сообществ и протистофауны мерзлотных почв России.
Можно надеяться, что в ближайшее время появятся новые монографического плана публикации по результатам исследований наземных и морских экосистем в рамках проектов 3-го МПГ. Эта книга – только начало. Редколлегия благодарит Ю.И. Ивакину, И.С. Янтарову и А.В. Дьяконову (ММБИ) за большую помощь в подготовке материалов к печати.
Articles of this volume open a series of publications of Russian polar researchers from leading resewarch institutions of the Russian Federation who participate in the study of terrestrial and marine ecosystems of the Arctic – the Murmansk Marine Biological Institute KSC RAS, the Institute of Geography RAS, the Zoological Institute RAS, the Institute of Oceanology RAS, the Polar-Alpine Botanical Garden-Institute (PABGI) KSC RAS, the all-Russian Research Institute for Environmental protection, the Institute of Plant and Animal Ecology of the Ural Branch of RAS, the Extreme North Agricultural Research Institute and some others. There are preliminary complementation results of some IPY projects which are included in the international and Russian national programs as well as in long-term studies of terrestrial and marine ecosystems.
According to the resolution on the 3rd International Polar Year 2007–2008 running which was adopted by the WMO Congress the main effort for cooperation within the implementation of its tasks was anticipated for the current definition and assessment of future changes in climate and environment of polar areas. For the first time in the IPY practice wider directions of polar research and the inclusion in the IPY scientific program of projects related to research, assessment and monitoring of polar marine and terrestrial biota and ecosystems, and natural and anthropogenic factors affecting them were considered.
Taking this into account in 2005 within the framework of the Programme for Fundamental Research of RAS Presidium and the Department of Earth Sciences RAS directions of various integrated research of the Arctic and the Antarctic were formulated. The research of marine and terrestrial ecosystems was touched upon as well. Special meetings devoted to IPY preparation which were conducted in 2005 and 2006 have shown a high potential of RAS scientific institutions and Federal Service of Russia on Hydrometeorology and Monitoring of the Environment (Roshydromet) and their willingness to conduct researches in this direction.
In 2006 the IPY Interagency Research Coordination Committee was created for participation of the Russian Federation in the preparation and conducting of activities of the International Polar Year (IRRC) under the leadership of I.E. Frolov. The Commitee included representatives of leading institutions of the Russian Federation, conducting polar researches. Last meetings of IRRC determined the range of issues of this body, figured out ways to coordinate researches in the Arctic and Antarctic and expertise of proposals to the IPY national scientific program. The core array of proposals into the direction «Terrestrial and marine ecosystems of the Arctic and the Antarctic» (co-leaders G.G. Matishov and A.A. Tishkov) of the IPY National scientific program, which have passed a long coordination and approval, was consistent with goals, objectives and priorities of current polar researches of biota and marine and terrestrial ecosystems. All selected projects (over 50) represented the world level, were competitive in the «scientific market» of the polar research, had a real chance to perform works and to get a striking result at the end of the IPY in Russia.
Even during the formation of the IPY national program there was a critical issue of the absence of proposals for a national program from some specialized institutions leading long-term world-known works in the Arctic like the Botanical Institute RAS, the Institute of Ecology and Evolution RAS, the all-Russian Research Institute for Environmental protection, institutes and research centers in Arkhangelsk, Novosibirsk, Krasnoyarsk, Irkutsk, Magadan, Yakutsk and Vladivostok, including regional research centers in the Arctic. This is largely determined by the fact that the trust funding of projects of the national IPY program on this direction was not planned, and available international contacts of scientists from these organizations allowed to find other forms of participation in IPY researches. Materials presented in this volume were also obtained during projects, which were carried out under the national program. Those projects did not receive additional funding and got one from funds of certain institutions. Additional financing of works from international or national sources (IPY project) is stipulated in special references.
Before the detailed presentation of works of authors, we want to draw attention of readers to the astonishing fact which is noticed by many polar researches at IPY meetings: in this global international cooperation biogeographical and environmental projects on the study of polar marine and terrestrial ecosystems dominate in number, size and scope.
Indeed, one of the authors during the work group arrangement of the Science Committee of the Arctic Council (ISIRA) on the international research of the Russian Arctic made the analysis of implementation results of the international and the national program for the third IPY. The preliminary analysis showed that despite the IPY tradition to focus on meteorological and geophysical research biogeographical and ecological projects aimed at the analysis of contemporary dynamics of biota and ecosystems, or at the paleoecological reconstruction of stages of the evolution of the nature of polar regions during the Pleistocene and Holocene (Table 1) were dominant in its category.
Table 1. The share of projects on the biota and ecosystems research in IPY national research programs of countries actively participating in the study of polar regions of the Earth
The analysis concerns projects (about 1270 from nearly 60 countries) which are presented on the web site HYPERLINK «http://www.ipy.org». These projects make the basis of IPY national programs. Actually cluster projects of the IPY International Programme (166 scientific and 52 educational ones) which were selected by the Joint Committee consisting of experts in the field of earth sciences, as well as representatives of international organizations like WMO, ICSU, the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission, the International Arctic Science Committee and the Scientific Committee on Antarctic research, have a clear focus on «classical» directions of the IPY research – meteorology, geophysics, glaciology, oceanography, geology. Such projects as the «Marine life in Antarctica», «Biodiversity of the Arctic basin», «Evolution and biodiversity in the Antarctic» and others are among them. Moreover, a significant number of projects on social and educational topics were also devoted to problems of a «wildlife» in the Arctic and the Antarctic, and some large international IPY expeditions included biological and ecological directions of investigations. Paradoxically this situation, in our opinion, reflects a change in priorities of polar research and shows an important indicatory role of the polar biota during the estimation of the current natural and anthropogenic climate and environmental fluctuations.
The most frequent objects of biogeographic research within projects of international and national IPY programs were representatives of the marine biota, which is impacted by climate fluctuations and increasing economic activity in polar regions.
We should emphasize that the study of the Arctic marine biota, its diversity and response to external stimuli requires a significant field and analytical work. In this regard it’s necessary to note a major contribution to the IPY polar research of experts from the Murmansk Marine Biological Institute KSC RAS, who widely cover the