Laboratory of Ecology and Evolution of Biosystems

Head:  Zyuganov Valery Valeryevich , Doctor of Biology, leading research worker.

-         The history of the laboratory creation begins in 1987, when a creative collective of young people appeared in the N.K. Koltsov Institute of development biology of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The team was involved in the program of “pearl-mussel salmon”. In 1989 on the basis of this collective the Group of physiology and ecology of hydrobionts was created. The aim of the group was to study ecological and physiological foundations of aquatic animals’ adaptation to various environmental conditions. In 1994, after the Head defended his thesis for degree of doctor, the Group was transformed into a Laboratory. In 2003 the Institute of Developmental Biology of the Russian Academy of Sciences together with the Institute of Biology of the Karelian affiliate of the Russian Academy of Sciences and with the fishing collective farm “Shoots of communism” situated at the coast of the White Sea founded a non-commercial partnership – the research center of Polar ecosystems “Varzuga”, one of the members of which was the biosystems ecology and evolution laboratory.

The main directions of the fundamental research are:

-         (а) studies of a most interesting problem – under what conditions and in what way sea fauna penetrated and acclimatized fresh water-bodies in the course of evolution.  In order to solve this problem, the laboratory is conducting fauna research in the Arctic regions of Russia and in the areas of estuaries of rivers falling into the sea, under the conditions of the tidal cycle. Within the period of the research of this problem most important ecological and genetic mechanisms regarding sea hydrobionts’ penetration into fresh waters were cleared out, at the example of Gasterosdteus aculeatus of the family of sticklebacks. Thirty printed works were published on this theme, including a fundamental monograph.

-         (b) The second important problem is the clarification of physiological and genetic reasons for the animals’ longevity. In other words, the problem is formulated like this: why do some certain species among closely-related groups of animals live several times longer than others? The object for our research was freshwater mollusks of the superfamily of naiads. More than fifteen publications are dedicated to the clarification of the mechanisms for longevity fundamentals, the most important of which are domestic and international articles and monographs (see the publication list).

-         (c) The third direction of the laboratory’s activities is the elaboration of principles and technologies for protection and rehabilitation of economically valuable species mollusks – pearl-mussel and salmon fish in the rivers of Russia. More than 30 scientific reports have been published on this theme, including author’s certificates, monographs, articles and theses.

-         In its work the laboratory uses the methods of immunology and histology, electrophoresis, methods of experimental and morphological analysis, field methods. The laboratory is equipped with all the necessary appliances and apparatuses: microscopes, laboratory utensils, aquatic systems.

-         Laboratory employees conduct joint works with laboratories of other institutes and establishments of Russia (the Zoological institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the Research Institute of oncology named after N.N. Petrov (St. Petersburg), IPEE named after Severtsov of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the Russian fishing committee, State Research Institute of Genetics, VNIRO, Immune Resource medical center (Moscow) and of other countries (USA, Sweden, Spain, Germany, Great Britain).