BIOTIC DIVERSITY OF KARELIA: CONDITIONS OF FORMATION, COMMUNITIES AND SPECIES

The monograph generalises vast data characterising the diversity of the biota in Russian Karelia. The data pool includes both materials of long-term studies, and new data collected in 1997–2000 within the Russian-Finnish project “Inventory and studies of biological diversity in Republic of Karelia”. The volume is composed of four interrelated chapters. Chapter one provides a detailed account of the climatic, geological, geomorphological, hydrological and soil conditions in which the regional biota has been forming. Chapter two describes and evaluates the diversity of forest, mire and meadow communities, and the third chapter details the terrestrial biota at the species level (vascular plants, mosses, aphyllophoroid fungi, lichens, mammals, birds, insects). A special section is devoted to the flora and fauna of aquatic ecosystems (algae, zooplankton, periphyton, macrozoobenthos, fishes). Wide use is made of various zoning approaches based on biodiversity-related criteria. Current status of the regional biota, including its diversity in protected areas, is analysed with elements of the human impact assessment. A concise glossary of the terms used is annexed. This is an unprecedentally multi-faceted review, at least for the taiga zone of European Russia. The volume offers extensive reference materials for researchers in a widest range of ecological and biological fields, including graduate and post-graduate students. The monograph is also available in Russian

Investigation of the ultrasonic treatment influence on physical and chemical indicators of vegetable oil distillates

The article presents research in the field of influence of ultrasonic vibrations on distillates of vegetable oils, in particular rapeseed and sunflower. In the course of the research, the main physico-chemical indices of distillates of vegetable oils were determined after their sonication. A laboratory facility for carrying out experimental work is described. According to the test results, the intensity of ultrasonic radiation is determined to produce distillates with new qualitative indices. The results of these studies indicate that the use of ultrasonic technologies in the processing of rapeseed and sunflower oil distillates improves the quality of the latter, and also extends the scope of their subsequent processing

Forests in the biogeographical corridors connecting the Fennoscandian shield and the Russian plain: natural features, contemporary status, environmental significance

The results of long-term research on forests in natural biogeographical corridors (territories with forests, mires, inland lakes and other land categories) connecting the largest bodies of water in Northern Europe (Baltic Sea-Gulf of Finland and lakes Ladoga and Onego to the White Sea) are reported. These corridors link isolated pieces of the Eurasian taiga biome at the boundary between two of Europe’s physiographic divisions – Fennoscandian Shield and Russian Plain. They facilitate the dispersal and migration of plant and animal species. The straight-line terrestrial stretch between the Gulf of Finland and the White Sea is around 320 km, and it falls into three sections in the southern, middle and northern taiga subzones, respectively. The corridors were characterized and assessed as follows: 1) physiographic (landscape) features; 2) key natural characteristics (typological structure, quantitative ratios, spatial arrangement, productivity, etc.), present-day condition of forests, including data from forest management inventories of the past decade; 3) overall assessment of the forest cover transformation by human impact; 4) current system of protected areas and protective forests, and its capacity to fulfill the functions of the corridors (sufficiency)