Projects Institute of Biology KarRC RAS

The intensification of agricultural production is based on the application of new economically profitable methods and techniques that provide, among others, an increase in soil fertility. Currently, agricultural practices are being actively studied, allowing, on the one hand, to maintain a high level of soil fertility, and on the other, to reduce the cost of agricultural products. A wide range of substances is being considered and studied as a partial replacement for the application of high doses of fertilizers to the soil, but the question of the possibility of using sludge from the pulp and paper industry for these purposes remains open. The aim of this project is to assess the impact of the application of pulp and paper mill (PPM) sludge (lignosulfonate, mill activated sludge, primary sludge, coniferous bark) into soils of various types (mineral and peat) in various combinations and doses on the agrochemical and physical properties of the soil and, most importantly, on the yield of a wide range of cultivated plants in open and closed ground. It is expected that PPMsludge contributes to an increase in soil productivity and fertility through an increase in the content of organic matter, mineral nutrients, cation exchange capacity, changes in the structure, density, water-holding capacity, and other soil properties. Sludge-related improvement in soil properties is expected to have a positive impact on agricultural yields. Since yield largely depends on the physiological activity of photosynthesis, respiration, and water exchange of plants, the effect of waste on their ability to activate these processes and act as hormonal biostimulant of growth is important to study in this project. However, these hypothetical statements require confirmation, which are found or refuted during this study. Thus, for the first time, the role of PPM sludge in optimizing the physiological processes of plant growth and development is revealed indirectly through the effect on soil properties, or directly through hormonal and other biostimulation.

The project is aimed at solving the fundamental scientific problem of providing pharmaceutical raw materials to the pharmaceutical base of the North of Russia in general and the Republic of Karelia in particular.
The implementation of the concept of ecological and pharmaceutical safety of the country involves improving the existing system of agricultural technologies for growing medicinal plants by expanding the assortment of medicinal species grown in culture and developing technologies for their cultivation in the northern regions.
Currently, a small assortment of medicinal species is cultivated on small areas in the Altai and Stavropol Territories, the Crimea and some farms of the central chernozem region of the Russian Federation. However, the significant resource potential of economically significant northern native and introduced species is practically not involved.
At the same time, it is the use of certain types of medicinal plants adapted to the conditions of the North that is especially relevant in areas of risky agriculture, where low natural soil fertility is one of the limiting factors in the development of agricultural production.
To ensure highly effective management of the production potential of medicinal species, it is necessary to evaluate a number of physiological and chemical responses of plants to various soil indicators, the composition of poly and monocomponent crops, harvesting time. During the research, the features of growth, development, productivity of plant raw materials will be revealed. This project will assess the economic effectiveness of growing medicinal plant raw materials in depressed northern regions.
The project is interdisciplinary and interregional in nature. For the first time, a comprehensive assessment of the impact of various agricultural practices and soil conditions on the possibility of stimulating the physiological reserves and chemical composition of plants, and as a result, an increase in the overall productivity of medicinal plants and an increase in the profitability of production will be given. The new data obtained during the implementation of the project will be of both fundamental and applied nature.

Record length for the Old World in the borders of one state of the Russian Federation (RF) is reflected in the ranges of many bird species. The qualitative and quantitative characteristics of avifauna, as well as the degree of exploration of the territory, at the level of RF subjects are heterogeneous and largely due to the territorial position. In such circumstances, unification, as a method of bringing data to a uniform system, is an effective way of making a general picture of avifauna and its dynamics. Among the RF subjects, Karelia is one of the promising regions of interest as a platform for summarizing the accounting and descriptive data for the analysis of the dynamics of qualitative and quantitative characteristics of avifauna over the last century. It is promoted by such factors as (1) geographical location (being in seamless landscape and geographical connection with the countries of Fennoscandia, Karelia has always attracted researchers of a wide range of specialties), (2) vast expanse in the latitudinal direction and highly mosaic landscapes (resulting in increased species richness), and (3) the existence of research, educational and conservation organizations that study the species composition and abundance of birds. These factors have contributed to numerous research projects to identify species composition and numbers of birds in different parts of Karelia, long-term study of biology of individual species, and a number of ornithological studies of phenological character. Much of the obtained data has been reflected in publications, however, the local character of the publications and the abundance of collected field material available in electronic and analogue archives are promising data for studying the dynamics of species composition and number of birds in Karelia. Programmes to study trends in the number of birds in neighbouring territories such as Pan-European Common Bird Monitoring Scheme covering 170 of the most common Old World species; Winter Bird Census organized in Finland similarly to the winter track counting in Karelia; programmes of the European Bird Census Council, cover only the territories adjacent to the west. At the same time, the observed bird population trends, often occur due to the nature of economic activity, active deforestation, introduction of monocultures, predominance of disturbed areas and other anthropogenic factors, cannot be applied unconditionally to representatives of avifauna in Karelia. In Karelia, these effects are attenuated by other types of logging, vast protected areas, areas of temporary limitation of fellings, and the presence of a large number of hard-to-reach areas. Making a current picture of the state of Karelian avifauna with observed population trends throughout the long history of the study is an urgent task for the Republic and the North-West of the RF as a whole. The achievability of the task and its scientific novelty for the region are determined by the approaches used: maximum coverage of accumulated materials, application of modern methods of data analysis and search of optimal models of description of observed trends, restoration of the spatial and geographical structure of accounting routes using GIS, verification and supplementing of data series with the results of new studies in compliance with the primary methodology and location.