9 Siberian Studies

The work is devoted to domestic and foreign historical literature on trade relations between Western Siberia and Central Asia at the turn of the 16th – 17th centuries. The study of the historiography of this story is of great importance for the essential understanding of the relationship between the Russian Federation and its Central Asian partners – in their retrospective and present. Methods and materials. The study used logical analysis, the problem-chronological method, the periodization method, and the comparative method. The sources in this article are the scientific studies of domestic and foreign historians of the 18th – the first quarter of the 21st centuries, devoted to the formation and development of trade relations between Western Siberia and Central Asia in the era of active colonization of Western Siberia by the Russian state. Analysis. The article presents not only the process of accumulation and stabilization of knowledge on this subject but also reveals the difference in the approaches of historians, the objective (political-ideological, socio-cultural, organizational, etc.) circumstances of the formation of these approaches, and the most debatable views that are analyzed and criticized. Results. The study demonstrated the presence of unconditional continuity in the works of many generations of domestic historians of the pre-revolutionary, Soviet, and modern periods, their contribution to the formation of a holistic view of the trade in Western Siberia and Central Asia, as well as those works of foreign historians who demonstrated the existence of interest in this topic and sought to contribute to its development with a certain novelty. At the same time, the author outlines a range of historiographic plots that were only outlined earlier and obviously require further development; it is concluded that, despite a solid historiographic tradition, the topic clearly has the potential for development.

Aim In addition to the traditionally recognized Last Glacial Maximum (LGM, 21 ka) refuge areas in the Mediterranean region, more northerly LGM distributions for temperate and boreal taxa in central and eastern Europe are increasingly being discussed based on palaeoecological and phylogeographical evidence. Our aim was to investigate the potential refuge locations using species distribution modelling to estimate the geographical distribution of suitable climatic conditions for selected rodent species during the LGM.Location Eurasia.Methods Presence/absence data for seven rodent species with range limits corresponding to the limits of temperate or boreal forest or arctic tundra were used in the analysis. We developed predictive distribution models based on the species present‐day European distributions and validated these against their present‐day Siberian ranges. The models with the best predictors of the species distributions across Siberia were projected onto LGM climate simulations to assess the distribution of climatically suitable areas.Results The best distribution models provided good predictions of the present‐day Siberian ranges of the study species. Their LGM projections showed that areas with a suitable LGM climate for the three temperate species (Apodemus flavicollis, Apodemus sylvaticus and Microtus arvalis) were largely restricted to the traditionally recognized southern refuge areas, i.e. mainly in the Mediterranean region, but also southernmost France and southern parts of the Russian Plain. In contrast, suitable climatic conditions for the two boreal species (Clethrionomys glareous and Microtus agrestis) were predicted as far north as southern England and across southern parts of central and eastern Europe eastwards into the Russian Plain. For the two arctic species (Lemmus lemmus and Microtus oeconomus), suitable climate was predicted from the Atlantic coast eastward across central Europe and into Russia.Main conclusions Our results support the idea of more northerly refuge areas in Europe, indicating that boreal species would have found suitable living conditions over much of southern central and eastern Europe and the Russian Plain. Temperate species would have primarily found suitable conditions in the traditional southern refuge areas, but interestingly also in much of the southern Russian Plain.

Monitoring of influenza viruses in Western Siberia in 2008–2012

Investigation of Ancient DNA from Western Siberia and the Sargat Culture

This paper discusses the chronology of burial grounds containing specific Seima-Turbino type bronze weaponry (spears, knives, and celts). The “transcultural” Seima-Turbino phenomenon relates to a wide distribution of specific objects found within the sites of different Bronze Age cultures in Eurasia, not immediately related to each other. The majority of the Seima-Turbino objects represent occasional findings, and they are rarely recovered from burial grounds. Here, we present a new set of14C dates from cemeteries in western Siberia, including the key Asian site Rostovka, with the largest number of graves containing Seima-Turbino objects. Currently, the presented database is the most extensive for the Seima-Turbino complexes. The resulting radiocarbon (14C) chronology for the western Siberian sites (22nd–20th centuries cal BC) is older than the existing chronology based on typological analysis (16th–15th centuries BC) and some earlier14C dates for the Seima-Turbino sites in eastern Europe. Another important aspect of this work is14C dating of complexes within specific bronze objects—daggers with figured handles—which some researchers have related to the Seima-Turbino type objects. These items are mostly represented by occasional finds in Central Asia, however, in western Siberia these have been recovered from burials, too. The14C dating attributes these daggers to the end of the 3rd millennium cal BC, suggesting their similar timing to the Seima-Turbino objects. Further research into freshwater reservoir offsets in the region is essential for a more reliable reconstruction of the chronology of the Seima-Turbino phenomenon and the daggers with figured handles.

ACCORDING to the Soviet War News, reports from the Geological Committee of the Council of People's Commissars indicate that more than two thousand expeditions went out during the summer, and discovered valuable new deposits of strategic raw materials. A feature of war-time geology is that the exploitation of new deposits begins much earlier than it did in peace-time. New deposits of aluminium ores have been discovered in the Urals, in Western and Eastern Siberia, and also in Kazakhstan. The exploitation of newly discovered antimony and mercury deposits has already begun. Rich sources of iron ore, fluxes and fireproof minerals for the iron and steel industry have been opened up in the Urals, Siberia and the Central Asian Republics. Prospecting for combustible shales is meeting with success in the Urals and Eastern Siberia. Particularly important, from the point of view of defence, is the discovery of new sources of manganese. Several new manganese mines are already functioning in the Urals, Western Siberia and Kazakhstan. During seven months of 1942 the output of manganese ore in these regions was 250 percent greater than in the parallel period of 1941.

According to the results of surveys performed in the years 2003–2008, the species composition of the Peracarida (Crustacea, Malacostraca) fauna of the Barents Sea was determined. In total, 323 species were identified within the study area. Sixty-four species of Peracarida were noted for the Barents Sea for the first time. The most significant refinements concerned the orders Isopoda, Cumacea, and Tanaidacea. The main features of the quantitative distribution of Peracarida were revealed; it was found that the richest accumulations were confined to mixed silty–sandy bottom sediments of the shallow waters and the slopes of troughs. In the Barents Sea, eight Peracarida faunistic complexes have been identified, which are confined to specific environmental conditions. Generally, boreal–arctic species prevail in the biogeographic structure, the share of the boreal species exceeds that of the arctic species (28 and 21%, respectively). The zone of combining the ranges of the arctic and boreal species has shifted eastwards and northwards compared to the period of 1968–1970; this is a consequence of the ongoing “warm” hydrological period in the Barents Sea.

In the contemporary maps of the distribution of Zygaena ephialtes (Linnaeus, 1767) there is a large gap between the Ural Mountains and points in the surroundings of Omsk in western Siberia (to the East of Omsk). Our investigation of the historical material collected by S. M. Tshugunov and now deposited in the Omsk State Agrarian University named after P. A. Stolypin shows that the determination of specimens of “Zygaena ephialtes” from the surroundings of Omsk are based on misidentifications of Zygaena cynarae (Esper, 1789) and Zygaena centaureae Fischer von Waldheim, 1832.

European small mammal faunas during Dnieper (Saale) glaciation and transition to the Mikulino (Eem) interglacial

This paper reviews the expected effects of the current financial crisis and subsequent recession on the rural landscape, in particular the agri-food sector in Europe and Central Asia (ECA) on the basis of the structure of the rural economy and of different organisations and institutions. Empirical evidence suggests that the crisis has hit the ECA region the hardest. Agriculture contributes about 9% to gross domestic product (GDP) for the ECA region as a whole with 16% of the population being employed in the agricultural sector. As far as the impact of the financial crisis on the agri-food sector is concerned, there are a few interconnected issues: (1) reduction in income elastic food demand and commodity price decline, (2) loss of employment and earnings of rural people working in urban centres, implying also costly labour reallocation, (3) rising rural poverty originating mainly from lack of opportunities in the non-farm sector and a sizable decline of international remittances, (4) tightening of agricultural credit markets, and the (5) collapse of sectoral government support programs and social safety-net measures in many countries. The paper reveals how the crisis hit farming and broader agri-business differently in general and in the ECA sub-regions.

Western Siberian peatlands are one of the biggest peatland complexes in the world. Despite playing an essential role in regulating global climate, these ecosystems still remain understudied. A lack of long-term multi-proxy studies comprehensively examining the dynamics between permafrost thaw and peatland ecosystems in Siberia makes it difficult to determine how these areas will be affected by future climate change. Our research covers the history of the Khanymei peatlands (63°43’N, 75°57’E), located in the discontinuous permafrost zone in the last 200 years (from the end of the Little Ice Age to modern times). In this study, we applied multi-proxy analysis (testate amoebae, plant macrofossil, pollen, micro and macro charcoal, LOI and XRF) on two cores from a transect between a peat mound and a thermokarst lake. A newly developed by Halaś et al. (2023) testate amoebae calibration data set based on samples from the Khanymei peatlands complex was used to reconstruct past changes in peatland hydrology. In the last 200 years, we observed constant drying of studied peatlands with events of wetting caused by thawing permafrost. Reconstructed changes in peatland vegetation indicate that lichens (genus Cladonia) dominate during stable permafrost phases. We discovered that peatland drying in recent decades caused the expansion of shrubs onto Khanymei peatlands, which is also widely observed in other parts of Arctic tundra. The increase in peatland moisture after thawing is noted only in the initial period and in a limited area. Thawing led to high Sphagnum growth and change in the structure of testate amoebae communities, with an increase of mixotrophic species like Placocista spinosa. Species with organic and idiosomic tests started to dominate in the community replacing species with agglutinated shells. We discovered that permafrost thawing resulted in a short-term increase of peat accumulation and carbon sequestration, increased abundance of fungal communities, and promotion of oxic conditions. Initially, positive effects of thawing (like carbon accumulation) quickly weakened as favorable moisture conditions disappeared. As permafrost continues to thaw, these processes will occur on an increasingly larger scale. According to climate change predictions, this region in Western Siberia may become unsuitable for the functioning of permafrost peatlands in their current form.

The study examines soil changes in the permafrost regions of the northern part of Western Siberia and the East European Plain (from tundra to sub-taiga), occurring in response to climatic fluctuations during the late glacial period and the Holocene (the last 15,000 years). The main focus is on the impact of temperature regime changes, which limit biological cycles and determine the influence of the thermal-physical properties of soils on pedogenesis processes. Soils are viewed as natural bodies recording changes in climate and landscapes. The study summarizes information on climate changes in northern Eurasia during the late glacial period and the Holocene, addressing the following issues: data on soil evolution under different climate change scenarios; major stages of sedimentation and pedogenesis in northern Western Siberia under hydromorphic and drained landscapes; the gradient of peat formation onset in Western Siberia, from Arctic tundra to sub-taiga; stages of pedogenesis on the Russian Plain and in Western Siberia associated with climate warmings and coolings; the history of the formation of hortic horizons in the southern forest zone of Western Siberia and their fate in connection with recent climate warming. The research is based on the study of natural archives such as peat and gley horizons, the content and composition of organic matter and the mineral part of the soil; cryogenic structures; relict horizons in modern soils; soils buried under natural sediments and archaeological structures. Geographic differences in soil response to climate changes and their relationship to the history of pedogenesis are discussed, with specific examples from various regions provided.

Middle–late Asselian (Early Permian) fusulinid fauna from the post-Variscan cover in NW Anatolia (Turkey): Biostratigraphy and geological implications

The two dominant patterns of the winter (December–February) intraseasonal surface air temperature (SAT) over central Asia is derived by empirical orthogonal function analysis, with the first (mode 1) featuring a regional monopole and the second (mode 2) featuring a northwest–southeast‐orientated dipole. Mode 1 is characterized with warmer (colder) Arctic and colder (warmer) Eurasia along with an anomalous high (low) over the Ural Mountains, while mode 2 is characterized with northwest–southeast dipole over Eurasia along with wave train‐like atmospheric circulation anomalies from the western Atlantic to Asia. Whether the two intraseasonal modes are modulated by lower‐boundary forcing is then investigated, and the results suggest that mode 1 is significantly modulated by sea ice concentration over the Greenland Sea, but by central‐Pacific ENSO for mode 2. Finally, the underlying mechanisms are diagnosed, and the results suggest that the diabatic heating related with decreased sea ice in Greenland Sea induce a positive height anomaly over Urals which favours the formation of Ural blocking and therefore tends to intensify the occurrence of mode 1. Also, central‐Pacific El Niño excites the Pacific–North American teleconnection, which alters North Atlantic subtropical jet extension, favours intensified energy conversion to intraseasonal wave train and subsequently intensifies the occurrence of mode 2. This study highlights the joint role of Arctic sea ice and the SST in the tropical central Pacific.

Aim. The purpose of this work is to study the dynamics of air temperature and soil temperature in different soil zones of Western Siberia in relation to modern climate change.Methodology. Based on long-term data from 259 weather stations located on the territory of Western Siberia, an analysis of air and soil temperature distribution and their changes within the areas of nine soil zones (subzones) for the period 1951–2020 was carried out using geographic information systems.Results. It is shown that in the modern period in all soil zones of Western Siberia there is a climate change towards warming, which is characterized by zonality. The most significant increase in air temperature in the last decade is observed in the north of Western Siberia, especially in the arctic tundra, subarctic tundra and northern taiga subzones, and it becomes less noticeable as we move southward to the steppe zone. Modern warming leads to a change in the temperature regime of soils in Western Siberia and, as a result, a shift of soil-climatic zones to the north. Mapping models of the average annual air temperature for each decade of the period 1951–2020 and the climatic norm 1961–1990 were created, as well as mapping models of air temperature change (average annual and by seasons of the year).Research implications. The revealed changes in the atmospheric and soil climate must be taken into account when assessing climate risks and developing agrotechnical measures for growing crops, as well as measures to protect infrastructure facilities in the cryolithozone.