The film "Where Goes The Wild Northern Deer", in which Sophia Borisovna Rosenfeld, Senior Researcher, IEE RAS, took part, is available for viewing. The wild reindeer is nearing extinction. The questions of why this is happening and what to do next should be answered by a detailed scientific study of the remaining populations.

The monograph is the world's first complete summary of the cladocera fauna of Northern Eurasia, whose representatives often play a leading role in the communities of continental and sea waters. The first volume describes the history of their study in a given territory, external and internal structure, biology of nutrition and reproduction, ecological and behavioral features, including the relationship with invertebrates and vertebrate predators. It also touches upon the study of their genetics, physiology, remains in bottom sediments, origin, taxonomy, faunogenesis and geographical distribution. Authors - Korovchinsky N.M., Kotov A.A., Boykova O.S., Smirnov N.N., 2021. You can download the monograph using the link: http://sev-in.ru/ru/monografii

Biologists from the A.N.Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Moscow) and the I.D.Papanin Institute for Biology of Inland Waters of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Borok), in collaboration with scientists from the State University of New York, studied the sequences of several genes of the water fleas of the genus Bosminopsis and reconstructed their evolutionary history. It turned out that first representatives of this genus originated in the time of the dinosaurs. This study is one of the stages in the formation of new ideas about the biogeography of freshwater animals in Eurasia. The article was published in the journal PeerJ with the support of the Russian Science Foundation (RSF), the press service of the foundation briefly told about the results of the study. Water fleas, or branched crustaceans, are microscopic, no more than six millimeters, animals, and the size of representatives of the bosminid family is even less than a millimeter. They are so widespread that individual representatives can be found even in Antarctica. In total, about 850 different species of water fleas are known today. They are used as food for aquarium and industrial fish and as indicators of the toxicity of aqueous solutions of chemical compounds. In addition, the genome of water fleas provides extensive material for research, since it contains more than 30 thousand different genes, which, for example, is 5-10 thousand more genes than in humans. The researchers analyzed 32 populations of water fleas of the genus Bosminopsis, which were collected in Russia, South Korea, the United States, Japan, China and Thailand. The biologists have reconstructed the evolutionary history of this group. To do this, they analyzed the external structure of water fleas under a microscope and at the same time determined the nucleotide sequences of individual genes and analyzed their similarities and differences. In total, four genes were studied: mitochondrial COI and 16S and nuclear 28S and HSP. This is a fairly common set that is used in such cases. In particular, the COI gene is a standard for "genetic barcoding", that is, the genetic key for determining the belonging of a sample to a particular taxon. It is important that both mitochondrial and nuclear genes were used in the research, since it is not at all guaranteed that the data for one and the other will coincide. “It turned out that this genus is distinguished by the extreme ancientry of species isolation. In general, water fleas are of Paleozoic origin, much older than, for example, mammals and even dinosaurs. At the same time, the main genetic groups of bosminopsis were divided in the Cretaceous period, that is, they already existed at the time of giant reptiles, but, unlike them, have not died out by now,” says Alexei Kotov, project manager for a grant from the Russian Science Foundation, corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Doctor of Biological Sciences, Chief Researcher at the A. N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution of the Russian Academy of Sciences. In this study, the scientists using genetic and morphological methods have demonstrated that only one species of the genus is found throughout Northern Eurasia, namely Zernov's bosminopsis. It is characterized by a very wide distribution, weak genetic structure, and small genetic distances between distant populations. The study is significant for further fundamental work on the study of the biogeography of freshwater animals.   Related materials: TASS Science: "The most common species of aquatic fleas turned out to be the same age as dinosaurs" Around the World: "Some species of water fleas are the same age as dinosaurs"  Russian Science Foundation: "Some species of water fleas turned out to be the same age as dinosaurs" 

In the Stepnoy Wildlife Refuge (Astrakhan Oblast), the work of a group of employees of the A.N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution RAS (IEE RAS) under the leadership of RAS Academician V.V. Rozhnov continues the tagging of newborn saigas with ultra-light ear tags that do not cause disturbance to the animals. This is a continuation of the development of the technology for studying the movements of saigas using scientific equipment installed on the Russian segment of the ISS. While tagging the saiga calves, not a single animal was harmed. Earlier, we reported on the cooperation of the IEE RAS with the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior, Germany, the Institute of Geography of the Russian Academy of Sciences and RSC Energia, within the framework of which the employees of the IEE RAS take part in the implementation of the Russian-German project ICARUS. The goal of this project is to organize global monitoring of the movement of animals from space in order to understand the reasons for their movements and to understand the complex processes taking place in ecosystems. At the end of 2020, the first five transmitters were tested on adult saigas. In agreement with the partners and after obtaining the necessary permits, it was decided to tag saigas with miniature ICARUS Basic Tag Solar / GPS devices powered by solar batteries that were placed on the animals’ mammalian ear tag platform. At the time of calving on the territory of the Stepnoy reserve, where pregnant females had accumulated, in total, according to expert estimates, there were up to 6 thousand saigas. Although the first newborn saiga calf was observed in the afternoon of April 30, and the last - on May 22, mass calving in the reserve took place from May 12 to May 14 this year.   Installing the clip on a young saiga Taking into account the plans of the Astrakhanskoye POOH management to release three adult saigas from the Saigak nursery in June of this year, it was decided to equip these soon to be released animals with the same ultra-light ear tags. Currently, the transmitters attached to saigas are being tested in the nursery's enclosures, but soon these animals will also go into the wild steppe. The saiga population research project is being carried out by IPEE RAS specialists in cooperation with the management of the Stepnoy Nature Reserve in the Astrakhan Region, which has been selected as a model area, and the Saigak Nursery of the Astrakhanskoye State Housing Organization. Its goal is to obtain reliable data on the current state of the saiga population in the North-Western Caspian region. The data on saiga movements obtained during the implementation of the project will be used to prepare and scientifically substantiate the most effective recommendations aimed at preserving and restoring the saiga population in the North-Western Caspian region - the only population that lives only within the Russian Federation. Installing the clip with the ultralight transmitter “Icarus” with a solar battery Материалы по теме:  РИА Волга: "В астраханском заказнике новорожденных сайгаков отслеживают со спутника" Пункт А: "Астраханских сайгачат отслеживают со спутника"

On the scientific expeditionary vessel "Mikhail Somov" two lectures were held by the staff of the Institute of Ecology and Evolution of the Russian Academy of Sciences, who are in charge of the expedition for the "Narwhal" project. Ilya Murashev spoke about the ecology and bird diversity of the high-latitude Arctic. Svetlana Artemieva - about marine mammals. Svetlana, a research associate of the Narwhal project and a leading engineer at the Institute of Ecology and Evolution of the Russian Academy of Sciences, has been studying marine mammals for many years and is capable of, almost by a wave surge, distinguishing who is under the water: a humpback or a killer whale, a porpoise or a bowhead whale. Seals, walruses, beluga whales, ringed seals, polar bears (also marine mammals), narwhals - each species has its own characteristics and mysteries. Why do narwhals have teeth yet walruses tusks? Who is ready to eat their seal relative? What whales run away from the ship by swimming on their backs? Where are the "carding places" of marine life? Is it necessary to save the seal pups caught on the ice during the ice drift? And how to become a marine biologist? These two lectures have more purposes than education. Members of the Arctic Floating University can help the Narwhal project with the observation of birds and marine mammals. Students and their supervisors are constantly observing for their projects, divided into watches: the weather, the ice, the sea debris, the birds ... And it may well turn out that they will spot a whale or even a narwhal. The information and photos derived from their observation will be of great value to the colleagues as well. From the 2021 observation diary, day 6 - 15th of June.

This question from the project "My Planet" is answered by Maria Erofeeva, Ph.D., Senior Researcher, Laboratory of Behavior and Behavioral Ecology of Mammals, IEE RAS. Where the saying that a cat has nine lives, and not seven or, for example, ten, came from, is not known for certain. This is probably due to the fact that the number 9 has often appeared in myths, legends and has long been considered magical, since it closes the cycle 1-9. Perhaps the agility of this predator and the ability to land on four legs led to the fact that people began to attribute magical abilities to it. However, in reality the cat only has one life. It's just that nature has endowed the animal with a good sense of balance. Thanks to the developed vestibular apparatus, cats are not afraid of heights and can deftly walk on cornices, roofs and other heights. If they are to fall, they turn over in the air with their back up, spread their paws wide to the sides and land on all fours. As a result of such a maneuver, the surface of the body increases and the fall slows down as the "parachute effect" is triggered. The tail acts as a balancer in flight. But this does not mean that cats without a tail are doomed. Such animals have learned to use their hind legs to maintain momentum. In addition to a sense of balance, a flexible spine helps cats roll over in the air and spread their legs wide. Some have put forward opinions that cats do not have collarbones and that is why they are less injured when landing on their paws. It is not true. Cats have collarbones, but they are attached only on one side, which makes animals more flexible. For example, dogs cannot spread their paws this wide. The most important thing during the fall is to have enough time to complete your acrobatic stunt. Therefore, height is critical. Paradoxically, a cat that falls from the ninth floor may receive fewer injuries than the one that fell from the first. "My Planet" strongly encourages owners of pets living in apartment buildings to be attentive to pets and not to leave windows open, as well as to equip them with special nets. There is a theory that the minimum height necessary for the trick is 30 cm. Cats, however, are capable of injuring themselves by jumping from chair to chair, as well as of deftly walking on a mesh roof at a height of 3 m upside down and landing successfully when falling. So nothing is universal. On a documented occasion in 2019, a cat survived on Sinyavinskaya Street in Moscow, having fallen from the 18th floor. Moreover, x-rays showed no fractures and slight pulmonary edema. Later it turned out that the previous evening the hostess opened the window to ventilate the apartment, and since there was no special protective mesh on it, the cat fell out. He was lucky, but there are also opposite cases. Firstly, dexterity is not inherent in all domestic cats. Secondly, when falling, the cat can be very frightened, and in a state of shock, its inherent sense of balance can fail it. Thirdly, having fallen, the cat can hide in the basement or under a bush and sit there in a state of shock, not responding to the calls of those who are looking for it. Contrary to popular belief about the ability of cats to regenerate and treat themselves, they die from injury and disease, same as every other animal. So please, take care of your pets.

Three males of the Red Data Book saigas raised in the nursery were released into their natural habitat in the specially protected natural area of the Stepnoy State Wildlife Refuge in the Limansky region of the area. Until 2014, the number of saigas in the world has been steadily decreasing: the population in the North-Western Caspian region has decreased 50 times over 20 years - from 250 thousand to 4.5 thousand individuals. The main factor that led to the catastrophic decline in saiga numbers was selective poaching of males. “The released animals are 3 years old. The rut (mating period) takes place in saigas in December, earlier we released them by this time. However, according to our observations, released in winter, they often died, since the rutting period for them is a very difficult time, they tire themselves out, eat little and they have no chance of escaping from predators. For the first time in the Astrakhan Region, this event happened in the summer,” said Vyacheslav Rozhnov, Chief Researcher at the AN Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution of the Russian Academy of Sciences, at the saiga release event. State nature reserve "Stepnoy" with an area of 109.4 thousand hectares is a specially protected natural area of regional significance. Every year since 2014, the release of male saigas, raised in semi-free conditions in the Saigak nursery, has been taking place regularly. Saigak is one of the few mammalian representatives of the so-called mammoth fauna that have survived to this day (along with musk ox and reindeer). Currently, there are more than 7 thousand individuals, more than half of them living in the Astrakhan region.   MATERIALS РИА Волга: "В Астраханской области в дикую природу выпустят трёх молодых сайгаков" Комсомольская Правда: "В Астраханской области на волю выпустили ещё 3 сайгаков" Вести Астрахань: "В заказнике «Степной» в естественную среду обитания выпустили трёх сайгаков" КаспийИнфо: "Астраханские редкие антилопы шлют сигналы на МКС. Фоторепортаж из заказника "Степной" Агентство новостей 24: "В АСТРАХАНСКОЙ ОБЛАСТИ НА ВОЛЕ ПРИБАВИЛОСЬ САЙГАКОВ"

The site of the “Scientific Russia” project has published a large amount of material about Lake Glubokoe. The water column of the lakes is divided into epilimnion, metalimnion and hypolimnion (“limnos” - Greek for “lake”), that is, into the upper layer of the lake, middle and lower. The boundaries of the layers are determined depending on the temperature of the water. In summer, the epilimnion is usually warm, with the same temperature throughout the layer. Only in its lower part does it decrease slightly. The epilimnion temperature in the middle of summer reaches 20-25 degrees. In the lower part of the lake (in hypolimnion), the temperature is also even, but very cold, within 5-6 degrees. At times it can be slightly lower. In the middle part of the lake (metalimnion), the water temperature drops abruptly. In the upper part of this layer, it can be within 20 ° C (as in the epilimnion), and after 3-5 m - already 7-10 ° C, or even lower. So, for example, in Lake Glubokoe (Moscow region), the temperature drops from 20 degrees to 10 ° C. On the shore of this lake there is a biological station “Glubokoe Ozero” (“Lake Glubokoe”), which was founded in 1891. All this time, hydrobiological work has been carried out there. It belongs to the A.N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution of RAS. By the middle of the warm summer, the thickness of the epilimnion reaches 5-7 m, the metalimnion - 3-7 m or more, depending on the heating of the water. The hypolimnion at the end of summer starts from 7-10 m and extends to the maximum depth. Lake Glubokoe has a depth of 32 meters. Such a clear stratification of the lake thickness is observed in the absence of mixing of waters due to currents or wind waves. Lake Glubokoe has a small area (about 60 hectares), surrounded by forests and to a small extent exposed to wind impact. In large bodies of water, the thermocline can be rapidly eroded due to mixing of waters. Now let us consider what happens to the water during spring. Under the sun, the ice begins to melt. The rays, passing through the ice, heat the uppermost layer of water, which gives off heat to the nearby ice. So the ice melts not only from above, but also from below. In central Russia, water bodies are freed from ice in April or early May, depending on the weather. The water continues to gradually warm up, soon it reaches a temperature of 4 ° C. It should be noted that water has an anomalous property: the highest density of water is observed not at 0 ° С, but at 4 ° С (to be more precise, at 3.8 ° С). At this temperature, the water is the heaviest (densest). The lower layers of the lake have a temperature of about 3-5 ° C or slightly lower. As a result, heavy water, like an avalanche, rushes downward, displacing water from the lower layers. This is how the spring mixing of waters takes place. At the same time, the lower layers of the lake are enriched with oxygen, and the water column, including the upper layer of the lake, is enriched with minerals. At the bottom of the lake in winter, the destruction (decay) of settled organic matter (detritus) and the release of mineral salts into the environment occurs. Unwanted gases such as carbon dioxide, methane, hydrogen sulphide are also removed from the deep water layers with stirring. Sunlight and mineral salts help the development of microscopic algae, which enrich the epilimnion with oxygen. In early spring, mainly cold-loving algae develop. The water gradually warms up during spring and summer, finally reaching 20-25 ° C. This happens in late July or early August. Epilimnion slowly warms up and gives off heat to the underlying layers. The less dense warm water lies on colder and denser water. Of course, during strong wind waves, these layers are mixed, and the stratification may not be so obvious. In central Russia, the temperature of water bodies usually rises until the beginning of August, and then begins to decrease again. Finally, the water temperature drops to 4°С by the beginning - mid-October. The water becomes denser again and descends like an avalanche. The next mixing of waters takes place already in autumn. The temperature of the lake is leveling off, unwanted gases that have accumulated in the bottom layer over the summer are mixed with the bulk of the water or go into the atmosphere. It is mainly methane, hydrogen sulfide, which are toxic to living things. Enriched with oxygen, the water of the deep layers becomes suitable for life. This happens from year to year. The upper layer of the lake is enriched with oxygen mainly due to the vital activity of phytoplankton. Photosynthesis is sometimes so intense that excess oxygen does not have time to escape into the atmosphere. In the absence of disturbance, if you put your hand in the water and make a sharp movement with your fingers, gas (oxygen) bursts out of the water, like from a bottle of soda. Planktonic organisms living in the reservoir die off sooner or later. Many of them live from a few days to one month or a little more. These are microscopic algae, bacteria, zooplankton and others. Dying off, they slowly settle in the water column. The smaller the particles, the slower they settle. Animals, in particular crustaceans, fish, in the process of their vital activity, produce excrement, which also sinks to the bottom. Bacteria living in the water column and at the bottom mineralize the incoming organic matter with the release of mineral salts. The destruction (decay) of organic matter is carried out with the consumption of oxygen. At the bottom, it has nowhere to come from, because enrichment occurs only in spring and autumn. This leads to the fact that the amount of oxygen gradually decreases, from the bottom to the surface. By the beginning of summer (after the spring mixing of waters) an oxygen-free zone can form at the bottom, which gradually spreads to the upper layers of the lake. Ultimately, by the end of August - beginning of September, the oxygen-free zone can reach 1/3 (sometimes even 1/2) of the lake's thickness. In Lake Glubokoe, the absence of oxygen was observed at a depth of 15-20 m. This is despite the fact that the maximum depth of this lake is 32 m. During the summer, a large amount of organic matter enters the bottom of reservoirs (due to the death of aquatic organisms, foliage or different kinds of pollution), therefore, in winter, the entire thickness of the lake can lose oxygen. This leads to the death and death of a large number of fish and other aquatic organisms. They can only be saved by ice holes or by blowing air into the water column. However, it is necessary to blow through the water column of the lake very carefully so as not to stir up the silt at the bottom and not aggravate the situation. The autumn and spring mixing of waters can be compared to the breathing of an organism. When you exhale, unwanted gases are removed, the gas composition of the lake is leveled, and when you inhale, the deep waters are enriched with oxygen. What happens in the metalimnion? A sharp temperature drop is observed in this layer. In particular, in Lake Glubokoe, it can reach 10-12 degrees. In the epilimnion, to a depth of 7-8 m, the temperature is relatively even, and below - to a depth of 8-10 m, it is much colder. The warm water of the epilimnion lies, as it were, on the denser cold water. Dead organisms, crustacean shells, which they shed during molting, excrement, etc. settle in the thickness of the lake. The sizes of these particles are small (within a few tens of microns), and they settle in the water column very slowly. The sedimentation of particles is prevented by a thermocline. The layer of the temperature jump differs from the overlying layers of water according to its increased density, which contributes to the retention of small particles in it, which are already settling at a low speed. In this regard, the presence of a large number of various particles is observed in the layer of the temperature jump, especially after the dying off of algae. They seem to lie in this layer, gradually decomposing under the influence of microorganisms. Because of this, the metalimnion is figuratively called the "second bottom". If you take a sample of water from this layer with a special device (bottle meter), you can detect the suspension with the naked eye. Under the microscope you can observe flakes of stuck together particles. The settling suspension is called detritus (from Latin - "worn out"). The presence of a large amount of organic substrate in the metalimnion creates favorable conditions for the life of bacteria, and accumulations of food particles attract zooplankton (crustaceans, rotifers, protozoa) to this layer, which, together with bacteria, takes part in the mineralization of organic matter and the consumption of oxygen. Its amount in this layer drops sharply. Intensive processes of destruction in the metalimnion lead to the appearance in this layer of the so-called metalimnial oxygen minimum. An interesting situation arises: in the epilimnion the amount of oxygen is large, in the hypolimnion it is also sufficient, but in the metalimnion it decreases to the minimum values (sometimes reaching the analytical zero). In Lake Glubokoe, photosynthesis occurs mainly in the upper two meters, but the bulk of the algae is located at a depth of 5 m, above the temperature jump layer, where biogenic elements are present in sufficient quantities. In this layer, the biomass has been dominated by the cyanobacteria Coelosphaerium kuetzingianum, Microcystis aeruginosa, Oscillatoria agardhii, green Sphaerocystis polycocca, and dinophytic algae Peridinium cinctum. This is due to the fact that the decomposition of organic matter leads to the enrichment of this layer with mineral salts, which are always insufficient in water, especially in the second half of summer. Algae descend to a depth of 4-6 m to gain access to minerals. At these depths, there is little light, not enough for full-fledged photosynthesis, but algae gain access to mineral salts. The work was carried out within the framework of the scientific school of the Moscow State University "The future of the planet and global environmental changes". A.P. Sadchikov, professor at Moscow State University, vice-president of the Moscow Society of Nature Experts Photos from the archive of the portal "Scientific Russia"   Related materials: Ministry of Ecology and Nature Management: "Ministry of Ecology: 130 years of scientific station on a reserved lake in Istra" Istra Vesti: "The scientific station on the reserved lake in Istra - 130 years old"

The instrument base of the South Valdai Ecological Observatory of the IEE RAS “Okovsky Les” has been updated. A new mobile gas analyzer Li-7810 (Li-Cor Inc.) was obtained, assembled and tested, which simultaneously measures the concentrations of carbon dioxide, methane and water in the atmosphere. The kit also includes an automatic smart camera that independently opens, closes and purges, as well as makes the final calculation of greenhouse gas flows with parallel measurement of soil and air temperatures and recording GPS coordinates. The number of measurements, exposure time and other settings are set remotely using a smartphone. This measuring complex greatly expands the possibilities in terms of local measurements of greenhouse gas fluxes at the level of microforms and landscape facies on the territory of the observatory.

Scientists from the Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution of the Russian Academy of Sciences, together with colleagues, conducted a large-scale study of the smallest cladocerans belonging to the genus Alonella. A detailed study of these crustaceans has shown that many of their genetic lines exist all over the world, most likely as separate species. Studies of the diversity of these animals are pertinent since planktonic crustaceans are food for a very large number of commercial freshwater fish. The results of the work, supported by a grant from the Russian Science Foundation, are published in the scientific Internet portal PeerJ. Water bodies around the world are home to small, almost imperceptible planktonic crustaceans. Today there are more than 850 species of crustaceans, differing in habitat, feeding method, structure. On average, the body length of these animals ranges from 0.2 to 12 millimeters, depending on the species. Their tiny size complicates the work of scientists, so these crustaceans have been very poorly studied. However, research on animal diversity continues due to its importance - planktonic crustaceans are a food source to a very large number of commercial freshwater fish. Russian scientists from the Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Moscow), who study cladocerans, have studied the smallest of them, representatives of the genus Alonella, for a long time. These crustaceans are found mainly in the Northern Hemisphere. Thanks to international cooperation, biologists have been able to conduct a large-scale study of samples from different countries, including Ethiopia, South Korea and Mongolia. The plankton were collected with small nets. To accurately identify groups of crustaceans and separate them by common properties and characters (taxa), all samples were examined under a light microscope. Then, if representatives of Alonella were found in the samples, they were additionally examined under an electron microscope. A more detailed study took place at the level of DNA analysis. The polymerase chain reaction made it possible to significantly increase the number of copies of the studied fragment. When comparing certain sections of DNA, we found traits characteristic of individual genetic groups separated by their habitats. With the obtained data, scientists have established the existence of 12 genetic groups of Alonella, each of them subsequently denominated with a letter of the Latin alphabet. The analysis showed that, for example, individuals belonging to the J group are characteristic only of the Ethiopian Bale mountains, while the crustaceans belonging to the D group are distributed throughout the Palaearctic from the European part of Russia to Kamchatka. The study also managed to establish several cases of transcontinental distribution of groups: for example, group A, characteristic of the European part, is also common in North America. “This is due to the fact that in the recent past, these two continents were connected by a vast" bridge "- Beringia, - which played an important role in the history of the dispersal of some organisms. For the most part, some species are localized in a small area. The IEE RAS team continues to study other groups of cladocerans from Russia and various regions of the world. Perhaps the patterns we have identified are also typical for other freshwater animals,” says Aleksey Kotov, Doctor of Biological Sciences, Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Professor of the Russian Academy of Sciences, project manager under a grant from the Russian Science Foundation, chief researcher at IEE RAS. Picture: Alonella females identified by morphological characteristics. Source: Neretina et al. / PeerJ, 2021   Materials: ТАСС: "Генетическое разнообразие ветвистоусых рачков оказалось шире, чем считалось ранее" Газета: "У крошечных ветвистоусых рачков оказалось больше генетических линий" Indicator: "У крошечных ветвистоусых рачков оказалось больше генетических линий, чем считалось ранее"