Fleroff goes digital: georeferenced records from "Flora des Gouvernements Wladimir" (Fleroff, 1902)

Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) has uneven data coverage across taxonomic, spatial and temporal dimensions. Temporal imbalances in the data coverage are particularly dramatic. Thus, 188.3M GBIF records were made in 2020, more than the whole lot of the currently available pre-1986 electronic data. This underscores the importance of reliable and precise biodiversity spatial data collected in early times. Biological collections certainly play a key role in our knowledge of biodiversity in the past. However, digitisation of historical literature is underway, being a modern trend in biodiversity data mining. The grid dataset for the flora of Vladimir Oblast, Russia, includes many historical records borrowed from the "Flora des Gouvernements Wladimir" by Alexander F. Fleroff (also known as Flerov or Flerow). Intensive study of Fleroff's collections and field surveys exactly in the same localities where he worked, showed that the quality of his data is superb. Species lists collected across hundreds of localities form a unique source of reliable information on the floristic diversity of Vladimir Oblast and adjacent areas for the period from 1894 to 1901. Since the grid dataset holds generalised data, we made precise georeferencing of Fleroff's literature records and published them in the form of a GBIF-mediated dataset. A dataset, based on "Flora des Gouvernements Wladimir. I. Pflanzengeographische Beschreibung des Gouvernements Wladimir" by Fleroff (1902), includes 8,889 records of 654 taxa (mainly species) from 366 localities. The majority of records originate from Vladimir Oblast (4,611 records of 534 taxa from 195 localities) and Yaroslavl Oblast (2,013 records of 409 taxa from 66 localities), but also from Nizhny Novgorod Oblast (942 records), Ivanovo Oblast (667 records) and Moscow Oblast (656 records). The leading second-level administrative units by the number of records are Pereslavsky District (2,013 records), Aleksandrovsky District (1,318 records) and Sergievo-Posadsky District (599 records). Georeferencing was carried out, based on the expert knowledge of the area, analysis of modern satellite images and old topographic maps. For 2,460 records, the georeferencing accuracy is 1,000 m or less (28%), whereas for 6,070 records it is 2,000 m or less (68%). The mean accuracy of records of the entire dataset is 2,447 m. That accuracy is unattainable for most herbarium collections of the late 19th century. Some localities of rare plants discovered by Fleroff and included into the dataset were completely lost in the 20th century due to either peat mining or development of urban areas.

Contribution to the "Atlas of the Russian Flora": Twelve local floras of European Russia

The purpose of this dataset is to deliver to a wider audience in the form of GBIF-mediated data vast floristic materials collected by the author across various localities of European Russia from 2001-2019 (Arkhangelsk, Tver, Vladimir, Tula, Lipetsk, Voronezh Oblasts, Krasnodar Krai, City of Moscow and Komi Republic). Taxonomic data on vascular plants for ten locations were mobilised from the papers and technical reports published in Russian and standardised. Floristic treatments for two locations (Yasnaya Polyana and Tsaritsyno) have never been published before. The newly-prepared dataset includes 5,309 species records, i.e. one species record per each local flora. These are either native or alien (fully naturalised and casual) species. All records within one local flora have the same centroid coordinates and coordinate uncertainty in metres. Floristic inventories from the following locations were mobilised: 01. Ustya, Arkhangelsk Oblast (543 species, 1,500 km2); 02. Zaseki, Tula Oblast (593 species, 60 km2); 03. Polibino, Lipetsk Oblast (553 species, 70 km2); 04. Khrenovoye, Voronezh Oblast (665 species, 200 km2); 05. Troyeruchitsa, Tver Oblast (501 species, 10 km2); 06. Man-Pupu-Ner, Komi Republic (182 species, ca. 300 km2); 07. Middle Lyaga, Komi Republic (143 species, ca. 300 km2); 08. Utrish, Krasnodar Krai (933 species, 195 km2); 09. Yasnaya Polyana, Tula Oblast (236 species, 2.2 km2); 10. Bogolyubovsky Lug, Vladimir Oblast (289 species, 1.7 km2); 11. Tsaritsyno, City of Moscow (359 species, 5.3 km2); 12. Patakino, Vladimir Oblast (312 species, 1.1 km2). According to the GBIF taxonomic backbone, the dataset covers 1,806 species, 669 genera and 127 families of tracheophytes.

Flora of Vladimir Oblast, Russia: an updated grid dataset (1867–2020)

The dataset covers wild tracheophytes (native species, naturalised aliens and casuals) of Vladimir Oblast, Russia. It includes only one occurrence per species per grid square, thereby recently confirmed earlier records are not duplicated. Georeferences are based on the WGS84 grid scheme with 342 squares with areas ranging from 94.7 km2 in the northernmost part to 98.2 km2 on the southern boundary (5′ lat. × 10′ long.). Each occurrence is linked to the corresponding grid square centroid, therefore actual coordinates, habitat details and voucher information are unavailable. In late 2011, the earlier version of the dataset was used for the production of grid maps in the standard "Flora of Vladimir Oblast: checklist and atlas". Additional records, obtained during field excursions of 2012 and 2013, were fully included in the "Flora of Vladimir Oblast: grid data analysis". The stable version of the dataset with 123,054 grid records (as of 1867–2013) was published in GBIF in 2017. Data obtained in the field during 2014–2020, as well as those extracted from recently published sources, were digitised, structured and finally published in GBIF in April 2021. The last update added 7,000 new grid records. Currently, "Flora of Vladimir Oblast, Russia: an updated grid dataset (1867–2020)" contains 130,054 unique occurrences of 1,465 vascular plant taxa (species, hybrids, species aggregates) from Vladimir Oblast and tiny parts of the adjacent areas. The average number of grid records has grown over the seven years from 363 to 380 species. The grid occurrences are largely based on the field studies by the author, performed during 1999–2020 (121,737 records), as well as on data extracted from the relevant literature, unpublished sources, herbarium collections and citizen science projects (8,317 records). The taxonomic backbone of the occurrence grid dataset follows the accompanying checklist dataset to ensure correct cross-linking of the names. As of April 2021, the dataset on the Vladimir Oblast flora represents the fourth largest dataset on vascular plants of Russia published in GBIF.

COMPARATIVE MORPHOLOGICAL ANALYSIS OF ENAMEL AND DENTIN SURFACES’ RECONSTRUCTIONS BY MEANS OF AUTOMATED DIGITAL ODONTOMETRY

Studies of teeth represent a significant part of palaeoanthropological research. Over the past two decades these studies have significantly developed with implementation of high resolution imaging based on x-ray scanning techniques. Highly informative reconstructions based on image processing have provided an opportunity to study morphological layers and structures of teeth which are usually hidden under the outer layer of dental enamel. Thus micro-computed tomography of the studied teeth has been performed in order to obtain reconstructions of enamel and dentin surfaces. The material is represented by well-preserved teeth of an adolescent from Upper Palaeolithic archaeological site of Sunghir world-renowned archaeological site in Vladimir Oblast in the Russian Federation. The characteristic feature of the studied teeth is in their unusual, presumably archaic, morphology, which has been previously studied and described through measurements by application of automated digital odontometry method; however the mentioned study referred to the enamel surface. And in the current study these algorithms are applied to measure the surface of dentin. As this is the first successful attempt of measuring dentin surface morphology, the process has to be improved for complete automation. Nevertheless even currently applied approaches allow to compare enamel and dentin morphology through measurements.

Political terror and the right-wing movement (The case of Vladimir Governorate)

The article examines the street confrontation of October 1905 which went down in history as Jewish pogroms. The source base of the work comprises the documents of the police department deposited in the State Archive of Vladimir Oblast and the materials from periodicals of various political leanings. After the publication of the Manifesto of the 17th of October, 1905, in the streets of Russian cities, the revolutionary demonstrations whose participants viewed the Manifesto as a signal for a decisive assault on the autocracy clashed with the patriotic manifestations held by those who wanted to defend their familiar world. The defiant behavior of opposition supporters who preached their political ideals and in doing so insulted national and religious feelings of the conservative strata of population provoked street excesses, which then turned into bloody clashes. The situation was aggravated by the inaction of the local authorities who had not received timely instructions from St Petersburg and showed confusion during the first “days of freedom.” Thus, the pogroms of October 1905 which took place outside the Pale of Settlement were directed not so much against the Jews as against the revolutionaries (a considerable part of them were Jews). Contrary to the idea prevailing in historiography that the clashes of October 1905 were organized, the pogroms arose spontaneously. Neither the government, which was prostrate, nor the right-wing parties, the numerical composition of which in Russia at that time was measured by several thousand people, initiated or organized those events. In October 1905, there were no monarchist organizations in Vladimir Governorate at all. However, the supporters of autocracy are responsible for two political murders which occurred after the pogroms in November–December 1905. In Ivanovo-Voznesensk the crowd infuriated with the events of recent months tore to pieces a revolutionary woman who was transporting weapons, and in the village of Undol workers killed an agitator who called for the overthrow of autocracy. After the foundation of monarchist organizations in Vladimir Governorate, street clashes between the opponents and the supporters of autocracy gradually died down because the monarchists got an opportunity to defend their political convictions in a more civilized form. Although the conflicts between persons of opposite political views continued for some time, they were more like domestic quarrels and had no victims. Both sides were equally responsible for those incidents.

Lachnum sulphureum. [Descriptions of Fungi and Bacteria].

A description is provided for Lachnum sulphureum. Some information on its associated organisms and substrata, dispersal and transmission, habitats and conservation status is given, along with details of its geographical distribution (Africa (Morocco, Rwanda), North America (Canada (Manitoba, Ontario), USA (California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Indiana, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, New York, North Dakota, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Tennessee, Washington)), South America (Brazil (Rio Grande do Sul)), Asia (Republic of Georgia, India (Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Uttarakhand), Japan, Kazakhstan (Almaty Oblast, East Kazakhstan), Nepal, Russia (Altai Krai, Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug, Primorsky Krai), Turkey), Australasia (Australia (Victoria), New Zealand (also Kermadek Islands)), Europe (Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Russia (Kursk Oblast, Leningrad Oblast, Mari El Republic, Moscow Oblast, Vladimir Oblast), Serbia, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine, UK)).

Creating a Tourists Product in Small Towns

The article is devoted to the creation of Russian small cities’ tourist product. The model of consumer behavior with respect to tourism products and the concept of tourist product value for consumer are considered; the necessity to form complex value propositions for target audiences segmented by their needs is substantiated. The offer of small cities’ tourist product in three regions — Perm Krai, Vladimir Oblast and Tula Oblast is carried out. The possible ways of developing and improving small cities’ tourist product in these regions are determined. Particular attention is paid to the most promising areas for today - event tourism and cultural and educational thematic routes; high importance of gastronomy as part of the tourist experience is highlighted. The analysis leaded to identification of some problems, including insufficient use of event marketing potential to ensure a stable tourist flow throughout the year, as well as poor awareness of target audiences outside the regions. Recommendations proposed to improve the offer for target audiences.