On Thursday, March 3, the meeting of the academic council of the reserve was held for the first time in 2016.

This important meeting was attended by the scientific staff of the reserve and their colleagues from research and educational institutions – Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow State Forest University (MSFU), the Institute of Physicochemical and Biological Problems in Soil Science RAS in Pushchino. The employees of the Institute of Biochemistry and Physiology of microorganisms named after G. K. Skryabin were also invited to the meeting.

First of all, the academic council reviewed poster presentations prepared for the IV world Congress on biosphere reserves, which will be held from 14 to 18 March in Lima, the capital of Peru. At the Congress after a full consideration a new action plan is expected to be adopted for biosphere reserves for the period up to 2025, the so-called “Lima Action Plan”. The Russian delegation included the Deputy Director for scientific and research work of the Prioksko-Terrasny nature reserve Yuri Buyvolov. He has prepared some poster presentations and presented them for the discussion to the academic council.

Yuri Buyvolov noted that all main tasks in the field of scientific research and monitoring mentioned in the project “Lima Action Plan” have been implemented for over15 years in the Prioksko-Terrasny biosphere reserve. In particular, in cooperation with the scientific staff of the Institute of Physicochemical and Biological Problems in Soil Science of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Pushchino) the monitoring of climate changes and their consequences for ecosystems is being conducted, there is a distinctive trend of increasing climate aridity, resulting in decreased flow of carbon into the atmosphere and increase in carbon storage.

The academic council considered issues on organization of phenological and hydrological observations, carried out scientific analysis of the forest inventory materials of the reserve held in 2015. As a result, it was decided to complete the phenological diary, as well as the organization of hydrological posts on the rivers Ponikovka and Tadenka. There were identified inaccuracies and mistakes in the forest inventory materials that will be given to the developer for correction within a month. At the meeting they also discussed the content of the articles for the preparation of the seventh edition of “Proceedings of the Prioksko-Terrasny nature reserve” dedicated to the Year of highly protected areas in Russia.

The employee of the Institute of Biochemistry and Physiology of Microorganisms named after K.G. Skryabin, A.A. Zimin proposed to conduct a joint research of bacteriophages in the European bison and the wild boar intestine. Having heard the report, the participants of the meeting noted the promising theme and the expediency of conclusion of the contract on cooperation with the Institute of Biochemistry and Physiology of Microorganisms.