Scientific cetner “Environmental Dynamics and Global Climate Change” (organized by UNESCO and Yugra State University), Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia is happy to host the VI International Meeting on the Biology of Sphagnum of International Association of Bryologists on August 15-24, 2016.

You are warmly invited to visit the beautiful region of Yugra in West Siberia rich in both nature and culture. Being famous for its extensive oil-production and traditional lifestyle of the indigenous reindeer herding peoples of Khanty and Mansi, Yugra offers many other attractions. Almost half of the territory is covered with the coniferous and mixed boreal forests, with another 50 % covered with wetlands where 34 species of Sphagnum mosses grow.

The program of the VI International Meeting on the Biology of Sphagnum will include the conference and trips to the forests and mires around Khanty-Mansiysk and on the way to the natural park “Kondinskiye Lakes”, 450 km to the west. During these trips almost all the diversity of Sphagnum mosses of the boreal forest zone of West Siberia can be observed including widespread species like Sphagnum fuscum, S. angustifolium, S. balticum, S. papillosum and typical species: Sphagnum centrale, S. warnstorfii, S. jensenii, S. lindbegrii, S. obtusum including two species from the Red List of Yugra region, Sphagnum subfulvum and Sphagnum tenellum.

The preliminary timeline:

15 – 17, August – work of the conference including 1-day field excursion;

18 – 19, August – field excursions 20-40 km around Khanty-Mansiysk;

20 – 23, August – trip to the natural park “Kondinskiye Lakes”.

The suggested topics for the conference are biology, ecology and floristic diversity; taxonomy, genetics and physiology, and possibilities of actual use of Sphagnum mosses.

You are welcome to come for the entire program or just the conference days (15-17, August). We kindly request you to register and to decide on topics of the conference thesis till the 1st of September, 2015. Registration form and additional information is available here. Deadline for submission of the papers is the 1st of April, 2016.

The registration fee is 300 euro for the conference and 1-day field excursion (15-17 August) or 500 euro for the entire program. The fee for students and PhD students is 150 and 250 euro respectively. The registration fee includes meals, transportation and accommodation at field stations during field trips (accommodation in Khanty-Mansiysk can vary from student halls to city hotels and should be covered additionally).

Contacts:

Yulia Papanova, manager for external affairs

Yulia.Papanova@gmail.com (Please contact if you have any questions)

Tel./Fax: +7 3467 357-714, Mobile: +7 9129021033

en.ugrasu.ru

www.mukhrinostation.com