The article focuses on the growth rates of three extant species belonging to the tribe Sequoiaceae: Metasequoia glyptostroboides, Sequoia sempervirens and Sequoiadendron giganteum. The material was collected from botanical garden collections on the Black Sea coast of the Caucasus and Crimea. During a long growing season, all three species form shoot systems of varying complexity: from unbranched shoots consisting of a single elementary shoot to sylleptically branched multi-axial systems. In S. giganteum, the shoot systems formed during an extra-bud growth period are similar to those of other Cupressaceae species and partly to those of Pinaceae. In Metasequoia glyptostroboides and Sequoia sempervirens, sylleptically branched shoot systems are differentiated into several variants: on orthotropic shoots in the upper part of the growth, plagiotropic branches are sylleptic and continue to grow after the orthotropic part of the shoot system has stopped growing. Plagiotropic sylleptic lateral shoots continue to branch into second-order lateral shoots. Similar structures are found in Araucaria and archaic fossil conifers. M. glyptostroboides and S. sempervirens have phyllomorphic branches of the same appearance as those described for Tsuga canadensis. Plagiotropic lateral sylleptic shoots continue to branch into second-order lateral shoots. Similar structures are known in Araucaria and fossil archaic conifers. M. glyptostroboides and S. sempervirens have phyllomorphic branches of the same appearance as described for Tsuga canadensis. These species are also characterized by buds formed serially below the sylleptically growing shoot. In M. glyptostroboides, the phyllomorphic branches fall off annually, and their perennial bases form a growing, basisympodially shortened shoot. The renewal bud is not located under the bark, as in Taxodium distichum.

The aim of the present research was the ecological and geochemical assessment of the lateral migration of heavy metals in the upper horizons of brown forest residual-calcareous soil (Eutric Cambisol) in a transit geochemical landscape under different-aged vineyards grown on the slopes of the Fruska Gora mountain range in the Republic of Serbia. The practical significance of the work was to clarify the level of ecological risk in the cultivation of different-aged vineyards in the conditions of slope erosion processes. Soil samples were taken from rows of vines in transit slope landscapes at depths of 0-5, 5-15 and 15-30 cm. The total content of heavy metals in soil and grape berries was determined by atomic adsorption method after microwave decomposition. The results of the study showed a high activity of copper and chromium migration in the soil of a 15-year-old active vineyard from trans-eluvial to trans-accumulative facies with intensification in the 15-30 cm horizon. Radial migration with accumulation of iron, manganese, cobalt and intensive accumulation of copper with a lateral differentiation coefficient of 3.21 in the 15-30 cm horizon in the middle part of the slope prevailed in the soil of the abandoned 100-year-old vineyard. The highest copper concentration found in the soil of the old vineyard was 115.4 mg/kg, which is 28% higher than the maximum permissible copper content established for medium loamy soils in the Republic of Serbia. Copper content levels in the soils of the young ampelocoenosis were close to the normative values (87.4-93.2 mg/kg), found in the lower part of the slope up to a depth of 30 cm, which were achieved after only 15 years of cultivation. The highest copper concentration in grapes (7.7 mg/kg) was found in a 100-year-old vineyard located in the lower part of the slope, where the upper soil horizons were copper-depleted in the absence of pesticide treatments. This indirectly indicates the perennial migration of copper to the underlying soil horizons under trans-accumulative elemental landscape conditions during the wet season of the year and its extraction by the deep root system of old vines.

The article analyses the indicators of snow cover for the cold season of 2022-2023, formed under the conditions of different natural and anthropogenic ecosystems in Moscow. A comparative assessment of the main characteristics of the snow cover (height, density and water reserves in the snow) is given on the example of the forest system and the agro-ecosystem. It was found that the processes of snow accumulation and distribution, as well as its characteristics, are significantly influenced by the presence and species composition of vegetation, temperature and wind regime, insolation, meso- and micro-relief. Snow cover formed in forested areas is characterized by maximum height, lower density and better soil insulation compared to open areas.

The determination of blood pressure in animals is important for the assessment of the cardiovascular system, especially in the clinical diagnosis of diseases, and as a criterion of factors acting on the tested organism. At the same time, the data on the study of blood pressure in birds are poorly presented in modern scientific literature, and blood pressure indixes of rabbits have been studied earlier, but opinions about their values within the physiological norm vary greatly. The purpose of our work was to develop a method of measuring blood pressure in broiler chickens and rabbits using a modern portable tonometer PetMAP graphic II, Cardio Command. The results of the research showed that the blood pressure in broiler chickens is significantly higher than that in rabbits. The differences are explained by the peculiarities of the metabolism and functioning of the cardiac system, namely: a shorter cardiac cycle in birds than in mammals.

The article presents the data on the place and role of some common bird species in biological damage of the Michurinskiy Garden of the Russian State Agrarian University – Moscow Timiryazev Agricultural Academy. The nature and extent of biological damage to fruit and berry crops caused by gray crows, Eurasian rooks, fieldfares, common starlings, house sparrows and tree sparrows, and roody sheld ducks are given. In the post-breeding period gray crows come to the garden in large flocks. A grey crow pecks and eats an average of 400-600 g of fruit a day (mostly pears and apples). Rooks gather in flocks in the garden during the autumn migration and peck nuts and pears. A rook destroys about 15 nuts a day. Fieldfares and starlings with their pulli attack berry plants (shadberry, grape, red and black cherry), damaging an average of 10.5% of the crop. Tree and house sparrows eat berries (9.5% of the crop on average) and actively feed on tree buds in spring. The article also provides data on some repellent means used to prevent and reduce biological damage caused by birds: acoustic, visual and dynamic repellents, reflective and noise tapes. The purpose of the research was to identify the main damage to fruit and berry crops caused by common bird species in the Michurinskiy Garden. The spatial distribution of birds in the orchard was studied in 2021-2023 according to generally accepted methods in ornithology with subsequent statistical processing. According to the results of the research, the damage to fruit and berry crops by such common bird species as gray crows, Eurasian rooks, fieldfares, starlings, house sparrows and tree sparrows was established. The results of the research show the real damage caused to fruit and berry crops by common bird species, especially gray crows.

The article analyses various factors of jay elimination in the Central Pre-Caucasus. Most jays die on motorways as a result of collisions with traffic. Approximately one million birds die each year on motorways in the Stavropol Territory (Shevtsov et al.). In addition to motorways, deaths in the fields due to poisoning by pesticides, deaths due to collisions with mirrored glass buildings or wind turbine blades contribute significantly to the decline in bird numbers. Among the abiotic factors, weather conditions, especially frost and precipitation, are responsible for the death of jays. Nest destruction and predation by steppe rat snakes and birds are considered biotic causes of jay extinction. The results of the study show the main factors of jay elimination in the Central Pre-Caucasus and the map of their death on the motorways of the Stavropol Territory.

The article analyses diversity and similarity indexes of bird communities in seven parks of Moscow in 2018-2022 – Zaryadye Park, Petrovsky Park, Neskuchny Garden, Vorobyovy Gory Nature Reserve, Forest Experimental Dacha (Timiryazevsky Park), Sokolniki Park of Culture and Recreation, Tsaritsyno Nature and Historical Park. The results reveal that both small parks (up to 100 ha) and large parks show similar dynamics of basic diversity indexes: Margalef index, Shannon index, Pielou index and Simpson index. The values of the last two indexes vary insignificantly during the year, while the first two fluctuate noticeably. Species richness and community diversity usually increase in the breeding season and decrease in non-breeding season. Some small parks can be comparable to the large ones in terms of averaged indexes: averaged values of the Margalef index, Shannon index, Pielou index and Simpson index in the new Zaryadye Park (Dmf = 4.78 ± 0.51; H = 2.25 ± 0.14; E = 0.74 ± 0.03; D = 0.17 ± 0.03) are very close to those of Sokolniki Park (Dmf = 5.35 ± 0.62; H = 2.38 ± 0.16; E = 0.7 ± 0.03; D = 0.15 ± 0.02), which is 50 times larger in area and 80 times older. This fact may indicate that new small parks, together with old large parks, can be promising areas for the conservation of bird community diversity. The Sørensen index values indicate relatively high isolation of bird communities throughout the year. The similarity of bird communities increases in the breeding season and decreases in non-breeding season, regardless of the minimum distance between the parks.

Preventing and reducing the incidence of zooanthroponotic diseases in animals and birds is a prerequisite for the functioning of livestock and poultry farms. This is also relevant to the incidence of salmonellosis in farm animals and poultry, as the livestock (including poultry) industry produces products that may be contaminated with salmonella and dangerous to humans under certain conditions. The implementation of a wide range of preventive measures aimed at protecting the population from diseases common to humans and animals, and ensuring the veterinary and sanitary safety of livestock and poultry products are the main tasks of veterinary professionals in ensuring biological security. The article presents the results of the analysis of the incidence of salmonellosis in farm animals (cattle), small cattle, pigs, horses and poultry in livestock and poultry farms of our country, and the data of laboratory tests for the detection of salmonella in biological material of various types of animals and poultry in the period from 2018 to 2020, taking into account the data of the Ministry of Agriculture of the Russian Federation. The retrospective analysis of the incidence of the disease in Russian farms showed that during the study period, salmonellosis in farm animals and poultry was registered in 91 unfavourable points, where the total number of diseased animals and poultry was 422 heads. Bacteriological examinations of biological material from farm animals and poultry for salmonellosis were carried out on a total of 827,732 samples during the study period; salmonellosis was confirmed in 2926 samples and the following serovarieties were detected: S. enteritidis, S. typhimurium, S. dublin, S. gallinarum, S. pullorum, S. abortus equi, S. infantis.

Cordyceps (Cordyceps militaris) is a valuable agricultural medicinal crop in many countries. In recent years, this mushroom has become increasingly popular in Vietnam. This study presents the results of a diversity assessment of eight commercial Cordyceps strains collected from different provinces in Vietnam. Morphological characteristics such as color, length, width, and surface features of the mushroom fruiting bodies were studied. Molecular markers of two genes of the MAT1-1 locus (MAT1-1-1, MAT1-1-2) and one gene of the MAT1-2 locus (MAT1-2-1) were used for genetic evaluation. The results of the analysis showed that all the strains were diverse in their morphological characteristics. Seven strains P1, P3, P4, P5, P6, P7, P8 had only one MAT1-1 mating type locus. Only one strain P2 contained two MAT1-1 and MAT1-2 loci simultaneously. This result shows the diversity of Cordyceps strains in Vietnam and supports their selection to create new strains through sexual hybridization.

Fiber flax is the most important industrial crop, which is very demanding on the mineral regime and reacts strongly to nutrient deficiencies in the soil. The root system of fiber flax is characterized by a shallow location and low absorption capacity. The crop consumes most of the mineral nutrients in a relatively short period of time. In this context, the purpose of our research was, to determine the effect of different forms of nitrogen and boron on the yield and macroelement removal by fiber flax of the Caesar variety in the conditions of vegetation experiment. As a result of the studies, it was found that the application of nitrogen fertilizers, regardless of the form in which the element of mineral nutrition is located, increases the yield of fiber flax by 10.33-13.43 g/vessel, the dry matter content in the industrial crop – by 2.40-7.43%. The increased removal of macroelements by the plants was as follows: nitrogen – by 139.2-230.3 mg/vessel, phosphorus – by 34.8-66.4 mg/vessel and potassium – by 132.9-235.5 mg/vessel compared to the control. The addition of boron to the ammonium and nitrate forms of nitrogen increases the crop yield by 5.05 and 7.94%, nitrogen removal by 10.9 and 16.9% and phosphorus removal by 16.4 and 22.1% compared to options without adding microelements. The use of ammonium sulphate and urea increases the nitrogen content in industrial crops by 15.47 and 16.27% compared to the control. The combined application of sodium nitrate and boric acid increases the removal of potassium by fiber flax, where the increase due to the use of the microelement is 14.1%.

The stabilization of the humus profile of soils is largely due to the interaction of organic and mineral substances and the nature of the organo-mineral derivatives formed. Since humic acids form the basis of the humus of chernozems, the study of their organo-mineral derivatives is of great theoretical and practical importance. The purpose of the work is to study the elemental composition of humic acids, various granulometric fractions (coarse dust, medium dust, fine dust, silty fraction) of the typical virgin chernozem. The granulometric fractions were isolated from a soil sample pretreated with ultrasound for 20 min at 25 kHz, using the elutriation method, withh a ratio of soil to distilled water equal to 1:100. Extraction of humic acids from the granulometric fractions was carried out with 0.1 n. NaOH solution after preliminary decalcification of samples, purification from impurities by centrifugation and dialysis. In humic acid preparations, the ash content was determined by the weight method, the content of C, H, N was determined on the CHNS-vario Microcube automatic analyzer, the amount of O was determined by the difference, the oxidation level and the heat of combustion were calculated using empirical formulae. According to the data obtained, carbon dominates in the elemental composition of humic acids, the content of which was 38.3-40.0 at.%. They contain the least nitrogen (2.2-2.5 at.%), the amount of hydrogen is 36.5-37.9 at.%, and that of oxygen is 21.3-21.7 at.%. Judging by the values of the H:C and C:N atomic ratios, which consistently change from 1.62 to 1.74 and from 18.2 to 15.3, respectively, at the transition from the humic acids of the coarse-dust fraction to the humic acids of the silt fraction, the smaller the size of the granulometric fractions, the more the humic acids associated with them are enriched with aliphatic nitrogen-containing components. At the same time, humic acids of all the granulometric fractions are oxidized compounds, as evidenced by their oxidation level, which varies in the range +0.12-+0.17.