Differences in responses of herpetobionts and geobionts to impact from the Kosogorsky Metallurgical Plant (Tula region,Russia)

The influence of the Kosogorsky Metallurgical Plant (KMP; Tula region, Russia) on the abundance and biodiversity of carabid beetles and soil macrofauna and on the trophic activity of soil biota was studied. Metal concentrations in the impact plot were many times higher than those in the control plot located on the same transect. As the transect approached KMP, both the abundance of soil invertebrates (geobionts) and trophic activity of the soil biota remained unchanged, whereas the abundance and diversity of carabids (herpetobionts) decreased drastically. It is suggested that the impact of the KMP on herpetobionts is accounted for by modification of the structure of ecosystems and that herpetobiontic and geobiontic groups of the macrofauna respond differently to this impact because of differences in the ecological mechanisms of population response.     

Trophic structure of ecosystems and ecotoxicology of soil organisms

Studies on the ecotoxicology of soil organisms have led to the revision of views on the trophic structure of ecosystems. It was found that the microbial link is obligatory and controls the migration of toxicants and their effects in the food chain. Differences in effects are accounted for by both the physiological stability of organisms and their affliation with relatively independent and biogeochemically closed ecosystems differing in their spatiotemporal scales. The latter form a hierarchical three-level structure: ecosystems of unicellular organisms—ecosystems of small multicellular organisms—the ecosystem of large multicellular organisms, or of biogeocenosis. Trophic networks within the structure are united by ecosystemophagy as the type of feeding of large multicellular organisms, and this accounts for the importance of the latter as indicators of long-term changes in a biogeocenosis.     

Spatial Distribution of Animals and Variation in Their Trophic Activity Measured Using the Bait-Lamina Test in Sod-Podzolic Soil under a Spruce Forest

The mode of spatial distribution of soil animals and their trophic activity was studied in the sod-podzolic soil under a spruce forest. At the test point level, no apparent relationship between the distribution of soil animals and physicochemical characteristics of the soil was observed. The patterns of distribution of detritophages and the trophic activity (measured using the bait-lamina test) were similar. The perforation of laminae in the bait-lamina test resulted from the trophic activity of both micro- and mesofauna.     

Global Radioactive Contamination Background in Terrestrial Ecosystems 13 Years after the Chernobyl Accident

The contents of ¹³⁷Cs in the soil, plant, and animal samples collected in the ecosystems of protected areas from the White Sea to the Black Sea in 1999 slightly differ from those in the period between 1980 and 1984. As a result of global fallout after the Chernobyl accident, the content of radioactive cesium in the soil has increased only on the territory of the Biological Station of Moscow State University at the White Sea, whereas that in the litter and plants has increased in virtually all areas studied. The isotope content in animals is actually equal to that recorded between 1980 and 1984. The mobility of ¹³⁷Cs in the soil–plant link has increased, which may be due to fallout after the accident. The duration of a complete radionuclide cycle in ecosystems decreases from 10 half-life periods in northern regions to 2.5 half-life periods in the southern regions. The Chernobyl disaster has caused no significant changes in the global radioactive background in the European part of the Russian Federation.     

The necessary amount of sampling for census and assessing the taxonomic diversity of large soil invertebrates in different geographic zones

An analysis of the spatial distribution of large soil invertebrates at the “study point” level in three forest soils of the European part of the Russian Federation has demonstrated that the number of 76-cm² soil cores necessary for obtaining representative data varies from 25 to 35. To estimate taxonomic diversity in peaty, soddy podzolic, and brown forest soils, 100–110, 70–80, and 90–100 soil cores, respectively, are required. Differences in the necessary number of cores of different forest soils are accounted for by differences in the distribution pattern of soil animals.     

Göran L. Agren and Ernesto Bosatta,Theoretical Ecosystem Ecology,Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996 (Reprinted in 1998)

Russian Journal of Ecology -