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Intensification of crop cultivation can have detrimental environmental consequences that however can be prevented by monitoring of the specific biological indicators sensitive to changes in the ambient environment. In this study the impact of crop type (spring wheat and corn) and cultivation intensity on the community of ground beetles (Coleoptera: Carabidae) in the forest-steppe of Western Siberia was investigated. A total of 39 species from 15 genera were collected. Ground beetles' community was characterized by a high evenness of species distribution across the agroecosystems. The average Jaccard's similarity index for species presence/absence was 65%, and for abundance it was 54%. The significant difference in the distribution of predatory and mixophytophages ground beetles in wheat crops (U test, P < 0.05) can be justified by the constant suppression of the weed component and the use of insecticides that lead to the dominance of the predators. Fauna of wheat crops was more diverse than that in corn (Margalef index, U test, P < 0.05). No significant differences in biological diversity indexes, except for the Simpson dominance index (U test, P < 0.05, wheat), were found in ground beetle communities in crops at different levels of intensification. A certain differentiation of predatory species was caused by the selective occurrence of the litter-soil species, especially abundant in the row-crop. The specificity of the ground beetle community of corn crops may have been caused by repeated inter-row tillage, which influenced the increase in porosity and topsoil relief and contributed to the creation of favorable microclimatic conditions. In general, the applied level of agrotechnological intensification had no significant effect on the species composition and ecological structure of beetle communities in agrolandscapes. The use of bioindicators made it possible to assess the environmental sustainability of the agricultural environment and also creates the prerequisites for the development of ecologically directed correction of agrotechnological operations in agroecosystem management.

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In the article, the following were considered: classification of geochemical landscapes of the investigated territory, migration and accumulation of toxic chemical elements and their impact on human health. The research article was carried out in two directions: the first part-migration patterns of the chemical elements. The migration of chemical elements by landscape types has been identified, and a map has been developed showing the migration of chemical elements across the landscape. The second part of the article explores the toxicity of chemical elements that are common in the area and examines the relationship between the diseases observed in areas where the toxic elements are most commonly encountered and their effects on human health. The article is devoted to the study of the peculiarities of the geochemical transformation of landscapes in the research area (of the Kura intermountain basin) based on the patterns of concentration and migration of macro-compounds and trace elements found in samples of mountain rocks, soil, plants and water, for which a comparative method of research and the relationship of landscape components was used. For the first time, a medium-scale "Geochemical classification of landscapes" and then "map scheme of diseases caused by anomalous concentration of microelements" of this region were compiled. The article reveals the characteristic features of the compiled maps and the features of the geochemical transformation of the study area. The geochemistry of landscapes studies the patterns of migration of chemical elements in the Earth's geographical shell. It deals with patterns of substance migration in that shell of the Earth that is the place of human life. The landscape is a fundamental concept of natural science as "chemical element," mineral, "soil." The landscape is a large and complex nonequilibrium dynamic system of the Earth's surface, in which the elements of the lithohydrology and atmosphere are interpenetrated.

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Rivers are one of the most commonly transformed aquatic ecosystems. Most papers present significantly negative effects of activities such as dredging or channel regulation on the ecological status of rivers. The purpose of this work was to compare the response of various groups of invertebrates (Mollusca, Hydrachnidia, Odonata, Heteroptera, Coleoptera and Trichoptera) to an intervention involving dredging in conjunction with the removal of riparian vegetation. Habitat diversity increased after the dredging, and more individuals and species were caught than before the dredging. The increase in habitat diversity after the dredging translated into an increase in the species diversity of most investigated groups. Individual groups of invertebrates showed varied responses to the dredging, depending on the role of the terrestrial phase in their life cycle: the greater the role of the terrestrial phase in the life cycle, the more the group was affected by changes in the terrestrial environment following the intervention. In consequence, the intervention had the greatest negative impact on insects, and among these, on adult Odonata. The following conclusions can be drawn: (1) Dredging can benefit a previously anthropogenically transformed river ecosystem by increasing habitat diversity; (2) Odonata are particularly useful for assessing the impact of this type of intervention on invertebrate communities. They can be considered good indicators of habitat disturbances in both aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems.