Corresponding author: Dmitriy A. Philippov (
Academic editor: Nina Filippova
The paper is based on the dataset whose purpose was to deliver, in the form of GBIF-mediated data, diverse materials on the biodiversity of a large mire, Shichengskoe mire (Vologda Region, north-western Russia), including its various mire sites and intra-mire water bodies. The dataset was based on our materials collected for two decades (from 2000 to 2021) in different parts and biotopes of the Shichengskoe mire and complemented by scarce data obtained previously by other researchers. The data contain materials on the diversity of
The paper summarises the results of long-term research on the biodiversity of a boreal mire, including its hydrographic network. A total of 5869 occurrences were included in the dataset published in the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF, gbif.org) for the first time. According to the GBIF taxonomic backbone, the dataset covers 1358 taxa, including 1250 lower-rank taxa (species, subspecies, varieties, forms) and 108 taxa identified to the genus level. Several species found in the Shichengskoe mire, mainly belonging to
The first data on the biodiversity of the Shichengskoe mire were obtained during short visits of scientists from the Vologda State Pedagogical University to study the lakes in the region back in 1972 and to investigate the territory in order to create a new protected area in the Vologda Region back in 1986; the materials of these works were published in a very condensed form (
In July-August 2000 and 2002, two field studies by Svetlana P. Bobrova with a group of secondary school students were carried out in Shichengskoe Lake, Polyanok Lake and Plakunovskoe Lake (
Our studies of the Shichengskoe mire began in 2000 and continue to the present day. Between 2000 and 2003, field research was carried out by Dmitriy A. Philippov as part of his university graduate thesis supervised by Andrey N. Levashov. The graduate thesis entitled "Flora of the Shichengskiy Landscape Reserve and its analysis" contained data on 177 species of vascular plants. For several following years, the biodiversity studies of the Shichengskoe mire were fragmentary.
Since 2009, a purposeful collection of data on the composition and structure of various groups of living organisms in the Shichengskoe mire has begun. Mikhail V. Dulin took part in liverworts research in May 2009; vascular plants, fungi and lichens were investigated with the help of Victoria V. Yurchenko in early October 2009.
Significant impact to the studies of the Shichengskoe wetland occurred when the focus shifted to the hydrobiological studies of different types of intra-mire water objects (
It is worth noting that we also obtained data on the hydrochemical composition of water (
Thus, over the past two decades, a significant amount of multifaceted materials on the biodiversity of the Shichengskoe mire and its hydrographic network has been accumulated, which we summarised in a GBIF dataset (
Biodiversity and conservation of mires of Nothern Russia
Dmitriy A. Philippov
The list of occurrences of different taxonomic and ecological groups of organisms inhabiting a large wetland in north-western Russia, the Shichengskoe mire, is presented. At the time we started our studies, only fragmentary data on the biodiversity of the Shichengskoe mire had been obtained (dated 1972, 1986, 2000 and 2002). Our work began in 2000 and continues to this day. The most detailed and long-term biodiversity studies were carried out for higher plants and terrestrial and aquatic invertebrates. The data on the composition of lichens, protozoa, algae, basidiomycetes, some groups of invertebrates (e.g.
Biodiversity studies in the Shichengskoe mire were conducted from April to October, employing the route, reconnaissance and semi-stationary field approaches. Most microhabitats [a habitat which is of small or limited extent and which differs in character from some surrounding, more extensive habitat] were studied regularly during one or several vegetation seasons, but some were visited only once. The set of methods and techniques used in the field depended on both financial, time and logistical capabilities and the available specialists for specific taxonomic groups. We used a general approach to hydrobiological and ecological research of mires developed by the authors to study wetlands in Russia, described in the publication (
The data were collected and identified by scientists from Papanin Institute for Biology of Inland Waters Russian Academy of Sciences, Tyumen State University, Vologda Branch of the Russian Federal Research Institute of Fisheries and Oceanography, Vologda State University, Institute of Biology of Komi Science Centre of the Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Syktyvkar State University named after Pitirim Sorokin, Institute of Biology of Karelian Research Centre of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Institute of Plant and Animal Ecology of the Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The accuracy of identification of some samples was confirmed by the experts from Timiryazev Institute of Plant Physiology of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
I. Research problem formulation.
II. Logistic issues resolution, including planning the location of routes, selection of water object, time and duration of work.
III. Field stage: obtaining samples and other original materials on the biodiversity of various components of the mire ecosystem.
(a) Macrophytes. In the field, pictures of plants and floristic lists were made, some species were collected in a herbarium (
(b)
(c)
(d)
(e) Aquatic invertebrates. Zooplankton samples were collected at the model mire sites (lake, hollow-pool, fen strip, hollow and mire stream) by filtering water (5 to 50 litre) through a plankton net with 74 µm mesh. Samples were preserved with 4% formalin (
(f) Terrestrial and soil invertebrates. The study of terrestrial insects and arachnids was carried out mainly on three model sites (fen strip, a ridge-hollow site and a mire stream valley at the mire margin) using a sweeping technique (30 sweeps in triplicate; diameter of the hoop 30 cm) ("Pollard walks") (
(g) Vertebrates. Along with studying other groups of organisms, visual observations of vertebrates and their traces were carried out (
IV. Data collection: analysis of samples not identified in the field or verification of the identification data by the experts.
(a, b) Macrophytes and fungi. Herbarium materials of
(c)
(d)
(e) Aquatic invertebrates. All specimens of zooplankton and zoobenthos were identified with an MBS-10 stereoscopic microscope and a Mikmed-6 microscope (LOMO, Russia). Aquatic insects were identified using Micromed MC-5-ZOOM LED and Leica M165C stereoscopic microscopes. These materials are deposited in the Papanin Institute for Biology of Inland Waters Russian Academy of Sciences (IBIW RAS): “Collection of autotrophic and heterotrophic organisms of mire ecosystems, IBIW RAS” and the entomologic collection.
(f) Terrestrial and soil invertebrates. On the day of sampling, sweep samples of terrestrial arthropods were primarily sorted by the main taxonomic groups (spiders, beetles, dipterans etc.). Separate samples were then fixed in ethanol. Detailed analysis, identification and counting were performed later by experts. Part of the collection was deposited in the Science Museum of the Institute of Biology of Komi Science Centre of the Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Mites from moss samples were extracted in modified Berlese funnels for five days. Adult
(g) Vertebrates. Found fragments of animals and their traces were collected and studied in the laboratory. Faunal lists were compiled.
Records list compilation. The dataset field names were chosen according to Darwin Core (
The study area is situated in the central part of the Vologda Region (59.8988 – 60.0590 N, 41.2327 – 41.5540 E), north-western Russia, the southern part of the middle taiga zone (Fig.
The study area is characterised by a temperate continental climate with long, cold, snowy winters, short springs with fluctuating temperatures, relatively short, moderately warm summers and long and rainy autumn. The average annual air temperature is + 1.5 to + 2.0ºC, the average monthly temperature in July is + 16 to + 17.0ºC, in January, -12.5 to -13.0ºC. The average annual precipitation ranges from 650 to 750 mm; during the active growing season, from 350 to 375 mm. The prevailing wind direction is southwest and south (
The study area is confined to the Permian-Triassic plateau. The bedrock sedimentary rocks occur at a depth of 20–40 m and are represented by limestones and clays with lenses of sandy loam of the Tatar stage of the Permian system. The main features of the relief of the region are determined by glacial accumulation in the terminal moraines formed during the Moscow glaciation. Shichengskoe wetland was formed mainly by the limnogenic process on the south-eastern spurs of the Kharovsk ridge in a vast lacustrine-glacial basin. The ancient lake basin is orientated from northwest to southeast and reaches 20–25 km across. The bottom of the basin is a typical lacustrine-glacial plain with absolute heights of 130–150 m above sea level (
The main aquifers are lacustrine, lacustrine-glacial and fluvioglacial intermoraine Quaternary sediments confined to sands, less often to interlayers of sands in sandy loams and clays. The area is provided with low-mineralised groundwater (
The soil-forming rocks in the area are moraines, enriched with boulders, sometimes carbonate material, less often fluvioglacial and binomial deposits being the parent rocks in the study area (
According to geobotanical zoning (
According to the classification proposed by T.K. Yurkovskaya (
Since 1987, about 90% of the Shichengskoe wetland has belonged to the regional Shichengskiy Landscape Reserve. This Reserve is the largest landscape reserve in the Vologda Region (136.1 km2).
59.923 and 59.965 Latitude; 41.259 and 41.531 Longitude.
This dataset provides current data on vascular plants, cryptogams, microalgae and bacteria, protozoans, terrestrial, soil and aquatic invertebrates, as well as terrestrial and aquatic vertebrates in the Shichengskoe mire. The list consists of
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1972, 1986, 2000 to 2021
Other
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) 4.0 Licence.
Data on biodiversity of a boreal mire and its hydrographic network (Shichengskoe mire, North-Western Russia)
1
Data on biodiversity of a boreal mire and its hydrographic network (Shichengskoe mire, North-Western Russia)
Darwin Core
Occurrence dataset
1.3
This dataset provides current data on the biodiversity of Shichengskoe mire (Vologda Region, north-western Russia), including various mire sites and intra-mire water bodies. The data contain materials on the diversity of
Column label | Column description |
---|---|
occurrenceID | An identifier for the record, unique within this dataset. An abbreviation in the identifier' number (MiReGr_Shich_xxxxx). |
basisOfRecord | The specific nature of the data record in standard label of one of the Darwin Core. A constant ("HumanObservation"). |
scientificName | The full scientific name, with authorship and date information, if known. |
eventDate | The date or interval during which an event occurred. For occurrences, this is the date when the event was recorded. A variable. |
taxonRank | The taxonomic rank. |
kingdom | The full scientific name of the kingdom in which the taxon is classified. |
phylum | The full scientific name of the phylum or division in which the taxon is classified. |
class | The full scientific name of the class in which the taxon is classified. |
order | The full scientific name of the order in which the taxon is classified. |
family | The full scientific name of the family in which the taxon is classified. |
genus | The full scientific name of the genus in which the taxon is classified. |
habitat | A category or description of the habitat in which the Event occurred, in Russian. A variable. |
decimalLatitude | The geographic latitude in decimal degrees of the geographic centre of the data sampling place. |
decimalLongitude | The geographic longitude in decimal degrees of the geographic centre of the data sampling place. |
geodeticDatum | The ellipsoid, geodetic datum or spatial reference system (SRS) upon which the geographic coordinates given in decimalLatitude and decimalLongitude are based. A constant ("WGS84"). |
coordinateUncertaintyInMetres | The maximum uncertainty distance in metres. |
coordinatePrecision | A decimal representation of the precision of the coordinates given in the decimalLatitude and decimalLongitude. A constant ("0.0001"). |
countryCode | The standard code for the Russian Federation according to ISO 3166-1-alpha-2 (RU). |
country | Country name (Russian Federation). |
stateProvince | Region (‘oblast’) name. The first-level administrative division. A constant ("Vologda Region"). |
county | District (‘rayon’) name. The second-level administrative division. A constant ("Syamzhensky district"). |
locality | The specific description of the place. This term may contain information modified from the original to correct perceived errors or standardise the description. A variable (eight options: “Glukhaya Sondushka river”, “Plakunovskoe lake”, “Polyanok lake”, Shichenga river”, Shichengskoe lake”, “Shichengskoe mire”, Shichengskoe mire and lake”, “Sondushka river”). |
individualCount | The number of individuals represented present at the time of the Occurrence. |
sex | The sex (gender) of the taxon. A variable (male or female). |
lifeStage | Period of lifespan development. A variable. |
organismQuantity | Number or enumeration value for the quantity of organisms. |
organismQuantityType | The type of quantification system used for the quantity of organisms. A variable (two options: "Braun-Blanquet scale", "percent cover"). |
sampleSizeValue | A numeric value for a measurement of the area. |
sampleSizeUnit | The unit of measurement of the area. A constant ("m2"). |
year | The four-digit number of year in which the Event occurred, according to the Common Era Calendar. |
month | The integer month in which the Event occurred. |
day | The integer day of the month on which the Event occurred. |
recordedBy | List of persons who collected field data. |
identifiedBy | A person who assigned the Taxon to the subject. |
dateIdentified | The date when the taxonomic identification happened. |
associatedReferences | List of literature references associated with the occurrences. |
language | A language of the resource (en | ru). |
acceptedNameUsage | The full name, with authorship and date information, if known, of accepted taxon. |
taxonomicStatus | The taxonomic status of a taxon. A variable (accepted or synonym). |
taxonRemarks | Remarks regarding taxa. |
The studied biotopes of the Shichengskoe mire were placed in the following groups:
(1) Mire expanse lake with its coastal area; this group combines Shichengskoe Lake, a 10.2 km2 flow-through shallow primary lake centrally situated in a mire expanse and the Lake’s paludified coastal area formed mainly by raised bog sites.
(2) Non-central mire lakes with coastal areas; this group includes two small lakes, Polyanok Lake and Plakunovskoe Lake, about 0.04 km2 each, non-flow-through 6-7 m deep primary lakes located closer to the edge of the Shichengskoe mire and lakes’ paludified coastal areas formed mainly by rich fen mire sites.
(3) Floating mats; this group includes peat-forming vegetation held together by roots and rhizomes and floating on water, developing in lakes and mire rivers.
(4) Mire rivers with banks; this group includes three small, 5 to 50 km long, rivers with river banks: Sondushka River and Glukhaya Sondushka River, draining into Shichengskoe Lake and Shichenga River, the outlet of Shichengskoe Lake.
(5) Mire streams with valleys; this group includes small watercourses with the weak flow, their paludified banks and weakly pronounced forested eutrophic valleys.
(6) Fen strip sites; this group includes structural elements of fen strips, specific water objects forming solely in mires, narrow mire areas receiving an inflow of water from the surrounding mire, almost without trees, with meso- or meso-oligotrophic with grass and grass-moss communities. In the Shichengskoe mire, these flow-through fen strips begin at the intra-mire islands.
(7) Rich fen sites; this group includes rich fens, peatlands receiving an inflow of water from the mineral soil, located closer to the mire’s edge, having groundwater outlets and eutrophic peat.
(8) Raised bog feature and its elements; this group includes ridges, hummocks, lawns,
(9) Margins and edges; this group includes margins of a mire massif and paludified edges of intra-mire mineral islands.
(10) Disturbed areas; this group includes burnt places and bonfires, fishing grounds, trails and roads in a mire.
(11) Other biotopes; this group includes biotopes that did not fall into any of the previous groups and the occurrences of migratory birds and some mammals that pass through the mire or use several biotopes.
Examples of these biotopes are given in figures (Figs
The studied biotobe groups were investigated unevenly (Table
Half of the total occurrences came from the intra-mire water bodies that comprised 59.6% of lower-rank taxa (Table
Table
During the studies, we found a significant amount of endangered species within the Shichengskoe wetland, five included in the Red Data Book of the Russian Federation (
We are deeply grateful to Vasiliy A. Philippov for the years of help in the field studies. We also thank our colleagues for their help with the taxonomic identification of some specimens, especially Dmitry A. Kapustin (IPP RAS, Moscow), Nina V. Ivanova (Filatova) and Ekaterina V. Lobunicheva (VNIRO, Vologda), Stanislav A. Kutenkov (IB KarRC RAS, Petrozavodsk), Andrey G. Tatarinov, Oksana N. Kulakova, Olga A. Loskutova and Aurika N. Zinovyeva (IB Komi SC UB RAS, Syktyvkar), Olga D. Zhavoronkova, Lyudmila I. Lisitsyna and Vladimir G. Papchenkov (IBIW RAS). We thank Natalya Ivanova (Institute of Mathematical Problems of Biology RAS, Pushchino) for her help with the dataset publication and editing.
This work was completed within the framework of State Assignments to IBIW RAS no. 121051100099-5 (D.A. Philippov), no. 121051100109-1 (A.S. Sazhnev), no. 121051100102-2 (K.I. Prokina) and partly supported by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research (no. 14-04-32258, no. 16-04-00290, no. 18-04-00988, no. 19-29-05059, no. 19-05-00938) and the Russian Science Foundation (no. 14-14-01134).
We thank Global Biodiversity Information Facility in collaboration with the Finnish Biodiversity Information Facility and Pensoft Publishers for providing the opportunity to publish this paper in the "Biota of Russia" collection.
DAP: Conceptualisation, Investigation, Resources, Data Curation, Writing – Original Draft, Writing – Review & Editing, Project administration; SGE: Investigation; VLZ: Investigation; SVP: Investigation; EAK: Investigation; JNS: Investigation; ASS: Investigation; KNI: Investigation; INS: Investigation; MML: Investigation; MAB: Investigation; ABC: Investigation; KIP: Investigation; MVD: Investigation; OJ: Investigation; AAS: Investigation; OSS: Investigation; ANL: Investigation; ASK: Investigation, Visualisation, Writing – Original Draft; VVY: Investigation, Writing – Original Draft, Writing – Review & Editing.
Location of the Vologda Region (top left), Shichengskoe mire (bottom left) and sampling sites (yellow circles on the right picture).
General view of Shichengskoe mire with its mire expanse lake (background) and adjoining mineral soil (foreground), Vologda Region, Russia. Photo by Dmitriy A. Philippov (2019).
Shichengskoe Lake, a mire expanse lake (Vologda Region, Russia). Photo by Dmitriy A. Philippov (2014).
Polyanok Lake, a non-central mire lake (Vologda Region, Russia). Photo by Dmitriy A. Philippov (2014).
Glukhaya Sondushka River, a mire river (Vologda Region, Russia). Photo by Dmitriy A. Philippov (2010).
Shichenga River, a mire river (Vologda Region, Russia). Photo by Dmitriy A. Philippov (2011).
A mire stream on a mire margin, Shichengskoe mire (Vologda Region, Russia). Photo by Dmitriy A. Philippov (2012).
General view of a fen strip, Shichengskoe mire (Vologda Region, Russia). Photo by Dmitriy A. Philippov (2019).
Herbaceous communities in a fen strip, Shichengskoe mire (Vologda Region, Russia). Photo by Dmitriy A. Philippov (2015).
General view of a raised bog part including a ridge-hollow pattern, Shichengskoe mire (Vologda Region, Russia). Photo by Dmitriy A. Philippov (2020).
A ridge-hollow pattern in a raised bog part, Shichengskoe mire (Vologda Region, Russia). Photo by Dmitriy A. Philippov (2015).
A paludified oligotrophic peat-moss pine forest on a mire margin, Shichengskoe mire (Vologda Region, Russia). Photo by Dmitriy A. Philippov (2015).
An intra-mire mineral island in Shichengskoe mire (Vologda Region, Russia). Photo by Dmitriy A. Philippov (2019).
Swamp-mobile tracks, an example of a disturbed area in the Shichengskoe mire (Vologda Region, Russia). Photo by Dmitriy A. Philippov (2017).
Number of lower-rank taxa (species, subspecies, varieties, forms) in groups of biotopes of Shichengskoe mire (Vologda Region, Russia).
Main mire parts | Number of occurrences | Number of lower-rank taxa | ||||||
Total |
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Shichengskoe mire with its network |
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Mire expanse lake with its coastal area | 468 | 287 | 109 | 4 | 60 | 2 | 98 | 14 |
Non-central mire lakes with coastal areas | 151 | 127 | 67 | 60 | ||||
Floating mats | 53 | 44 | 44 | |||||
Mire rivers with banks | 105 | 61 | 6 | 55 | ||||
Mire streams with valleys | 593 | 351 | 190 | 2 | 42 | 100 | 17 | |
Fen strip sites | 1232 | 371 | 236 | 3 | 36 | 2 | 74 | 20 |
Rich fen sites | 437 | 213 | 48 | 7 | 158 | |||
Raised bog features and their elements | 1855 | 359 | 221 | 2 | 30 | 18 | 61 | 27 |
Margins and edges | 623 | 314 | 94 | 2 | 36 | 166 | 16 | |
Disturbed areas | 74 | 57 | 1 | 56 | ||||
Other biotopes | 20 | 15 | 12 | 2 | 1 |
Number of lower-rank taxa (species, subspecies, varieties, forms) in the mire water object of Shichengskoe mire (Vologda Region, Russia).
Water object | Number of occurrences | Number of lower-rank taxa | ||||||
Total |
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Shichengskoe mire with its network |
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Mire waterbodies (total) |
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Mire expanse lake | 356 | 231 | 78 | 4 | 60 | 75 | 14 | |
Non-central mire lakes | 118 | 108 | 67 | 41 | ||||
Floating mats | 53 | 44 | 44 | |||||
Mire rivers | 78 | 48 | 4 | 44 | ||||
Mire streams | 308 | 176 | 69 | 2 | 42 | 51 | 12 | |
Fen strips | 1232 | 371 | 236 | 3 | 36 | 2 | 74 | 20 |
568 | 132 | 77 | 2 | 15 | 27 | 11 | ||
Hollow-pools | 93 | 75 | 24 | 1 | 24 | 21 | 5 |
Numbers of lower-rank taxa (species, subspecies, varieties, forms) and species in higher-rank taxa (kingdom, phylum) registered in the Shichengskoe mire (Vologda Region, Russia)
|
|
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|
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15 | 15 |
|
441 | 436 |
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87 | 87 |
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2 | 2 |
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40 | 40 |
phylum not specified | 1 | 1 |
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9 | 9 |
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1 | 1 |
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Bigyra | 1 | 1 |
|
5 | 5 |
|
1 | 1 |
|
1 | 1 |
|
7 | 7 |
|
3 | 3 |
|
100 | 74 |
|
|
|
|
38 | 34 |
|
12 | 12 |
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|
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65 | 65 |
|
46 | 41 |
|
21 | 21 |
|
39 | 37 |
|
252 | 238 |
|
|
|
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30 | 28 |
|
4 | 4 |
|
13 | 13 |
Loukozoa | 2 | 2 |
Sulcozoa | 2 | 2 |
phylum not specified | 12 | 12 |
Total: |
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