The staging area near Olonets is included in the catalog of Internationally Important Bird Areas. Scientists demonstrated the dynamics of bird numbers at the site. According to Alexander Artemyev, phenological conditions remained within normal ranges, while the restoration and renewal of perennial grassland in the Olonets District, as well as the expansion of grain and legume crop areas have improved the food supply for the birds. These factors were supposed to lead to an increase in goose numbers, but this has not happened.
– The main hindrance is the increased spring hunting pressure. The situation is further aggravated by a reductio in the number of safe overnight roosting sites. Previously, many of the wetlands that geese use for roosting were inaccessible to hunters, but with the advent of lightweight off-road vehicles, they have become sites for mass hunting. As a result, birds are forced to leave the staging area too early to seek new foraging and resting places, – noted Alexander Artemyev.
The scientist argues that the current level of protection for the Olonets staging area does not match their value, or their national and international significance for the conservation of European populations of geese and other birds of passage.
– To secure the preservation of this staging area, it is necessary to impose a special regime to protect birds within the hunting-free zone during mass staging of geese, prohibiting people to drive into these areas by car or on personal mobility devices, dog walking, and pedestrian movement off public roads, – suggested Alexander Artemyev.
The second lecture was given by Pavel Ryazantsev, Senior Researcher at the Department for Multidisciplinary Research (DMR KarRC RAS). He presented the results of a study on the spatiotemporal dynamics of palsa mires on the Kola Peninsula as markers of climate change in the Arctic. The work was carried out within a project supported by the Russian Science Foundation, by a team of researchers from the Karelian Research Centre’s DMR, Institute of Geology, Institute of Biology, and Institute of Applied Mathematical Research, and from the Petrozavodsk State University.
Pavel Ryazantsev, Senior Researcher, Department for Multidisciplinary Research (DMR) KarRC RAS
Palsa mires are peculiar natural features. They are groups of mounds (palsas) up to several meters high, generated by cryogenic heaving – peat pushed up by freezing expansion of the underlying layers. The Kola Peninsula is the northeastern limit of palsa mire distribution in Fennoscandia.
The project tasks included systematizing knowledge on the distribution and current state of palsa mire complexes on the Kola Peninsula. This is necessary for outlining the southern boundary of the permafrost zone in the western sector of the Russian Arctic and for predicting possible ecosystem shifts under the impact of climate change. The researchers gave also managed to design new methods and algorithms for studying palsa mounds, identify representative palsa mire sites, and set up monitoring of palsa mire complexes on the Kola Peninsula.
The researchers produced a probabilistic map of palsa mire on the Kola Peninsula and applied it to model their dynamics between 2040 and 2060. The resulting scenario projects a reduction in the area of these unusual natural features by more than half – from 1 300 to 600 square kilometers – as well as a northeastward shift of the southern limit of the permafrost zone.
– To enable a more detailed description of the current state of sporadic permafrost, a new technique has been developed for an integrated study of palsa mires using geospatial models. Its trials have helped identify two new mechanisms of permafrost degradation in palsa complexes. Another proposed application for the geospatial models is creating digital images of cryogenic structures for monitoring purposes. The feasibility of determining the temperature gradient across the active layer using ground-penetrating radar was investigated. The prospects of using GPR to monitor freeze-thaw processes and moisture distribution in frozen peatlands were analyzed, – shared Pavel Ryazantsev.
The next item on the agenda was endorsement of the new roster of the Editorial Board of the journal Transactions of the Karelian Research Center RAS. As KarRC RAS CEO Olga Bakhmet remarked, the new editorial board includes colleagues from various scientific institutions of the Russian Federation as well as foreign scientists.
KarRC RAS Leader Olga Bakhmet and KarRC RAS Secretary for Science Natalya Fokina
At the conclusion of the meeting, Olga Bakhmet familiarized members of the Academic Council with the outcome of an inspection by the Russian Ministry of Science and Higher Education, which took place in January 2026. Be reminded that this inspection found no misuse of government funds, violations in the allocation of funding among subdivisions or the principles of spending them, non-compliance with employee labor rights, or instances of corruption.
– I’m pleased to say that we have received feedback from reviewers at the Russian Academy of Sciences regarding our research reports, and all of it has been positive. The intense attention we have given to the reports has not been in vain. Among other considerations, this affects the funding decisions for continuing our work, – informed Olga Bakhmet, thanking the scientists for the work they have done.
Meeting of the KarRC RAS Academic Council