The results of the analysis of 1950–2016 runoff changes of the Baikal Lake largest tributaries, namely the Selenga, Verkhnyaya Angara, Barguzin, Turka, Khara-Murin, Snezhnaya, Utulik and Bolshaya Rechka rivers, are presented. The influence of changing precipitation rate (P) and potential evapotranspiration (PET) on the changes in annual river runoff (R) for 1976–1995 and 1996–2016 compared to 1950–1975 is considered basing on the CRU TS data. The ECOMAG model was used to evaluate the R reproducing accuracy with various modifications of the Budyko formula using P and PET data. It was found that the difference between the R value calculated according to a formula and the modeled one is from 0,2 mm to 0,53 mm in the Selenga River basin with the P anomaly from –10% to +10%. It is shown that during 1950– 2016 the Baikal Lake basin as a whole is characterized by the decrease in P and R and the increase in PET. Deviation of calculated R values from observed ones for 1976–1995 and 1996–2016 was interpreted as an influence of other factors, which include both the properties of the underlying surface and specific features of the intra-annual distribution of precipitation and potential evapotranspiration. The role of other factors in the change of R varies depending on the catchment and period under consideration. It is shown that P and E changes during 1950–2016 explain about 50% of the R change in the Baikal Lake basin. Susceptibility of river runoff in the Baikal Lake basin to factors other than P and PET must be taken into account while assessing the scenarios of runoff changes of the Baikal rivers under climate change. It was also revealed that in 1976–1995 (except for the Khara-Murin River) and in 1996–2016 (except for the Khara-Murin and Selenga rivers) the runoff formation conditions were more favorable than in 1950–1975.

Effects of tectonic nodes on environmental components are investigated applying theoretical analysis of materials, digital relief modeling, and monitoring observations to study the quantitative characteristics of abiotic and biogenic processes within tectonic nodes. The structure of vegetation cover, changes in the yield of wild berries, mineral nutrients in soil and berries, physical and mechanical properties of wood, atmospheric pressure, oxygen concentration in the atmosphere, amount of precipitation and frequency of thunderstorms were studied within tectonic node areas. Nodes at the intersection of tectonic disturbances are also sources of induced vortex currents, changing the overall picture of geomagnetic field (a kind of magnetic dipoles) and parameters of the atmospheric pressure field. Combined with the inflow of fluids and deep-earth gases, they create local anomalous areas that affect the environment. Thus, within the tectonic nodes there are areas with abnormal quantitative and qualitative characteristics of environmental parameters. The following phenomena are observed: (1) permanent «deficit» of atmospheric pressure (up to 25 mb) over tectonic nodes; (2) significantly different frequency of rainfall and its amount in the central and peripheral parts of the nodes; (3) earlier snow falls on the periphery of nodes, deeper snow cover and later snow melting compared with the background areas; (4) deep degassing area within the periphery of the nodes, as well as the higher frequency of thunderstorms and forest fires; (5) higher plant diversity within the nodes of tectonic dislocations; (6) fluctuating electrical conductivity of the air indicated by specific structure of clouds over the nodes.

The article studies and specifies the concepts of nature-oriented tourism. Specific features of tourist zoning and specialization of active tourism areas are determined. The structure of uninhabited territories, i.e. the areas of inaccessibility, and the most remote points from the infrastructure, i.e. the poles of inaccessibility, is discussed. The area of inaccessibility located in the Kvarkush tourist region of the Perm Territory is investigated.

All areas of active and sports tourism could be classified into three types, namely extremely specialized, broadly specialized and non-specialized. The specialization of a tourist area is determined by the presence of category routes and category obstacles of sports tourism. The tourists come from faraway regions to engage in active or sports tourism in the area. The area is associated with specific «reference» types of active tourism, which create practicable and logical basis for organization of touristic activities.

The Kvarkush tourist region within the territory of the Perm region has an area of inaccessibility which will be the most attractive for active and sports tourism. The following factors indicate the formation of the tourist area: five entry points through which tourists could get to the objects of interest are available; almost all tourist routes finish within the area; active tourism has become the specialization of the territory. Using the example of the Kvarkush tourist area, a universal model of the morphological structure of inaccessibility areas has been developed. In addition, each area of inaccessibility has its own borders, entrances to the territory, a pole of inaccessibility, i. e. the most remote point from infrastructure facilities, and different types of attendance zones, namely short-term, long-term, regular, irregular, or the lack of attendance.

A comprehensive analysis of bioclimatic conditions over the Crimea was carried out to evaluate the potential of its territory development as a year-round tourist resort. The Tourism Climatic Index (TСI) was used as an indicator of such conditions. It was calculated on the basis of Z. Mieczkowski method, improved by the authors. Daily hydrometeorological data for the period from 1950 to 2017 was analyzed, taken from the archive of standard hydrometeorological observations at five main stations of Crimea located in the different zones of the peninsula (Evpatoria, Sevastopol, Yalta, Feodosia and Kerch) and the archive of observation data from European weather stations E-OBS, as well as the NCEP/NCAR reanalysis data on the spatial grid 2,5°2,5°, which were interpolated to the points of observation in the Crimea.

Bioclimatic potential and restrictions for carrying out year-round tourism activities are shown. The study of the TCI linear trends for each month revealed the significant positive values of the corresponding coefficients in late winter and early spring (0,06–0,065 points/year in February and 0,048–0,092 points/ year in March), as well as just slightly smaller values during the other months, which seems promising for the formation of a positive trend in bioclimatic conditions and favors tourist activity in Crimea. Analysis of the TСI intra-annual dynamics showed a high bioclimatic potential for the year-round tourist activities within the territories of Yalta and Sevastopol regions. At the same time, the region of Feodosia could be classified into conditionally year-round tourism with restrictions in January. The bioclimatic values of tourist conditions in Evpatoria and Kerch regions from December to February eliminate the development of year-round touristic and recreational activities in these areas. However, taking into account the positive linear trend of TСI for February in the Evpatoria area, one can hope for possible lengthening of the tourist season by one month in the future.

The article deals with an attempt to develop a typological classification based on mortality data in cities with population of more than 100 000 inhabitants. The aim of the study is to reveal regional features of the level and structure of urban population mortality in the Russian Federation. A methodology has been developed and a typological classification of Russian cities has been carried out. As a result eight groups of cities for men and six groups for women with different rates and causes of male and female mortality have been identified and analyzed. The high female mortality rate was recorded principally in the oldest industrial centers of the Urals and Siberia. The high male mortality rate was recorded in the northern cities of the European part of the Russian Federation, as well as in the industrial cities of the south of Siberia. The external causes of death including murder and suicide also played an important role along with the natural causes. A group of cities with high male mortality rate due to external causes and socially significant pathologies, including Kyzyl, Novokuznetsk and Ulan-Ude, was identified separately. The lowest female mortality rates are in the cities of the European territory located south of the Moscow region. Compared to female rates, low male mortality was observed both in the cities of the European territory, and in the Ural (Yekaterinburg, Tyumen), as well as in Western Siberia (Novy Urengoy, Nizhnevartovsk, Noyabrsk, Surgut, Tomsk). Traditionally, the lowest mortality rate in the Russian Federation was recorded in the cities of the Northern Caucasus. Male mortality rates showed more differentiated territorial distribution. The dependence between mortality rate and the population numbers of a city was identified being the most evident for women. The database and the algorithm of calculation using the mortality rates with a detailed demarcation of age categories and causes of death are perspective for further analysis of the medical and demographic situation in cities.

The use of emergency ambulance call data as a detailed basis for the geoecological study of urbanized areas is discussed. The study was performed for a large northern city of Petrozavodsk. The study has two information blocks, i. e. geochemical and medico-biological. Geochemical data show chemical element concentrations in the urban soil cover. Several basic pollutants with concentrations above the maximum allowable levels and background values were revealed (Pb, Zn, Cd, Cu, Sb, Sn, Co, V, W). Element associations in soils, which are due to various accumulation factors, were identified. The medico-biological block is based on the geo-database on emergency calls. The geo-database includes information about the diagnosis, age and sex of a patient and the date and time of a call. OpenStreetMap information is used to geo-code the calls and supplement them with the characteristics of buildings. According to the type of building the calls from the residential premises only are selected in order to link the patients to their place of residence. Segmented call distribution models are employed for spatial visualization. Sickness cases are calculated by two segment sizes, i. e. 200х200 m and 500х500 m. An index calculated from the open source data about the residential area and the average living area per 1 person is used for normalizing per the number of residents. The elaborated models could be used for the study of intra-system links by analyzing the emergency calls for different groups of patients and various diagnoses. The comparison of geochemical and medical spatial data contributed to the analysis of the effect of soil pollution on the population health in the «children under 13» age group with the diseases of respiratory and digestive organs. It was revealed that the most often response of soil pollution with heavy metals is an increasing number of digestive organ diseases in children.

We employ an approach that reveals the heterogeneity of the inner landscape space which manifests itself by different sets of elementary landscapes in neighboring catenas. The assessment of biogeochemical diversity requires analyzing the absorption of chemical elements by plants of various systematic groups, considering the origin of the species and their relations with the ecological and geochemical conditions of edaphotopes. The biogeochemical specialization of plants was studied in the southern taiga Polesye landscapes of the Meshchera lakeland. Geochemical sampling was carried out by catenas. The analytical data were interpreted using a complex of special indicators, i. e. the ash content in the plants and the intensity of biological absorption of elements, with resulting classification of the plants under study. Lower ash content is typical of boreal dwarf shrubs and mosses. The low ash content in the archegonial species agree well with their occurrence in the forests with a conservative type of biological cycle that existed in the paleophyte and mesophyte. The spruce is found in rich habitats and shows the higher ash content in its needles compared to pine ones. An increase in the species diversity in line with the ability to accumulate ash elements was revealed for angiosperms. As judged by the activity of absorption of trace elements most of the plants of the Polesye landscapes have a cationophilic specialization. These include the dominant trees of coniferous forests, heather dwarf shrubs, boreal small grasses, ferns, and horsetails. Their relation with the Jurassic and Tertiary centers of speciation in humid forest landscapes is shown. They prevail in the upper sections of catenas in Polesye landscapes. Representatives of ancient (mosses) and young (grasses and some sedges) floras show less pronounced differences in the accumulation of cationogenic and anionogenic elements. They dominate super-aquatic meadow and bog landscapes in the lower sections of catenas. The biogeochemical specialization of phytocenoses and their particular layers, as well as their barrier functions vary with their species composition. Common cationogenic specialization of tree and dwarf shrub layers was revealed for the pine dwarf shrub-green moss forests. It ensures fixation of biogenic elements (Mn, Zn etc.) on the phytobarrier and reduces their loss under the acid leaching. The moss cover specializes in the accumulation of V, Cr and Ti. The association of accumulated elements is somewhat different in meadows and swamps, thus increasing the heterogeneity and contrast of the catenas.

Paleoreconstructions are based on detail studies of the diatom assemblage in two cores from the Dvina Bay, which is the estuary of the Northern Dvina River, the largest river of the White Sea. The stratigraphic division of core sediments is based on the AMS 14C dates. The age of the sediments is below 12 cal ka. 263 species of diatoms were identified in the cores. The minimum diatom concentrations in the cores (up to 40 thousand valves per 1 g of dry matter) were recorded for Preboreal and Boreal sediments.

It is worth noting that some sections of Preboreal sediments from the central bay area have no diatoms at all. Valves of warm-water, typically Atlantic, species, mainly Coscinodiscus radiatus, are found sporadically. The maximum concentrations are characteristic of the sediments dating from the second half of the Atlantic; however, the peak of the concentrations dates to somewhat later time in the central bay area. Diatom assemblages mostly consist of marine, brackish-water, sublittoral and neritic species. Total diatom concentration in Subboreal and Subatlantic sediments varies insignificantly – since the end of the Subboreal freshwater species become more numerous in diatom assemblages.

Results of the diatom analysis of Postglacial sediments for the Dvina Bay indicate a change in environment conditions over the last 12 cal ka, from considerably freshened sea bay to the present-day marine environment. Changing species composition of diatom assemblages made it possible to determine the beginning and the maximum of transformed Atlantic waters’ advection into the Dvina Bay, the shortterm cooling of the first half of the Atlantic, the Holocene optimum and the climatic fluctuations of the Subatlantic. Comparison of the results of micropaleontological studies of sediments from the central and outer parts of the Dvina Bay showed that its relief and hydrological features influenced the inflow of Atlantic waters and the timeline of the main paleogeographic events.

The Medvezhij Island is located in the central part of the Por’ya Guba Bay and is one of the largest islands of the archipelago. In 1733, the first silver mine in Russia was founded on the Island, and for one and a half centuries the industrial development of deposits took place. The present-day vegetation is highly diverse due to the influence of physical geographical and anthropogenic factors. The island is covered with boreal coniferous forests, tundra-like crowberry communities, mires with areas of different trophic status, diverse rocky vegetation and small fragments of coastal and anthropogenic meadows. As a result of the study vegetation map of the island was compiled based on the ecological-morphological classification. Boreal forests are the predominant type of island vegetation. However, southern part of the island lacks forests, and tundra-like communities prevail there. Mire communities are characterized by extreme diversity and complex horizontal pattern.

Most of the island forests are nominally primary, because they were cut down for supplying mine works and spontaneously re-grew afterwards. Currently, forest stands of 120–160 years old prevail on the island, and there are also 60–80 year old stands. The oldest 250 years old trees are preserved in the central part of the island, around the mires. Anthropogenic plant cenoses cover minor areas; sparse communities of apophytes (local flora species) replaced waste dumps, and anthropogenic meadows were formed in the northwestern part of the island, at the site of former miners’ settlement. 12 alien species were found on the island. Probably, they were introduced during active mining operations in the 18th and 19th centuries and exist until now. Alien species inhabit the initial areas of introduction and do not tend to spread. At present the Medvezhij Island is part of the Kandalaksha State Nature Reserve, therefore new introduction of adventitious species is unlikely.

The analysis of thematic literature and herbariums of fruticose epigenous lichens of Bryoria genus from 186 points in the Moscow region showed that currently eight Bryoria species range in the Moscow region, mostly on spruce (Picea abies) branches, and sometimes on Betula pendula and Salix caprea. Healthy growth of Bryoria lichens in the region is only possible under a combination of microclimate and habitat factors, i. e. sufficiently high air humidity in the surface layer, minimum air pollution, absence of harmful pollutants and high PPM concentrations, particular types of plant community, preservation of old-growth forests, and suitable phorophyte, or tree species, as a substrate.

Schemes in the article demonstrate locations with maximum numbers of Bryoria species finds per 100 km2, as well as individual finds of the genus species within the study area. The maximum Bryoria diversity is in Mozhaysk, Klin, Ruza and Lotoshino districts. There are no large polluters there, and the air quality is high according to environment monitoring data, with the lowest levels of pollutants and dust particles. Bryoria vrangiana, B. nadvornikiana, B. osteola and B. simplicior are the rarest species of Bryoria in the Moscow region.

Bryoria species, especially the rarest ones, concentrate in the northwestern and northern parts of the region. The lichens are ecologically associated with damp and swampy spruce and spruce with birch and aspen old-growth forests and forest plantations, and the edge parts of transitory and raised forest bogs. Lichen thalluses sometimes reach maximum size (25 cm) within these habitats and are often found in large groups of two to three species. This fact indicates a favorable environmental situation in this part of the Moscow region.

All discovered Bryoria species are in the Red Book of the Moscow region and require protection and further investigation.

Ecological and geographical features of spatial differentiation of avifauna and bird population of the Urup Island are analyzed. The 2019 study was carried out in the vicinity of the Novokurilskaya Bay in the north-east of the Urup Island and the vicinity of the Schukin Bay on the Van Der Lind Peninsula in the south-west of the island. The method of route accounting on the transects of unlimited width was applied for the surveying at the altitudes of 0 to 200 m above sea level. The taxonomic structure and the species composition of avifauna show the high degree of similarity at the Urup Island. In 2019 90 bird species were recorded there, 59 in the north-east and 56 in the south–west of the island. The Sшrensen similarity coefficient of local avifauna for the surveyed points (n=2) is 68%. 38% of species are omnipresent, 41% are local, and 21% are sporadic. Six species were registered for the first time. Taxonomic structure of the Urup Island avifauna, which includes species of 12 orders, corresponds to the zonal and landscape features of island territories located near the North-Eastern Eurasia. The number of species is dominated by Passeriformes (39%), Charadriiformes (28%) and Anseriformes (10%) which are characteristic of the Boreal and Hypo-Arctic zones of the Palearctic. The zoogeographic originality of the local avifauna is due to the combination of elements of the Far Eastern island, Pacific, Siberian and Chinese faunal complexes, Siberian-American and widespread species, as well as Japanese island endemics. Local avifauna is formed within the system of general zonal-landscape and altitudinal-belt patterns and combines the ecological groups of marine, land and mountain species. The mountain features of the island avifauna are represented by the species (n=9) that are ecologically closely related to land or water-near-water elements of the alpine landscape over the entire area of their range or a significant part of it. The bird population density is 323– 609 ind/km2 for land habitats (averaging to 466 ind/km2), and 774–2050 ind/km2 for the coast and nearby sea area (averaging to 1412 ind/km2). The similarity coefficients of bird populations are 20% in land-based habitats and 17% in the coastal-marine habitats.

The article continues the study of the municipal structure of the Tver region, started by the author in 2016. From the point of view of geographical science, the emphasis was made on the transformations that have been going on in the region for recent decades and continue nowadays. The effects of these changes for rural settlement pattern were considered.

Since the early 2000s three waves of transformation of the structure of rural administrative units have been identified for the Tver region. Their number gradually decreases from 614 in 2002 to 174 by mid-2020, reflecting not so much the depopulation processes in rural areas, as the chaotic decisions to optimize municipal management. Bizarre-shaped rural settlements neglect the logic of space and fail to meet the criteria of compactness. Local centers become less accessible for the population, and the remaining rural administrations are more and more overburdened. If one rural center served an average of 16 settlements before transformations, then the number increased to 40. The area of newly formed administrative units has more than doubled.

The latest trends of changes, namely the liquidation of a two-level system «municipal district – rural settlement» and the introduction of a new form of organization of territorial administration in the form of municipal districts, indicate that the number of local rural centers will further decline even more extensively. As a result, the quality and availability of services provided to the population will worsen, as well as the knowledge of government officials about vast rural areas. The large-scale studies based on statistical data will also become less possible.

The changing world development paradigm and the transition to a network lifestyle increase the role of new transnational actors, chiefly transnational corporations and international organizations, in the processes of global governance. Based in cities and having an extensive branch network, they produce a powerful impact on both the competitiveness of individual megacities, and the transformation of the global framework of the «centers of power». It seems promising to study the geographical aspects of symbiosis of cities and new transnational actors within the framework of a new problem area, i.e. the geopolitical urbanism.

The article gives reasons for the role of international organizations, especially non-government ones, as a main tool of «soft power». Their long history, high dynamics of quantitative growth and acceleration of spatial diffusion in recent years are discussed. The main features of their headquarters location in the cities during 1900–2016 are analyzed. Quantitative indicators were interpreted to elaborate a hierarchy and identify five principal categories of international organizations nodes, namely super-large, large, great, medium and small, are identified, with Brussels occupying the leading position among them. A large number of emerging centers have been revealed. Russia is represented only by Moscow which ranks within the third dozen of «small centers» of the world.