Мелкоосоковые сообщества топей и мочажин болот севера Западной Сибири

Vertical distribution of PAHs during the evolution of permafrost peatlands of the European arctic zone

The results of the analysis of the relationship between the width of annual tree rings of various woody plants and snow cover characteristics are presented: the dates of setting-up and destruction (loss) of stable snow cover, the duration of its existence, the thickness and water content of snow cover for the period of maximum snow accumulation. The studied areas are the forest-tundra zone, the northern taiga subzone, the southern forest-steppe subzone, and the dry steppe subzone within boundaries of the West Siberian Plain. Data from observations of snow cover on routes and meteorological sites of Roshydromet for 1966–2020 (for forest tundra and northern taiga) and 1966–2018 (for forest-steppe and dry steppe) together with dendrochronological samples obtained by the authors in these natural zones and subzones were used for this study. It was found that the thickness and water content of the snow cover play greater role for the radial growth of trees in the forest-tundra and dry steppe as compared to the northern taiga and southern forest-steppe. In the dry steppe, the trees of the upper parts of the low ridges and flat interfluves (plakors) are more sensitive to these snow cover characteristics, while in the forest-tundra this is important for the lower parts of the slopes. The dates of destruction of stable snow cover are more significant in the southern regions than in the northern ones. In the southern forest-steppe, the early loss of the snow cover increases the rate of growth of tree rings, while in the dry steppe it weakens it. The dates of setting-up of the stable snow cover are more important for the growth of trees compared to the dates of its loss, especially in the forest-tundra and southern forest-steppe since the later it starts, the greater the growth of trees. Importance of the duration of the period with stable snow cover for tree growth is higher in the southern regions. Its increasing in the southern forest-steppe reduces the growth of trees but increases in the dry steppe.

The infinity of spaces, open spaces, the “White Silence” of the classical Arctic with a harsh climate, with its ice-bound Arctic Ocean, polar seas, archipelagos, islands covered with glaciers and snow, rocks breaking off into the sea, permafrost has always been a hostile environment, causing human fear. The icy Arctic desert on the shores turns into hard-to-reach areas of tundra, forest tundra and northern taiga. These are Siberia, Alaska, the Canadian Arctic archipelago, the Scandinavian-Icelandic polar regions. But it was their ignorance, their natural riches of furs, fish, forest, gold, and later oil and gas that attracted attention. With the advent of cinema, the Arctic and the North Pole crowning it, actually frozen ocean water, became the object of cinematographers. The whiteness of snow and ice refers us to the white sheet screen. The “white” polar nature appeared on it, affecting the destinies of people living in it, and those who came to master and transform it. The creators of cinema groped their way as well as the conquerors of the North Pole. At the beginning of the twentieth century . world directors Georges Milies, Bester Keaton, Lev Kuleshov, Charlie Chaplin have trodden the fantastic-comedy and dramatic silent cinematic Arctic path with their films. Then there were expedition documentaries, because the operators in the composition of the expeditions had to capture the historical events taking place in truly Arctic conditions, and a little later, feature films sometimes with world movie stars, in which, in accordance with the natural conditions of movement, new performers were introduced — animals, in particular dogs, deer, bears. The image, sound, and movement helped to enhance the demonstration of the color of Arctic landscapes and subjects on a white screen. Gradually, the Arctic occupied its niche in the panorama of world cinema not only as a decoration, but also as a full-fledged socio-geographical “actor”. However, the geography of film production of Arctic films is quite limited, although more than a hundred have been shot, which is explained by the few countries that surround the Arctic Ocean. The Arctic belongs to five states forming the Arctic Council — Russia, USA, Canada, Denmark, Norway. The article examines the history, genres, plot-thematic aspects of Arctic feature films.

This article presents the first results of long-term direct measurements of a few major components of carbon cycle in permafrost mire landforms in the sub-Arctic region of Western Siberia, Russia. It reveals the main features of geographical distribution of plant organic matter, including both the above-ground and below-ground fractions of live biomass, the biomass of dead roots (mortmass), and net primary production (NPP) in peat-accumulating flat palsa mires and in “khasyrei”—ecosystems of drained lakes in thermokarst depression on epigenetic permafrost. The study based on original methods of direct field measurements elaborated by authors for northern peatlands. In northern taiga, the NPP of palsa mires was found in the range of 300–580 g m−2 yr−1 and an average biomass of 1800 g m−2; in khasyrei, it accounts for 1100 g m−2 yr−1 and 2000 g m−2 of NPP and live biomass, respectively. In forest tundra, the live biomass of palsa mires was found in the range of 1000–1800 g m−2, and in khasyrei it was 2300 g m−2. The NPP of palsa mires were in the range of 400–560 g m−2 yr−1, and in khasyrei it was 800 g m−2 yr−1. Overall, we conclude that the south–north climatic gradient in Western Siberia is the main driver of plant organic matter accumulation. It was found different across mire ecosystems of the same types but located in different bioclimatic regions.

The area of anthropogenically disturbed lands is constantly increasing; thus, regeneration processes in landscapes, which are substantially determined by vegetation, are being studied all over the world. Industrial expansion to the Russian Far North is causing the appearance of large territories where plant and soil cover are completely destroyed and natural vegetation recovery takes place as primary succession. Direct field monitoring produces the most exact data on vegetation dynamics. This paper presents the results of our long-term study of primary succession on quarries located in 7 areas of forest tundra and southern tundra in North-West Siberia. Vegetation was monitored on 30 stationary key plots (5 * 5 m) and on the whole area of 17 quarries. The biodiversity of vegetation was considered on two levels (species and plant communities), and changes in species composition and plant diversity were analyzed. On two quarries (the New and Old Quarries) located in forest tundra, vegetation mapping allowed us to monitor changes in their vegetation as a dynamic sequence (4, 8, 12, 31, and 35 years after the start of primary succession). A quarry with a complex ground surface relief is a good full-scale model of regeneration processes developing within a heterogeneous landscape. A multivariant model of such processes has been elaborated on the basis of the vegetation maps obtained. The model describes the main trends in natural recovery in heterogeneous landscapes in the North. In diverse quarry habitats, primary succession starts at different times, not simultaneously, and the speed of succession not only differs between different habitats, but also varies with time. The highest difference in speed is observed at the initial stage (the maximum rate is typical of accumulative habitats), while at the next stage the difference between eluvial and transeluvial habitats decreases, and later, the rate of processes differs only between eluvial and accumulative sites. As opposed to the traditional viewpoint that the speed of primary succession becomes slower from stage to stage, our results have also shown that succession could accelerate during the ‘middle’ stages, concurrently with an increase in mosses’ and lichens’ participation in communities. Developing vegetation gradually eliminates sharp contrasts in environmental conditions within a quarry, because the plant cover levels out the moisture conditions and nutrient distribution. Thus, the main trend of succession in heterogenic landscapes is an increase in vegetation control over the abiotic environment and the expansion of areas under communities of moderate moistening habitats. Our long-term experiments, knowledge, and data have the potential to be included in international projects aimed at better understanding, monitoring, forecasting, and managing landscape processes in the Arctic.

Question: Can cation analyses of water samples within a peatland site be used to infer solute sources to the samples, and so provide an objective criterion of ombrotrophy?Location: Mire complexes within native Pinus sylvestris forest, in Abernethy Forest, north of the Cairngorm Mountains, Scotland, UK.Methods: Chemical analyses of major cations in 200 water samples, and χ2 analysis of contingency tables relating species occurrence in the corresponding quadrat samples to the ombrotrophic‐telluric division.Results and conclusions: The chemical data (especially the ratios Ca2+/Mg2+ and Na+/Mg2+) indicated a separation of about 140 essentially ombrotrophic samples from about 60 showing clear telluric influence; these conclusions are consistent with published rainwater analyses. For hydrological and meteorological reasons, a sharp separation cannot be expected, so the limit adopted here (Ca/Mg=1.0) is to some extent arbitrary, but the methods described provide a more objective criterion of ombrotrophy than any other. Contingency tables showed highly significant associations between species occurrence and the ombrotrophic‐telluric division. The strongest associations included: (ombrotrophic) Eriophorum vaginatum, Odontoschisma sphagni and Sphagnum cuspidatum; (telluric) Carex panicea, Potentilla erecta, Carex echinata, Narthecium ossifragum, Sphagnum auriculatum s.l., Agrostis canina, Molinia caerulea, Eriophorum angustifolium, and Sphagnum recurvum s.l. The Abernethy mires are arguably more comparable with mire complexes on base‐poor rocks in southern Scandinavia than with most ombrotrophic sites further south and west in Britain. As in Sweden, Narthecium ossifragum and Eriophorum angustifolium, generally ubiquitous on British and Irish ombrotrophic bogs, are “fen” plants at Abernethy.

Over 2500 species of invertebrate macrofauna and over 177 species of avifauna live in the forest–tundra of the Lower Ob region and adjacent areas of the northern taiga and shrub tundra. About half of the invertebrate species of the study area are northern—mostly hypo- and hemiarctic—tundra species; the rest are boreal and arctomontane-boreal Holarctic and trans-Palearctic species. The anthophilic and aerobiont insect assemblages include many boreal forest forms. A total of 153 species have been observed nesting at the taiga–foresttundra boundary; 81 species have been observed nesting at the tundra–forest-tundra boundary. The avifauna of the forest–tundra becomes enriched with taiga species in floodplain forests and with tundra species on the flat interfluve, in areas of tundra and tundra-like wetlands. The forest–tundra of the Lower Ob region has no avifauna and entomofauna of its own and contains a mixture of taiga and tundra faunas. It has been found that the ecotone effect is not pronounced in the taxonomic composition of birds and insects in the forest–tundra, where only some particular groups (such as amphibiont insects) have increased abundance.

A solution is suggested for the problem of quantitative estimation of elements of the paleoclimate by methods of multivariate statistical analysis, based on modeling of the interrelation between climate, type of vegetation, and the composition of recent spore and pollen spectra (SPS). Assuming that these relations in the past were analogous to the present ones, 150 recent SPS and data from 57 weather stations on four climatic characteristics were used for modeling. The complete set of these data is called a teaching sample, which has data on vegetation zones of the tundra, forest tundra, northern, middle, and southern taiga, small-leaved forests, and forest steppe. As the objects of palynological investigations, two fairly complete cross sections of fossil peat bogs were chosen, in the Suma floodplain meadow and at the mouth of Yantar Creek, the age of which was dated according to 14C. Methods of mathematical processing included statistical analysis, construction of maps (Kreiging, inverse, spline-approximation), stepwise regression analysis, the method of modem palynological analogs, and a procedure for quantitative estimation of the periodicity of changes in the paleoclimate. Regression equations were modeled, from which quantitative estimations of elements of the paleoclimate were reconstructed for the forest-steppe zone (last 2400 years) and of the middle-taiga zone for the whole Holocene. For the climatic optimum of the Holocene, warming (July temperatures 8° above modem ones) and an increase in precipitation (by 80-120 mm) are noted in the Subarctic. There is a region of stable provision with heat and moisture in central regions of Western Siberia, and also anomalous zones (cooling) along the east slope of the Urals and in the central northern region of the plain (Urengoi - Khanty-Mansiisk). Spectral analysis of paleoclimatic changes in series lasting 2400 and 10,000 years revealed hannonic components with periods of 3300, 1300-1400, 500, and 300 years for the series of July temperatures; and 3300, 1500-1800, 500, and 300 years for the January series. On the basis of them, equations were set up for prediction. Calculations show that in the forest-steppe zone the average monthly temperatures in July (currently 18.8°C) do not change significantly until 2350; a decrease will begin from 2450, with the maximum in 2650 (the temperature in July will drop by 1°C). With the lowering of temperatures, a reduction in the amount of precipitation is expected. The natural trend may be significantly disrupted by anthropogenically induced warming.

The formation features of water-soluble low-molecular-weight organic acids (LMWOAs) in a zonal series of automorphic soils on loose silicate rocks from the middle taiga to the southern tundra (typical podzolic, gley-podzolic, and surface-gley tundra soils) were first revealed by gas chromatography mass spectrometry and gas-liquid chromatography. The content of LMWOAs varies within the range of 1–14 mg/dm3, which corresponds to 1–5% of the total carbon of the water-soluble soil organic matter. It has been shown that a subzonal feature of gley-podzolic soils in the northern taiga is the high content of LMWOAs, including primarily the strongest aliphatic hydroxyl acids. Possible mechanisms of their formation and accumulation in soils have been considered.

The article presents an analysis of technologies and techniques for creating forest plantations used in the Arkhangelsk and Kirov Regions, as well as the Komi Republic, based on the materials of reforestation projects for 2020. The territories under consideration belong to 6 forest areas: the Northern taiga, the Dvina-Vychegda taiga, the Southern taiga, the coniferous- broad-leafed (mixed) forests, the Western Ural taiga and the area of tundra forests and sparse taiga. The database created on the basis of the data from reforestation projects includes 13 indicators: categories of reforestation areas, forest vegetation conditions (terrain, soil type, soil moisture, group of forest types, degree of turfing), as well as tillage methods, mechanisms and aggregates used for tillage and planting seedlings and saplings and planting stock type. It has been established that in the studied regions, reforestation is more often carried out in fresh (1–2-year-old) felling areas in place of spruce plantations of blueberry forests, with podzolic drained and poorly drained soils. When cultivating soil for forest plantations, excavators are widely used (44 %), replacing traditional tractors with ploughs (usually PL-1). In most areas, furrow tillage is prevalent (52 %), but strips, mounds and patch scarification are also common (40 %). Containerized spruce and pine planting stocks have become more widely used (more than 50 % of the area), though seedlings are extremely rare (7 % in the Kirov Region). The data obtained allow us to asses the real picture of the use of reforestation technologies in the taiga zone on the example of three subjects of the Russian Federation, which will help the subjects of the Russian Federation in making management decisions for exercising their powers in the reforestation field.

The total concentrations of nickel, copper, chromium, strontium, arsenic, lead, cadmium and cobalt were measured in berries and mushrooms, as well as manganese and iron in mushrooms. The study area (about 3500 km2) is situated on the border of the northern taiga and tundra forests (68–69°N) and is affected by emissions from the extensive Ni-Cu smelter complex at Monchegorsk, Kola Peninsula, NW Russia. Part of the study area, extending along the railway line used for transporting apatite concentrate, contains elevated quantity of strontium. Berries of Vaccinium vitis-idaea (82 samples), Vaccinium myrtillus (28), Rubus chamaemorus (42) and Empetrum hermaphroditum (40) and mushrooms of Leccinum auantiacum (47 samples), Leccinum scabrum (32), Russula vesca (25), Lactarius torminosus (8), Lactarius trivialis (9), Suillus luteus (10) and Xerocomus subtomentosus (20 specimens) were collected from 98 locations during 1987–1992. The nickel and copper concentrations in the berries, and nickel in mushrooms, correlated satisfactorily with the corresponding metal concentrations in the soil. The berries and mushroons growing over an area of at least 3000 km2 around the smelter complex are unsuitable for human consumption due to the elevated nickel concentrations caused by the smelter dust emissions. The berries and mushrooms gathered in the studied polluted forests were found to be contaminated by nickel by a factor of 15–30 times (berries) and 15–40 times (mushrooms) more than the background level. Increased levels of strontium were found close to the railway line. The concentrations of all the other metals in the studied area did not exceed sanitary standards.

In the standard classification of European vegetation, the class Stipo-Trachynietea distachyae is currently recognized as encompassing Mediterranean therophytic swards and basiphilous grasslands along the southern edge of Europe, extending from Portugal to Greece and Crimea. This study provides a critical revision of the nomenclature of this class and its subordinate syntaxonomic units. While these syntaxon names are widely cited in the scientific literature, the present revision reveals that many of them are either invalid, illegitimate, or misapplied. The results have led to the identification of the correct forms of all syntaxon names, along with their nomenclatural types. To promote the stability of phytosociological nomenclature, the orders Ptilostemono stellati-Vulpietalia ciliatae and Stipo capensis-Bupleuretalia semicompositi , the alliance Hypochaeridion achyrophori , and the associations Orlayetum grandiflorae and Erodio neuradifolii-Plantaginetum zwierleinii have been validated. The alliances Omphalodion commutatae and Stipion retortae O. de Bolòs 1958 have been lectotypified, the names Stipo capensis-Trachynietea distachyae and Trachynion distachyae have been mutated to Stipo capensis-Brachypodietea distachyi and Brachypodion distachyi , respectively, and the name Plantagini coronopodis-Catapodion marini has been corrected. Finally, two proposals are announced for the conservation of the names Brachypodietalia distachyi Rivas-Martínez 1978 and Lygeo sparti-Stipetalia Braun-Blanquet et O. de Bolòs 1958 with the aim of stabilising these names in accordance with current usage. These results are essential for ensuring the consistent application of syntaxonomic concepts and for guiding future updates and refinements of the standard classification of European vegetation, for advancing knowledge, disseminating research findings, and ensuring the effective management and conservation of European biodiversity.

The species composition and diversity of Lepidoptera Rhopalocera were studied on the Solovetskie Islands during five years (2001–2005). Twenty-nine species of five families were recorded. The most abundant species are Leptidea sinapis, Boloria aquilonaris, Heodes virgaureae, Plebejus argus, Arcia eumedon, and Cyaniris semiargus. The fauna of these islands is poorer than local faunas of the continental northern taiga, forest-tundra, and southern tundra of Europe. The species diversity of insular assemblages of diurnal lepidopterans is lower in comparison with analogous continental assemblages. They are characterized by the mixed species composition, when species with different ecological preference occur within the same habitat.

The dynamics of habitat distribution in two bird species differing in the level of site tenacity—willow warbler (relatively tenacious) and little bunting (more flexible)—were studied at the boundary of the northern taiga and forest–tundra zones over ten years. The distribution pattern proved to be more uniform in the willow warbler than in the little bunting. Both species occupied their habitats according to a well-known scheme: initially, the birds settled in their favorable floodplain habitats and later; when their abundance increased, in less preferable habitats (terraces above the floodplain, moss bogs, and the tundra). In the case of willow warbler, the process of occupying the floodplain was stepwise: bird density increased sharply, remained at the same level in the next year, then increased again, etc. In the case of little bunting, the degree of floodplain occupation by birds remained high, except for the years when high spring floods interfered with bird settling.

Postglacial history of a marl fen: vegetational stability at Byron-Bergen Swamp, New York