The results of our study of the partial florae of 5 cemeteries in two towns of the Southern Cis-Urals, namely, Sterlitamak and Salavat (Republic of Bashkortostan), are given. The cemeteries differed by their area, the time and nature of development, and forest cover. The taxonomical, biomorphological, geographical and ecological structures of the florae were studied, the levels of synantropization (from 50.7 to 67.5%) and adventization (from 19.4 to 37.5%) were estimated. A direct linear dependence of the number of species in the flora on the cemetery area and a high fraction of the plurazonal plant weed species were revealed. The cemetery flora has a considerable variety due to a mixture of introduced species, widespread weed species and apophyte species characteristic for the specified natural zone. Parameters of the floristic wealth depend on a complex of factors, namely: the area, the time and nature of use, etc.; at the same time, the general regularities characteristic of urban floras in the whole remain.

A comparative analysis of the variability of the specific structure of macrozoobenthos communities in small and medium rivers of the Middle and Lower Volga basin was made. A statistically significant influence of the natural-climatic zone where the waterway is located and a manifestation of the latitudinal gradient of biodiversity were shown. The list of indicator species with the use of various criteria of biotopic correspondence was composed for each identified geographical zone. The Indicator Value (IndVal) index was recognized as the most adequate one on the basis of our analysis, considering the zonal distribution of both the occurrence frequencies of a species and its abundance ratios. With the help of the APRIORI algorithm, associative rules containing combinations of species most often met together in hydrobiological tests have been formulated.

Our hypothesis that the exoanthropic forest rodent species (e.g. bank voles) avoid the urinary odor of the synanthropic house mice was tested in field experiments in August 2016. One count of small mammals was carried out in each of two 4-ha fields by the capture-mark-recapture technique during 12 days. 200 live traps (100 points, 2 traps per point) were exposed and controlled twice a day (early in the morning and in the evening) in each count. One trap in every pair served as a reference, while the second was an experimental one whose foam rubber was applied by 20 μl of the urine of the synanthropic house mice every day. Generally, bank voles chose the odorless trap more often (60.8% vs. 39.2%, χ2 = 3.7, р = 0.054). Adult individuals had a non-significant tendency to avoid the odor-emitting traps. Immature (subadult and juvenile) bank voles reliably avoided the odor-emitting traps (a 2:1 ratio, χ2 = 5.74, р = 0.017). GLM showed an influence of vole age on the choice of the odorless traps. The potential repellent role of sulfur-containing compounds in mouse urine is discussed.

On the basis of the data of year-round accounts in the city of Kemerovo and its vicinities in 1999 - 2001 a quantitative assessment of seasonal aspects of the bird population is given. Seasonal changes of the total number of birds, the specific diversity, the dominating species, the total biomass, the amount of the energy transformed by birds, their multistage distribution and faunistic composition are characterized and compared for all habitats surveyed. Differences in the seasonal dynamics of the bird population in the habitats belonging to the residential and forest-field landscapes are estimated.

The work was carried out in the Dzhanibek and Bokeyorda districts of the West Kazakhstan region of the Republic of Kazakhstan in two key areas. The possibility to study the relationship between the distribution of the abundance of various lark species and their nesting habitats detected using high-resolution satellite images, ground geobotanical descriptions and bird counts on routes with a variable width of the accounting band, was evaluated. The image heterogeneity in a snapshot was analyzed by cluster analysis in the ILWIS softwate (Heckbert quantization algorithm) using three rasters as variables: infrared and red channel images and NDVI. The correlation of the number of individual lark species with the fraction of individual plant associations in the band of accounting routes was established using correlation analysis and approximation of empirical distributions by theoretical ones. A reliable relationship was established between the distribution of three lark species living in the Trans-Volga semi-desert of the Caspian lowland with certain plant associations which they prefer to use as nesting stations.

The influence of two lead salts on the enzymatic activity dynamics (urease, dehydrogenase, the total activity of hydrolases, acid phosphatase, and peroxidase) at lead ion concentrations of 10, 100, 300, 500 and 1,000 mg/kg in a model 21-day experiment was estimated. A significant inhibitory effect of lead nitrate on the total activity of hydrolases, dehydrogenase and peroxidase at doses of 500 and 1,000 mg (Pb2+)/kg was observed, while lead acetate was characterized by predominantly stimulating effect. On the basis of the data obtained the authors have arranged the diagnostic indicators by the reduction of the sensitivity to lead nitrate pollution as follows: the total activity of hydrolases > peroxidase > dehydrogenase > urease ~ acidic phosphatase.

Problems of comparative estimation of the nature-conservation importance of various littoral zones arise when a strategy of gentle nature management in the areas of influence of both present and planned reservoirs is developed. Integral biodiversity indices to consider both the specific richness and the abundance indices of every recorded animal species were developed for the area of expected influence of the projected Lower Zeya Hydroscheme. The paper shows lists of the recorded mammals, reptiles and amphibians; score gradations of the abundance of separate species and ecological groups of terrestrial vertebrates; a list of main biotopes; zoning principles for the areas influenced by the reservoir; formulae to evaluate the integral indices of specific diversity and the abundance of animals; and schematic maps of the spatial distribution of the values of the integral indices of richness and conservative importance of the animal population. Specific recommendations for strengthening the Special Protected Natural Areas system are given. It is concluded that the building of the Lower Zeya hydropower plant will cause a high risk of losses in the biodiversity and ecological stability at the regional level as well as at the local one.

The numbers of birds and the vegetation structure were analyzed at 13, 7 and 10 leks of Great Snipes (Gallinago media) formed on agricultural lands in the Moscow Region in 2014 - 2016, respectively. Not less than 120 - 130 birds were concentrated on the leks annually, of which 82 - 94% were males. The abundance of Great Snipes changed asynchronously at different leks. It depended on neither the lek location (floodplain or watershed) nor the soil penetrability therein. A negative correlation was found between the bird numbers and the height of vegetation (n = 42; Rs = -0.52; p < 0.01) and that with the coverage of vegetation (n = 44; Rs = -0.56; p < 0.01) on the leks during the entire breeding season (May - June). Poisson regression has revealed a negative impact (p = 0.0162) of the average grass height on the bird numbers on the leks during the main period of activity of Great Snipes (May - the first 10 days of June). However, such relationships were not traced so clear by analyses of the movements of two marked males. A negative correlation between the bird numbers and the variation of grass height (n = 42; Rs = -0.48; p < 0.01) and a positive one between the bird numbers and the variation in grass cover (n = 44; Rs = 0.40; p < 0.01) were found for the entire breeding period (May - June). The numbers of Great Snipes positively correlated with the abundance of the lowest vegetation class (not higher than 10 cm) during the entire breeding period (n = 42; Rs = 0.51; p < 0.01) as well as during the period of maximal activity of Great Snipes (n = 30; Rs = 0.41; p < 0.05). A conclusion was made that the heterogeneity of the projective grass coverage and the presence of fairly large patches with the lowest vegetation rather than the grass height itself are of importance for Great Snipes when selecting sites for lekking.

Changes in the chemical composition of water of the Ural River (upstream) along the section of regulation by a large artificial reservoir (the Iriklinsky reservoir) are shown. Decreased concentrations of major ions, organics, nutrients, and, especially, compounds of metals (copper, manganese, iron and aluminum) in the area below the reservoir were recorded. It was noted that physicochemical processes inside the Iriklinsky reservoir occurring at low water exchange could be the possible causes of these changes of the considered parameters. The highest self-cleaning ability was revealed for iron and manganese, whilst the smallest one was for copper. It is offered to use a stability indicator (the average module of the correlation coefficients of hydrochemical parameters) for an assessment of the “health” of an aquatic ecosystem.

An approach to allow monitoring contamination of watercourses by registering changes in the space-time parameters of cells and their external structures by ATR-IR spectroscopy with the use of dialysis cultures of Synechococсus sp. PCC 6301 is offered.