The results of our study of 23 natural cenopopulations of Cephalaria uralensis (Murr.) Schrad. ex Roem. et Schult., a rare subendemic species of the Eastern European steppe zone, in the Trans-Volga and Cis-Urals regions (in the territory of Bashkortostan Republic, the Samara and Orenburg regions) are presented. Density indices, features of the age structure and demographic indices were studied and compared. The total density varies from 2.2 to 10.3 ind./m2. The averaged ontogenetic spectrum of C. uralensis is centered. By the delta-omega classification, the populations of C. uralensis are distributed from young ones to growing old. In the majority of the populations of the species the restitution and aging indices are very low. The research conducted allows us to assume that the C. uralensis populations in the South Urals, in the Trans-Volga and Cis-Urals regions are in a satisfactory state. There is a threat for the species: violation of its habitats owing to excessive cattle pasture.

The seasonal changes of the soil and water temperature of reservoirs the forest (the Klyazma river) and meadow (the Oka river) floodplains inhabited by the Russian desman were studied. The temperature range which the animal lives within varies from 0 - 7°C in the winter to 8 - 23°C in the summer. Due to the large volume of water and groundwater, desmans do not face negative temperatures in the winter in their burrows.

As a result of our comparison of winter routing with similar (by purpose) band record, a clear interpretation of the factor π/2 = 1.57 is given, this multiplier is shown to be the proportionality coefficient which maps the number of tracks crossed by the route to the total length of the track lines on the recording band of a certain width. The geometric meaning of this factor has been established, the effective width of the accounting band for winter routing was determined. In the course of our modeling, the random character of the proportionality coefficient was fully revealed, and its statistical characteristics for samples of various sizes were studied. The applicability range of the winter routing formula is outlined.

This work is devoted to studying of changes of vegetable raw under Pb and Cd translocation in the tissues of oat grown on turf and sand soils at model pollution, as well the impact of Pb and Cd accumulation on the biochemical status of plants. The oat germinants accumulated the intriduced metals actively; at a combined action of Pb and Cd, synergism of the elements in the organogenic soil and antagonism in the mineral soil were revealed. Oat cultivation on equally contaminated organogenic and mineral soils led to a higher accumulation of the metals under study in plant tissues in the experiment with mineral soil. Especially high Pb and Cd contents were observed in the underground part of the plants which were in immediate contact with the toxicants. Intriduction of Cd led to stimulation of the photosynthetic pigments and antioxidants, while Pb caused damage of cell membranes, a decreased flavonoid level and peroxidase inhibition. Flavonoids and catalase were the most effective antioxidants in the organogenic soil, while peroxidase and carotenoids were efficient in the mineral soil.

A differentiated assessment of blood cells and micronucleus species in the erythrocytes of marsh frogs (Pelophylax ridibundus) living in reservoirs of the Nizhniy Novgorod region and differing by origin, morphology and chemical composition was performed. Specific abiotic conditions (a peat bog) and anthropogenic load led to the most expressed change of the leukocyte composition of the blood, corresponding to the neutrophilic type of leukemoid reaction and an increased fraction of micronucleus in the erythrocytes. A moderate positive correlation was found between the increase of the number of disintegrated micronucleus (r = 0.72, p = 0.0179) and the content (mg/l) of nitrites in the reservoir. The complex action of chemical pollutants of technogenic origin in high concentrations (copper, chromium, and oil products) caused activation of the erythropoiesis process and tension of the humoral immunity link, which was confirmed by the nature of leukemoid reaction of a lymphatic type. The cellular and humoral forms of immune reaction, directed to own-foreign molecule differentiation, provided stability of the ontogenesis of frogs under the anthropogenic press. Integral leukocyte indexes: the blood and cellular indicator, the neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio, the lymphocytic-granulocyte index and the index of leukocyte shift, which reflect the level of the body’s general reactivity can be considered as population markers of the immune status of amphibians.

The distribution of steppe and desert vegetation is typical for the Caspian Lowland. There are two subzones of the steppe zone of Eurasia (the Middle subzone with dry steppes and the Southern subzone with desert steppes) and one subzone of the desert zone of the Pre-Caspian and Turan (the Northern subzone with dwarf semishrub and shrub deserts). At present, natural regularities are invisible because of the results of human impact. Natural dry bunch-grass steppes have completely disappeared to the East from the Volga River. The vegetation cover is mostly represented by fallow lands of various ages, whose common features are the high general projective cover (80 - 85%), the fairly high specific diversity, with the presence of many perennial herbs typical of dry steppes. The specific feature of the desert steppes is the heterogeneity of the vegetation cover in the region under survey. Both complexes with a predominance of grass steppe communities and also with a predominance of dwarf semishrub wormwood communities (which make steppes look like deserts) are widespread. Secondary communities and primitive plant aggregation play an important role in forming the structure of the vegetation cover in the desert zone. The main dominants now are not only dwarf semishrubs, but also bunch grasses, perennial plants, annual and biennial herbaceous plants. Communities of Artemisia lerchiana predominate among dwarf semishrub communities. On pastures with sandy loam soils, Artemisia lerchiana is completely disappeared and anthropogenic communities of Poa bulbosa, Alchagi pseudalchagi, and Anabasis aphylla appear, sometimes Sporobolus cryptandrus predominates, communities of Leymus ramosus are formed on light loamy saline soils. Bunch grasses take a great part in the composition of the natural desert communities of Artemisia lerchiana on sandy soils in the Caspian Lowland. After strong grazing, haymaking, fires the fraction of Artemisia lerchiana becomes lower or it is almost destroyed to form anthropogenic communities with the abundance of grasses (Stipa lessingiana and S. sareptana), where annual plants have a continuous cover.

Three associations (Carici michelii-Bromopsidetum ripariae ass. nov., Amorio ambiguae-Alchemilletum orthotrichae ass. nov., and Cicerbito macrophyllae-Aethusetum сynapii ass. nov.) have been distinguished and characterized as a result of our ecological and floristic classification of phytocenoses in the mountain and piedmont ecosystems of Kabardino-Balkaria (the Central Caucasus) within the Tersky and Elbrussian variants of vertical zonation. By syntaxonomic analysis, two of them were classified as secondary subforest meadows Molinio-Arrhenatheretea Tx. 1937, and the other one was classified as subalpine high-grass meadows Mulgedio-Aconitetea Hadaê et Klika in Klika et Hadaê 1944.

Seventeen brown bear dens were studied in the Kronotsky Nature Reserve (Russian Far East). The majority of dens were excavated in the ground. The dens were located mainly in the upper part of slopes with southwest aspects in birch forests, dwarf Siberian pine and alder patches. The structure of the dens was typical for brown bear ground dens. There are places in the basin of Shumnaya River in Kamchatka where brown bears prefer to set up their dens.