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

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

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

Macro-Charcoal in Sediments of Lake Suzdalevo (Krasnoyarsk Krai, Siberia) as a Proxy of Natural Fires: on the Problem of the Tunguska 1908 Event

В донных отложениях небольшого мелководного озера Суздалево, расположенного в южной части Эвенкийского района Красноярского края на территории заповедника «Тунгусский», проанализированы распределения и скорости поступления угольных макрочастиц размером более 100 мкм, являющихся индикаторами лесных пожаров на окружающей территории. Данное озеро расположено в зоне массового вывала леса, произошедшего 30 июня 1908 г. в результате мощного атмосферного взрыва неизвестной природы, получившего название «Тунгусской катастрофы 1908» («Тунгусский метеорит»). В отложениях преобладали частицы преимущественно двух типов. К первому типу относились плоские частицы различной неправильной формы, интерпретируемые как остатки сгоревших листьев и частично древесины. Ко второму типу относились тонкие длинные частицы, как правило, являющиеся остатками сгоревших трав, листьев, а также хвои. Скорость поступления частиц первого типа демонстрировала увеличение в наиболее глубоких слоях, соответствующих периоду времени старше 250 лет назад. Скорость поступления частиц второго типа заметно повышалась в слоях старше 180 лет, тогда как в более молодых слоях она была незначительной. В отложениях, соответствующих 1908 г., не было обнаружено каких-либо аномалий содержания угольных частиц обоих типов. Таким образом, в отложениях оз. Суздалево мы не обнаружили следов обширного пожара, возникшего в момент «Тунгусской катастрофы 1908». Возможно, границы распространения пожара не достигали данного озера, и направление ветра не способствовало попаданию угольных частиц в озеро. Также не было зарегистрировано характерного для ряда регионов увеличения потока частиц в современный период, что очевидно объясняется отсутствием хозяйственной деятельности и крайне малым присутствием человека в данном регионеThe study analyzes distributions of macro-charcoal particles >100 μm and charcoal accumulation rate in the bottom sediments of a small shallow lake Suzdalevo, located in the southern part of the Evenkiysky District of Krasnoyarsk Krai, within the Tungussky Nature Reserve. These parameters are indicators of forest fires in the surrounding area. This lake is located in the zone of massive forest fall, which occurred on June 30, 1908, as a result of a powerful atmospheric explosion of unknown nature, called the “Tunguska catastrophe of 1908” (“Tunguska meteorite”). The sediments contained two major types of macro-charcoal particles. The first type included flat particles of various irregular shapes, interpreted as the remains of burnt leaves and, partially, wood. The second type included thin long particles, which were the remains of burnt grasses, leaves, and needles. The distribution and accumulation rate of the first type particles showed an increase in the deepest layers, corresponding to a time period older than 250 years ago. The accumulation rate of the second type particles noticeably increased in layers older than 180 years, while in younger layers it was insignificant. In sediments corresponding to 1908, no anomalies were found in the contents of macro-charcoal particles of both types. Thus, in the Lake Suzdalevo sediments, we did not find any traces of a vast fire that occurred at the time of the “Tunguska catastrophe of 1908”. A possible explanation may be that the fire did not spread as far as the lake, and the direction of the wind was not favorable for the coal particles to fall into the lake. In addition, there was no increase in the particle flux characteristic of a number of regions in the modern period, obviously because of the lack of economic activity and the extremely low presence of humans in this regio

Dynamics of regional distribution and ecology investigation of rare mammals of taiga Eurasia (case study of flying squirrel 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

Differences in spatial versus temporal reaction norms for spring and autumn phenological events

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 environmental effects on timing (cogradient variation) or attenuate 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 norms tend to accentuate responses in spring (cogradient variation) and attenuate them in autumn (countergradient variation). As a result, among-population variation in the timing of events is greater in spring and less in autumn than if all populations followed the same reaction norm regardless of location. Despite such signs of local adaptation, overall phenotypic plasticity was not sufficient for phenological events to keep exact pace with their cues-the earlier the year, the more did the timing of the phenological event lag behind the timing of the cue. Overall, these patterns suggest that differences in the spatial versus temporal reaction norms will affect species' response to climate change in opposite ways in spring and autumn