Complex investigations of Spitsbergen and offshore nature: Proceedings of the XV scientific conference (Murmansk, 28–30 October 2020). Apatity

This publication contains proceedings of the XV scientific conference “Complex investigations of Spitsbergen and offshore nature” held at the Murmansk Marine Biological Institute in 28–30 October 2020.

MAIN AREAS AND RESULTS OF THE BENTHOS RESEARCH IN THE BARENTS SEA BY THE MURMANSK MARINE BIOLOGICAL INSTITUTE IN 2015–2019

The results of five-year studies (2015–2019) of the laboratory of zoobenthos MMBI RAS on the impact of environmental factors, climate change and pollution on the species diversity, structure and abundance of bottom fauna in the Barents Sea were considered. The abundance and diversity of bottom communities and taxocenoses were higher in the most warm Atlantic water masses. The warming of the Arctic contributes to increased diversity of the Barents Sea benthos, increased biological invasion in the northern seas, and maintenance of diversity in the polluted ecosystem of the Kola Bay. The technology of biomonitoring of climate change using littoral populations of invertebrates is proposed.

HISTORY OF STUDYING THE WEIGHED SEDIMENTARY SEDIMENT AND SEDIMENT FLOWS (MURMAN AND KAREL COAST),AT THE MURMAN MARINE BIOLOGICAL INSTITUTE

The work reflects the results of many years of research on modern lithodynamics on the coasts of the Barents and White Seas,employees of the Murmansk Marine Biological Institute.

RESULTSOFPARASYTOLOGICALRESEARCHESOFMMBIIN2015–2019

The most important results of research on seabirds parasitology conducted at the Murmansk Marine Biological Institute in 2015–2019 are presented. Causal relationships between the distribution of hosts and the spread of helminths are determined. Similarities and differences of parasitic systems in different geographical areas are established. A more complete understanding of the parasitic-host relationship between seabirds and their helminths is obtained. Direct and indirect impact of helminths on hosts at the physiological and biochemical levels are described.

Critical review of type specimens deposited in the Malacological collection of the biological institute/Ufrj, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

The Malacological Collection of the Biological Institute of Federal University of Rio de Janeiro figures as an important repository of specimens, containing c.a. 21,000 lots, most of them collected at deep sea of southeast Brazil. A critical review of literature and types deposited in this collection revealed the existence of 191 lots containing type specimens (23 holotypes and 168 paratypes), corresponding to 129 nominal species divided in three classes: Gastropoda (109 names, subdivided in 62 Caenogastropoda; 32 Heterobranchia and 15 Vetigastropoda), Bivalvia (17 names subdivided in 10 Protobranchia; 6 Heterodonta and 1 Pteriomorphia), and Scaphopoda (3 names). For each species, an updated list of data is provided, including the collecting location (revised or corrected, when necessary), number of specimens actually present (i.e., physically found in the collection), nomenclatural acts (if needed) and any other specific issue concerning particular species. It is beyond the scope of this study to discuss classifications or promote subjective judgment on taxonomy at any level for names treated here.

Potatoes: Pests, Plant Breeding, and the Growth of the Nazi State

The chapter deals with the role of potatoes bred at the Imperial Biological Institute (Biologische Reichsanstalt - BRA) in the Nazi Battle of Production. It highlights the importance of research at the BRA for the seed cleansing of the Nazi years, with thousands of varieties eliminated from German fields, enforced by the Imperial Food Estate (Reichsnährstand - RNS), the institutional form of the ideology of Blood and Soil and the mammoth Nazi organization responsible for organizing the peasant world. The research dynamics at the BRA aimed at coping with the multiple pests afflicting German potato fields (wart, Colorado beetle, late blight, viruses) is put in relation with the growing infrastructure of the RNS, in an exemplary case of co-production of science and the state: each new experimental system at the BRA corresponded to an expansion of the power and reach of the RNS