Roman Vasilievich Desyatkin

• Professor
• Russian Academy of Sciences

The catastrophic wildfires that occurred in Central Yakutia in 2021 resulted in extensive forest destruction, leading to the complete incineration of significant forested areas. This devastation has caused the loss of tree stands and the degradation of forest litter, as well as the upper organic layers of the soil. Consequently, there has been a su...

Physico-chemical properties and vertical distribution patterns of clay minerals were studied in the permafrost affected soils from the tundra and sub-tundra larch open woodland of Tit-Ary island. That unique complex is located in the delta of the Lena river, Republic of Sakha (Yakutia). Despite the small size of the island and the fact that permafr...

This paper presents the results of studying changes in the main parameters and properties of soils in larch and pine forests growing on sandy soils of the Lena-Vilyui interfluve of Central Yakutia, where catastrophic forest fires occurred in 2021. According to the remote monitoring information system of Rosleskhoz, in 2021, almost 8.5 million hecta...

The influence of catastrophic forest fires in 2021 on the vegetation cover and soils of the middle taiga on the territory of distribution of light soil-forming rocks of Central Yakutia has been studied. Obtained results showed the cardinal dynamics of species diversity and productivity of the larch and pine forests surface vegetation in their natur...

The main patterns of soil cover development in Yakutia and the morphogenetic features of permafrost soils were identified in the first few years of the 20th century by researchers representing the scientific school of V.V. Dokuchaev. The soil scientists of the Complex Expedition of the USSR Academy of Sciences between 1925 and 1930 significantly br...

This study investigated the composition and properties of the main soil types in the natural biogeocenoses of tundra and taiga in the coastal lowlands of the Arctic zone of Northern Yakutia. We have identified the total content of biologically important chemical elements in the soils and resource plants (N, P, K, Ca, Mn, Zn, Cu, Co, Mo, B, As, Be,...

Physico-chemical properties and vertical distribution patterns of clay minerals in the weakly differentiated soils were studied. The soils are located in the Kolyma lowland plain; they have formed in a cold and ultracontinental climate. The study objects cover a broad range of the landscape diversity: the marsh and alas meadows and typical northern...

Alas landscapes are unique ecosystems, which are dynamic, geochemically closed thermokarst landforms of the permafrost zone. Alases have a limited capacity in their active layer, and specific conditions for soil, flora and fauna formation. A comprehensive study of alas landscape functionswas carried out in Central Yakutia from 1988 to the present t...

Vegetation and soils of the North Taiga zone were studied in natural and thermokarst-disturbed areas of Yana-Adycha interfluve (northeastern Yakutia). Soil research includes a description and physicochemical analysis of samples. The objects of study were selected taking into account the landscape diversity of the area experiencing permafrost meltin...

Data on major properties and clay mineralogy in the profiles of slightly differentiated Cryosols forming in cold ultracontinental climate of Yakutia are discussed. The particular objects are represented by the cryozems of tundra, forest-tundra, and northern taiga of the Anabar and Alazeya plateaus and by the palevaya (pale) soil of middle taiga in...

Global warming, which is especially intensive (up to 0.08°C yr⁻¹) in permafrost area of Central Yakutia, has dramatic consequences for scarce arable land resources in this region. In Yedoma landscapes, intense permafrost thawing on arable fields unprotected by forest vegetation transforms the surface microtopography with the formation of residual t...

Analysis of climatic conditions for the period of instrumental measurement in Central Yakutia showed three periods with two different mean annual air temperature (MAAT) shifts. These periods were divided into 1930–1987 (base period A), 1988–2006 (period B) and 2007–2018 (period C) timelines. The MAAT during these three periods amounted −10.3, −8.6...

This book, which opens the three-volume “History of Yakutia,” presents the history of the republic from ancient times to the 17th century. According to the developed concept, the formation of the ethnic cultures and peoples of Yakutia is considered by the authors as a continuous multidimensional process in the context of spatial, economic and menta...

The annual balance of biogenic greenhouse gases (GHGs; carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), and nitrous oxide (N2O)) in the atmosphere is well studied. However, the contributions of specific natural land sources and sinks remain unclear, and the effect of different human land use activities is understudied. A simple way to do this is to evaluate GH...

Population growth, socio-cultural and economic changes as well as technological progress have an immediate impact on the environment and human health in particular. Our steadily rising needs of resources increase the pressure on the environment and narrow down untainted habitats for plants and wild animals. Balance and resilience of ecosystems are...

Under the influence of perennial dynamics of soil thawing depth, the upper layer of permafrost periodically thaws and becomes a part of the soil profile in the permafrost zone. In this case, the horizon, which is either frozen or thawed and has a thickness of several tens of centimeters, displays an elevated ice content (moisture). This horizon bet...

The article discusses the impact of global climate change on the components of the natural environment of the permafrost zone (e.g.., the center of the continental cryolithozone of the Northern Hemisphere). These changes have significantly intensified the dynamics of the climate parameters of the region: the average annual air temperatures, precipi...

Available online xxxx This study was conducted to evaluate the change in total soil carbon [TSC = litter carbon (LIC) + soil organic carbon (SOC) + soil carbonate carbon (SCC)] associated with recent thermokarst activity and forest disturbance induced by the climate change and land use change in the permafrost-affected soils of Eastern Siberia. TSC...

Central Yakutia is in one of the most northern agricultural centers of the world. In this territory a notable area of arable land was made by removing the boreal Taiga with the primary purpose of crop cultivation. Such a method of cultivation significantly changes soil total carbon (STC, soil organic carbon + soil carbonate carbon) balance, because...

Alases, which are thermokarst depressions that are occupied by grasslands and lakes, are an important element of the Central Yakutian periglacial landscape. In recent decades, climatic changes in Central Yakutia have resulted in important changes in environmental conditions. We use different remote-sensing instruments (Landsat 8, TerraSAR-X, ENVISA...

The characteristics of temperature dynamics in a solonetzic meadow-chernozemic soil of alas depression in Central Yakutia are described on the basis of long-term (2005–2014) stationary studies. Quick changes in weather conditions accompanied by changes in the soil temperature regime were observed during that period. Thus, the beginning of soil thaw...

The soils in the area of the northern pole of cold located on the interfluve between the Yana and Adycha rivers within the spurs of Kisilyakh Ridge included in the mountain system of Cherskii Ridge have been studied for the first time. The profile-genetic approach has been applied to describe the soils and determine their classification position. I...

In a context of scientific and public debates on permafrost degradation under global climate change, this article provides an integrated review and analysis of environmental and socio-economic trends in a subarctic region. It focuses on Sakha (Yakut) animal husbandry as an example of indigenous land use. Within Sakha-Yakutia’s boreal forests, anima...

As early, as in 1952, Academician I.P. Gerasimov published a paper entitled “Recent imprints of Late-Glacial phenomena near the coldest region of the world” in the journal “Annals of Academy of Sciences of the USSR, ser. Geography”; the paper was based on his observations during his visit to Central Yakutia. The paper was rather short, although it...

Significant increasing of mean annual air temperatures, freezing index and thawing index - have exerted a considerable impact on the state of permafrost landscapes and ecosystems in Eastern Siberia on the last few decades. Many animals and plants have shifted their ranges and this may be the precursor of northward shifts of the landscape zones. Lan...

Understanding geocryological characteristics of frozen sediment, such as cryostratigraphy, ice content, and stable isotope ratio of ground ice, is essential to predicting consequences of projected permafrost thaw in response to global warming. These characteristics determine thermokarst extent and controls hydrological regime—and hence vegetation g...

Aims: This study addressed a microbial composition of East Siberian larch forest bed soil and focused on major nitrogen-fixing bacterial consortia showing the highest capacity to induce acetylene reduction. Methods and results: The ability of a soil microbial consortium to effectively reduce acetylene was investigated using gellan gum medium. In...

This study investigates the clay mineralogy of permafrost-affected soils derived from predominantly calcareous loess-like material under the cold ultra-continental climatic conditions of Central Yakutia. These soils are named "Palevye (Pale)" following the Russian Classification, or Cryosols (WRB, 2006). Based on the data obtained, the loess-like s...

Long-term dynamics of temperature regime of the forest soils under the pine, larch and birch forest has been examined on the right bank of the Lena River. The obtained results have demonstrated strong diversity and high dynamics of thermal parameters of the cryosols in Central Yakutia. Drastic fluctuations of heat supply in the cryosol active layer...

Permafrost-affected palevye (pale) soils of Central Yakutia are developed from mantle calcareous deposits of different textures and are characterized by the common mica-chloritic association of clay minerals with a higher content of chlorite in comparison with the soils developed from mantle loams and loess-like loams in the European part of Russia...

Results of an investigation of radial growth of Larix cajanderi Mayr and Pinus sylvestris L. in Central Yakutia are presented. The time span of the constructed tree-ring chronologies is more than 200 years. Dendroclimatological analysis revealed a close relationship of tree growth on permafrost soils with climatic factors and soil hydrothermal cond...

In boreal forest ecosystems, nitrogen imbalance has long been discussed as a mystery with regard to its high biomass production. Under conditions widely used for the soybean nodulation bacterium Bradyrhizobium japonicum, microbiota in forest bed soil often do not show any significant acetylene reduction. However, in a recent study, soil bacterial m...

The present study was carried out to evaluate the effect of permafrost thawing on methane (CH4) emission from different development stages of thermokarst formation in Central Yakutia, East Siberia. Four stages of thermokarst, “Bullar,”“Dyede,”“Tuumpu” and mature “Alas,” differing in age, depth of depression and water presence, were selected for exa...

In order to investigate the relationship between vegetation change and fire history in the Siberian boreal forest, fossil pollen and charcoal from two lakes in central Yakutia, eastern Siberia, were analyzed. The vegetation change inferred from the pollen analysis was similar to that found in previous research in the region. Open larch forest cover...

Macroscopic charcoal records from a thermokarst lake deposit in central Yakutia, eastern Siberia, were used to reconstruct the history of forest fires and investigate its relationship to thermokarst initiation. High accumulation rates of charcoal and pollen were coincident in the basal deposits of the thermokarst lake, which suggests that both were...

For evaluating N(2) fixation of diazotrophic bacteria, nitrogen-poor liquid media supplemented with at least 0.5% sugar and 0.2% agar are widely used for acetylene reduction assays. In such a soft gel medium, however, many N(2)-fixing soil bacteria generally show only trace acetylene reduction activity. Here, we report that use of a N(2) fixation m...

To evaluate the effect of increasing forest disturbances on greenhouse gas budgets in a taiga forest in eastern Siberia, CO2, CH4 and N2O fluxes from the soils were measured during the growing season in intact, burnt and clear-felled larch forests (4–5 years after the disturbance). Soil temperature and moisture were higher at the two disturbed site...

To elucidate the energy balance over a forest, seasonal changes in the water and energy exchanges over a young larch forest (E-YL) in eastern Siberia were investigated and compared with the reported characteristics of a mature larch forest (W-ML) in the same region. Observations of the energy fluxes were conducted during the growing season from 15...

‘Alases’ are mature thermokarst depressions covered by grassland distributed in taiga forests in central Yakutia, eastern Siberia, following thermokarst formation initiated in early Holocene. Alases are important land-cover class in the central Yakutia lowland occupying 17% of the total land area. CH4 and N2O fluxes were measured temporally in a ty...

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Thermokarst formation and vegetation change in central Yakutia, eastern Siberia, were reconstructed based on newly obtained AMS radiocarbon data and pollen records from four typical thermokarst depressions (alases). Radiocarbon ages of wood fragments, which are good indicators of the development of thermokarst depressions, suggest that they formed...

Boreal and Taiga forests in Russia play an important role in carbon storage in terrestrial ecosystems. In this region, forest fires often occur, which affect considerably carbon cycling in the Taiga ecosystems. We estimated the net ecosystem production (NEP) in five ecosystems with different histories of forest fire in Yakutsk, Russia. The NEP was...

Alas is a round area of grassland with a pond at the center, formed by subsidence associated with permafrost thawing in Taiga forests in eastern Siberia. Some Alases have a Pingo, which is a round mound formed by the refreezing of the Alas pond. To characterize the relationship between the CH4 dynamics and soil properties in a forest-Alas ecosystem...

Monitoring the post-fire regeneration is important for Siberian taiga forest where fires occur frequently. Satellite images taken in summer have been often used in analyses of vegetation. However, in the sparse stands of Siberian taiga forest with varied types of forest floors, it is difficult to extract high trees' conditions and distributions fro...

In July 1993, we measured leaf conductance, carbon dioxide (CO(2)) assimilation, and transpiration in a Larix gmelinii (Rupr.) Rupr. ex Kuzen forest in eastern Siberia. At the CO(2) concentration of ambient air, maximum values (mean of 10 highest measured values) for CO(2) assimilation, transpiration and leaf conductance for water vapor were 10.1 m...

The composition, number, and spatial distribution of mesofauna of the main soil types of taiga-alas ecosystems is studied for the first time. The limited species composition and the small numbers of geobionts is due to the extreme conditions: annual deep freezing of the soil with the establishment of very low temperatures in the near-surface layer,...

Syngenetic salinization of soils takes place during thermokarst alas (semi-enclosed thaw depression) formation. It is caused by the accumulation of readily soluble substances in the meltwater of ground ice and its enclosing rocks that flows into primary thermokarst lakes, which substances concentrate in the active layer of alases during the subsequ...

Alases are very dynamic, often geochemically closed thermokarst basin topographic forms that have a thin active layer and unique conditions of pedogenesis and vegetation degvelopment. In central Yakutia alone, there are about 16 000 alases, with a total area of more than 4400km². A unique alas process occurs in thermokarst depressions of central Ya...