Heartwood (HW) has a major proportion of a tree trunk, compared with its outer sapwood (SW). Researchers investigated the carbon accumulation to understand the depths of carbon sequestration in pine species in north-western Russia. They mentioned that 64% of the forests of Russian Karelia are Scots Pine which they compared across lingonberry (30% Karelia, 42%…
Category: Biology
Siberian honeybees holding their own
Some tourists don’t take the Transbaikal Siberian train. They fly in and like it so much they want to stay and mingle with the locals. But what do resident bees really think? Zoology researchers from Tomsk State University decided to find out. Bee threats are well researched – pests, pathogens, fertilisers, habitat destruction and Russian…
How is climate change affecting public health in Russia?
The researchers reviewed 1740 papers and reports which show increasing interest in the impact of climate change on public health in Russia: They were stimulated by the World Climate Change Conference held in Moscow in 2003 with the support of the United Nations and other international organizations, including WHO. The same year, the first review…
Remote sensing of Mongolian grasslands
Mongolia has 156 million hectares of grasslands, with approximately two-thirds as pasture and 1.7 million hectares for agriculture. Over half of Mongolia’s grasslands are classified as degraded, partly due to overgrazing. They wish to improve monitoring of vegetation health. With global desertification increasing alongside global temperature rise, researchers at the Botanic Garden and Research Institute…
How West Siberia’s atmosphere may help prevent anti-microbial resistance
Russian scientists have been studying proteins and particles in atmosphere aerosols for over 20 years. Generally, microorganisms over marshlands are less well studied. The researchers wanted to investigate bioaerosols in the atmosphere over Vasyugan marshes in Siberia, approximately 52,000 km2. They wanted to measure the concentration of proteins and culturable microorganisms. The mix of forest,…
Exploring the ‘carbon polygon’ of Ladoga
Sustainable soil management (SSM) initiatives review organic matter in soil and carbon sequestration to understand how best to mitigate carbon and methane emissions, improving mitigation of climate change. In Russia, the government established a ‘Carbon Polygons’ project assessing and monitoring carbon in different ecosystems and biomes, especially boreal forest regions. The researchers wanted to assess…
Great Norilsk Expedition results in 2023
In 2020, scientists from across 14 branches of the Russian Academy of Sciences began the expedition in Taymyr. They are assessing the state of Arctic ecosystems in the area. Early results of impacts on Arctic waters, via TASS and the Institute of Biophysics (EN) at the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences (SB-RAS);…
Digging deeper and deeper into the Lake Chany basin
Lake Chany in Western Siberia has historically been a shallow lake, approximately 2 metres deep and a 2.2 thousand km2 area. It is saline which is similar to other lakes in the region due to intensive evaporation after rain and run off. This theoretically increases the affect of climate change in water levels and surrounding…
Black Kites on a flyway between Western Siberia and the Indian Subcontinent
The Black Kite (Milvus migrans) is a raptor found throughout Eurasia, Australia, Africa and can live in a range of habitats including human populated ones. Some species winter in West Asia and Africa and there are a range of research studies looking at their migration patterns, but the migration patterns from Siberia are mostly unknown….
Siberian trees are telling the humans it’s too hot !
Increases in sea ice melt, permafrost melt and wildfires are observed whilst Siberian temperatures continue to escalate beyond previous records, for example 38°C last year inside the Arctic Circle. To understand the changes, researchers looked at proxy records. Historically in the Siberian Arctic they have mostly included low-resolution pollen records and laminated lake sediments. They…
Russian Climate Research 