Fusariosis of the corn ear is an important disease that reduces yields and leads to the accumulation of mycotoxins (T2-toxin, deoxynivalenol and others), which makes wheat and corn grains unsuitable for human consumption or as animal feed. Despite more than a century of history of studying this disease, at the moment there are no sufficiently effective methods for controlling head fusarium. One of the reasons for this is the lack of understanding of the key mechanisms that link the abundance of Fusarium fungi in the soil at the beginning of the growing season with the content of mycotoxins in mature grain. In particular, the interactions of soil invertebrates and Fusarium fungi in the field are poorly studied. “As a result of the experiment, we were able to identify a previously undescribed mechanism of ear Fusarium infection by the transfer of pathogenic spores by soil invertebrates that make vertical migrations to feed on winter wheat pollen during flowering,” explained one of the authors of the study, a researcher at the Laboratory of Soil Zoology and General entomology, Ph.D., Anton Alexandrovich Goncharov. The results of the study are published in the international journal Agronomy: https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy12020393 PICTURE: On the left: Fusarium biomass in grain Herpetobiont activity Number of soil microanthropods On the right: amount of T-2 toxin in the soil D. Schmidti earthworm biomass Number of soil mites (Mesostigmata)  

A Persian leopard (Panthera pardus ciscaucasica), also known as the Caucasian panther, was filmed in the Sharoy area of Chechnya. The video was sent by a graduate student of the A.N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution RAS, having received it from his Chechen colleagues. Together with the project's scientific support team, he is studying the possibilities of restoring the Caucasian leopard in the North Caucasus. Video materials are already being studied by specialists. “For us, this news is certainly positive, pleasant. However, we have yet to determine if this leopard is one of the previously released individuals, or if it is a natural specimen, like the recently seen male in Kabardino-Balkaria. In the near future, more detailed information will be presented at a meeting of the Section on the Persian leopard at the Ministry of Natural Resources of Russia. The restoration of the main predator for the Caucasus has already united a huge number of people who advocate the preservation of our unique nature, and we are always glad to pay attention to this problem,” said Vyacheslav Vladimirovich Rozhnov, Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Scientific Director of the Program for the restoration of the Persian leopard in the Caucasus. The program for the restoration of the Persian 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 Reserve, the North Ossetian Reserve, the Alania National Park, the Elbrus National Park, the World Fund for Nature, the A.N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution of the Russian Academy of Sciences RAS (IEE RAS), Institute of Ecology of Mountain Territories. A.K. Tembotov RAS (IEGT RAS), Moscow Zoo, with the assistance of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and the European Association of Zoos and Aquariums (EAZA). Financial support for the monitoring of the Persian leopard in the Caucasus is provided by VTB Bank. In North Ossetia, RusHydro is providing financial support for the population recovery program.

As we enter the Year of the Tiger of the Chinese calendar, The A.N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution RAS (IEE RAS) has made a significant contribution to the restoration of the population of this predator in Russia. As part of a project supported by the Russian Geographical Society, the Institute has restored the tiger population in the northwest of its range - in the Jewish Autonomous and Amur regions. The tigress Zolushka (“Cinderella”) is the first tiger that was released by specialists from the IEE RAS and colleagues from the Special Inspectorate "Tiger" in 2013. It was she who became the matriarch of the recreated group. In the winter of 2012, at the age of about 4-5 months, she was found emaciated in the forest, with frostbite on the tip of her tail, with minimal chances of survival. Thanks to the capabilities of the Center for the Rehabilitation and Reintroduction of Tigers and Other Rare Animals, which was built in 2012 at the expense of the project, it became possible to fully work with the tigress. Specialists worked for two years to rehabilitate the animal, grow it to an age at which it is possible for a tigress to survive on her own in nature, and release her on the territory of the Bastak nature reserve. The work was carried out strictly in accordance with the stages of the technology for returning orphaned tiger cubs to nature, specially developed by scientists from IEE RAS. Cinderella Zolushka still lives in the territory of the Bastak nature reserve, she successfully hunts wild ungulates and has already brought three broods of tiger cubs. The good recent news is that her daughter from the second brood named Tala, born in nature from a wild tiger father, grew up, did not go far from the mother's habitat and also brought offspring - two tiger cubs that are successfully growing up and are in good physical condition, judging by the footage taken by camera traps in the Bastak nature reserve. At the moment, thanks to the work initiated by IEE RAS, a group of breeding Amur tigers, numbering at least 20 individuals, have colonized the northwest of the tiger range (Rozhnov et al., 2021).

Elephant shrews, without exaggeration, can be called one of the most amazing creatures that make up the superorder Afrotheria. These small and extremely active animals lead a predominantly twilight or diurnal lifestyle, using a system of complex paths to move. All modern species of elephant shrews belong to the Macroscelididae family, in which we distinguish two branches - Rhynchocyoninae and Macroscelidinae. It was previously believed that the rufous elephant shrew (Galegeeska rufescens), widespread in the Horn of Africa, is a representative of the genus Elephantulus, belonging to the tribe Elephantulini. However, the staff of the Laboratory of Microevolution of Mammals of the IEE RAS, together with colleagues from the Institute of Vertebrate Biology of the Czech Academy of Sciences, based on the sequences of mitochondrial and nuclear genes, both new material collected by a team of authors in East Africa and available in the GenBank database, managed to show that the East African elephant shrew ( "Elephantulus" rufescens) belongs to the recently described genus Galegeeska of the tribe Macroscelidini. The multilocus phylogenetic analysis of the subfamily Macroscelidinae, carried out by the authors, confirmed the presence of two main radiations in this group, corresponding to the recently described tribes Macroscelidini and Elephantulini, and revealed a much “younger” than previously assumed age of the main diversification events within the Macroscelidea: it was shown that most modern species of this order appeared in the Plio-Pleistocene. Krásová J., Mikula O., Šumbera R., Horáková S., Robovský J., Kostin D.S., Martynov A.A., Lavrenchenko L.A., Bryja J., 2021: The Rufous Sengi is not Elephantulus – multilocus reconstruction of evolutionary history of sengis from the subfamily Macroscelidinae. Journal of Zoological Systematics and Evolutionary Research, 59(4): 918-932002E https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/jzs.12460 Related materials: POLIT.ru: "The red elephant shrew joined the Somali elephant shrew as part of a new genus"

The naked mole-rat is the only eusocial species among mammals, which is a unique model object for a number of areas of evolutionary and medical biology. For the first time, the staff of the Mammalian Microevolution Laboratory of the IEE RAS carried out a comprehensive molecular genetic analysis of this species from geographic localities covering a significant part of its range. The results of the study revealed a high degree of genetic differentiation between the two main evolutionary lineages of the naked mole-rat (eastern and southern) and showed that H. glaber has a pronounced phylogeographic structure. The taxonomic status of these two forms (species or subspecies?) is still uncertain. Based on the obtained genetic data and the results of modeling of ecological niches, a potential scenario of the formation of the modern range of the naked mole-rat has been created. It has been shown that the most important bioclimatic parameters that determine its distribution are the annual amount of precipitation and the amount of precipitation of the wettest season. Zemlemerova E.D., Kostin D.S., Lebedev V.S., Martynov A.A., Gromov A.R., Alexandrov D.Yu., Lavrenchenko L.A., 2021. Genetic diversity of the naked mole-rat (Heterocephalus glaber). Journal of Zoological Systematics and Evolutionary Research, 59(1): 323-340. https://doi.org/10.1111/jzs.12423

Researcher at the Laboratory for Environmental Monitoring of NPP Regions and Bioindication, Ph.D. Sergey Anatolyevich Simanovsky became a member of a large collaboration of European and American scientists on the cytogenomic study of the guiding role of B chromosomes in male development in Astyanax mexicanus (Characiformes). The results of the study are published in Current Biology (Q1 WoS, IF = 10.834). Part of the work of S.A. Simanovsky was the study of synaptonemal complexes in prophase I of meiosis in A. mexicanus males with B-chromosomes in somatic cells. The presence of single B-chromosomes was also found in spermatocytes. At the pachytene stage of prophase I of meiosis, B chromosomes were identified as univalents that did not interact with autosomal bivalents. This part of the research was carried out at the expense of the RFBR's own grant, which is reflected in the “Acknowledgments” article. The main result of the study was the discovery on the B chromosomes of A. mexicanus of two loci of the gdf6b gene, a putative master gene for sex determination. It was found that gdf6b is expressed only in the testes and determines the development of the male pattern. When this gene is knocked out, a sex change occurs. Imarazene B., Du K., Beille S., Jouanno E., Feron R., Pan Q., Torres-Paz J., Lopez-Roques C., Castinel A., Gil L., Kuchly C., Donnadieu C., Parrinello H., Journot L., Cabau C., Zahm M., Klopp C., Pavlica T., Al-Rikabi A., Liehr T., Simanovsky S.A., Bohlen J., Sember A., Perez J., Veyrunes F., Mueller T.D., Postlethwait J.H., Schartl M., Herpin A., Rétaux S., Guiguen Ya.. A supernumerary “B-sex” chromosome drives male sex determination in the Pachón cavefish, Astyanax mexicanus. Current Biology, Volume 31, Issue 21, 2021, Pages 4800-4809.e9, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2021.08.030

It is believed that "worms" are primitive animals that are not capable of complex behavior. However, studies carried out by Doctor of Biological Sciences, Head of the Laboratory of Morphology and Ecology of Marine Invertebrates, IEE RAS T.A. Britaev together with a colleague from the Center for Marine Research of Moscow State University Blanes D. Martin showed that this is far from the case. The results of the experiments demonstrated a striking aggressive behavior in marine symbiotic worms - polychaetes. The scientists studied the influence of changes in the number of hosts on the behavior of the symbiotic polychaete Ophthalmonoe pettibonae living in the tubes of another large burrowing polychaete Chaetopterus sp. The researchers moved the host from their own opaque tube to an artificial one made of transparent plastic, which made it possible to observe the behavior of animals. Experiments have clearly shown that as a result of severe intraspecific collisions, control over the territory, which in this case is the owner, is established by a single individual. This behavior explains the strictly uniform distribution observed in nature: one symbiont in one host. The increase in the number of vacant hosts has not led to a decrease in competition. Moreover, the pursuit of a competitor continued outside the host tube, which for the first time proved the ability of marine invertebrates to control the external territory, including additional hosts. Britayev, T. A. & Martin, D. (2021) Behavioral traits and territoriality in the symbiotic scaleworm Ophthalmonoe pettiboneae. Scientific Reports 11: 12408. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-91810-2  

Emerald ash borer is a devastating pest of ash trees. About 20 years ago, it spread from its homeland - from East Asia - to North America and European Russia and began to settle, destroying millions of ash trees in forests and urban plantations. To date, the ash borer has occupied 19 regions of the European part of Russia and two regions of Ukraine. At the same time, the borer has come close to the borders of the European Union and is included in the list of the 20 most dangerous quarantine pests for the EU. Marina Orlova-Benkovskaya and Andrey Benkovsky, Doctors of Biological Sciences, Senior Researchers at the IEE RAS, made the first prognosis of the potential distribution of the borer in Europe, based on the calculation of heat supply (the sum of effective temperatures). Calculations have shown that in most regions of Europe the heat is quite sufficient for the development of the borer. However, fortunately, in the north - in most regions of the Scandinavian Peninsula, as well as in the northern half of the British Isles - the borer, most likely, will not be able to settle. In the European part of Russia, the ash borer settled as far as St. Petersburg and Yaroslavl. According to the calculations of scientists, the heat conditions will not allow it to travel further north. Ash trees growing in Karelia, the Vologda Oblast and other northern regions will not be affected by the pest. Establishment of potential boundaries of alien pest settlement is a necessary condition for organizing quarantine and protective measures. In order to deal with a settling pest, you need to know in which regions the climatic conditions will allow it to survive and spread. Insects magazine published an article by Marina Orlova-Benkovskaya and Andrey Benkovsky Low Heat Availability Could Limit the Potential Spread of the Emerald Ash Borer to Northern Europe (Prognosis Based on Growing Degree Days per Year). The article was made within the framework of the Russian Science Foundation grant 22-24-00166. Link - https://www.mdpi.com/2075-4450/13/1/52 

The Narwhal research project started in 2019, when PJSC Gazprom Neft, together with IEE RAS, arranged for the first expedition to study these animals. Then the "sea unicorns" were found in the archipelago Franz Josef Land. The second expedition, organized by the company and the A. N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution RAS, left Arkhangelsk in July 2021 on the research expedition ship Mikhail Somov. Its goals are to detect narwhals, describe the Russian part of the range, and assess the state of the population. Narwhals are unique in that they prefer areas bordering between water and Arctic ice all year round, not swimming away to warmer areas like most marine mammals. The state of the population of "sea unicorns" can be used to judge the well-being of the Arctic ecosystem, which is why Gazprom Neft PJSC pays great attention to them. PJSC Gazprom Neft, together with IEE RAS, at the TASS site, prepared an interactive long-read website https://spec.tass.ru/narwhal/, where you can get acquainted with the diaries of the expedition, read the conclusions of scientists, watch videos and photos with narwhals.

The documentary film about the second season of the expedition "Master of the Arctic" will allow the observation of the Arctic islands from the height of the L-410 turboflight, the blue ice of the Barents Sea - from the legendary ship "Mikhail Somov"; learn how people live and work on expeditions and what is the purpose of their hard work. The film was created by the Clean Seas Foundation and is dedicated to two expeditions in the Arctic, implemented with the participation of the A.N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Серей Валериевич Найденко, директор Института проблем экологии и эволюции им. А.Н. Северцова РАН рассказал подробнее о фильме «В фильме показаны особенности работы с самым крупным наземным млекопитающим планеты – «хозяином Арктики» белым медведем, показаны уникальные кадры, зафиксировавшие лаптевского моржа, одного из самых малоизученных морских млекопитающих планеты, демонстрируются уникальные съемки морских млекопитающих и птиц Арктики». Before the screening of the film, the guests had time to take a tour of the interactive exhibition “Arctic from the air”. It will be possible to enjoy beautiful views of the Arctic nature at the exhibition and even “visit” as a scientific observer of the air laboratory at the Darwin Museum until the end of January 2022. To do this, just buy a ticket to the museum. On January 20, 2022, an open screening of the documentary and a meeting with the expedition group will take place in the cinema hall. The Master of the Arctic project is being implemented by the Clean Seas Foundation at the initiative of Rosprirodnadzor. The scientific program of the project was developed and implemented by the A.N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution of the Russian Academy of Sciences (IEE RAS). The project is implemented with partnership support: ANO "Center" Arctic Initiatives ". Photos by Galina Fisenko