The article is dedicated to summarizing the results of the inventory of the plant collection at the Botanical Garden of the Immanuel Kant Baltic Federal University (IKBFU). Over the past 20 years, the taxonomic composition has nearly doubled. New collection sections have been created (for fruit plants, magnolias, lilacs, rhododendrons, medicinal plants, and others), and the reconstruction of the greenhouse collection has significantly enriched the assortment of tropical, subtropical, and arid plants. The inventory was conducted using standard methodologies applied for plant accounting in botanical gardens. The plant names comply with the requirements of the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature (2017), taking into account the modern International Taxonomic System of Classification (APG IV) and the database of the International Plant Taxonomy Encyclopedic Internet Project (The Plant List). As a result of the inventory of the taxonomic composition of the collections, a new “Catalogue of Plants of the Botanical Garden of IKBFU for the 120th Anniversary of its Founding” has been prepared for publication. The catalogue provides an informational resource on the biodiversity of the garden’s collection, a systematic characterization of taxa, and the scientific organization of the objects.

This article presents the results of a study into the influence of the diet, air temperature and relative air humidity, and soil temperature on the average weight of Helix pomatia in captivity. It was shown that vegetables included in the mixed leaf-vegetable diet mitigated the effect of a high air temperature and a low relative humidity. It was established that the air temperature and relative humidity had opposite effects on weight gain in Helix pomatia. The increase in temperature predetermined the weight loss. Despite the high temperature, a humidity of over 75% caused all the molluscs gain weight regardless of their diet.

Vegetation cover has a noticeable effect on surface reflectivity and local microclimate in arid areas of Mongolian Gobi. Over the past decades, various shrub species (Haloxylon ammodendron and Calligonum mongolicum) have appeared on the previously unvegetated hamada. The climatic consequences of bush encroachment are still poorly understood. Using the experimental data, this article estimates the reflectance of plants dominating in Mongolia’s dry steppe, desert-steppe, and desert ecosystems. The average values of the total reflection coefficient at visible and infrared wavelengths range from 19.7% ± 1.4% to 20.1% ± 1.7% in plants growing in desert-steppe ecosystems, and from 25.0% ± 0.9% to 24.8% ± 1.5% on the bare surface. The difference between the reflectance of vegetated and unvegetated surfaces reaches 5%. Therefore, in daylight hours, the vegetated day surface loses less solar energy than the non-vegetated surface does. This phenomenon may be defined as a quasi- or secondary greenhouse effect – in daylight hours, solar energy is retained on the surface by vegetation and this contributes to the temperature increase. Such an impulse, which seems to be insignificantly small at first glance, triggers a series of climatic variations leading to a change in the structure of the radiation and heat balance as well as the climate not only in the desert-steppe and desert ecosystems but also in Central Asia as a whole. All this may explain the 1.2-2.3°C increase in air temperatures in the Gobi observed over the last 25 years.

The current state of the dry-steppe, desert-steppe, mountain-steppe, and desert ecosystems of the Gobi Desert (Mongolia) has been studied. In the dry steppes and steppe deserts, not only is there a decrease in the phytocenotic indicators of plant communities and deterioration of the state of dominants, but also a change in their composition has been revealed. Thus, there was a replacement of typical grass species of dry steppes (Stipa krylovii, Agropyron cristatum, etc.) with desert-steppe species (Allium polyrrhizum). In steppe deserts, the role of herbal species (Stipa glareosa and Cleistogenes songorica) in the community structure significantly decreased, and the proportion of desert shrubs (Anabasis brevifolia and Salsola passerina) increased. The vegetation of true and extremely arid deserts turned to be the most resistant to aridization and increased pasture loads. The changes were revealed only in the Sympegma community, where a significant decrease in the abundance of Sympegma regelii was observed. A mismatch has been found between the values of the NDVI index obtained remotely from Landsat 8 images and the phytocoenotic indices determined in field studies. The data from field spectrometry of the dominant species and the surface of soils and plant communities showed that the soil background plays a significant role in formation of spectral images of plant communities, especially with low projective cover.

The Russian Federation has a unique landscape diversity that requires detailed study, rational use and protection. The solution of these problems is impossible both without research, and without educating and involving general public into discussions and decision-making at communal, municipal and regional levels. Unfortunately, there is no unanimity on topical issues of conservation and landscape management. All this hampers the adoption of well-balanced management decisions for the preservation, development and improvement of landscapes both at the level of government structures and at the municipal level. Given this the goal of the article is to attempt at providing a comprehensive analysis of the issue related not only to the solution of problems of landscape protection and rational nature management, but also to possible ways of organizing international landscape centers for conservation of natural, natural historical and cultural landscapes both at the national and at the regional level. The article focuses on the Kaliningrad region as an example which justifies a modular approach to solving such issues, on new technological grounds (MOOC, LMS, EdTech, GreenField). The basic principles of the work of international landscape centers are formulated: scientific, interdisciplinary, mass, open, communicative, institutional, participatory, resourceful.

The article summarizes years of experience of geographical situation modelling of coastal marine systems in the Baltic Sea region and adjacent territories. Kaliningrad universities and academic institutions have done extensive research on the diversity of approaches and models of the regional geographical situations as well as on identifying the most promising coastal marine areas. Some of the models presented in the present paper are qualitative, while others are empirical and statistical ones. However, the majority of the models can be referred to as forms of graphic and image mapping. The significance of the regional models lies in their specificity, a more detailed character (compared to the generalist ones) and the possibility of using them to back up managerial decisions in critical and emergency situations in order to minimize the negative effects of natural (storms, floods, earthquakes, etc.) and anthropogenic emergency situations. The authors developed a matrix classification attributable to a particular class of models for the situations leading to uncertain outcomes. The authors suggest using numerical methods combined with the empirical and statistical models for the assessment of the impact of industrial fishing on marine environment, minimizing the consequences of storms, floods and others factors. Special attention is paid to the modelling of climate change and geo-ecological consequences, as well as to atlas mapping and landscape planning. As a result of the geographical situation analysis the authors got new insights into the solar-terrestrial links, marineterrestrial ecosystems, global and regional processes related to climate change, oceanisation, the vulnerability of natural systems under the increasing pressure of anthropogenic activities, and continuously increasing risks presented by industrial agriculture and other types of land use.

The temperature of the underlying surface in the ecosystems of Mongolian arid zones has been determined. It is shown that underlying surface temperature was heterogeneous. The corrective input of biota on the temperature is revealed. Attention is paid to insufficient information on the temperature of mountain ecosystems underlying surface.

The article summarizes years of experience of geosituational modelling of coastal marine systems in the Baltic Sea region and adjacent territories. Kalinin-grad universities and academic institutions have done extensive research on the diversity of approaches and models of the regional geosituations as well as on identifying the most promising coastal marine areas. Some of the models presented in the present paper are qualitative, while others are empirical and statistical ones. However, the majority of the models can be referred to as forms of graphic and image mapping. The significance of the regional models lies in their specificity, a more detailed character (compared to the generalist ones) and the possibility of using them to back up managerial decisions in critical and emergency situations in order to minimize the negative effects of natural (storms, floods, earthquakes, etc.) and anthropogenic emergency situations. The authors developed a matrix classification attributable to a particular class of models for the situations leading to uncertain outcomes. The authors suggest using numerical methods combined with the empirical and statistical models for the assessment of the impact of industrial fishing on marine environment, minimizing the consequences of storms, floods and others factors. Special attention is paid to the modelling of climate change and geo-ecological consequences, as well as to atlas mapping and landscape planning. As a result of the geosituational analysis the authors got new insights into the solar-terrestrial links, marine-terrestrial ecosystems, global and regional processes related to climate change, oceanization, the vulnerability of natural systems under the increasing pressure of anthropogenic activities, and continuously increasing risks presented by industrial agriculture and other types of land use.

Data on the temperature of the underlying surface in the Gobi ecosystems (Mongolia) are presented. The role of the biotic factor in changes in the temperature of the underlying surface in the desert zone of Central Asia is shown to have grown.

The article summarizes years of experience of geosituational modelling of coastal marine systems in the Baltic Sea region and adjacent territories. Kaliningrad universities and academic institutions have done extensive research on the diversity of approaches and models of the regional geosituations as well as on identifying the most promising coastal marine areas. Some of the models presented in the present paper are qualitative, while others are empirical and statistical ones. However, the majority of the models can be referred to as forms of graphic and image mapping. The significance of the regional models lies in their specificity, a more detailed character (compared to the generalist ones) and the possibility of using them to back up managerial decisions in critical and emergency situations in order to minimize the negative effects of natural (storms, floods, earthquakes, etc.) and anthropogenic emergency situations. The authors developed a matrix classification attributable to a particular class of models for the situations leading to uncertain outcomes. The authors suggest using numerical methods combined with the empirical and statistical models for the assessment of the impact of industrial fishing on marine environment, minimizing the consequences of storms, floods and others factors. Special attention is paid to the modelling of climate change and geo-ecological consequences, as well as to atlas mapping and landscape planning. As a result of the geosituational analysis the authors got new insights into the solar-terrestrial links, marine-terrestrial ecosystems, global and regional processes related to climate change, oceanization, the vulnerability of natural systems under the increasing pressure of anthropogenic activities, and continuously increasing risks presented by industrial agriculture and other types of land use.

В статье на основе многолетнего комплексного экологического обследования дана оценка значения уникальной трансграничной экосистемы для организации особо охраняемой природной территории регионального значения – государственного природного заказника «Балтийская коса». Отмечена уникальность Балтийской косы как геоморфологического объекта и наличие редких и исчезающих видов растений и животных, включенных в Красные книги Российской Федерации, Балтийского региона и Калининградской области. Территория предполагаемого заказника является экологически неблагоприятной, но резервы сохранения природных комплексов на ней не исчерпаны. Создание на части Балтийской косы особо охраняемой природной территории поможет минимизировать антропогенные воздействия и обеспечить долговременное функционирование природных комплексов. doi 10.17072/2079-7877-2016-3-121-126 Поступила в редакцию: 01.06.2016