Vol 47, No 2 (2016)

The relationship between Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) tree-ring width and temperature and precipitation was analyzed in pine forests on the Bugulma–Belebey Upland, Bashkiria. A close correlation between tree-ring width and the current spring–summer precipitation was revealed. On this basis, a reconstruction of May–June precipitation in the period from 1860 to 1994 was made.

It has been shown that green and blue-green algae develop in the basidiocarps of wood-decomposing fungi, with their total numbers reaching several tens of thousands per cubic millimeter. The photosynthetic activity of mycetobiont algae has been estimated. The results show that products of photosynthesis are not only assimilated by fungi, but also transported to the substrate mycelium. The relationships of wooddecomposing fungi with mycetobiont algae can be characterized as associative symbiosis providing them with access to an alternative (to wood) source of carbon and, possibly, nitrogen.

Bacterial community plays an important role in litter decomposition. Although the changes of bacterial community as litter decomposition proceeding can be regulated by frozen temperature and changed litter quality in cold regimes, little information has been available on. Therefore, the structure and diversity of the bacterial community in Minjiang fir (Abies faxoniana) needle litter were measured in an alpine forest in eastern Tibetan Plateau. The litter samples were sampled at the onset of the freezing stage, the deep freezing stage, the thawing stage, the early growing season and the late growing season from December 2010 to November 2011. The methods of real-time polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) coupled with denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) were used. The copy numbers of bacterial 16S rDNA in the fir needle litter changed significantly as litter decomposition proceeding. The abundance of bacterial 16S rDNA was significantly lower at the deep freezing stage but highest at the thawing stage. A large number of bands were observed on the DGGE gel; the intensities and distances of the bands were significantly different among the samples at different stages; the indexes of bacterial diversity at the onset of the freezing and deep freezing stages were lower than them at the other stages. All of the bacterial sequences were affiliated with six distinct classes and an unknown group. Redundancy analysis indicated that moisture, mass loss and the release of litter elements (e.g., C, N, P) exerted obvious influences over the bacterial communities.

With regard to published data on the ecology of early peled larvae acclimated in lakes or reared under experimental or fish farm conditions, interannual variability of feeding and environmental conditions during the transition to exogenous feeding has been demonstrated for peled larvae in a control water body located in the floodplain of the main spawning tributary of the lower Ob River. The conditions that govern exogenous food consumption by early peled larvae and largely determine the fate of a given generation depend on both biotic (the concentration of food organisms) and abiotic factors (wind regime). The trophic optimum during the transition of larvae to exogenous feeding, which ensures the level of gut filling sufficient for their survival and growth in the control water body, is determined by a complex of natural events. The results of this study may be extrapolated to the entire native range of the Ob River peled population and used for planning the release of peled larvae into natural water bodies of Western Siberia to compensate for losses to their biological resources.

The species composition, some zoogeographical parameters, the seasonal dynamics of species diversity, and alternation of active dominant species of bloodsucking mosquitoes have been compared in two green zones of Yekaterinburg, Russia, differing in size and origin: the Southwestern Park Forest and the 50th Anniversary of Komsomol Park. Changes in the abundance and occurrence frequency of mosquitoes during two consecutive years have been studied in the park forest. Phenological parameters of mosquitoes in the natural and artificial green zones of the megalopolis are considered in connection with other parameters of biology and distribution of species.

This paper attempts to determine whether and to what extent forest birds take the risk of feeding in an open area in winter. In each of three plots the extra food (lard) was initially placed on the border of the forest and open area and then moved into the open area and located within 15, 30 and 45 m from the edge of the forest. Only in one plot the total number of all the birds feeding on lard significantly decreased along with the food being moved away from the edge of the forest. In other plot the number of the most numerous Great Tit Parus major and Blue Tit Cyanistes caeruleus significantly increased along with the food source being moved away into open area. The numbers of the other 7 species of birds fell or did not have directional nature. Only in one plot the aggregation (the number of individuals of a given species feeding simultaneously) increased significantly along with moving the food into open area. In other plots differences in aggregation did not have the directional nature and, in most cases, were not significant.