In 2016, the publishing house «Feoriya» published the Atlas of the Udmurt Republic - voluminous cartographic product including more than 300 maps, text tabs, drawings and pictures. Two traditional sections, natural and socio-economic, are presented in the Atlas; however, their contents are much better than in the cartographic editions of the past years. There is a series of maps dedicated to the geo-ecological state of different regions of the republic. Socio-economic section is composed in the modern key: along with the maps of economic objects the materials concerning the development of small business, services, education, health care and tourism are presented as well. The historical and cultural sections of the Atlas inform about the past and present of the Udmurts and other peoples inhabiting Udmurt Republic. The Atlas includes extensive reference material and has the electronic version posted on the website of the Russian Geographical Society.

The environmental consequences of the transformation of the agricultural nature management in post-Soviet Russia have been carried out in the regional context. It has been ascertained, that more than half of the regions have changed the livestock on crop specialization. The comparison of the regional indices (1990-2014) of the production of agricultural products and indices of used resources (acreage, livestock and fertilizer application) has been made. The phenomenon of environmental and resource «dissonance» in the agrarian sector, leading to degradation of agro-landscapes, has been revealed. It has been ascertained, that the more successful a regional agriculture is developing, the higher is the resource and environmental «dissonance». Two groups of regions are revealed which differ by diametrically opposed environmental trajectories: 1) regions of accelerated «primitivization» of agriculture, where one can expect changes in regional climatic characteristics; 2) the regions of Central-Chernozem zone in which the over-exploitation of agricultural landscapes is threatened by their accelerated environmental degradation.

The trend towards the coastalization of populations and economies has been studied since the 19th century. Soviet scholars started to discuss the topic in the 1960-1970s. However, the effect of the sea on settlement systems and the geography of production have not been studied sufficiently at the micro-level. Until recently, the problem was not addressed in the context of the Kaliningrad region. This article presents the results of a study of the settlement structure and population change in the Kaliningrad region, depending on the proximity to the sea. The study employed the methods of cartographic, economic and statistical analysis. The effect of the sea is the strongest within the 20-kilometer coastal zone. Coastal economic activities develop and population grows in that zone, whereas a population decline is observed in the inland areas, especially, in the region's periphery. Two major settlement trends were identified: the concentration of economic activities and population in the coastal and contagious zones accompanied by the processes of polarization and suburbanization. The authors identify significant differences between the Northern and Southern parts of the coastal zones and provide recommendations concerning planning the region's development.

The article presents the results of sedimentological research of Late Pleistocene-Holocene bottom sediment cores from the Eastern Gulf of Finland. Thickness and bedding of stratigraphic units was studied using acoustic-seismic profiling. High-resolution grain-size and geochemical studies permitted to receive new data on sedimentation conditions (near-bottom paleohydrodynamics and paleosalinity) within postglacial basins existed in the Gulf of Finland area. Sedimentation conditions within fresh-water Baltic Ice Lake during last phases of its development were characterized by stable deposition of homogenous clayey sediments. Paleosalinity of Yoldia Sea did not increase within study area. In Ancylus Lake of Late Holo-cene, depositions of clays still dominated, but the grain-size parameters varies along the core. A specific layer of «blue clays», indicating pre-Littorina regression, is founded in the upper part of Ancylus sediment sequence. The most drastic change of paleoenvironment is fixed in the boundary of Ancylus and Littorina phases. Grain-size parameters has changed (silty mud began to prevail), paleosalinity has sharply grown. Several maxima of paleosalinity, linked with transgression phases are fixed within Littorina Sea deposition sequence. Paleosalinity during Atlantic Time was essentially higher than nowadays; it reached 8-10 %o. Results of palinological research allowed estimating the time of lacustrine-glacial, lacustrine and marine sediments formation.

The article presents the analysis of the existing network of nature protected areas of Saint-Petersburg, which includes 8 natural reserves («zakaznik») and 7 natural monuments of regional level. Protected areas have been created from 1990 on the territory of St. Petersburg and now they cover 4.3 % of the city area. The article contains the data on the structure of landscapes and plant communities within each protected area, as well as their natural features and degree of transformation of natural complexes by anthropogenic impacts. The representation of landscapes and plant communities of the territory of St. Petersburg in protected areas is analyzed. The problems of preservation of the basic environmental functions of protected areas in connection with the processes of the natural dynamics of landscapes and the development of the city are discussed also. The perspectives of development of system of protected areas in St. Petersburg in accordance with the city laws are summarized. It is shown that interdisciplinary research involving thematic mapping, the creation of databases and GIS, gives an objective picture of the current state of protected areas and the ability to predict scenarios of their change in the conditions of the metropolis.

The article is devoted to analysis of the process of transformation of the institutes regulating traditional activity of indigenous people using the case of Udege of Pozharsky district (Primorskiy kray), in the period from XIX century up to the present. Materials of field works carried by the author in 2011 (research of the conflict between Udege of Bi-kin and the LesExport company) and 2015 year (social impact assessment of the state of community in the village Krasny Yar, caused by organization of the National Park «Bikin»); analysis of the ethnographic, geographic literature, media publications and statistics are used. The main rules and regulatory standards regulating hunting and collaboration decisions making in the environment management are considered. The basic factors, which determine the main changes of institutes regulating the traditional activity, are identified: market relations, isolation and distance from regional center, close location to China and Korea, richness of the ecosystem including rare and endemic species of plants and animals, unique landscapes.