Integrative Geophysical Studies at the Novaya Kurya-1 Cemetery in the Kulunda Steppe

We outline the results of prospection studies at the Novaya Kurya-1 cemetery in the south of Western Siberia, using remote sensing methods such as aerial photography, ground-based magnetometry, high-precision aeromagnetic survey, electromagnetic profi ling, and electrotomography. Original techniques were used to construct relative relief maps, and an inversion of data from ground-based magnetic survey at various altitudes was carried out. The fi rst technique reduces the effect of natural relief, and highlights anthropogenic altitudinal anomalies, making the analysis of digital elevation models more effi cient. The second technique is helpful for assessing the thickness and depth of anomalous magnetic bodies or horizons, not only providing planigraphic information but enabling us to evaluate two- and threedimensional geometric properties of the detected objects. As a result of the analyses, at least 14 kurgans were identifi ed at the cemetery, six of which lack salient outward features. Structural details suggest that most of them date to the Early Scythian time (800–400 BC). On the basis of the interpretation of the results of highly effi cient prospection analyses using the UAV platform, offering the possibility of surveying a large area (about 25 ha), the boundaries of the site were determined. Several features were detected. To identify these, further studies are needed.

Do ARMA Models Provide Better Gap Filling in Time Series of Soil Temperature and Soil Moisture? The Case of Arable Land in the Kulunda Steppe, Russia

The adoption of climate-smart agriculture requires the comprehensive development of environmental monitoring tools, including online observation of climate and soil settings. They are often designed to measure soil properties automatically at different depths at hour or minute intervals. It is essential to have a complete dataset to use statistical models for the prediction of soil properties and to make short-term decisions regarding soil tillage operations and irrigation during a vegetation period. This is also important in applied hydrological studies. Nevertheless, the time series of soil hydrological measurements often have data gaps for different reasons. The study focused on solving a problem of gap-filling in hourly time series of soil temperature and moisture, measured at the 30 cm depth using a weighted gravitation lysimeter station while meteorological data were recorded simultaneously by a weather station. The equipment was installed in the Kulunda Steppe in the Altai Krai, Russia. Considering that climate conditions affect soil temperature and moisture content directly, we did a comparative analysis of the gap-filling performance using the three imputation methods—linear interpolation, multiple linear regression, and extended ARMA (p,q) models with exogenous climatic variables. The results showed that, according to the minimum of the mean absolute error, ARMA (p,q) models with optimally selected order parameters, and an adaptive window, had some advantages compared to other single-imputation methods. The ARMA (p,q) model produced a good quality of gap-filling in time series with the mean absolute error of 0.19 °C and 0.08 Vol. % for soil temperature and moisture content, respectively. The findings supplemented the methodology of hydrological data processing and the development of digital tools for the online monitoring of climate and soil properties in agriculture.

EVALUATION OF SUNFLOWER SELF-FERTILITY UNDER THE CONDITIONS OF THE KULUNDA STEPPE

In the Kulunda steppe, sunflower yields are greatly in-fluenced by empty shells as a result of low self-fertility of plants under unfavorable conditions for pollination. There-fore, the development of sunflower varieties for high self-fertility is a topical issue. To determine self-fertility, it is necessary to take into account the number of tubiform flo-rets in the anthodium, and counting them is a rather labor-intensive task. Therefore,in order to facilitate the determi-nation of self-fertility, the possibility of its evaluation by direct counting of seeds in an anthodium was studied. The experiments were carried out from 2015 through 2018 in the fields of the Plant Breeding and Seed Production La-boratory of the Kulunda Agricultural Experimental Station of the Federal Altai Scientific Center of Agro-Biotechnologies. The research targets were self-pollinated offspring of the 1st-4th inbreeding generations obtained on the basis of large-fruited varieties Baloven, Altai and Kulundinsky 1 under the conditions of the Kulunda steppe of the Altai Region. The results of the experiment show that the self-fertility of the studied varieties is at a low level and averag-es 8.9% with a variation from 4.8% in the Altai variety to 16.4% in the Kulundinsky 1 variety. The study of the rela-tionship of self-fertility and the number of seeds in an an-thodium showed high dependence between these charactionship of self-fertility and the number of seeds in an an-thodium allows conducting primary evaluation of self-fertility on this basis.

Phototrophic communities of Kulunda Steppe soda lakes (Altai Region): history of algological studies and modern data.

The Kulunda Steppe soda lakes are the only occurrence of hypersaline soda lakes in Russia. They are characterized by a variable hydrological regime with cyclic high-amplitude fluctuations of temperature and brine concentration. The algae of the Kulunda Steppe soda lakes were first studied by Soviet phycologists headed by N.N. Voronikhin in 1927–1932 and new taxa were described: algal genus Lochmiopsis Woronich. et Popova (later revised to Ctenocladus circinnatus Borzì) and cyanobacterial species Aphanocapsa salina Woronich., Synechocystis crassa Woronich., Trichormus (Anabaena) pseudovariabilis (Woronich.) Komárek et Anagnostidis, Anabaenopsis issatschenkoi Woronich., Anabaenopsis milleri Woronich., Anabaenopsis nadsonii Woronich., Oscillatoria deflexa var. crassa Woronich., Limnospira (Arthrospira, Spirulina) fusiformis (Woronich.) Komárek et Lund. Later (since 2007) studies were continued by the microbiologists from the Winogradsky Institute of Microbiology RAS. In this work, a comparison of the algological diversity found in the soda lakes of the Kulunda Steppe during periods 1929–1932 and 2007–2020 is made, and a brief overview of taxonomic problems of selected eukaryotic algae and cyanobacteria is given. In total, 33 morphotypes of cyanobacteria were identified. Most species of algae and cyanobacteria were described based on the exclusively morphological criteria. Thus, their phylogenetic position remains unclear and requires careful analysis using a modern polyphasic approach.

USE OF LEGUMES FOR ECOLOGICAL RECLAMATION OF STEPPE DEGRADED PASTURES OF KULUNDA

Intensive development of the steppe communities of Kulunda, located in the southern part of the West Siberian lowland in the XX century led to a significant anthropogenic transformation of all steppe ecosystems. Representatives of the legume family, which is the most important component of steppe grasses, have almost disappeared from the grasslands. The research was conducted on the territory of the Mikhailovsky district of the Altai territory, on the lands of LLC KKH «Partner» in the environs of Poluyamki village scince 2013-till present days climatic conditions of dry steppe zone of Western Kulunda. The aim of the work was to evaluate representatives of the legume family for ecological reclamation of Kulunda steppe pastures. The experiment was performed on 2 degraded fenced steppe areas (10 x 10 m) corresponding to the third stage of pasture digression. Winter sowing of legumes was carried out: cicer milk vetch (Astragalus cicer L.), sainfoin milk vetch (A. onobrychis L.), furrowed milk vetch (A. sulcatus L.), bird’s foot trefoil (Lotus corniculatus L.), sickle alfalfa (Medicago falcata L.), hop alfalfa (M. lupulina L.) and late spring sowing: cicer milk vetch and sainfoin, bird’s foot trefoil by tapping into the sod. Monthly growth dynamics of sown plants (number of shoots per m2, height, phenology) was recorded, and the feed value of aboveground biomass was established. It was found that the drought-resistant species of alfalfa sickle has a significant biomass, is short-lived in the grass stand and requires re-sowing every 4 years. Hop alfalfa is recommended for improving degraded pastures, but due to its short ontogeny, it needs to be re-sown every three years. Among milk vetches, sainfoil milk vetch is the most promising – a long-rooted, rod-rooted polycarpic that increases its area due to numerous underground rhizomes. The greatest nutritional and energy value was possessed by the phytomass of bird’s foot trefoil and sickle alfalfa.

Rare grasshoppers (Orthoptera, Acridoidea) of the Baraba and Kulunda steppes (South Siberia)

The first list of the rare grasshoppers of the Baraba and Kulunda steppes is presented. Two sets of distribution data are compared: (1) for the first half of 20th century and (2) for 1972–2019. A series of digital maps was generated by MapInfo 12.03. The distribution patterns of several species, namely Asiotmethis muricatus (Pallas), Notostaurus albicornis (Eversmann), Eremippus simplex (Eversmann), Myrmeleotettix antennatus (Fieber), Gomphocerippus rufus (Linnaeus), Mesasippus arenosus (Bey-Bienko), Mecostethus parapleurus (Hagenbach), Locusta migratoria Linnaeus, did not change significantly. Four taxa (Asiotmethis jubatus (Uvarov), Arcyptera fusca (Pallas), Stenobothrus carbonarius (Eversmann), Sphingonotus coerulipes Uvarov) were relatively often in the first half of 20th century and nowadays they are extremely rare. Two species, namely Megaulacobothrus aethalinus (Zubovsky) and Aeropedellus variegatus (Fischer de Waldheim), were recently found near the south-eastern and north-eastern boundaries of the region respectively. There are also the type localities of Asiotmethis jubatus and Mesasippus arenosus in the Kulunda steppe.

Distribution Profile of Chemical Elements during the Last 13 Thousand Years from the Sediments of Maloye Yarovoe Lake (Western Siberia, Russia)

The article presents the studies on understanding the chemical evolution of Maloye Yarovoe lake that is located in the semi-arid landscape of and represent the most widespread chemical type of saline lake (Cl-Na) on the territory of Kulunda steppe (south of Western Siberia). The lake has gone through several changes in its state which are well represented in its sediments: section 1 (4.52–4.97 m) represents the subbase; section 2 (3.0–4.57 m) corresponds to a “shallow lake” stage and contains two sublayers; section 3 (0–2.25 m) illustrates an increase in erosion of the shoreline and corresponds to a “deep lake” stage. The extrapolation of radiocarbon dates suggests that the most significant changes in the state of the lake occurred at about 6.5–7.1 ka BP (transition from a small lake to a large one with intensified coastal erosion) and at about 5.69 and 3.5 ka BP (increase in the organic component). The results of sequential extraction of elements correspond to chemical changes occurred in a certain time of the lake state by changing in their distribution level and fraction type along the core. The results of lake water evaporation and organic matter degradation modelling performed in Phreeqc for oxic and anoxic condition showed the following stages of chemical divides could be expected in case of further lakes desiccation: Halite—Epsomite—Bischofite/Carnalite with possibility of Nahcolite precipitation in carbonate enriched periods (summer and autumn periods of organic matter degradation). Water–rock interaction processes in combination with biogeochemical reactions affect drastically not only the migration features of elements in water and sediments, but also the type of mineral crystallization in lake sediments.

Folk beliefs of local groups of Ukrainian immigrants in the north of Kulunda: problems of ethnocultural identity

The article is based on materials of ethnographic research among Ukrainians who live in the north of the Kulunda steppe (in the south of Western Siberia). onsidered are mythological images and plots about witches, mermaids, infernal dead (vampires), methods of protection from them. Differences were found among local groups of immigrants from the Kiev and Poltava provinces who arrived in Siberia at the turn of the 19th–20th centuries. It was found that the image of a mermaid among the Kiev immigrants in Siberia coincides with the beliefs of the Polesie region. The differences are related to the peculiarities of ethnocultural traditions and folk beliefs of the original regions. These features can be markers of the ethnocultural identity of local groups of Siberian Ukrainians.