Owls as bioindicators: their spatial and temporal aspects in Eastern Europe

The article presents the unique results of a study of the spatial distribution of owls in the territory of the Republic of Tatarstan by season of the year on long-term data. Ravkin’s transect method was used to census fixed randomly selected plots spread over a large geographic area. Abundance a lot of species of owls strong changed of different seasons of the year. In general, owls were indifferent to latitudinal, longitudinal, and altitude gradients in the territory of the Republic of Tatarstan, especially in winter and autumn periods. Probability of occurrences of boreal and pygmy owls can be used as indicators of the biological diversity of forest ecosystems in winter period

The role of climate change and food supply on winter populations of seed-eating birds

We studied the populations of four seed-eating bird species throughout the winter during a 30-year study in the forests of the Tatarstan Republic, Russia. Numbers of all species fluctuated from year-to-year by several orders of magnitude but with a significant underlying trend for increased numbers associated with rising temperatures and a greater food supply. We question whether the traditional view that such birds move further south only after exhausting the food supply is too simplistic. We believe that the severity of winter, or lack of it, is highly influential on the mortality and movements of these characteristic birds of the boreal forest zone

Significantly Earlier Spring Migration in Most Bird Species at the Eastern Limit of Europe.

The first arrival dates of 31 species of migrant birds in the Tatarstan Republic of Russia were monitored for the 34-year period from 1989-2022. Trends in first arrival date were evaluated using regression against the year value. Patterns in arrival data with respect to species traits (habitat, migration distance, body weight, etc.) were evaluated using redundancy analysis. Relationships between first arrival dates and Tatarstan temperatures were also evaluated using regression methods of first-arrival date on monthly mean temperatures. Almost all (28 of 31) species revealed a significantly earlier migration arrival date; however, associations between arrival patterns and species traits were equivocal. Warmer temperatures were significantly associated with earlier arrival in 26 of the 31 species, but the relationship was insufficient to explain the average 11-day advance in species. For these species and in this location only the timing and location of arrival are well recorded; the exact wintering areas and migration routes, and the timing of these phases are less well understood. When these become better known, an investigation of the influence of environmental conditions (including temperature) on departure timing and passage timing and speed is recommended

4000-year-old reindeer mitogenomes from the Volga-Kama region reveal continuity among the forest reindeer in northeastern part of European Russia

AbstractThere are three main ecotypes of reindeer in Eurasia: tundra reindeer, boreal forest reindeer and High Arctic reindeer. Of these, especially the forest reindeer has suff ered due to human over hunting and habitat fragmentation. Forest reindeer was still found in the Volga-Kama region at the beginning of the 20th century, but has since disappeared from the region. In order to investigate the genetic relationships of these histori-cal, southernly distributed forest reindeer populations, the authors obtained mitogenome sequences from six individuals from Pestretsy II, an archaeological site located in Tatarstan and dated to around 4000 calibrated years before the present (cal BP). The sequences reported in this study represent the fi rst published ancient reindeer mitogenomes. The authors observed genetic continuity between the historical reindeer from Tatarstan and present day wild populations from the taiga zone of northeastern part of European Russia. Interestingly, four out of the six studied individuals belong to mitochondrial control region haplogroup II, which today is a major haplogroup among the semi-domestic reindeer in Fennoscandia. Even though the haplotypes observed in Pestretsy II site are not closely related to the major haplotypes observed among the Fennoscandian semi-domestic reindeer, the results suggest that this haplogroup may have its origin east of Fennoscandia. It is also interesting to note that the size of the reindeers from the Pestretsy II site was one of the largest observed in the Holocene.АннотацияВ Евразии существует три основных экотипа северного оленя: тундровый северный олень, таежный северный олень и высокоарктический северный олень. Из них лесные северные олени особенно пострадали из-за чрезмерной охоты человека и фрагментации среды обитания. Лесной северный олень еще встречался в Волго-Камском регионе в начале XX века, но с тех пор исчез из данного региона. Чтобы исследовать генетические связи этих исторических, южно-распределенных популяций лесных северных оленей, авторы получили последовательности митогенома от шести особей из Пестречинской II стоянки, археологического памятника, расположенного в Татарстане и датируемого около 4000 калиброванных лет назад (кал. л.н.). Последовательности митохондриального ДНК, описанные в этом исследовании, представляют собой первые опубликованные древние митогеномы северного оленя. Авторы выявили генетическую преемственность между историческим северным оленем из Татарстана и современными дикими популяциями из таежной зоны северо-восточной части европейской части России. Интересно, что четыре из шести исследованных особей принадлежат к гаплогруппе II, она сегодня является основной гаплогруппой среди полудомашних оленей в Фенноскандии. Несмотря на то, что гаплотипы, наблюдаемые у северных оленей из Пестречинской II стоянки, не тесно связаны с основными гаплотипами, наблюдаемыми среди полудомашних северных оленей Фенноскандии, результаты показывают, что эта гаплогруппа может иметь свое происхождение к востоку от Фенноскандии. Интересно также отметить, что размеры северных оленей из Пестречинской II стоянки были одними из самых крупных наблюдавшихся в голоцене.Abstract There are three main ecotypes of reindeer in Eurasia: tundra reindeer, boreal forest reindeer and High Arctic reindeer. Of these, especially the forest reindeer has suff ered due to human over hunting and habitat fragmentation. Forest reindeer was still found in the Volga-Kama region at the beginning of the 20th century, but has since disappeared from the region. In order to investigate the genetic relationships of these histori-cal, southernly distributed forest reindeer populations, the authors obtained mitogenome sequences from six individuals from Pestretsy II, an archaeological site located in Tatarstan and dated to around 4000 calibrated years before the present (cal BP). The sequences reported in this study represent the fi rst published ancient reindeer mitogenomes. The authors observed genetic continuity between the historical reindeer from Tatarstan and present day wild populations from the taiga zone of northeastern part of European Russia. Interestingly, four out of the six studied individuals belong to mitochondrial control region haplogroup II, which today is a major haplogroup among the semi-domestic reindeer in Fennoscandia. Even though the haplotypes observed in Pestretsy II site are not closely related to the major haplotypes observed among the Fennoscandian semi-domestic reindeer, the results suggest that this haplogroup may have its origin east of Fennoscandia. It is also interesting to note that the size of the reindeers from the Pestretsy II site was one of the largest observed in the Holocene.Аннотация В Евразии существует три основных экотипа северного оленя: тундровый северный олень, таежный северный олень и высокоарктический северный олень. Из них лесные северные олени особенно пострадали из-за чрезмерной охоты человека и фрагментации среды обитания. Лесной северный олень еще встречался в Волго-Камском регионе в начале XX века, но с тех пор исчез из данного региона. Чтобы исследовать генетические связи этих исторических, южно-распределенных популяций лесных северных оленей, авторы получили последовательности митогенома от шести особей из Пестречинской II стоянки, археологического памятника, расположенного в Татарстане и датируемого около 4000 калиброванных лет назад (кал. л.н.). Последовательности митохондриального ДНК, описанные в этом исследовании, представляют собой первые опубликованные древние митогеномы северного оленя. Авторы выявили генетическую преемственность между историческим северным оленем из Татарстана и современными дикими популяциями из таежной зоны северо-восточной части европейской части России. Интересно, что четыре из шести исследованных особей принадлежат к гаплогруппе II, она сегодня является основной гаплогруппой среди полудомашних оленей в Фенноскандии. Несмотря на то, что гаплотипы, наблюдаемые у северных оленей из Пестречинской II стоянки, не тесно связаны с основными гаплотипами, наблюдаемыми среди полудомашних северных оленей Фенноскандии, результаты показывают, что эта гаплогруппа может иметь свое происхождение к востоку от Фенноскандии. Интересно также отметить, что размеры северных оленей из Пестречинской II стоянки были одними из самых крупных наблюдавшихся в голоцене

East versus West: Contrasts in phenological patterns?

Aim To examine whether change in the timing of a large number of phenological events and their response to temperature differs between trophic levels during the period 1988-2008.Location In the vicinity of Kazan, Tatarstan Republic, Russia (55°45' N, 49°08' E).Methods Observations of the dates of first events of 22 plant phases, 8 insect phases, 3 herpetofauna phases and 26 migrant bird phases were examined using regression to assess changes over time and response to temperature. Differences between trophic levels were assessed using ANOVA.Results In comparison to studies from western Europe, relatively few phenological series (15) revealed a significant advance over time, but a much larger number (37), including all the herpetofauna and nearly all the plants, showed a response to temperature. Trends in birds were, on average, twice as great as those for plants, but plants had a significantly greater temperature response. Over the study period local temperatures had not risen significantly but some phenological change was still evident.Main conclusions Phenological change has been less marked in the eastern edge of Europe than in western and central Europe. This is compatible with a lack of significant local warming during the study period. A large number of species show strong responses to temperature so will be expected to advance if/when local temperatures do increase. In contrast to results from elsewhere in Europe, early events were not the most temperature responsive, suggesting local adaptation preventing precocious behaviour and the consequent dangers of sub-zero temperatures. © 2010 Blackwell Publishing Ltd

Food web de-synchronization in England's largest lake: an assessment based on multiple phenological metrics

Phenological changes have been observed globally for marine, freshwater and terrestrial species, and are an important element of the global biological ‘fingerprint’ of climate change. Differences in rates of change could desynchronize seasonal species interactions within a food web, threatening ecosystem functioning. Quantification of this risk is hampered by the rarity of long-term data for multiple interacting species from the same ecosystem and by the diversity of possible phenological metrics, which vary in their ecological relevance to food web interactions. We compare phenological change for phytoplankton (chlorophyll a), zooplankton (Daphnia) and fish (perch, Perca fluviatilis) in two basins of Windermere over 40 years and determine whether change has differed among trophic levels, while explicitly accounting for among-metric differences in rates of change. Though rates of change differed markedly among the nine metrics used, seasonal events shifted earlier for all metrics and trophic levels: zooplankton advanced most, and fish least, rapidly. Evidence of altered synchrony was found in both lake basins, when combining information from all phenological metrics. However, comparisons based on single metrics did not consistently detect this signal. A multimetric approach showed that across trophic levels, earlier phenological events have been associated with increasing water temperature. However, for phytoplankton and zooplankton, phenological change was also associated with changes in resource availability. Lower silicate, and higher phosphorus, concentrations were associated with earlier phytoplankton growth, and earlier phytoplankton growth was associated with earlier zooplankton growth. The developing trophic mismatch detected between the dominant fish species in Windermere and important zooplankton food resources may ultimately affect fish survival and portend significant impacts upon ecosystem functioning.We advocate that future studies on phenological synchrony combine data from multiple phenological metrics, to increase confidence in assessments of change and likely ecological consequences

New Archaeozoological Studies of Medieval Bilyar

The paper discusses a new study of fi sh and bird remains from excavation XLIV of Bilyar fortifi ed settlement, founded in order to study a large brick building located in the so-called “Inner City” – the part of the settlement with the highest status. The aim of the study was a comprehensive analysis of faunal remains extracted from the cultural layer using the method of layer-by-layer sampling and sieving. On the basis of bone remains and scales, a total 23 fi sh species were identifi ed with predominant remains of large species: Starred sturgeon, Zander, Sterlet and Whitefi sh. The predominance of large species indicates that fi shery was practiced on the Volga and Kama rivers, and the bulk of the fi sh consumed at the site was imported. The species composition of birds is high and diverse – 40 species of wild and 3 species of domestic birds with predominant domestic chicken. Of interest among wild birds are the finds of skeleton fragments of the birds of prey of the Accipitriformes and Falconiformes order, which indicates the presence of falconry in the area, and its high social status

Ancient chicken remains reveal the origins of virulence in Marek’s disease virus

The pronounced growth in livestock populations since the 1950s has altered the epidemiological and evolutionary trajectory of their associated pathogens. For example, Marek’s disease virus (MDV), which causes lymphoid tumors in chickens, has experienced a marked increase in virulence over the past century. Today, MDV infections kill >90% of unvaccinated birds, and controlling it costs more than US$1 billion annually. By sequencing MDV genomes derived from archeological chickens, we demonstrate that it has been circulating for at least 1000 years. We functionally tested the Meq oncogene, one of 49 viral genes positively selected in modern strains, demonstrating that ancient MDV was likely incapable of driving tumor formation. Our results demonstrate the power of ancient DNA approaches to trace the molecular basis of virulence in economically relevant pathogens

Comprehensive Study of Archaeozoological Materials of the Settlement of the Srubnaya Culture «Staryye Chuti Campsite»

The article presents the description of archaeozoological study of animal bones from the Staryye Chuti campsite of the Srubnaya culture on the Ik River. An osteological collection with more than 3000 bones was investigated. There are different categories of bone remains by their origin: kitchen garbage, remnants of craft and ritual complexes. In collection there are bones of all domestic ungulates species, dogs, foxes, beavers, birds, and fish, as well as mollusk shells. The kitchen remnants are significantly dominated by bones of cattle, whose meat constituted the major part of the meat diet of the settlement inhabitants. Horse meat, mutton, goat meat and pork were eaten in much smaller quantities. For large domestic ungulates and small cattle the several forms of exploitation have been established. Slaughtering of livestock at the settlement was carried out all year round. There was no selectivity of particular species slaughtering during certain season of the year. Hunting of wild mammals and birds and fishing played an insignificant role in economic activity. A detailed study of animal bone sets from filling and bottom of wells allows us to assume the connection of them with sacrificial complexes. The main parameters of the collection are similar to the ones from synchronous settlement of Eastern Europe, for which the mobile form of cattle breeding has been reconstructed

Life Support of the Lebyazhinka VI Eneolithic Settlement Inhabitants (following the results of a comprehensive study of osteological materials)

The article presents the results of a comprehensive study of the osteological collection obtained during the study of a large dwelling at the Lebyazhinka VI Eneolithic settlement in the forest-steppe Trans-Volga region. Most of the animal bones are likely associated with the population that lived at the settlement in the Late Eneolithic and left Gundorovo-type pottery (so-called “inner ridge” pottery). It has been established that the basis of life support of the settlement inhabitants was highly developed hunting (for animals and birds) and fishing. The species composition of hunted mammals indicates the existence of a targeted fur trade at the settlement, which was confined to the cold season. Apparently, the meat of all the animals caught was used as food. Birds, fish, and turtles were hunted during the warm season. The meat diet also included a small amount of beef, lamb, and goat meat. It has been suggested that the population of the settlement did not breed cattle themselves, but traded them for fur from cattle-breeding tribes