ARKHANGELSK, August 14. /TASS/. The Laverov Federal Center for Integrated Arctic Research (the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Urals Branch, FECIAR) studies the Novaya Zemlya reindeer population in the center of its range on the archipelago, the center's press service said.
"The project's aim is to monitor the Novaya Zemlya subspecies of reindeer (Rangifer tarandus pearsoni) on the archipelago's Yuzhny Island, that is, in the range's center. Scientists will assess the number and status of the subspecies, since the population's specifications and genetic structure still have not been studied due to the very small amount of available data," the press service quoted the center's representative Ivan Mizin as saying.
The scientist has won the first grant competition of the Presidential Foundation for Nature. The grant funds, designed for a year and a half, will allow the biologist to make three expeditions to the Yuzhny Island of Novaya Zemlya, to conduct field observations and collect biological material, which will be studied in the laboratory by using molecular genetic methods.
Based on results of the work, specialists will offer suggestions on further protection of the Novaya Zemlya reindeer. Presently, the subspecies is listed on the Arkhangelsk Region's Red Data Book.