Lake Baikal Foundation is delighted to inform that all the participants which have successfully met the conditions of the «Baikal Initiative» competition received the grants and proceeded to implementation of their projects.
Research teams selected by the Expert Council proved public significance of their projects. Two teams managed to raise co-financing sum through crowdfunding, another project won financial backing from a sponsor.
By the results of the competition the following projects received the grants:
- «Development of implantable fluorescent biosensors for in vivo monitoring of heavy metals in tissues of endemic amphipods of lake Baikal». Manager – Anton N. Gurkov. The project is mainly aimed at studying accumulation of heavy metals’ ions in the Baikal endemic species in laboratory conditions for prediction of possible outcomes for the ecosystem. Timeline: 1 February – 31 December 2019. Sum of the grant: 400 000 rubles.
- «Conservation and recruitment of the Olkhon vole population in the Baikal region». Manager – Igor V. Moroldoev. The aim of the researchers is to prevent Olkhon voles from extinction. This species was first described quite recently but it is already endangered. Timeline: 1 February – 31 December 2019. Sum of the grant: 300 000 rubles.
- «Monitoring of waterbirds in the southern part of lake Baikal in the long-lasting low-water period». Manager – Alexander I. Povarintsev. The team pursues a goal to continue the research on the current state of waterbirds in areas of their mass inhabitation in the south of lake Baikal, supported by Lake Baikal Foundation in 2018, and to implement the international program ICARUS to observe bird migrations with modern hi-tech methods. Timeline: 1 February – 31 December 2019. Sum of the grant: 168 000 rubles.
We will follow all the research and share news about them on the web resources of the Foundation. We wish the winners to implement their projects successfully!