On the ecological preferences of Dactylorhiza fuchsii (Druce) Soo` in the north-east of the Kirov region

Dactylorhiza fuchsii (Druce) Soo’– summer-green tuber-forming polycarpic. As a result of the conductedstudies, it was found that in relation to the complex of all ecological scales, D. fuchsii belongs to mesobiont species, withthe manifestation of stenovalence in the variability of moisture and salt regime of soils. It is revealed that the main factorslimiting the distribution of the species within the considered fragment of the range are the richness of soils with nitrogenand illumination.

Ecological assessment of some Polygonatum odoratum (Mill.) Druce habitats

Polygonatum odoratum (Mill.) Druce – summer-green short-rhizome polycarpic, geophyte. The aim of thestudy is to assess the ecological-cenotic preferences of P. odoratum in pine forests on the territory of the specially protectednatural area “Medvedsky Bor” in the Nolinsky district of the Kirov region. The ecological preferences of the P. odoratumwere determined by processing our own geobotanical descriptions according to the ecological scales of D. N. Tsyganov(1983), the assessment of the habitat conditions of the P. odoratum cenopopulations was carried out taking into accountthe realized ecological valence (REV) and the coefficient of ecological efficiency (K.ec.eff.). As a result of the studies, it wasfound that P. odoratum in pine forests is characterized by a wide potential range for most of the factors considered, in particular, the habitation of P. odoratum on sandy soils is due to the wide potential range of endurance of individuals of thisspecies in relation to soil moisture and preference for soils poor in mineral nutrients. The range of the studied habitatsdoes not go beyond the potentially possible boundaries, therefore, the conditions of these territories are relatively consistent with the ecological needs of the species, but most of the soil factors are not optimal for the growth of individuals of theP. odoratum in both cenopopulations. This is evidenced by both the low indicators of the realized ecological valence, andthe low coefficient of ecological efficiency

Characteristics of the microspecies aggregations among Alchemilla L. (Rosaceae) coenopopulations on the territory of Mari El Republic

The genus Alchemilla L. is represented by a significant number of apomictic species. This paper deals with the microspecies aggregations among Alchemilla coenopopulations from 5 nature districts on the territory of Mari El Republic. Alchemilla coenopopulations grow in meadow and forest margin communities, in disturbed habitats, while they have close estimates according to the ecological scales of L.G. Ramensky and D.N. Tsyganov. 25 Alchemilla microspecies have been identified. The number of generative rosette shoots on 1 m area for different microspecies within the coenopopulation varies extremely widely. There are from 3 to 14 microspecies in coenopopulations, one or two from them clearly dominant in number. Dominant microspecies are: A. acutiloba Opiz, A. hirsuticaulis H. Lindb., A. micans Buser, A. monticola Opiz, A. schistophylla Juz., A. subcrenata Buser, A. substrigosa Juz. There is A. micans in all coenopopulations, A. acutiloba , A. glabricaulis H. Lindb., A. monticola , A. sarmatica Juz. and A. subcrenata often occur. Microspecies A. breviloba H. Lindb., A. dasycrater Juz., A. devestiens Juz., A. filicaulis Buser, A. heptagona Juz., A. leiophylla Juz., A. lindbergiana Juz., A. plicata Buser, A. semilunaris Alechin are represented by single generative rosette shoots.

MONITORING ACTIVE FIRES IN THE LOWER PARANÁ RIVER FLOODPLAIN: ANALYSIS AND REPRODUCIBLE REPORTS ON SATELLITE THERMAL HOTSPOTS

Floodplain wetlands play a key role in hydrological and biogeochemical cycles and comprise a large part of the world's biodiversity and resources. The exploitation of remote sensing data can substantially contribute to monitoring procedures at broad ecological scales. In 2020, the Lower Paraná River floodplain (also known as Paraná River Delta, Argentina) suffered from a severe drought, and extended areas were burned. To monitor the wildfire situation, satellite products provided by FIRMS-NASA were used. These thermal hotspots – associated with active fires – can be downloaded as zipped spatial objects (point shapefiles) and include recent and archive records from VIRRS and MODIS thermal infrared sensors. The main aim was to handle these data, analyze the number of hotspots during 2020, and compare the disaster with previous years' situation. Using a reproducible workflow was crucial to ingest the zip files and repeat the same series of plots and analyses when necessary. Obtaining updated reports allowed me to quickly respond to peers, technicians, and journalists about the evolving fire situation. A total of 39,821 VIIRS S-NPP thermal hotspots were detected, with August (winter) accounting for 39.8% of the whole year’s hotspots. MODIS hotspots have lower spatial resolution than VIIRS, so the cumulative MODIS hotspots recorded during 2020 were 8,673, the highest number of hotspots of the last 11 years. Scripts were written in R language and are shared under a CC BY 4.0 license. QGIS was also used to generate a high-quality animation. The workflow can be used in other study areas.

COMPREHENSIVE WAY OF CALCULATING ECOLOGICAL (ENVIRONMENTAL SPACE) FACTORS OF PLANT COMMUNITIES ENVIRONMENT FOR AMPLITUDE ECOLOGICAL SCALES

Despite intensive development of instrumental methods of environmental factors analysis for plant communities their assessment with ecological scales still remains important. The main advantage of ecological scales is their ability to reflect generalized and average characteristics of ecological regimes due to significant inertia in response of plant communities composition to the change of certain characteristics of the environment. The main ways of calculation while using ecological scales are the medium-sized method and the ideal indicator method (of linear regression) including modified algorithm of calculating the level of edaphic and climatic factors of the environment with amplitude ecological scales. The aim of this work was to improve further the method for assessing the level of ecological factors (ecological space) in plant communities. For calculations and visualization of the results obtained we used Excel and our own programs written in the Matlab media. The basis of the method is finding the factor averagely weighed for the level calculated by the traditional way and by the method of the ideal indicator. It is proposed to set the weight of factors in both methods of calculation both explicitly and depending on the ecological index reflecting correspondence (adequacy) of the plant community composition to the level of ecological factors prevailing in the habitat. They can also be calculated by linear or non-linear dependencies relative to the middle of amplitude ecological scale. The conclusion is that it is possible to predict the content of secondary metabolites in plants based on assessing the level of ecological factors for plant communities.

Impact of environmental conditions on the vitality structure of the cenopopulations of the dominant tree tier in the forests of the southern part of the Volga Upland

The vitality structure of cenopulations of woody plants is formed under the influence of ecological, cenotic and anthropogenic influences. The study of the nature and degree of influence of the ecological parameters of the habitat will make it possible to predict the formation of the vitality structure of woody plants. The objects of study are individuals of the generative age state of three species of woody plants: Quercus robur, Tilia cordata, Acer platanoides. Environmental conditions of habitat were assessed by using range ecological scales. Vitality was assessed by three key determinative morphometric parameters. Correlation analysis was carried out to establish the impact of environmental conditions on the indicators of the vitality of cenopopulations. Both direct and inverse relationships (with a correlation coefficient of 0.5 and above) between ecological conditions and vitality of the studied species were noted. The vitality of Tilia cordata is more influenced compared to other studied species.

On the ecology of lawn communities in the cities of the Republic of Bashkortostan, Russia

This article provides information on the ecology of lawn communities in the cities of the Urals of the Republic of Bashkortostan (Ufa, Sterlitamak, Salavat, Ishimbay, Meleuz, Birsk, Neftekamsk, Yanaul). On the basis of 195 relevés, the ecological regimes of lawn communities and their species were determined using the ecological scales of Landolt. DCA ordination of the relevés confirmed their floristic differentiation into 4 associations, 2 subassociations, and 5 facies assigned to the alliance Cynosurion cristati of the class Molinio–Arrhenatheretea. The main contribution to the differentiation of communities is made by the thermoclimatic factor, soil moisture and nutrient regimes. The ranges of values of environmental factors of the lawn communities are determined. When conditions deteriorate, there is a succession of lawn communities from subass. typicum of the ass. Leontodono–Poetum pratensis via the subass. cichorietosum intybi of the same association to the ass. Poo pratensis– Plantaginetum majoris. At the same time, species diversity first increases due to the invassion of synanthropic species, and then decreases. Lawns considered to belong to synanthropized vegetation when the number of synanthropic species reaches 56–63 %. Along with traditional herbal mixtures with Poa pratensis, herbal mixtures with Festuca rubra and Lolium perenne are recommended, the combination of which better corresponds to a fairly wide range of environmental conditions of the Urals. Regular maintenance, watering and mowing are also necessary, which extend the life of the lawns.

A general model for temperature-dependence in biology

Temperature affects all biological rates and has far reaching consequences from bioengineering [1] to predicting ecological shifts under a changing climate [2-3], and more recently, to pandemic spread [4]. Temperature response in biological systems is characteristically asymmetric and nonlinear, with an exponential phase of increase followed by a concave up-ward or downward phase [5]. Current models for quantitatively describing the temperature response include simple but empirical equations (such as Arrhenius’) or models derived from first principles which are often overly complicated (i.e. with many parameters). Moreover, their theoretical framework does not include how parameters vary, nor their applicability across multiple scales and taxa, or whether they exhibit universality [1-7]. Here, we derive a new mechanistic, yet simple, model for the temperature dependence of biological rates based on the Eyring-Evans-Polanyi theory governing chemical reaction rates, which is applicable across all scales from the micro to the macro. Assuming only that the conformational entropy of molecules changes with temperature, we derive a model for the temperature dependence which takes the form of an exponential function modified by a power-law. Data for a wide variety of biological rates from molecular to ecological scales and across multiple taxonomic groups agree well with our predictions. Furthermore, our framework predicts values for the thermodynamic parameters, and leads to a single parameterless universal scaling curve on which data across all scales and taxa collapse.