Records of hydrobionts and aquatic plants, published in the journal "Bulletin of the Dnipropetrovsk Hydrobiological Station"

The dataset includes all records of hydrobionts and aquatic plants published in the journal "Bulletin of the Dnipropetrovsk Hydrobiological Station". This publication is quite rare and is not represented in most scientific libraries in Ukraine. Work on the dataset began with a search for original copies of the journal (some issues were found to be preserved only in private libraries). We would like to express our gratitude for their help in searching for Roman Novitsky and Lyudmyla Lastikova, as well as Viktor Parkhomenko for his help in processing the scanned issues.
The Dnipropetrovsk Hydrobiological Station was founded in 1927 with the aim of scientific support for the construction of the Dnipro Hydroelectric Power Plant and the formation of the first large reservoir on the Dnipro. In 1927, the first comprehensive Dnipro Hydrobiological Expedition was organized, which united a botanical group from Odessa and a zoological group from Kyiv. It was with this expedition that the history of systematic research into changes in the Dnipro ecosystem began. Starting in 1928, the station's scientists conducted a series of trips to the rapids of the Dnieper - an area doomed to flooding. The goal was clear: to document the state of the river before human intervention, to record the species composition of flora and fauna, hydrological and hydrochemical parameters. During several expeditions from 1930 to 1935, researchers monitored the gradual flooding of rapids, the formation of backwaters, changes in physical and chemical conditions, and the transformation of biotic communities. Already at the stage of filling the bed of the Dnieper Reservoir, it became obvious: river rheophilic complexes were changing to standing limnophilic ones. A rapid transformation of hydrobionts took place: rheophilic species disappeared, and the number of newcomer organisms, such as Dreissena, increased. The change in the ichthyofauna was especially noticeable: instead of the traditional rich fishery of sturgeon and herring species, less fastidious forms gradually began to dominate.
During World War II, the Station's work ceased. After the war, despite the destroyed infrastructure, hydrobiological research resumed. Special emphasis was placed on the analysis of an "unplanned experiment" - a temporary return to the river regime after the Dnipro Hydroelectric Power Plant was blown up in 1941. This made it possible to study in a unique way the reverse processes of degradation and partial restoration of the natural ecosystem.
In the 1950s and 1960s, with a new wave of hydraulic engineering construction (the creation of the Kakhovka and Dniprodzerzhynska HPPs), the station again became a center for research into changes in the nature of the middle and lower Dnipro. Scientists not only predicted the ecological consequences of the construction of new reservoirs, but also, for the first time in Ukraine, developed biological models for increasing the fish productivity of artificial reservoirs. At the same time, large-scale experiments were launched on the introduction of new species - hamarids, mysids, whitefish, pike perch, ram - aimed at the formation of new fish farming complexes. Subsequently, a powerful direction of industrial fish farming emerged on the basis of the station - the use of warm discharge waters of power plants for fish farming. This allowed the development of effective technologies of cage and pool farming, which were significantly ahead of their time. However, the environmental aspect has always remained key in the work of the station. The creation of the Dniprovsko-Orilskyi reserve, the development of programs for the restoration of small rivers, the contribution to the formation of the ecological network of the region - all this is a direct continuation of the line of research that was laid back in 1927.