Southern Central Siberia Research Articles

Response of model-based cambium phenology and climatic factors to tree growth in the Altai Mountains, Central Asia

• The principal growth limiting factor shifts from temperature to soil moisture from RU to FY. • Cambial dynamic was bimodal pattern in AL, right-skewed unimodal in FY and unimodal in RU. • The length of growing seasons had a significant positive trends in two sites from Northwest China – Chinese Altai Mountains for the last six decades. • The intra-seasonal growth rate regulated tree growth rather than length of growing season. It is important to study the relationships between tree growth and phenology and climate factors in Central Asia for the sustainable development of forest ecology and the exploration of carbon sink potential in the region in a context of global change. Herein, the process-based Vaganov-Shashkin model was used to simulate tree-ring growth rates, to assess a cambial phenology (start and end of growing season) of larch trees ( Larix sibirica ) based on three sites located on three different latitudes in the Altai-Sayan Mountains in Central Asia over 1960–2018. It was shown that the principal factor limiting growth rates was temperature in RU (located in southern central Siberia), cambial dynamic was unimodal. In RU site, although the length of growing season did not change significantly over the past 59 years, it was correlated with tree radial growth. Moisture was the principal factor limiting the growth rates of AL and FY (located in Chinese Altai Mountains), and cambium dynamics were bimodal and unimodal, respectively. Temperature and precipitation before the start of the growing season lengthen the growing season, but this did not promote the tree radial growth. In conclusion, we determined that the climate-influenced intra-seasonal growth rate regulated tree growth rather than length of growing season in this area. In this study, the VS-simulation showed high potential develop a long-term reconstruction of cambial phenology in the Altai Mountains, which was conducive to a more comprehensive understanding of the exogenous-endogenous factors effects on tree-ring growth.

From the history of collecting Tuvan folk songs: Yrlar and Kozhamyks

The ancient history and culture of the inhabited tribes of Tuva attracted the attention of travelers, linguists, ethnographers, and musicians, especially in recent decades. The primary recordings of yrlar (tuvan songs) and kozhamyk (ditties) in the writing sources of scientists contained samples of ancient musical poetry, including one-thousand-year history images, plots, motifs, and archaic vocabulary. Owing to ethnocultural values and beliefs of Tuvan people in Southern-Central Siberia it preserved features of relict cultures in music traditions. Based on field works conducted in the late 20th century, via ethnographic, historical, and typological principles of systematic approaches to folklore music genres, all songs were divided into occasional rituals and non-occasional songs, according to musical stylistic characteristics folk songs were classified into long songs ʽuzun yrlarʼ, short songs ʽkyska yrlarʼ and traditional ditties ʽkozhamykʼ. Tuvan culture is rich with musical traditions, it includes various song types, melodic recitations, instrumental creativity, calendar, and ritual songs, epic genres, etc. The author considers the development of song art as the most mobile layer, which absorbs all from the surrounding sound world. Songwriting reflects the spiritual experience and national character of the Tuvan ethnos.

Nd-Sr Isotopic Study of Magmatic Rocks and 40Ar/39Ar Dating of the Mafic Dike of the Proterozoic Ulan-Sar’dag Ophiolite Mélange (Southern Siberia, East Sayan, Middle Belt, Russia)

We report the first radiogenic Nd-Sr isotope data in the magmatic rocks island-arc ophiolite assemblage from the middle branch of the East Sayan ophiolite complexes to better constrain geodynamic processes in this segment of the CAOB in southern central Siberia. The magmatic rocks belong to the following geochemical types: (1) Ensimatic island-arc boninites; (2) island-arc assemblage; (3) enriched basalts of mid-ocean ridges; and (4) oceanic island-like basalts. The boninites have a positive value εNd (T), which is generated from a depleted mantle source (N-MORB). The island-arc assemblage has negative or slightly positive εNd (T) and was formed from an enriched mantle source due to the subduction of terrigenous rocks. The source of the terrigenous material was most likely the rocks of the Archean TTG (Trondhjemite Tonalite Granodiorite) complex of the Gargan block. Isotopic ratios for E-MOR and OIB-like basalts are characterized by positive or slightly negative values of εNd (T). The mafic dike, which crosscut ophiolite rocks, corresponds to OIB-like basalts. The values of εNd (T), measured 87Sr/86Sr and I (Sr), in the mafic dike correspond to the EM I mantle source. The E-MOR and OIB-like basalts appear to be formed in late-stage asthenospheric mantle melting via the decompression melting processes. The obtained isotope geochemical data for the E-MOR and OIB-like basalts probably indicate the mixing of island-arc melts with asthenospheric melts. We undertook 40Ar/39Ar dating of the mafic dike, which crosscut the ophiolite unit. The mafic dike has a whole-rock 40Ar/39Ar weighted mean plateau age of 799 ± 11 Ma. The dating constrains the minimum age of the ophiolite and island-arc magmatism in the region.

Changes in the Tree-Ring Width-Derived Cumulative Normalized Difference Vegetation Index over Northeast China during 1825 to 2013 CE

Vegetation coverage is very important in terrestrial ecosystems and climate systems. However, the observational record of the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), which started in the 1980s when satellites became widely used, is too short to investigate the history of variation in vegetation coverage beyond the modern observation period. Here, we present a 189 y vegetation coverage series based on a total of 349 Mongolian pine (Pinus sylvestris var. mongolica Litv) cores from seven locations from the central–western Da Hinggan Mountains (CW–DHM), northeastern China. We found a significant relationship between tree-ring width and the regional cumulative normalized difference vegetation index (CNDVI). The correlation between the ring-width chronology and the regional June–July CNDVI (CNDVIJJ) was significant, with r = 0.68 (n = 32, p < 0.001) and an explained variance of 45.8% (44.0% after the adjustment for the loss of the degree of freedom). On this basis, we designed a transfer function to reconstruct the CNDVIJJ for the CW–DHM region from 1825 to 2013 CE (Common Era). During the last 189 years, there were 28 years with high CNDVIJJ values, and another 28 years with low values. We also observed CNDVIJJ fluctuations at the inter-annual and decadal time scales, including eight low value periods and nine high value periods. Based on our analysis, the variation in CNDVI is associated with climatic factors, such as temperature, precipitation and the Palmer Drought Severity Index (PDSI), which combines both temperature and precipitation. From 1950 to 2002 CE, the CNDVI showed a noticeable decreasing trend in the CW–DHM region, whereas after 2003 CE, the CNDVI exhibited an apparent increase, which has also been observed in southern Central Siberia, eastern Mongolia and northeastern and eastern China, indicating that the CNDVI change in the CW–DHM is related to climate change in the local region and in some parts of Asia.

Late Holocene environmental and climatic changes in the Western Sayan Mountains based on high‐resolution multi‐proxy data

Southern Siberia is characterized by complex climatic and vegetation patterns, and the late‐Quaternary evolution of climate and vegetation in this vast region is still poorly understood. This study uses pollen, spores, testate amoebae and plant macrofossils to characterize environmental and climatic changes at Bezrybnoe Mire (Western Sayan Mountains, southern Central Siberia). Pollen data indicate permanent forest cover in the region during the Late Holocene and subtle variations in abundances of dominant taxa (Pinus sibirica,Abies sibirica,Larix,Pinus sylvestris and Betula pendula). Higher values of Betula and Artemisia at the beginning of the record (>2500 cal. a BP, probably c. 3300 cal. a BP) and c. 420–140 cal. a BP suggest slight expansion of birch forest and steppe. The intervening period has higher values of dark taiga taxa, suggesting a shift to higher moisture levels. Superimposed on this longer‐term variation, the testate amoeba record of mire wetness reveals 12 sub‐millennial episodes of drier conditions (with a sample resolution of c. 50–90 years). Mire plant communities reacted to the high‐frequency fluctuations in moisture but with a delayed response of c. 30–40 years. Both the short‐ and long‐term variations in moisture show general concordance with neighbouring regional records and align with observed cultural changes of the Eurasian steppe region. These variations in moisture probably relate to the degree of penetration of the moisture‐bearing Westerlies into southern Siberia.

Distribution Peculiarities of the Sand (Riparia riparia Linnaeus 1758) Martin and the Pale Sand (Riparia diluta Sharpe et Wyatt 1893) Martin (Passeriformes, Hirundinidae) in the Sympatry Zone in Southern Central Siberia

The relationships between the sand martin (Riparia riparia Linnaeus 1758) and the pale sand martin (Riparia diluta Sharpe et Wyatt 1893) in sympatric conditions in southern Central Siberia are discussed. New data on the distribution patterns of these two closely related martin species in the study area, the location of the breeding colonies, and nesting in mixed-species colonies are presented. Information on the morphology and habitat preferences of R. riparia and R. diluta, including conesting species, is provided. In the sympatry zone in southern Central Siberia, the pale sand martin is shown to be more abundant, with mixed colonies of R. riparia and R. diluta also being found. Both species studied differ significantly in the morphometric characters. When looking for the location of a breeding colony, R. riparia and R. diluta display different habitat requirements.

Genetic polymorphism of dwarf Scots pines in the south of Central Siberia

Polymorphism of 11 enzyme systems has been studied in dwarf Scots pine trees occurring on sand dunes and crags in two populations of southern Central Siberia. High genotypic variability of dwarfs and their similarity to normal trees in basic indices of genetic diversity have been revealed. Both populations, including normal and dwarf trees, are in the Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. The sample of dwarf trees has proved to differ from the “norm” in showing an age-related trend toward decreased heterozygosity. The observed linkage disequilibrium at some pairs of loci can be explained by unequal contributions of trees to population reproduction or by a recent bottleneck event. The populations studied are similar to other Scots pine populations from the Asian part of the species range. Increased frequencies of some rare alleles in the populations from Tuva provide evidence for the probable presence of a glacial refugium for pine in this region.

Pigment phenotype and biogeographical ancestry from ancient skeletal remains: inferences from multiplexed autosomal SNP analysis

In the present study, a multiplexed genotyping assay for ten single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) located within six pigmentation candidate genes was developed on modern biological samples and applied to DNA retrieved from 25 archeological human remains from southern central Siberia dating from the Bronze and Iron Ages. SNP genotyping was successful for the majority of ancient samples and revealed that most probably had typical European pigment features, i.e., blue or green eye color, light hair color and skin type, and were likely of European individual ancestry. To our knowledge, this study reports for the first time the multiplexed typing of autosomal SNPs on aged and degraded DNA. By providing valuable information on pigment traits of an individual and allowing individual biogeographical ancestry estimation, autosomal SNP typing can improve ancient DNA studies and aid human identification in some forensic casework situations when used to complement conventional molecular markers.

A redescription of the Early Carboniferous acanthodian Acanthodes lopatini Rohon, 1889

AbstractInvestigation of numerous well‐preserved specimens of Early Carboniferous acanthodians collected over recent decades from southern central Siberia allowed their redescription as Acanthodes lopatini Rohon, 1889. The morphological characteristics supporting this classification, some peculiarities of ontogeny and a new reconstruction of this species are given. The genus Carycinacanthus Miles 1966 is regarded as a junior synonym of Acanthodes. Homalacanthus bergi (Obruchev 1962) is regarded as a junior synonym of A. lopatini.

Tracing back ancient south Siberian population history using mitochondrial and Y-chromosome SNPs

Southern Siberian populations have been the subject of intense works attempting to shed light on the peopling of Siberia. From these works, it appeared that south Siberian populations are the reflect of the complex interactions that occurred at different times between Eastern and Western Eurasian people. According to paleoantropological and modern molecular data, European populations predominated in south Siberia during the Bronze age whereas Asian component began to increase from the Iron age. To test this hypothesis we determined the mitochondrial and Y-chromosomal haplotypes and haplogroups of 29 ancient specimens from the Krasnoyarsk area (Southern Central Siberia) dating from the Bronze and Iron ages. The data obtained supported the hypothesis of the prevalence of Western Eurasian component in Southern Central Siberia in the Bronze age. Moreover, they allowed us to propose a geographic origin of the Krasnoyarsk population during this period.

La séquence loessique de Kurtak (Bassin de l'Iéniséi, Sibérie) : un enregistrement de référence pour le stade de Karga (SIM 3)

The loess-palaeosol succession of Kurtak, along the western slope of the Yenisei Valley, is one of the best documented Late Pleistocene sequences in southern Central Siberia. The present paper deals with the Kurtak Pedocomplex and with the Chani Bay Complex preserved on the plateau and in a lateral depression respectively, which correspond to the Karga Stage (MIS 3). For this sequence we obtained a detailed palaeoclimatic succession based on pedological and palynological data recording 14 short interstadial periods. The chronology of this record is well established by ca 100 radiocarbon dates on charcoal and wood remains, ranging from 42,520 to 25,710 BP. Botanical analysis shows a steppe-like vegetation with small tree populations (spruce, pine, birch) in lateral valleys during the colder periods. During the interstadial episodes spruce populations grew denser in the valleys, while scattered spruce, larch and pine trees expanded on the plateau. Therefore, the Kurtak Pedocomplex and Chani Bay Complex provide a unique climatic record for MIS 3, similar to the middle pleniglacial succession of the Dinkel Valley in the Netherlands and to loess-palaeosol records of Eastern and Central Europe. This means that the Siberian record shows a climatic sequence of global significance, and that the environmental conditions during MIS 3 were highly unstable at the Eurasian continent.

Introduction to “Progress towards reconstructing past climate in Central Eurasia, with special emphasis on Lake Baikal”

concentration will further act to exacerbate changesin biogeography, productivity, water quantity, andwater quality. Yet, in this region, both experimentswith quasi-realistic climate models and palaeoclimatereconstructions from proxies in natural archives areunderrepresented. Given the remoteness of CentralEurasia (far from ice sheet and oceanic influences), itis not prudent to simply extrapolate climate changesignals from the Atlantic or the Pacific regions.Hence, there is an important gap in our knowledgeof how large-scale climate processes, such as theNorth Atlantic Oscillation and interactions betweenthe Westerlies and monsoons, affect such continentalregions.Important to the concept of climate changestudies are palaeoecological programmes to testmodels, to improve model parameterisation, and toplace these recent trends in climate variability into theperspective of longer time scales. In this context, LakeBaikal, located in southern Central Siberia, is one ofthe most exciting lakes for climate change research, asshown by successful international scientific effortsduring the last 15 years under umbrella programmessuch as the Baikal International Centre for EcologicalResearch (BICER), and the Baikal Drilling Project(Baikal Drilling Project BDP-96 (Leg II) members,1997; Grachev et al., 1997, 1998; Kuzmin et al., 2001;Kashiwaya, 2003)–ICDP Programme and IGBPPAGES–PANASH initiatives. Previous studies cover-ing glacial–interglacial time scales clearly show theorbital control on the sediment parameters revealingpronounced precession and eccentricity cyclicity(Colman et al., 1995; Williams et al., 1997, Kashi-waya et al., 2001). However, the Lake Baikalsedimentary archive also has the potential to sensi-tively record climate changes at high temporalresolution (decadal to centennial) over more recenttime scales. Despite the intense concern over theenvironmental and ecological impacts of anthropo-

Characteristics of Winter Precipitation Variation over Northern Central Eurasia and Their Connections to Sea Surface Temperatures over the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans

Abstract This study reveals spatial and temporal characteristics of precipitation variability and their teleconnections to sea surface temperatures (SSTs) over the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans by analyzing 68 yr of recent precipitation records over the former Soviet Union. In addition to a general increasing trend of about 0.4 mm yr−1 or 6% decade−1 over much of the study region, three major modes of precipitation variation are identified. A quasi-biennial variation of 2–3 yr is found over the region surrounding the Caspian and Aral Seas. An El Nino timescale precipitation variation of 4–5 yr is present over southern central Siberia and is associated with eastern tropical Pacific SSTs. A quasi-decadal timescale variation of about 11–12 yr is evident over central European Russia. This quasi-decadal precipitation variation is closely linked to a major SST anomaly pattern of alternating latitudinal belts over the Atlantic and SST variations over the equatorial Pacific Ocean. These associations to SSTs are str...

Cestode Parasites of Some Micromammalians (Insectivora) from the Adjacent Area of Akademgorodok City, Southern Central Siberia and Northern Teletskoye Lake, Altai Region, Russia

Cestode Parasites of Some Micromammalians (Insectivora) from the Adjacent Area of Akademgorodok City, Southern Central Siberia and Northern Teletskoye Lake, Altai Region, Russia

Geometrie und Internbau der unterkambrischen Riffe im Untergrund der Sibirischen Plattform (Osinsky Horizont, Aldan; südliches Zentralsibirien)

Lower Cambrian buildups in the subsurface of the Nepsko-Botuobinsky anteclise in southern Central Siberia were investigated with respect to the geometry of the reefs and their biotic and lithological composition. The buildups of the Osinsky horizon are characterized by an abundance of non-skeletal and skeletal algae (Epiphyton, Renalcis, Markovella et. al.) which acted as binders, encrusters and probably also as framebuilders. Archaeocyathids are important elements in the climax communities of some successions. The buildup rocks are limestones and dolomites (algal boundstones, archaeocyathid/algal boundstones, algal wackestones and mudstones). Coarsegrained reef detritus is missing.