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"

In North Ossetia, the Central Asian leopard Baksan (Batraz) has been found, the signals from the satellite collar having ceased transmission more than three months ago. On January 30, 2021, he was spotted near the road in the Koban Gorge and eyewitnesses managed to photograph him on a smartphone. Immediately after receiving the message, the monitoring group of zoologists went to the indicated area and, using highly sensitive devices, established contact with the satellite collar of the leopard Baksan. Baksan's collar stopped sending signals back on October 21, 2020, in connection with which there was a fear that the Red Book animal could have become a victim of poachers. Because of this hazard, a statement was sent to the internal affairs bodies of North Ossetia, but the police found no evidence of poaching. “We hoped that Baksan was alive and that contact with him was lost due to a technical malfunction of the collar. After eyewitnesses promptly sent a video clip of a predator caught in the camera lens in a wooded area near the road to the Eco-squad "Bars", we examined a collar on the leopard's neck. We knew that another released leopard, a female Agura, was at that time in a different place, and Volna dropped her collar in Kabardino-Balkaria last year. The group of scientific support of the project immediately moved to the indicated area to check everything on the spot. There, with the help of highly sensitive devices, the zoologists established communication on special frequencies with Baksan’s collar that had failed. It is a great joy that he is alive and well, and we are very grateful to the eyewitnesses who did not lose composure and managed to capture the leopard on their smartphone and sent us highly useful video evidence. The return of Baksan to our field of vision brings back the hope of obtaining offspring from the leopards released into the wild in North Ossetia,” said the director of the A.N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution RAS Academician of RAS Vyacheslav Rozhnov. The scientist added that today the Institute has information about the presence in Ossetia of three Central Asian leopards (Caucasian leopards) - two females and one male, released in North Ossetia in 2018 and 2020. Experts continue to monitor the released female leopard Agura, whose collar regularly transmits data about her location and the places of successful hunting. At present, it is known that Agura has successfully formed her own territory and habitat and, after release, has covered a total of 867 km in Ossetia. The program for the restoration of the Central Asian leopard in the Caucasus is being implemented by the Ministry of Natural Resources of Russia with the participation of the Sochi National Park, the Caucasian Nature Reserve, the North Ossetian Nature Reserve, the Alania National Park, the World Fund for Nature, the A.N. Severtsov Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences (IEE RAS), A.K. Tembotov Institute of Ecology of Mountain Territories RAS, Moscow Zoo, with the assistance of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and the European Association of Zoos and Aquariums (EAZA). VTB Bank provides financial support for the monitoring of the Central Asian leopard in the Caucasus. In North Ossetia, RusHydro provides financial support for the population recovery program. Information for inquiries: Project coordinator of IEE RAS and RusHydro on the implementation of the recovery program of the Caucasian leopard (Central Asian leopard) in North Ossetia Alibekov Artur Bilalovich Tel .: +7 (968) 720-05-05 Hotline: 8 (800) 550 89 15 E-mail: alibekovab@gmail.com www.ВозвращениеБарса.РФ   Materials: 15-й регион: "В Северной Осетии нашелся переднеазиатский леопард Батраз" Спутник Осетии: "В Северной Осетии на видео очевидцев попал считавшийся пропавшим барс" ТАСС: "В Северной Осетии нашли леопарда, пропавшего более трех месяцев назад" Минприроды России: "В Северной Осетии обнаружен пропавший в октябре леопард Баксан"

At the beginning of December 2020, we received the first information about the stranding of the corpses of the Red Book Caspian seals on the Dagestan coast. Employees of the A.N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution RAS (IEE RAS) who have been studying this species within the framework of the international Kazakh-Russian Program of Caspian Seal Research in the Northern Caspian Sea (2019-2023), have left for the areas of stranding after the first reports. On-site studies were organized jointly with the staff of the Caspian Institute of Biological Resources of the Dagestan Scientific Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences (PIBR DNC RAS) and a veterinarian of the Moskvarium Center for Oceanography and Marine Biology. Later, when the number of dead animals rose to the hundreds, employees of the All-Russian Research Institute of Fisheries and Oceanography (VNIRO) joined the IEE RAS expedition, which contributed to the expansion of the range of work. For molecular-virological, toxicological, hormonal, genetic, histological and morphological studies, researchers from IEE RAS and a veterinarian of the Center for Oceanography and Marine Biology "Moskvarium" took samples of biological material from 13 dead seals. These were mainly adult females - five of them were pregnant. One of the animals showed signs of entangling, left over from being caught in the net. Dead seals were monitored along the entire coastline accessible for walking. Employees of the PEE RAS and PIBR DNC RAS surveyed 30 km along the coast. Over 300 dead seals were found in this area. All the animals found were carefully photographed, the coordinates of their detection were recorded, which would later be used to compile a map of strandings. To account for the number of seals thrown onto sandy beaches open to the sea, 10 linear counting sites were set evenly throughout the coastal zone. Counting of dead animals at these sites and subsequent extrapolation showed that on the sandy beaches open to the sea, the length of which along the Dagestan coast of the Caspian Sea reaches 160 km, almost two thousand seals could have thrown themselves onto the shore, with an average density of more than a dozen individuals per kilometer of the coastline. The information received to date is not sufficient to form a hypothesis about the reasons for the death of such a large number of Caspian seals. All collected samples will be sent for research to various laboratories, and efforts of various organizations will be combined to find out the cause of the death of the seals.

The new FAO report "Current knowledge of soil biological diversity - state, changes and potentialities", in the creation of which the staff of the IEE RAS has taken part, is available for free download from the FAO website. In celebration of World Soil Day, established by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and celebrated on 5 December, the report "Current knowledge of soil biological diversity - state, changes and potentialities" was finalized and presented. To prepare it, hundreds of specialists from more than 100 countries of the world united their efforts for a comprehensive analysis of the state of biological diversity of soils, the stability of ecosystem functions performed by soil biota, the most tangible threats to the stability of soils and their biological diversity, as well as the prospects for further soil-ecological research. This work was coordinated by experts from FAO and the Global Soil Biodiversity Initiative (GSBI). Employees of the laboratory for studying the ecological functions of soils at the A.N.Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution of the Russian Academy of Sciences co-authored this document from the Russian Federation. They took part in expert groups assessing the current state of soil biodiversity in the world, as well as studying threats to soil stability and functioning. “The work of hundreds of fellow soil zoologists and ecologists has made it possible to create a comprehensive analytical document that will be useful not only to the expert community, but also to decision-makers in the development of strategic documents related to agriculture, land use and environmental protection,” says the head laboratory of ecological functions of soils, member of the GSBI expert council, doctor of biological sciences Konstantin Bronislavovich Gongalsky. “This report is especially appealing because it is a complex interdisciplinary study covering all aspects of the conservation, enhancement, and use of the economic potential of biological diversity of soils”, - agrees with him the co-author of the report, leading researcher of the laboratory of ecological functions of soils, candidate of geographical sciences Andrey Stanislavovich Zaitsev. Currently, work is underway to translate the Report into other official languages of the United Nations, including Russian. The text of the report can be found by following the link: http://www.fao.org/documents/card/ru/c/CB1928EN/

Specialists from the A.N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution RAS (IEE RAS) for many years have been fruitfully cooperating with the staff of the Stepnoy Reserve located in the Limansky District of the Astrakhan Region, the information about the research can be found on the Institute's website. One of the areas of such joint work is related to the study and conservation of the saiga population in the North-Western Caspian region. On the territory of the Stepnoy Reserve, selected as a model site, for more than 15 years field data has been collected in a format developed by the Institute's staff, a comprehensive analysis of which made it possible to analyze the spatial distribution and ethological structure of this population, and also to establish that the main part of it throughout the year is kept within the Stepnoy Reserve and in the adjacent territories. The collected field materials, which are the basis for long-term monitoring, are extremely important for planning conservation measures aimed at the restoration of this saiga population both in the near future and in the long term. Previously, field data on the sightings of saigas and other animals, climatic indicators, any factors and phenomena that may affect the well-being of a small and completely isolated population of the North-Western Caspian Sea region were recorded by the staff of the Reserve in "paper forms" with their subsequent "transfer" to the electronic database, which significantly slowed down the process of preparing data for analysis. In order to keep up with the times and put the achievements of modern technologies to good use, dispensing with the use of "paper forms" in the field, the staff of the Stepnoy Reserve and the IEE RAS turned to the management of NextGIS (headed by M. Dubinin) with a request to create a program that would allow make field data collection more technological. Such a product turned out to be NextGIS Collector technology, developed by the company, which allows you to set up forms for collecting observations in a matter of hours, organize the database itself and launch your own project. Previously, NextGIS Collector technology has proven itself well for collecting field data on species of wild animals such as wolves and snow leopards living in different natural conditions. After the adaptation of the software for the specific tasks aimed at the saiga population inhabiting the North-Western Caspian region, in February 2020, a special field workshop was held for the staff of the Stepnoy Reserve, during which the capabilities of NextGIS Collector were demonstrated, with special attention paid to eliminating possible failures and finalizing the product itself in the process of use, and, of course, employees were trained in the procedure for collecting and transmitting field data. It must be said that the initial skepticism of the Stepnoy Reserve staff associated with the change in their routine and habitual work of filling out “paper forms” quickly changed to an understanding of the transition to a completely new modern level of field data collection. Almost 10 months have passed since the start of the project on collecting data on the territory of the Stepnoy Reserve using NextGIS Collector, and these months have shown how correct the choice was. The well-established communication with the developers made it possible to promptly make corrections and adjustments to the failures that occurred in the early days of using the software. Now the staff of the Stepnoy Reserve, having quickly and easily mastered all the capabilities of the program, use smartphones to enter field observations into electronic forms, which are automatically transferred to a database suitable for any processing and analysis by the IEE RAS staff. To date, the database contains more than 500 meeting points for saigas with the ability to show the location on the map of the gathering point and attached photographs that help to identify the landscape features of the area. Collecting field data continues, and we look forward to receiving new information on the biology and ecology of the Northwest Caspian saiga population!   Illustrations: 1. Entering data into the NextGIS Collector application (photo by G. Kalmykov) 2. Electronic input form on the smartphone screen (photo by G. Kalmykov) 3. A fragment of a completed database and a photograph on an automatically updated map

The release of saigas into the wild from the Saigak nursery of the Astrakhansky state hunting property (ГООХ), carried out on December 4, 2020, is a multi-year project implemented as part of the regional project “Conservation of biological diversity and development of ecological tourism”, which is part of the federal project of the same name. At this stage, specialists from the A.N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution RAS (IEE RAS), which, as already mentioned before (LINK), within the framework of the Russian-German project “ICARUS” IEE RAS collaborates with the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior (Germany) and the Institute of Geography of the Russian Academy of Sciences, implementing the project “Protected Areas for Saigas”. Two weeks ago, the saigas specially prepared in the nursery for their release into the wild in the territory of the Stepnoy Reserve were equipped with ultra-light ear tags that do not disturb the animals and represent a new type of satellite transmitter. Within two weeks, the animals underwent adaptation in the "Saigak" nursery, and now three males, delivered to the territory of the "Stepnoy" reserve in special transport boxes, were now released into the wild. Those present at the release of saigas, member of the institute A.A. Yachmennikova, as well as specialists from the Saigak nursery, the Stepnoy Wildlife Refuge, representatives of the Limansky District Administration and the Environmental Management and Environmental Protection Service of the Astrakhan Region, and the journalists, were able to observe how the trinity of males rushed together to the nearby saigas. Now a rut is taking place on the territory of the Stepnoy reserve, where herds of saigas graze, and we hope that the animals raised in the Astrakhansky state hunting property (ГООХ) will find mates of their own. We consider the participation of our Institute in the ongoing release of saigas bred in the Saigak nursery of the Astrakhansky state hunting property (ГООХ) and equipped with satellite ear tags to the Stepnoy Reserve as a continuation of the implementation of various projects of the Institute for the Study and Conservation of Saigas in the North-Western Caspian region and close cooperation with any interested parties. The telemetric information received via the ISS to the Mission Control Center from the satellite will make it possible to track the movements of saigas, assess the success of their participation in the rut and outline measures to improve their protection, and also identify the most preferred habitats.   More information: Служба природопользования и охраны окружающей среды Астраханской области: "В Астраханской области состоялся выпуск самцов сайгаков в естественную среду обитания" РИА Волга: "Под Астраханью выпустили в степь трех сайгаков с GPS-передатчиками" Астрахань 24: "В АСТРАХАНСКОЙ ОБЛАСТИ ВЫПУСТИЛИ НА ВОЛЮ МОЛОДЫХ САЙГАКОВ" Астрахань.Ру: "Молодые сайгаки с GPS-передатчиками были выпущены в астраханскую степь"

In the fall of 2020, the Institute continued the study of the Caspian seal as part of the Russian-Kazakh Program for the Study of the Caspian Seal in the Northern Caspian Sea for 2019-2023 and, with the financial support of NCOC, conducted an autumn expedition. Field work in the northeastern part of the Caspian Sea (water area of the Republic of Kazakhstan) took place from October 31 to November 14, 2020. Employees of the A.N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution RAS (IEE RAS) Maria Solovyova, Gleb Pilipenko, Dmitry Glazov, Natalia Shumeiko, as well as Kazakhstani colleagues - employees of the Research and Production Center for Microbiology and Virology of the Republic of Kazakhstan A.I. Kydyrmanov, K.O. Karamendin, E.T. Kasymbekov and employees of the Kazakhstan Agency of Applied Ecology (KAPE) RK F.V. Klimov, A.N. Mulyaev. The work was carried out from the research vessel "Alina", which on October 31 set sail from the port of Bautino and moved towards the north-eastern part of the Caspian Sea. Research vessel Alina While the vessel was sailing, the staff of the IPEE RAS carried out passing counts of the Caspian seal encounters. In good weather, 1-2 observers stood on the upper deck all daylight hours and recorded all encounters of seals. Although few animals were encountered, some were photographed. Caspian seal at sea The most important task of the work was the capture of live Caspian seals, which was carried out on shalygs - areas of the seabed which are bare due to the very low water level and form small sand spits. Shalygs are used by Caspian seals for rest. Caspian seals on a shalyg Capturing animals demanded the maximum mobilization of physical forces from the members of the expedition. In a matter of seconds, when the boat approached the shalyga, it was required of them to jump out of it, run to the nearest seal and grab it by the flippers or cover it with a net. At the same time, the animals, having heard the noise of the boat, began to go off the shalyga, and heavy mustang suits and rubber boots made the task more difficult for the catchers. On the first run, 4 seals were caught. But a few days later, on the second attempt, the catch was much larger - 9 individuals. All captured seals were transported to the Research Vessel Alina, where all further work was carried out. The Caspian seal must be held tight, otherwise it may bite with its sharp teeth The Caspian seal research program is large-scale, and involves a comprehensive study of animal health, biology and ecology of the species. To do this, for various studies (toxicological, hormonal, virological, genetic, etc.) samples of hair, blood, eye and nasal swabs were taken from seals, and the animals themselves were carefully measured and weighed. Measuring the Caspian seal on board the RV "Alina" Taking blood from a vein on the back flipper of the Caspian sea Another challenge was the installation of satellite transmitters. 11 animals were tagged to track the movements of the animals until the next molt. A seal with an attached transmitter   To dive or not to dive, that is the question Caption 1 - The transmitter on the Caspian seal will help determine its swimming routes and resting places