The principles of compiling and the content of the Geocryological Map in the area of the bridge crossing over the Lena River

For the safe construction and operation of a bridge it is necessary to have a clear understanding of the landscape, geocryological and hydrogeological features of the territory. In this regard, a review of the geocryological study of the permafrost zone of the bridge crossing area has been prepared; the analysis of the published and archive literature on the geological structure and hydrogeological conditions of the area under study was carried out; field and fund data and data of engineering and geological surveys were studied and analyzed; control and linking field routes and geothermal measurements in wells were carried out. The results obtained in the course of this work served as the basis for the compilation of a permafrost landscape map and then a geocryological map of the bridge over the Lena river in the area of Yakutsk on a scale of 1 : 5 000. The geocryological map shows the spatial heterogeneity of the permafrost-landscape conditions of the territory under consideration due to zonal (altitudinal-belt), regional and local factors. The information base of geocryological characteristics was the data of engineering and geological surveys.

Natural and anthropogenic transformation of geosystems of Tunkinsky national park: identification and mapping

The paper focuses on the specifics of landscape medium scale mapping employing traditional methods. We selected a key site in Tunkinsky National Park (Republic of Buryatia) and the Tunkinskaya depression located within it and its mountain framing (south of Eastern Siberia) to display the modern structural and dynamic features of the geosystem functioning. The map compiled at a scale of 1 : 100 000 illustrates the differentiation into categories of landscape structures by types of altitudinal-belt conditions of the natural environment, differing in morphological and phytocenotic properties, as well as the nature of natural-anthropogenic transformation. The main factors of landscape discreteness are morphological features of the surface structure of the intermontane territories; the complexes with natural vegetation and their derivative biocenoses, formed as a result of agricultural and pyrogenic transformation, reflected the dynamic nature of the geosystem functioning. The complexes have been formed in river valleys due to debris flows and are assigned to variable states.

Dynamics of the abundance of cuckoo wasps (Hymenoptera, Chrysididae) in the conditions of the altitudinal-belt heterogeneity of the North Caucasus

The work provides data on the dynamics of the abundance of 205 taxa from 19 genera: Cleptes, Colpopyga, Elampus, Omalus, Philoctetes, Pseudomalus, Hedychridium, Hedychrum, Holopyga, Chrysidea, Chrysis, Euchroeus, Chrysura, Pseudochrysis, Spinolia, Spinolia, including species rare and new for the fauna of the North Caucasus and Russia. By the nature of the population dynamics, five groups of cuckoo wasps were identified: spring – represented by 7 species from 4 genera; spring-summer – 76 species from 10 genera; summer – 113 species from 16 genera; summer-autumn – 4 species from 2 genera and spring-summer-autumn – 5 species from 3 genus. According to the duration of flight, eurychronous species of cuckoo wasps were identified, which are found throughout the season from spring to autumn; mesochronous – the years of which affect the end of May and summer months and stenochronous – confined to a short period of time. Eurychronic accounted for 2.4%, mesochronous 24.9%, stenochronic 72.7%. The number of generations of cuckoo wasps is related to the dynamics of the number of the host. In the mountains, the peaks of activity shift towards the middle of summer, most species have one peak of activity; due to the frequent changes in weather conditions in the mountains, the phenological characteristics of the cuckoo wasps and their hosts do not coincide in terms with the lowland populations and the periods of activity can be extended in time. Phenological characteristics of rare and new species for the fauna of the North Caucasus and Russia are presented for the first time. The data obtained expand the understanding of the biodiversity and dynamics of the abundance of cuckoo wasps in the North Caucasus and can be used for environmental protection measures and rational nature management in the south of Russia.

Grassland bird species in mountain pastures Zaprikraj and Zapleč in the southern Julian Alps, Slovenia

Grassland birds were surveyed in two mountain pastures (Zaprikraj and Zapleč) in the southern part of the Julian Alps, Slovenia. The survey was carried out during the mornings between 26 and 30 June 2005. Due to the incomplete survey (only one visit, no nocturnal or targeted surveys and late season survey), the surveyed birds’ breeding density is only a rough estimate. 167 pairs belonging to 12 species were counted, with Tree (average density of 1.64 p/10 ha) and Water Pipit (average density of 1.60 p / 10 ha) being the most abundant. Both were observed in all altitudinal belts. The highest density in individual altitudinal belt was calculated for Red-backed Shrike Lanius collurio (3.78 p/10 ha) and Water Pipit (3.61 p/10 ha). In well preserved grasslands in the study area, most species reached high breeding densities compared to other parts of Slovenia and all were recorded higher than during the 1992 survey, although still mostly within limits of the elevations elsewhere in Slovenia. Breeding density of Skylark Alauda arvensis decreased with the elevation. Whinchat Saxicola rubetra, Skylark and Red-backed Shrike used significantly gentler slopes, while Pipits showed no preference for particular slopes.

Rediscovery and taxonomic placement of Solanum polyphyllum Phil. (Solanaceae), a narrow endemic from the Chilean Atacama Desert

Although the original description of Solanum polyphyllum Phil. was made in 1891, this species was not seen until it was re-discovered 128 years later in 2019 in the Atacama Desert. Fruits and seeds were previously unknown and a complete description is provided here. This species was not treated in the most recent monograph of Solanum sect. Regmandra, but it should be incorporated in this section due to its glabrous, sessile and entire leaves, which are decurrent onto the stem. Morphologically, S. polyphyllum is similar to S. paposanum, also of section Regmandra, but differs in the entire leaves (against margins with 4–5 acute lobes in S. paposanum) and glabrous leaves (moderately pubescent adaxially and velutinous abaxially in S. paposanum). The rediscovery of S. polyphyllum at a new locality at the same altitudinal belt as the type, re-affirms its restricted distribution and endemism and supports a potential conservation status as an endangered species.

Хромосомный набор, распространение, численность и биотопическая приуроченность каменной куницы (Martes foina nehringi Satunin, 1905) на Северном Кавказе

This paper describes for the first time the chromosome set of stone marten in the North Caucasus from two disconnected points. The karyotype did not show polymorphism, both in number and morphology of autosomes and heterochromosomes. In a double set contains 38 chromosomes. In addition, new data on distribution based on the cadastral map, which is compiled on karyologically dated material, taking into account the altitudinal-belt structure of mountain landscapes, is presented. Also, new materials on the dynamics of numbers taking into account the habitat, as well as current trends of anthropogenic changes in the structure of the stone marten habitat in the northern macro slope of the Central Caucasus. The study showed that stone marten is a very plastic species and can inhabit the territory of the northern macro slope of the Central Caucasus and that, in the presence of food and suitable shelters in almost all biotopes, including anthropogenic. The number of stone marten in the study area is highest in the forest-steppe and subalpine zones.