Microplastics (MPs) contaminations of freshwater and marine environments has become a global issue. Lakes in southern Siberia provide a wide range of ecosystem services and are essential elements in the annual and interannual runoff distribution of the Great Siberian Rivers. However, the extent of their MPs pollution remains unknown. In this paper, for the first time, we analyze the concentrations, composition, and spatial distribution of MPs in six lakes in southern Siberia. The studied lakes are located both in the Altai mountains and the West Siberian plain. Some of them are significantly impacted by human activities, while others are located in protected areas with no permanent population. Nevertheless, MPs were detected in all of the studied lakes. MPs concentrations ranged from 4 to 26 MPs L−1. Comparing with other inland lakes, South Siberian lakes presented moderate MPs concentrations. Among the registered MPs forms, fragments and films were dominant, with a size range between 31 and 60 nm. The MPs’ sources depend on local human activities (fishing, transport, landfilling). Therefore, sufficiently high concentrations were observed even in remote lakes. The present study set a baseline that emphasizes the need for increased attention to waste management and sustainable water use in Siberian freshwater environments.

With this paper we continue a new annual series, the main purpose of which is to make significant floristic findings from Russia and neighboring countries more visible in Russia and abroad. In total, this paper presents new records for 38 vascular plant species from 7 Eurasian countries, obtained during field explorations, as well as during taxonomic revisions of herbarium materials. For the first time, new locality of Rochelia bungei is recorded for Europe and West Kazakhstan Region of Kazakhstan, Arnebia obovata for China and Kazakhstan, A. olgae for China, Ballota nigra for Kazakhstan and the Asian part of Russia, Potentilla chalchorum, P. tschimganica and P. doujonneana for Kyrgyzstan, Lappula heteracantha for Tajikistan, Hedysarum talassicum for Uzbekistan, Linaria grjunerae, Silene cserei for Siberia, Dianthus × courtoisii, Genista tinctoria, Verbascum phoeniceum for Eastern Siberia, Drosera × obovata, Pseudopodospermum strictum, Trollius austrosibiricus for the Altai Republic, Diarthron linifolium for the Republic of Buryatia, Dactylorhiza iberica, Epipactis condensata for the Republic of Daghestan, Platycladus orientalis for the Kabardino- Balkarian Republic, Diphasiastrum × zeilleri for the Republic of Mordovia, Typha latifolia for the Magadan Region, Senecio viscosus for the Novosibirsk Region, Solanum physalifolium for the Omsk Region, Echinops exaltatus for the Middle Volga, Lavandula angustifolia for the Samara Region, Galium affrenum for the Saratov Region, Bidens frondosa, Elatine triandra, Eleocharis klingei, Jacobaea grandidentata, Rhinanthus songaricus and Vicia megalotropis for the Tyumen Region, Bunias cochlearioides, Thalictrum ussuriense for the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region of China, Isoëtes echinospora for the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Area, Potentilla × bishkekensis for Issyk-Kul and Osh Regions of Kyrgyzstan.

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Biodiversity increases the stability of ecosystem functioning. This is the most frequent pattern in the field of ecosystem functioning, which has been evaluated generally at the community scale. However, most management decisions are made at the landscape scale, which requires the need to confirm these relationships at this level. In the study, we analyzed the relationship between temporal variability of ecosystem functioning and two landscape diversity indices (Shannon and Pielou). We used snow water equivalent and soil moisture content as the indicators of functioning, which are closely related to the runoff formation function. The field data were collected in a small plain basin of the Kasmala river during the period from 2011 to 2017. Within four spatial scales, we have not identified significant linear relationships between the indicators of functioning and diversity indices. These results indicated the strong influence on the total variability by variation in the most widespread ecosystem types (also called idiosyncratic response). It is one of the consequences of landscape structure homogenization within the study area.

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