Zoological and genetic approaches for investigation of evolutionary processes: the school of Nikolay Nikolayevich Vorontsov in Vladivostok

Abstract

Laboratory of evolutionary zoology and genetics was established by Professor Nikolay Vorontsov in 1971. Since then, the laboratory passed a way from karyology and classical morphology to phylogeography and molecular evolution. Studies are devoted to understanding mechanisms and ways of speciation, population divergence and hybridization. Model groups of mammals and birds, rare and commercially important species have been investigated. Approaches and methods of classical zoology, cytogenetics, biochemical and molecular genetics have been employing. The studies are focused on marginal and island isolates, hybrid zones and invasive populations. Field works are important and bright events of the laboratory life, being an essential component of the work. In the Soviet era, expeditions were arranged throughout total country, but now are limited by unexplored regions of the East Russia. The most attention is attracted to the Russian Far East, where we observed increased genetic diversity of populations, and thus this region may be treated as a speciation hotspot.
Importance of the south of the Russian Far East as a key territory for keeping the genetic diversity of Eurasian terrestrial biota is shown. International cooperation of the laboratory with foreign researchers and its input to study biodiversity of the East Asia is evaluated. The approaches explored cleared up ways of a species range formation, revealed some rare ways of chromosomal rearrangements in voles and discovered new mechanisms of recombinations between nuclear and mitochondrial genomes in birds. Short review of the laboratory achievements during the last 10 years is presented. The staff follows traditions of the Nikolay Vorontsov scientific school, continues and enlarges the directions started by him.