Ural Federal University: Two University Projects to Receive Support from Russian and Chinese Science Foundations
The Russian Science Foundation and the State Natural Science Foundation of China have supported two research projects by scientists of the Ural Federal University. The projects will receive financial support for basic scientific research and exploratory research by international scientific teams.
The first project (No. 23-44-00070) is “Phylogeny, diversification and speciation of megaspores (lichenized ascomycetes) in connection with the geological and climatic history of the Holarctic”. The project is led by Aleksandr Paukov, Associate Professor at the Department of Biodiversity and Bioecology at Ural Federal University, and aimed at studying lichens.
“The aim of the study is to reveal the diversity and evolution of lichens of the family Megasporaceae in the Holarctic. Non-specialists may be interested in this group because it includes the well-known species Lecanora or “rim lichens”. Data will be obtained from different areas of the northern hemisphere: Europe, Asia, North America. Expeditionary research is planned, as well as cooperation with lichenologists from different parts of the globe,” says Aleksandr Paukov.
According to the biologist, species of the lichen Megasporaceae are common in arid and mountainous regions of the Holarctic. The family is very diverse morphologically, but despite its wide range and more than 1000 described taxa of the rank of species and subspecies, the real diversity of the family is unknown.
“This is largely due to the similarity of the capelike representatives of the genus, many of which have been described from a single specimen. This leads to incorrect estimates of species diversity. Lichens of this family are found in various ecosystems from deserts to tundra, while at the same time confined mainly to the Holarctic realm, only five or six species are known from the Southern Hemisphere and several are registered in the tropics,” explains Aleksandr Paukov.
The second project (No. 23-42-00116), led by Vladimir Shur, Chief Researcher at the Section of Optoelectronics and Semiconductor Technology at Ural Federal University, involves research on materials for energy-storing devices. Physicists will control the structure and physical properties of relaxor segment electric ceramics for actuators.
“The project is aimed at solving a fundamental problem of condensed state physics related to the study of the electromechanical response in relaxor segment electric ceramics under the action of strong electric fields with the dominant contribution of the electrostriction effect. The increase in the stability of the electromechanical response over a wide temperature range and the reduction of the segment electric hysteresis are of interest. Systematic study of the structure and functional properties of the ceramics will allow to study in detail the peculiarities of the forming relaxor state and its behavior in the area of morphotropic and polymorphic phase boundaries,” the researchers report.