Frameworks for Formation and Stability of Kurgan Regional Arboretum Phytocenosis

The article is devoted to solving the problem of biodiversity conservation in the framework of increasing sustainability of natural plant communities in arboretum being an artificial protected area. Research and application have accumulated significant knowledge on various aspects of the above problem, specifically, preserving biodiversity including vegetation, monitoring biodiversity and preserving phytocenosis, plant interaction in phytocenosis, causes of disturbed biodiversity and reducing phytocenosis stability, etc. The research objective is to theorize the frameworks for phytocenosis formation, identify the factors influencing phytocenosis stability, conduct observations and experimental research on the factors affecting the formation and stability of the Kurgan regional arboretum phytocenosis. The models of the way different factors influence the resistance mechanisms of the Kurgan regional arboretum phytocenosis are built as a result of studying research materials and differ from the theoretical model in the fact that the proven distinctions were found in the ratio of limiting and background factors reflecting their regional character

West Nile Fever: Results of Monitoring over the Causative Agent in the Russian Federation in 2021, the Incidence Forecast for 2022

The epidemiological situation on West Nile fever (WNF) in Russia in 2021 was characterized by an increase in the incidence relative to 2020 (more than 6-fold increase). The peculiarities of the WNF epidemic process have been determined: the territorial distribution of cases (75 % – in the constituent entities of the Central Federal District), the expansion of the causative agent’s areal with the involvement of new territories (official registration of cases in Moscow and the Tula Region for the first time ever), the early end of the epidemic season. An increase in the proportion of neuroinvasive forms, an increase in the share of male patients and the age group of 30–39 years, a decrease in the proportion of the population in contact with the pathogen in natural places of mass recreation were observed in the incidence structure. According to the results of the monitoring studies carried out by the Reference Center, intensive circulation of the pathogen was established on the territory of the Central Federal District, Southern Federal District, and the North Caucasian Federal District. The low reported incidence was due to insufficient detection of WNF patients. The results of moleculargenetic study showed that in the European part of Russia, WNV lineage 2 circulated in both epizootic and epidemic cycles, lineage 2 in the south of Western Siberia (Omsk Region) and lineage 4 in the Volgograd Region – in the epizootic cycle only. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that strains isolated from the Astrakhan, Volgograd, Rostov, Voronezh Regions and the Republic of Dagestan in 2021 belong to the genovariant of WNV lineage 2 not registered in Russia previously.  The topology of the phylogenetic tree indicates the possible African origin of the isolates, probably imported into Russia by migratory birds across the coast of the Caspian Sea. In the Volgograd Region, WNV of both the entrenched clade of lineage 2 (since 2007) and new genovariant circulated. The specialists of the Reference Center developed a forecast of WNF epidemiological situation development in the Volgograd Region in 2022 on the basis of the neural network modeling technique, according to which an increase in the incidence is expected, comparable to that in 2010 and 2012. Based on the climate projections, an increase in the incidence is possible in all Federal Districts of the European part of Russia, the southern territories of the Urals, Western Siberia, and the Far East

Frameworks for Formation and Stability of Kurgan Regional Arboretum Phytocenosis

The article is devoted to solving the problem of biodiversity conservation in the framework of increasing sustainability of natural plant communities in arboretum being an artificial protected area. Research and application have accumulated significant knowledge on various aspects of the above problem, specifically, preserving biodiversity including vegetation, monitoring biodiversity and preserving phytocenosis, plant interaction in phytocenosis, causes of disturbed biodiversity and reducing phytocenosis stability, etc. The research objective is to theorize the frameworks for phytocenosis formation, identify the factors influencing phytocenosis stability, conduct observations and experimental research on the factors affecting the formation and stability of the Kurgan regional arboretum phytocenosis. The models of the way different factors influence the resistance mechanisms of the Kurgan regional arboretum phytocenosis are built as a result of studying research materials and differ from the theoretical model in the fact that the proven distinctions were found in the ratio of limiting and background factors reflecting their regional character

Peculiarities of Epidemiological Situation on the West Nile Fever in the Russian Federation in 2020 and Forecast for Its Development in 2021

The paper presents an analysis of West Nile Fever incidence in the Russian Federation in 2020, summarizes the results and identifies problematic issues of the pathogen monitoring. Manifestations of West Nile Fever in 2020 were characterized by a low incidence rate (10 times lower than the average long-term value) with sporadic cases registration in the endemic areas of the Southern (9 cases) and Central (1 case) Federal Districts. A discrepancy between the morbidity structure (distribution by age, sex, social status) and the trends that have developed in Russia in recent years is shown. The analysis of officially recorded cases doesn’t characterize the epidemic process of West Nile fever in Russia during 2020-season as a whole. The generalized results of monitoring of the West Nile virus circulation in environmental objects in 2020 indicate a decrease in the effectiveness of its implementation and a low detectability of pathogen markers. A decrease in the volume of diagnostic studies for the active detection of patients with West Nile fever in the epidemic season (5.7 times lower compared to 2019), as well as serological screening of healthy population samples (1.6 times) has been established. The results of a molecular-genetic study of the pathogen showed that lineage 2 of the pathogen was circulating in the European part of Russia. The circulation of the lineage 4 of the virus in the enzootic cycle in the Republic of Kalmykia was found out. The genome sequences of 11 West Nile virus isolates allocated in 2019 and 2020 were obtained. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that all isolates allocated in the Volgograd Region and isolates from the Rostov and Astrakhan regions belong to the Volgograd clade of the lineage 2 of the West Nile virus. Based on the assessment of abiotic and biotic factors, possible local increases in the incidence of West Nile fever in 2021 in the regions of the Southern and North Caucasian Federal Districts and in the south of Western Siberia have been substantiated

Results of the West Nile Fever Agent Monitoring in the Russian Federation in 2019 and the Forecast of Epidemic Situation Development in 2020

The trend towards an increase in the West Nile fever incidence among the population in the Russian Federation, recorded in the season of 2018, continued and led to a significant increase in the incidence in 2019 (the indicator was 2 times higher than the long-term average). The features of manifestations of the epidemiological process of WNF in 2019 were identified: early registration of cases of the disease, activation of natural and natural-anthropourgic foci in the Southern Federal District (90 % of the total incidence in the Russian Federation), an increase in the share of neuro-invasive forms, dominance of patients aged 50 and older in the structure of the incidence, late epidemic season ending. It was established that in the season of 2019, the lineage 2 of WNV circulated in the European part of Russia. In the Volgograd Region, simultaneous presence of the West Nile virus and Sindbis virus in mosquitoes Culex pipiens and Culex modestus was identified. It was shown that the most significant factors for predicting the epidemiological situation on West Nile fever in the Volgograd Region are the average seasonal summer air temperature and monthly average indicators of relative humidity in the spring and summer periods, and the average monthly air temperatures in the spring and summer in the Rostov Region. In the Astrakhan Region, a significant correlation dependence of the influence of the considered factors on the incidence of the population has not been established. The forecast of the development of epidemic situation in 2020 does not exclude a possible increase in the incidence in the territories of the European part of Russia, endemic for West Nile fever, and the occurrence of local outbreaks in individual constituent entities, if the complex of climatic conditions and social factors favorable for West Nile virus coincide