Complex expedition of IBPN FEB RAS and NECRI FEB RAS took place in the north of the Susuman District

Researchers from IBPN FEB RAS and NECRI FEB RAS have comprehensively studied the mountain glacial lake Malyk in the Susuman district of the Magadan region. The area is recommended for the creation of the first national park of the Magadan region.

The Malyk-sien depression is one of the areas of the Magadan region well-studied by geologists and geomorphologists. However, the hydrological features of the lake-river systems, the sites of ancient people, as well as the flora and fauna, remain poorly studied on this territory.

The lake-river systems of the Malyk-sien and Darpir depressions are unique territories of the Upper Kolyma basin, where the large glacial and tectonic lakes Malyk, Momontai, Darpir, Urultun were centers of speciation and attraction of ancient human cultures.

In 2020, a comprehensive expedition to this interesting and inaccessible part of Magadan region was carried out by the joint efforts of two largest institutes of the North-East, in order to study ancient sediments, hydrology and hydrochemistry of Lake Malyk, sites of Neolithic and Mesolithic cultures, assess biological diversity. It should be noted that due to the remoteness of the research site, the expedition demanded large expenses, however, it was not targeted financed, and funds for its implementation were literary “scratched up”.

The expedition was attended by 12 specialists - geologists, archaeologists, botanists, parasitologists, geneticists, hydrobiologists. The work was supervised by E.V. Khamenkova (Ph.D., Academic Secretary of IBPN) and S.S. Burnatny. (Junior Researcher, NECRI).

In the course of the expedition, the following series of work have been implemented: bathymetry of Lake Malyk, a core of bottom sediments was taken to study the composition of the ancient flora and clarify the age of the lake; materials for the study of the genetic diversity of fish and small rodents were collected; samples of plankton, periphyton and benthos were taken; the composition of the fish parasite fauna was studied. During the hiking routes, the flora of the southern part of Lake Malyk and the territory of the Okhandya stream in the northern part of the lake were studied in detail. A line of thermal sensors was installed in the lake to obtain data on the features of the lake hydrology; the sensors will work throughout the year, recording the deep water temperature every hour.

New interesting and promising materials have been obtained, which will be studied in the near future in the laboratory.

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The 70th anniversary of Nikolai Evgenievich Dokuchaev

July 12 marks the 70th anniversary of Nikolai Evgenievich Dokuchaev, Doctor of Biological Sciences, Head of the Laboratory of Mammalian Ecology.

Nikolai Evgenievich has been working at the Institute since its foundation. In 1973, he came to Magadan on assignment after graduating from the Far Eastern State University. Over the years of work N.E. Dokuchaev worked his way up from a research trainee to the head of a laboratory. Now he is one of the key specialists known in Russia and the world in the field of taxonomy, biogeography, Quaternary history, population ecology of mammals in Northeast Asia, a popularizer of biological science, an expert in the protection of northern nature.

The team of IBPN FEB RAS cordially congratulates Nikolai Evgenievich, wishes him new scientific success, major projects, talented students and reliable colleagues.

Ruthless Exploration of the Kolyma

In the 6th issue of The Nature, 2020, an article was published by the researchers from the IBPN FEB RAS and SNEISRI FEB RAS - "Ruthless development of the Kolyma, the last frontier is the southern part of the Chersky ridge."

The development of the Upper Kolyma began in the second quarter of the last century, and the harsh circumpolar highlands were turned into a mining region. In the permafrost conditions the archaic methods of placer gold mining destroy valleys and talik floodplains of rivers, which housed almost all the biotic potential of the mountain taiga landscape. The area covered by the "metastases" of placer mining already occupies about 50 thousand km². It resulted in formation of a clearly visible from space environmental anomaly at the riverhead of the largest East Siberian river. The development of a regional environmental network and the reservation of territories preserving high conservation value could compensate for the ecological devastation. Thus, the southern edge of the Chersky Ridge deserves special attention. The Cherge and Okhandya ridges still serve as a site-protecting barrier, which preserves the unique natural, historical and cultural value of this site from the miners. In July-August 2018, the Institute of Biological Problems of the North and the Russian Geographical Society organized an expedition to survey the southern outskirts of the Chersky Ridge. The article provides novel or little-known information about the landscapes, biota and history of a remote area of ​​the Russian subarctic, preserving its unique features and high conservation value in an ultra-continental climate under growing environmental threats from the mining industry. Particular attention is paid to the physical and geographical features and biological diversity of large tectonic lakes of the Darpir Depression. Based on the results of this expedition, a proposal to create Chersky National Park was developed.

You can find the article  by the link.