Alexey Gilev

• Russian Academy of Sciences

Рассматриваются значения температуры воздуха (с учетом широтной изменчивости) на территории Приобской лесотундры и тундр п-ова Ямал в период пребывания здесь воробьеобразных птиц. При продвижении от лесотундры к арктическим тундрам наблюдается значимое снижение средних температур прилета, температуры начала яйцекладки, при этом влияние температуры...

Populations of the Colorado potato beetle exhibit by a high level of polymorphism, which enables them to have high ecological plasticity and quickly adapt to various conditions. Our research examines the variability of the pattern of the central part of the pronotum of the Colorado potato beetle Leptinotarsa decemlineata in samples collected from t...

Urbanized ecosystems are suitable for the habitat of only a few species of ants, due to conditions caused by human activities. Invasive species of ants have adapted to urbanized ecosystems most successfully. The study of the ant colonies sizes started in Crimea in 2013–2014. In 2019–2021 it was carried out in Ukraine (the Carpathians, Kyiv city, an...

We determined whether body colour patterns of the narrow-headed Formica exsecta ant can serve as a marker of adaptative strategies in heterogenous environments. The variations in colour were studied in two populations of F. exsecta in central and north western areas in European Russia. A generalised colour scheme of the head and three thorax segmen...

Studying four species of red wood ants (Formica rufa, F. polyctena, F. aquilonia, F. lugubris), we examined nest morphometrics (height and diameter of anthills), spatial parameters (location of anthills of different sizes relative to each other), and the number of trails per colony in three regions of Ukraine and Russia: Kyiv region (877 anthills),...

Red wood ants are capable of active thermoregulation in the nest, which allows them to achieve a high number of workers and a dominant position in biocenoses. We investigated the features of the spring warm-up and the ability for active thermoregulation of the mounds of the ants Formica polyctena and F. rufa in the vicinity of Kyiv, Ukraine. We hav...

Ants, as indicators of ecological changes, are widely used in land management and environmental monitoring. At the same time, effects of industrial pollution are less known compared to many other stressors. We studied variations in habitat variables and ant diversity near the Karabash copper smelter (KCS) in Russia, in 2009 and 2014. Pitfall traps...

This paper considers the dates of arrival of the grey crow at the latitude of the Arctic Circle (the city of Labytnanga) for the period 1970–2016. The dynamics of the dates of arrival of the grey crow were revealed to have stable long-term trends of different directions, which reflect different climatic events that took place in these years. The da...

The clutch size of passerine birds of 39 species in 3797 nests is considered. The dependence of the number of eggs in nests of northern passerine birds on the pattern of their distribution within the tundra zone and on the size of ranges, as well as the relationship of the trend of variation in the clutch size of species with different patterns of...

Myrmica ruginodis ants were trained through varied light signals (continuous or intermittent illumination) to find a feeder at one of the two exits (bridges) to the arena. The ants very quickly, after 3 presentations, became capable of learning how to find the feeder using signals (other than illumination) inadvertently provided by the researcher....

The spatial distribution of obligate dominant ant species, which includes four species of the genus Formica: F. exsecta, F. lugubris, F. aquilonia and F. uralensis, and differentiation of multispecies settlements has been studied in the eastern Kuzokotsky Peninsula (northern Karelia, Russia). F. exsecta and F. lugubris were present in remote single...

Variability of the length of the white area on the outermost quill feathers of the great tit from two cities in the Middle Ural has been investigated. Dynamics of the average length of the white area in the birds from the city of Asbest reproduced the dynamics observed in the city of Yekaterinburg with a one-year lag in the females and a two-year l...

Ants are considered to be suitable indicators of ecological change and are widely used in land management and environmental monitoring. However, responses of ant communities to industrial pollution are less known so far. We studied pollution-related variations of ant diversity and abundance near the Middle Ural Copper Smelter (Russia) in 2009 and 2...

This paper is devoted to an analysis of the pattern of zonal distribution of mesofaunal arthropods, birds, and vascular plants in the area from northern taiga forests to arctic tunrdas of the Yamal Peninsula by the gradient of summer air temperatures. The latitudinal dynamics of northern ecosystems determines differences in the number of plant spec...

The results of studying the color variation of the red wood ant F. aquilonia in Northwestern Russia and Fennoscandia are presented. Pronounced phenotypic differentiation among the ant populations was observed, which may be interpreted in the light of postglacial dispersal of the species. Ants from Karelia and the environs of Moscow showed high simi...

Nesting bird communities of individual habitat types in the Arkaim reserve are formed every year under the influence of nonrandom factors. Their qualitative and quantitative composition may gradually shift in a certain direction, but more often it remains relatively stable over several years and then makes an abrupt transition into a different stat...

The results of long-term research on spatial distribution of red wood ants in the Urals and Western Siberia are presented. It was shown that large complexes counting tens and hundreds of nests clearly tended to form aggregations, or zones of high density. These zones are extended latitudinally and arranged in a striate pattern, with stripes about 1...

The methods of geometric morphometry were used when comparing recent and subfossil ants Formica lemani in West Siberia, revealing clear morphological changes in the structure of head capsule that happened in the last several hundreds of years and were related not to taphonomic but to morphogenetic reconstructions. The rate of microevolutionary chan...

The (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) ant species composition and their zoocenotic role for the ordinary mole (Talpa europaea) burrow complex on the territory of Western Siberia taiga zone is considered in the article. The com-parative analysis of ant species composition in the burrows and on the soil surface in the same Tobolsk city sur-rounding biotopes...

A comprehensive analysis of samples from a frozen peat deposit in the upper reaches of the Khadytayakha River by palynological, carpological, entomological, and radiocarbon methods has been performed to reconstruct changes in the regional and local vegetation and climatic conditions during the Holocene. The results show that this peat deposit was f...

The results of long-term researches on the spatial distribution of red wood ants in the Urals and Western Siberia are presented. It is revealed that the large complexes obviously gravitate to each other, forming zones of high density. These zones are extended in latitudinal direction and form original regular patterns. The width of each such strip...

In male willow ptarmigans, the relationship between qualitative differences between birds belonging to different intrapopulation groups and some individual features of male nuptial plumage has been revealed by studying banded birds. Thus, males that have changed their nesting site differ from those returning to the former site and bigamous males di...

Seasonal changes in the coloration of the clypeus, mesonotum, and abdomen were studied in populations of the paper wasp, Polistes dominulus (Christ) in southern Ukraine. The color patterns in the populations were found to be different before and after hibernation. The frequencies of color morphs observed in the autumns of different years are simila...

The discrete variations of color on head (5), ptonotum (6), mesonotum (5), and on epinotum (4) were revealed in workers of wood ants. The combinations of these variations and their relationship with body size are described. The traits revealed may be used for studying some aspects of ecology of red wood ants. The differences between the ant polulat...

Some unusual nests of red wood ants were described, their origin and development were studied. One of the factors responsible for the shape and size of ant nests in subsidence under their own weight. This factor is more significant than regulation of microclimatic conditions within nest. These nests stop growing and start changing. The constructive...

The discrete variations of colour on clypeus, mesonotum, and first metasomal tergite were re- vealed in queens, workers and future foundresses of Polistes dominulus (Christ) paper-wasp in the Black Sea Biosphere Reserve. The colour pattern change of the colony population during the season is shown. The differences between colonies are described. Th...