The "Flora of Russia" project on iNaturalist brought together professional scientists and amateur naturalists from all over the country. Over 10,000 people were involved in the data collection. Within 20 months, the participants accumulated 750,143 photo observations of 6,857 species of the Russian flora. This constitutes the largest dataset of open spatial data on the country’s biodiversity and a leading source of data on the current state of the national flora. About 87% of all project data, i.e. 652,285 observations, are available under free licences (CC0, CC-BY, CC-BY-NC) and can be freely used in scientific, educational and environmental activities.

The range of ecological CSR strategies for subalpine tall-herb communities of the northwestern Caucasus (Teberda state natural biosphere reserve) has been studied by the measurement of...

The numerical estimation of ecological strategies (according to the classification of J. Grime) can contribute to plant dominance iunder certain environmental conditions. Alpine plants are traditionally considered as stress-tolerators (S) that are adapted to low temperatures and poor soils. We assessed the hypothesis that the C strategy is more expressed in relatively productive alpine meadows, whereas the R strategy is more important in communities with a short growing season and a heavy snow cover. The structure of the aboveground biomass (ratio between the species) and the parameters of leaves of all species of vascular plants were studied in four communities (alpine lichen heath, ALH; Festuca varia grassland, FVG; Geranium–Hedysarum meadow, GHM, and snowbed community, SBC). Based on these values, the contribution of the C, S, R components to the overall strategy of each species (according to S. Peirce et al.) and the weighted mean values of the contribution of strategies for each community were calculated. The a priori hypothesis was confirmed, while the dominant species showed an increase in the role of stress tolerance on ALH and FVG and competitiveness on GHMs, which indicates the adaptability of these strategies in the studied communities. The contribution of C and S is in good agreement with the role of competition in the formation of various communities: it is maximal for GHMs, in which the C strategy is expressed, and minimal for FVGs, in which stress tolerance is most pronounced.

Soil fauna perform a plethora of vital ecological functions and are often used as indicators of ecosystem disturbances. Investigating their taxa, functional diversity, and abundance is essential to assess ecosystem resilience, detect environmental stress, and guide conservation efforts. In this study, we investigated the taxonomic richness, diversity, and total and functional group abundance of soil macrofauna, as well as the environmental parameters of five model forests with different types of forest management (referred to as the “forest type”) within a temperate region of European Russia. These model forest types were subject to various types of forest management and were located in and around the Central Forest State Nature Biosphere Reserve (Tver Oblast, Russia): zonal forest (hereinafter referred to as the “zonal forest” treatment), forest disturbed by recreation (“recreational forest”), spruce forest monoculture (“monoculture”), secondary birch forest (“secondary forest”), and clear-cut site (“clear-cut”). We found that there was a significant difference in the total and average taxonomic richness of the macrofauna between the studied model forests, but no difference in mean abundance. The greatest difference was observed between the recreational (26 taxa, 11.2 ± 1.3 per site), monocultural (12 taxa, 4.8 ± 1.9 per site), and zonal (13 taxa, 4.5 ± 1.3 per site) forest types, while the macrofauna taxonomic composition was similar between the monocultural and control forests and significantly differed from that in the recreational and secondary forests and clear-cuts. Mobile taxa, mainly predators, were prevalent in the clear-cuts, while saprophages and phytophages dominated in the zonal forests and monocultures. The most important environmental factors influencing the macrofauna communities were the depth, mass, and composition of the litter, which depended on the presence of spruce (Picea abies), but not on soil parameters, the projective vegetation cover, or the abundance of microorganisms. Our study showed that anthropogenic disturbance in natural forests may not significantly alter the total abundance of the macrofauna, but it can impact the taxonomic composition and diversity of soil invertebrates. Therefore, greater attention should be given to analyzing functional and taxonomic diversity rather than relying solely on abundance data. Our findings highlight the importance of studying both the roles and diversity of soil species, not just their abundance, to better understand and protect natural ecosystems in the face of human impact.

The parameters of functional diversity are studied on the example of plant height for four alpine communities (alpine lichen heaths, Festuca varia grasslands Hedysarum-Geranium meadows, and alpine snowbed communities) in Teberda Reserve of the northwestern Caucasus. The work tests the hypothesis that, when plants that use different volumes of air, a low volume of the environment is used more evenly than a high volume. It was assumed that the divergence in plant height is more pronounced in meadow communities, where the competitive relationship is stronger and the level of production is higher. For the four main types of phytocenoses (alpine heaths, Festuca varia grasslands Hedysarum-Geranium meadows, alpine snowbeds), data were obtained on the average height of the plant species forming them, the biomass of individual species, and the weighted average plant height in the communities. The indices of functional richness, evenness, and divergence were calculated based on these data. It is shown that taking into account the abundance of species in the community significantly affects the values of average height and indices of functional diversity. Contrary the a priori hypothesis, it was found that the value of evenness is significantly lower at a low air volume occupied by the community (alpine snowbeds) than for a high volume (Festuca varia grasslands). The functional divergence in alpine snowbed communities with low productivity is higher than that in the more productive meadow phytocenoses, e.g. Festuca varia grasslands. The aboveground production positively correlated with functional richness in the aggregate analysis of all data, but this correlation is not detected within communities. Functional evenness is not related to community production. An unimodal relationship between the index of functional-divergence and aboveground biomass was shown only for the Festuca varia grasslands (the maximal divergence is observed on plots with average biomass).

Based on the literature, we assumed the presence of several morphological forms of flowers of the dioecy species Antennaria dioica(L.) Gaertn. We investigated 6000 flowers from three sites in...