Introduction

In recent years, the ichthyofauna of the rivers and reservoirs of many regions has changed significantly. This is due to a decrease in precipitation, the destruction of small river beds, the regulation of the flow of medium and large rivers, eutrophication, toxicity and thermification of water bodies and streams, water abstraction, peat extraction and light pollution (Ruban and Khodorevskaya 2011, Brüning et al. 2015, Boznak et al. 2019, Jimenez-Ojeda et al. 2019, Ling et al. 2017, Sowińska-Świerkosz and Kolejko 2019). All these processes lead to a reduction in diversity of indigenous species, disruptions in structure and functioning of freshwater ecosystems, communities and populations of fish species, to degradation and simplification of biota and to a reduction in number of optimal habitats (Brosse et al. 2011German 2019, Busarova et al. 2019). Alien species which, in some cases, have a significant impact on ichthyofauna of a particular reservoir and the region as a whole, are very important (Kirilenko and Shemonaev 2017, Brandner et al. 2018, Čolić et al. 2018, Ruchin et al. 2019). In the studied region, appearance of Carassius gibelio, Rhynchocypris percnurus or Perccottus glenii in an isolated reservoir led to the almost complete disappearance of previously-existing species (Leucaspius delineatus, Carassius carassius, Misgurnus fossilis, Rutilus rutilus) (Artaev and Ruchin 2017, Ruchin et al. 2016). In many administrative regions of Russia, due to various reasons associated with the negative state of the country's economy with the ensuing consequences, an inventory of the ichthyofauna has not been carried out since the 1990s. Our studies have shown that the distribution and abundance of many species differs significantly from the data of the last century (Ruchin et al. 2007, Ruchin et al. 2008, Ruchin et al. 2009, Artaev and Ruchin 2016, Ivanchev et al. 2013b, Sarycheva et al. 2014, Ivancheva et al. 2014).

The studied region is located at the centre of the European part of Russia, is densely populated and located in the immediate vicinity of Moscow, the administrative centre of Russia. Studies on the regional ichthyofauna have been carrying out quite intensively since the 1920s. We conducted a detailed analysis and generalisation of them in previous works (Artaev and Ruchin 2017, Ivanchev and Ivancheva 2010, Ivanchev et al. 2013a, Ruchin et al. 2016).

At the present stage of research, the main difference in this project is the study of a large number of different water bodies, including the smallest ones that were not represented in earlier studies, with detailed indication of species, habitats and dates. Previous efforts have usually presented only analyses and made certain conclusions on water bodies (Dushin 1967, Fedorov 1962, Fedorov 1970).

Information from this dataset is the basis of a number of published monographs and articles (Artaev and Ruchin 2017, Ivanchev and Ivancheva 2010, Ivanchev et al. 2013a, Ruchin et al. 2016). It contains a compilation of data from several research groups (Fig. 1).

Figure 1.  

Collecting sites in the middle Volga and upper Don regions, explored by various working groups. Map was created in ArcGIS 10.8 software (www.esri.com).

General description

Project description

Sampling methods

Geographic coverage

Taxonomic coverage

Traits coverage

Temporal coverage

Collection data

Usage rights

Data resources

Additional information

Acknowledgements

Author contributions

References

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Supplementary material