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The results of the primary geobotanical survey of pine and mixed forest communities with ash maple inthe Kasmalin ribbon forest are presented. As a result of anthropogenic impact Ash maple occurs throughout the Kasmalinribbon forest locally in the composition of pine, birch-pine and birch-aspen-pine communities.

The article provides data on the distribution of the invasive boxelder maple in the Altai Krai. The article specifically considers its coenotic role in pine forests by the example of the Barnaul ribbon pine forest. A GIS project was developed to assess the distribution of boxelder maple in Altai krai. Mapping was based on the species location data obtained from the herbarium material (more than 500 sheets of the herbarium) deposited to the Altai State University (ALTB), the N.I. Vavilov All-Russian Plant Research Institute (WIR) and the V.L. Komarov Botanical Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences (LE). To map the boxelder maple distribution, an analysis of the forest stand maps of the Barnaul ribbon pine forest was also carried out (2010, 2018). For each maple location, the stratum, the stratum area, and the stand formula are taken into account. Over the ten-year observation period, the area of maple and mixed forests with the participation of Acer negundo has increased almost 6 times here. Monodominant maple forests and mixed forests with the participation of boxelder maple as well as with other invasive species are formed. This leads to a considerable anthropogenic transformation of pine forests and a decrease in their environment-forming, social-economic and ecological significance. The study reveals that generative plants were not found in every coenopopulation. If the plants reached the reproductive stage, then, on the whole, males prevailed fivefold in the coenopopulation. Most of the studied coenopopulations consisted of pre-generative individuals, with the exception of occasional young generative ones. Most of the trees in the studied populations reached the age of 10–15 years. For forest communities of the Barnaul forestry, two age periods of the ontogenetic state have been established – pre-generative and generative, which indicates a relatively early age of the phytoinvasion and its active stage.

We investigated 120 assemblages of phytoliths from modern top soils of 40 different plant communities of Northern and Western Altay region of Russia. The samples were collected from elevations between 360 m and 2360 m above sea level. Using statistical analyses, it was discovered that many communities produce sufficiently distinct assemblages based on standard morphotypes. Specifically we studied 6 kinds of forests (larch, spruce, fir, pine, cedar pine and birch-dominated), 3 kinds of steppes (true, meadow and petrophytic), 5 kinds of meadows (steppe-like, upland dry, wet floodplain, subalpine, alpine), alpine tundra, and mountain shrubland communities. The communities were not evenly sampled, with more redundancy in some types than in others. Using PCA, it was possible to reveal the few morphotypes most responsible for distinguishing different communities, e.g., low conical rondels, rondel sum, long cell sum, lanceolate cells with massive base, and bulliform cell sum.

The article presents the results of analysis of the phytolith composition of cereals in the Northern Altai. Some 23 species of Poaceae have been studied. For each species, we analyzed a set of silicon particles in leaves, stems, and generative structures. We selected from 22 to 27 significant morphotypes of phytoliths, depending on their morphological affinity. Our results were compared with the wetting factor. We also analyzed the ratio of the composition of phytoliths of cereals and their ecological (edaphotopic) groups and life forms. We founded the correlations between several morphotypes of cereal phytoliths and life forms with optimum species moistening.

Phytoliths are a useful paleoproxy in arid environments. This modern analog study assessed variability of silica phytoliths in 30 species of grasses and 42 modern soil samples from eight locations in the Altaysky Kray and the Republic of Gorny Altay of Russia. Phytoliths were grouped into 25 broadly defined morphotypes based on their 3D shapes under light microscope and presumed anatomical origin within the plant. Grasses exhibited the most diverse forms. Forests, meadows, and steppes can be distinguished based on differences in proportion of various morphotypes. Steppes can be reliably identified based on high proportion of rondel phytoliths, but low presence of lobate and lanceolate forms. Meadows have high proportion of lobate and lanceolate forms. All forests have high proportion of smooth long cells and lanceolate phytoliths. Coniferous forests additionally have small presence of blocky forms with pitted surface and pores from conifers. Phytolith assemblages were also found to vary with gradients of temperature and precipitation, which could enable direct paleoenvironmental inferences from phytoliths in geological sediments from the region. However, vegetation types could not be differentiated based on the presence of particular types of trichomes, as has been suggested for other regions in Russia.

Paeonia hybrida Pall. is a highly localized species, spread on the Priobskoye plateau, foothills and low-mountains of Altai, in the northeastern and eastern parts of Kazakhstan. The aim of the study was to study cenopopulations and features of phytocenoses with the participation of P. hybrida in Kulunda and on the Priobskoye plateau. The characterization of the communities is based on 13 complete geobotanical descriptions carried out on 100 m2 test plots in Volchikhinsky, Mikhailovsky and Topchikhinsky districts. When identifying vegetation syntaxa, we used the interpretation of E.M. Lavrenko. Taxonomic, ecological, chorological and analysis of life forms was performed according to I.G. Serebryakov and K. Raunkier. The ontogenetic periods of P. hybrida were studied by the method of T.A. Rabotnov taking into account the indices of age states by A.A. Uranova. In the period of 2013 – 2020 the authors identified 13 P. hybrida cenopopulations in two classes of formations – meadow and true steppes. The share of P. hybrida in the herbage was 5 – 15%. More often the species is found in shrub communities of meadow and true steppes. In the dry-steppe zone of Kulunda, P. hybrida has preserved in the flat areas between dividing ridges, on gentle ridges, slopes of gullies, coarse slopes and along the deltas of ancient runoff hollows. The characteristic features of the habitats make it possible to classify the steppe peony as a mesoxerophyte. The ontogenesis of P. hybrida is characterized by latent, virginile, and generative periods.

The secondary succession of grass vegetation on the right bank of the river Ob (Altai territory) was investigated. The analysis has shown that the successions go in 3 hypothetical rows, depending on the humidity of ecotopes: ‘xerophytic’, ‘mesophytic’, ‘mesohydrophytic’. It is obvious that the rate of succession slows down in the conditions of more arid ecotopes. The dynamics of the aboveground phytomass are generally subject to this trend. The higher the succession rate, the quicker the phytomass develops.

The planned national nature park is situated in the northern part of the Altai foothills within the Belokurihinskiy granite massif. The flora includes 11 species of vascular plants listed in the Red Books of the Russian Federation (2008) and the Altai Territory (2006). Two species are endemics of Altai-Sayan mountainous country: Silene turgida and Dentaria sibirica. More than half of the territory (52.8%) is covered with forests. The fir taiga with the abundance of relict forms is the most extensive in terms of the area. Thus, the territory of the nature park features the following vegetation types: forests (small-leaved forests and conifer forests), meadows (steppe meadows, real (present), lowland meadows), meadow steppes, brakes, rocky vegetation, water vegetation and anthropogenic vegetation.

The research of modern and fossil soils was conducted at three archaeological sites: Nizhniy Kayancha, Novoilinka-3, and Tytkesken-2. Nizhniy Kayancha is a burial ground (dated 5th century BC) situated on the left bank of the Katun River (400-700 m above sea level). An archaeological site is a burial mound with seven mounds which can be visually separated within the site, and which are placed by small chains with 2–3 objects. The south mound of the first group was examined for a phytolith analysis. Еhe Novoilinka-3 settlement (dated 3rd millennium BC) is situated in the north of Kulunda, in the southern part of a hill formed by the false River Burla. The Tytkesken-2 settlement is situated on the verge of the stream Tytkesken, the left tributary of the Katun River, on its second terrace above the flood plain.Geobotanical research was conducted in the territory of the archaeological sites under study. Grass phytoliths of modern flora were examined. Soil samples from different layers of the walls of excavation sites were collected. Phytolith extraction was based on the methods described by A.A. Golyeva. 20 g of soil, and 100 g of plant material of each species were processed during the initial period. The examination of the phytoliths of leaves, stalks and flower heads from the samples obtained from the plant material was carried out with the help of an optical microscope (Olympus BX-51). The phytoliths were counted to 250 (in ashed plants) and to 300 (in soils) particles.More mesophytic plant communities of the ancient epochs have been reconstructed for all three examined archaeological sites. The territory of the Nizhniy Kayancha burial ground was covered by birch forest at the time prior to formation of the archaeological site. The territory of Novoilinka-3 settlement was covered by pine and birch steppificated forest in the Eneolithic period, but the territory was deforested as the settlement developed. Several stages of vegetation change have been reconstructed for the Tytkesken-2 archaeological site. This includes deforestation of pine forest and further steppe formation in the late Neolithic Age, prairiefication in the Eneolithic Age and new steppe formation in the Bronze Age up to the present time.

For the regional implementation of new land-use technologies, the practical cooperation of science, enterprises of the agricultural sector, machine builders and dealers are crucial. The knowledge exchange of these actors makes a great contribution to the introduction of new technology, their adaptation to regionally specific requirements and further development of innovative practices. ‘Field days’ have proven to be a very effective model in bringing engineers, dealers and farmers together to dispute over usage and perfection of new machines.

The Eurasian steppes represent the continent’s share of the world’s temperate grasslands and once have formed one of the largest continuous terrestrial biomes at an extent of ca. 10 Mio km2. The present chapter describes key aspects of steppes and puts the study region Kulunda in context giving overview data and maps on climate, flora and vegetation. Relatively dry conditions render tree growth limited throughout the biome, while grasses typically have high abundance. Major vegetation classes include meadow steppes often intersected with forest outposts (and then called forest steppe landscapes), typical steppes and dry steppes, all of which are present in the study region. Kulunda thus is a typical example of western Eurasian steppes, which receive a relatively large share of precipitation in winter. Spring conditions are not as dry as in neighbouring regions of Mongolia and China, resulting in a rich and partly specialised flora. Grasslands in the Kulunda region belong to the phytosociological class Festuco-Brometea, also highlighting similarities to western Eurasia rather than to the Mongolian plateau eastwards. The western Eurasian steppes have been subject to large-scale conversion to arable lands, and Kulunda is no exception. Less than 17% (ca. 28,000 km2) of the potential grassland cover still is extant. These sites contain a high number of locally threatened plant species and still reflect most of the former diversity of vegetation types found in this key Middle Asian steppe region.

Throughout Eurasia, steppes are preserved in forms of small fragmented areas within the landscapes of tilled fields, fallow lands, pastures, and infrastructural complexes. In Kulunda, steppes are preserved owing to the areas of alkaline steppe with saline soil complexes as well as secondary steppes formed in uncultivated lands. Intensive agriculture in the steppe and forest-steppe areas of Kulunda exerts the most significant impact such as total plowing of fertile lands, overgrazing by excessively numerous livestock, and inadequate agricultural technologies for certain agroclimatic and landscape-ecological conditions. This led to a whole range of consequences: destruction, fragmentation, and ecotonization of steppe communities, direct extermination of key plant species, forest and birch kolki clearance, biota unification and introduction of alien species, reduction of species and cenotic diversity in steppes as well as destruction of their structure and loss of self-regeneration and self-regulation ability. The start of human influence dates back to the Neolithic age (the cattle-raising stage of the territory development). However, the most devastating impact began in the twentieth century with the arable farming stage. Almost all tillable lands were plowed at the time of Stolypin’s agrarian reform in the beginning of the twentieth century and during the years of Khrushchev’s land reclamation campaign 1954–1955. Nowadays, agroecosystems have been formed in the places of former natural steppe ecosystems. The influence of agricultural reclamation on the vegetation cover and biodiversity distribution in the steppe and forest-steppe areas of Kulunda is to a large extent studied and documented.

The approaches to the rehabilitation of the vegetation cover in the Kulunda steppes and to the increase of their biodiversity under the conditions of the existing nature management system can vary. We investigated only three specific approaches, the implementation of which are much in demand and have already been started. The restoration of steppe ecosystems is an important step in their rehabilitation. The restoration of the sample steppe communities can be passive, through the regeneration of sod lands or degraded pastures through exclusion from use (isolation), or active, by the method of ‘agrosteppe’. The data on the improvement of steppe pastures by means of isolation, obtained over a period of three years, indicated a significant restoration of the floral communities’ structure. The layerage is re-established, the total projective cover increases and so does the aboveground phytomass stock. The steppe communities’ restoration, by the method of agrosteppe with the use of the legume family representatives adapted to the dry steppe conditions of the Kulunda area, showed positive results. A range of drought resistant legume grasses was selected. The most sustainable species in the case of late spring sowing were Astragalus onobrychis and A. cicer. In the case of underwinter sowing, Medicago lupulina demonstrated the greatest survival ability among the lucernes, while A. onobrychis proved to have the greatest survival ability among the astragaluses. Optimal seeding time for the legumes is underwinter sowing (November). A very important method of steppe restoration activity is the preservation of areas of natural steppe ecosystems as specially protected natural reserves. The conditions for protection of the steppe and lacustrine-steppe ecosystems have been created in seven state partial reserves and ten natural sanctuaries. Forty plant species of the Kulunda steppe are under the protection of the Altai Krai Red Book.

Background and Aims: Reconstruction of past ecosystems requires a robust understanding of modern deposition patterns and taphonomy for the proxies utilized. Recent advances in phytolith analysis have contributed to improved understanding of these processes, but many gaps remain. This study aims to test a few specific hypotheses that have been proposed by research outside the tropics in the Northern Hemisphere. Our study area focuses on the Northern Altay, a culturally important region, entirely within Russia, north of China, and Mongolia. We collected 60 phytolith assemblages from modern soils at 300 to 2,300 m a.s.l. elevations, sampled from 20 plots in triple replicates within 13 different plant communities. Detailed releves of these plant communities, including forests, meadows, steppe, and alpine tundra, were obtained during the summer of 2017. We used a locally derived scheme of V. P. Sedelnikov to assign studied communities to ecological categories based on moisture and temperature availability.Methods: Standard oxidation and heavy liquid flotation methods of extraction were used. Morphotypes were counted under 400–1,000x magnification on an optical microscope. We used a two-tier approach to phytolith morphotypes classification: a detailed one with over 40 morphotypes included and a shorter one with only sums of selected morphotypes. The former approach can produce some interesting results, such as using various types of rondels (e.g., pyramidal vs. keeled) or large vs. small lanceolate (trichomes). Using sums may be more widely applicable, because the researchers can replicate these results better and less training is needed. However, there are fewer diagnostic options with the sums approach.Key Results: Our results, using discriminant analysis, canonical correspondence analysis and other multivariate statistical methods, confirm earlier studies, both in the region and elsewhere that despite redundancy in phytolith distributions in soils, there are some selected morphotypes that can reliably distinguish communities at various positions along elevational, moisture, and temperature gradients. We developed a regionally diagnostic key that allows researchers to quickly identify various plant communities based on their phytolith assemblages in soils.Conclusions: Seven of 13 regionally important communities at medium elevations in the Altay Mountains can be distinguished by using aggregated and more detailed phytolith morphotypes.

Lactic and propionic bacteria are actively used as feed and food biopreservatives. The industrial production of these bacteria is carried out using known standard biotechnological approaches and equipment. However, the modern requirements to the volumes of their production require the development of new technologies providing the more intensive growth of bacterial biomass. One of the possible ways to do it is the use of nonspecific stimulators of chemical or physical origin. The stimulating effect of ultrasound on live systems attracts attention of many researchers. Depending on the sonication parameters and conditions, the impact of ultrasound on cell cultures can either stimulate or suppress their life processes. The possibility of the ultrasound stimulation of the biomass accumulation process has been studied for submerged bacterial cultures of Lactococcus lactis VPKM B-2092, Lactobacillus plantarum VPKM B-4173, and Propionibacterium acidipropionici VPKM B-2092. The inoculum with cell contentration of 1 · 108 mL-1 was sonicated at 880 kHz and energy density varied within 0.1-0.7 W/cm3 using a specially designed cuvette, through which the cell suspension was introduced into a fermenter at a rate of 10 mL/s that provided the total sonication time equal to 100-120 seconds. As a signal source, a standard therapeutical ultrasound apparatus UZT-1.01F equipped with a sweep generator was used.For all three cultures, the ultrasound stimulation resulted in a significant increase in the optical density of culture broth comparing to the control and the corresponding increase of the cell concentration. The optimum sonication energy density for the Lactococcus lactis VPKM B-2092, Lactobacillus plantarum VPKM B-4173, and Propionibacterium acidipropionici VPKM B-2092 was equal to 0.5, 0.3-0.5 и 0.3 W/cm3, respectively. Comparing to the control, the cell count of these strains in the culture broth increased in 28.6, 9, and 16.7 times, respectively.Thus, the ultrasound stimulation of inoculum provides a significant increase in the biomass of cells producing lactic and propionic acid that, in turn, increases the economic efficiency of their industrial use. Since the mechanisms of such stimulating action of ultrasound are well-studied, and the exploitation of ultrasound generators is simple and cheap, the further development of the ultrasound stimulation approach seems to be very promising for the industrial microbiology.

The industrial production of lactic acid and propionic acid bacteria, which produce lactic, acetic and propionic acids and used as the components of biological preservatives of feed and fodder, requires to maintain a total concentration of organic acids in fermentation broth at a level of one percent during the whole fermentation process. The higher concentration inhibits the growth and development of these microorganisms, so their cell concentration in fermentation broth does not exceed 0.6·109 ml-1. Under laboratory conditions, pH of cultivation medium can be regulated by the neutralization of organic acids with alkaline, but under the large-scale production, the loss of produced lactic, acetic, and propionic acids is inexpedient, since they are widely used in various industrial segments including the conservation of rich fodder. One of the possible solutions is the use of a membrane extractor to remove organic acids, which represent valuable metabolites, from the cultural broth directly during the cultivation process. In this study, the efficiency of a specially designed membrane extractor equipped with additional ultrasonic transducers, which reduced diffusion limitations near the membrane surface, has been assessed in the process of submerged cultivation of three bacterial cultures: Lactococcus lactis VPKM B-2092, Lactobacillus plantarum VPKM B-4173, and Propionibacterium acidipropionici VPKM B-5723. The extractor was connected to the fermenter as external device and consisted of a cartridge filter preventing the biomass uptake into the extractor and a membrane extractor of a “liquid-liquid”type equipped with pH-state and hydrodynamic ultrasonic transducers. Whereas classic pH-states feed a pH-correcting solution into a fermenter according to a signal from a pH sensor, the developed pH-state construction turned on the US membrane extractor to remove excess organic acids from the fermentation broth. Due to the maintenance of optimum pH, the final concentration of L. lactis, L. plantarum, and P. acidipropionici cells increased in 5.8, 3.6, and 3.2 times, respectively. The equipping of a membrane extractor with ultrasonic transducers accelerated the removal of organic acids from fermentation broth of L. lactis, L. plantarum, and P. acidipropionici in 5.25, 5, and 6.25 times, respectively, i.e., provided a more rapid and efficient fermentation. The proposed technology improves the economical efficiency of the process and provides the required diversity of technical solutions for its use in a microbiological production.

Lactic and propionic bacteria are actively used as feed and food biopreservatives. The industrial production of these bacteria is carried out using known standard biotechnological approaches and equipment. However, the modern requirements to the volumes of their production require the development of new technologies providing the more intensive growth of bacterial biomass. One of the possible ways to do it is the use of nonspecific stimulators of chemical or physical origin. The stimulating effect of ultrasound on live systems attracts attention of many researchers. Depending on the sonication parameters and conditions, the impact of ultrasound on cell cultures can either stimulate or suppress their life processes. The possibility of the ultrasound stimulation of the biomass accumulation process has been studied for submerged bacterial cultures of Lactococcus lactis VPKM B-2092, Lactobacillus plantarum VPKM B-4173, and Propionibacterium acidipropionici VPKM B-2092. The inoculum with cell contentration of 1 · 108 mL-1 was sonicated at 880 kHz and energy density varied within 0.1-0.7 W/cm3 using a specially designed cuvette, through which the cell suspension was introduced into a fermenter at a rate of 10 mL/s that provided the total sonication time equal to 100-120 seconds. As a signal source, a standard therapeutical ultrasound apparatus UZT-1.01F equipped with a sweep generator was used. For all three cultures, the ultrasound stimulation resulted in a significant increase in the optical density of culture broth comparing to the control and the corresponding increase of the cell concentration. The optimum sonication energy density for the Lactococcus lactis VPKM B-2092, Lactobacillus plantarum VPKM B-4173, and Propionibacterium acidipropionici VPKM B-2092 was equal to 0.5, 0.3-0.5 и 0.3 W/cm3, respectively. Comparing to the control, the cell count of these strains in the culture broth increased in 28.6, 9, and 16.7 times, respectively. Thus, the ultrasound stimulation of inoculum provides a significant increase in the biomass of cells producing lactic and propionic acid that, in turn, increases the economic efficiency of their industrial use. Since the mechanisms of such stimulating action of ultrasound are well-studied, and the exploitation of ultrasound generators is simple and cheap, the further development of the ultrasound stimulation approach seems to be very promising for the industrial microbiology.

The paper presents floristic and geo-botanical characteristics of rare forest ecosystems of the south of Western Siberia – spruce forests on the site of the Ob river ancient bed within the modern Bolshaya Sogra within the boundaries of the state natural reserve ‘Kislukhinsky’ (Altai region). Spruce forests here are at the edge of their spread in the West Siberian Plain conditions. There are over 300 species of vascular plants found in these spruce forests. Among them are plants that are typical of the mountain taiga associations of Russian Altai, as well as orchids, which have high species diversity. Spruce forest set of associations is also varied. The uniqueness of the described communities to the south of Western Siberia, the large number of rare and endangered plant species listed in the Red Books of different ranks, as well as the boreal forest species complex rare to the lowland wooded steppe, which has a relict character, all served as the basis for allocating a special protection area in the ‘Kisl...

В статье приведены сведения о флористических находках в равнинной части Алтайского края (на Кулундинской равнине и Приобском плато). Впервые указаны для Алтайского края два вида – Tanacetum achilleifolium (Bieb.) Sch. Bip. и Dasystephana cruciata (L.) Zuev. Для 14 редких видов приведены новые сведения о распространении на территории края., Information on floristic findings in the plain part of Altai region (Altai province) is given. Two species (Tanacetum achilleifolium (Bieb.) Sch. Bip. and Dasystephana cruciata (L.) Zuev) are recorded from Altai region for the first time. The data on distribution of another 14 rare species are updated.

This paper contains previously unknown information about the appearance and expansion of a number of adventive species of plants new for the Altai Territory. They were discovered in 2008–2012 during the fieldwork tasks of the herbarium Altai State University, Barnaul. One of the species is invasive (quarantine plant for the Russian Federation) – Acroptilon repens (L.) DC. The range was about 10 ha. One of the species was listed as adventive for the first time – Briza maxima L. The species is sometimes cultivated as an ornamental plant. New locations were identified for three species previously found only in one area of the Altai Territory: (1) Scleranthus annuus L. – an agrophyte, a weed that spreads with cultivated crops; (2) Onopordon acanthium L. – a species that spreads in flood plains, along the highways, railways and pastures; and (3) Xanthium albinum (Widd.) H. Schulz – a plant, often seen along roadsides, wastelands and sandy riverbanks; only one reliable location within the Altai Territory was kn...

A review of the history of the study of forest communities GPKZ regional significance "Kisluhinsky" dedicated largely to the Big Warm. A complete geobotanical characteristic of unique natural complexes: 1) spruce forests that are at the limit of its distribution in terms of the West Siberian Plain; 2) Community reference shrub-grass and herbal pine forests. 3) the reference and the unique community of the floodplain (sogra).Key words: spruce forests, pine forests, warm, Kisluhinsky Reserve, south of Western Siberia, the Ob river.