The toxic effect of copper ions upon a test culture of alga chlorella in natural (the Yenisei and Kacha rivers), waste and tap water (the Krasnoyarsk city) was estimated. It has been found that the copper toxicity in samples of these waters can greatly reduce. This toxicity reduction, which differed highly in the samples examined, could be caused by binding of potential toxic substances by some compounds in the waters. In natural water, the binding capacity and bioavailability of toxicants vary through seasons.

The breeding biology and social organization of a population of the Eastern Siberian stonechat were studied in the Khingan State Nature Reserve (Amur region, Russia) in 2013. This is a territorial monogamy species, inhabiting various types of open areas and nesting on the ground. The Eastern Siberian stonechat belongs to the Common stonechat complex comprising 3 or 4 sibling species. Comparison of the data obtained with the literature data of another species from the complex (the European stonechat) have shown that most differences between them concern spatial structure (territory sizes and breeding density). This confirms early data that the spatial structure is a most evolutionary labile feature and the differences between sibling species could become apparent there most clearly.

To evaluate the status of the forest-park zone of Kazan City, the soil invertebrate populations in three deciduous forest plots with various recreational degrees were studied. The macrofauna abundance in forest-parks was significantly higher in comparison with suburb forests. The taxonomic composition of the pedobiont communities did not change significantly within the period studied, with earthworms predominated. However, their abundance varied strongly from year to year. The trophic structure of the mesofauna in the biotope under the highest anthropogenic load is subject to significant changes, shown by PCA and discriminant analysis. The reorganizations in the pedobiont community structure, when different trophic groups carry the major load in different years, can be considered as elements of the mesofauna adaptation to the anthropogenic impact in forest-parks.

Our results of daily monitoring of the water temperature, hydrochemical parameters, as well as the zooplankton composition and structure in the protected overgrown and non-overgrown littoral of Berd’s Bay of the Novosibirsk reservoir are presented. The data obtained allow us to reveal differences in the daily dynamics of the water temperature, hydrochemical and hydrobiological characteristics of littoral areas of different types. Features of the horizontal migrations of zooplankton are determined by the water overgrowing degree. Macrophytes form a special hydrochemical and hydrothermal mode and act as a refuge for both large and small zooplankton species, protecting them from predators and adverse hydrodynamic effects.

Regularities of the changes of calendar dates of the start, end and duration of Pelobates fuscus wintering in the Medveditsa river valley (Lysogorsky district, Saratov region) within the period from 1892 until 2014 are considered. A reduction of the wintering duration by 7 days (on the average) over the last 120 years is shown, due to a shift of the start wintering date to a later date and that of the end wintering date to an earlier date. Such changes of the end and start wintering dates mainly began to emerge since the 1950s and 1980s, respectively, and significantly accelerated in 2002 - 2014. The periodicity of changes of the start and end wintering dates is mainly due to the winter severity cycles (8-9 years) and the humidify - aridity ones (the Brückner cycle of 36 - 38 years). Our analysis of the temperature regime over the soil profile shows that the shortening of wintering is mainly caused by the earlier start of the spawning migration of mature individuals of this species in the spring. The depth of location of P. fuscus individuals in the soil profile has been decreased steadily from the early 1980s until 2014. Predictive models have been developed to allow one to suppose the termination of movement of P. fuscus individuals in the soil profile from the horizons where they are in the period of activity by 2050, as well as a significant reduction in the wintering duration or even its complete disappearance as a phase of the annual cycle during 315 years provided that the modern climatic trend will remain.

The structural-functional diversity of main ecological trophic groups of soil microorganisms in the meadow soils of the Central Urals, anthropogenically contaminated with heavy metals, was studied. The growth of the total numbers of these microorganisms in technozems, in comparison with those in agrozems, is due to the higher abundance of ferric-reducing, denitrifying, nitrogen-fixing and sulphate-reducing bacteria; the increased cellulolytic activity, and the dependence of these characteristics on the soil toxic load. When soil is contaminated with heavy metals, a reductive structure of the microbial community is formed, with the predominance of r-strategists, which reflects earlier stages of microbiocenoses succession under soil contamination.

The possibility of using a wider scale approach of the territorial conservation of rare objects of the wild nature is considered for the western subspecies of the Common Crane (Grus grus Linnaeus, 1758). This approach is in identification of critically important areas (CIA) at different (from global to local) levels not only for rare species but also for breeding groups, sub-populations, populations, subspecies, and communities of widespread and numerous species. As the way of life, behavior, habitats used and food composition of cranes are different in the breeding and non-breeding seasons, the principles of CIA identification on their breeding and non-breeding sites also vary.

The vitality of 31 natural populations of Tulipa gesneriana is based on our field surveys conducted in several parts of European Russia in 2013 - 2015. Basic factors affecting the population vitality were revealed by analysis of 14 morphological parameters of T. gesneriana. Cattle grazing have turned out to be the most essential factor. The effect of other negative factors is much lower. Overall, the mixed stress-tolerant and ruderal ecologically-cenotic strategy is characteristic of the species studied. E.g., an increase in the stress level results in size reduction of the aboveground plant organs accompanied by considerable variations in the height and diameter of plants. However, most parameters, on the contrary, have a weak reduction of their variability under stress. The indicated features give evidence of relatively wide ecological amplitude of the examined species.

The paper presents a comparative analysis of the variability of the weight and morphometric characters of the generative organs of five geographically isolated populations of Juniperus polycarpos C. Koch (1849) in Dagestan. The stronger dependence of the signs of gallberries than those of seeds on specific territorial conditions is shown. The genetic nature of the differences between the 1,140 m height populations of J. polycarpos and the other Dagestan ones due to their spatial fragmentation and specificity of the conditions of the Innermountain Dagestan in comparison with the Piedmont Dagestan is suggested.

The results of the ongoing 50-year experiment of introduction of the Eisenia nordenskioldi species into massive oak plantations (Quercus robur L.) in the Northern Caspian semi-desert are analyzed. The change of the quantitative proportion of the dominant earthworm species due to the growth and conditions of forest cultures as well as their impact on the meadow-chestnut soils is considered.

A complex of the blood system characteristics and the concentrations of heavy metals (Cu, Zn, Cd, and Pb) in the liver of bank voles (Cl. glareolus) and red voles (Cl. rutilus) from background and industrial polluted areas were studied. Heavy metals were found to affect the structure of erythrocytes, the blood cell composition and concentration in the hematopoietic organs. The revealed differences between the blood system's responses of bank and red voles to pollution conditions are due to different levels of the pollutant accumulation in the body.