Northern Dvina River Basin Research Articles

State of zoobenthic communities in lakes Bannoe (Solovetsky archipelago) and Kholmovskoe (Northern Dvina river basin)

State of zoobenthic communities in lakes Bannoe (Solovetsky archipelago) and Kholmovskoe (Northern Dvina river basin)

State of Zoobenthic Communities in Lakes Bannoe (Solovetsky Archipelago) and Kholmovskoe (Northern Dvina River Basin)

State of Zoobenthic Communities in Lakes Bannoe (Solovetsky Archipelago) and Kholmovskoe (Northern Dvina River Basin)

State of zooplankton communities in lakes Bannoe (Solovetsky archipelago) and Kholmovskoe (Northern Dvina river basin)

State of zooplankton communities in lakes Bannoe (Solovetsky archipelago) and Kholmovskoe (Northern Dvina river basin)

State of Zooplankton Communities in Lakes Bannoe (Solovetsky Archipelago) and Kholmovskoe (Northern Dvina River Basin)

State of Zooplankton Communities in Lakes Bannoe (Solovetsky Archipelago) and Kholmovskoe (Northern Dvina River Basin)

Cytogenetic characteristics of invasive Corbicula fluminalis (Bivalvia: Cyrenidae) of the Northern Dvina River basin

The ploidy between invasive Corbicula lineages can be di-, tri-, and tetraploid. Currently, some invasive populations of this genus remain unaffected by cytogenetic studies. In this study, we determined the chromosome set of invasive C. fluminalis (O. F. Muller, 1774) from Northern European Russia. According to our results, the chromosome set C. fluminalis consists of 54 chromosomes, which can be divided into 18 groups of 3 phenotypically identical chromosomes. Among them we can distinguish 3 metacentric chromosomes, 15 submetacentric chromosomes and 36 subtelo-acrocentric chromosomes.

The system of factors of anthropogenic impact on the fish fauna of the Northern Dvina river basin

Industry, electric power, utilities, agriculture, mining, construction, shipbuilding, transport and fishing have a constant anthropogenic impact on the Northern Dvina river basin. Identification and qualitative assessment of factors of anthropogenic impact on the fish fauna of the Northern Dvina river basin within the boundaries of the Arkhangelsk region is the aim of the research. Open data of public authorities on anthropogenic impact and scientific publications are the basis for the research. The main factors of anthropogenic impact on fish fauna have been identified. The impact is multifactorial. Fishing reduces the number of fish populations, and economic activities in the water area and the banks of the water body worsen the conditions of the fish habitat. This leads to a change in the parameters of fish populations. Reconstruction of existing wastewater systems and construction of new ones, as well as the introduction of restrictions on the use of forest resources in the coastal zone are directions for reducing the anthropogenic impact.

Биологические особенности нерестовой части популяции атлантического лосося (Salmo salar Linnaeus, 1758) бассейна реки Северная Двина

Salmon fishing in the lower reaches of the Northern Dvina River is based on the use of the spawning part of the Atlantic salmon population. Fisheries regulation measures are developed using knowledge of the biology of the species. Thus, the aim of the research is a comprehensive understanding of the biology of the spawning part of the salmon population in the Northern Dvina River basin based on the generalization of materials from commercial catches for the period 1931-2014. After feeding in the northeastern part of the Atlantic Ocean, adult salmon return to spawn at the age of 5+. The reproductive part of salmon populations is dominated by females. The average size and weight indicators of salmon making spawning migrations are 77,42 cm and 5,43 kg. It has been established that in the last decade of observations, the size and weight characteristics of the reproductive part of the Atlantic salmon populations in the Severodvinsk basin have stabilized. This allows us to conclude that there are effective measures to regulate the legal salmon fishery.

The fauna of aquatic invertebrates in the river impacted by wastewaters from the pulp and paper industry (Komi Republic).

BackgroundInvertebrates are important elements of aquatic ecosystems and play a crucial role in the transformation of matter and energy in continental water bodies. Communities of aquatic invertebrates are characterised by high sensitivity to pollution by nutrients and toxic substances and acidification of water bodies; they serve as good bioindicators of the quality of the aquatic environment and impacts on hydroecosystems. All hydrobionts participate in the processes of self-purification of water bodies.The presented dataset provides information on the aquatic invertebrate community of a large northern river. During 2018-2020, we collected data on changes in the quantitative indicators of the development of benthic and planktonic communities, as well as the species diversity of their fauna. The dataset combines information about the occurrence and abundance of benthic and planktonic invertebrates and summarises data of aquatic invertebrate species found in the Vychegda River in the zone of influence from the pulp and paper mill.New informationThe presented dataset is part of a monitoring programme of the river ecosystems in the production area of Mondi Syktyvkar JSC (the European North-East of Russia, Komi Republic). The dataset describes the structure of benthic invertebrate and plankton communities in the Northern Dvina River Basin. The data on the finding and abundance of large taxa of aquatic invertebrates and species of some groups: Oligochaeta, Cladocera, Copepoda, Rotifera, Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera and Trichoptera are presented. In total, the resource includes 8720 findings of invertebrates, of which 6041 are for zoobenthos organisms and 2679 for zooplankton organisms.

Reproduction of the Androgenetic Population of the Asian Corbicula Clam (Bivalvia: Cyrenidae) in the Northern Dvina River Basin, Russia

The Corbicula clam is one of the most successful invaders of aquatic ecosystems and has invaded all continents except Antarctica. The natural dispersion of Corbicula seems to be limited by low winter temperatures that fall below the lower lethal temperatures (0 to +2 °C). However, Corbicula can be found in colder regions, taking refuge in waters heated by thermal power plants. The purpose of this investigation was to study the gonadal histology, reproductive cycle, and the seasonal changes of shell size structure of the Corbicula clam populations in the warm water discharge of the Arkhangelsk thermal power plant (Northwest Russia). Samples were collected monthly from January 2017 to December 2018 and processed using traditional histological and morphological techniques. The number of reproductive periods varied from year to year. It was established that the Corbicula clam has a continuous reproduction period which may be adaptive in unstable environmental conditions. This reproductive strategy is probably aimed at increasing the reproductive success of the population. Our data expand the understanding of reproductive features of the Corbicula clam in harsh environmental conditions. These results could be applied to control, monitoring, and management measures.

Molecular data on Phyllodistomum macrocotyle (Digenea: Gorgoderidae) from an intermediate host Dreissena polymorpha (Bivalvia: Dreissenidae) in the Northern Dvina River Basin, Northwest Russia

We report the first molecular identification of Phyllodistomum macrocotyle (Digenea: Gorgoderidae) from the Northern Dvina River Basin, Northwest Russia. Comparative analysis of our sequence was 100% identical to the 28S and ITS2 rDNA sequences of the species P. macrocotyle in zebra mussels discovered in Poland (Wigry Lake), Lithuania (Elektrenai Reservoir and Sirvinta River), Russia, Belarus (Lepelskoe Lake and Lukomskoe Lake), and in fish Leuciscus idus, Scardinius erythrophthalmus in Russia (Rybinsk Reservoir on the Volga River). At the same time, some sequences of the 28S rDNA of P. macrocotyle in zebra mussel detected in Lithuania, and Belarus were different from our sequence on 0.2-0.6%. The ITS2 sequences which have 100% similarity with our specimens of P. macrocotyle were discovered in sporocyst of phyllodistomes from its intermediate host D. polymorpha in Poland, Lithuania, Russia, and Belarus. Our observation in the Yuras and Isakogorka rivers represents the northernmost record of this host-specific parasite, to the best of our knowledge.

Impact of climate change in autumn-winter period on hydrological regime of the rivers in the Small Northern Dvina river basin

Impact of climate change in autumn-winter period on hydrological regime of the rivers in the Small Northern Dvina river basin

ОЦЕНКА ИЗМЕНЕНИЙ ХАРАКТЕРИСТИК ВОДНОГО, СНЕЖНОГО И ЛЕДОВОГО РЕЖИМОВ В БАССЕЙНЕ МАЛОЙ СЕВЕРНОЙ ДВИНЫ В СОВРЕМЕННЫХ УСЛОВИЯХ И ИХ ВОЗМОЖНЫЕ ИЗМЕНЕНИЯ В БУДУЩЕМ

The article presents an analysis of the impact of climate change on the main characteristics of ice phenomena, snow cover and the water regime in the Small Northern Dvina River basin occurring in recent decades. Recently, a significant climate warming has been observed in the basin. As a result, winters are getting warmer and shorter. There is also an increase in winter precipitation and the number of thaws. Climate warming directly affects the duration of snow cover, which decreases both due to the later formation and to the earlier destruction of snow. There is also a slight downward trend in the annual values of the maximum snow water equivalent, which may be the result of an increase in the number of thaws in winter, when a part of the snow cover melts contributing to the winter river runoff. The analysis of the main characteristics of the ice cover on the rivers of the studied basin shows that their changes are similarly to changes in the snow cover: there is a reduction in the freeze-up period due to its later formation and earlier complete destruction. The maximum ice thickness on the rivers of the basin also tends to decrease. There is an increase in winter and a decrease in spring runoff. Predictive estimates of changes in the observed trends in the future are presented in the fi nal part of the article based on the CMIP5 project data.

Голавль Leuciscus cephalus (Linnaeus, 1758) в бассейне реки Вымь

Впервые проанализированы материалы о распространении, морфологии и росту голавляLeuciscus cephalus (Linnaeus, 1758) в бассейне р. Вычегда (бассейн р. Северная Двина). В этой речнойсистеме голавль распространен неравномерно. В крупных водотоках (русло рек Вычегда и Сысола)встречаются единичные особи. В двух притоках р. Вымь (приток р. Вычегда) – реках Елва и Веслянаголавль может составлять до 10 % контрольных уловов. По меристическим признакам голавль, отловленный в бассейне р. Вымь, близок к типичной форме данного вида рыб. Голавль в реках Елва и Весляна характеризуется быстрым ростом (K = 0.079–0.090).

Modeling Ice-Jam Floods in the Frameworks of an Intelligent System for River Monitoring

The article presents the results of adaptation and application of two-dimensional hydrodynamic model STREAM_2D to reproduce the characteristics of ice-jam-induced floods in the vicinity of the city of Velikiy Ustyug (the Northern Dvina river basin, Vologda region, Russia). The additional hydraulic resistance due to ice roughness and the decrease in the flow cross-section area due to ice-caused congestion were taken into account for modeling of ice-jam-induced water level variations. The corresponding model parameters were estimated on the basis of numerical experiments and flood modeling for the period from 1980 to 2016, which includes more than 18 significant cases of ice-jamming. Grouping of model parameters by the height of the ice-jam-induced water level rises could be useful for the application of the developed model in the framework of an intelligent information system of river flood monitoring.

Accuracy evaluation of snow water equivalent global data: the case of the Northern Dvina River basin

The article presents a comprehensive multilevel accuracy evaluation of global snow water equivalent (SWE) datasets performed for the territory of the Northern Dvina River basin, where snow plays an important role in the formation of spring runoff and the increase in winter runoff during recent decades due to ongoing climate change. Six global snow water equivalent datasets, available on the National Snow and Ice Data Center website (all currently available global SWE data), were used in this study. Snow survey data of the Roshydromet observation network were used as ground-based observations. The accuracy of dataset values of SWE was evaluated by comparison with ground observations in several successive stages. In the first stage, the global SWE values were compared with the observational data for several selected weather stations, i. e., the dataset values of SWE belonging to a particular grid cell were compared with the snow survey values of a weather station located in this cell. In the second stage, the SWE values averaged over one of the main subbasins of the Northern Dvina, the Small Northern Dvina River basin, were analyzed. The final stage was the SWE comparison for the entire Northern Dvina River basin. The methodology for ranking data depending on their accuracy based on comparison with ground-based observations of several basic parameters of quantitative changes in SWE during periods of formation and before the start of melting (maximum SWE) was specially developed to implement the accuracy evaluation and SWE comparison. A comprehensive comparative analysis performed based on the developed methodology revealed that the accuracy of global SWE data increases with the investigation area (i.e., the volume of information used) for which the comparison is being carried out. The closest to the observed SWE values for all datasets were obtained for the whole Northern Dvina River basin. The ranking methodology and the implemented analysis helped to determine the most promising global SWE data for future use.

Soil modification in a chronosequence of postagricultural ecosystems of the intrazonal lithogenic matrix (Arkhangelsk region, Russia)

Processes of soil self-restoration and soil modification in the chronosequence of postagricultural ecosystems located within the intrazonal (floodplain) soils of boreal forests were studied. Successional changes in ecological features of the floodplain meadow soil properties in the postagricultural period were considered. We used arable land plots (22 model fields) in the Northern Dvina River delta (Primorsky District, Arkhangelsk region, Northwestern Russia) that have been removed from agricultural practice for the past 50 years and are currently at the self-overgrowing stage. Primary/secondary floodplain meadows with natural floodplain soils were used as reference plots. Changes in soil profiles and chemical properties in an old-arable horizon were observed during the restoration of abandoned fields. Floodplain soils of the Northern Dvina River basin occupied 4.8% of the area. These soils were characterized by high fertility and were actively used in agricultural production in the past. Postagricultural ecosystems of the Northern Dvina River floodplain tended to form natural waterlogged soils to varying extents. Ecosystems were characterized by a short period of soil restoration. The soil restoration process was slower than the vegetation cover restoration process. Soil fertility of the arable horizon persisted for 20 years. A cost-effective return of floodplain meadow lands to agricultural production is feasible over a period of 40 years. Then, soils return to natural floodplain soils, whereby they become waterlogged and lose their fertility.

Large-basin hydrological response to climate model outputs: uncertainty caused by internal atmospheric variability

Abstract. An approach is proposed to assess hydrological simulation uncertainty originating from internal atmospheric variability. The latter is one of three major factors contributing to uncertainty of simulated climate change projections (along with so-called "forcing" and "climate model" uncertainties). Importantly, the role of internal atmospheric variability is most visible over spatio-temporal scales of water management in large river basins. Internal atmospheric variability is represented by large ensemble simulations (45 members) with the ECHAM5 atmospheric general circulation model. Ensemble simulations are performed using identical prescribed lower boundary conditions (observed sea surface temperature, SST, and sea ice concentration, SIC, for 1979–2012) and constant external forcing parameters but different initial conditions of the atmosphere. The ensemble of bias-corrected ECHAM5 outputs and ensemble averaged ECHAM5 output are used as a distributed input for the ECOMAG and SWAP hydrological models. The corresponding ensembles of runoff hydrographs are calculated for two large rivers of the Arctic basin: the Lena and Northern Dvina rivers. A number of runoff statistics including the mean and the standard deviation of annual, monthly and daily runoff, as well as annual runoff trend, are assessed. Uncertainties of runoff statistics caused by internal atmospheric variability are estimated. It is found that uncertainty of the mean and the standard deviation of runoff has a significant seasonal dependence on the maximum during the periods of spring–summer snowmelt and summer–autumn rainfall floods. Noticeable nonlinearity of the hydrological models' results in the ensemble ECHAM5 output is found most strongly expressed for the Northern Dvina River basin. It is shown that the averaging over ensemble members effectively filters the stochastic term related to internal atmospheric variability. Simulated discharge trends are close to normally distributed around the ensemble mean value, which fits well to empirical estimates and, for the Lena River, indicates that a considerable portion of the observed trend can be externally driven.

Climate noise effect on uncertainty of hydrological extremes: numerical experiments with hydrological and climate models

Abstract. An approach has been proposed to analyze the simulated hydrological extreme uncertainty related to the internal variability of the atmosphere ("climate noise"), which is inherent to the climate system and considered as the lowest level of uncertainty achievable in climate impact studies. To assess the climate noise effect, numerical experiments were made with climate model ECHAM5 and hydrological model ECOMAG. The case study was carried out to Northern Dvina River basin (catchment area is 360 000 km2), whose hydrological regime is characterised by extreme freshets during spring-summer snowmelt period. The climate noise was represented by ensemble ECHAM5 simulations (45 ensemble members) with identical historical boundary forcing and varying initial conditions. An ensemble of the ECHAM5-outputs for the period of 1979–2012 was used (after bias correction post-processing) as the hydrological model inputs, and the corresponding ensemble of 45 multi-year hydrographs was simulated. From this ensemble, we derived flood statistic uncertainty caused by the internal variability of the atmosphere.

Physically-based distributed modelling of river runoff under changing climate conditions

Abstract. Physically-based distributed modelling under changing climatic conditions has been carried out for the Northern Dvina River basin using the ECOMAG (ECOlogical Model for Applied Geophysics). The parameters of the model have been adjusted through calibration against runoff hydrographs observed for the period 2000–2009. Validation of the model has been performed for the period of 1970–1989. Both sensitivity analysis and scenario approaches (based on the CMIP3 projections) have been applied to assess possible hydrological consequences of climate change in the basin. It has been shown that for greenhouse gases emissions A2 scenario, averaged for 11 climate models, annual runoff will not change significantly for the future 50 years. But due to increasing of winter precipitation by up to 15%, the volume of flow in the flood period could increase by up to 20%. Earlier beginning of the flood season is expected because of rising of the air temperature.

Заметка о Poa pinegensis Roshev. (Poaceae)

Poa pinegensis Roshev. was described in 1932 from Arkhangelsk Region (the Northern Dvina River basin), but during the 40 last years it was considered a synonym of P. pratensis L. s. str. New collections from the northern part of Irkutsk Region (Vitimsky Nature Reserve), also from the Ob River (Tyumen Region) allowed us to revise the status of P. pinegensis. In fact, this species indeed belongs to the P. pratensis species aggregate (sect. Poa); however, it has some original morphological characters and thus has to be considered a separate species of hybrid origin, with some influence of P. remota Forselles (sect. Homalopoa Dumort.). The chromosome number in P. pinegensis is determined: 2n = 56. The species occurs in boggy dark coniferous forests and in swampy riverbanks, in the basins of the White (Beloe), Kara (Karskoe) and Laptev (Laptevykh) seas. The closest relative of P. pinegensis is P. raduliformis Prob. (East Siberia, Far East, Mongolia) probably of similar origin.