Home – Home – Jornals – Contemporary Problems of Ecology 2010 number 5

Under the conditions of nut-fruit forests of the Southern Kyrgyzstan, an essential agent of the biological control of gypsy moth caterpillars (Lymantria dispar L.) is the nucleopolyhedrovirus. During the years 2005-2007, a half of all the deaths of caterpillars was of virus aetiology. At the same time, the death rate due to Bacillus thuringiensis infection was 31,2 % as an average, due to fungi and mixed bacteria-virus infections - equal to approximately 20 %. It was revealed that the virulence of Central Asian strains of nucleopolyhedrovirus is higher than that of west Siberian strains.

The microbiota of dead insects was studied in West Siberia, the Primorye Territory, and Kyrgyzstan. The anаmorphic ascomycetes of 13 genera were revealed. The fungus Beauveria bassianа (Bals.-Criv.) Vuill. was dominating in all the regions: it accounted for 68 % of all investigated isolates as an average. Insects of 7 orders and 32 families with the domination of Coleoptera, Lepidoptera and Hemiptera were found among the fungus hosts. Tolypocladium inflatum Gams (mainly on Lepidoptera), Metarhizium anisopliae (Metschn.) Sorokin (at Coleoptera) were found as the rare entomopathogenic fungi. The insect mortality from micromycetes was mostly observed on an enzootic level. The investigation of the pathogenic properties of dominаnt species B. bassianа demonstrated the absence of the specificity of B. bassiana natural isolates against a number of the representatives of Orthoptera, Lepidoptera, Coleoptera and Diptera.

Materials of the comparative investigation of the features of the use of anaerobic mechanisms by Baikal amphipoda Eulimnogammarus vittatus (Dyb.), E. cyaneus (Dyb.), and Palaearctic Gammarus lacustris Sars. under the conditions of decreased oxygen content. It is shown that the anaerobic metabolism system functions with the highest efficiency in the Palaearctic species G. lacustris. This species is characterized by the lowest degree of the use of a low-efficiency route of energy formation - anaerobic lipolysis - and the highest degree of the use of a more efficient route of energy formation under the conditions of the low oxygen content - anaerobic formation of succinate. For Baikal species that are less stable against the action of reduced oxygen content, a more clearly pronounced induction of anaerobic lipolysis and a lower degree of involvement of the anaerobic formation of succinate were demonstrated.

Data on the composition of amphibian insects collected during different years in water reservoirs in the suburban zone of Novosibirsk are adduced. Special attention is paid to the groups of Culicidae and Chaoboridae mosquitoes. It may be concluded that the larvae of Chaoboridae are possible agents of the biological control of the quantity of Culicidae mosquitoes.

Data on malaria sickness rate for the population of the Novosibirsk Region since 1924 till present are reported. The modern state of the populations of the carrier - malaria mosquito - in the region is considered. Attention is paid to the possibility of the renewal of local communication of this disease at the territory of the region.

By means of geometric morphometry comparing recent and subfossil ants Formica lemani in West Siberia, clear morphological changes in the structure of head capsule were revealed. These changes occurred during the recent several hundred years; they are connected not with taphonomic rearrangements but with morphogenetic ones. The rate of microevolution changes turned out to be unexpectedly high because during only several hundred years the divergence degree of recent and subfossil ants has approached the subspecies level.

Comparative anаlysis of fish associations in the upper Tom' from the zone of the discharge of warmed water from electric power stations and from background regions was carried out. An increase in the number and biomass of alien species was revealed in the regions subjected to thermal pollution: the fraction of invaders is 19 % of the total ichthyomass, 41 % of the total number of fish, and 25 % of the species diversity of fish. The fish capacity of the mountain taiga region of the upper Tom' with elevated water temperature is 2-4 times larger than the values characterizing the major river-bed and corresponds to the capacity level of the lowland rivers in the southern part of West Siberia, which is connected with eutrophication.

The population structure of the whitefish in the Dodot lakes (Aldy-Deerlig-Khol' and Ustyu-Deerlig-Khol') upstream situated of the Khamsara river, the basin of the Bol'shoy Enisey river, was studied. It is demonstrated on the basis of the number of bored scales in the side line that the whitefish pydschjan Coregonus lavaretus pidschian (Gmelin) is represented in this water body by two different populations occupying close ecological niches. It was concluded on the basis of the data obtained that this region is the zone of secondary intergradation for the whitefish of lavaretus complex.

Investigation of the activity of intestinal digestive enzymes (total activity of proteases, a-amylase, nonspecific esterases and pancreatic lipase) in young Siberian dace Leuciscus leuciscus baicalensis (Dyb) infected with the metacercarias of Diplostomidae family was carried out in 2008 and 2009 in the Kargat river (the basin of Lake Chany) The dependence between the intensity of invasion with the metacercarias of Diplostomidae family and the activity of intestinal hydrolases was studied. A negative correlation of the activity of digestive enzymes with the intensity of invasion with metacercariasm both in different sections and in intestines in general was revealed.

For the purpose of separate zoning with respect to the fauna of amphibia and reptiles, North Eurasia within the boundaries of the USSR in 1990 was divided into 245 regions regarding the vegetation map of nаtural scale 1 : 20 000 000 in such a manner that each of the regions occupied a territory of nаtural sub-zone extending for 10 degrees of longitude. A list of occurring species was made for each region over the ranges of amphibia and reptiles. One the basis of these lists, we calculated Jaccard quotients of similarity; they served as a basis for the cluster analysis of the fauna of distinguished regions. Hierarchic classifications were built according to the results of calculations. For amphibia, 3 herpetofaunistic regions were distinguished; some of them were divided into 4 sub-regions, 7 provinces and 23 districts. For reptiles, the number of regions is larger by 1, the number of sub-regions is almost two times larger, the number of provinces 2.6 and districts is 1.6 times smaller. So, the fractionality of classifications into the number of provinces and districts as a total for reptiles is about 1.5 times higher than for amphibia. Environmental factors correlating with faunistic nonuniformity of the examined territory were revealed. The proposed division provides the information content higher than the previously developed schemes by a factor of 1.9 as a mean for amphibia and by a factor of 3.5 for reptiles and take into account 75 and 91 % of the dispersion of the quotients of similarity of the faunas of specific regions (multiple correlation coefficients: 0.87 and 0.95). A connection with environmental factors and nаtural regimes may explain 84 and 93 % of fauna nonuniformity (correlation coefficients: 0.95 and 0.96).

Model of the dynаmics of bird population in the floodplain of the river was developed for the purpose of establishing monitoring of floodplain ecosystems. The model is based on the principles of system dynamics formulated by D. Forrester. Long-term observations (1977-2000) during spring and summer in the floodplain of the middle Ob in the Kolpashevo district of the Tomsk Region were used for this purpose, which allowed us to improve the structure of the model. The model was realized with the help of MATLAB 5.2.1 package. Modeling confirmed the hypothesis that the hydrological regime is the main factor determining the dynamics and structure of bird population in the floodplain of the middle Ob.

We have made an attempt to estimate hybridization level between White Wagtail Motacilla alba and Masked Wagtail M. (a.) personata in their secondary contact zone in southern Siberia. Close examination of skins from several museums (n = 424) and authors' own (n = 347) collections supported by the molecular study of the control region of mtDNA revealed the occurrence of introgression process despite limited hybridization. New data on mate choice and breeding success in hybridization zone, habitat preference and mating demonstrations are presented. Possible reasons that limit hybridization in a situation when no reproductive isolation is visible are discussed.

Here we analyze the data of the 12-years monitoring of small mammals with the help of capture-mark-recapture using special live-trapping protocol, snap-trapping, and pitfall trapping. Small mammals of 18 species were found. The species composition obtained with snap-traps and in pitfalls is different. The best coincidence was found for the data obtained in live-traps and the data obtained under snap-trapping and pitfall trapping when the latter data were referred to the unit of distance.

Records of small mammals in the Kazakhskiy Melkosopochnik were carried out in spring and autumn of the year 2008. Comparatively low species diversity was revealed (10 species). The number of animals in four main clearly pronounced biotopes of the Bayanaul National Park is rather low, except for the dominant species in each biotope. Clear confinement of rodent and insectivore species to definite biotopes is characteristic of Kazakhskiy Melkosopochnik. The information indices of biodiversity of the community of small mammals are low, which is an evidence of the disturbed structure of the community.

Male aggressiveness may affect its success in reproduction either directly, by determining competitiveness, or indirectly - through preference given by a female. Starting from the assumption that the relative importance of male aggressiveness in sexual selection may be different for species with different mating systems, we studied its connection with sexual attractivity for polygynous rodent species - the water vole and the house mouse, and a monogamous species - the steppe lemming. For males, the index of aggressiveness was determined (as the fraction of aggression acts among the contacts with the partners of the same sex in dyadic tests) and the index of attractiveness (the fraction of olfactory tests in which females spent longer time in a compartment with the litter of a specific male).

Under the condition of the south of West Siberia, the periods of seasonаl migrations of house mice from the heated building of educational institutions into natural environment in spring and back in autumn were determined. In educational institutions, the number and distribution over sites, feeding, reproduction and nest construction of house mice were studied. The damage and nаture of disturbances caused by brownie mouse in the buildings of educational institutions were determined, as well as the emotionаl-psychological effect of synаnthropic rodents on the personnel and students.

On the basis of the results of long-term monitoring of water vole populations in northern Baraba (Ubinskoye district of the Novosibirsk Region), a connection between water flow intensity in the Om river in the region under investigation, magnitude of population, its seasonаl variations from May to August, average number of living embryos in over-wintered females and the fraction of young females of the current year entering reproduction for different years is investigated.

Results of the investigation of the belovezhsky bison under the conditions of the Mountain Altay conditions, as well as the data on bison transference into the Altay agricultural farm, Siberian Branch of Russian Academy of Sciences, are presented. The properties of the bison nursery, its climatic and natural conditions are described. The dynamics of sexual and age maturation of bisons within 1989-2009 and the ratio of sexually mature and reproductive bison females within 1985-2005 are described. The authors suggest to develop the program on breeding the belovezhsky bison under the conditions of the Mountain Altay region and to form the free-living populations in West Siberia.