The use of aerial laser scanning method provides a number of principally new possibilities on remote sensing of forest vegetation and specifically of a disturbed forest ecosystems (after wild fires, logging operations, insect outbreaks etc.) which area increases year by year in Siberia. The high efficiency of laser sensing survey (up to 50-70 thousand original measurements per second) combining...

The larch (Larix spp.) forest in eastern Siberia is the world's largest coniferous forest. Its persistence is considered to depend on near-surface permafrost, and thus, forecast warming over the 21st century and consequent degradation of near-surface permafrost is expected to affect the larch forest in Siberia. However, predictions of these effects vary greatly, and many uncertainties remain ab...

A new species of the genus Hoplocheylus Atyeo and Baker, 1964 (Acariformes: Heterostigmatina: Tarsocheylidae), H. magnificus sp. nov. is described from the nest of the ant Formica rufa Linnaeus (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) from Kurgan Province, Western Siberia, Russia. A poorly-known species Hoplocheylus sogdianicus Barilo and Sharipov, 1987 is redescribed from the holotype. A key to species of th...

Gamasiphis angaridis sp. n. is described from females and males collected from litter and soil in the North Asian part of Russia-Siberia and the Far East. This is the first species of the large genus Gamasiphis to be described from the northern Palaearctic Region. A key for the separation of females of the 11 recognisable species of Gamasiphis described in Eurasia is provided.

Two new rabies-related viruses were discovered in Russia during 2002. Viruses were isolated from bats in Eastern Siberia near Baikal Lake and in the western Caucasus Mountains. After preliminary antigenic and genetic characterization, we found that both viruses should be considered as new putative lyssavirus genotypes.

The metagenome of a microbial community of the sediments from a highly acidic iron-rich puddle at the tailings dump of the Komsomolskaya gold mine in the Kuzbass area, Siberia, Russia, was sequenced. Binning of contigs yielded a near-complete genome of the dominant bacterium, representing a novel deep lineage of Deltaproteobacteria.

The draft genome sequence of Vibrio cholerae O1 strain I-1263, isolated from a patient in the imported focus in Siberia, was determined. The established structural features of the mobile genetic elements indicate stage-by-stage formation of a highly pathogenic V. cholerae clone and promote understanding of the mechanisms of evolutionary pathogen transformations.

Siberian bluegrass (Poa) includes a number of polymorphic species such as P. arctica s.l., P. nemoralis s.l., P. palustris s.l., P. pratensis s.l., P. sibirica s.l., and P. smirnovii s.l., plus numerous hybrids and purported derivatives (e.g., P. attenuata s.l., P. glauca s.l., P. urssulensis s.l.). In Siberia Poa is represented by morphologically isolated species and hybrid-apomictic complexes...

BACKGROUND The present-day amphibian and reptile fauna of Western Siberia are the least diverse of the Palaearctic Realm, as a consequence of the unfavourable climatic conditions that predominate in this region. The origin and emergence of these herpetofaunal groups are poorly understood. Aside from the better-explored European Neogene localities yielding amphibian and reptile fossil remains, t...

During the summers of 2000, 2001, and 2002, 1,950 fecal samples from 4 families, 10 genera, and 16 species of rodents in Alaska, U.S.A. (N1⁄41,711), and Siberia, Russia (N1⁄4239) were examined for coccidia (Apicomplexa: Eimeriidae). The 4 families sampled were Dipodidae (jumping mice), Erethizontidae (New World porcupines), Muridae (mice, rats), and Cricetidae (voles, lemmings). Nineteen oocyst...