The article reports on Nicolai Ivanovich Vavilov’s Presidency of the Geographic Society of Soviet Union and on the significant role of the Society in preserving Vavilov’s legacy. It includes the table of Vavilov’s expeditions and excursions, with their scientific results. Exact visiting dates are given, when available. The article reports on Vavilov’s geographic approach to his biological (botanical) investigations, which resulted in the discovery of the centers of crop origins and diversity, in geographic experiments with crops, founding of crop ecology and geographic systematics, in writing a regional geography book. Vavilov lifted the status of the Geographic Society to All-Union level, modernized its structure, and raised its popularity. After his arrest and confiscation of his apartment in 1940, Geographic Society saved and preserved his personal library. During the years when the very name of Nikolay Vavilov could not be mentioned, only two publications, on the Geographic Society centenary, contained materials on N. Vavilov and his scientific achievements.

This article is dedicated to main features of geographical zones of Eurasian plains during the Mid-Holocene Optimum (around 6 thousand years ago). It is shown that differences of geographical (including vegetation) zones structure of that time and of current time were caused by two factors. On the one hand, the zone boundaries changed under the influence of global warming. This factor most clearly appeared in the Northern regions of Eurasia, where the Northern forest boundary moved in high latitudes, as well as in the East of the continent. On the other hand, large territories of geographical zones (compared with their present position) appeared due to moisture changes. Better moisture resulted in a significant reduction of the desert landscape in Central and South Asia and the Arabian Peninsula. The steppes expansion to the North was caused by certain decrease of moisture in the transition area of forest-steppes and broad-leave and deciduous forests. Substitution of sclerophyllous forests by broad-leaved forests was caused by the changes in intra-annual precipitation regime in the area. The article contains the map of geographical zones of Eurasia made for a time-slice of 6 thousand years ago.

The aim of the paper is the assessment of epidemic potential of the European territory of Russia (ETR) based on the complex of natural focal diseases and the identification of the main spatiotemporal characteristics of their manifestations. For the analysis there were selected seven model infections which are the most widespread in the ETR and posing a threat to public health. The data were extracted from the Rospotrebnadzor statistics concerning the absolute number of cases and morbidity of the population (per 100 000 of the population) for the years 1997-2015 in 56 administrative territorial units of the ETR. For assessment of the epidemic potential of the regions the nosological integral index had been calculated, which takes into account the epidemic intensity (incidence per 100 000 habitants), the frequency of diseases and loymopotential of the territory (number of disease entities in the region which is the subject of the Russian Federation). An integrated assessment map is based on the results of the analysis. The highest epidemic potential or risk of contagion is indicated in Vologda region, Republic of Udmurtia and Perm region. For the republics of the North Caucasus Federal District the epidemic potential is estimated as low. Usage of the suggested methods allows to evaluate potential hazard of the area based on the complex of natural focal diseases, estimate the variety of existing nosological entities, the degree of stability of the manifestations of a particular infection and draw a conclusion about the epidemic potential of the analyzed regions, or the risk of infecting the population with natural focal diseases.

The paper concludes the series of three publications in «Izvestiya RGO» concerning the coastal landscape of the western and central parts of the Kara Sea. As a general conclusion of the study the physical-geographic differentiation of the seacoast is proposed. This zoning takes into account mainly neotectonic movements and accumulation of coastal marine sediments. The position of studied areas in the system of vegetation zoning is also discussed. The studies are based on field observations made by author at 17 points of ground survey in August, 2013, large-scale aerial pictures data (5 flights with a total length of more than 4000 km) and literary information as well.

Historic-geographical regionalization is a cultural landscape regionalization performed for the certain period of history. It is based on evidence defined by historical maps, literary and archival sources. For this regionalization researchers should look for the periods in the past, which have the complete and accurate descriptions and cartographic images. This article solves the problem of developing the historic-geographical regionalization of the coastal area of Ladoga lake based on historical maps and descriptions made by academician N. Ozeretskovsky at the end of the XVIII century. Eight historic-geographical areas were highlighted and characterized. This regionalization allowed to reveal the specific of territory development and nature management in the Ladoga region after the foundation of St. Petersburg. This study shows possible use of works N. Ozeretskovsky for the development of the historic-geographical regionalization of certain regions of the European territory of Russia for the turn of XVIII-XIX centuries.

The spatial aspects of the pre-war demographic history of the Karelian Isthmus on the base of a wide range of demographic statistical sources of the USSR and Finland (including unpublished sources) were analyzed in this paper. In this research we evaluated data on the population dynamics of the region as a whole and of its districts. We showed that the Karelian Isthmus in 1920-1939 was characterized by a moderate rate of population growth which was slightly less than the average index for Finland. The demographic development of the isthmus was evidently uneven; the highest growth rates were demonstrated by the areas adjacent to the towns and rural industrial centers. By 1939 the population within the territory of the isthmus belonged to Finland (which is now the part of the Leningrad region or oblast) was about 295 thousand people. At that time the population density here was medium with the increasing to higher density near the towns and industrial centers. During the short period of 1940-1941 the pre-war demographic potential of the territories annexed by the Soviet Union was half restored, primarily due to urban population. In general, the economic development of the isthmus dramatically decreased during this period. During the Finnish occupation of the isthmus in 1941-1944 the pre-war demographic potential and the peculiarities of its territorial organization have been restored, but only for a short period of time.