Central Volga Region Research Articles

Pedodiversity of Subboreal Ecosystems under Contrasting Geogenic Factors (Case Study of Samarskaya Luka, Middle Volga Region, Russia)

The soils of uplands and partially isolated landforms located in the central Volga region were investigated in terms morphology, diversity and geogenic factor specificity. The Samarskaya Luka area is characterized by extreme spatial inhomogeneity and contrast of geogenic (lithological and topographic) conditions, and at the same time is located on the ecotone-transitional border of several natural zones. This territory is a part of two federal protected areas because of its peculiar nature. It is established that the diversity of geogenic (geological and topographic) conditions leads to the differentiation of the soil cover. Key soil types are presented by Leptosols, Cambisols, Retisols, Chernozems, Fluvisols and Technosols. By the example of the recognized upland macrolandscape, it is shown that the usual gradual course of soil zonation significantly changes due to the transformation of the soil-forming potential of the environment. The obtained data can be used for further regional verification of soil taxonomy. In addition, since the role of parent materials increases as they move from the west to the east of the East European Plain, parameterization of the role of this process becomes particularly important. Information about the diversity of chemical parameters and the granulometric composition of the key soil types of the studied area is also given.

Summer bird populations of burnt bog-forest land of the Kerzhensky Nature Reserve ten years after wildfires (Central Volga region, Russia)

The bird population was monitored during ten years in the Kerzhensky Nature Reserve damaged by severe wildfires in 2010. In the burned territory 126 bird species (120 species in the breeding season) were noted, for which weighted averages of bird abundance were calculated. It was noted that the number of species was increasing gradually in the breeding season. The birds of forest edges and of dry valleys appeared already during the second post-fire year, but their abundance increased only in the third-fourth year. The bird population abundance has increased almost 2 times in the breeding season over ten years, while it has not increased significantly in the post-breeding season. The total biomass and the transformed energy, on the contrary, decreased especially in the post-breeding season. During the first six years Fringilla coelebs Linnaeus, 1758 was the absolute leader at the abundance, and its co-dominant was Anthus trivialis (Linnaeus, 1758), and in last two years Phylloscopus trochilus (Linnaeus, 1758) was the leader. The share of the leaders in the breeding season gradually decreased, and the species diversity and the alignment grew. The birds fed in the breeding season mostly on the soil surface. The share of shrubby species increased by two times a couple of years after the wildfires, and the share of crowns birds increased after another four years. The similarity of the ornithocomplex of the burnt territory in the first and last two years of the research amounted to only 0.63 units (the Sorensen-Chekanovsky index).

New variety of spring barley Povolzhsky 49 for the Central Volga region

New variety of spring barley Povolzhsky 49 for the Central Volga region

Long-term Post-fire Monitoring of the Breeding Bird Populations in the Kerzhensky State Nature Biosphere Reserve (Central Volga region, Russia)

In the summer of 2010, about a half of the Kerzhensky State Nature Biosphere Reserve territory suffered from a wildfire. During the 9 following years, monitoring of the bird populations in the breeding season was conducted there. Birds were counted by a route method in 6 main habitats differ in their fire burned types and also in unburned similar habitats. A total of 130 bird species were registered. In the first years after the wildfire impact, bird populations in the habitats affected by different wildfire types were similar according to the Sorensen-Chekanovsky’s index. This similarity increased to 2016. The similarity of the bird populations of burned sites has been decreasing last two years. The species richness changed in different directions. At first study years, the abundance of the breeding bird populations increased both in burnt and unburnt sites, while later this parameter decreased a bit and stabilised. Although interannual changes in indicators are still possible. The bird populations of the unburnt habitats, especially bogs, differ by lower values of indicators for the last five years. The influence of nature-climatic indicators of various months (average the monthly air temperature, the daily amount of precipitation) on the interannual dynamics of the breeding avifauna abundance was noted in only one case, out of 84 indicators. We distinguished the species (e.g. Sylvia communis) recognised as indicators of damaging by fire. Fringilla coelebs was dominant in all habitats studied, but from 2017, Anthus trivialis dominated in the severely burned birch-pine forests and on the raised bogs (burned and unburned). The most intense changes in bird populations were observed within the first five post-fire years.

ADVANTAGES IN GLOBAL ECONOMY OF RUSSIAN AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION OF GRAIN CROPS

The Russian Federation is a leading player in the global community, taking the main paths to its formation. The main trend of global economy is globalization, and domestic economies are integrating into the modern system. The Russian Federation is one of the largest countries in the world, located in a variety of climatic zones, and a particularly favorable climate for the development of agricultural sector is in the south. In Russia, 10 % of the world's arable land is located, so more than 80% of the arable land of the Russian Federation is in the Central Volga region, the North Caucasus, the Urals and Western Siberia. Also in the south of Russia melon farming is widespread. The northern regions of the Russian Federation are also subject to successful development with the help of effective agricultural organizations, according to domestic experience, as well as the previous experience of countries such as Finland, Sweden, and Canada, their agriculture mainly operates in similar conditions as the northern and central RF. In October 2014, the Government of the Russian Federation approved a roadmap for import substitution in the agricultural sector for 2016-2017. According to it, the State Program for Agricultural Development for 2013-2020 and the newest prerogative vectors for the development of agro-industrial complex were established and the required resource provision in the amount of 568.3 billion rubles was allocated for 2015-2020, which will help to reduce imports by 1.4 trillion. rub. The ability to enter the world market can be considered as one of the motives for domestic producers of agricultural products and foodstuffs to increase production volumes and measures of state self-sufficiency in agricultural products.

Post-fire recovery of terrestrial vertebrates in the Kerzhensky State Nature Biosphere Reserve (Central Volga Region, Russia)

Post-fire recovery of terrestrial vertebrates in the Kerzhensky State Nature Biosphere Reserve (Central Volga Region, Russia)

The System of the State Village Government of the Kazan Governorate in the Early 18th – the First Third of the 19th Centuries

The importance of the research is determined by the essential character and necessity of studying the system of the local government of the state village of the Kazan Governorate for a more complete realizing of the political institutions of autocratic Russia. The article is aimed at the study of the state and functioning of the local government system of the Kazan Governorate state village at the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries. The leading method of the research is a complex approach based on the study of different kinds of sources. The research included considering social, economic and legal status of the state peasants in the structure of the rural population paying duty in the Kazan Governorate. The course of formation and the ways of evolution of this class are shown; the problems of land availability and the size of the paid duty are regarded. The structure, functions and scope of authority of the local state institutions and peasant self-government are studied, the professional and ethnic composition of the local administration is investigated, the role of senatorial inspections as an institute of the state control is shown. The effectiveness of the local government and court is analyzed, the problem of peasants’ attitude to the authorities is considered; the protest of the state peasants against the feudal and administrative oppression was an essential part of this problem. The materials of the paper may be used in the preparation of the summarizing monographs on the agricultural history of the Middle Volga Region (Central Volga Region), in the teaching practice of universities in delivering lectures and practical classes, in creating special courses on the Tatarstan peasantry history and history of state institutions.

Carbon and oxygen isotopic composition of Jurassic foraminifers in the Unzha River basin

Study of the carbon and oxygen isotopic composition of the foraminifera shells of different species from the Callovian-Oxfordian undershale rocks in the Unzha River basin near the town of Makar’ev (Central Volga region) has shown that the δ18O values of the epistomina shells correspond to relatively low temperatures and their δ13C values indicate the high productivity of the basin in this period. The Lenticulina tumida shells register low δ13C and δ18O values, which probably reflect the biological effect of fractionation during their formation. The Jurassic lagenids (Lenticulina tumida and Citharina chanika) were characterized by a wider habitat areal or ecological niche. We established the importance of isotopic studies of foraminifers of the same genus, and even better of the same species. Most likely, the foraminifera shells may be applied for study of Mesozoic sedimentation conditions.

Molecular genetic variation in sheep of the central Volga area inhabited by Finno-Ugric peoples

Based on morphology, native northern European sheep breeds belong to the short tailed type, of which the Romanov is the only native example still distributed in northwest Russia. Besides this, there exist local sheep populations kept by Finno-Ugric peoples in the central Volga region, which represent additional genetic resources in the area. Four sheep populations from the central Volga region were genotyped for 20 microsatellites and compared with geographically proximate breeds (Estonian Whitehead and Blackhead, the Finnsheep and an exported and a native population of Russian Romanov) and with local populations in Estonia, Finland and Russian Karelia. Between-breed analyses including admixture analysis using molecular genetic markers and the phenotypic characteristics indicated that the Volgaic populations have not remained pure. The Viena population from Russian Karelia, the Romanov breed and, to some extent, the Komi population, have escaped extensive mixing, making them most attractive for conservation programmes. The study compared imported and native Romanov breed populations and the results suggest that the diversity parameters are markedly similar in these two populations.;

Assessment of diachronism of biostratigraphic boundaries by magnetochronological calibration of zonal scales for the Lower Cretaceous of the Tethyan and Boreal belts

Complex bio- and magnetostratigraphic studies ofLower Cretaceous deposits in the central Volga region,Northern Caucasus, and other regions carried out by theauthors of the present communication for more than10 years resulted in the detailed correlation of biostrati-graphic zonal scales between each other (mainly upperHauterivian–Aptian) and with the “standard” scale ofthe Western Mediterranean [1, 2]. Paleomagnetic inver-sions are known to be synchronous for all rocksequences on the earth regardless of the latitude of theirformation. Therefore, correlation of regional magneto-and biostratigraphic scales (magnetochronological cal-ibration) allowed us to establish and assess quantita-tively for the first time the asynchronous nature of theseries of stratigraphic boundaries, which were regardedas synchronous for different paleogeographic belts.The paleomagnetic correlation of Barremian–Aptian boundary deposits of the Russian Plate [7],Northern Caucasus [6], Mediterranean region [4], andEngland [9] makes it possible to assess the asynchro-nous nature of the Deshayesites volgensis Zone base inthe lower Aptian (Fig. 1). In the Northern Caucasus, theboundary between the D. weissiformis and D. volgensiszones is confined to the subzone of the reversed sign(the analog of M0 Chron). In the central Volga region,the base of the D. volgensis Zone and its West Europeananalog the D. forbesi Zone occurs above M0 within thedirect polarity interval. The time shift obtained by interpo-lating the available isotopic dates is ~10

Lipids of some aquatic plants of the Central Volga region

The lipid characteristics of five species of aquatic plants of the Central Volga region have been investigated. The total amount of lipids and the ratio of neutral lipids and glyco- and phospholipids have been found and the amounts of individual phospholipids and also the fatty-acid composition and the distribution of the fatty acids over the lipid classes have been determined.

Scientific Publications and Communications: Activities of I. N. Ulyanov [Lenin's Father] in Behalf of the Education of the Chuvash People

The Soviet people revere the memory of the wonderful teacher and democrat, Ilya Nikolayevitch Ulyanov, V. I. Lenin's father, a man who devoted his life to the work of educating the people of the Central Volga region, particularly the Chuvash. His fruitful work in the field of education in the Simbirsk province continued for 16 years. With Ilya Nikolayevitch's help more than 400 elementary schools were opened in the Russian, Chuvash, Mordov and Tatar villages of Simbirsk province. Many school buildings were erected, often with his direct participation. He organized the training of teachers in the province. The history of the Poretzk Seminary and the Simbirsk Chuvash Teacher's School, are closely linked with the name of I. N. Ulyanov.