NOVOSIBIRSK, February 14. /TASS/. Scientists from four institutes of the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Siberian Branch with the support from the Norilsk Nickel Company in 2022 will conduct for the first time since the 1990s large-scale complex biodiversity studies in the territories, where the company works on the Kola Peninsula, in the northern part of the Krasnoyarsk Region and in the Trans-Baikal Region, the project’s leader, the Institute of Systematics and Ecology of Animals’ Director Viktor Glupov said at a TASS press center.
"Ecology is the science, which studies relations in communities and biodiversity - the community’s criterion. The higher is the biodiversity, the more stable is the ecosystem. In fact, it is the life index," the scientist said. "We were happy to accept Nornickel’s invitation to conduct basic biodiversity studies. It is a unique expedition; nothing of the kind has been organized since the Soviet Union’s collapse."
Norilsk Nickel’s Vice President on ecology and industrial safety Stanislav Seleznev told the news conference the upcoming studies would be unprecedented in scale. They will be organized in the Norilsk Industrial District, in the Trans-Baikal Region, on the Kola Peninsula and in the Northern Sea Route.
"In addition to the traditional initiatives to support nature reserves and fish production, Nornickel will gradually structure a complex management system in the sphere of biodiversity in compliance with leading international standards, will organize programs to maintain and monitor the biodiversity," he said. "I am confident - these studies will make a major input in the country’s scientific development and will form the basis of the corporate system to manage impacts on the biodiversity."
According to the company’s representative, the expedition is unique in terms of its complex approaches - complex studies of the mentioned territories were organized last time in the early 1990s, but even they could not cover the planned share of the Russian Arctic’s ecosystems. The studies, focusing on the basic biodiversity, will continue throughout 2022. They will feature between 30 and 60 zoologists, ichthyologists, hydro-biologists, soil scientists and botanists, representing the Institute of Systematics and Ecology of Animals, the Institute of Biophysics at the Krasnoyarsk Scientific Center, the Central Siberian Botanical Garden, as well as the Institute of Soil Sciences and Agriculture, and international and local experts.
In 2020, the Siberian Branch for the first time in recent years sent to the Taimyr Peninsula at the invitation of Nornickel a big scientific expedition to conduct large-scale studies of the territory and to assess the impact on the environment from the fuel spill near Norilsk. The project was dubbed the Great Norilsk Expedition.