The expedition of the Arctic Scientific Center of the Rosneft Company together with the A.N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Center for Marine Research of Moscow State University returned to Arkhangelsk. The scientists worked from August to September on the protected archipelagos of Franz Josef Land (North cluster of the Park) and Novaya Zemlya (South cluster of the Park) in order to continue the study of marine mammals living in the Russian Arctic. The tasks of the expedition included clarification of the current state of the species, as well as the introduction of new methods for studying animals in the protected areas. According to the head of the expedition, leading engineer of the IEE RAS, Svetlana Artemyeva, the work was divided into two thematic sections: the study of the Atlantic subspecies of the walrus and the study of the polar bear. “To assess the state of the species in protected areas, we surveyed 26 islands of the Franz Josef Land archipelago and the Oranskie Islands of Novaya Zemlya. In preparation for the expedition, our group gathered information about approximately twenty potential locations of large walrus rookeries. Not all locations were confirmed. Thus, we did not find walruses at Cape Ostantsovoy on Hayes Island, although walruses usually lay there; we did not find walruses at Cape Frankfurt on Gall Island or on Adelaide Island. But we managed to find a new burrow on Jackson Island, where our colleagues set up a camera trap to watch the animals,” said Svetlana Artemyeva.

On September 24, a press conference dedicated to the largest expedition in the last decade to study Arctic animal species was held in Moscow. The expedition was organized by the specialists of the Arctic Scientific Center LLC together with the A.N. Severtsov IEE RAS and the Center for Marine Research of Lomonosov Moscow State University. The participants of the press conference talked about the expedition and presented the atlas “Russian Arctic. Space. Time. Resource.", which is a collection of valuable scientific data on physical geography, ecology and the history of research in the Arctic zone of the Russian Federation. The expedition lasted a little over a month. The research vessel left the port of Arkhangelsk and headed for the northern part of the Arctic Ocean. The expedition members were divided into two main groups: some studied polar bears, others - the Atlantic walrus. The first group was based at the Cape Zhelaniya station of the Russian Arctic National Park. The second group was based on the research vessel "Ivan Petrov" in the area of the island of the Franz Josef Land archipelago, as well as the Oran Islands and Victoria Island.

The first stage of filming of the unique documentary "Edge Of The World" in the Russian Arctic National Park has been finished. The film depicts the work of Russian scientists in the Arctic and the long-term study of the Red Book polar bear in the protected archipelagos of Franz Josef Land and Novaya Zemlya. The documentary is being filmed on a grant from the Russian Geographical Society. The first phase of filming took place at the field station of Cape Zhelaniya Park of Novaya Zemlya. The documentary cinematographer and editing director Maxim Pervakov filmed for two months the work on monitoring the polar bear population of the scientific group of the A.N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The head of the Russian Arctic stressed that in 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, logistics in the protected areas were complicated by the lack of tourist flights on Novaya Zemlya and Franz Josef Land. “It was only possible to carry out the expedition to the Park in the planned volume, in addition to taking pictures, thanks to the financial support of the Ministry of Natural Resources of Russia,” Kirilov emphasized. The central characters of the film "Edge Of The World", a group of biologists led by a senior researcher at the A.N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution RAS, Ph.D. Ilya Mordvintsev working on Novaya Zemlya for the third time in 2020. Scientists have studied six bears. The footage of the installation of a bait on a bear and direct monitoring (weighing, taking samples of blood, fur, etc.) will be included in a future documentary.

Leopards released in August are slowly settling into the nature of the Caucasus. So far, their collars have sent quite a lot of signals via satellite, some of which have already been checked on site by the field monitoring teams. During the first days, all released animals moved near the places of release, since they were not used to the fact that their movement was not limited by the boundaries of the enclosure. Both in the Caucasian reserve (Krasnodar region / Adygea) and in the Turmon reserve (North Ossetia), the males, first of all, chose the direction up the slope and climbed the nearest mountain. This is what Kodor did in the Caucasus Nature Reserve - he climbed up to 2500 msl, while Baksan in North Ossetia traveled from the place of release up to 1400 msl. Females prefer the path with less resistance, they went lower or kept to the same heights where they were released. Laba preferred altitudes of 2000-2400 msl in the Caucasian reserve, Agura - 600-800 msl in Ossetia. To date, all leopards keep to the specially protected natural areas where they were released. During the period after the release of all the animals, Baksan alone once left the Turmon reserve, but moved no further than 1.5 km, after which he returned. In the Caucasian nature reserve Laba has already covered about 56 km, the Kodor - about 50 km. At the same time, the paths of the released leopards never crossed, because they initially chose different directions. Now there are about 4 km between them. Neither went far from the place of release - in a straight line, this distance is no more than 6 km.

A group of researchers from IEE RAS, Mari and Penza State Universities, the Institute of Cytology of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the Privolzhskaya Forest-Steppe State Nature Reserve and the National Museum of Natural History in Paris discovered a new variant of limb deformation in amphibians under the influence of trematodes. Previously, only two reliably proven cases of morphological anomalies in amphibians under the influence of trematodes were known: in North America, the trematode Ribeiroia ondatrae causes the development of extra limbs and various limb deformities in amphibians, while Acanthostomum burminis leads to different variants of amelia, i.e. lack of limbs.

Congratulations to Sergei Oganesovich Movsesyan, Academician of the National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Armenia, Scientific Director of the Joint Scientific and Experimental Center of the Institute of Zoology, National Center for Ecology and Geology of the National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Armenia and the A.N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution of Russian Academy of Sciences, with the awarding of the medal of the Order of Merit to the Fatherland of the second degree for his great contribution to the development of science and long-term conscientious work by decree of the President of the Russian Federation N177 on issuing state awards of the Russian Federation. Award video enclosed

The updated Program for the restoration (reintroduction) of the Persian leopard in the Caucasus part of its range was developed by the A.N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution of the Russian Academy of Sciences (IEE RAS) and WWF-Russia in accordance with the Working Group protocol instructions given for the implementation of that Program by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Ecology of Russian Federation. Program document takes into account all comments and recommendations received from members of Working group. During work on the Program The A.K. Tembotov Institute of Mountain Ecology of the Russian Academy of Sciences and The Caspian Institute of Biological Resources of the Dagestan Federal Research Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences were involved. The Attachment to the updated Program for the restoration (reintroduction) of the Persian leopard in the Caucasus part of its range (Guideline for the leopard breeding center (keeping animals and monitoring and training them before release) was developed by the A.N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution of the Russian Academy of Sciences (IEE RAS) and WWF-Russia in accordance with the Working Group protocol instructions given for the implementation of that Program by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Ecology of Russian Federation. The protocol document takes into account all comments and recommendations received from members of Working group. Experts from the Moscow Zoo and ‘Leopard Land’ National Park were involved. Authors: Rozhnov V.V., Yachmennikova A.A., Dronova N.A., Phitikov A.B.,Magomedov M.-R.D., Chestin I.E., Mnatsekanov R.A., Blidchenko E.Yu., Voshchanova I.P., Alshinetski M.V., Alibekov A.B

The polar bears are the largest land-based predators on the planet. They have been living in the Arctic ice for centuries. However, it becomes more and more difficult each year for them to survive in their natural habitat due to ice melting, poaching, anthropogenic factors, etc. To keep the Master of the Arctic safe, the Federal service for supervision of natural resources of the Russian Federation (Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment), the International Environmental Fund "Clean seas" and the Autonomous Non-Commercial Organization "Arctic Initiatives" signed a tripartite agreement on conducting air count tests. They are going to take place from August 1 to August 20, 2020 in the Arctic zone of the Russian Federation. PROJECT PLAN A.N.Severtsov Institute's of Ecology and Evolution of the Russian Academy of Sciences specialists in polar bears and marine mammals are to fly over the total of 10 thousand kilometers from Amderma and Sabetta. Their task is to study the distribution and calculate the number of polar bears (the population of Barents and Kara Seas area) on land and islands in the ice-free period for the first time. The scientists are also collecting detailed information on the sea mammals living in the same area as the polar bear and how they interact with each other. Another mission of the specialists is to assess the overall environmental situation in the studied area of the Arctic. During the expedition they are assisted by experienced pilots and the LA-8 amphibious aircraft which represents the Russian small aircraft. PROJECT IMPLEMENTATION

The current state of the polar bear population and its distribution in the Arctic is an issue that has been of concern to the specialists studying this region for decades. The polar bear is the largest representative of the family Ursidae and the order Carnivora. This bear is protected by the Russian and International Red Data Book. It is the top of the food chain in its habitat and an important indicator of the entire Arctic ecosystem. Today the world, especially the circumpolar countries, Canada, the US, Norway and Denmark, is drawn to polar bears. In the 1970s, Russia counted these predators every year, but in recent decades only expert estimates of the state of the polar bear population have been published based mostly on lair count: how many lairs, where they are and how many cubs. However, it is impossible to see the full picture with this method. "We have to know how many bears there are in different parts of the Arctic to see which processes the population is undergoing, how far the bears migrate, the structure of various groups, and the threats the bears are exposed to considering human activity and environmental processes. We need to create this kind of comprehensive monitoring," noted academician Vyacheslav Rozhnov, director of the Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution at the Russian Academy of Sciences.  

On July 9, 2020 the updates of the Red List of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) were published. Among others, these changes affected the common hamster (Cricetus cricetus), a species that 50 years ago was very numerous both in Western Europe and in Russia, being both a pest of agriculture and a commercial species. However, afterwards its number throughout the entire range began to decline sharply, and in a number of European countries it disappeared completely. The common hamster status, according to the IUCN classification, has risen from LC (Least Concern) to CR (Critically Endangered). Thus, the common hamster has passed 4 stages of conservation status in a row, which is an unprecedented case. Previously, it was as common as the gray rat (Rattus norvegicus) or the common squirrel (Sciurus vulgaris), but now its status is the same as that of the saiga (Saiga tatarica) or black rhinoceros (Diceros bicornis)! This, however, does not mean that hamsters are now as few as rhinos: the IUCN estimate takes into account not so much the total number of the species, but rather its trends and the risk of extinction. In European countries, the situation with the common hamster is the most dramatic. In Russia and Kazakhstan, their numbers are decreasing as well, but in many regions this species is not only numerous, but even causes harm to property. It is felt specifically by villagers and summer residents.

A.N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution of Russian Academy of Sciences within the framework of the Ministry of Education and Science project "Updating the instrument base of the leading organizations performing research and development in the academic sector of science" has acquired new equipment for the electron microscopy room: - Scanning electron microscope TESCAN MIRA 3 LMH - is equipped with a Schottky cathode, a detector for studying samples "in the light" and an energy dispersive microanalysis system AZtecOneX-act. (SEM TESCAN MIRA 3 LMH is one of the most modern hi-tech devices - a universal analytical complex for studying the morphology and ultrastructure of biological and industrial objects with an ultrahigh spatial resolution based on a scanning electron microscope and conducting a semi-quantitative microanalysis of biological samples. The Schottky auto-emission cathode provides resolution - 1.2 nm at 30 kV, magnification range without distortion of the field of view from 2 X to 1 000 000 X, scanning speed 20 ns / pixel, image saving up to 16 384 X 6 384 pixels and high performance. Energy dispersive microanalysis system AZtecOneX-act allows obtaining SEM images in secondary or reflected electrons, building maps of the distribution of elements in a certain area and obtaining color representations of several elements in one summary image with the possibility of overlaying them on an electronic image). - Sputtering installation Q150R ES Plus (Quorum Technologies)

 Starting from the 1-st of August, in the Arctic zone of the Russian Federation will be held test flight counting of polar bears. The expedition is organized within the framework of the project "Host of the Arctic", initiated by Federal service for supervision of natural resources of the Russian Federation (Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment) and International Environmental Fund "Clean seas", with participation of  "Arctic Initiatives" Foundation. During the project implementation it is planned to explore the coastal areas from Yamal to Taimyr, to conduct trial flight counting of polar bears and marine mammals, and to assess the overall environmental situation in the Russian Arctic. The immediate organizers of the project are: Svetlana Radionova, Head of Federal service for supervision of natural resources; Sergey Krikalev, Hero of the Soviet Union, Hero of Russia, Pilot-astronaut, President of the "Clean Seas" Foundation; Vasily Bogoslovsky, General Director of the "Clean Seas" Foundation; Andrei Patrushev, General Director of  the "Arctic Initiatives" Foundation; Vyacheslav Rozhnov, Academician, Director of Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution; Valery Tokarev, Hero of Russia, test-pilot, astronaut, chief pilot of expedition. According to the head of Federal service for supervision of natural resources Svetlana Radionova, today there are several threats to the polar bear, including poaching, global warming and human economic activity. The objectives of the project are:

A century has passed since the days when the law of homologous series in variation was first manifested. This event happened in 1920 in Saratov, in the third post-revolution year, in the frameworks of the III All-Russian Conference on Plant Breeding, then mobilized in view of current needs of agricultural practice, science and education. The report of a 33-year-old professor Nikolai Vavilov, who was accompanied by his students from the Saratov University, caused a sensation. Vavilov’s generalization on the phenomenon of the homologous series in variation of cultivated plants was reported on June, 4, 1920 and enthusiastically appreciated by the qualified breeders as a great scientific achievement comparable with the Mendeleev’s periodic Law of the chemical elements. On June 21, 1920, a message of the provincial Saratov branch of the Russian Telegraph Agency shared internationally the information on “the greatest discovery of world significance” which was addressed to the State government by the decision of the meeting. Very soon after the initial Russian publication (Vavilov 1920), the paper entitled “The Law of Homologous Series in Variation” was published in the Journal of Genetics, edited by W. Bateson and R.C. Punnett, the elder statesmen of genetics (Vavilov 1922).

At the Leopard Recovery Center of the Sochi National Park, examinations have been completed for 5 animals preparing for release into nature. After two years of training at the Center, leopards received all the necessary skills for an independent life. Before release, each animal was equipped with a satellite collar, which will allow monitoring their movement and assessing adaptation. The exact place of release for each predator will be determined in the near future. What happened? On July 22, at the Leopard Recovery Center of the Sochi National Park, satellite collars were put on five leopards. This is a great milestone both for the Center and for the leopards themselves. For young predators, this is a ticket to the wild. Before receiving a collar, every leopard has undergone rigorous testing and exams. At the moment, 3 females and 2 males are prepared for release into the wild: Agura, Aibga, Kodor (parents Alous and Cheri), as well as Laba and Baksan (parents Zadig and Andrea). Surprisingly, all 5 graduates from both couples were born on the same day - 06/03/2018. How does it happen? First, the animals are immobilized by injecting veterinary drugs through syringes loaded into long-range rifles. After that, scientists promptly collect all the necessary information about a specific individual: weight, size and other parameters of the animal, check claws, fangs, take blood and fur for analysis, photograph patterns of spots on the skin of leopards. All this data is necessary in order to make sure that the animals are healthy, as well as to provide the data for the creation of the so-called "leopard passport". Thanks to such passports, in the future, it is possible to accurately identify an animal by traces of its vital activity or photographs from camera traps.

  The "Master of the Arctic" project is being implemented within the framework of cooperation between Rosprirodnadzor and the International Ecological Fund "Clean Seas". In addition, the Arctic Initiatives Center is actively involved in this work. The scientific program of the experiment was developed by the A.N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution of the Russian Academy of Sciences (IPEE RAS), whose specialists will directly participate in aviation surveys and in the subsequent processing of the data obtained. The head of Rosprirodnadzor, Svetlana Radionova, at a press conference held on July 21, 2020 at the RIA-Novosti press center dedicated to the "Master of the Arctic" project, said that the polar bear is one of the most beautiful and strong animals. He really is the master of the Arctic. However, polar bears are listed in the Red Book, meaning direct interference with the population in the wild is out of the question, which is why the department organized an exploratory expedition, based on the results of which further work will be drawn up to preserve the population. In addition to the head of Rosprirodnadzor, the press conference on the "Master of the Arctic" project was attended by Hero of the Soviet Union, Hero of Russia, pilot-cosmonaut, President of the Clean Seas Foundation Sergei Krikalev; Vyacheslav Rozhnov, Academician of RAS, Director of IPEE RAS; General Director of ANO Arctic Initiatives Andrey Patrushev; General Director of the Clean Seas Foundation Vasily Bogoslovsky; and Hero of Russia, test pilot, cosmonaut, chief pilot of the expedition Valery Tokarev.

Russian scientists, together with colleagues from the State University of New York at Buffalo, studied the phylogeography, evolutionary rate, and species diversity of cladocerans of the Daphnia curvirostris complex. The sequences of four genes of this complex were studied and the existence of twelve separate species was confirmed. A previously unknown group of four rare species was found in the Far East. Scientists have found that these animals are endangered as a result of human activity. The researchers spoke about the results of the work on the pages of the prestigious zoological publication Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. The study was supported by a grant from the Russian Science Foundation (RSF). Daphnia curvirostris is a complex of Holarctic Cladocera species. These species are common in freshwater bodies of the Palaearctic, the largest of the zoogeographic regions of the planet. “Our work is devoted to the revision of one of the most common groups of cladocerans - Daphnia curvirostris sensu lato, that is, in a broad sense. The team studied the genetic and morphological features of the populations of these animals throughout their modern range. Our research has made a great contribution to the study of the biological diversity of continental water bodies of the Palaearctic, ”says Aleksey Kotov, Doctor of Biological Sciences, Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Chief Researcher at the A. N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

The Lake Baikal Foundation signed an agreement with the A.N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution RAS (IPEE RAS) to conduct serological and hormonal studies of the biomaterial of the Baikal seal, which was collected during the expedition in 2019, and also transferred part of the necessary funds. This is already the third agreement between the Baikal Foundation and IPEE RAS, aimed at developing research on the Baikal seal. The joint work of the Lake Baikal Foundation and IPEE RAS began with the initiation by the Foundation of the development of a comprehensive scientific program for the study of the Baikal seal and its habitat in 2018 in order to find innovative approaches to the registration and study of the Baikal seal and to provide expert recommendations for the conservation of the population. The second agreement, signed by the parties in 2019, was aimed at supporting a ten-day expedition with the purpose of studying and satellite tagging of the Baikal seal, during which 15 seals were tagged and 174 samples of biological material from 23 seals were collected using non-invasive and minimally invasive methods. This year, cooperation between the Foundation and IPEE RAS is aimed at analyzing the collected biomaterial and is a systematic and logical continuation of the work done for the competent preservation of a unique animal.

Well-known Russian ornithologist, researcher at the A.N.Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution RAS, candidate of biological sciences Sophia Rosenfeld worked for a week in the Nizhnekolymsky region of Yakutia. Together with the pilot Georgy Kirtaev on a small amphibious aircraft, they were engaged in aerial survey of geese. Journalist Alexei Kurilo interviewed her for the SakhaNews news agency, and this is what Sofya Borisovna reported: - There are many hunters in Yakutia, and they think this way: the birds flew by, we shot them, and they flew away somewhere. Where did they go? How many are there? Global trends are such that migratory birds do not belong to any country. They are not yours, they are not ours, they don’t belong to any of the continents. They hibernate in one country, fly through many countries, breed in Yakutia. And if for moose, wild boars, and some large mammals there are some quotas, there are some accounts, then the matter is much more complicated with migratory birds. We are asked the question: how do you count them? Here international cooperation is already necessary: birds do not recognize borders and do not understand political relations between countries. And it turns out that we do not know much. We do not have any accounting, monitoring. In all large countries of the world, more or less developed, there are accounts of the birds, and we are just beginning to approach this topic. And we are now trying to introduce aerial surveys of waterfowl, as well as cranes, owls, and large Arctic birds.