Vol 9, No 4 (2016)

This paper is an introduction to a special issue of the journal. A brief historical delineation of the question of studying interfaces between adjacent ecosystems (ecotones) is presented. High biodiversity of ecotones and their vulnerability to natural and anthropogenic impacts, including invasions of alien species, are noted. It is supposed that there is no contradiction between the ecotone and river continuum concepts. The important ecological role of amphibiotic animals and plants in interactions and functioning of the adjacent ecosystems is emphasized. The issue of studying the quantitative parameters of fluxes of matter and energy between ecosystems in conjunction with their qualitative parameters (chemical elemental and biochemical compositions) is considered in the present paper.

Substance flow across the water–air boundary on the floodplain Lake Holodnoe (Saratov oblast) is generally formed by the Culicomorpha (76.1%) and accounts for 0.35 g/m² of the lake area per year. The energy flow amounts to 1.87 kcal/m², and most of it accounts for the second half of summer and autumn. Annual removal of biogenic elements is 0.18 g/m² for carbon, 0.04 g/m² for nitrogen, and 0.004 g/m² for phosphorus. The greatest contribution to flows of substance and energy is brought by large species of chironomids, as well as chaoborids and medium-sized chironomids, which produce several generations within a year and reach high abundance at a larval stage. Other floodplain lakes of the Volga River with similar biotopical features and species composition of amphibiotic insects are characterized by a quantitatively similar level of exchange processes with adjacent land ecosystems across the water–air boundary.

Two methods of estimating the emergence and transfer of biomass of blood-sucking mosquitoes (Diptera and Culicidae) are compared. The phonological and quantitative data obtained by the hydrobiological method (using an aquatic net and a tray) and using cone-shaped traps are different. Nevertheless, the general characteristics of the studied processes are similar. Results of the hydrobiological method showed that the total value of the annual transfer of biomass by Culicidae accounts for 3.157 g wet weight m^-2 per year; that of cone-shaped traps is 3.457 g wet weight m^-2 per year.

Long-term monitoring of the abundance and spatial distribution of 18 widespread species of Odonata has made it possible to assess their contribution to the export of aquatic productivity that entered the Barabinsk forest-steppe ecosystem. The annual emergence of Odonata varies from 0.8 to 4.9 g/m² of the land area and from 2.3 to 13.3 g/m² of the water area, which is 4–5 times larger than that in Diptera. The total flux of organic matter from water to terrestrial ecosystems remains relatively stable (sixfold interannual variability) irrespective of large interannual variations in the abundance of separate species (e.g., 42-fold interannual variability in Libellula quadrimaculata). The metal content was determined in nine Odonata species. Export of metals by dragonflies decreases in the series K > Na > Mg > Ca > Fe > Zn > Cu > Mn > Pb > Ni > Cr > Cd. Therefore, odonates appear to be quantitatively and qualitatively important providers of aquatic resources to the forest-steppe landscape of Western Siberia.

Beavers act as important agents which regulate the transfer of matter and energy from land to water and vice versa. Nevertheless, despite many examples of the regulation of energy and matter flows by beavers, we cannot extrapolate the results and get an overall picture of the role of beavers as regulators of ecosystem processes. This can be explained by the strong contextual dependency of the results of their habitat-forming activity and by changes in their behavior after repopulating the habitat area. The peculiarities of their influence on the habitat were analyzed using the example of small rivers that were recently populated by beavers and small rivers where beavers had already been living for 60–80 years.

Fatty acid (FA) contents and compositions in the pectoral muscles of 18 bird species from Novosibirsk, Volgograd, and Yaroslavl oblasts were studied. Three groups of birds that had significantly different FA compositions were distinguished based on a multivariate statistical analysis: Passeriformes, Columbiformes, and a group of waterfowl and waterbird species (Charadriiformes, Anseriformes, Podicipediformes, and Ciconiiformes). The highest content of physiologically important docosahexaenoic acid (22:6n-3, DHA), which is considered a marker of aquatic food, was surprisingly found in the biomass of Passeriformes, which are terrestrial feeders, rather than in the biomass of waterfowls and waterbirds. It was suggested that Passeriformes species had the ability to synthesize large quantities of DHA from short-chain omega-3 FAs, which is rare among animals.