Group of Brackish Water Hydrobiology

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The group of brackishwater hydrobiology was formed in 1989 by the decision of the Presidium of the Academy of Sciences of USSR as a result of young scientist’s competition as a laboratory pointed to the study of the Aral Sea. Later, studies had covered other brackishwater reservoirs of Russia and adjacent countries, first of all, the Caspian Sea. Expedition and field studies were in the Caspian Sea and lakes Balkhash, Issyk-Kul, Chatyr-Kul, and others.

In 2010-2020, the staff of the group had examine3d problems of the Aral Sea. In 2014, a collective monograph with participation and editor activity of the group “The Aral Sea. The Devastation and Partial Rehabilitation of a Great Lake” was published by Springer. Archive original material of the Aral laboratory of Kazakhstan LLP «Fisheries Research and Production Center» on zooplankton and zoobenthos of the Aral Sea was included into the database for their subsequent preservation and use. Cooperation with the International Fund for saving the Aral Sea (IFSA) was established. In cooperation with IFSA, international expeditions to the Aral Sea were organized in 2011, 2013, 2015, 2017, and 2019. On the basis of the material obtained in the mentioned expeditions, scientific plans of the rehabilitation of the North Aral Sea were elaborated. In 2017, within the frames of the 8th Nevsky International Ecological Congress a round table “Modern problems of and possible future of the Aral Sea” was successfully organized and realized. In November 15-18, 2019, a second International Conference on the Aral Sea was also successfully performed. At present, studies of salt lakes in Iran, Australia, and South America are planned.

Staff

5 researchers.

Nikolai V. Aladin (Head of Group, Principal Researcher, Professor, Doctor of Biological Sciences)

Valentina I. Gontar (Senior Researcher, Candidate of Biological Sciences)

Lubov V. Zhakova (Researcher)

Igor S. Plotnikov (Leading Researcher, Doctor of Biological Sciences)

Alexey O. Smurov (Senior Researcher, Candidate of Biological Sciences)

Topics of State Assignments

“Studies of biological diversity and the mechanisms of the impact of anthropogenic and natural factors on the structural and functional organization of ecosystems of continental water bodies. Systematization of biodiversity of salt lakes and non full saline inland seas in the zone of critical salinity, study of the role of brackish water species in ecosystems”.
PIs: Head of Laboratory, Corresponding member of RAS S.M. Golubkov, Doctor of Biological Sciences N.V. Aladin, Doctor of Biological Sciences V.R. Alekseev.
No. АААА-А19-119020690091-0.

“Systematization of the biodiversity of salt lakes and non-full saline inland seas in the zone of critical salinity, the study of brackish water species in order to clarify the similarities and differences in the evolution of their fauna and their role in brackish water ecosystems”.
PI: Doctor of Biological Sciences N.V. Aladin.
No. AAAA-A17-117030310206-6.

Main publications of the Laboratory staff

Aladin N.V. 1996. Salinity adaptation in Ostracoda and Branchiopoda. St. Petersburg: Zoological Institute RAS. 206 p. (Proceedings of the Zoological Institute RAS 265). [Russian]

Piriulin D.D. 2014. Arthropods of temporary water bodies and dried up bottom of the Aral Sea. St. Petersburg: Zoological Institute RAS. 110 p. [Russian]

Micklin P., Aladin N., Plotnikov I. (Eds.) 2014. The Aral Sea. The Devastation and Partial Rehabilitation of a Great Lake. Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer. XII+453 p. (Springer Earth System Sciences 10178).

Plotnikov I.S. 2016. Long-term changes of the free-living aquatic invertebrate fauna of the Aral Sea. St. Petersburg: Zoological Institute RAS. 168 p. [Russian]