[Carbon stable isotope composition (delta 13C) of lichen thalli in the forests in the vicinity of the Chernobyl atomic power station].

The stable isotope abundance of carbon in the lichens Cladina mitis, Cladonia crispata Hypogymnia physodes, Parmelia sulcata has been investigated in a study relating these values with known levels of 106Ru, 134Cs, 137Cs and 144Ce defined activity in their thalli in the pine forests of region within a 30-km radius of the Chernobyl atomic power station and beyond it (37 km). All 63 samples of the lichens were obtained from 7 different sites. Small effects on delta 13C values in the lichens Cladina mitis, Hypogymnia physodes were found to be associated with distance from CNPP, activity level of radionuclides in them thalli whereas at Cladonia crispata is observed weighting of carbon with increase in values of 134Cs and 137Cs activity in thalli.

[Spatial distribution of soil animals: a geostatistical approach].

Spatial distribution is one of the main parameters of populations of soil animals. Spatial soil ecology having been developing during last decades bases animal distribution estimates on the geostatistic approach. A simple principle underlying the latter's methodology is that samples placed close to each other have more similarity than those distantly placed, it is usually called autocorrelation.

[Forest fires as a factor of formation of soil animal communities].

Forest fires usually destroy the most of soil animals. However due to the heterogeneity of soil cover some animals can survive in the partially burned patches (refugia). These groups along with the inhabitants of deep soil layers are the first to colonize burned areas.