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Ural Mountains (ural + mountain)

Distribution by Scientific Domains

Earth and Environmental Science	40%

Selected Abstracts

The Ecological Role and Geography of Reindeer (Rangifer tarandus) in Northern Eurasia

GEOGRAPHY COMPASS (ELECTRONIC), Issue 4 2009
Bruce C. Forbes
The reindeer is a ruminant of the family Cervidae with a circumpolar distribution that has been a key component of Eurasian high latitude ecosystems for at least 2 million years. Interactions with humans date from the late Pleistocene onward and wild and semi-domestic animals continue to be highly valued by aboriginal and non-native peoples for a diversity of purposes. As a widespread and dominant ungulate across many tundra and taiga regions, the reindeer exerts a number of important controls on ecosystem structure and function. Animals, both free-ranging and herded, move seasonally between summer, winter and transitional spring/autumn habitats or ,pastures'. Their effects on vegetation and soils vary greatly in space and time depending on factors such as altitude/exposure, snow depth, substrate, moisture, prevailing vegetation type and, most importantly, animal density. At present, the number of Old World reindeer is somewhat less than 2.5 million. The most productive semi-domestic herds occur in Fennoscandia and the Nenets regions of northwest Russia straddling the Ural Mountains. Management systems differ within and among countries and regions. Given the diverse suite of factors involved, changes in vegetation associated with grazing and trampling can be remarkably heterogeneous spatially yet remain to a large extent predictable. Potential threats facing reindeer populations of Eurasia include rapid land use change, climate change and ongoing institutional conflicts. [source]

European snow cover extent variability and associations with atmospheric forcings

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF CLIMATOLOGY, Issue 10 2010
Gina R. Henderson
Abstract Snow cover in Europe represents an important component of the region's climatic system. Variability in snow cover extent can have major implications on factors such as low-level atmospheric temperatures, soil temperatures, soil moisture, stream discharge, and energy allocation involved in the warming and melting of the snowpack. The majority of studies investigating Northern Hemisphere snow cover identify European snow cover extent as a portion of the Eurasian record, possibly masking complexities of this subset. This study explores the variability of European snow cover extent from 1967,2007, with the region in question including the area of Europe extending eastward to the Ural Mountains (60°E). Using the 89 × 89 gridded National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Northern Hemisphere weekly satellite snow cover product, area estimates of seasonal snow cover were calculated, and their relationship to gridded temperature, precipitation, and sea-level pressure data analysed. The spatial variability of snow cover extent was also explored using geographical information systems (GIS). The combined results from both surface temperature and precipitation analyses point towards snow cover extent in Europe being primarily temperature dependent. Atmospheric variables associated with extremes in snow cover extent were investigated. Large (small) European snow extent is associated with negative (positive) 850 hPa zonal wind anomalies, negative (positive) European 1000,500 hPa thickness anomalies, and generally positive (negative) Northern European precipitation anomalies. Sea-level pressure and 500 hPa results indicate strong associations between large (small) snow cover seasons and the negative (positive) phase of the North Atlantic Oscillation. Copyright © 2009 Royal Meteorological Society [source]

Performance of the potentially invasive Siberian moth Dendrolimus superans sibiricus on coniferous species in Europe

AGRICULTURAL AND FOREST ENTOMOLOGY, Issue 3 2009
Natalia I. Kirichenko
Abstract 1,The native range of the Siberian moth extends from the Pacific Ocean (Russian Far East, Japan and Northern Korea) across Siberia, Northern China and Mongolia to the Ural Mountains. At the beginning of the 21st Century, this species was documented west of the Ural Mountains in the Republic of Mari El, indicating range extension toward the west. 2,The Siberian moth has recently been suggested for regulation as a quarantine pest for European and Mediterranean Plant Protection Organization member countries. However, no specific report on European host plants for this pest has been published so far. 3,In the present study, larval host plant choice and performance was tested for the first time on coniferous tree species that are widely distributed and of commercial value in Europe. 4,Based on dual-choice tests on neonates and mortality, developmental duration and relative growth rates of the first- to sixth-instar larvae, we found European larch Larix decidua to be the most suitable host for the moth larvae, whereas European black pine Pinus nigra and Scots pine Pinus sylvestris were the poorest hosts. The remaining conifer species tested, European silver fir Abies alba, Nordmann fir Abies nordmanniana, and Norway spruce Picea abies, were intermediate host plants. Douglas-fir Pseudotsuga menziesii, originating from North America, was chosen by the larvae to the same extend as European larch, and was also highly suitable for larval development. 5,If the moth is introduced to European countries, it will become damaging in stands of European larch and Douglas-fir, mixed stands of fir and spruce; however, it will be less damaging in forests dominated by two-needle pines. 6,We predict that Dendrolimus superans sibiricus will be able to survive and develop on the main European coniferous tree species, including non-native coniferous tree species, resulting in severe damage to large areas of forests. [source]

Genetic enrichment of the arctic clonal plant Saxifraga cernua at its southern periphery via the alpine sexual Saxifraga sibirica

MOLECULAR ECOLOGY, Issue 11 2006
MAXIM V. KAPRALOV
Abstract Isolation of populations at the margins of a species range may lead to decreasing genetic diversity via genetic drift and inbreeding. Hybridization between peripheral populations of two species can, however, counteract genetic impoverishment. The mainly clonal, polyploid plant Saxifraga cernua has a wide arctic distribution but also extends southwards into alpine sites. In the Ural Mountains, its peripheral distribution overlaps with that of its sexually reproducing, diploid relative Saxifraga sibirica, and fertile polyploids of more or less intermediate appearance are found in this overlap zone. We used amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) analysis to address the potential impact of interspecific gene flow on genetic diversity in the peripheral populations. A total of 149 plants from 17 populations along a 1650 km south,north gradient were analysed for 253 markers. The results suggest that three Middle Ural populations containing fertile and morphologically more or less intermediate plants have been affected by hybridization. All of these plants formed a strongly supported (100%) group with S. cernua in a neighbour-joining tree, but their AFLP phenotypes assigned either to S. cernua or to artificial (simulated) F1 hybrids between S. cernua and S. sibirica in multilocus assignment tests. The three populations were highly diverse with virtually every plant representing a distinct AFLP phenotype, providing additional evidence for formation of later-generation hybrids and/or backcrossing to S. cernua. In contrast, other peripheral populations of S. cernua were typically monoclonal, suggesting that hybridization with S. sibirica can increase genetic diversity in S. cernua at its southern periphery. [source]

Molecular signals for Late Tertiary/Early Quaternary range splits of an Eurasian steppe plant: Clausia aprica (Brassicaceae)

MOLECULAR ECOLOGY, Issue 9 2004
A. FRANZKE
Abstract Several vegetation belts stretch continuously from Europe to Asia, taiga and steppe being most prominent. Numerous plant species within these belts share a conspicuous distribution area, which is longitudinally contracted or disrupted approximately along longitude 70° E. To date no hypothesis for this intriguing distribution pattern has been put forward. We detected molecular footprints in the contemporary genetic composition in nuclear DNA (ITS1, ITS2) and chloroplast DNA (trnL,trnF spacer region) of the steppe element Clausia aprica (Brassicaceae) providing evidence for a severe longitudinal range split and genetic differentiation east of the Ural Mountains about 1 million years ago caused by Quaternary climatic oscillations. Clausia aprica provides the first phylogeographical analysis on the intraspecific evolution of an Eurasian steppe plant. [source]