Proceedings of the State Natural History Museum

The main tendencies of development of communication strategies of the leading natural history museums of the world are considered. Based on the Strategy for the Development of State Natural History Museum NAS of Ukraine, the main goals, tasks and channels of communication with the main segments of the audience of the museum are developed.

The book of visitors to the of State Natural History Museum NAS of Ukraine preserved the signature of Academician N.I. Vavilov from August 1, 1940. And the time of the appearance of the autograph, and the subsequent tragic events associated with the fate of the great scientist, give him a visit to the old Lviv׳s museum of special meaning and special social science value. The article makes a thorough review of the events and participants of the last period of life of N.I. Vavilov.<

The history of formation of the bryological herbaria of the State Natural History Museum of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine is considered. Many collectors and scientists-botanists took part in the formation of the main scientific fund of the bryological herbaria, among them A. Lazarenko, K. Ulychna, V. Melnichuk, M. Slobodian and others. The article contains a list of samples of bryophytes, which are included in the Red Book of Ukraine. Rare samples (including doublets and exsiccates) are described from territories of other countries, as well as specimens dating to the end of the 19th century.

The natural collection (n = 280 specimens) of the mole (Talpa europaea L., 1758) from the collections of the State Natural History Museum of the NAS of Ukraine was studied. The main material was collected in May-August by 23 collectors during the period 1868-1998. Morphometry of 86% of mole specimens was carried out, 52% of the individuals were weighed before preparation, the sex was set at 81% of individuals, and the age – 73%. Natural mole from the museum's funds are extracted or found in Bulgaria (1 gathering place) and six regions of West of Ukraine (30 collection sites). The ratio of the sexes of mole individuals, exhibits which are stored in the museum's funds, is 1.0 : 0.7 (♂ : ♀), age groups – 1.0 : 0.3 (ad. : subad.).

The role of the Natural History Museum in the educational process and the integration of children with visual impairments in active social and cultural life are considered. Educational program for visually impaired children "Museum for children: nature to the touch" was developed. Its basis consists of zoological, botanical and ecology classes. The program was developed on the basis of the museum with the involvement of the specialist from Lviv Special Secondary School № 100 I-III Degrees. The main stages of the implementation of the program and the main methods of conducting are described.

The content of water-soluble organic matter in the soil is an important indicator of its quality and affects physical, chemical and biological properties of soil. This indicator is widely used for assessment of most zonal soils. However, in some cases, accumulation rates of water-soluble organic compounds in soil may significantly exceed the rate of their destruction. If so, it is more important to quantify not only the fraction of water-soluble organic matter as a whole but also to determine its composition. In this context, it is important to determine the content of the most labile and available for microorganisms compound – water-soluble carbohydrates. In this paper, the content of water-soluble carbohydrates and water-soluble organic matter in soils of Coastal Antarctica was estimated. Soils under three different plant communities were studied. We found that water-soluble organic matter of studied soils may contain up to 50% of carbohydrates. Hence, further research is needed to study other soils of Coastal Antarctica to determine their vulnerability to global climate change.

As of 2008, 33 species of freshwater and 14 species of land molluscs were authentically registered for the territory of Lutsk City, an anotated list of which is given in the article. It is necessary to confirm in addition the presence of Planorbis carinatus in the Styr River. The data obtained can be used to monitoring of the anthropogenic changes in the land and freshwater malacomplexes of the city.

The aim of this work is to generalize the main trends and the research results related to the expansion of invasive plant species. The main hypotheses that explain the success of invasive species are reviewed. The hypotheses are: absence of natural enemies in the secondary area, influence of hybridization and allelopathy on the processes of invasion, the hypothesis of vacant niches, the emergence of new genotypes with expressive adaptive features, the rapid development of genetic traits associated with the pressure of natural selection in new environmental conditions, the importance of bioecological features of invasive species – by morphological and biomorphological plasticity, ecological versatility, ecological-phytocoenic strategies, features of reproduction, etc. Invasion of non-native species is primarily caused by anthropogenic transformation of the natural environment, which is aggravated by climate change. The increasing level of transformation of the environment leads to an increase in the degree of naturalization of non-native species, and as a consequence to modification of types of habitats and to a loss of individual populations of natural species. Processes of naturalization of invasive species are supported by a set of specific various systematic groups of factors. The lack of an effective monitoring system and information tools prevents effective control of invasive non-native species. The necessity to construct models of the behavior of invasive species and to check the predictions of their invasive activity is substantiated.

The taxonomic and eco-morphological diversity of amphibiotic insects in the ecosystems of the Latoritsa River basin was studied. Оf all 52 species of amphibiotic insects have been identified (32 species of Ephemeroptera, 7 species of stoneflies, 13 species of dragonflies). The main of the number and biomass of the community in the studied localities of the Latoritsa River basin is the families Baetidae and Heptageniidae. The rarity components of this region are investigated. The 3 types of Odonata, 5 types of Ephemeroptera and 3 types of Plecoptera larvae for Latoritsa river basin are discovered. The ecomorphological structure of dragonflies is represented by the following classes: rheophilic drifting and rheophilic velox larvae with spoonlike labium. The largest species diversity of the Ephemeroptera was recorded in 4 types of eco-morphs: siphlonuroides (47% from species diversity), plane-plots (32%), larvae with "tusks" (12%) and "kryshkovoziabrovi" larvae (9%). Among the Plecoptera there are 3 dominant type: lithophilous cryptobionts (42%), phytophilic cryptobionts (31%) and cryptobionts of gaps (27%).

The diversity of oribatid mites (Acari: Oribatida) of grassland ecosystems of Latorica and Borzhava river basins As a result of our research, taxonomic and ecological diversity of oribatid mites in the ecosystems of the basins of the Latoritsa and Borzhava rivers has been established. For the studied territory, the species composition of the oribatid mites is established, which includes 109 species (57 genus, 40 families). The dominant qualitatively are the following families of oribatid mites: Oppiidae, Suctobelbidae, Brachychthoniidae, Scheloribatidae, Oribatulidae. The richest qualitative composition is represented by the Oribatida of the following genera: Suctobelbella, Scheloribates, Oppiella, Achipteria, Ramusella, Steganacarus, Notrus, Scutovertex, Ceratozetes, Punctoribates. The ecological diversity of oribatid mites is investigated. There are 12 morphoekotypes (METs) of Oribatida for the Latoritsa and Borzhavy river basins. The most represented are 4 METs (10-26 species per morphoecotype). For the investigated ecosystems, representatives of 4 biotope groups of oribatid mites: forest, forest-meadow, meadow and eurytopic species. The studied groups of Oribatids are 6 ecological groups by hygropreferendum. These include hygrophilous, hygro-mesophilous, mesophilous, meso-xerophilous, xerophilous and eurybiontic. The most diverse in terms of quality are the forest biotopic group and species-hygrophilous (31 and 30 species, respectively).

In the process of forming succession on abandoned arable lands, the quantitative indices relative to the permanent cоenopopulations are quite similar, although in the third stage they decrease almost twofold, and at the final stage of light oak forests the representation of cоenopopulations of rare species increases: Epipactis helleborine, Leucojum vernum, Galanthus nivalis..

It is established that historical factors are important in the formation of modern areas of Collembola. However, the role of ecological and historical factors in the chorology of separate groups of Collembola is different in connection with the evolutionary history of the taxa and their adaptive potential. The significance of regional faunogenetic processes in the formation of the modern areas of the Collembola of Eurasia is increasing in the north-south direction. The main centers of endemism of Collembola of the temperate zone are concentrated in mountainous regions, as well as in the hills adjoining them, which could serve as the main collembolan refugia during the last glaciation. The faunae of plains are mainly of migratory origin. The hypothesis on the predominance of autochthonous processes in the formation of regional collembolan faunae on the territory of Ukraine and their multiregional postglacial colonization is formulated.

Fish species composition and state of fish populations in places of Black Stork regular feeding on the territory of Rivne Nature Reserve were studied. In total, 13 localities were studied and 8 species of fish belonging to 5 families were found (Scardinius erythrophthalmus, Leucaspius delineates, Gobio gobio, Cyprinus carpio, Misgurnus fossilis, Esox lucius, Perca fluviatilis, Perccottus glenii). The most common among them are Weatherfish and Northern Pike (found at 50% of locations). Also, European Perch and Chinese Sleeper (detected at 30% of locations). Hydrological conditions of water bodies in places of Black Stork foraging are very unstable because of big water level fluctuations, and because of periodical drying out in summer and total freezing in winter. The mentioned reasons cause changes of hydrochemical parameters and, therefore, fluctuations in fish species richness and numbers. Only the most insensitive species can survive – Weatherfish and Chinese Sleeper.

Location of breeding colonies and numbers of Lapwing (Vanellus vanellus), Redshank (Tringa totanus) and Black-tailed Godwit (Limosa limosa) in valleys of Sluch and Goryn rivers (Rivne region, Ukraine) were analyzed, making emphasis on modeling approach in Maxent. Using open GIS data and satellite imagery as background layers distribution models for all three species were built. According to the results of ROC statistics, we achieved models with AUC in the range from 0,837 to 0,913 on test data. Analysis of the contribution of individual predictors into models shows that most important were layers of forest and shrub coverage, arable lands, MNDWI and NDVI indices, elevation and distance to rivers. It was shown, that using only data in open access it is possible to build good distribution models for Lapwing, Redshank and Black-tailed Godwit in circumstances of Polissia.

The data on the current phytopathogenic fungi diversity of the Ukrainian Roztochya, which developing their sexual or unsexual sporulation in the springtime in the paper are given. In 2016 and 2017 year, the studies were conducted. In result of the research, 38 species of phytopathogenic fungi were identified. The determined species belong to two Kingdoms (Stramenopiles and Fungi), 4 Divisions, 7 Classes, eight Orders, 12 Families and 21 Genera. Among identified species eight, Cercospora ficariae, Erysiphe buhrii, Peronospora chrysosplenii, P. ranunculi, Pseudopeziza trifolii, Puccinia komarovii, P. variabilis та Septoria posoniensis, are new for biota of the Ukrainian Roztochya. Other species are already known for this territory according to data of the other researchers. Only one species on the leaves of Pinophyta was collected, other species parasitized on the leaves and stems of Magnoliophyta. Among them 11 species on the plants of Ranunculaceae and 4 species on the plants of Asteraceae were found. On plants of other 19 families, mainly one or two species of phytopathogenic fungi were collected.