The purpose of the study is to evaluate the municipal strategic planning in the Arctic region, taking into account Arctic specifics in strategies’ texts. In this context, the concept of “Arctic specificity” was formalized and lists of seven primary (geographical isolation, harshness, vulnerability, identity, proximity to the coast, availability of resources, frontier) and 14 derived elements of the Arctic specifics were compiled. The methods of evaluation of severity of Arctic specificity elements on territory and the manifestation of Arctic specificity were proposed in the text of strategic planning documents. Empirical base consists of 20 municipalities with socio-economic development strategies, located in the Arctic zone of the Russian Federation. The expert assessments of the severity and manifestation of the Arctic specifics were developed for 20 strategies in relation to nine topics considered in the strategies. On the base of the difference in severity and manifestation, the consolidated measures of the adequacy of the Arctic specifics in the strategies have been obtained. Four groups of municipal strategies have been identified: “overly-arctic”, “adequately arctic”, “under-arctic” and “critically under-arctic”, based on the ratio of the severity of the primary elements of the Arctic specifics and the assessment of the adequacy of the Arctic specifics in the strategies.

The ethnodemographic forecast in the Central Asian states is complicated by the lack of clear medium- and long-term prospects for the development of the political and socio-economic situation in this macro-region. The aim of the study is to assess the ethnodemographic and linguistic processes in the countries of Central Asia for the period up to the middle of the XXI century. Earlier, the authors, relying on the results of censuses and population surveys, identified the main trends in the ethnodemographic development of the young states of Central Asia. Authors of the article estimate deviations from the main trend line in the next three decades, subject to the implementation of certain geopolitical scenarios. Four medium-term and six long-term scenarios of the political development of the Central Asian macroregion are considered, the course of ethnodemographic and linguistic processes is assessed based on the implementation of a specific geopolitical scenario. The implementation of negative geopolitical scenarios, characterized by the growth of Islamic extremism in combination with inter-clan conflicts and border disputes, threatens uncontrolled population growth, accompanied by flows of refugees within the macroregion and beyond, and an overwhelming majority of the Russian population leaving Central Asia. In case of activation of the “Big Game” with the participation of China and Turkey, it is unlikely that the main trend line of ethnodemographic processes set in the first three post-Soviet decades will change. If a significant socio-economic effect is achieved as a result of deepening Eurasian integration, there are chances to reduce the influence of ethnodemographic factors currently working on the cultural distance of the Central Asian states from Russia.

The article is devoted to the analysis of climatic changes in the catchment area of the Shuya River which is the second largest tributary of the Onego Lake, and the reaction of the deepwater benthos of the Petrozavodsk Bay to the winter river runoff increase in recent decades. It is shown that during 1960–2019 the average annual air temperature and the number of thaws increased in the catchment area of the Shuya River. The soil freezing decrease is observed in connection with climate warming in the past 10 years. Since the winter of 2008– 2009 the winter runoff of the Shuya River has increased significantly in comparison with the runoff of the period 1961–1990. The 3–4-fold decrease in the biomass of deepwater benthos (relict crustaceans and oligochaetes) is found in the deepest part of the Petrozavodsk Bay simultaneously with the changes in the catchment area of the Shuya River in the last 10– 15 years. It is suggested that the reasons of benthos biomass decrease are associated with an increase in inflow of iron with river waters and accumulation of iron at the bottom of the Petrozavodsk Bay due to climate warming.

The article considers the heat supply of agricultural crops measured by the sum of average daily air temperatures exceeding 10°C on the territory of the Ararat valley and its foothill area. The patterns of fluctuations of heat supply were studied. Daily observations data of 9 meteorological stations of the studied area were used. It is revealed that on the territory under consideration the heat supply is distributed unevenly and decreases with altitude, varying from 4468 to 2971°С with a vertical gradient of 174°С/100 m. There is a trend to increase heat supply on average by 380°С from 1993 to 2019 years. Heat supply conditions of the region are favorable for the growth and development of heat-loving and drought-resistant varieties of agricultural crops.

The studies of the role of floodplain waterbodies’ bottom sediments in the Russian desman (Desmana moschata Linnaeus, 1758) life are not numerous and even controversial. The paper presents the data on the composition and properties of the bottom sediments in the floodplain lakes in the Prisursky State Nature Reserve buffer zone (the Sura river lower course, the Middle Volga Region). The ground survey including the surface and core sampling according to bathymetry was carried out in the reservoir areas inhabited by desman. The clayed silt with the silt and light aleurite fractions prevalence and with the organic mat ter content of 2.1–26.8% predominates. The grain size composition reflects the mild flow dynamics in the Sura river lower course floodplain during the spring flood, which results in alluvial light fractions deposition on the lakes’ bottom. Desmans prefer the sediments with the density of 1.0 g/cm³ and more for burrowing operations. The average nitrogen content in the sediments in the floodplain lakes of the Sura basin reaches 0.27%, the average phosphorus content is 0.24%. The thickness of the lakes’ deposits varies from 30 to 100 cm and even more, that make possible to estimate the average rate of the sediment accumulation as 2– 3 mm/year, and the relative age of the deposits (and the lakes) as 200–300 years. In studied lakes, the bottom sediments composition and properties as well as the sediment accumulation conditions in combination with production characteristics meet the ecological requirements of the Russian desman: there are conditions for underwater burrowing operations and supply of matter and energy for the development of hydrobionts, which are the food resource for desman.

The paper presents the research of contemporary landscapes of Bulgaria with the use of GIS environment of land cover vector layers, compiled according to the classification of CORINE Land Cover. The study area is located in the northern slopes of Shipchenska and Tryavnenska mountains within the catchment areas of the rivers Yantra, Belitsa and Dryanovska in Central Stara Planina. Systematization of the changes in the land cover has been made for different periods according using indicators of the type of change, surface slope, slope exposure, altitude. Vector layers with changes in the land cover (CLC-Change 1990– 2000, 2000–2006, 2006–2012, 2012–2018) were generated for the studied area. Quantitative classification of the land cover changes data by various indicators was made for the period 1990–2018. The information obtained by GIS tools was verified using field research data. A total of 205 areas with transformations in the land cover have been established within the region for the period 1990−2018.

At present time, the Arctic region and its adjacent territories are the objects of close attention of Russian and foreign scientists. The Arctic biota are the most sensitive to anthropogenic impact, and therefore the study of the history of development of Arctic region with new visual materials allows us to specify the changes of Arctic ecosystems.The article presents the previously unpublished photos of G.Ya. Sedov’s 1912–1914 expedition to the North Pole from a private collection. This material is used to assess the state of the natural environment of the Arkhangelsk, Murmansk, and Novaya Zemlya regions at the beginning of the XX century. The article analyzes the features of vegetation, visible in the images, gives a brief description of the animal world, as well as the ordinary expedition life. The authors also for the first time introduce into scientific circulation the archival sources from the collections of the Navy Archive.

The year 2021 marks the 125th anniversary of the publication of the scientific periodical “Notes of the Transbaikal branch of the Russian Geographical Society” in the Transbaikal Region, which had been published since 1896 as “The Notes of the Chita Branch of the Priamursky Department of the Imperial Russian Geographical Society”. “The Notes” is the oldest scientific periodical in the Trans-Baikal region. The article emphasizes the contribution of the society activists (A.K. Kuznetsov, D.M. Golovachev, E.D. Petryaev, A.I. Sizikov, etc.) to their publication. The history of the publication of “Notes” reflects the peculiarities of scientific and cultural development of the region. Published during these years 137 issues of “The Notes” are significant contribution of the Russian Geographical Society represented by its Transbaikalian branch to the scientific study of the region and its bordering territories.