Vol. 9 No. 2 (2023): Anthropogenic Transformation of Nature

There are amazing reforms in the management of higher education institutions. Higher education is being optimized in the course of reforms. But it is not important yet. The section "Conservation of the Natural Environment" presents: a methodological article for determining the conservation value of protected areas; an original report on the proposal to include one of the valleys of small rivers into the system of protected areas of the city of Perm. On the subject of anthropogenic transformation we offer: an article assessing the state of atmospheric air in the river valleys of urbanized territories and water areas; analytical reviews on the problems of studying the anthropogenic load on water resources and environmental pollution by polychlorinated biphenyls. We have a new author - Irina Dmitrievna Rybkina, Doctor of Geographical Sciences. She is an outstanding scientist in the field of nature management and geoecology, social and economic geography, assessment of ecological state and quality of the environment, problems of water resources utilization. She is a leading expert in Siberia on assessment of anthropogenic load on catchment areas and water bodies of the Ob and Irtysh river basins. She has more than 200 scientific publications, including 14 author's and collective monographs, more than 40 articles in scientific journals and as a member of the team of executors participated in the creation of the passport of climatic safety of Altai Krai. For a long period of time (several years), well-known conservationists Pavel Yuryevich Sannikov and Pavel Nikolaevich Bakharev jointly developed and adjusted the methodology for assessing the significance of protected areas for the conservation of the natural environment. The theoretical competence of the former and the practical experience of the latter allowed them to create a unique methodology that uses open data to assess the role of protected areas in the conservation of landscape diversity, biological diversity, and ecological balance at the global, Russian, and regional levels. At the global level, the significance is determined by belonging to biogeographic provinces, ecoregions, biodiversity hotspots. Such zoning was carried out by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, the World Wildlife Fund. For Russia (at the federal level) the most significant is the scheme of division into physiographic countries and natural zones. In the second part of the article the methodology is realized on the example of the reserve "Vishersky". The expected conclusion is made about the most valuable PA in Perm region according to all the considered indicators. A large team of researchers(Buzmakov S.A., Kuvshinsky I.A., Shestakov I.E., Abdulmanova I.F., Kuchin L.S., Isakov D.S.) spent the summer in ecological surveys on the Bolshaya Motovilikha River. Ornithologist, geobotanist, soil scientist, geoecologists and ecologists, each of them performed their own task and integrated it into the overall survey. As a result of the survey and processing of the results, in the course of discussion, the authors come to the conclusion that it is necessary to create protected areas in the valley of the Bolshaya Motovilikha River. The optimal category is protected landscape. Conversion of the territory into a specially protected one is necessary for the creation of the ecological framework of the city, preservation of rare soils, flora, avifauna of the eastern end of Perm. Organization of the protected area in the valley of Bolshaya Motovilikha will also ensure the preservation of forest ecosystems; it will contribute to the improvement of air quality in residential areas due to the reduction of pollutants from motor transport flows moving along the eastern bypass of Perm. The ecosystems of the valley provide ecological equilibrium of a significant part of the catchment area and the underlying protected area "Motovilikhinsky Pond". Olga Sergeevna Klochikhina maintains her competence in knowledge, skill and mastery of apparently excellent scientific English and geo-ecological problems of atmospheric air pollution in small river valleys of Perm city. For air quality assessment we selected observation posts located near the valleys of small rivers, in low relief forms, which contribute to the accumulation of various impurities in the atmospheric air. Irina Dmitrievna Rybkina shows that in modern scientific research anthropogenic load is defined as a measure of quantitative measurement of human impact on aquatic landscapes. The author distinguishes two modern methodological approaches - geographical and hydrological. Hopefully, the geo-ecological approach will soon appear as well. The author describes the types of impacts that contribute significantly to anthropogenic transformation of water bodies: channel regulation, irrigated farming, flow diversions, industrial, municipal and agricultural water supply, drainage of marshes and wetlands, logging and planting of forests, and urbanization. The peculiarities of use and reliability of applied indicators in anthropogenic load assessments are discussed. Available data and initial information for water use efficiency assessment are summarized. Daria Olegovna Egorova is an outstanding researcher of aerobic bacterial diversity at the ecosystem, population, organismal and molecular genetic levels. The microorganisms she studies have a phenomenal ability to transform chemical pollutants of anthropogenic and natural origin. Typically utilizes modern molecular genetic and biochemical methods as well as methods of classical microbiology. She already has experience in bacterial degradation of polychlorinated biphenyls and their chemically modified derivatives. Daria Olegovna has a debut in the journal. She prepared a comprehensive review on the problem of environmental pollution by polychlorinated biphenyls - compounds included in the list of Persistent Organic Pollutants under the international convention. The peculiarities of polychlorinated biphenyls structure, their interaction with the environment and living organisms are shown. The main attention is paid to aerobic bacteria, one of the main components of soil microbiocenosis. It is believed that long-term exposure to polychlorinated biphenyls has led to preferential selection in contaminated biocenoses of bacteria capable of utilizing polychlorinated biphenyls as a source of carbon and energy. The active strains served as a basis for the development of unique biotechnologies. Editor-in-Chief, S.A. Buzmakov.