Phenogenetic Analysis of Pygmy Wood Mouse (Apodemus uralensis Pall.) Populations in the Zone of the Eastern Ural Radioactive Trace (EURT)

Monitoring of A. uralensis populations in Kamenskii raion, Sverdlovsk oblast, in 1992–2002 and in Kaslinskii raion, Chelyabinsk oblast, in 2000–2001 revealed an increase in the proportion and diversity of minor morphogenetic aberrations and abnormalities in the structure of the cranium along the axis of the Eastern Ural Radioactive Trace (EURT). The samples from the southern and northern parts of the EURT (contaminated with ⁹⁰Sr to 500 and 4 Ci/km², respectively) were characterized by directed deviations from the control with respect to the frequencies of phenes of nonmetric cranial traits and an increase in the level of their fluctuating asymmetry in young females, which is indicative of epigenetic rearrangements in populations living in a radioactive environment.     

Distribution of White Whales (Delphinapterus leucas) in the White Sea and the Southeastern Region of the Barents Sea during the Ice Season

The habitats, relative occurrence, and distribution of the white whale in the White Sea and the southeastern Barents sea in every month of the ice season have been studied using the results of an aerial ice survey along standard routes from 1970–1991. In these seas, white whales have been found in each month of the ice season, with single animals, groups, schools or gams, herds, and large congregations of several hundred animals accounting for 10, 22.8, 47.2, 12.9, and 7% of all aggregations of white whales observed, respectively. The relative occurrence of white whales in the White Sea is higher in March and May (32.5 and 30%, respectively) and lower in February, January, and November (15, 10, and 7.5%, respectively); in December and April, the whales are observed very seldom (2.5% in both months). In the southeastern Barents Sea, the relative occurrence of white whales is highest in May (53.3%) and considerably lower in December and February (16.7 and 10%); only a few animals are found during the remaining ice season. Regarding different habitats, the relative occurrences of white whales in open water, in water openings in the ice, near the edge of pack ice, and in ice packs with different degrees of closeness are 21.5, 11.4, 45.7, and 21.4%, respectively.     

The ECOINFORM Information Retrieval System

The general concept, structure, and methods of implementation of the ECOINFORM information retrieval system (IRS) (http://ecoinf.uran.ru/) are described using the Urals and western Siberia as model regions. The IRS is aimed at ensuring effective access to the latest information in various fields of theoretical and applied ecology, overcoming the informational isolation of research centers and state reserves in remote regions, coordinating and intensifying joint ecological studies, and integrating the fundamental science and higher-education institutions.