Altai State University biologists take part in the environmental education of schoolchildren

30 June 2020 Press Centre of IBB

Summer is the time for botanical research, the search for valuable natural objects, rare plant species, the time for discovery, and the Kulundinsky reserve is an ideal place to start. For most of the members of our initiative group - Keepers of the Wildlife Sanctuary from the village of Tyumentsevo, this trip not only turned out to be informative, but also turned into a real scientific discovery: we managed to register a new point of growth of the lady's shoe in the protected area. But first things first.

According to the plan of joint activities, which we have developed with Altaypriroda, we set off the usual road 50 km from home in search of something new and interesting. First of all, we visited the nest of a black stork. The species is included in the Red Book of Russia and Altai Krai. The couple has been successfully breeding offspring in this place for several years (we have seen them here since 2016). High in the crown of a pine tree from a huge nest, two chicks are looking down at us. Perhaps there are more of them, but this time it was not possible to study them in more detail. It is interesting that adults are black, and young storks are absolutely snow-white.

Let's move on. On the way, the gamekeeper of the reserve Anatoly Mantsurov talks about new findings, nests that were discovered during a trip with scientists from the biological faculty of Altai State University last month under the Practical Science for Schoolchildren project. University Level project supported by the Presidential Grants Foundation. It's great that rare birds live in the reserve! And if you know where they are, you can save the area around. After all, where there are species from Red Books, it is forbidden to cut down, which means that it becomes possible to preserve the forest. We investigate another nest of a rare predator - the eagle of the burial ground, examine the nest, but today we do not see the bird.

Lady's slippers, wild calla - these are all species that require special attention, since they are rare. And here they also grow in one place! Previously,we did not see the lady's slipper here - a new point for a view on the territory of the reserve!

A little further away we stumble upon a huge beaver's hut, which we have never seen so close. In this place, the beavers settled down very smartly: they blocked the road with their dams, so they had to make a detour to drive further into the depths of the reserve.

There are also plenty of badger holes here. Kirill Rechkin and Stas Samodurov found several passages not far from each other, and Anatoly Mantsurov explained that if there is enough food, badgers can build entire settlements. Each subsequent generation of badgers completes their burrows, breaking new passages and expanding the family estate. This is how badger burrows turn into an underground city with dozens of exits. Our youngsters can easily identify the burrows of badgers.

We have not yet managed to meet an elk or a roe deer, but the prints by the reservoir, as well as traces of vital activity nearby, indicate that the ungulates are definitely somewhere nearby.

Today a student of the Institute of Biology and Biotechnology of Altai State University Daria Doronina is with us on the expedition. I must say that Dasha has been going to the reserve as part of our group since she was in the 5th grade. And now she as a student of the flagship university of Altai Krai shows the younger children how to correctly collect and design a herbarium. Katya Barsukova and Dasha Kosheleva helped Daria in collecting samples. For students of the Biology Faculty, the laying of a herbarium is a common thing, and for young naturalists it is a good opportunity to practice. During the trip to the reserve, we managed to collect about 30 species of higher vascular plants, which have yet to be identified by our young researchers.

Environmental education of children should not be limited only by the framework of educational activities, but should continue in extracurricular activities, in the summer, in practice. The ultimate goal of environmental education is to educate a person who takes responsibility for nature, people and him or herself, realizing their place in the world and building a way of life in accordance with environmental priorities. And when all this can be traced in pupils, students, when it is clear that the younger generation has "eyes burning", you see the fruits of the work done, you want to keep working and give your heart to children!

Nadeina Svetlana,
Head of the Keepers of the Reserve  group, graduate of IBB

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