The paper deals with the spatiotemporal analysis of the tick-borne infections spread in the Jewish Autonomous Oblast. The study used materials on tick bites of people and tick infection with pathogens of especially dangerous infections for the period from 2018 to 2022. Information was collected on five infections relevant to the region, namely tick-borne viral encephalitis, ixodic tick-borne borreliosis, Siberian tick-borne typhus, human granulocytic anaplasmosis, and human monocytic ehrlichiosis. The distribution of tick-borne infections by administrative districts of the region was analyzed. It was found that ixodic tick-borne borreliosis is the most widespread one. Based on point data about the places where infected ticks were found and considering a number of natural factors, a map of the potential range of tickborne infections in the region was compiled. Taking into account the predicted climatic data for the period of 2081-2100 under the most severe SSP5-8.5 climatic scenario, a map of the predicted area of tick-borne infections for the territory of the Jewish Autonomous Oblast at the end of the 21st century was prepared.

Sediment dynamics in alpine catchments is highly variable both in time and space which should be considered in nature management. The study deals with investigation of the alpine catchment of the Donguz-Orun Lake, located on the northern slope of the Central Caucasus. We followed a morphodynamic approach to assess the denudation rate, which was supported by sediment delivery ratio assessment and two independent methods to verify the results. It was found that about 29,300 m³ of material is mobilized annually by the background exogenous geomorphologic processes in the catchment, corresponding to a local denudation rate of 2,2 mm/year. However, with an average sediment delivery ratio of 58%, only about 17,000 m3 reaches the catchment outlet, corresponding to the basin-wide denudation rate of 1,3 mm/year. Most of the sediment load in the lake basin is supplied by fluvial processes, predominantly gully erosion and sheet wash, as well as rock falls, glacial, and fluvio-glacial processes. Verification by independent methods, including estimation of sediment volume in the lake basin and the sediment fingerprinting technique, showed that used approach did overestimate the basin denudation volume by about 3000 m3. The total denudation of the catchment under study exceeds the average value for the high mountain zone of the Alps.

Relatively straight non-branching channels account for the smallest share among all morphodynamic types of channels, which is due to the instability of the rectilinear flow movement. Recently they have become objects of study from the point of view of their morphology, dynamics and conditions of formation, including on particular rivers, due to the difficulties arising in solving water management and water transportation problems. Despite their apparent uniformity and relatively weak intensity of channel reformations, they are characterized by certain morphological variability associated mainly with the parameters of the channels, their water content, and specific conditions of formation. Rectilinear channels could form an independent type and associated morphologically homogeneous sections in a wide-floodplain, adapted and incised channel. They could also occur in the form of small sections (“insertions”) between adjacent bends in a meandering channel, in floodplainchannel branches, in the branches of conjugated and single branchings. Rectilinear “insertions” are an integral part of complex chest (trapezoidal) bends, in which they separate the upper forced bend of the channel on the approach to the leading bedrock bank or the ledge of a high, rarely flooded floodplain, and the lower bend with an upper wing near the bedrock bank. Taking into account all factors, a complete classification of rectilinear channels has been elaborated. The conditions of their formation and specific features of their deformations have been defined, as well as possibilities of the optimal management of channel processes to ensure the stability of waterways and hydraulic structures, and the operation of water management facilities.

Record-low unemployment and high demand for logistics services, especially from e-commerce, have intensified employee shortage in transportation and logistics. It is noted that the demand for labour in the sector is growing 1,5 times faster, and the offer is 20–25% slower than in economy as a whole. Focusing on the Moscow agglomeration, the authors analyzed spatial patterns and characteristics of labour resource distribution within the transportation and logistics. The research used data from the HeadHunter portal and the Municipalities’ Indicators Database (MID), recalculated for 10-km segments within the Moscow agglomeration. The segments were grouped into five belts by the distance from the Moscow Ring Road (MRR) and the proportion of employed in the transportation and logistics: 0–30 km (over 10%), 30–60 km (3–5%), 60–80 km (less than 2%), 80–100 km (2–3%), and 100 km or more (over 5%). The belt closest to the MRR (0–30 km) concentrates the highest numbers of transportation and logistics employees but since 2020 it is decreasing because of the airport job reductions following the COVID-19 crisis and 2022 geopolitical events. The Central Ring Road attraction zone (30–60 km) experienced steady employment growth driven by construction of new large warehouse facilities but faced reductions by late 2023 due to migrant outflows. The 60–70 km zone (A-108 road zone) has the minimum proportion of those employed in transportation and logistics but may potentially attract excess employment from the nearest belt as warehouse construction shifts towards the agglomeration’s periphery. Peripheral belts exhibited active post-2021 growth, primarily supported by increasing employment in large warehouse facilities of online retailers. Overall, transportation and logistics remains a labour-surplus economic sector. The problem of employee shortage could be partly solved by the automation of linear operations, particularly at large warehouse facilities.

The current international situation is volatile, and the global economic and trade landscape is being profoundly affected by geopolitical conflicts, climate change and emerging technological revolutions. However, the Belt and Road Initiative and the Eurasian integration are promoting a steady rise in the total volume of bilateral trade between Russia and China. Economic and trade interaction between the two countries is an important pillar of the China-Russia strategic partnership. But bilateral trade accounts for only a relatively low proportion of China’s foreign trade volume, and there are still problems, e.g. low added value of products. A number of indices are applied to analyze the extent of bilateral trade between China and Russia over the past two decades, as well as its competitiveness and complementarity. The results of calculations show that China has a strong competitive advantage in the export of labor-intensive goods, while a strong competitive advantage of Russia is the export of primary goods. The bilateral trade volume between China and Russia has shown vigorous growth, accounting for an increasing share of Russia’s total foreign trade, while its share of China’s total foreign trade has just slightly increased. Both sides still have high potential for further promoting of economic and trade cooperation.

The ecological and geographical differentiation of the bird population at 18 sites of the Urup and Iturup islands was analyzed. The method of route accounting was applied. A total of 109 species were recorded, 62 of them on both islands. The coefficient of faunal commonality between the terrestrial habitats of the islands is 72%, and between the coastal-marine - 71%. The coefficient of similarity of the bird population between the land habitats of the islands is 36%, and between the coastal-marine - 29%. The values of bird population density on the islands are close both between terrestrial (610-757 ind./km2) and coastal-marine (536-607 ind./km2) habitats. The high population density is everywhere due to the abundance of numerically predominant species of the Far Eastern island and the Chinese fauna types. The total population of species of these faunas accounts for more than 50% of the population in terrestrial (282-469 ind./km2) and coastal marine (172-333 ind./km2) habitats. The spatio-temporal dynamics of the bird population is characteristic.

The paper presents the results of studying modern alluvial deposits of the Don and Kuban rivers by the pollen analysis method. The study was carried out to clarify methodological issue, including the movement of pollen and spores by flowing waters. The obtained data show that pollen assemblages of river sediments formed in the process of pollen mixing by water and air characterize the composition of the regional vegetation cover rather than local nearriver plant groups. According to the results for the subrecent sediments of the Don River the transfer of pollen grains and spores by water was insignificant, which can be clearly seen at the border of the forest-steppe and steppe zones. Pollen assemblages of the forest-steppe zone contain 50% of tree species pollen, while in the steppe zone, including its northern part, tree species make up less than 30-35%. Sporadic forest elements such as Picea pollen, Lycopodium species spores and Sphagnum mosses in alluvial deposits of the steppe section of the Don River, as well as in the subrecent sediments of the Sea of Azov, could be neglected in the palaeoreconstructions. The composition of subrecent pollen assemblages of the Kuban River sediments is less variable from the middle course to the mouth with rather stable ratio of components. Pollen of the Caucasian flora elements (Fagus orientalis, Carpinus caucasica) is poorly dispersed by water from high and midmountain landscapes of the upper reaches of the river. The comparison of pollen assemblages from alluvial and marine (the Sea of Azov) sediments have shown that the distortion of fossil assemblages’ composition due to material input by water is minimal

In the face of growing risks in Russia’s demographic situation, the attraction of foreign students to higher education institutions is seen as an important resource for replenishing the human capital. The article analyzes the dynamics and geography of the origin of foreign students in Russia. It reveals the main trends in the distribution of foreign students by sending countries, as well as the territorial disparity of Russian regions in terms of foreign students’ enrollment. The prestige of Russian universities is quite high for natives of Asian and African countries. The geography of migration flow in metropolitan and large regional universities is quite diverse. However, in smaller regional universities, foreign students from one country prevail. Regional universities enroll students with lower school-leaving examination’ scores compared to metropolitan universities. An increasing share of foreign students in regional universities is obvious. Based on the data collected during focus groups and narrative interviews in several Russian universities, the country specifics of decision-making in choosing Russia for education were identified, as well as the ways and forms of adaptation processes and possible trajectories of life after graduation. The analysis of the empirical material made it possible to identify five main behavioral models of international students’ adaptation. The models took into account countries of origin, daily experience and social interaction with the host community. The most promising “demographic resource” is students from the Central Asian countries. An expert survey based on semi-structured interview of university staff working with international students in six regions of Russia allowed clarifying the main problems and identifying ways to solve them. The hottest challenges of foreign students’ adaptation are poor language proficiency and inadequate intercultural communication skills.

Integration associations of different levels are actively developing in all regions of the world. Eight common markets, namely the European Economic Area (EEA), the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU), the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf (GCC), the East African Community (EAC), the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS), the Southern Common Market (MERCOSUR), the Central American Common Market (CACM) and the Caribbean Single Market and Economy (CSME) are central. These are integration associations based on free trade and free exchange of all factors of production. The purpose of the study was to identify geographic differences in the depth of integration within the world’s common markets. The depth of integration is studied quantitatively using the index of integration depth developed by the authors. It is based on the principle of common approach to assessing integration across four freedoms, i. e. the movement of goods, services, people and capital, represented in the aggregate index by two indicators, namely openness (the ratio of a particular flow within the common market to the size of the country) and importance (the share of flows within the common market in all external flows). This approach allows to assess the country’s participation in both regional and international movement of production factors. The study revealed that common markets formed on similar principles differ significantly in the depth of integration. In contrast to the developed European common market, participants in the Asian, African and Latin American common markets are characterized by a much more intensive exchange of production factors with third countries than with each other. This is facilitated by the regional specific features of the processes of international economic integration. Only the EEA can be classified as a common market with high level of integration; the EEU, CACM, CSME and EAC are characterised by the low level of integration; and it is very low in the GCC, MERCOSUR and ECCAS. There are many centres of diffusion of integration processes in the EEA and CSME; the CACM, EAC, GCC and MERCOSUR have one main centre and one sub-centre; and there is one supercentre in the EEU. In most cases, the centre’s level of integration is one of the lowest within the market.

Ecotourism in specially protected natural areas (SPNA) located in the mountains seems very promising due to their natural diversity and aesthetic attraction power. While planning ecological routes in such places, it is necessary to take into account the functioning of natural mountain landscapes, the priority of their environmental role and the combination of tourism with traditional types of environmental management. There are 16 protected areas in the mountainous part of the Northern Caucasus; each of them faces the task of both nature conservation and the development of sustainable tourism, which is the most effective in the form of ecotourism. The Kabardino-Balkar State High Mountain Reserve is among the most typical ones and has high potential for the development of ecological tourism. Three ecological and tourist areas were identified within the reserve, differing in natural conditions, landscape diversity and area, number and value of cultural-historical objects, touristic attractiveness and the quality of recreation infrastructure. The western Chereksky section, bordering North Ossetia, is the most promising for the development of ecological tourism and the construction of ecological trails. Five ecological routes are proposed for it, namely along the Karasu river valley, along the L’kezi river valley, to the Lekhanovtsek Mount, to the Krivosivtsek Pass and to the ancient outpost of Karaul-Kala. Four of them are one-day trips for moderately prepared tourists and one is a three-day trip for well-prepared tourists, accompanied by an instructor. Each route involves demonstrating altitudinal zones, natural monuments, the effects of hazardous natural processes and traditional environmental management; they also have good landscape viewing points. To preserve the ecological potential of the territory, it is necessary to control grazing, recreation and tourism. Reasoning of specific indicators and their quantitative values is a primary practical task that can be solved by systematizing empirical data on the impact of tourism on the natural landscapes.