Articles of this volume open a series of publications of Russian polar researchers from leading resewarch institutions of the Russian Federation who participate in the study of terrestrial and marine ecosystems of the Arctic – the Murmansk Marine Biological Institute KSC RAS, the Institute of Geography RAS, the Zoological Institute RAS, the Institute of Oceanology RAS, the Polar-Alpine Botanical Garden-Institute (PABGI) KSC RAS, the all-Russian Research Institute for Environmental protection, the Institute of Plant and Animal Ecology of the Ural Branch of RAS, the Extreme North Agricultural Research Institute and some others. There are preliminary complementation results of some IPY projects which are included in the international and Russian national programs as well as in long-term studies of terrestrial and marine ecosystems.

According to the resolution on the 3rd International Polar Year 2007–2008 running which was adopted by the WMO Congress the main effort for cooperation within the implementation of its tasks was anticipated for the current definition and assessment of future changes in climate and environment of polar areas. For the first time in the IPY practice wider directions of polar research and the inclusion in the IPY scientific program of projects related to research, assessment and monitoring of polar marine and terrestrial biota and ecosystems, and natural and anthropogenic factors affecting them were considered.

Taking this into account in 2005 within the framework of the Programme for Fundamental Research of RAS Presidium and the Department of Earth Sciences RAS directions of various integrated research of the Arctic and the Antarctic were formulated. The research of marine and terrestrial ecosystems was touched upon as well. Special meetings devoted to IPY preparation which were conducted in 2005 and 2006 have shown a high potential of RAS scientific institutions and Federal Service of Russia on Hydrometeorology and Monitoring of the Environment (Roshydromet) and their willingness to conduct researches in this direction.

In 2006 the IPY Interagency Research Coordination Committee was created for participation of the Russian Federation in the preparation and conducting of activities of the International Polar Year (IRRC) under the leadership of I.E. Frolov. The Commitee included representatives of leading institutions of the Russian Federation, conducting polar researches. Last meetings of IRRC determined the range of issues of this body, figured out ways to coordinate researches in the Arctic and Antarctic and expertise of proposals to the IPY national scientific program. The core array of proposals into the direction «Terrestrial and marine ecosystems of the Arctic and the Antarctic» (co-leaders G.G. Matishov and A.A. Tishkov) of the IPY National scientific program, which have passed a long coordination and approval, was consistent with goals, objectives and priorities of current polar researches of biota and marine and terrestrial ecosystems. All selected projects (over 50) represented the world level, were competitive in the «scientific market» of the polar research, had a real chance to perform works and to get a striking result at the end of the IPY in Russia.

Even during the formation of the IPY national program there was a critical issue of the absence of proposals for a national program from some specialized institutions leading long-term world-known works in the Arctic like the Botanical Institute RAS, the Institute of Ecology and Evolution RAS, the all-Russian Research Institute for Environmental protection, institutes and research centers in Arkhangelsk, Novosibirsk, Krasnoyarsk, Irkutsk, Magadan, Yakutsk and Vladivostok, including regional research centers in the Arctic. This is largely determined by the fact that the trust funding of projects of the national IPY program on this direction was not planned, and available international contacts of scientists from these organizations allowed to find other forms of participation in IPY researches. Materials presented in this volume were also obtained during projects, which were carried out under the national program. Those projects did not receive additional funding and got one from funds of certain institutions. Additional financing of works from international or national sources (IPY project) is stipulated in special references.

Before the detailed presentation of works of authors, we want to draw attention of readers to the astonishing fact which is noticed by many polar researches at IPY meetings: in this global international cooperation biogeographical and environmental projects on the study of polar marine and terrestrial ecosystems dominate in number, size and scope.

Indeed, one of the authors during the work group arrangement of the Science Committee of the Arctic Council (ISIRA) on the international research of the Russian Arctic made the analysis of implementation results of the international and the national program for the third IPY. The preliminary analysis showed that despite the IPY tradition to focus on meteorological and geophysical research biogeographical and ecological projects aimed at the analysis of contemporary dynamics of biota and ecosystems, or at the paleoecological reconstruction of stages of the evolution of the nature of polar regions during the Pleistocene and Holocene (Table 1) were dominant in its category.

Table 1. The share of projects on the biota and ecosystems research in IPY national research programs of countries actively participating in the study of polar regions of the Earth

The analysis concerns projects (about 1270 from nearly 60 countries) which are presented on the web site HYPERLINK «http://www.ipy.org». These projects make the basis of IPY national programs. Actually cluster projects of the IPY International Programme (166 scientific and 52 educational ones) which were selected by the Joint Committee consisting of experts in the field of earth sciences, as well as representatives of international organizations like WMO, ICSU, the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission, the International Arctic Science Committee and the Scientific Committee on Antarctic research, have a clear focus on «classical» directions of the IPY research – meteorology, geophysics, glaciology, oceanography, geology. Such projects as the «Marine life in Antarctica», «Biodiversity of the Arctic basin», «Evolution and biodiversity in the Antarctic» and others are among them. Moreover, a significant number of projects on social and educational topics were also devoted to problems of a «wildlife» in the Arctic and the Antarctic, and some large international IPY expeditions included biological and ecological directions of investigations. Paradoxically this situation, in our opinion, reflects a change in priorities of polar research and shows an important indicatory role of the polar biota during the estimation of the current natural and anthropogenic climate and environmental fluctuations.

The most frequent objects of biogeographic research within projects of international and national IPY programs were representatives of the marine biota, which is impacted by climate fluctuations and increasing economic activity in polar regions.

We should emphasize that the study of the Arctic marine biota, its diversity and response to external stimuli requires a significant field and analytical work. In this regard it’s necessary to note a major contribution to the IPY polar research of experts from the Murmansk Marine Biological Institute KSC RAS, who widely cover the western part of the Arctic which is the most exposed to current global changes.

It’s known that in the international IPY scientific program a number of properly Russian initiative projects is small. The so-called «clusters» of researchers from different countries and organizations related to marine and terrestrial ecosystems and biota, where Russia could be the leader are practically absent. Projects on research of glaciers, sea ice, atmosphere and oceans by Roshydromet, primarily AARI, the Institute of Geography RAS dominate here. Among the IPY international «clusters» the following projects are close to issues of the study of arctic ecosystems and biodiversity: 2 – Zoological Institute RAS, 1 – Institute of Oceanology RAS, 2 – Institute of Geography RAS (T.K. Vlasova – the Circumpolar monitoring of indigenous peoples, and S.V. Goryachkina – the study of soils from polar latitudes, or cryosoils). The relatively complete data on IPY biological projects is available on the web site of the Zoological Institute RAS:

http://www.zin.ru/projects/RCBD_ZIN/bio_proj.html

Nevertheless, Russia is widely represented exactly in the IPY International Programme. First of all, about 400 Russian scientists were invited to the IPY cluster projects, including about half of RAS and Hydromet institutions. Russian specialists are involved in all projects relating to investigations of the reaction of the circumpolar terrestrial biota and ecosystems to climate fluctuations in the Arctic, population dynamics and population composition of sea birds, semi-aquatic birds, waterfowls, wild reindeer, polar bears, pinnipeds and cetaceans, the pan-Arctic flora and vegetation and functioning of ecosystems in conditions of global warming, etc. As an example, we can name some large international IPY «clusters» devoted to the study of terrestrial and marine biota, were Russian specialists are involved (Table 2).

Table 2. Some large international projects of the IPY program 2007–2008

Internet addresses allow all people who wish to familiarize themselves with preliminary results of these projects. Moreover, the «biological component» is relatively well represented in some projects on social issues. For example, the data on the terrestrial and marine biota is found in «clusters» of the international IPY program: # 21 Environmental change of the Beringian Arctic; # 46 Traditional land use in the Nenets AO (MODIL-NAO); # 151 Network of the social monitoring (PPS Arctic); # 162 Circum-arctic reindeer monitoring (CARMA); # 183 Community resilience and diversity; # 247 Bering sea sub-network (BSSN); # 310 Gas, arctic people and security (GAPS); # 335 Land rights and resources; # 408 Reindeer herders vulnerability (EALAT), etc. Preliminary results of some «social» IPY projects are announced in a special issue of the «Environmental Planning and Management» journal (№№ 3–4, 2008). Members of these projects are among the authors of this volume as well.

The volume starts with review articles covering results of researches conducted by institutions participating in IPY programs and acute issues of studies on arctic ecosystems. The article by G.G. Matishov and D.G. Ishkulov (the Murmansk Marine Biological Institute KSC RAS) demonstrates a multidisciplinary scientific and expeditionary activity of the Institute, which includes comprehensive monitoring of marine ecosystems in the Western Arctic on research vessels, oceanographic and hydrobiological observations on nuclear icebreakers along the Northern Sea Route, on-shore expeditions and stationary surveys. Works of the Zoological Institute (B.I. Sirenko, S. Yu. Gagaev) included studies of the benthic fauna of the Chukchi Sea and waters bounding the Antarctic.

Current views on the resource potential of the marine biota and its sensitivity to anthropogenic impact are based on the theory of large marine ecosystems (LME). Principles of the analysis of LME in the Arctic and a summary data on their current state are presented in the article by G.G. Matishov et al.

I.A. Melnikov and R.M. Gogorev (the Institute of Oceanology RAS, the Botanical Institute RAS) consider current processes in the ecosystem of the sea ice of the central Arctic basin and assess the possibility of its transition to conditions of the seasonal development. An article by A.V. Dolgov et al. presents results of studies of the Kara Sea fish fauna conducted by the Polar Research Institute of Marine Fisheries and Oceanography.

A long-range transport of pollutants in the atmosphere and river waters takes a special place among sources of anthropogenic impact on both marine and terrestrial ecosystems in the Arctic. An article by A.A. Vinogradova (the Institute of Atmospheric Physics RAS) covers the impact of major Russian industrial regions on the environment of the Arctic and Siberia.

P.R. Makarevich and D.G. Ishkulov (MMBI) consider the impact of regional climatic factors on the intra-, inter-annual and long-term variability of zooplankton communities, marine fish and benthos in the Barents Sea. The seasonal development of phytoplankton in waters of Franz Victoria trough and adjoining water areas of the Franz Josef Land archipelago is described in the article by A.A. Oleynik (MMBI). A team of specialists from the MMBI (E.A. Frolova, O.S. Lyubina et al.) conducted the study of benthic communities near coasts of the Spitsbergen, the Franz Josef Land and the Novaya Zemlya and submitted a large body of the initial data.

Two articles by S.E. Belikov (the Research Institute for Environmental Protection, Moscow region), the recognized leader in research of Arctic mammals, are devoted to results of the study of changes in population and habitat of polar bears and marine mammals of the Russian Arctic under the impact of anthropogenic and natural factors. The all year round population nonitoring accomplished by expedition groups onboard atomic icebreakers on the Northern Sea Route has become an important methodical innovation in the Arctic fauna researches. Methods and results of the polare bear researches performed in the MMBI expeditions are represented in the paper of G.G. Matishov, A.A. Kondakov and N.N. Kavtsevich.

L.A. Kolpashchikov (the Extreme North Agricultural Research Institute, Noril’sk) has been studying the unique world’s largest Taimyr population of the wild reindeer on the Taimyr Peninsula during almost 40 years. In the joint article with V.V. Mikhaylov (Institute of Automatics and Informatization, St-Petersburg) he describes the current population state, its spatial distribution, peculiarities of the population dynamics and migration, which have significantly changed over the past decade in connection with the increased economic activity on the peninsula and climate changes.

It is known that one of the longest series of long-term study of population dynamics of the Norwegian lemming is available in the Lapland reserve on the Kola Peninsula. Its scientific employee G.E. Kataev has continued the research of the population dynamics of Norwegian lemmings, started here by A.A. Nasimovich, G.A. Novikov, O.I. Semenov-Tian-Shansky, T.V. Koshkina etc. in 1930 and then compiled them. The article is of a great interest to predict the dynamics of this rodent species and to define trends in a changing climate.

Articles on ornithology are well represented in this collection what is typical for biogeographical and zoological collections on the research of the Russian Arctic. An article by Yu.V. Krasnov (the Murmansk Marine Biological Institute KSC RAS) summarizes preliminary results of ornithological observations conducted in 2007 on the western coast of the Vaigach Island. M.V. Gavrilo (the Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute, St. Petersburg) presents results of the IPY project devoted to the study of the fauna and population of birds from some high-latitude islands of the Western Arctic. M.G. Golovatin (the Institute of Plant and Animal Ecology of the Ural Branch of RAS, Yekaterinburg) gives preliminary results of the analysis of the long-term avifauna dynamics in the north of the Western Siberia. New data on the bird faua of the Gydan peninsula northern part are given in the paper of A.E. Dmitriev (Institute of Geography RAS) and V.S. Zhukov (Institute of Animal Systematics and Ecology, Siberian Branch of RAS, Novosibirsk). The latest data on the dynamics of habitat, abundance and species diversity of the arctic sandpiper is presented in the fundamental work by P.S. Tomkovich (the Zoological Museum of M.V. Lomonosov Moscow StateUniversity, Moscow), E.G. Lappo (the Institute of Geography RAS) and E.E. Syroechkovsky-Jr. (the Institute of Ecology and Evolution RAS).

An article by V.K. Zhirov and O.B. Gontar (the Polar-Alpine Botanical Garden-Institute, Kirovsk, Murmansk region) is devoted to plant adaptation to conditions of high latitudes. It presents the original principles of classification of introduced plants, which is important for understanding of processes of the climatic change impact on the flora and vegetation of the Arctic. A team under the leadership of D.A. Gilichinsky from Institute of Physical Chemical and Biological Problems of Soil Science RAS, Institute of Geography RAS and the Institute for Biology of Inland Waters RAS summarized initial results of studies on microbial communities and protistofauna from permafrost soils in Russia.

We are optimistic about soon appearance of new monographic publications based on the results of studies of terrestrial and marine ecosystems within the Third IPY projects. This book is just the beginning. One may express sincere gratitude to Yu.I. Ivakina, I.S. Yantarova and A.V. Dyakonova (MMBI) for assistance in preparing materials for publishing.