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The purpose of the article is to identify major problems connected with studying the historical experience of development of the Russian Arctic and Northern Sea Route. According to the authors, the research objectives should be set taking into account the primary goal of showing within a wide chronological framework the processes associated with the Russian state’s presence in the Arctic territories and water areas. For this purpose it is necessary to determine to what extent the Russian state policy in the Arctic along with the practice of development of Northern territories were affected by the objective and subjective factors, natural constants, changing social and political, technical and economic opportunities. Studying the continuity of the Russian state policy in the Arctic as a territory of major importance for the efficient national development can be viewed as one of the major aspects of research. The authors suggest that the study should focus on the events of the Soviet period when the Arctic strategy was provided with clear prospects for significant capital investments necessary for modernization of the socioeconomic and socio-cultural spheres of the Russian North. In the opinion of the authors, for the benefit of the Russian Arctic Zone the studies should be carried out with interdisciplinary methods and approaches aiming at fundamental analysis of problems connected with historical substantiation of the Russian state’s presence in the Arctic region from ancient times up to the present. The key challenge is to prove the fact that for centuries the Arctic region has been viewed in the Russian state policy as a strategically important territory with great resource and economic potential, while the history of development of the high latitude regions of Russia has been an integral part of tremendous process of Russian advance into Eurasia, formation of the largest state in the world.

The article is devoted to one of the key challenges facing the Russian government from the very beginning of the development of Siberia - the food supply of hard-to-reach Northern territories of the region. It is shown how the state tried to solve this problem drawing on administrative resources and mobilizing private capital. While in the first half of the XVII century the bulk of the grain was delivered to Siberia from behind the Urals, later, with the increasing number of population, Siberia experienced progressively the shortage of bread. For its elimination the local agricultural areas were established whose products were supplied to the local population including the inhabitants of the North with its non-arable marginal lands. At the same time, the authorities made numerous but unsuccessful attempts to spread agriculture in such harsh places as Kamchatka, Yakutia, Turukhansk region and Berezov uyezd. Along with the state some private traders also took part in supplying bread to the Northern areas. However, their activities sometimes provoked dissatisfaction of the local authorities. At the end of the XVIII - first quarter of the XIX century a number of resolutions introduced the principle of freedom of grain trade in the North, but the state continued to control the supply of the Northern regions. Special attention is paid to such an important though understudied institution as reserve state-owned grain stores. Their widespread network was intended under any circumstances to prevent famine among the northerners. By the example of Turukhansk region the author considers the activities of the reserve state-owned grain stores that helped the local people over lean periods due to the declining fishery yields and hunting. It has been revealed that the reserve stores did not bring income, so the local authorities tried to decrease the maintenance costs, transferring part of its responsibilities to merchants and traders from other social strata on a free-of-charge basis.

The development of northern territories of Siberia included the study of nature and local population, settlement, economic growth, integration of aboriginals into the Russian society. Russian Orthodox priests greatly contributed to the study and development of the northern territories of Siberia. The present article characterizes motives, objectives, content and significance of research activities as well as memoirs of the Orthodox priests who lived in the northern territories of Siberia or visited them in order to study or mentally develop these areas, and to incorporate aboriginals into the Russian political and cultural space. Basic historical sources include more then 50 memoirs, diaries, travel notes of the clergymen. The author also used some other ego-documents - letters and some official reports vividly conveying the author’s personality. The primary goal and content of the clergy’s activity was to preach Christ, to strengthen the faith of the baptized and to convert the unbaptized, although there were many people who along with performing their primary duty greatly contributed to the education of the peoples of the North, establishment of schools, translation work, training of priests of aboriginal descent, acquainting them both with the Christian and European cultures. Notes of the missionary journeys for the most part contain information about the geography, numbers and settlement of local population (including indigenous peoples), its material culture, way of life - morals, customs, traditions, trades, dwellings, clothes, norms of common law, religious beliefs etc. The study led to the comprehension of “the other”, its inclusion into their own world and mental acquisition. Notes of the priests contain key geographical, ethnographic, statistical, linguistic, and historical data. These data are even more important for understanding the sociocultural image of the authors - clergy of the Russian Orthodox Church, the significance of their research, educational and general civilizing activities in the North of Siberia. The author suggests that the undoubtful success of aboriginals’ incorporation into the Russian civilizational space was to a large extent due to the accomplishments of missionaries in the course of their scientific, cultural and religious activities.

The results of long-term studies on the status of arginine in coniferous plants are summarized. The characteristics of amino acid metabolism in coniferous species, the annual and daily dynamics, effects of temperature, light and mineral nutrition on its accumulation in organs and tissues are described. Methods for increasing Arg content in conifers by regulating mineral nutrition are considered.

At the beginning of the growing season in the I age class stand of Scots pine ( Pinus sylvestris L.) in the Krasnoyarsk forest-steppe controlled burning was carried out to simulate moderate ground fire. The structure of the annual rings of wood and trophic supply, cambial zone antioxidant system condition, the content of photosynthetic pigments in the needles of the suppressed and dominant trees on the experimental and control plots after 3 hours, 5 days and 2.5 months after the fire were studied. The fire narrowed the width of the annual wood ring due to decrease of number and size of early and late tracheids. The primary reactions to the pyrogenic heat shock were sharp decrease in chlorophyll content in needles, manifestation of oxidative stress in stem cambial zone - elevated level of hydrogen peroxide and activity of most antioxidant enzymes, reduction of non-structural carbohydrates pool. Restoration of cambium function after fire was promoted by increasing activity of amylase, invertase and peroxidase.

The reasons for Siberian pine and fir decline were analyzed by remote sensing techniques, dendrochronology, GIS technology and in situ observations in Baikal region (Khamar-Daban). It was found that since the 1980s, there was a decrease in the value of the growth index ( R ² = 0.69) and an increase of aridity of the climate SPEI ( R ² = 0.72). In the mid-2000s, the increase in aridity led to the division of Siberian pine trees in two cohorts, “survivors” and “decliners”. The spatial distribution of these cohorts is different: dead and declining stands are located mainly on the relief elements with an increased risk of water stress (steep, convex slopes, southwest exposure). The growth index of the trees is closely related to the dryness index in June ( r ² = 0.55). In addition to water stress, drying trees are exposed to stem pests and plant pathogens. The primary cause of Siberian pine decline is water stress due to increasing aridity. Weakened water-stressed trees are sensitized to pathogens. Synergism of climatic and biotic impacts led to observed decline of Siberian pine stands. In general, within the Khamar-Daban region heavily damaged and dead stands (> 50 % dying and dead trees) make up 8-10 % of the total area of dark needle conifers.

Population dynamics, density and aggregation size of tuberoid orchids were identified based on mapping, electronic maps construction with application of “point processes”, Ripley function and pair-correlation function. Discrete and discrete-continuous types of spatial structure dominate in populations in optimal ecological conditions. Bounded aggregations of levels I (radius 0,45-0,75 m) and II (radius 1,2-2,5 m) are formed at 3 to 7,5 m. Spatial pattern depends on generative specimens which are related with “group effect”. The microloci have full ontogenetic structure and may be regarded as elemental populations. They form larger aggregations of levels III and IV with random spatial distribution and continuous bounds. Aggregations of higher level are not formed in worse ecological conditions. Random spatial distribution and incomplete ontogenetic spectrum of microloci are indicators of critical population status.

New quantitative indicators of ecosystem fragmentation based on remote sensing, ground research and GIS-analysis have been developed. Density of trails and the extent of their influence on forest ecosystems were estimated. A new approach was tested in the forest area nearby Novosibirsk Akademgorodok.

The content of 30 macro- and microelements has been studied and assessed by statistical, hygienic and biochemical criteria in soils and Achillea millefolium L. as a forage and medicinal plant. The study has been conducted in the territories of Novosibirsk agglomeration contaminated by waste of industry and transport. In the soil-plant system the relationships have been determined between elemental and biochemical compositions of Achillea millefolium L.

In the process of conducting analytical work regional features of lithostratos and soils: increased total content of hexavalent chromium (700 MPC or more) and trivalent iron (more than 18000 mg/kg) were revealed. This is due to the relationship of the geochemical background of the area with natural and anthropogenic factors in the conditions of monsoon climate promoting emergence of process acidogenesis.