Biodiversity of the Russian Far East: Sakhalin Island

University Of Washington, Seattle WA

Investigators

Abstract

"Biodiversity of the Russian Far East" is a long-term international effort to document the diversity of plants and animals that occupy the landmasses that surround and enclose the Sea of Okhotsk. This region is one of the most biologically diverse yet poorly known areas within the northern hemisphere. At the same time, compared to most other high-latitude regions of comparable size around the world, its biota is relatively undisturbed. For political reasons, but also because of its remoteness and severe climate, all but a few Russian biologists have ignored this region. Information about the plants and animals of Okhotskia is largely unknown outside of Russian and what little is available is published in Russian and thus relatively inaccessible. Each summer since 1994, three-dozen scientists, along with their students, from the University of Washington, the Far East Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and the Sapporo and Hakodate campuses of Hokkaido University, Japan, spend eight weeks exploring remote islands and continental shorelines, utilizing land-based field stations or ocean-going Russian research vessels. While our primary center of focus has been the island biotas of the Kuril Archipelago, our destination over the next two years will be Sakhalin Island. Our goals are to record the detailed species-level diversity of life in aquatic and terrestrial habitats of the Russian Far East as a prologue to investigations of biological patterns and processes, and as a basis for the development of conservation strategies for this part of the world. Biological materials from lichens to liverworts, from spiders to frogs are being collected, curated, and made available to specialists around the world. Dozens of species new to science are being named, described, and classified, and numerous scientific and popular articles are being published. In the area of conservation, our work is providing an important foundation of information that will promote long-term environmental protection of these unique biotas. Finally, our biodiversity studies in the Russian Far East contribute significantly to education and to the development of human resources in science at the undergraduate, graduate, and post-graduate levels. Since 1994, the project has provided financial support and direct involvement in field and laboratory research for dozens of students. With major responsibility for collecting, identification, and curation, as well as data collection, analysis, and interpretation, students share authorship on scientific publications. International collaborative interaction between students and scientists of diverse interest and training provides unique opportunities to address important new questions ranging from comparative biology to conservation.