The Russian Science Foundation has announced the results of its competition for fundamental scientific research projects and exploratory research by small research groups. A total of 1,154 projects will receive support. The projects are aimed at conducting research to develop new research topics and to form research teams. The following projects by staff members of the A.N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution (IEE RAS) have been supported: - "Mitochondrial and Genomic Phylogeography of Wide-Range Mammalian Species: Example of Palearctic Shrews (Sorex)" by S.V. Pavlova - "Physiological Adaptations of Freshwater Fish to the Deep-Sea Environment: Example of Lake Baikal Sculpins" by L.S. Zinevich - "Molecular Phylogeny and Diversity of Desmidian Algae in the Tropical Region (Examples from Vietnam and the Philippines)" by N.A. Martynenko - "Dynamics of the Demographic Structure of the Colonist Population and Their Ectoparasite Infestation during Range Expansion of the Midday Sand Sanderling" by A.V. Chabovsky. - "Differentiation of Conserved Neuron Types in the CNS of Mollusks Using the Large Pond Snail Lymnaea stagnalis Model: Fundamental and Neurotoxic Aspects" by E.G. Ivashkina. Congratulations to our colleagues on their victories!

This monograph is a continuation, a more expanded version of the book "A Brief Guide to Invertebrates of Freshwater in Central European Russia," widely known to school biology students and university students. The primary creative and scientific inspiration for this monograph was the late Mikhail Vitalyevich Chertoprud, associate professor in the Department of General Ecology and Hydrobiology at the Faculty of Biology at Lomonosov Moscow State University. The other two authors of this guide are E.S. Chertoprud and D.M. Palatov, both employees of the Synecology Laboratory at the A.N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution of the Russian Academy of Sciences (IEE RAS). This new invertebrate identification guide is intended for schoolchildren and students interested in biology, limnologists, ecologists, toxicologists, and all inquisitive researchers of aquatic ecosystems. It contains identification keys for the main groups of zooplankton (Cladocera, Copepoda, Phyllopoda, Rotifera) and macrozoobenthos (Insecta, Malacostraca, Gastropoda, Bivalvia, Hirudinea, Oligochaeta, Polychaeta, Turbellaria, Bryozoa, Porifera), as well as tables for identifying the types and classes of freshwater invertebrates. The guide describes the main aquatic biotopes and their fauna, provides a brief description of methods for collecting and processing plankton and benthic samples, presents a number of methods for bioindicating water quality, and lists identification keys for freshwater invertebrates of Eastern Europe. The level of identification varies across taxonomic groups depending on their complexity, and for most organisms, it is extended to the genus level. The new guide has been significantly improved compared to previous editions. It offers more precise diagnostic characters, expanded taxonomic and geographic coverage, and a more user-friendly layout of the text and illustrations. The updated taxonomy, which takes into account the extensive revisions that have occurred in recent years in such important groups of freshwater animals as mollusks (both gastropods and bivalves), higher crustaceans (order Amphipoda), and insects (order Ephemeroptera), makes this edition particularly valuable. An additional advantage of the book is the increased number of original illustrations, ensuring highly accurate visual identification. There are some drawbacks, and they unavoidably stem from the strengths. The book is large and thick, so you won't be able to carry it in your pocket on an expedition or field trip. The identification keys are more complex and require in-depth knowledge of organism morphology, so students will have a hard time identifying certain groups. Publisher: Chertoprud M.V., Chertoprud E.S., Palatov D.M. Moscow: KMK, 2025. 469 pages. ISBN 978-5-907747-80-7. The paperback version of the book is available for purchase from KMK Publishing House.

New issues of the journal "Problems of Ichthyology" are now available for reading and download: Volume 65, Issues 4 and 5, 2025. Volume 65, Issue 4, 2025, Contents: Description of larvae and fry of the cockscomb prickleback Alectrias alectrolophus (Stichaeidae) from Avacha Bay (southeastern coast of Kamchatka) S. S. Grigoriev, N. A. Sedova The olfactory organ of the barramundi Lates calcarifer (Latidae) A. O. Kasumyan, N. I. Pashchenko, L. T. K. Oan Morphological anomalies of the axial skeleton in ray-finned fishes (Leuciscidae) from the Saratov Reservoir A. K. Mineev On the location of a spawning male Eumicrotremus taranetzi with comments on its validity E. tartaricus (Cyclopteridae, Cottoidei) O. S. Voskoboinikova Differentiation and relationships of sea ravens (Hemitripteridae) based on DNA variability data O. A. Radchenko, A. V. Petrovskaya, I. N. Moreva Biological characteristics and fishery status of the sardin cisco Coregonus sardinella (Salmonidae) in the Yana River, Sakha Republic (Yakutia) I. A. Petrov Changes in the diet of pikeperch Sander lucioperca (Percidae) in the Kama Reservoir as a result of the invasion of an alien species – Black Sea sprat Clupeonella cultriventris (Ehiravidae) S. N. Kazarinov, L. V. Merzlyakova, I. N. Merzlyakov, A. A. Karalash, E. Yu. Krainev, A. D. Bykov, P. B. Mikheev The Effect of Short-Term Thyrotoxicosis and Hypothyroidism on the Rheoreaction of the Zebrafish Danio rerio (Danionidae) D. S. Pavlov, V. Yu. Parshina, V. V. Kostin, V. M. Slivko, F. N. Shkil Changes in Na+/K+-ATPase Activity and Lipid Composition of Pink Salmon Oncorhynchus gorbuscha (Salmonidae) Smolts During Their Downstream Migration in the Indera River (White Sea Basin) E. I. Käiväräinen, N. L. Rendakov, S. N. Khurtina, D. I. Manoylova, D. A. Efremov, S. A. Murzina Volume 65, No. 5, 2025, Contents: Morphological and Genetic Diversity of the Pyzhyanoid Whitefish Coregonus lavaretus (Salmonidae) in Siberian Waters N. A. Bochkarev New Data on the Morphology of Myoxocephalus scorpioides (Cottidae) from Chaunskaya Bay, East Siberian Sea, and an Analysis of Variability in Some Species Diagnostic Traits E. A. Poezzhalova-Chegodaeva Genetic Variability and Relationships of Gymnocanthus pistilliger (Cottidae) O. A. Radchenko, A. V. Petrovskaya Zoogeographic Zoning of Northern European Russia Based on the Composition of Freshwater Ichthyofauna A. P. Novoselov Distribution and Some Biological Aspects of Lycodes cf. brashnikovi (Zoarcidae) off the Pacific coast of Kamchatka with comments on the species composition of the genus Lycodes in this area Yu. K. Kurbanov Biological parameters of Trachurus mediterraneus (Carangidae) in the coastal waters of southwestern Crimea in 2020–2022 P. I. Donchik Duration of Embryonic and Larval Development of Chum Salmon Oncorhynchus keta (Salmonidae) on Sakhalin and Iturup Islands V. G. Samarsky, A. M. Kaev, L. A. Zhivotovsky The Effect of Temperature on Spontaneous Locomotor Activity of Endlicher's Polypterus endlicherii (Polypteridae) A. O. Kasumyan, V. V. Zdanovich, V. V. Satayeva Histological Structure of the Liver, Trunk Kidney, and Spleen of Potanin's Altai Osman Oreoleuciscus potanini (Leuciscidae) from an Isolated Population of Lake Kidelyu (Altai Republic) N. I. Kochetkov, D. L. Nikiforov-Nikishin, G. A. Romanenko, D. G. Elizaryev, O. A. Cherenkov, V. A. Klimov, K. V. Gavrilin Vol. 65, No. 5, 2025, Brief Reports: Discovery of the Peacock Blenny Salaria pavo (Blenniidae) in the Kerch Strait (Crimean Peninsula) and Some of Its Ecological and Behavioral Characteristics V. V. Shaganov The issues are available at the following links: - Volume 65, No. 4, 2025 - Volume 65, No. 5, 2025

This year, a scientific team of ecologists from the A.N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution of the Russian Academy of Sciences (IEE RAS) completed the field season on the Commander Islands. They are currently actively processing the collected scientific data and planning new stages of studying the ecosystem of our unique islands, including extinct species. Aleutskaya Zvezda journalists spoke with the team leader, Arkady Borisovich Savinetsky, Head of the Historical Ecology Laboratory at IEE RAS, and his colleagues to discuss the habitat of the Steller's sea cow and whether it truly became extinct due to humans. The truth is that the Steller's cormorant was flightless, and how the Commander Islands differ from all the other islands in the Aleutian chain. The interview is available in the PDF version of the newspaper.

Andrey Zaitsev, a leading researcher at the Laboratory for the Study of Ecological Functions of Soils and head of the Technology Transfer Center at the Institute of Ecology and Evolution of the Russian Academy of Sciences, participated in the Kuban 24 television channel's "Details" program, where environmentally friendly methods for recycling rice straw were discussed live. The expert briefed the audience on the results of the institute's recently successfully completed experiment on decomposing rice straw using soil invertebrates (more details about the experiment can be found here). The prospects for scaling up this laboratory experiment in the fields of Kuban were also discussed. The Kuban 24 program can be viewed at this link (Broadcast for November 27, 2025, at 12:10 PM).

Since 2007, a large international project to reintroduce (restore) the population of a once widespread cat species, the Persian leopard (also known as the Caucasian or Anatolian leopard), has been underway in the North Caucasus. The project was developed by the A.N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution of the Russian Academy of Sciences and approved by the Ministry of Natural Resources of the Russian Federation in 2007. IEE RAS is its leading scientific organization. Scientists from the Institute of Mountain Ecology of the Russian Academy of Sciences (IEMT RAS) are participating in the project. The project was also supported by the A.K. Tembotov Institute of Ecology and Geography of the Russian Academy of Sciences (IEGT RAS), the Caspian Institute of Biological Resources of the Dagestan Federal Research Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences, zoologists from the Moscow Zoo, the Caucasus and North Ossetian Nature Reserves, the Alania and Elbrus National Parks, staff of the Caucasian Leopard Recovery Center at Sochi National Park, with the assistance of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and the European Association of Zoos and Aquariums (EAZA), and several other organizations. The Russian federal project is part of an international effort to restore this subspecies throughout its range. Unfortunately, funding for the project has effectively ceased; international organizations have withdrawn, as has RusHydro, which supported the work in the Central Caucasus from 2017 to 2023. Anna Yachmennikova, a senior researcher at the Institute of Ecology and Evolution of the Russian Academy of Sciences and a candidate of biological sciences, spoke to Poisk about what has been achieved over the years, what hasn't, and what the future holds. - Anna, how many cats have been released into the wild since the project began, and how many continue to live in the wild in the regions where they were released? - I can give a precise figure for the first part of the question: fifteen. Seven leopards (four males and three females) were released in the Western Caucasus, and eight animals (four males and four females) in the Central Caucasus. I can't answer the second question with certainty, as we currently lack the necessary standard monitoring equipment for the area covered. We have a small number of camera traps from our partners at the Institute of Mountain Ecology in Kabardino-Balkaria, and there are camera traps purchased for North Ossetia-Alania in 2017-2018. The Caspian Institute of Biological Resources in Dagestan also installed a few cameras, but all of this is completely insufficient to obtain an objective picture. The special collars that all the animals were equipped with upon release have expired, the batteries are exhausted, and the collars themselves have come loose on many animals. There are no new collars available. Persian leopards are occasionally spotted here and there, but we can't confirm whether they're ours unless we receive a photo. Each released animal has a "spot passport." Leopards enter the North Caucasus from Azerbaijan, Georgia, and South Ossetia. Natural dispersal of young individuals from the core population remaining in Iran is underway. They don't travel to our region often, but such sightings are nevertheless recorded almost annually. Sometimes cats are captured on camera traps, and then we can confirm that they are indeed our released predators from the Sochi center (by comparing the trap photos with the photos in the "passports"). There is currently no complete and reliable information regarding the presence of cubs in the wild. – How many animals are needed for the population to become stable and begin to develop relatively sustainably? – According to our estimates, there should be at least 50 breeding Persian leopards in the North Caucasus. The regular birth and survival of cubs are crucial components of development; without them, any population will sooner or later disappear. – So such a large number of animals no longer exist today. Why was it necessary to develop and adopt the project at all? Since the disappearance of leopards in the North Caucasus, the biota has been occupied by other fauna, including predators, and the region's relatively small territory has been significantly transformed by human activity. – The Caucasus Mountains ecoregion, due to its remarkable biodiversity, is incredibly stable. All the components that existed 100 years ago are present here, except for the leopard—the key regulator of food chains and stabilizer of ecosystems. The global scientific community believes it is necessary to revive species that have been extinct for no more than 100 years to restore ecosystem health. The last Persian leopard was killed in the North Caucasus in the 1950s. The timeframe is appropriate." Reviving such a large predator, and for the first time in history, from scratch, is a major and exciting challenge from both a scientific and practical standpoint. When Academician Vyacheslav Vladimirovich Rozhnov, then Director of the Institute of Ecology and Evolution of the Russian Academy of Sciences, presented this idea to Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, he received the president's enthusiastic support. In 2009, the Sochi center was established, with the primary goal of breeding and preparing this species for release into the wild. The first two male leopards were brought from Turkmenistan. In April 2010, two females from Iran arrived, and in October 2012, a pair of leopards from the Lisbon Zoo. This marked the beginning of a very large and multifaceted project. Its success depends on many factors, one of the most important being the coherence and coordination of all components of the vast team. In essence, each part of the project is, in some way, an independent program. As an example, I'll use the preparation of a predator for an encounter with a human. Each leopard undergoes this training while growing up at the center. Then, it takes its own "state exams". Here's one of them: What decision will a predator make if it encounters not a large, dangerous man with a gun, but a woman or a child? The testing involves several provocation stages: first, the subjects position themselves and move so that they face the direction from which the leopard might emerge (toward its enormous enclosure). The subjects are invisible. The next stage is more provocative: the subjects turn their backs to the predator. This would seem to be the ideal position for an attack. To prevent this from happening, in the wild, a leopard must be extremely reluctant to encounter a biped, regardless of its size or actions, and if it does encounter one, it must quickly increase the distance between itself and them. All these conditioned reflexes are implanted in the animal's consciousness by its handlers while it grows in the center. The animal is taught never to regard a human as "lunch or dinner.” Our institute, in collaboration with colleagues from the Moscow Zoo, has developed numerous tests to assess the readiness of spotted predators for a free life. These are modified and refined based on the experience gained. However, controversial situations still arise from time to time. In one such case, one of the animals was diagnosed with hip rickets during development, and one hind leg sometimes malfunctioned. This called into question its ability to hunt large game as an adult. Experts doubted the advisability of its release, despite its good behavioral results, but the Ministry of Natural Resources decided otherwise. From its first days on its own, the leopard adopted a cautious lifestyle, avoiding chasing deer and wild boar, catching smaller animals, and, for the time being, adapting well. However, it did not survive its first winter (the most critical natural test of survival) – in December, we received a death signal from its collar. It's important to note the following: despite its physical limitations, the animal remained docile, never attempted to intrude on human habitation, and never hunted easy prey — cattle (it hunted jackals, badgers, raccoon dogs, foxes, etc.). In other words, its upbringing proved to be exceptionally sound. – The first leopards were sent to "conquer the unknown” in the Caucasus Nature Reserve. Then the location of the release changed, dropping a few animals in North Ossetia-Alania in a small range of ​​specially protected areas. Why? – The Kharkiv Shaposhnikov Caucasian State Nature Biosphere Reserve is the oldest (established in 1924 - Ed.) and largest protected area in the North Caucasus. It would have been logical to begin the release there. But then a number of unaccounted factors came to light. The most important was that there were no historical traces of predators in this area. Leopards record these traces even decades after their relatives have disappeared. This helps the new inhabitants adapt. While exploring a new territory, they suddenly stumble upon the spots where the spotted animals had previously roamed. "Aha," the cat thinks, "relatives lived here, so this must be a good place.” We released our first predators into "deep space." Moreover, much of the preparation was done with a familiar forested habitat in mind, and the Caucasus Nature Reserve has many alpine and subalpine zones. Naturally, these were completely unfamiliar to the spotted ones. Another unaccounted for initial factor was the high population density of competing predators—bears and wolves. While the high density of ungulates seemed an undeniable advantage in the area, the sheer number of competitors was a significant disadvantage. A large ungulate must not only be hunted, but also consumed entirely to replenish the energy expended, meaning it must be able to preserve the food for several days. Few animals, for example, can consume a large deer in one sitting. The leopard catches it, eats it, and decides to rest, when suddenly a bear shows up uninvited. “Come on, share your dinner!" It's pure racketeering. It turns out the cat wasn't trained in self-defense. Having expended its energy and strength, it's forced to give up its "honestly earned" reward. Once or twice this happens, the leopard becomes "offended" and leaves the inhospitable land. However, in North Ossetia-Alania, not only are historical traces of Persian leopards preserved, but fresh ones are regularly spotted. Both border guards and hydroelectric power station workers have repeatedly spotted the alien animals, filming them with video cameras and taking photos with camera traps. Psychological factors played a significant role in the selection of North Ossetia-Alania as the territory: the republic's coat of arms depicts the Persian leopard (also known as the Caucasian leopard), and residents welcomed the opportunity to have live predators in their native nature reserves. Environmental education, public outreach, and educational activities are among the most important subprograms of our work. For example, the difficulty of implementing it in Dagestan became one of the decisive reasons for the absence of Sochi animals here, although by most other parameters the conditions are excellent. – Does the territory of the Chechen Republic meet all the requirements if, despite the termination of project funding, you've continued research there? – The fact is that, together with the Berkut State Budgetary Institution of the Ministry of Natural Resources of North Ossetia-Alania, we received support from the Presidential Fund for Nature—a grant for the project, 'Guardian of the Mountains and Masters of the Forests—the Caucasian Leopard and Bison.' The project aims to create a modern wildlife monitoring system in the republic, including camera traps and other modern technology. The system will be implemented in the Turmonsky Nature Reserve, where, according to our information, released leopards live. We also won a similar grant from the Presidential Foundation for the Chechen Republic as participants in a larger project to monitor biodiversity in Russian protected areas. Research initiated last year with support from the Nature and People Foundation showed that the area is suitable for leopard recovery. Incidentally, it is one of the project's target areas; it was simply not possible to begin systematic work there previously. However, before drawing final conclusions, it is necessary to assess the potential habitat capacity of the animals throughout the Russian Caucasus and determine which areas are suitable for the successful existence of a certain number of individuals. A key part of the survey is studying the food supply of local ecosystems, i.e., assessing the abundance of the leopard's main prey species (ungulates and medium-sized carnivores), and the threats and risks to spotted leopards, specifically the population density of competitor species (large carnivores comparable to the leopard). The creation of a standard monitoring model will enable continuous, non-invasive observation of the most mobile elements of ecosystems (animals) and the recording of new leopard incursions using camera traps. In 2024, we began this work in the Shatoisky District, within the Sovetsky Federal Nature Reserve. This year, we are expanding and improving the quality of this work through our participation in the project "Formation of a National Photo Monitoring Network in Protected Areas of Russia." – So, the project continues, but has now been fragmented into separate programs with independent funding? – Absolutely. Of course, a unified program, unified funding, and unified coordination are more effective. Unfortunately, life makes its own adjustments, sometimes quite significant. Several projects to conserve rare animal and bird species are currently underway across the country: the Amur tiger, the Siberian crane... Different teams are doing what they know best and as best they can. Some crumbs, tiny seeds of their labor, sprout and take root, and nature takes them and returns the result. We hope that this Persian predator will eventually establish itself in the North Caucasus. Perhaps one of our spotted cats has already given birth to kittens; we just don't know it yet. Related materials: KP: "Genetic memory and 'racketeering' in the forest: Scientists reveal secrets of selecting 'new lodgings' for Persian leopards in Sochi"

Fig. 1. Expedition participants: Mekhova E.S., Deart Yu.V., Dgebuadze P.Yu., Neplyukhina A.A., Melnik N.O. In September-October 2025, researchers from the A.N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution of the Russian Academy of Sciences (IEE RAS) took part in the first expedition to study salt lakes on the islands of the Gulf of Tonkin (Northern Vietnam). The work was conducted on the islands of the Van Don region (Quang Ninh Province) in collaboration with the Russian-Vietnamese Tropical Center. Fig. 2. The location of the research in the area of ​​Vandon Island (the dots indicate the surveyed salt lakes). More than 100 lakes, isolated from the sea to varying degrees, are known in this region. They represent a unique natural laboratory, allowing us to assess the influence of salinity, temperature, and mineral composition on the development of aquatic flora and fauna. However, until now, their hydrological and hydrochemical characteristics, as well as the composition of their fauna, remained virtually unexplored. Fig. 3. General view of one of the studied salt lakes. During the expedition, six bodies of water, varying in their connection to the sea, were surveyed. Scientists measured key hydrochemical parameters, conducted depth measurements, and collected fish and macroinvertebrate samples for subsequent analysis. Fig. 4. Diversity of underwater landscapes of salt lakes. Preliminary results showed that three lakes are connected to the sea via underwater channels, two are semi-enclosed lagoons, and one is a completely isolated body of water. The isolated lake lacks tidal dynamics and exhibits pronounced stratification of the water column. In several lakes, elevated bottom water temperatures were detected, possibly indicating the presence of hydrothermal vents. In total, the presence of at least 20 fish species (including representatives of the families Gobiidae, Terapontidae, Leiognathidae, Gerreidae, and Mugilidae) and a significant diversity of macroinvertebrates — gastropods, bivalves, and crustaceans — was recorded in the studied biotopes. Further processing of the collected samples will be carried out in the laboratories of the Institute of Ecology and Evolution of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The data obtained will form the basis of the first database on the biological and hydrochemical diversity of salt lakes in Northern Vietnam and will help identify priority areas for future research. Polina Dgebuadze, PhD, head of the department, noted: "This work opens a new avenue for studying Vietnam's unique coastal ecosystems. Studying salt lakes will not only allow us to describe their biodiversity but also assess their role in regional ecological and hydrological processes."

Photo by: José Antonio Hernández-Blanco Scientists from Sberbank and the Institute of Ecology and Evolution of the Russian Academy of Sciences have developed an automatic method for recognizing wolf howls. The role of the wolf in regulating ecological processes is difficult to overestimate. This predator is widespread throughout Russia and has a significant impact on the country's economy. The wolf is also a model species for studying the mechanisms of social organization and ecological adaptation, thanks to its behavioral characteristics. However, there are still far too few objective and reliable methods for estimating wolf population size. One of the characteristic behavioral traits of this species is acoustics: wolves howl to rally a pack and signal their presence to neighboring groups. Analysis of recordings of wolf family choruses allows us to determine the number of individuals, as well as the sex and age composition of the pack. This method is effective when using networks of automatic sound recorders (so-called "sound traps") in wolf habitats. However, manual processing of the resulting data stream remains labor-intensive, time-consuming, and ineffective. Training neural networks to detect and distinguish wolf acoustic signals from background noise will significantly improve howl detection efficiency, while automatically determining the number of individuals, their sex, and age group will provide scientists with an objective tool for assessing population size and structure. A team of Russian scientists from the A.N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution RAS, Sberbank, and the S.I. Vavilov Institute of the History of Natural Science and Technology RAS have developed a method for automatically recognizing wolf howls using artificial intelligence. Modern and archival recordings of wolf howls, accumulated by the team over the past 40 years, were used to train the model. The project's core idea is to use the advanced Audio Spectrogram Transformer (AST) neural network architecture to create an intelligent detector. A two-stage algorithm reliably identifies any animal sounds in a recording and then specifically identifies wolf howls. This solves the problem of data imbalance, where howl recordings are relatively few in the overall sound dataset. Based on internal calculations, the first model detects the sounds of any animal in an audio stream with 98.3% accuracy and 99.3% recall. The second model, which distinguishes wolf howls from other animal howls, demonstrates 89.6% accuracy and 93.4% recall. All models, their weights, and the source code for the demo application are openly available on GitHub. The results were published in the prestigious international journal Q1 Scientific Reports (Nature), in the article "Automated Detection of Wolf Howls using Audio Spectrogram Transformers": Nikolai Makarov, Andrey Savchenko, Iuliia Zemtsova, Maxim Novopoltsev, Andrey Poyarkov, Anastasia Viricheva, Maria Chistopolova, Alexander Nikol'skii, and Jose A. Hernandez-Blanco, Scientific Reports volume 15, Article number: 26641 (2025). The practical application of this technology will enable objective monitoring of wolf populations nationwide. Zoologists will gain a powerful tool for studying the behavior, as well as social and spatial structure of wolf populations. This approach also paves the way for the development of similar monitoring systems for other species. Related materials: Pskov News Feed: "Russian scientists are using AI to track wolf populations" MediaTok: "Russian scientists are using AI to track wolf populations" Agrotime: "Russia has learned to recognize wolf howls among a variety of sounds" TASS Science: "Russia has developed an AI system for monitoring wolf populations" News.Mail: "Russia has developed an AI system for monitoring wolf populations" TechnoNovosti: "Russia has created an AI system to recognize wolf howls"

November 22 of 2025 marked the conclusion of the three-day All-Russian Scientific and Practical Conference "Monitoring Wildlife in Specially Protected Natural Areas" in Moscow. The Conference was initiated by public organizations: the V.E. Sokolov Theriological Society of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the Far Eastern Leopards NGO, and the Expert Council for Nature Management. The conference's organizers also included the M.A. Menzbir Russian Society for the Conservation and Study of Birds, the A.M. Nikolsky Herpetological Society of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the Russian Entomological Society, the Russian Committee for the UNESCO Man and the Biosphere Program, and the A.N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The conference was attended by 144 people—heads and specialists from 59 federal state-funded institutions managing protected areas (including 20 directors), as well as staff from the Institute of Ecology and Evolution of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the Institute of Geography, the Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute, the Lomonosov Moscow State University Zoological Museum, the All-Russian Research Institute of Ecology, the Moscow Zoo, and other relevant government and public organizations. Thirty-two members of the International Public Organization "Expert Council on Nature Reserve Management" also participated. The final resolution of the Conference can be viewed at  this link. Conference materials will be gradually posted at this link.

On November 20, 2025, the All-Russian scientific and practical conference "Monitoring Wildlife in Specially Protected Natural Areas" opened in Moscow. The conference was initiated by public organizations: the V.E. Sokolov Theriological Society at the Russian Academy of Sciences, the Far Eastern Leopards NGO, and the Expert Council on Nature Reserves. The meeting's organizers also included the M.A. Menzbir Russian Society for the Conservation and Study of Birds, the A.M. Nikolsky Herpetological Society of the RAS, the Russian Entomological Society, the Russian Committee for the UNESCO Man and the Biosphere Program, and the A.N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution of the RAS. On the first day, 119 people participated in the Conference, including heads and specialists from 55 federal state-funded institutions managing protected areas, as well as staff from the Institute of Ecology and Evolution of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the Institute of Geography, the Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute, the Lomonosov Moscow State University Zoological Museum, the Moscow Zoo, and other relevant government and public organizations. Thirty-one members of the International Public Organization "Expert Council on Nature Reserves" also participated. You can view the event program at the link. Source: Our Nature Reserve Business Related materials: Zapcamtrap: "A conference on animal monitoring in protected areas was held in Moscow" Scientists Vesti: "Monitoring the experience of nature reserves" Protected Country: "The three-day All-Russian scientific and practical conference 'Monitoring wildlife in specially protected natural areas' has concluded in Moscow"