ASU carried out international conference on research of biological diversity

Being organized in the framework of the Year of Ecology, the youth conference was aimed at exchanging the best practices and research results in such areas as biodiversity and protection of plants and animals, broadening young specialists’ knowledge and determining new approaches towards research.

The presented reports touched such relevant research directions as preservation, monitoring and protection of biodiversity, preservation and restoration of rare and endangered species, analysis of environmental protection efficiency, etc. At the beginning of the first working day at the conference opening, which was held in the Ministry of Natural Resources and Ecology of Altai Krai, Acting Minister Vladimir N. Popryadukhin addressed the participants:

“The Ministry of Natural Resources and Ecology of Altai Krai together with Altai State University and Institute of Water and Ecological Problems has always been carrying out large-scale joint projects on ecology and nature protection. Moreover, Altai Krai is one of the seven constituent entities of Russia, where protection of forests and preservation of biodiversity have been prioritized. A lot of representatives of ecological and academic community were engaged in this work. So we started thinking about what will be left for future generations and implement real measures. Problems of natural resources conservation and multiplication are crucial. It is your support that will help us overcome obstacles. One of the most recent achievements in our ministry’s work with academic community is considered to be a new edition of Altai Krai Red Book. We should give credit to Dean of the Faculty of Biology Marina M. Silantyeva, who supervised this project. By way of illustrative example of respect for nature, students and school teachers were also involved in Red Book preparation.”

At the plenary session Ilya V. Dudin, Head of the Department for Specially Protected Natural Areas at the Ministry of Natural Resources and Ecology of Altai Krai, told the audience about the development of a system of specially protected territories in Altai Krai by 2025. He noted that the scientists of Altai State University played a significant role in that project.

Vice Director of Tigirekskiy Nature Reserve, graduate of the Faculty of Biology, Candidate of Biology Evgeni A. Davydov spoke on work of the reserve, which is the only reserve in Altai Krai. Marina M. Silantyeva delivered a report entitled “Experience in Monitoring of Specially Protected Natural Areas in Altai Krai with Participation of Lecturers and Students from the Faculty of Biology”.

The second part of the first day was held on the premises of Altai State University. The attendees got to hear reports by such ASU scientists as I.V. Kudryashova, T.A. Terekhina, R.V. Yakovlev, etc.

The second day was spent in the South-Siberian Botanic Garden under Altai State University. The participants were welcomed by Professor Alexander I. Shmakov, Director of the Garden.

The guests participated in the work of sections and watched a presentation of The Falcons auteur movie (directed by Irina Bayeva). A lot of reports by international participants were delivered. One of them was the report on monitoring of entomofauna on the territory of Katon-Karagay National Park located in Kazakhstan, which was delivered by Gulzhaz M. Amanbayeva, junior researcher of Katon-Karagay National Park and master’s degree student of the Faculty of Biology at Altai State University. Then the guests got acquainted with activities performed by the South-Siberian Botanic Garden in the area of rare and endangered species protection on the territory of Altai. In particular, an excursion around the Laboratory of Bioengineering, which had been organized jointly with the Institute for Chemical Biology and Fundamental Medicine of Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Mikhail Skaptsov keenly told the attendees about laboratory’s capacities and dwelled upon modern research methods. At the departments of the South-Siberian Botanic Garden the participants got to learn about plant introduction. At the end of the conference they visited Altai-Falcon Rare Birds Nursery, where nursery director Viktor N. Plotnikov gave an educational tour around it.

Press Center of the Faculty of Biology asked the participants to share their thoughts about the conference.

“My colleague, who studies here, recommended me this university. Now I am a first-year master’s degree student here. I felt anxious about admission, as I was afraid of problems with the Russian language, but everything turned out well eventually. Our national park carries out research of biodiversity, but, unfortunately, we don’t get enough financial support. As for the conference, this experience is very important for me. There is different atmosphere, different people. I would like to express my gratitude to organizers, and I wish success to the participants,” Gulzhaz M. Amanbayeva commented.

“Still being a student, I started thinking about further career in science. I defended my candidate thesis not long ago. Currently I work as a researcher at the Laboratory for Ecological Assessment and Biodiversity Management under Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences. I am glad that I have got to the conference! My colleagues and I have come here with great pleasure. I liked the approach towards organization of communication between students, scientists and specialists. It is important to attract people to professional research while they are still students. The goals are different for every participant: some want to approve themselves, others want to find like-minded fellows and establish new contacts. I personally want to see what other people do and whether there is an opportunity to put our works into one project. Our organization holds similar events, but the format is different. We have a school for young introducers. We also carry out conference on industrial botany and invite colleagues from other cities to participate there. I think that such event will always be important,” Candidate of Biology, research officer at the Institute of Human Ecology of Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences Oleg A. Kupriyanov said.

The results of the conference will be included in a collective volume, while the best reports will be published in Acta Biologica Sibirica journal indexed in RSCI, AGRIS, Agricola, OCLC OAIsters and listed among periodicals recommended by the Russian State Commission for Academic Degrees and Titles.