INTRASPECIES PTEROMYS-TALLENNUSTEN (SCIURIDAE, MAMMALIA) TALVEN TURKIVÄRJEN VÄRITTÄMINEN MALLISSA

Peer reviewe

Erot spatiaalisissa ja ajallisissa reaktionormeissa kevään ja syksyn fenologisille tapahtumille

For species to stay temporally tuned to their environment, they use cues such as the accumulation of degree-days. The relationships between the timing of a phenological event in a population and its environmental cue can be described by a population-level reaction norm. Variation in reaction norms along environmental gradients may either intensify the envi- ronmental effects on timing (cogradient variation) or attenu- ate the effects (countergradient variation). To resolve spatial and seasonal variation in species’ response, we use a unique dataset of 91 taxa and 178 phenological events observed across a network of 472 monitoring sites, spread across the nations of the former Soviet Union. We show that compared to local rates of advancement of phenological events with the advancement of temperature-related cues (i.e., variation within site over years), spatial variation in reaction normsPeer reviewe

Chronicles of nature calendar, a long-term and large-scale multitaxon database on phenology

We present an extensive, large-scale, long-term and multitaxon database on phenological and climatic variation, involving 506,186 observation dates acquired in 471 localities in Russian Federation, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Belarus and Kyrgyzstan. The data cover the period 1890-2018, with 96% of the data being from 1960 onwards. The database is rich in plants, birds and climatic events, but also includes insects, amphibians, reptiles and fungi. The database includes multiple events per species, such as the onset days of leaf unfolding and leaf fall for plants, and the days for first spring and last autumn occurrences for birds. The data were acquired using standardized methods by permanent staff of national parks and nature reserves (87% of the data) and members of a phenological observation network (13% of the data). The database is valuable for exploring how species respond in their phenology to climate change. Large-scale analyses of spatial variation in phenological response can help to better predict the consequences of species and community responses to climate change.Peer reviewe

Phenological shifts of abiotic events, producers and consumers across a continent

Ongoing climate change can shift organism phenology in ways that vary depending on species, habitats and climate factors studied. To probe for large-scale patterns in associated phenological change, we use 70,709 observations from six decades of systematic monitoring across the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. Among 110 phenological events related to plants, birds, insects, amphibians and fungi, we find a mosaic of change, defying simple predictions of earlier springs, later autumns and stronger changes at higher latitudes and elevations. Site mean temperature emerged as a strong predictor of local phenology, but the magnitude and direction of change varied with trophic level and the relative timing of an event. Beyond temperature-associated variation, we uncover high variation among both sites and years, with some sites being characterized by disproportionately long seasons and others by short ones. Our findings emphasize concerns regarding ecosystem integrity and highlight the difficulty of predicting climate change outcomes. The authors use systematic monitoring across the former USSR to investigate phenological changes across taxa. The long-term mean temperature of a site emerged as a strong predictor of phenological change, with further imprints of trophic level, event timing, site, year and biotic interactions.Peer reviewe

ИССЛЕДОВАНИЕ ДИНАМИКИ ТЕРРИТОРИАЛЬНОГО РАСПРОСТРАНЕНИЯ И ЭКОЛОГИИ РЕДКИХ МЛЕКОПИТАЮЩИХ ТАЕЖНОЙ ЕВРАЗИИ (НА ПРИМЕРЕ ЛЕТЯГИ PTEROMYS VOLANS, RODENTIA, PTEROMYIDAE) in English INVESTIGATION OF THE DYNAMICS OF REGIONAL DISTRIBUTION AND ECOLOGY OF RARE MAMMALS TAIGA EURASIA (FOR EXAMPLE Letyago PTEROMYS VOLANS, RODENTIA, PTEROMYIDAE)

This study of the spatial distribution and ecology of the flying squirrel during the turn of the 20th century provides a description of new methods and techniques for detecting and accounting flying squirrels in the forest zone of Eurasia. The flying squirrel population area covers the territory of 61 regions of Russia, including Kamchatsky Krai and Chukotka Autonomous District. The number of flying squirrels in Karelia especially to the east – in the Arkhangelsk region and Western Siberia – significantly exceeds that of Finland, but considerable spatial variability in the number is obvious through all the regions: there are areas where this animal is quite abundant, or inhabits all the territory rather evenly, and there are areas where it is completely absent in vast territories even with seemingly favourable conditions. The flying squirrel is quite difficult to study and the reasons of its absence in obviously favourable areas are still to be explained. Some reasons are: the specificity of favourable landscape, forest coverage pattern, trophic relationships with predators and genetic aspect. A number of hypotheses are supposed to be tested in the nearest future. Key words: accounting, flying squirrel, forest zone, home range, spatial distribution.Peer reviewe

Assessment of the Long-tailed Goral (Naemorhedus caudatus: Bovidae) population status in the Sikhote-Alin Reserve using camera-traps

The Long-tailed goral (Naemorhedus caudatus) is a rare mountain ungulate animal species with a mosaic range. In the Sikhote-Alin Reserve, the goral is located at the northern limit of its distribution. The main part of its population is concentrated in the coastal area, in the Abrek natural landmark. In the early XX century, the goral occupied another small area along the coast – 20 km south of the Abrek natural landmark. Currently, the total area of species' habitats is only 7.1 km2. The aim of this study was to assess the population size, population density and some demographic parameters of the goral population. Also, we aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of the photo-trap method which is a new approach to the study and monitoring of this rare species. Accounting studies in the Abrek natural landmark were carried out in October 2014 – January 2015 (1401 trap-days); also, at the same time we worked in the second area during three seasons (2014–2017, 1326 trap-days). Estimation of the abundance and annual survival of the goral has been carried out using stochastic «capture – recapture» models presented in the software MARK. In the Abrek natural landmark for an effective area of 4 km2 (63% of this habitat's area), the average density of the goral population was 15.4 animals per km2 (CI 95% = 14.6–18.2 individuals per km2), in the second area (0.7 km2) completely accounted – 21.0 individuals per km2 (CI 95% = 20.1–28.6 individuals per km2). The total abundance of goral individuals in the Reserve remains, apparently, at the level of the late 1980s. And currently it is about 110–140 individuals. According to our preliminary data, the total annual survival in the first year was 0.73 (CI 95% = 0.41–0.91), and by the end of the second year it was 0.72 (CI 95% = 0.31–0.93). Female animals have prevailed in the population structure, and the sex ratio for adult animals was 1:1.5. The fertility rate was 0.61. In comparison with the data obtained in the late 1970s, currently the age and sex structure of the goral population has changed somewhat, and the rate of reproduction has decreased. The use of photo-traps significantly improves the quality of the goral population monitoring. However, photo-trap monitoring is a fairly expensive and time-consuming process. So it is advisable to apply this method in habitats which are most important for conservation of this rare species

Post-fire Successions of Vegetation and Pinus koraiensis Ectomycorrhizal Communities in Korean Pine–Broadleaf Forests of the Central Sikhote-Alin

The characteristics of four stages of demutational succession of a valley Korean pine–broadleaf forest are provided according to the parameters most vividly capturing the structure of the plant community and influencing the renewal and mycorrhization of Korean pine (Pinus koraiensis ) seedlings. It was found that Korean pine seedlings grow in a competitive environment on the fresh burned site, hence the mycorrhization occurs from specialized symbiotes that provide competitive advantages and adaptation to stress factors. Mycorrhiza forms the least successful in the 50–60-year-old larch–birch–spiraea association during the seral stages of succession. The 90–100-year-old birch–broadleaf association offers the most suitable soil and cenotic conditions for the development of Korean pine seedlings that can successfully generate mycorrhiza from both the spores present in the thick soil layer, and through mycelia of shared mycorrhizal networks of seral and primary (including Korean pine) tree species. A 230–250-year-old climax community comprises all patterns to ensure that pine seedlings encounter a fungal component, in this community the greatest abundance of species and a balanced composition of ectomycorrhizal fungi communities of Korean pine are observed

Merger of Betula tatewakiana (Betulaceae) from northern Japan with northeast Asian B. ovalifolia based on ploidy level

It has been controversial whether Betula tatewakiana, a dwarf birch distributed in Hokkaido of northern Japan, is an endemic species or a synonym of B. ovalifolia broadly distributed in northeast Asia. The endemic hypothesis is based on the idea that B. tatewakiana is diploid while B. ovalifolia is tetraploid and that they are separated based on the ploidy level; however, no chromosome data have actually been published before. Resolving the taxonomic problem is crucial also in judging the conservation priority of B. tatewakiana in a global perspective. Our chromosome observation revealed that B. tatewakiana is tetraploid as well as B. ovalifolia. We also conducted morphological observations and clarified that B. tatewakiana is morphologically identical to B. ovalifolia in white hairs and dense resinous glands respectively on adaxial and abaxial leaf surfaces, in which they differ from closely related species in the same section Fruticosae. We conclude that the hypothesis that B. tatewakiana is a Hokkaido endemic based on the ploidy level is not supported and that B. tatewakiana should be merged with B. ovalifolia

Molecular and cytological evidences denied the immediate-hybrid hypothesis for Saxifraga yuparensis (sect. Bronchiales, Saxifragaceae) endemic to Mt. Yubari in Hokkaido, northern Japan

An alpine plant Saxifraga yuparensis is endemic to a scree consisting of greenschist of Mt. Yubari in Hokkaido, Japan and it has been proposed as an immediate hybrid derived from two species of the same section Bronchiales based on morphological intermediacy: namely S. nishidae, a diploid species endemic to a nearby cliff composed of greenschist and tetraploid S rebunshirensis comparatively broadly distributed in Japan and Russian Far East. Saxifraga yuparensis is red-listed and it is crucial for conservation planning to clarify whether this is an immediate hybrid and lacks a unique gene pool. The immediate-hybrid hypothesis was tested by molecular and cytological data. In nuclear ribosomal and chloroplast DNA trees based on maximum parsimony and Bayesian criteria, S. yuparensis and S. rebunshirensis formed a Glade with several other congeners while S. nishidae formed another distinct Glade. Genome-wide SNP data clearly separated these three species in principal coordinate space, placing S. yuparensis not in-between of S. rebunshirensis and S. nishidae. Chromosome observation indicated that S. yuparensis is tetraploid, not triploid directly derived from diploid-tetraploid crossing. Additionally, observation of herbarium specimens revealed that leaf apex shape of S. yuparensis fell within the variation of S. rebunshirensis. These results indicate that S. yuparensis is not an immediate hybrid of S. rebunshirensis and S. nishidae but a distinct lineage and an extremely narrow endemic species, that deserves for intensive conservation