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Lake Blagodatnoye is an oligohaline meromictic reservoir with the two-layer vertical structure — a typical lagoon lake for the southern Far East of Russia. Its upper layer is occupied by fresh water and the lower layer — by brackish water. The greatest warming of water (up to 22 оC) is observed at the lake surface in late July — early August. In total, 274 species are found in phytoplankton of the lake that is the largest number among all surveyed lagoon lakes in the south of Sakhalin-Kuril region. Bacillariophyta form the basis of the phytoplankton species composition (64 % of species). Abundance and biomass of the phytoplankton vary widely from 1.15 . 106 to 160.44 . 106 cells/L and from 0.41 to 6.14 g/m3, respectively. Several peaks are noted in seasonal dynamics of these indices. Zooplankton in the lake includes 25 species. All these species are typical for lagoon lakes in the south of Sakhalin-Kuril region. Wide variations in abundance and biomass are noted for the zooplankton: from 10550 to 99350 ind./m3 and from 47.1 to 231.0 mg/m3, respectively. Two types of species composition are identified in the summer succession of the phytoand zooplankton communities. The phytoplankton groups change at the border between June and July, when temperature at the surface passes the value of 14–16 оC. The key species of the early-summer phytoplankton are Cyanobacteria of genera Aphanocapsa, Chroococcus, Microcystis, Anabaena and Bacillariophyta of the genus Asterionella, whereas Aulacoseira granulata and A. granulata var. angutissima are the most abundant in late summer. For zooplankton, the boundary between the early-summer and late-summer seasons is shifted to middle July when the water temperature rises to 17–18 оC. Rotifera of Asplanchna priodonta, Cladocera of Bosmina sp., younger copepodites of Cyclops and Eurytemora caspica tethysiana dominate in early summer, whereas Bosmina sp. and juveniles of Cyclops — in late summer. Macrozoobenthos in the lake is represented by 25 species of invertebrates. The basis of species diversity is formed by amphibiotic insects. Number of species and total distribution density and biomass of macrozoobenthos mostly declined with the depth: there were 18 species, 370 ± 50 ind./m2, 3.023 ± 0.459 g/m2 in the intertidal zone, 14 species, 580 ± 59 ind./m2, 3.477 ± 0.447 g/m2 in the elittoral zone, and 10 species, 364 ± 36 ind./m2, 2.110 ± 0.248 g/m2 in the profundal zone, and dominant species were changed from Amphipoda Eogammarus barbatus in the intertidal zone to Chironomidae Chironomus dorsalis in the elittoral zone and to Gastropoda Cincinna japonica, Oligochaeta Lumbriculus variegatus and Chironomidae C. dorsalis in the profundal zone. The phytoplankton production in the coastal zone (depth of 0–3 m) was estimated as 552.86 kcal/m2 in June-August. Zooplankton consumed only 0.7 % of this production and produced 767 cal/m2. The production of non-predatory zoobenthos was 8644 cal/m2, with the inputs of 70.2 % for detritus feeders of 70.2 %, 11.8 % for macroalgae feeders, 11.6 % for deposit feeders, 5.8 % for grazers, and 0.6 % for filtered suspension feeders. A part of this production (6.9 %) was transmitted to the feed of carnivorous zoobenthos, so 8286 cal/m2 of the macrozoobenthos production could be used for fish feeding in the coastal zone. The phytoplankton production in the open waters (depth of 3–9 m) was estimated in 2580 kcal/m2. Zooplankton consumed 1.01 % of this production and produced 3578 cal/m2. The production of non-predatory zoobenthos in this zone was 6179 cal/m2 (detritus feeders 68.1 %, deposit feeders 18.8 %, grazers 6.6 %, macroalgae feeders 3.0 %, and filtered suspension feeders 3.5 %). The portion of 12.7 % of this production was transmitted to the feed of carnivorous zoobenthos. The total macrozoobenthos production in the open waters was 5708 cal/m2. The total reserve of food for fish, including zooplankton and benthos, was evaluated in 9286 cal/m2.

The Second Scientific Forum “Genetic Resources of Russia” was held in St. Petersburg, June 26-28, 2023. Thе Forum comprised nine associated scientific conferences and conference schools dedicated to the establishment, formation, conservation, development, studying and utilization of biological (bioresource) collections as well as to the activities of bioresource centers, and a round table entitled “Statutory Legal Regulation and Standards for the Work with Bioresource Collections”. More than 700 researchers representing over a hundred scientific institutions and universities from Russia and other countries participated in the Forum. In total, more than 200 oral presentations were made during those events (including 16 talks at the Forum’s Plenary Session). The participants of the Forum events thoroughly discussed the results of the Federal Scientific and Technical Program for the Development of Genetic Technologies for 2019-2030 associated with the establishment and development of bioresource collections for research in the field of genetic technologies, the prospects for the promotion of this sector, and the regulatory legal framework in the sphere of ensuring conservation and development of biological (bioresource) collections, establishment and functioning of bioresource centers, and their sustainable and rational utilization in scientific research and development activities. The outcome of those discussions is presented in this publication in the form of the Forum’s Resolution. Upon reviewing the results of the Federal Scientific and Technical Program for the Development of Genetic Technologies for 2019-2030 pertaining to the establishment and development of bioresource collections for research in the field of genetic technologies, the Forum recognized them as successful. The Forum approved the draft of the legal act “On Bioresource Centers and Biological (Bioresource) Collections”, which is currently under consideration in the State Duma of the Russian Federation and emphasized the need for its soonest adoption.

Food legumes are crucial for all agriculture-related societal challenges, including climate change mitigation, agrobiodiversity conservation, sustainable agriculture, food security and human health. The transition to plant-based diets, largely based on food legumes, could present major opportunities for adaptation and mitigation, generating significant co-benefits for human health. The characterization, maintenance and exploitation of food-legume genetic resources, to date largely unexploited, form the core development of both sustainable agriculture and a healthy food system. INCREASE will implement, on chickpea (Cicer arietinum), common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris), lentil (Lens culinaris) and lupin (Lupinus albus and L. mutabilis), a new approach to conserve, manage and characterize genetic resources. Intelligent Collections, consisting of nested core collections composed of single-seed descent-purified accessions (i.e., inbred lines), will be developed, exploiting germplasm available both from genebanks and on-farm and subjected to different levels of genotypic and phenotypic characterization. Phenotyping and gene discovery activities will meet, via a participatory approach, the needs of various actors, including breeders, scientists, farmers and agri-food and non-food industries, exploiting also the power of massive metabolomics and transcriptomics and of artificial intelligence and smart tools. Moreover, INCREASE will test, with a citizen science experiment, an innovative system of conservation and use of genetic resources based on a decentralized approach for data management and dynamic conservation. By promoting the use of food legumes, improving their quality, adaptation and yield and boosting the competitiveness of the agriculture and food sector, the INCREASE strategy will have a major impact on economy and society and represents a case study of integrative and participatory approaches towards conservation and exploitation of crop genetic resources.

A series of events in honor of the centenary of the Polar Experiment Station of VIR founded by Nikolay Ivanovich Vavilov, was opened by the Second Scientific Conference “Genetic Resources and Genetic Technologies for the Development of Northern Territories”, which took place on March 13-15, 2023. The objective of the Conference was to provide a regular platform for the exchange of experience, consolidation of efforts and development of interdisciplinary approaches between specialists – geneticists, resource scientists and biotechnologists, as well as specialists from related areas of biology, medicine and other sciences, whose joint efforts are aimed at increasing the demand for bio-resource collections and the role of genetic technologies in the development of the northern regions of the country. The Conference was organized by the Federal Research Centre the N.I. Vavilov All-Russian Institute of Plant Genetic Resources (VIR), the Vavilov Society of Geneticists and Breeders (VOGiS), the Russian Geographical Society (RGS), Scientific Council on Genetics and Breeding of the RAS, Scientific Council of RAS for the Studies of the Arctic and Antarctic, and the Russian Botanical Society (RBS). The Conference was held online. The program of the Conference included three sections: “Effective Development of Northern Agriculture: Genetic Resources of Agricultural Plants and Microorganisms, Genetic Technologies and Interdisciplinary Research”; “Farm Animals, Marine Mammals and Commercial Fish in the Far North: Conservation and Study of Genetic Resources, Breeding and Interdisciplinary Research”; “Health and Longevity of the Population in Northern Territories: Genetic and Interdisciplinary Studies (Including Model Organisms)”, as well as a Round Table “Expeditionary Research in the Arctic and Northern Regions of Russia: Experience of Young Scientists”. Altogether, five plenary presentations, one evening lecture and 23 section reports were made. Genetic, genomic and omics research using valuable genetic resources of plants, animals and microorganisms, as well as human biomaterials, including bio-resource ex situ collections from regions with extreme nature and climate conditions is the basis for acquiring knowledge, creating a set of tools and developments that contribute to socio-economic development and security in the Arctic, addressing health-saving issues, improving the quality of life of the population and partial food self-sufficiency of the regions of the North and the Arctic. The development of these aspects is important for the implementation of the State scientific and technical policy of the Russian Federation, considering the Presidential Decrees 164 of March 5, 2020, and 645 of October 26, 2020. The article presents the main trends announced at the Conference and publishes the Resolution adopted by the Conference.

The paper covers the results of the civic science project that involved VIR partners – Russian Geographical Society, Russian Schoolchildren’s Movement and the Association of Communicators in Education and Science – as organizers and schoolchildren, students and their parents from different regions of Russia as participants. The project, started in 2020 with observations of a single crop – an apple tree, elicited a positive response from motivated schoolchildren and was continued in 2021–2022 with the inclusion of various fruit and berry crops. In the course of the three years of the project, a phenological database was replenished with 3340 entries made by 670 project participants.

Under the auspices of the 5th Vavilov International Conference held in St. Petersburg on 21–25 November 2022, eight events were held on the conservation, development, study and practical use of plant genetic resources (PGR) collections, as well as on the scientific heritage of Nikolay Ivanovich Vavilov and the development of the scientific schools founded by him and the activities of his associates and followers. In view of the modern context of new trends in the development of science, fundamental knowledge, modern methods and technologies, as well as of climatic and economic challenges, the development of the scientific heritage of N.I. Vavilov plays a big role for scientific and technological development. A total of 185 oral presentations was made at the 5th Vavilov International Conference. Meetings of the Conference attracted over 330 participants. This publication reflects the main objectives and content of the performed activities and contains key recommendations emanating from the Conference, including (1) recommendations for the conservation, study and use of PGR, including those on the multidisciplinary basis; (2) recommendations on activities to ensure coordination in the field of conservation, research, breeding and seed production; (3) recommendations on the normative and legislative regulation in the sphere of breeding, seed production, development, maintenance and use of genetic resource collections; (4) recommendations on training, guidance and education. Presentations made at the Conference show that over the past five years there has been a significant increase in the use of modern methodical approaches, i.e. molecular-genetic, genomic and omics in the field of PGR research. All this provides a solid basis for the development of new breeding methods (Next-Generation Breeding). At the same time, it is emphasized that new breeding technologies based on the acquired knowledge, can lead to further progress not in isolation from, but in conjunction with the amassed heritage of classical breeding. Among the discussed and proposed issues, the Conference Resolution identifies those requiring special and urgent attention: (1) the need to legislate for the preservation and expansion of crop diversity in the State Register of Varieties and Hybrids of Agricultural Plants Approved for Use; (2) the inadmissibility of reducing the list of these crops; (3) the inadmissibility of reducing of the number of state variety testing sites; (4) the inadmissibility of reducing of time limits of state variety testing from three to two years or one year; (5) the need to bring the concepts of “genetic passportˮ and “genetic passportizationˮ used in legal and regulatory acts to the canonical understanding of “genetic passportˮ as a document reflecting individual genetic features of an organism (cultivar/hybrid/breed/strain), which make it possible to distinguish its genotype from that of other organisms (cultivars/hybrids/breeds/ strains) of a particular species and the need to carefully elaborate methods of genetic certification of each crop, taking into account all types of genetic markers (molecular-genetic markers (DNA markers), protein and morphological markers). The Conference also noted that under the conditions of the increasing climate change and its sudden unpredictable fluctuations, reliable conservation of valuable plant genetic resources in situ and ex situ is required in order to avoid the irreversible loss of part of plant agrobiodiversity. In addition, extensive expeditionary surveys should be undertaken in the nearest future in crop and CWR diversity centers, under-explored areas, as well as in the regions with extreme environmental conditions and those prone to anthropogenic impacts.

The purpose of this study is to review modern methods of determining the resistance to heat transfer of building envelopes under natural conditions using experimental equipment. Methods for experimental determination of the resistance to heat transfer given in regulatory documents have been considered. Golunov S.V. and co-authors developed a method of determining the resistance to heat transfer based on thermal imaging examination with the placement of sensors on the surfaces of the building envelopes. Abramova E.V. together with other researchers created a method of thermal non-destructive testing using a thermal imaging system, temperature and heat flow sensors. The possibility of experimentally determining the reduced resistance to heat transfer of external building envelopes under summer operating conditions using the device developed by A.E. Rusanov’s with co-authors has been described. Wang Xin et al. proposed a device for determining the resistance to heat transfer of building envelopes with improved accuracy. As a result of the analytical review, it was concluded that the presented methods make it possible to measure the resistance to heat transfer of external building envelopes when modeling various stationary and non-stationary heat transfer processes.

The current study aims to review methods of experimental determination of the resistance to heat transfer. In order to study the special features of determining thermal resistance under natural conditions and in a climate chamber, modern patents have been reviewed. Two studies by Mureev P.N. et al. discussed in this article were intended to study the determination of the resistance to heat transfer and the influence of counter heat flows arising in the thickness of the wall enclosure under quasistationary conditions in full scale. The authors’ experiment has been analyzed, the distinctive feature of which is the introduction of sensors inside the wall enclosure, which makes it possible to more accurately determine the temperature distribution and direction of heat flows inside the enclosure. In his research, Budadin O.N. together with colleagues examined the issues of improving the quality and reliability of determining the thermal resistance of a building envelope when tested in a climate chamber, and succeded in obtaining a very low error in determining the thermal resistance. A modified climatic chamber presented as a stand with a mobile cassette for installing a sample patented by Verkhovsky A.A. and co-others has also been considered. These methods were justified by the achievement of technical research results.

The first scientific forum «Genetic Resources of Russia» took place in Saint Petersburg on 21-24 June 2022. The Forum brought together more than 500 specialists from more than 100 research institutions and universities of the Russian Federation. A round table «Regulations and standards of work with bio-resource collections» was organized within the framework of the Forum in connection with the relevance to create the legislation base for the work with biological collections and regulation of the activities of bioresource centres in the Russian Federation. This publication presents the outcomes of the Forum and its resolution relating to the legal regulation of biological collections.

Nine separate scientific conferences and school-conferences dedicated to the conservation, development, study and practical use of biological collections of various types were held under the auspices of the First Scientific Forum “Genetic Resources of Russia”, which took place in Saint Petersburg on 21-24 June 2022. A total of more than 300 oral presentations were made at these events. The Forum plenary sessions, which included 25 lectures, attracted more than 1,500 participants. The development prospects, research and scientific-practical potential of biological collections were thoroughly discussed at the events of the Forum. The results of these discussions are presented in this publication in the form of a Forum resolution. The strategic role of biological collections for the conservation of genetic diversity, for the scientific and technological development of society and for the provision of educational processes is emphasized. This strategic framework, which should be developed and maintained, also makes it possible to implement practical tasks related to meeting the challenges in the field of food and environmental security, health care and technological independence in the rapidly developing spheres of the economy.