Institute of Forest Science, Russian Academy of Sciences

Two mathematical models, an analytical and numerical, describe 2D Darcian seepage of in subsurface irrigation from a ditch, with pore moisture sucked up and laterally from a non-standard “emitter”, which is engineered as a channel of a small depth with a lined (impervious bottom). For steady flow in a homogeneous, saturated, rigid, isotropic porous medium a boundary value problems to Laplace’s equation for characteristic functions of the piezometric head and stream function is solved by the method of hodograph, i.e. conformal mapping of two polygons in complex plains onto each other via a reference plane. For a transient saturated–unsaturated seepage from the ditch or a buried permeable pipe in this ditch, initial boundary value problems (IBVPs) to the Richards equation are numerically solved using HYDRUS2D package. Both models give the vector fields of specific discharge (Darcian velocity) and scalar fields of pressure head, volumetric moisture content, isotachs, as well as flow nets. Applications of the models are to design and construction of urban and agricultural soils (“constructozems”), as porous composites, with the aim at optimizing the soil moisture consumption by the plants by minimizing evaporation and deep percolation. For this purpose a lens (or double-periodic cluster of lenses) made of peat or other relatively coarse material is buried under the ground surface. This lens(es) is surrounded by a fine-textured indigenous soil. The pore water motion to/from the lens, acting intermittently as a draining entity (collecting pore water from the ambient soil) and a subsurface irrigator (emitting water to this soil), in such an engineered smartly-heterogenized vadose zone becomes essentially 2-D. Our models substantiate the field experiments by Kornev (Subsoil irrigation (absorption irrigation method), Selkhozgiz, Moscow, 1935) who backfilled ditches and generated capillarity-maintained “wet bulbs” in the root zone. We also complete Vedernikov’s (Dokl AN SSSR 28, 1940) analytical solution for steady 2-D seepage from a trapezoidal ditch having a zero-depth water level.

Forest trees significantly affect human life. The spread of pathogens, including bacterial ones, poses a serious threat to their health. Despite this, however, the species composition and distribution of pathogenic bacteria, as well as the etiology of common diseases affecting forest trees, remain virtually unstudied. In this study, we, for the first time, describe different species of Pseudomonas and Pantoea as new etiological agents associated with the symptoms of leaf spotting and wood darkening on Acer tataricum L., Fraxinus pennsylvanica L., Ulmus minor Mill. Ulmus laevis Pallas. and Populus tremula L. For the identification of bacteria species, we used an integrated approach based on the characterization of their morphology, biochemistry, physiology and genetics. Phylogenetic analysis was performed using multilocus typing for five genes for Pseudomonas and six genes for Pantoea. Leaf spotting on A. tataricum, F. pennsylvanica, U. minor and U. laevis was shown to be caused by Pseudomonas cerasi, Pseudomonas congelans, Pseudomonas graminis, Pseudomonas syringae and Pantoea agglomerans both in monoinfection and coinfection. Wood darkening in U. minor U. laevis and P. tremula was found to be associated with the presence of Pantoea sp. and P. agglomerans. The coinfection of forest trees with bacteria of the genera Pseudomonas and Pantoea indicates a complex mechanism of interaction between the two populations, which will be the subject of future studies.

Приведены статистические (наукометрические) данные публикационной активности журнала «Динамика окружающей среды и глобальные изменения климата» (ДОСиГИК). Кроме того, сделана попытка проанализировать, какие материалы оказались наиболее полезны читателям. В дополнение к ранее вышедшему обзору за 10 лет проведена оценка работы журнала за последние пять лет. Отмечены изменения в формате издания журнала (переход только к электронной публикации статей) и то, как эти изменения сказываются на статистических данных. Выделены статьи, вызвавшие наибольший отклик у читателей (по количеству просмотров на сайте и цитированию). Двухлетний импакт-фактор журнала за последние пять лет сохраняется примерно на одном уровне, достигнув хорошего показателя в сравнении с другими журналами сходной тематики (выборка объемом 27 журналов из числа тех, в которых публикуются наши постоянные авторы). Число авторов ДОСиГИК существенно не меняется: за год в ДОСиГИК публикуется около 16 человек, причем ежегодная доля новых авторов также примерно постоянна – около 50%. Наблюдается тенденция к возрастанию времени полужизни статей журнала ДОСиГИК в течение последних 10 лет. Средний индекс Хирша авторов ДОСиГИК с течением времени имеет тенденцию к увеличению. По показателю «Вероятность цитирования статьи после прочтения» журнал оказался на третьем месте среди журналов рассматриваемой выборки.

The effect of 1/2 LV, MSG, DCR-based nutrient media with different content of 2.4-D, BA and carbohydrate sources (maltose, sucrose) on the response of Pinus sylvestris L. megagametophytes containing immature embryos was studied. Plant material was collected from 10–40-year-old trees growing in Petrozavodsk seed orchard, progeny trial, and city park. A total number of 3260 and 1860 megagametophytes were cultivated in vitro in 2022 and 2023, respectively. Most frequently embryonal-suspensor mass formation occurred from explants collected from plus trees’ clones at Petrozavodsk seed orchard and did not exceed 0.3%. The study identified a donor-tree genotype (864-2) whose explants, collected in different years, formed embryogenic cell masses proliferating for 9–10 months. It has been recommended to use the MSG nutrient medium for the successful embryonal-suspensor mass initiation. Prolonged embryonal-suspensor mass cultivation on the medium with high phytohormone content led to its degradation and required subculturing on the substrate with lower auxin and cytokinin content. In this study, we have induced the process of Pinus sylvestris somatic embryos maturation up to the clearly visible globular stage. https://rdcu.be/d1cas

In 2023, two bark beetle species were recorded in Russia for the first time based on findings in Sochi: the cypress bark beetle, Phloeosinus armatus, on Mediterranean cypress (Cupressus sempervirens) and the black twig borer, Xylosandrus compactus, on southern magnolia (Magnolia grandiflora), noble laurel (Laurus nobilis), and cherry laurel (Prunus laurocerasus). P. armatus is a Mediterranean pest attacking exclusively Cupressaceae. In Sochi, it was recorded on cypress trees in several locations, including on plants for planting imported from Italy. X. compactus is a highly polyphagous pest from East Asia. In Sochi, it has established populations in ornamental planted areas. The paper provides species descriptions with identification keys. One specimen of X. compactus from Sochi was DNA-barcoded and compared with 31 specimens deposited in the BOLD and GenBank under the name of X. compactus. High genetic variability (>7%) was detected highlighting the difficulty of identifying 'true' X. compactus using DNA data. Genetically, the specimen of X. compactus from Sochi was identical to those from Italy, Spain and France. An accidental introduction with ornamental plants for planting from Italy is considered the most probable pathway of invasion of both bark beetle species into the Russian Black Sea coast of the Caucasus.

Quantification of the biodegradability of soil water superabsorbents is necessary for a reasonable prediction of their stability and functioning. A new methodological approach to assessing the biodegradability of these polymer materials has been implemented on the basis of PASCO (USA) instrumentation for continuous registration of kinetic CO2 emission curves in laboratory incubation experiments with various hydrogels, including the well-known trade brands Aquasorb, Zeba, and innovative Russian Aquapastus composites with an acrylic polymer matrix. Original kinetic models were proposed to describe different types of respiratory curves and calculate half-life indicators of the studied superabsorbents. Comparative analysis of the new approach with the assessment by biological oxygen demand revealed for the first time the significance of CO2 dissolution in the liquid phase of gel structures during their incubation. Experiments have shown a tenfold reduction in half-life up to 0.1–0.3 years for a priori non-biodegradable synthetic superabsorbents under the influence of compost extract. The incorporation of silver ions into Aquapastus innovative composites at a dose of 0.1% or 10 ppm in swollen gel structures effectively increases their stability, prolonging the half-life to 10 years and more, or almost twice the Western stability standard for polymer ameliorants.

A list of 84 species of the family Diapriidae (Hymenoptera) from Karelia is given. Of them, 48 species were recorded recently resulting from a study of the original material and 36 species are known from this region according to already published data. Two diapriid genera, Pamis Nixon, 1957, Synbelyta Hellén, 1964, and 10 species are recorded for the territory of Russia for the first time. Additionally two genera (Entomacis Förster, 1856 and Idiotypa Förster, 1856) and 21 species are reported for the first time for Karelia.

Biodegradation is an important environmental factor controlling the effectiveness of aqueous superabsorbents for soil conditioning. The purpose of the study is to quantify this process using biological oxygen demand (BOD) analysis of composite superabsorbents with an acrylic polymer matrix, amphiphilic fillers (humates, peat) and silver ions as an inhibitor of biological activity. A simple kinetic model of BOD is proposed for standardization of the analysis and calculation of polymer half-life after their long-term (60–120 days) incubation in the VELP BOD analyzer (Italy) with automatic control. The half-life of pure hydrogels pre-swollen in distilled water (1:100) at 30 °C varied from 0.8 ± 0.2 to 2.4 ± 1.6 years. The addition of water extract from compost sharply enhances the biodegradation, lowering the half-life up to 40–60 days. Doses of 0.1–1% silver in a polymer matrix or 10–100 ppm in swollen hydrogels increase their half-life by 5–20 times. The discussion part questions the traditional division of aqua superabsorbents into “biodegradable” and “non-biodegradable”, and also analyzes the main advantages and disadvantages of the new methodology for their BOD analysis. The results may be of interest to a wide range of specialists from chemical technologists and biochemists to environmental engineers.

The construction of large technical systems (industrial and transport) poses a threat to the environmental situation in the Arctic. On the other hand, the operation of such systems in harsh Arctic conditions is also unsafe, especially in permafrost conditions. We offer a small-sized maglev system of the trestle type with “movers” and “fellow travelers” type suspension. In this system, the track magnetic field is created by a moving sequence of interacting magnetic field sources –movers in a special control channel (beam, pipe), which also interact with the magnetic field sources of transport modules –fellow travelers. Fellow travelers are suspended in controlled channels due to interaction with permanent sources of magnetic field. The structure is mounted on arc-shaped supports that evenly distribute the load on the supporting surface and protect it from snow drifts and water flows. A model of a two-channel system with the lower location of the controlled channel has been developed. Further improvement of the system involves the use of the “magnetic potential hole” effect and the principles of the planetary model construction.

The superfamily Tipuloidea contains the following cranefly families: Cylindrotomidae, Limoniidae, Pediciidae and Tipulidae, with 1267 species known in Europe. Recent studies have increased our knowledge regarding these families substantially, but craneflies still represent an understudied group, even in Europe. A previous paper focused on European Limoniidae, summarizing the faunistic and taxonomic papers concerning the family between 2010 and 2020, and reported additional new country records. In this study, the focus is on the other three cranefly families: Cylindrotomidae, Pediciidae and Tipulidae, summarizing taxonomic and faunistic studies concerning these families in Europe between 2010 and 2022. Also presented are 204 occurrence records belonging to one Cylindrotomidae, 23 Pediciidae and 62 Tipulidae species, which represent first country records from various European countries: three from Albania, three from Belarus, one from Belgium, three from Bosnia and Herzegovina, 13 from Bulgaria, two from Cyprus, two from Denmark, three from Estonia, one from Finland, two from Greece, three from Italy, one from Montenegro, one from North Macedonia, six from Norway, six from Poland, four from Portugal, seven from Serbia, four from Slovenia, two from Spain and one from Sweden, and three from the European territory of Russia. In addition of species known already from Russia, six are presented as new from Central European Russia, 26 from East European Russia, six from North Caucasus and six from North European Russia.

The article summarizes multivariate field trials of gel-forming soil conditioners for agriculture and urban landscaping in various climatic conditions from arid (O.A.E., Uzbekistan) to humid (Moscow region, Russia). The field test program included environmental monitoring of weather data, temperature, water–air regimes, salinity, alkalinity, and biological activity of various soils (sandy and loamy sandy Arenosols, Retisols, loamy Serozems), productivity and yield of plants (lawns, vegetables) and their quality, including pathogen infestation. The evolutionary line of polymer superabsorbents from radiation-crosslinked polyacrylamide (1995) to the patented “Aquapastus” material (2014–2020) with amphiphilic fillers and biocidal additives demonstrated not only success, but also the main problems of using hydrogels in soils (biodegradation, osmotic collapse, etc.), as well as their technological solutions. Along with innovative materials, our know-how consisted in the intelligent soil design of capillary barriers for water accumulation and antipathogenic and antielectrolyte protection of the rhizosphere. Gel-forming polymer conditioners and new technologies of their application increase the productivity of plant crops and the quality of biomass by 30–50%, with a 1.3–2-fold saving of water resources and reliable protection of the topsoil from pathogens and secondary salinization. The results can be useful to a wide range of specialists from chemical technologists to agronomists and landscapers.

The research analyzes technological properties and stability of innovative gel-forming polymeric materials for complex soil conditioning. These materials combine improvements in the water retention, dispersity, hydraulic properties, anti-erosion and anti-pathogenic protection of the soil along with a high resistance to negative environmental factors (osmotic stress, compression in the pores, microbial biodegradation). Laboratory analysis was based on an original system of instrumental methods, new mathematical models, and the criteria and gradations of the quality of gels and their compositions with mineral soil substrates. The new materials have a technologically optimal degree of swelling (200–600 kg/kg in pure water and saline solutions with 1–3 g/L TDS), high values of surface energy (>130 kJ/kg), specific surface area (>600 m2/g), threshold of gel collapse (>80 mmol/L), half-life (>5 years), and a powerful fungicidal effect (EC50 biocides doses of 10–60 ppm). Due to these properties, the new gel-forming materials, in small doses of 0.1–0.3% increased the water retention and dispersity of sandy substrates to the level of loams, reduced the saturated hydraulic conductivity 20–140 times, suppressed the evaporation 2–4 times, and formed a windproof soil crust (strength up to 100 kPa). These new methodological developments and recommendations are useful for the complex laboratory testing of hydrogels in small (5–10 g) soil samples.

Future climate change due to global warming could increase the decay risk of wood, which thereby increases the vulnerability of wood buildings to fungal decay. This study intended to understand changes in the potential risk of wood decay due to climate change in Korea and to identify the manner in which climate change presumably influences wooden cultural heritages (WCHs). Scheffer's climate index values for estimating the decay risk of wood exposed outdoors aboveground were calculated using historical climate data (1987–2016) and future climate scenarios (2021–2100). The study employed representative concentration pathway (RCP) scenarios to project the potential risk of wood decay in Korea until the end of 21th century. The results demonstrate that climate change will significantly increase the potential decay risk and resultant vulnerability of WCHs to fungal decay by the end of the century, even under RCP 4.5, which is a scenario with reductions. This apparent increase in threat due to climate change denotes that various measures or strategies, such as more frequent inspection and more robust maintenance, should be employed to reduce the vulnerability of WCHs to fungal decay due to climate change.

Drying cellulose nanofibril (CNF) from aqueous suspensions often leads to aggregated fibril morphology, negatively affecting its performance in ensuing applications. In this work, we introduced a new solvent drying approach to acquire dry CNF from aqueous suspensions and subsequently pyrolyzed the CNF precursor to obtain carbonized CNF (CCNF) without loss of its fibrous morphology. The fibrous CCNF was dispersed homogeneously in polycaprolactone (PCL) thermoplastic resin, greatly enhancing PCL composite tensile performance. After being further mixed with carbon black (CB), the CCNF helped to minimize CB aggregation due to formation of interconnected three-dimensional (3D) structures. The CCNF/CB/PCL composite exhibited superior electrical conductivity ascribed to electrons transporting more efficiently among CB aggregates. The composite is also suitable for applications such as 3D printed electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding and deformation sensing. Specifically, the 3D printed EMI shielding composite efficiently absorbed EM radiation in the frequency range of 4–26 GHz, and the 3D printed deformation sensor exhibited excellent sensitivity, durability, and flexibility in monitoring mechanical distortions. Herein, this study sheds light on the development of multifunctional conductive composites embedded with fibrous CCNF from sustainable resources.

New details of chemical structure of Araucaria lignin are the focus of this paper, since Araucaria is a relict plant which fossils are dated by the Permian period. Quantitative chemical analysis, FTIR, EPR and 2D NMR spectroscopies, Py-GC/MS and nitrobenzene oxidation have been used to characterize the Araucaria lignin. This work highlighted the structural features of the lignin of Araucaria, which distinguish it from modern coniferous (gymnosperm) lignins. This lignin exhibits pronounced paramagnetic properties with the concentration of paramagnetic centers of 3.0 × 10¹⁷ spin/g, the value of g-factor of 2.0036 corresponds to the phenoxyl radical. The Araucaria lignin is apparently unique since it does not belong to the known G, GS or GSH types. For the first time it was quantitatively proven that he lignin of Araucaria was assigned to compositionally heterogeneous GH lignins, which is not typical for modern lignins.

To study non-Heisenberg effects in the vicinity of spin crossover in strongly correlated electron systems we derive an effective low-energy Hamiltonian for the two-band Kanamori model. It contains Heisenberg high-spin term proportional to exchange constant as well as low-spin term proportional to spin gap parameter $\varepsilon_s$. Using cluster mean field theory we obtain several non-Heisenberg effects. Near critical value of spin gap $\varepsilon^c_s$ there is a magnetic phase transition of first order. In the vicinity of $\varepsilon^c_s$ in the paramagnetic phase we observe non trivial behavior of the Curie constant in the paramagnetic susceptibility in the wide range of temperature. Reentrant temperature behavior of nearest-neighbor spin-spin correlations is observed at $\varepsilon_s > \varepsilon^c_s$. Finally, pressure-temperature magnetic phase diagram for ferroperriclase is obtained using the effective Hamiltonian.

Bentonite (BT) suspension is extensively used as water-based drilling fluids (WDFs) for well excavation; however, it suffers from insufficient rheology and poor filtration performance at low solid content. Cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) with nanoscale dimension, large surface area, high stiffness, and reactive functional groups are promising candidates to improve the rheology and filtration performance of BT-WDFs through surface interactions. Consequently, a fundamental understanding of surface interaction between CNCs and BT platelets becomes critical. This work aims to reveal the crucial role of surface characteristics of CNCs on their interaction with BT platelets as well as the rheological and filtration performance of CNC/BT-WDFs. Two types of CNCs with distinctive surface characteristics (i.e., carboxylated CNCs - cCNCs and cationic CNCs - caCNCs) were rationally prepared and applied as modifiers in BT-WDFs. The cCNCs were shown to attach to the edge surface of BT platelets, and acted as “bridges”, connecting BT platelets via “edge-to-edge” association. On the contrary, the caCNCs were absorbed to the face surface of BT platelets, and acted as “crosslinking agents”, stacking numerous layers of BT platelets through “face-to-face” association. These differences led to distinctive dispersion state of BT platelets and overall performance of CNC/BT-WDFs. The cCNCs served as more effective rheological and filtration agents in the developed fluids compared with caCNCs, highlighting the importance of surface characteristic of CNCs in the development of low solid content, high-performance CNC/BT-WDFs for well excavation.