On June 22, 2022 Konstantin Bronislavovich Gongalsky, Deputy Director of the IEE RAS, Doctor of Biological Sciences, Head of the Laboratory for the Study of Ecological Soil Functions, received the diploma of a Professor of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The award ceremony took place in the Presidential Hall of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Congratulations to Konstantin Bronislavovich on a well-deserved title! Author of the photo: Andrey Luft, "Scientific Russia".

For the first time in Russia, a skin mite Promyialges italicus from the Epidermoptidae family was discovered by researchers. This will enable a deeper study of its distribution and faunal composition. The study is conducted by the staff of the A.N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution RAS. Feather mites of the Epdermoptidae family are persistent ectoparasites whose developmental stages are entirely on the skin of host birds. Some of their representatives, belonging to the subfamily Epidermoptinae and all genera of the subfamily Myialginae, have biological connections with bloodsucking flies Hippoboscidae, which parasitize birds, and less often with the lice Phthiraptera. Fertilized female ticks use flies and lice to disperse and infect other hosts. Attaching to these parasitic insects, female ticks either use them only for transfer to a new host individual, laying eggs on the cuticle around the attachment site in the process of moving, or additionally feed on the hemolymph (blood) of insects, biting through the cuticle of the abdomen. The species Promyialges italicus was first described only in 2019 in Italy, and so far little has been studied. Now it was first discovered in our country on the wings of a fly from a domestic pigeon that died from psittacosis. “The faunistic composition of ticks from this group in Russia is poorly understood, despite their veterinary significance. Neither is the exact species composition nor the distribution of representatives of this family. This article is only part of the preparatory stage for other studies of both ticks and flies with which these ticks are associated,” said Alexandra Yatsuk, junior researcher at the Laboratory of Soil Zoology and General Entomology, IEE RAS.

High school students, focused on profile education in biology, visited the laboratories at the A.N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution RAS and listened to the speeches of researchers. The history of our Institute and the main directions of research were relayed by Doctor of Biological Sciences, Deputy Director for Research, prof. RAS Konstantin Gongalsky. After that, Senior Researcher Daniil Korobushkin, Ph.D., gave a lecture “Science and travel, or how to travel while doing science”. He told the students about how to properly pack for the expedition. The future biologists had the opportunity not only to listen to the scientists, but also to observe their work. They visited the Aquarium of the Institute, where researcher Sergey Simanovsky, Ph.D., demonstrated the fish being kept there and described what scientific experiments their data was used for. Sergey also demonstrated the experiment with disposable masks and napkins being put into the water to test the rate of their biodegradation. After a period, fish are put into this water to see how microplastics will affect them.

Russian scientists as part of an international team studied the effect of serotonin on the formation of adrenal glands in rodents. It turned out that with an increase in its level during a certain period of pregnancy, fewer cells that produce adrenaline and norepinephrine are formed in the adrenal glands of the young. This change makes rodents less aggressive and anxious, but more friendly and inquisitive - it is these individuals that provide range expansion and migration in the wild. A similar mechanism for regulating the size of the adrenal glands has also been identified in human development. The results of the study, supported by a grant from the Russian Science Foundation (RSF), were published in the journal Nature Communications.

1st year undergraduates of the Institute of Animal Science and Biology, studying under the program "Resources of Vertebrate Animals (Protection, Reproduction, Rational Use)", completed an internship at the scientific and experimental base "Chernogolovka" of the A.N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution RAS. Future biologists acquired practical experience of field zoological research and were introduced to the fauna of the Moscow region. Practical training was preceded by theoretical training - undergraduates were presented with a series of lectures on the behavior and behavioral ecology of mammals, biology of reproduction of vertebrates, methods and technologies for keeping and breeding rare species of mammals. The lectures were conducted by experienced staff of the A.N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution RAS. Under the guidance of teachers of the K.A. Timiryazev RGAU-MSHA the students conducted daily route counts of animals in the vicinity of the scientific and experimental base and on its territory. In practice, undergraduates studied representatives of the fauna of amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals. They learned the main methods of taking morphometric indicators on the example of amphibians of 4 families. The students were given the opportunity to study a unique collection of vertebrates, which includes more than 2,000 individuals. Among them are predatory, insectivorous, rodents, lagomorphs and bats. As Professor of the Department of Zoology Lyubov Malovichko noted, the students did an excellent job with all the tasks set, and the acquired the necessary skills for their further scientific and labor activities.

The researchers described the species composition of crustaceans inhabiting the reservoirs of the Putorana Plateau, a unique mountain range in Central Siberia that is difficult to study. The authors determined the patterns of their distribution, and discovered 23 new taxa for the region, and 4 new for science. The results of the work, supported by a grant from the Russian Science Foundation (RSF) and published in the journal Diversity, will be invaluable for preserving the region’s unusually rich fauna for the Arctic, which is so vulnerable to human influence and global climate change.

An international team of scientists has found that the Malayan tupaya uses the same motor patterns as primates when moving through trees. This shows that some of the characteristics of primates appeared in evolution before themselves. The work was attended by scientists of the A.N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution (IEE) RAS. One of the most interesting mysteries in human evolution is the transition to the arboreal lifestyle of its ancestors, the primates. Most of them, including the most primitive representatives, are arboreal animals. According to one theory, it is assumed that human upright posture arose as a result of the adaptation of his closest ancestors to one of the most specialized ways of arboreal movement - brachiation. During brachiation, the animal moves by hanging under the branches of trees and throwing itself from branch to branch with its forelimbs (arms). This method is well suited for the movement of relatively large animals in crowns with horizontal branches. Gibbons, orangutans, and some South American monkeys are capable of brachiation. Today, the brachiation hypothesis has become one of the main reconstructions of the formation of human upright posture, since the body is located vertically, and the musculoskeletal system adapts to this position. However, the question of how exactly the primates mastered the arboreal way of life, and how their early locomotor adaptations were formed, remains open. Their next of kin can help answer it.

In mid-July, the next release of Caucasian leopards, which are traditionally called snow leopards in the Caucasus, is planned on the territory of North Ossetia-Alania. Among them are two females and one male, which will replenish the group of leopards that is being formed here. In April 2022, a group of animal behavior specialists from four organizations (IEE RAS, IEGT RAS, World Fund for Nature and the Moscow Zoo) assessed the readiness of these animals for life in nature using special behavioral tests. Behavioral tests for these purposes were developed by IEE RAS staff back in 2016, then refined with the participation of animal welfare specialists from the Moscow Zoo, who have gained invaluable and unique experience, and are used to evaluate all leopards before release. “The principle of such a test of leopards is to create a situation for them that provokes the animal to make the wrong decision (for example, in the case of testing the reaction of a leopard to a human, to become interested in them). If the animal does not succumb to provocation and fear of a human keeps the animal from wanting to take an interest in a new object, then this decision will contribute to its survival in nature. Experts evaluate not only the reaction of the animal and its behavior in the situation itself, but also what decision the leopard makes after the situation is resolved: whether it goes to the place where the human was, whether it is interested in the direction where the human went. It is also very important to understand that in nature a leopard will not follow a man,” says Anna Yachmennikova. The check showed that all three leopards (females Khosta and Laura and male Leo) are ready for release.

A three-week expedition of the A. N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution of the Russian Academy of Sciences to study the Sea of ​​Okhotsk gray whales in the protected waters of the Pacific Ocean has concluded. Further, scientific research in Olga Bay will be continued by employees of the Kronotsky Reserve. During the expedition, scientists identified 62 gray whales, of which half of the animals were encountered off the coast of Sakhalin in previous years. “We registered only 3 mother-calf pairs. This is quite a small amount, but not a problem, since the main feeding area for female gray whales with calves is still the Piltun area on Sakhalin. Kamchatka for them is only a part of the migratory route. As I said, at the very beginning of the feeding season, many individuals look noticeably emaciated. The observations, which will be continued by the staff of the reserve in July and August, will show how successfully the animals were able to fatten. Interestingly, active molting was observed in several individuals. Most likely, this is due to strong water freshening near the coast in places where the whales feed. Basically, they stayed at depths of 6-10 meters,” said Matvey Mamaev, expedition leader, leading engineer of the IEE RAS. Recall that it was the shore of the Olga Bay, near which the red-listed marine giants feed annually during migration, that became the first facility where the accumulated environmental damage was eliminated under the federal program. Work was going on in 2015. 1,300 tons of solid waste and scrap metal were removed from the protected coast, including 5,000 barrels with fuel residues.

From December 7 to April 6, the 87th voyage of the research vessel "Akademik Mstislav Keldysh" took place. During the voyage, the “Integrated Expeditionary Program for Performing Krill Resource Research and Research on the Ecosystem of the Southern Ocean (Antarctic Atlantic Sector)” was carried out, within the framework of which observations of marine mammals and birds were carried out. The starting point of the voyage was the port of Kaliningrad, where the expedition returned upon completion of their studies. The expedition consisted of scientists from the A. N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution RAS Pavel Chukmasov, Andrey Tretyakov, Larisa Tretyakova. Anton Chernetsky., the researcher of the IO RAS, Ph.D., also took part in the observations. For more than 1,400 hours, scientists observed mammals and birds during the expedition, including more than 420 hours in Antarctica. A total of 29 species of marine mammals were recorded during the observation period. 28 bird species have been recorded in Antarctica, 58 bird species have been recorded at the Atlantic crossing.

Russian scientists have established that glaciations, which occurred repeatedly in the Pleistocene, significantly affected the modern ranges of freshwater daphnia. These crustaceans colonized the waters where they can still be found today from a small number of lakes in Beringia, the land bridge between Eurasia and North America. The data obtained will help in the development of a complete biogeographic zoning of Northern Eurasia. The results of the study, supported by a grant from the Russian Science Foundation (RSF), are published in the journal Water. Cladocerans of the genus Daphnia are one of the most common planktonic organisms in fresh water. They play an important role in ecosystems, in particular, many species of fish feed on them. Daphnia are widespread in many climatic zones, but due to the harsh climate, their diversity in the Arctic and subarctic regions is significantly reduced. At the same time, in the course of the historical development of the Earth, there were several periods of freezing, when the temperatures on its surface were much lower than now. This greatly affected the habitats of living organisms, including crustaceans. For example, during the Pleistocene glaciations, many representatives of the Daphnia genus inhabited the Bering region, including Beringia itself, a wide land bridge connecting Eurasia and North America.

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

The researchers analyzed the running movements of the smallest gliding mammal on Earth, the pygmy gliding possum (Acrobates pygmaeus). The specialists of the A.N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution RAS (IEE RAS) tested the hypothesis that the smaller the animal, the easier it is for it to master gliding. To do this, they filmed the runs of animals on a wide flat horizontal surface in a spacious enclosure. As a result, data were obtained that can be compared with typical land mammals. In animals, the sequence of setting the legs (gait), speed-time characteristics of running and kinematics (movement in space of individual parts of the body) were studied. When analyzing footage, the researchers found that feathertail gliders use typical mammalian gaits. It is interesting, however, that all types of gaits used were only asymmetrical, i.e. gallop-like. Despite the fact that it is known from the literature that these pygmy gliders use symmetrical gaits on tree branches (similarly to, for example, the lynx and amble), these gaits were not registered in the experiments of Moscow scientists. As a result, a hypothesis was put forward that these pygmy gliders switch to gallop-like gaits if the width of the support along which they move allows them to put their paws at natural width without narrowing their stride.

Scientists have described the species composition of microorganisms in the intestines of the larvae of the emerald ash borer. This insect, native to Asia, is now actively spreading in Europe and North America and destroying ash trees, so it is important to control its population. This, in particular, can be helped by representatives of the intestinal microbiome, since among them the authors found parasitic bacteria potentially dangerous for the beetle. The results of the study, supported by a grant from the Russian Science Foundation (RSF), are published in the journal Forests. The spread of invasive species is an acute problem of modern ecology: the lack of adaptability of local organisms to invaders leads to significant damage to the ecosystem. Thus, the narrow-bodied ash emerald borer, which historically inhabited the territory of Korea, China, Japan and the Far East, at the beginning of the 21st century spread to North America and the European part of Russia. Its larvae damage the conductive system of ash trees, preventing the flow of nutrients from leaves to roots, and can also be potentially harmful to olive trees. The introduction of the borer into North America and Europe led to catastrophic consequences: hundreds of millions of trees died. This beetle is included in the list of the 20 most dangerous quarantine pests for the European Union and is actively studied by experts around the world.

On Saturday, July 16, three Caucasian leopards were released into the wild in the Central Caucasus. A male and two females begin to develop the Turmonsky reserve in the Republic of North Ossetia-Alania. In the Republic of North Ossetia-Alania, the third release of leopards, commonly referred to as Caucasian panthers, has been implemented. In 2018, the first pair of leopards, a male Elbrus and a female Volna, were released into the wild in the Alania National Park, and in 2020, a second pair was released in the Turmon Reserve - a male Baksan (Batraz) and a female Aguru (Agunda). On July 16, 2022, a male Leo and two females, Khosta and Laura, were released in the same location.

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

A large-scale experiment to assess the impact of coral bleaching on ​​the composition of fauna living inside coral colonies has begun at the Dambay Marine Research Station of the Russian-Vietnamese Tropical Center (Nha Trang Bay, Vietnam). At a depth of 4 m, carrier frames were installed, on which 400 fragments of Pocillopora coral colonies were planted (Fig. 1-3). During the year, with the help of thermal sensors and photographic recording, observations will be made of the dynamics of water temperature and changes in the color of corals. To control the composition of the fauna, 30 coral colonies will be selected monthly. It is known that when the water temperature rises above 30ᵒС, corals begin to eject intracellular symbionts - zooxanthellae algae, due to which a brightly colored coral loses its appeal and turns from bright green, purple or brown to white. The effect is known as bleaching. Single-celled zooxanthellae are the main food source for hard corals. If the algae disappear or become scarce, the coral starves and produces less slime. And mucus is the main source of food for specialized symbionts - crabs, shrimps, polychaetes and fish, so it is not only the coral that is starving, but also its inhabitants.

During the implementation of the program "Study of the Amur tiger in the Far East of Russia" within the framework of the "Permanent Expedition of the Russian Academy of Sciences to study the animals of the Red Book of the Russian Federation and other especially important animals of the fauna of Russia", the staff of IEE RAS carried out work in the Ussuriysky Reserve (NP "Land of the Leopard") in the south of Primorsky Krai. At the end of April 2022, camera traps that had been set up in the forest three months ago were taken down to collect footage. Data from 70 camera traps have been obtained, which will allow the Institute staff to estimate the number of tigers living in the reserve, their population density, and the abundance of their potential prey. This was the first count after the decline in the number of wild boar (the main prey of the tiger) as a result of the epizootic of African swine fever. And it was all the more joyful to note that tigers are not only present on the territory of the reserve, but, apparently, there will be more of them by the summer. The IEE RAS staff obtained unique footage of the courtship of a pair of tigers in late February, which allows us to expect the birth of offspring as early as early June 2022. We hope that next winter they will become the heroes of our photo reports.