[Strategies for Conservation of Endangered Amphibian and Reptile Species].

Strategies for conservation of endangered amphibian and reptile species are discussed. One-fifth of all vertebrates belongs to the category of "endangered species," and amphibians are first on the list (41%). Every fifth reptile species is in danger of extinction, and insufficient information is characteristic of every other fifth.

[Structure of the microbial community in soil catena of the right bank of the Oka River].

The structure of the microbial community (the fungal-bacterial ratio) has been assessed by selective inhibition of the substrate-induced respiration (SIR) using streptomycin sulfate and cycloheximide antibiotics in the gray forest soil of eluvial, transite, transite-accumulative, and accumulative (meadow alluvial) facies of slope landscape on the right bank of the Oka River (near Pushchino, Moscow oblast) which represents an abandoned field, small-leaved wood, spruce forest, and meadow. The concentrations of bactericide and fungicide were selected experimentally for each landscape facies which provide the greatest SIR inhibition of the soil upon their individual application and in combination. Fungi were established to be predominant in the contribution to the total SIR which was found to be 82-97%.

[Fungal to bacterial biomass ratio in the forest soil profile].

The carbon content in microbial biomass (Cmic-BM) was determined in various horizons of the soil profile (sod-podzo, gray, podzol, and rzhavozem) of various forests (oak, spruce Yellow Archangel, spruce moss, aspen, spruce broadleaf) in the southern taiga of European Russia (Moscow and Kaluga oblasts) by the substrate induced respiration (SIR) and direct microscopy (DM) methods. The fungi-to-bacteria ratio was measured by the selective inhibition technique and DM. A quantitative differentiation of the fungal mycelium was suggested.

[Characteristics of tooth system in gekkonid lizards ( Teratoscincus, Gekkonidae) and other lizards (Gekkota, Sauria, Reptilia)].

The dentition and tooth crown microstructure of gekkonids and eublepharids are examined. Scanning electron microscopy shows that the lingual surface of teeth in these lizards has one, two, or, occasionally, several cusps separated by grooves. The teeth of geckoes usually have two (lingual and labial) cusps in the apical region.

[Species of Acanthosaura gray, 1831 (Agamidae: Sauria, reptilia) of Vietnam: results of molecular and morphological study].

On the basis of morphological and molecular data, taxonomic diversity of the agamid genus Acanthosaura in Vietnam is discussed. This genus is represented in Vietnam by four species of two complexes, A. capra and A.