MAB: Biological Diversity and Ecology in the Evenks of Siberia

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This project is an international collaboration between US, Canadian and USSR scientists focusing on the effects of Russian expansion into the Siberian taiga on a group of reindeer herders, the Evenks. The recent expansion of the trans-Siberian railroad has had major ecological effects on these people, including the introduction of a number of diseases, nutritional changes and the economic buildup of the areas around the tracks. The two-year research program will consist of field work in the Surrinda village of the Baikit region of the Central Siberian Plateau. Subsistence ecology, demographic analysis, activity patterns, genetics, health and nutritional status will be assessed from a sample of the Evenks. The project will provide baseline data on the ecology and human genetics of a Siberian indigenous population, may contribute to our understanding of the peopling of the New World, and will provide a better understanding of the effects of technology and westernization on small, indigenous populations of reindeer herders. Such information will help administrators concerned with economic development to make more enlightened decisions.