Pacific Russia Research Articles

A New Energy Age in Pacific Russia: Lessons from the Sakhalin Oil and Gas Projects

A noted British specialist in Russia's economic geography and the Far East region presents a comprehensive account of the development of the onshore and offshore oil and gas deposits of Sakhalin. Following a review of early multinational activity in geological surveying and exploration during the 1970s, he charts subsequent changes in the entities formed to develop and exploit the deposits (Sakhalin-I and -II) later in the Soviet period and during the first two decades of Russian independence. These changes have responded to improved knowledge of the geology of the deposits and changing relations between the Russian central government and Sakhalin regional authorities. Also analyzed are efforts by the Russian side to overturn or otherwise modify terms of previous agreements deemed unfavorable, and maneuvering by China and Japan to secure increasing sources of supply for their markets. With Sakhalin's two core projects now entering the active production phase, the author distills a number of key issues that have shaped the development of the island's offshore hydrocarbon resources and will have a bearing on prospects for a future generation of less spectacular new projects (incremental development); he also outlines wider lessons that have been learned over the life of Sakhalin's projects. Journal of Economic Literature, Classification Numbers: F210, L710, L950, P330, Q400. 4 figures, 2 tables, 45 references.

Genetic diversity of Scytosiphon lomentaria (Scytosiphonaceae, Phaeophyceae) from the Pacific and Europe based on RuBisCO large subunit and spacer, and ITS nrDNA sequences

G.Y. Cho, K. Kogame, H. Kawai and S.M. Boo 2007. Genetic diversity of Scytosiphon lomentaria (Scytosiphonaceae, Phaeophyceae) from the Pacific and Europe based on RuBisCO large subunit and spacer, and ITS nrDNA sequences. Phycologia 46: 657–665. DOI: 10.2216/06-70.1Sequence variations of the internal transcribed spacers (ITS) 1 and 2 of the nrDNA and the partial RuBisCO large subunit gene-spacer-partial RuBisCO small subunit gene (rbcL-sp-S) region were investigated in samples of Scytosiphon lomentaria (Lyngbye) Link from 50 localities in the Pacific (Australia, Japan, Korea, New Zealand, Russia and United States) and the North Atlantic. ITS1 and ITS2 sequences were determined for 83 samples, the rbcL-sp-S region for 43 samples, and complete rbcL sequences for two European and three Japanese samples. Molecular phylogenetic analyses using rbcL sequences were performed including S. lomentaria and 15 other scytosiphonacean species. In the rbcL analyses the S. lomentaria samples made a clade consisting of a Pacific and a European subclade. These two subclades also were supported by the ITS and rbcL-sp-S analyses. The nucleotide differences in rbcL were 1.8–2.3% (27–33 bp/1,467 bp) between the two subclades. Such differences are so large that they are considered as indicating different, although cryptic, species. In the ITS analyses the Pacific clade was further divided into two well-supported subclades. In the Pacific clade sample localities were not geographically related to the molecular phylogeny: both subclades included samples from Korea, Japan, Oregon and New Zealand. Artificial translocations are suggested to have occurred because identical sequences were found from localities far from each other, for example, Korea and the United States, the United States and New Zealand. The two Pacific groups are possibly two distinct but cryptic species.

Taxonomy and Phylogeny of Neosiphonia japonica (Rhodomelaceae,Rhodophyta) Based on rbcL and cpeA/B Gene Sequences

Neosiphonia M.S. Kim et I.K. Lee is a rhodomelacean red algal genus that is commonly encountered in the intertidal zone of temperate waters in the world. The genus Neosiphonia, which was established based on species previously named under the genus Polysiphonia, is well distinguished by procarps bearing a three-celled carpogonial branches, spermatangial branches arising from a branch of the trichoblasts, and tetrasporangia arranged in spiral series (Kim and Lee 1999). The phylogenetic difference of Neosiphonia from Polysiphonia is clearly shown by both cladistic analyses of morphological features and phylogenetic analyses of nuclear ribosomal small subunit (SSU) region sequences (Choi et al. 2001). Recently, Neosiphonia is found in Malaysia (Masuda et al. 2001; Tani et al. 2003), Vietnam (Abbott et al. 2002), Brazil (Guimaraes et al. 2004), Hawaii (Kim and Abbott 2006), and Japan as well as Korea (Kim 2005). To date, 22 species previously placed in Polysiphonia have been transferred into Neosiphonia and 1 new species reported. Neosiphonia japonica (Harvey) M.S. Kim et I.K. Lee was originally described from Hakodate, Hokkaido, Japan, as Polysiphonia japonica by Harvey (1856). The species has a bush-like habit, four pericental cells, cortication on axes, numerous branches, and three-celled carpogonial branches on females. The thalli occur commonly as epiphytes on other seaweeds from Korea (Kim 1995), Japan (Yoshida 1998), China (Tseng 1984), and Pacific Russia (Perestenko 1994). Despite studies on the morphology (Yoon 1986; Kudo and Masuda 1986; Kim 1995), life history (Kudo and Masuda 1986), lectotypification (Masuda et al. 1995), and distribution (Kim 1995), the taxonomy of N. japonica is still problematic. Kudo and Masuda (1986) reported that N. japonica (as Polysiphonia japonica) is very similar to N. harlandii (Harvey) M.S. Kim et I.K. Lee, N. decumbens (Segi) M.S. Kim et I.K. Lee, and P. akkeshiensis Segi. Yoon (1986) also concluded N. savatieri (Hariot) M.S. Kim et I.K. Lee, P. forfex Harvey and N. teradomariensis (Noda) M.S. Kim et I.K. Lee as varieties of N. japonica, based on the number of pericentral cells and the presence or absence of cortication at the base. Recently, McIvor et al. (2001) proposed that N. japonica, together with P. akkeshiensis Segi, P. acuminata N.L. Gardner and P. strictissima J.D. Hooker & Harvey were conspecific with N. harveyi (J. Bailey) M.S. Kim, H.G. Choi, Guiry & Algae Volume 21(3): 287-294, 2006

Тихоокеанская Россия: вызовы и возможности экономической кооперации с Северо-Восточной Азией

Тихоокеанская Россия: вызовы и возможности экономической кооперации с Северо-Восточной Азией

Institutional and Structural Change in Pacific Russia

Institutional and Structural Change in Pacific Russia