Diatoms of modern bottom sediments in Siberian arctic

The investigation of the species composition and ecology of diatoms of modern bottom sediments in water bodies of arctic polygonal tundra in three subregions of North Yakutiya has been carried out. As a result, 161 taxons of diatoms were determined; the determinant role of the depth, conductivity, pH of the water, and geographic latitude in their distribution was confirmed, and two complexes of species with respect to the leading abiotic factors were distinguished. The diatoms of the first complex prefer shallow water bodies of high latitudes with neutral and slightly alkaline water and relatively high conductivity. The second complex is confined to the water bodies of lower latitudes with small conductivity, as well as neutral and slightly acidic water. © 2012 Pleiades Publishing, Ltd

A high-resolution diatom-inferred palaeoconductivity and lake level record of the Aral Sea for the last 1600 yr

Formerly the world's fourth largest lake by area, the Aral Sea is presently undergoing extreme desiccation due to large-scale irrigation strategies implemented in the Soviet era. As part of the INTAS-funded CLIMAN project into Holocene climatic variability and the evolution of human settlement in the Aral Sea basin, fossil diatom assemblages contained within a sediment core obtained from the Aral Sea have been applied to a diatom-based inference model of conductivity (r 2 = 0.767, RMSEP = 0.469 log 10 μS cm - 1). This has provided a high-resolution record of conductivity and lake level change over the last ca. 1600 yr. Three severe episodes of lake level regression are indicated at ca. AD 400, AD 1195-1355 and ca. AD 1780 to the present day. The first two regressions may be linked to the natural diversion of the Amu Darya away from the Aral Sea and the failure of cyclones formed in the Mediterranean to penetrate more continental regions. Human activity, however, and in particular the destruction of irrigation facilities are synchronous with these early regressions and contributed to the severity of the observed low stands. © 2007

Criteria of rehabilitation of biotic communities in oil-polluted small rivers (by example of the Shava River, Nizhnii Novgorod oblast)

© 2014, Pleiades Publishing, Ltd. An assessment of the ecological state of the small Shava River (Kstovskii raion, Nizhnii Novgorod oblast) subjected to oil pollution as a result of a pipeline accident in 2007 is presented. On the basis of physical and chemical characteristics of water quality and the results of a study of hydrobiont communities, the degree of the river pollution has been determined and a conclusion about the rehabilitation of communities as a result of the complex effect of recultivation measures and self-purification processes has been made. Criteria for recultivation activity completion have been defined according to hydrobiological indicators (phytoplankton, zooplankton, and zoobenthos)

Modern and fossil diatom assemblages from Bol’shoy Lyakhovsky Island (New Siberian Archipelago, Arctic Siberia)

© 2017, Pleiades Publishing, Ltd. This article discusses the results of a taxonomic and ecological investigation of diatoms from polygonal ponds and Quaternary permafrost deposits of Bol’shoy Lyakhovsky Island (New Siberian Archipelago) and the reconstruction of climatic changes on the Island during late Pleistocene/Holocene transition using fossil diatom assemblages from the permafrost deposits. The taxonomic list of diatoms includes 159 diatom species. The main ecological factors that determine the distribution of diatoms in the investigated data set are mean July air temperature, рН, electrical conductivity, water depth, and concentrations of Si 4+ and Al 3+ . An increase in water depth and stable lacustrine conditions in the Lateglacial–Holocene in the ancient thermokarst lake relate to Lateglacial warming before 11860 ± 160 years BP and during the early Holocene between 11210 ± 160 and 7095 ± 60 years BP

Biodiversity assessment AND quality of a vital state of trees, shrubs and herbaceous vegetation in vicinity of sport objects of the Universiade (Kazan CITY, Russia)

© 2015, Mediterranean Center of Social and Educational Research. All rights reserved. The article contains the information about the results of research of biological diversity and assessment of the quality of a vital state of trees, shrubs and herbaceous vegetation in vicinity of sport objects of the Universiade (Kazan city, Republic of Tatarstan). The vegetation of the city has been transformed in the construction of the Universiade objects. To improve the situation carried out extensive work on gardening. Provides the information about species compositions of trees, shrubs and herbs of sports facilities, about the most common species in planting of greenery. Identified the age and classes of vital state of trees. Among of herbaceous vegetation are marked prevailing families, ecological and coenotic groups and life forms, as well as rare and endangered species. The significance of compensatory measures identified to improve the environmental situation in the construction of sports facilities on the example of their greening

Mid-late Holocene environmental history of Kulunda, southern West Siberia: Vegetation, climate and humans

An environmental reconstruction of mid-late Holocene vegetation, climate and lake dynamics was inferred from pollen and diatom records of Lake Big Yarovoe in Kulunda, southern West Siberia. The reconstruction suggests a general prevalence of steppe during the last 4.4 ka. Under a relatively warm and dry climate, open semi-desert and dry steppes with patchy birch forest spread between 4.4 and 3.75 ka BP. The largest development of conifer forest started in Kulunda after 3.75 ka BP. The onset of the Late Holocene is characterised by the dominance of steppe with birch and pine forests in the lowlands and river valleys. After AD 1860, open steppe and semi-desert vegetation with fragmentary birch forest have been dominant in Kulunda, along with a sharp reduction of conifers. These results are in agreement with the general pattern of the Holocene environmental history of the surrounding areas, including the Baraba forest-steppe, Kazakh Upland and Altai Mountains. The penetration of coniferous forest into the Kulunda steppe after 3.75 ka BP was related to its geographical location northwest of the Altai Mountains. The economic activities of the ancient population of Kulunda depended on the environmental changes during the Holocene. © 2012 Elsevier Ltd

The impact of XXVII summer universiade on the environment in Kazan

© 2015, Mediterranean Center of Social and Educational Research. All rights reserved. This article introduces general research results of impact of XXVII Summer Universiade on the environment in Kazan. There are major results of ecological consequences of staging of Universiade for development of Kazan city and the Tatarstan Republic. The scientific assessment is given in the integrated form by indicators

Paleo-Ecology of the Yedoma Ice Complex on Sobo-Sise Island (Eastern Lena Delta, Siberian Arctic)

Late Pleistocene permafrost of the Yedoma type constitutes a valuable paleo-environmental archive due to the presence of numerous and well-preserved floral and faunal fossils. The study of the fossil Yedoma inventory allows for qualitative and quantitative reconstructions of past ecosystem and climate conditions and variations over time. Here, we present the results of combined paleo-proxy studies including pollen, chironomid, diatom and mammal fossil analyses from a prominent Yedoma cliff on Sobo-Sise Island in the eastern Lena Delta, NE Siberia to complement previous and ongoing paleo-ecological research in western Beringia. The Yedoma Ice Complex (IC) cliff on Sobo-Sise Island (up to 28 m high, 1.7 km long) was continuously sampled at 0.5 m resolution. The entire sequence covers the last about 52 cal kyr BP, but is not continuous as it shows substantial hiatuses at 36–29 cal kyr BP, at 20–17 cal kyr BP and at 15–7 cal kyr BP. The Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 3 Yedoma IC (52–28 cal kyr BP) pollen spectra show typical features of tundra–steppe vegetation. Green algae remains indicate freshwater conditions. The chironomid assemblages vary considerably in abundance and diversity. Chironomid-based TJuly reconstructions during MIS 3 reveal warmer-than-today TJuly at about 51 cal kyr BP, 46-44 and 41 cal kyr BP. The MIS 2 Yedoma IC (28–15 cal kyr BP) pollen spectra represent tundra-steppe vegetation as during MIS 3, but higher abundance of Artemisia and lower abundances of algae remains indicate drier summer conditions. The chironomid records are poor. The MIS 1 (7–0 cal kyr BP) pollen spectra indicate shrub-tundra vegetation. The chironomid fauna is sparse and not diverse. The chironomid-based TJuly reconstruction supports similar-as-today temperatures at 6.4–4.4 cal kyr BP. Diatoms were recorded only after about 6.4 cal kyr BP. The Sobo-Sise Yedoma record preserves traces of the West Beringian tundra-steppe that maintained the Mammoth fauna including rare evidence for woolly rhinoceros’ presence. Chironomid-based TJuly reconstructions complement previous plant-macrofossil based TJuly of regional MIS 3 records. Our study from the eastern Lena Delta fits into and extends previous paleo-ecological Yedoma studies to characterize Beringian paleo-environments in the Laptev Sea coastal region

Diatom records and tephra mineralogy in pingo deposits of Seward Peninsula, Alaska

© 2017 Elsevier B.V.Vast areas of the terrestrial Subarctic and Arctic are underlain by permafrost. Landscape evolution is therefore largely controlled by climate-driven periglacial processes. The response of the frozen ground to late Quaternary warm and cold stages is preserved in permafrost sequences, and deducible by multi-proxy palaeoenvironmental approaches. Here, we analyse radiocarbon-dated mid-Wisconsin Interstadial and Holocene lacustrine deposits preserved in the Kit-1 pingo permafrost sequence combined with water and surface sediment samples from nine modern water bodies on Seward Peninsula (NW Alaska) to reconstruct thermokarst dynamics and determine major abiotic factors that controlled the aquatic ecosystem variability. Our methods comprise taxonomical diatom analyses as well as Detrended Correspondence Analysis (DCA) and Redundancy Analysis (RDA). Our results show, that the fossil diatom record reflects thermokarst lake succession since about 42 14C kyr BP. Different thermokarst lake stages during the mid-Wisconsin Interstadial, the late Wisconsin and the early Holocene are mirrored by changes in diatom abundance, diversity, and ecology. We interpret the taxonomical changes in the fossil diatom assemblages in combination with both modern diatom data from surrounding ponds and existing micropalaeontological, sedimentological and mineralogical data from the pingo sequence. A diatom-based quantitative reconstruction of lake water рН indicates changing lake environments during mid-Wisconsin to early Holocene stages. Mineralogical analyses indicate presence of tephra fallout and its impact on fossil diatom communities. Our comparison of modern and fossil diatom communities shows the highest floristic similarity of modern polygon ponds to the corresponding initial (shallow water) development stages of thermokarst lakes. We conclude, that mid-Wisconsin thermokarst processes in the study area could establish during relatively warm interstadial climate conditions accompanied by increased precipitation due to approaching coasts, while still high continentality and hence high seasonal temperature gradients led to warm summers in the central part of Beringia

Reconstruction of Holocene environmental changes in Southern Kurils (North-Western Pacific) based on palaeolake sediment proxies from Shikotan Island

© 2017 Elsevier B.V. We investigated a well-dated sediment section of a palaeolake situated in the coastal zone of Shikotan Island (Lesser Kurils) for organic sediment-geochemistry and biotic components (diatoms, chironomids, pollen) in order to provide a reconstruction of the palaeoenvironmental changes and palaeo-events (tsunamis, sea-level fluctuations and landslides) in Holocene. During the ca 8000 years of sedimentation the changes in organic sediment-geochemistry and in composition of the diatoms and chironomids as well as the shifts in composition of terrestrial vegetation suggest that the period until ca 5800 cal yr BP was characterized by a warm and humid climate (corresponds to middle Holocene optimum) with climate cooling thereafter. A warm period reconstructed from ca 900 to at least ca 580 cal yr BP corresponds to a transition to a Nara-Heian-Kamakura warm stage and can be correlated to a Medieval Warm Period. After 580 cal yr PB, the lake gradually dried out and climatic signals could not be obtained from the declining lacustrine biological communities, but the increasing role of spruce and disappearance of the oak from the vegetation give evidences of the climate cooling that can be correlated with the LIA. The marine regression stages at the investigated site are identified for ca 6200–5900 (at the end of the middle Holocene transgression), ca 5500–5100 (Middle Jomon regression or Kemigawa regression), and ca 1070–360 cal yr BP (at the end of Heian transgression). The lithological structure of sediments and the diatom compositions give evidences for the multiple tsunami events of different strengths in the Island. Most remarkable of them can be dated at around ca 7000, 6460, 5750, 4800, 950 cal yr BP. The new results help to understand the Holocene environmental history of the Southern Kurils as a part of the Kuril-Kamchatka and Aleutian Marginal Sea-Island Arc Systems in the North-Western Pacific region