Natural and medical sciences

This article focuses on the numerical concentration of certain groups of microorganisms in the brown forest soils of natural and urbanised ecosystems of the Kaliningrad Peninsula. An analysis of the microflora was performed in spring, summer, and autumn 2012. This paper presents the average annual data for each key area. It is shown that human-altered ecosystems are characterized by a higher than natural concentration of ammonifying microorganisms and actinomycetes. The numerical concentration of micromycetes in agrophitocenosis and beech-sorrel spruce forests is lower than in the soils of urban ecosystems.

This article presents an evaluation of the antioxidant status of plants with the use of the GDV-method under the toxic effect of cadmium. A high concentration of Сd in the soil is proven to stimulate the accumulation of anthocyans, carotenoids, and acorbic acid and to contribute to a reduction in the concentration of water-soluble antioxidants in the leaves of the plants under consideration. It is shown that GDV-entropy can be used as a principal characteristic of the state of a vegetative organism when estimating the antioxidant status of plants and the degree of their adaptation to the toxic effect of cadmium ions.

This paper addresses the problem of solid waste disposal and considers the impact of disposal sites on the urban environment. The author examines the role of microorganisms in the process of soil self-purification and provides data on the condition of the soil microflora in Kaliningrad according to the level of pollution, as well as the ways to study the soil microflora in the vicinity of the disposal site in the suburb of Alexander Kosmodemyanski in Kaliningrad.

This article focuses on a pool of water-soluble antioxidants in certain plants of the true grasses (Gramíneae) and legume (Fabaceae) families in the Kaliningrad region in connection with the environmental conditions of their habitat, namely, the varying distance to the Sea coast. It is shown that the level of water-soluble antioxidants was higher in the vegetative parts in the true grasses and the generative parts in the legumes with the exception of the Big-leaved Lupine (Lupinus polyphyllus (L)). The concentration of watersoluble antioxidants varied more widely in the Fabaceae than in the Gramíneae, whose antioxidant pool was more stable and less dependent on the growth conditions in terms of the distance to the Baltic Sea coast.

This paper focuses on the trends of a comparative analysis of statistical parameters of physical development of rural and urban school children in the Nizhniy Novgorod region. The results indicate that, against the background of the persistence of basic characteristics of growth processes in children and adolescents of the Nizhniy Novgorod region, both favourable (total body parameters of rural girls are close to those of urban ones, the high value of VC in rural children, increased carpal dynamometry values) and unfavourable (development disharmonisation, in particular, through an increase in the number of overweight children, susceptibility to hypertension and tachycardia in the city) changes in the physical development of modern school children are taking place.

This study reveals the nature of variations in the information status of liver tissue in dogs of reproductive age suffering fr om hepatic adenoma, liver cancer, and non-cancer diseases. It is shown that, in case of non-cancer pathological conditions, the liver tissue system mobilizes the existing structural adaptation resources while tending towards destruction. A decrease in the system reliability make it possible to perform a successful correction of the biosystem, i. e. treatment. In case of tumours, the liver tissue system becomes simplified, structured, and subject to growth, wh ereas the change in the reliability of such system decreases the possibility of successful treatment of the organ in case of such pathologies.

This article argues that, in the estuaries the South Baltic, the bivalve molluscs Mya arenaria are capable of consuming an average of 6.5 % of the water body primary production. A numerical assessment of the filtration rate of these molluscs shows that they can filter daily an average of 2.41 ± 1.01 m3 of water per a square meter of the river bed. During the vegetation season, molluscs can clear approximately 380 m3 of water in estuaries removing up to 558.9 ± 65.7 g of suspended organic matters.

This article argues that the population index of talitrid groups on the coast of the Curonian Spit (the village of Lesnoi) in April-September of 2011 improved in comparison to those of 2001—2003, which is indicative of a considerable positive effect of a reduction in recreational pressure on the Curonian Spit and its beaches.

This article investigates the state of chironomid communities in Lake Penkovoe, Pond Isakovsky, Pond Shkolny, and the Karasevka pond system in Kaliningrad in spring 2011. The authors provide new data on the species composition, abundance, and biomass of chironomidae. The Shannon, Simpson, Balushkin, and Margalef indices were calculated for the chironomid communities. The authors identified the dominant species in the communities of chironomids and evaluated the quality of water in the studied water bodies over the period under consideration on the basis of the species diversity of chironomidae.

On the basis of 1948—2011 materials, this article characterises the zooplankton of three large lakes of similar age and origin found at different trophic stages and in different landscapes of the Pskov region. It is shown that the structural features of the organization and direction of succession of zooplankton communities are directly dependent on the landscape and genesis of the lake basin and, in their turn, can be used as an indicator of the successional stage of the aquatic ecosystem.

This article describes the features of quantitative distribution of glucocorticoid steroid hormones — hydrocortisone and corticosterone – at different stages of the life cycle of the Mediterranean mussel (Mytilus galloprovincialis) and the European flat oyster (Ostrea eduliss). The author identifies a common pattern of hormone dynamics consisting in a reduction in the level of hormones in molluscs in the course of maturation. Interspecies differences in the ratio of hormone levels are described. It is suggested that glucocorticoids participate in the regulation of gametogenesis of the investigated species.

This article presents the results of a study of the ecology of Erithacus rubecula carried out in anthropogenic habitats of the Ryazan region in 200—2010. The results of research reveal a few distinctive features in the biology of this species depending on the degree of biotopes’ anthropogenic transformation. First of all, it concerns bird nutrition. As the degree of anthropogenic transformation increases, the diet of the species contains more synanthropic invertebrates. Some birds start feeding on man-made products and associate with people in the process of foraging. The difference in the reproduction biology of the species can be reduced to the use of man-made shelters for nesting.

This article presents data on the taxonomy of birds in the Kaliningrad region in comparison to the materials of taxonomic surveys of birds in Belarus and other areas in Europe. It is the first part of the work focusing on the issue of subspecies affiliation of some breeding species of the orders Falconiformes, Galliformes, Gruiformes, Charadriiformes, Strigiformes, Piciformes. The second part, which is to be published in 2014, will consider the order Passeriformes.

This article provides historical data on lichenological studies carried out in Kaliningrad since the pre-war period and presents a list of species that have been described as residing on the city’s territory. The authors conducted a taxonomic, ecological (according to the main substratum types), and biomorphological analysis of the lichen of Kaliningrad. The article contains a schematic map of lichen species distribution on the territory of Kaliningrad.

This article focuses on the temperature of various underlying surfaces (rubble-rock on hamadas, sand on the beds of temporary streams, plants) in the southern steppes of Mongolia. The authors present a comparative analysis of soil and plant temperature and address the issue of the impact of overgrowing of desert areas on climate change on Earth.

This paper introduces a new approach and criteria to the physical-geographical zoning of the Kaliningrad region. Landscape areas are identified according to their morphological structure. The article summarizes numerous publications and observation records, as well as the results of the author’s field studies.

This article presents arguments to demonstrate that not only background soils (podzol, black earth), but also introzonal ones, which are irregularly deposited among the predominant soils, are subject to latitudinal zonality.

This paper attempts to analyse the existing regional disparities with the help of the proposed population and territory performance indices. A regional analysis is carried out on the basis of index calculations; certain territorial groups of regions are identified. The author examines the state regional

This article analyses the basic ethnic groups of the Penza region and identifies the demographic processes taking place within each group. The author comes to a conclusion that these processes are determined by the features of the historical development and socioeconomic standing of the ethnic groups.

This article considers the possibility of using the gravity model when analysing modern interregional migration flows. The author analyses the case of migration patterns of the Novgorod and Pskov regions with the help of the gravity model method.