-legged mammals. The kinematics of running of these flying squirrels differs not only from relatives, but also from all other mammals much more than the kinematics of running of an ordinary squirrel and a common siberian flying squirrel. Thus, the hypothesis that the smaller the glider, the less changes its locomotion (movement) will undergo in the course of evolution, was not confirmed, ”said Viktor Makarov, chief specialist of the Laboratory of Ecology, Physiology and Functional Morphology of Higher Vertebrates of the IEE RAS. The results of the study are published in the Journal of Experimental Zoology - A in a series of two articles. Running of the feathertail glider (Acrobates pygmaeus ) on level ground: Gaits, Running of the feathertail glider (Acrobates pygmaeus ) on level ground: Kinematics. Related materials: Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation: "Fly or run: howspecialization in gliding influenced the running of the pygmy glider" Search: "Scientists analyzed the running of a pygmy glider - Journal of ExperimentalZoology" Scientific Russia: "The pygmy glider resembles lizards in its running technique"

Scientists have described the species composition of microorganisms in the intestines of the larvae of the emerald ash borer. This insect, native to Asia, is now actively spreading in Europe and North America and destroying ash trees, so it is important to control its population. This, in particular, can be helped by representatives of the intestinal microbiome, since among them the authors found parasitic bacteria potentially dangerous for the beetle. The results of the study, supported by a grant from the Russian Science Foundation (RSF), are published in the journal Forests. The spread of invasive species is an acute problem of modern ecology: the lack of adaptability of local organisms to invaders leads to significant damage to the ecosystem. Thus, the narrow-bodied ash emerald borer, which historically inhabited the territory of Korea, China, Japan and the Far East, at the beginning of the 21st century spread to North America and the European part of Russia. Its larvae damage the conductive system of ash trees, preventing the flow of nutrients from leaves to roots, and can also be potentially harmful to olive trees. The introduction of the borer into North America and Europe led to catastrophic consequences: hundreds of millions of trees died. This beetle is included in the list of the 20 most dangerous quarantine pests for the European Union and is actively studied by experts around the world. Russian scientists from the A. N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Moscow) described the microbiome of the larvae of the emerald ash borer larvae in the European part of Russia for the first time. The larvae were collected in the Moscow region under the bark of the Pennsylvania ash tree. The authors determined the species composition of microorganisms by genetic methods using sequencing, that is, determining the nucleotide sequence of DNA. The researchers deciphered a specific region of the genome, and then compared the obtained sequences with already known databases. The DNA found belonged to bacteria from 39 different families. Three of them, the most numerous, are Pseudomonadaceae, Erwinaceae and Enterobacteriacea. In previous works of foreign scientists, it was shown that the same families are characteristic of other populations of borers of this species. Thus, these bacteria can be called the basis of the microbiome of this insect. In addition, during sequencing, the authors found the genes of bacteria from the genus Rickettsia. These are intracellular symbionts characteristic of many families of insects and previously found in other species. For example, it has been shown that rickettsia increase fertility in the tobacco whitefly and help it adapt to environmental conditions. In addition to rickettsiae, potential pathogens of the beetle, rickettsiella, were also found in the microbiome. Significantly, a large amount of Rickettsiella DNA was found in dead borers, and these bacteria may have been responsible for the death of the pests. “The onslaught of the ash emerald narrow-bodied borer on the European part of Russia and North America is a vivid example of biological invasion. Our study may provide clues to the development of biological methods to combat this insect. We focused on the search for bacteria and fungi associated with the borer, as well as on the search for parasitic nematode worms in its body. Now it is planned to collect and analyze larvae in the Far East, in the natural habitat of the pest,” says Marina Orlova-Benkovskaya, Ph.D. In the photo: Forest destroyed by the ash emerald narrow-bodied borer. Source: Evgeny Komarov. Related materials: Scientific Russia: "Microorganisms from the intestines of insect pests can help in the fightagainst them" Polit.ru: "Bacteria from the intestines of a beetle dangerous for trees are planned to be usedto combat it" Krasnaya Vesna: "Scientists have identified pathogenic bacteria in the intestines of insectpests" Indicator: "Microorganisms from the intestines of insect pests can help fight them"

On Saturday, July 16, three Caucasian leopards were released into the wild in the Central Caucasus. A male and two females begin to develop the Turmonsky reserve in the Republic of North Ossetia-Alania. In the Republic of North Ossetia-Alania, the third release of leopards, commonly referred to as Caucasian panthers, has been implemented. In 2018, the first pair of leopards, a male Elbrus and a female Volna, were released into the wild in the Alania National Park, and in 2020, a second pair was released in the Turmon Reserve - a male Baksan (Batraz) and a female Aguru (Agunda). On July 16, 2022, a male Leo and two females, Khosta and Laura, were released in the same location. “To implement the idea of ​​restoring leopards in the Central Caucasus, today’s release of three leopards can become a key to replenishing the group of animals that began to form here as a result of previous releases and the appearance of wild individuals that enter the Central Caucasus along the ancient ecological corridor through the territory of Georgia - the Likh Range. Let me remind you that our work on the restoration of the group of Amur tigers, which we released in the north-west of the range in Russia in 2013 and 2014, where they have not been seen since the middle of the 20th century, today amounts to at least 25 individuals, was formed thanks to the successful breeding of six released animals. In the Central Caucasus, the necessary minimum number of leopards has now been released, pertinent for the self-organization of the natural processes of restoration of this species,” says Vyacheslav Rozhnov, Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences, project leader. Khosta and Laura are sisters of Volna and Agunda, they are genetically different from males and can form a pair with Baksan, with Leo, as well as with those wild males that were noted in the territory of Chechnya and Kabardino-Balkaria in 2021 and 2022. In April, all three leopards successfully passed the examination at the Leopard Breeding and Training Center in the Sochi National Park. An expert commission led by Anna Yachmennikova, a specialist at IEE RAS, checked how well the predators were prepared for independent life in the wild, their ability to hunt, and also made sure that their fear of humans is stronger than the chance of them taking an interest in livestock. After complex testing, the leopards were tagged with special transmitters on collars made at the IEE RAS. These transmitters are necessary for further monitoring of leopards, regular checking of information about the success of their hunts, and other aspects of animal adaptation to life in nature. The leopards were delivered to the place of release promptly, in two hours, thanks to the capabilities of helicopter transport. Now the Red Book predators will have to develop a new territory for themselves and form habitats. Releases of predators are carried out within the framework of the federal program for the restoration of leopards in the Caucasus, developed jointly by the IEE RAS and the World Fund for Nature, approved by the Russian government in 2007. The regional project on the territory of North Ossetia-Alania (“Return of the Caucasian leopard to Ossetia”) was initiated in 2016 by the IEE RAS with the support of the RusHydro business company. “This multifaceted project is organized according to the project scheme implemented by IUCN (IUCN) and at the moment, judging by the results of the work, its effectiveness is obvious. The structure of this project provides for the organic interaction of all components that most effectively contribute to the harmonious existence of released predators and the population, which reduces the risks for both people and leopards. The project keeps in a single field of interaction professional scientists (classical academic science and structurally the results of a large number of studies), sociologists and well- organized systematic work on environmental education of the population of different target groups on the territory of the republic, funding organizations (such as business companies and foundations, such as RusHydro and the World Fund for Nature), as well as the administrative capacities involved,” says the scientific coordinator of the program implementation in Ossetia, Anna Yachmennikova, Senior Researcher of IEE RAS. The 2022 graduation ceremony was attended by the Minister of Natural Resources and Ecology of the Russian Federation Alexander Kozlov, the Head of the Republic Sergey Menyailo, the Minister of Natural Resources of the Republic of North Ossetia-Alania Vitaly Kokoev, the management of the regional office of RusHydro and the director of the World Fund for Nature Dmitry Gorshkov, scientific supervisor of environmental and conservation of projects and international programs of IEE RAS Academician of RAS Vyacheslav Rozhnov, Director of IEGT RAS Corresponding Member of RAS Fatimat Tembotova, Head of Scientific Programs of DSC FRC RAS ​​Magomedov Magomed-Rasul, Head of Volunteers of Ossetia movement and coordinator of the sociological sector of the Project - Madina Slanova. The program for the restoration (reintroduction) of the Caucasian leopard in the Caucasus is being implemented by the Ministry of Natural Resources of Russia with the participation of the Sochi National Park, the Caucasus Nature Reserve, the World Fund for Nature, IEE RAS, the Institute of Ecology of Mountain Territories. A.K. Tembotov RAS, Moscow Zoo, as well as with the assistance of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and the European Association of Zoos and Aquariums (EAZA). REFERENCE:The Caucasian leopard disappeared from the wild in the Caucasus in the 1950s. As a result of poaching, the extermination of predators and their food base, not a single leopard remained in the territory of the Russian Caucasus. Since then, no cases of cubs born in the wild have been recorded.In order to return the symbol of the wildlife of the Caucasus within its historical range, specialists from the IEE RAS and the World Fund for Nature developed the Program for the restoration of the Caucasian leopard in the Caucasus by breeding it in captivity and subsequent reintroduction.• 2005 - IEE RAS with the support of World Fund for Nature Russia developed the Program for the restoration (reintroduction) of the Caucasian leopard in the Caucasus• 2007 - The program was approved by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Ecology of the Russian Federation, since 2009 the Program is personally supported by the President of the Russian Federation V.V. Putin.• 2007-2009 – The Leopard Breeding and Training Center was built (in the Sochi National Park). Center area - 12 hectares• July 15, 2016 - the first release of 3 leopards into the nature of Russia on the territory of the Caucasus Reserve• 2018 – release of 2 leopards in North Ossetia and 1 in the Caucasian Reserve• 2020 - release of 2 leopards in North Ossetia and 2 in the Caucasian Reserve Now Agura and Baksan, released in 2020, the female Volna, released in 2018, as well as their relatives from the wild, who began to be registered during 2021 and 2022, are presumably inhabiting the territory of the Central Caucasus. Related materials: VGTRK: "Reportage about leopards" 1tv: "Three Caucasian leopards released into the wild in North Ossetia" GTRK Alania: "Return to the historical homeland" 24MIR: "Three Caucasian leopards released into the wild in North Ossetia" RT: "Three leopards released into the wild in North Ossetia" 1tv: "Three Persian leopards brought to a new habitat" Energaz: "Three rare leopards released into the wild with the participation of RusHydro" 24 Mir: "Three Persian leopards released into the wild in North Ossetia"

Scientists working on the Shantar Islands on a project to study bowhead whales of the Sea of ​​​​Okhotsk population, during observations, observed a female bowhead whale, which passed Wrangel Bay with a calf. In the video, which was filmed with the help of a drone, it can be seen that the whale is still very small, this year of birth. He keeps close to his mother and is not yet able to live independently. Previously, scientists have met young individuals - calves up to a year old and slightly older - in Ulbansky Bay, where whales come to feed and rest. Animals come to Wrangel Bay for socialization and recreation, and also hide in shallow water from the attack of killer whales, which are natural enemies for whales of this population. Observing a female with a calf is a great success, because it is still not known for certain where and when the bowhead whales of the Okhotsk Sea population give birth. At the same time, this fact suggests that even more attention should be paid to the problem of the coexistence of whales from a rare population and humans: there is a tourist base in Wrangel Bay where travelers who want to watch whales stop. During the season (from July to September), the number of tourists can reach 300 people. The project for the conservation and study of the smallest population of the bowhead whale is carried out by the A. N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution RAS in cooperation with the World Fund for Nature. Source materials: Indicator: "В бухте на мысе Врангеля удалось зафиксировать присутствие самки гренландского кита с детёнышем"

A large-scale experiment to assess the impact of coral bleaching on ​​the composition of fauna living inside coral colonies has begun at the Dambay Marine Research Station of the Russian-Vietnamese Tropical Center (Nha Trang Bay, Vietnam). At a depth of 4 m, carrier frames were installed, on which 400 fragments of Pocillopora coral colonies were planted (Fig. 1-3). During the year, with the help of thermal sensors and photographic recording, observations will be made of the dynamics of water temperature and changes in the color of corals. To control the composition of the fauna, 30 coral colonies will be selected monthly. It is known that when the water temperature rises above 30ᵒС, corals begin to eject intracellular symbionts - zooxanthellae algae, due to which a brightly colored coral loses its appeal and turns from bright green, purple or brown to white. The effect is known as bleaching. Single-celled zooxanthellae are the main food source for hard corals. If the algae disappear or become scarce, the coral starves and produces less slime. And mucus is the main source of food for specialized symbionts - crabs, shrimps, polychaetes and fish, so it is not only the coral that is starving, but also its inhabitants. Each colony is home to dozens of individuals and up to 15-20 species of symbiont animals that form a veritable community (Fig. 4.5). In addition to specialized obligate symbionts, this community also includes facultative symbionts (opportunists) that can live on other hosts or on a non-living substrate. Some species of Trapezia crabs and snapping shrimp have previously been shown to leave a coral colony when it became strongly bleached. Questions remain open: what happens to the community as a whole during bleaching? Will obligate and facultative symbionts have the same reaction to bleaching? These are not random questions. The fact is that not only the host coral needs symbionts, but the coral needs symbionts as well. Specialized animals protect the coral from attacks by predatory starfish and mollusks, supply nutrients necessary for the reproduction of intracellular zooxanthellae symbionts, remove sediment from the coral surface, bacterial damage and fouling. If these animals leave the coral during bleaching, then this dramatically reduces its ability to survive. The experiment will be completed in July 2023. Its results will make it possible to understand the processes occurring in the host-symbiont system during bleaching, as well as to develop methods for the rehabilitation of coral reefs in the post-bleaching period. Related materials: Scientific Russia: "Russian scientists launched an experiment aimed at saving fauna in coral colonies"  Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation: "Russian scientists launched an experiment aimed at saving fauna in coral colonies"   

During the implementation of the program "Study of the Amur tiger in the Far East of Russia" within the framework of the "Permanent Expedition of the Russian Academy of Sciences to study the animals of the Red Book of the Russian Federation and other especially important animals of the fauna of Russia", the staff of IEE RAS carried out work in the Ussuriysky Reserve (NP "Land of the Leopard") in the south of Primorsky Krai. At the end of April 2022, camera traps that had been set up in the forest three months ago were taken down to collect footage. Data from 70 camera traps have been obtained, which will allow the Institute staff to estimate the number of tigers living in the reserve, their population density, and the abundance of their potential prey. This was the first count after the decline in the number of wild boar (the main prey of the tiger) as a result of the epizootic of African swine fever. And it was all the more joyful to note that tigers are not only present on the territory of the reserve, but, apparently, there will be more of them by the summer. The IEE RAS staff obtained unique footage of the courtship of a pair of tigers in late February, which allows us to expect the birth of offspring as early as early June 2022. We hope that next winter they will become the heroes of our photo reports. Sergei Naidenko, Director of IEE RAS, spoke about the ongoing work on monitoring the Amur tiger: “A matrix of camera traps has been installed in the Ussuriysky Reserve and its environs according to a certain scheme, which has not changed for many years. The cameras operate for 2 - 2.5 months in the winter-spring period. Cameras capture the presence of the tiger, and each individual is identified by the unique pattern of stripes on the skin of the animal. At each of the 35 control points, the cameras are opposite each other, which allows to take photos of the tiger from different sides and accurately identify it. Based on the frequency of meetings of individually identified animals in certain geographical points, a model is being built that allows us to estimate the density of tiger groups throughout the reserve and in the immediate vicinity, which can then be used to estimate their numbers.” Link to video Materials on the topic: N+1: "Camera trap captures courtship of Amur tigers in Ussuriysky Reserve"