Forest Food Resources in the Sakha Republic (Yakutia)

According to the “Ecosystem Services of Russia” Prototype of National Report (2016), data on terrestrial ecosystem resources in Russia are fragmented. The purpose of this work is to fill the existing gaps in the knowledge of the biodiversity of plant species and the sustainability of traditional food systems across the economic zones of the Sakha Republic (Yakutia). Materials and methods. Although the range of edible plants in Yakutia counts more than 100 species, only nine species of berries, eight species of mushrooms, and three species of other food plants were classified as resource-significant based on the consolidated archive materials of the IBPC at FRC YaSC SB RAS and the results of the field studies carried out in 2002-2019. This list of twenty species was tested via a socio-economic survey undertaken as part of the RISE project in 2021-2023. The study was conducted with the permission of the local biomedical ethics committee of the Medical Institute of the North-Eastern Federal University. Each participant signed an informed consent form to be surveyed, according to the World Medical Association’s Declaration of Helsinki, which regulates the research involving human subjects. The study embraced 400 rural households. Results. The data on biological stocks of resource-significant food species of Yakutia’s forests were presented based on the consolidated archive materials and results of the field studies undertaken by the IBPC at FRC YaSC SB RAS. Coupled research methods of natural and social sciences were used to produce the estimates of the economic reserves of berries and mushrooms across economic zones of the Sakha Republic (Yakutia) and the volumes of their harvesting by rural households and the population of the region in general. Conclusion. Social methods have proven reliable for studying biodiversity in a large-sized region. They allow to fill the gaps in the databases built on the results of field studies, particularly in terms of popularity and, accordingly, the prevalence of certain food species. The higher productivity and diversity of flora in Southern Yakutia were confirmed compared to the Arctic and other economic zones. Funding. The reported study was performed under the e-Asia Climate Call and funded by RFBR, project number 21-55-70104, and project VI.52.1.8. “Theoretical and applied aspects of investigation the diversity of the vegetation of Northern and Central Yakutia (East Siberia)” 0376-2016-0001; registration number АААА-А17-117020110056-0.