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The first meeting of the renewed international conference “Biological Problems of the North” came to an end.
The International Conference “Biological Problems of the North” is an attempt to revive the symposium of the same name, popular in Soviet times among researchers of the northern territories. The idea of the IBPN FEB RAS about the resumption of the conference was gladly encouraged by colleagues from the Research Center "Arktika" and the state nature reserve "Magadansky".
The successful implementation of the conference became possible due to the support of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation (FASO of Russia), the Russian Foundation for Basic Researchers, the Government of the Magadan Region, as well as the sponsorship (KINROSS, Agat LLC, Zoomir).
More than 160 specialists were involved in the conference to study various aspects of the biology of northern living organisms. The conference was attended by researchers from 13 cities of the Russian Federation, as well as colleagues from other countries -Canada, the United States, Finland, Sweden, Germany, Norway, Denmark and the Czech Republic.
The conference was divided into 5 sections:
- animal parasites of the northern ecosystems;
- flora and vegetation of the northern ecosystems;
- physiology and human adaptation to the conditions of the North;
- biological diversity and the functioning of terrestrial ecosystems;
- biological diversity and the functioning of aquatic ecosystems.
The official venue for the conference was the main hall of Magadan Regional Universal Scientific Library n.a. A.S. Pushkin. Several sections of the conference were held in the halls of the Research Center "Arktika" and IBPN FEB RAS.
The final day of the conference included the plenary report of N.N. Vinokurov, our colleague and guest from the Institute of Biological Problems of Cryolithozone, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, Yakutsk, and several other sectional reports.
During summing up the results of the conference, the guests and participants noted the high level of reports presented at different sections and the strong qualification of the conference itself.
On the final day of the conference T. A. Savchenko, acting deputy chairman of the Government of the Magadan region, presented the memorable addresses and small gifts to plenary speakers and foreign guests of the conference from S. K. Nosov, the Governor of the Magadan region.
We thank everyone who was able to take a personal part in the work of the conference, as well as our sponsors and all the guests of the past meetings.
The work was intense and productive.
See you next time!!!
The first stage of the IBPN expedition work on the grant of the RGO has been completed!
The first part of the IBPN FEB RAS expedition on the grant project of the Russian Geographical Society "Lake-river systems of high-mountain glacial plains of the cryolithozone" came to an end.
The work was complicated by weather hazards and other attendant factors, however, due to successful cooperation between the IBPS FEB RAS, the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia in the Magadan region and the Drazhnik LLC, most part of the scheduled tasks were successfully implemented.
IBPN FEB RAS expresses its deep and sincere gratitude to the Chief of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia in the Magadan region, Colonel Ryzhevich I.N., the Chief of the Support Service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia in Magadan region, Colonel Arkharov A.A., the Chief of the MIA department on Susuman district, police lieutenant colonel Malikov A.I., director of "Drazhnik" LLC Polyakov V.A., employees of "Drazhnik" LLC Safronov D.A. and Mikryukov A.N. for the assistance, organization and conduct of the expedition.
A special thanks to all those who was directly involved in the expedition, it was a remarkable team, and, as you know, this is the key success factor.
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Thanks to everybody!
IBPS FEB RAS project has received WWF support!
IBPS FEB RAS has started work on the project "Development of methods for using quadrotors to estimate the number of walruses on the coastal rookeries of Chukotka" with the financial support of the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF).
The project leader - is a senior researcher of the Laboratory of Mammal Ecology, Cand. of Biol., Ph.D. A.A. Kochnev
Reducing of the ice cover in the Arctic leads to a change in the living conditions of pagophilic pinnipeds. The number of Pacific walruses decreased from 201,000 in 1990 (Gilbert et al., 1992) to 129,000 in 2006 (Speckman et al., 2011). During the absence of ice in the life cycle of this species, the role of coastal habitats increases. For the last two decades on the Arctic coast of Chukotka, the largest rookeries with the predominance of females and young animals regularly function; however, the methods for the animals’ census are extremely primitive, limited by very approximate visual records, and their correctness strongly depends on the individual experience of observers.
The aim of the project - is the experiment on the use of modern quadrotors to obtain vertical photographs of coastal rookeries of walruses in order to improve the accuracy of estimating the number of animals on them. In particular, a quadrotor can shoot the rookery sites that are inaccessible to direct observations from the shore.
The works will be carried out on the coast of the Chukchi Sea in the area of the largest walrus rookery in the world at Cape Serdtse-Kamen and on the island of Kolyuchin, where there are haulouts of walruses, some of which are located on inaccessible parts of the coast. The field research will be continued from late July to November. Visual walrus census will be carried out daily, and in favorable weather conditions – an examination of the area and shooting walrus rookeries with the help of a quadrotor.
The project will be resulted in obtaining of photo and video materials, as well as visual data, which allow estimating the number, sex-age structure, natural mortality and behavioral responses of walruses, using coastal habitats in the Chukchi Sea, to quadrotor. The information obtained will make it possible to develop recommendations on the use of quadrotors for census of walruses on shore rookeries.
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