Seminar on the Main Research Areas in the Field of Paleoecology

An online seminar dedicated to the main research areas in the field of paleoecology was held on May 12. The organizers of this scientific meeting were the Frank Laboratory of Neutron Physics of the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research, the Borissiak Paleontological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Institute of Archeology named after A. Kh. Khalikov of the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Tatarstan.

The seminar included a report by the Candidate of Biological Sciences, Senior Research Associate at the Borissiak Paleontological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences A. V. Pakhnevich. The report featured an analysis of the relationship of ancient organisms in populations and communities (= biocoenoses). The report addressed the possibilities of applying modern research methods in the field of paleoecology using the examples of nutritional chains, reconstruction of the living environment based on the identification of characteristic plant and animal species, and the content of various minerals, chemical elements and their isotopes in skeletons. It was followed by a discussion of the prospects for conducting interdisciplinary research at archaeological heritage sites in order to obtain a set of data characterizing the dynamics of changes in the natural environment, and the scale and nature of its changes under the influence of anthropogenic activities in antiquity and the Middle Ages.

The seminar was held within the framework of the preparation for the international meeting “Application of Nuclear Physics Methods for the Study of Cultural Heritage Sites” scheduled for October 2021.