The article briefly describes the history of the Green Belt of Fennoscandia (GBF), a system of existing and planned specially protected areas (PAs) located along the state border (on both sides) between Russia and Finland, Russia and Norway, and presents some results of the 30-year research of natural complexes and unique natural objects located on its territory. The information on PAs of the GBF was updated and its boundaries were specified. Based on the analysis of the accumulated data, the authors assess the current state of the GBF and the prospects for its development, as well as indicate the objectives of further research. The authors emphasize that the GBF, as a system of interconnected protected areas, has now become not only a special phenomen on in the field of ecology, but also an important real system-forming unit of the future ecological framework of Northern Europe, and the concept of green belts should become one of the key elements of the state policy in the field of environmental protection.

The Lovozero Mountains are one of the largest mountain ranges in the Murmansk Region, characterized by a high level of botanical diversity as well as sozological significance. Based on the specimens of herbarium of the Polar-Alpine Botanical Garden-Institute (KPABG), collected in the Lovozero Mountains, 32 out of 37 protected species recorded in literature were identified. The whole information from the herbarium labels was digitalized, geo-referencing was performed according to a standardized protocol. The article shows that herbarium collections are distributed fairly evenly in the Lovozero Mountains, in contrast to the Khibiny Mountains. Regarding protected areas, the most representative herbarium specimens are from the Seydyavvr Nature Reserve, as well as from the area of the botanical natural monument 'Arnica Plants and Poppies in the Indichjok Gorge'. A considerable proportion of protected species habitats is located outside the existing protected areas, which confirms the necessity to reorganize the Seydyavvr State Nature Reserve into the Seydyavvr Nature Parkand increase its area. A high concentration of protected species, confirmed by herbarium specimens, is associated with the north-western part of the mountain range on Karnasurt Mountain near the Lovozersky Mining and Processing Plant. The spatial analysis revealed the necessity of special botanical research of the protected areas in the Lovozero Mountains, as well as a detailed study of the previous records, especially in the areas of active economic and recreational activities.

As a result of studies of the genus Dactylorhiza undertaken by Alexey B. Shipunov, numerous "northern tetraploids" – plants combining the genomes of diploid D. fuchsii and tetraploid D. maculata s.str., were found among the material from North European Russia. However, it remained unclear whether non-hybrid D. fuchsii was represented in the northern part of the genus' range, as well as what the morphological distinctive features of plants with different ploidy levels were. Cariology and morphometric studies on material from the Murmansk Region showed that both diploid (2n=40) and tetraploid (2n=80) plants occur here, and plants with different ploidy, as a rule, do not occur together. Diploids were associated with D. fuchsii, but their high morphological similarity with tetraploids was noted, apparently due to the smoothing of morphological differences in "northern tetraploids", as well as due to the weak ecological divergence of species of the genus Dactylorhiza in the northern part of their range. The best distinguishing features of plants with different ploidy, established by methods of mathematical statistics, are considered in detail in the paper.

Data on 124 findings of 25 regionally red-listed species of vascular plants collected in the Tersky and Lovozersky Districts of Murmansk Region in areas with Pomor settlements and in Pomor fishing grounds are reported. The surveys covered the abandoned villages of Porya Guba and Kuzreka, villages Kashkarantsy, Chavanga and Sosnovka, as well as areas along the Umba-Varzuga road between Creeks Ludoshny and Kashkarantsky, seacoast stretch from Tochilennyi Creek area to Lodochnyi Creek, from Krivoy Creek area to the Rombach River and from the Pulonga River to Krasnyi Nos Cape near the mouth of the Ponoy River. New localities were detected for 8 very rare species: Armeria scabra, Carex recta, Comastoma tenellum, Cotoneaster antoninae, Cotoneaster laxiflorus, Dactylorhiza incarnata, Pilosella erratica, and Helianthemum arcticum . The latter was found in the region for the second time. Seven species were registered within the boundaries of the nature monument Ametisty mysa Korabl': Cotoneaster antoninae, C. cinnabarinus, C. laxiflorus, Dianthus arenarius, Pilosella erratica, Sedum acre , and Thymus subarcticus.

The article presents a brief background of the botanical study of the Teriberka Village environs and the studies for substantiating the establishment of a protected area - Teriberka Nature Park. The information on the locations of rare and protected species of plants, fungi and lichens in the Teriberka Nature Park and its surroundings was summarized based on the analysis of herbarium and archival materials, literature sources and fieldwork in 2020. Overall, 22 species of plants, lichens and fungi from the Red Data Book of the Murmansk Region and four species from the Red Data Book of the Russian Federation were identified inside the park and in its immediate vicinities. There are 13 regionally red-listed species within the boundaries of the Teriberka Nature Park, two of them listed also in the Red Data Book of the Russian Federation. The most valuable habitats in terms of protecting rare plants, lichens and fungi were identified.

An annotated list of bryophytes of the Buzuluk Bor National Park within Orenburg Region was compiled based on field observations, herbarium collections, and data from the literature. This territory comprises the largest pine forest in the steppe zone of Northern Eurasia and the only “island” forest area with relict landscapes in steppes on the left bank of the Volga River. The bryophyte flora of this territory is made up of 18 liverworts and 68 mosses; six of the moss species are regionally red-listed. Two previous records (Grimmia plagiopodia Hedw., Polytrichum strictum Brid.) are questionable.

The article provides information about new findings of fungi included in the Red Data Book of the Murmansk Region after the publication of its second edition (2014): Cantharellus cibarius, Clavariadelphus pistillaris, C. truncatus, Clavicorona taxophila, Cortinarius violaceus, Dichomitus squalens, Flaviporus citrinellus, Hericium coralloides, Junghuhnia collabens, Leptoporus mollis, Sidera lenis, Skeletocutis lilacina. It is suggested that the rarity category for Skeletocutis lilacina should be lowered. Craterellus cornucopioides, Haploporus odorus, and Phaeoclavulina roellinii are proposed as candidates for inclusion in the next edition of the regional Red Data Book.

Mount Lysaya is the highest landform (399.4 m) in the hilly plains with a monotonous topography of glacial genesis in the vicinity of the Polyarnye Zori Town. Three vegetation zones are well expressed on the slopes of Mt Lysaya: mountain pine and spruce forests, subarctic birch forests, and mountain tundra. The vegetation is typical for low treeless mountains “tunturi”, characteristic of Eastern Fennoscandia. Nine species listed in Red Data Book of the Murmansk Region were identified here: bryophytes Metzgeria furcata, Protolophozia elongata, Buxbaumia aphylla, Tetrodontium repandum, vascular plants Asplenium viride, Cryptogramma crispa, Carex glacialis, Thymus serpyllum subsp. tanaënsis, and Pinguicula villosa. Two vegetation types are included in the European Red Data Book of Habitats: E1.1b Cryptogam- and annual-dominated vegetation on siliceous rock outcrops, and E2.3 Mountain haymeadow. At present, the plant cover of this ter ritory is exposed to human impact, which leads to a degradation of the habitats of rare and protected species, and a decline of their populations. The area of Mt Lysaya meets the criteria for regional important plant areas. It is necessary to establish it as a regional nature monument.

A zoning concept of Polar-Alpine Botanical Garden-Institute (PABGI) (Russia, Murmansk Region) as a specially protected area is presented. The activities of industrial manufactures in the region did not actually cause a significant negative impact on the ecosystems within its territory, making it possible to preserve the ecosystems typical for the Khibiny. The species richness of phototrophic organisms at the PABGI area is higher than the equal per squares sites in the region. The study presents an analysis of current and types of economic activities that entail a violation of the safety of objects of protection. A differentiated protection regime has been proposed for solution of several heterogeneous problems: the preservation of natural ecosystems, the creation and operation of plant Nurseries, scientific studies, environmental education and natural tourism. The proposed zoning allows the implementation of management for the maintenance, reconstruction, or building of new objects on the territory of the PABSI in the future. The analysis of the territory was carried out on the basis of mapping the locations of species included in the Red Data Books of the region and Russia on the basis of data from the herbaria of the Polar-Alpine Botanical Garden-Institute (KPABG), the Institute of Industrial Ecology of the North (INEP) and the CRIS information system (http://www.kpabg.ru/cris), taking into account the conservation status, excursion and tourist routes, training sites for climbers. The following zones are allocated on the territory: administrative, scientific-exposition, specially protected and reserved. The most stringent protection regime is determined for the protected area, the softest—for the administrative one. The proposed zoning should contribute to both the unconditional preservation of natural complexes and protected species and the conduct of scientific research and the successful functioning of the PABGI as a scientific organization and sustainable recreational use of the territory.

The Khibiny Mountains are a territory with a high botanic diversity and include value habitat types. We analyzed the representativeness of the herbaria of the Polar-Alpine Botanical Garden-Institute (KPABG) and the Institute of Industrial ecology Problems of the North (INEP) in relation to protected species of vascular plants in the Khibiny. The collections include 34 of 49 protected species recorded in literature. In the course of the analysis, the complete information from the herbarium labels was converted into electronic format and prepared to include into the database of the “Flora of Russian Lapland”. In the absence of precise geographic coordinates on the labels, geo-referencing was performed according to a standardized protocol using topographic maps of the Khibiny Mts at a scale of 1:100,000, archival materials (field diaries and reports) and high-resolution satellite images of the earth’s surface. Most of the regionally protected species in herbaria were collected in the most accessible southern part of the Khibiny, near by the human transformed territories and along a dirt road through the mountain pass. regional botanical Natural Monuments and federal Protected Area Polar-Alpine Botanical Garden-Institute are among the best studied. The herbaria include specimens collected over almost hundred-of-years periods and almost no specimens of protected species from the “Khibiny” National Park.

The Green Belt of Fennoscandia (GBF) is the Russian-Finnish-Norwegian border region with forest areas and mire massifs almost unaffected by human activity. In the early 1990s, the concept of the Green Belt of Fennoscandia was put forward as a result of joint work of researchers and experts in Fennoscandia and discussion of sustainable development principles for border regions. Its main aim was to have public interests united in the fields of economic development and nature conservation. The cores of the GBF are protected areas (PAs), of federal and regional status, and ecologically connected with the Pan-European Ecological Network (Natura 2000) as well as with Norwegian PAs.

Eighty seven recent important findings of 56 species of vascular plants, liverworts, lichens, and fungi in Murmansk Region are reported. A record was considered important if it was a species previously unknown from the region, red-listed in Russia and/orMurmansk Region, new for the given protected areas, represented another rare species known from not more than five locations in Murmansk Region, or the northernmostlocation of a specie in Europe or globally. Two fungal species (Geoglossum umbratile Sacc. and Sabuloglossum arenarium,) are reported for Murmansk Region for the first time. The vascular plant Eritrichium villosum reappeared on Rybachiy Peninsula after more than a century break. The new records for five species of lichens (Absconditella duplicella, Asahinea chrysantha, Dermatocarpon meiophyllizum, Placidiopsis pseudocinerea, Rhizoplaca chrysoleuca), the liverwort Fossombronia foveolata and the vascular plant Elatine hydropiper represent the second locations detected in Murmansk Region. The species detected for the first time in the Pasvik Reserve are the lichens Calicium viride, Peltigera scabrosella, and the vascular plants Avenula pubescens, Hieracium adlerzii, H. lapponicum, H. penduliforme, H. pendulum, and Myriophyllum verticillatum); three vascular plant species (Draba alpina, Draba nivalis, Saxifraga foliolosa) are new for the Lapland State Nature Reserve; four lichen species (Chaenotheca gracillima, C. subroscida, Ramalina thrausta, Lobaria pulmonaria) are new for the Kaita Zakaznik; threeliverworts (Cephaloziella elachista, Heterogemma laxa, Kurzia pauciflora) and five vascular plants (Carex laxa, Eriophorum gracile, Hammarbya paludosa, Isoёtes echinospora и Pinguicula villosa) are new for the Ponoy Zoological Zakaznik. New data are reported about the nationally and regionally red-listed species Bryoria fremontii, Lobaria pulmonaria, Stereocaulon dactylophyllum, and Isoёtes echinospora, and about 13 more species listed in the Red Data Book of Murmansk Region.

Since 2015, two platforms for popular science lectures have been constantly operating in Apatity. The first one is supported by the head of the Apatity and based in the House of Culture named after V.K. Egorov. The second platform «The land where I live»is situatedin the city library named after L. A. Gladina. Since April 12, with the beginning of the quarantine, the both lecture platforms have moved into a ZOOM virtual format. In 2020 the Kola Science Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences has got an official YouTube channel. It was used for popular science lectures, in the course of which scientists would share results of research, analytical data, historical facts in a simple and informal language; 27 online lectures in total.

The studies of cryptogams in the Green Belt of Fennoscandia (GBF) within Murmansk Region are reviewed and summarized. This territory, important in terms of biodiversity conservation, encompasses 13 operating protected areas, yet remains insufficiently studied. At first, since the mid-19 th century, Finnish scientists played the key role in detecting the cryptogam biota of the GBF. They organized and carried out field surveys, as well as further taxonomic identifications and treatments of individual groups. Later, in the 20 th century, intensive studies of cryptogams were associated with economic developments in the region, the establishment and activities of biological institutions in Murmansk Region: Polar-Alpine Botanical Garden-Institute and Institute of North Industrial Ecology Problems of the Kola Science Centre, Russian Academy of Sciences, science departments of strict nature reserves. At the beginning of the 21 st century, Forest Research Institute and Institute of Biology of the Karelian Research Centre RAS became involved in the studies. The research mostly focused on the general biodiversity exploration of the territory, but at the same time some new taxa were discovered within various groups of organisms. An analysis of the current state of knowledge shows that algae and fungi in the GBF within Murmansk Region have been studied rather fragmentarily, and the known species composition does not reflect their real diversity. Lichens, mosses and liverworts of the territory have been revealed to a much greater extent. The Pasvik Strict Nature Reserve, the Ainov Islands of Kandalakshsky Strict Nature Reserve, the Nature Park The Rybachy and the Sredny Peninsulas and the regional nature reserve (zakaznik) Kutsa are the best studied areas, and the bulk of the cryptogam diversity of the GBF is concentrated there.

Nature monument "Evtrofnoye BolotoYuzhnogo Prikhibinya (Eutrophic Fen at the Southern Foothills of the Khibiny Mountains)" was established in 1980. It is situated 1.5 km to the south-east of the Khibiny Mountains. It includes a complex of herb-and-sphagnum-dominated strings and herb-and-brown moss-dominated flarks, spring-fed willow shrubs and sedge-and-forbs-dominated communities in the central part of mire complex, as well as open dwarf shrubs-and-sphagnum-dominated spruce woodland in the mire margins. The mire can be referred to as a "mesotrophic and eutrophic herb-brown moss spring fen", which belongs to the group of boreal East European types of "herb-brown moss fens". As far as the mire complex is situated on the slope of a glacial deposit hill, this is a variant of a sloping fen. The peat layer is thin, 20-40 cm on average. The mosaic of mire features depends on the outline of the mineral bottom and groundwater discharges. The flora of the nature monument is very rich, namely 156 species of vascular plants, 62 mosses and 40 liverworts, i. e. more than in any other mire in the Murmansk Region. The high number of species in the mire is due to the diversity of habitats, water and nutrient supply of the mire, as well as to the high level of knowledge on the flora of vascular plants and bryophytes of this fen. There grow three species from the Red Data Book of the Murmansk Region: Epilobium alsinifolium and E. davuricum with the "rare" species status (3), and Dactylorhiza incarnata with the "vulnerable" status (2), as well as three species (Equisetum scirpoides, Eriophorum latifolium and Saxifraga aizoides) from the list of species demanding special care for their natural state in the Murmansk Region. The main mission of the nature monument is to conserve rare plant species and the eutrophic fen mire complex in their natural state. In general, the anthropogenic pressure here is low, but vicinity to roads and railways makes the mire complex and its species vulnerable, mainly in the case of a change in the hydrological regime.

The diversity and distribution of rare and threatened fungi, lichens, mosses, liverworts and vascular plants listed in the Red Data Books of the Murmansk Region (regionally red-listed) and Russia (nationally red-listed) within the Murmansk part of the Green Belt of Fennoscandia (GBF) are discussed. Records include 261 regionally red-listed species (8 species of fungi, 57 lichens, 31 liverworts, 55 mosses, and 110 vascular plants), i. e. 63.5 % of the total pool of red-listed species, and 17 nationally red-listed species (4 lichens, 5 liverworts, 1 moss and 7 vascular plants). Protected areas harbor 17 of the 30 nationally red-listed species known from the Murmansk Region, and 219 of the 411 regionally red-listed species, proving that protected areas inside GBF play an essential role in nature conservation in the Murmansk Region. The protected areas of greatest conservation significance for a majority of the analyzed groups are the Kutsa Nature Reserve (Zakaznik), Pasvik Stat Nature Reserve and Poluostrova Rybachy and Sredny Nature Park. For 43 red-listed species there are no records from protected areas inside GBF, including such species rare in the Murmansk Region as Peltigera lyngei, Carexatherodes, Botrychium lanceolatum, Lomatogonium rotatum, Draba nivalis, D. lactea, Flaviporus ci-trinellus, Skeletocutis lilacina, Chaenothecopsis fennica, Frullania tamarisci, Scapania simmonsii, Rhabdoweisia fugax, Tortula mucronifolia, Tanacetum bipinnatum, etc.). The priority steps to be taken to secure the preservation of rare and vulnerable species populations are reorganization of the Kutsa Nature Reserve into a Nature Park and alteration of the boundaries of the Poluostrova Rybachy and Sredny Nature Park.

The history of protected areas (PA) in the Murmansk part of the Green Belt of Fennoscandia (GBF) started back in the late 19th century. The progress and properties of the PA network are associated with the history of the neighboring states and evolution of nature conservation ideas. The current PA network in GBF includes two strict nature reserves, two nature parks, three integrated regional nature reserves (zakazniks) and six regional nature monuments. Taken together, they cover 475 911 hectares, i. e. 16.4 % of the total area of GBF in the Murmansk Region. To optimize the protected areas network in this GBF ecological corridor, it is first of all necessary to establish the Vuorjema Federal Zakaznik and lonn-N'yugoajv Regional Zakaznik. The Vuorjema Federal Zakaznik together with the planned Norwegian PA Grense-Jakobselv will constitute an important node of the international environmental protection network. The Ionn-N'yugoajv Regional Zakaznik will complement the PA system together with Finnish Urho Kekkonen National Park and Laplandsky Les Zakaznik. It is also necessary to complete the reorganization of the Kutsa Zakaznik into the nature park with the prospect of organizing the bilateral Kutsa-Oulanka-Paanajärvi park. For the protected area network to function effectively, it is necessary to confer the status of high conservation value forests on the forest ecosystems along the national borders. Recent additions to Russian national forest legislation in regard to waterside protection forests significantly lower their environmental and conservation value.

The potential of ecological tourism as one of the drivers for the development of the Green Belt of Fennoscandia (GBF) was assessed, taking the Murmansk Region as the example. The main factors contributing to and impeding the development of ecotourism in the Murmansk part of GBF were determined. To create an effective network of tourist facilities, a framework is needed permitting to make notable tourist products and at the same time maximize the effect from funds and efforts aimed at resolving issues that hinder the development of ecotourism. Protected areas with a high ecotourism potential can become the stepping stones in this framework. Only four existing protected areas are characterized by high appeal for ecotourists, robustness given that protection regulations are fulfilled, and have no restrictions on recreation. Ecotourism development there is not only possible, but also advisable. They are the nature park "Rybachy and Sredny Peninsulas", Kutsa Nature Reserve (Zakaznik), Pasvik Stat Nature Reserve and "Waterfall on the Shuonijoki River" Nature Monument. Three promising areas for the development of tourism and recreation in the Murmansk part of GBF have been identified, and the characteristic features of each of them are described.