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This paper presents the overview of the historical origins, specifi c features, development trends, and key issues of development for the cultural-geographic branch of the Russian human geography. In the global academic landscape, this discipline is known as Cultural Geography. Two concepts are used on the national research scene: Geography of Culture or Cultural Geography. The impact of anthropological and cultural traditions, inherited from the pre–Soviet period of the Russian geographic science and anthropogeographic research approaches of the early Soviet period, on the development of cultural geographic research in Russia is analyzed. The consequences of the period of oblivion of the humanistic traditions in the Russian anthropogeography, which marked the cusp of the 1920s–1930s, for the development of economic geography in the USSR are investigated. The orientation of the national human geography towards the cultural geographic dimension at the end of the last century is explored. Statistical data on dissertations defended in the fi eld of geoculture between 1995 and 2012 in Russia are analyzed. Special attention is paid to the assessment of major problems and priority areas of cultural and geographical research in view of general trends and prospects for the development of modern human geography in Russia. It is concluded that the potential of cultural geography in Russia has not yet been fully tapped into. The theoretical and methodological framework of cultural geography has to be further developed. The authors point to the rise of the phenomenon of “neoculturalization” in the national geographic science based on a closer relation between cultural geography with other disciplines of human geography.

The article describes the history of the formation of geo-ecological foundations of marine economic activities, i.e. marine natural resources use, in Russian Federation. Sequentially, beginning with the classic work of Russian geographers, authors show the growth of interest in the problem. Different approaches and methods used in the organization of integrated management of marine activities, such as the concept of “large marine ecosystems”, “marine spatial planning”, and others, are examined thoroughly. The contribution of outstanding researchers of seas and oceans in the development of marine natural resources – A.D. Dobrovolsky, K.K. Markov, N.N. Zubov, V.L. Lebedev, K.M. Khailov and others is marked. The need to create plans of marine environmental management, strategic analysis of its current problems and risks are noted. The ways of improvement of the legislative framework of integrated management of marine activities are proposed.

The growing amount of highly technological goods in the structure of national production and export of BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India, and China) is connected with the development of national innovative systems, which have geographical and historical features. Globalization of world economy strengthens cooperation processes and technological transfer between national innovative systems. BRIC countries are characterized by average world level of development of innovative systems. The majority of resources are concentrated in the subsystem of knowledge production. The state sector is dominating in financing innovation activity in Russia, India and Brazil. The main problems of these countries are insufficient development of the knowledge implementation subsystem (entrepreneurial sector) and dominance in innovative production only of certain branches of industry. Serious problems connected with processes of knowledge transfer in technological innovations and their commercialization exist in these countries in according to the analysis of fi nancing Research and Development (R&D), employment level, patent and export activities. In Russia a considerable amount of all innovations is produced in branches of industries with reasonably low R&D expenditures. The proportion of highly technological enterprises does not exceed 10%. Having followed the policy of “access to the domestic market through the technological transfer”, China reinforced its position in science-consuming production. Scientific knowhow policy in BRIC countries is one of the most important factors of national innovative systems growth. It is possible to define four main streams in it: identification of prospective directions for technological development, consolidation of scientific and technological potential, foreign investment attraction in the highly technological sector, and promotion of knowledge transfer between the regional structures.

The paper studies the modern spatial situation of ethnosocial stratification in three large European capitals – London, Paris, Berlin, Madrid and Moscow. For Moscow, it is especially important to reveal the dependence between prices of residential real estate and settlement pattern of immigrants, since the number of immigrants is increasing. Analysis has shown that prices of residential real estate are significantly differentiated within city borders and represent an important factor in spatial social stratification. The correlation between prices of residential real estate and the share of immigrants is the largest in Moscow and the smallest in Berlin. Differences are conditioned by the degree of social stratification, the specifics of immigration, the level of immigrant social protection, and the quality, cost, and other features of housing.

The lower the social position of migrants, the larger a role ethnicity plays. On the whole, for cities with long-term immigration, the concentration of immigrants in districts with cheap housing is an indication of the social problems of these districts, and in districts with expensive housing, the concentration of immigrants is an indication of social growth and the successful adaptation of immigrants. In Paris, immigrants from poor countries settle, just like in London, in areas where prices and incomes are low and unprestigious jobs are available, creating ethnic ghetto-like enclaves. The number, share, and composition of immigrants, motives, duration of immigration, and features of the cities themselves make up the spatial specifics of ethnosocial stratifi cation. As immigrants adapt, the role of ethnicity decreases, which infl uences not only employment, income, and quality of life, but also place of residence within a city.

The paper studies administrative districts of Central Russia with their centers population less than 50 000 people. Regional features of modern structure of district centers by type of settlements (urban, rural, urban-type settlements) and their population size are defined. The reasons of status changes of settlements in the 20 century (economic and administrative development) to date (largely voluntaristic municipal transformations) are revealed. Population dynamics of districts and centers is analyzed from 1970 to 2010, regional combinations of types of dynamics are identifi ed. The role of the zonal (Non-Chernozem and Chernozem), positional (location against regional center) and institutional (centers status and population size) factors of district population dynamics is appraised. It is revealed that the closer the district to the regional center and the bigger population size of the district center (in Non-Chernozem Zone – the higher the status of the settlement with population less than 10000 inhabitants), the lower the loss of the district population. In Central Russia positional factor affects stronger than institutional; each factor manifests itself stronger in Non-Chernozem Zone. The center-periphery gradient sharply differentiates only the nearest to regional centers areas, and the cities positively differentiating the district population dynamics are only those with population over 50 000 people. Concentration of districts population in their centers, even the smallest, due to depopulation of periphery led to the formation of extremely centralized and dispersed settlement pattern in Central Russia, very small centers are surrounded by areas with low population density.

The main purpose of the work was a computation of linear trends of near-surface air temperature for 80-year observation period based on the data from seven meteorological stations in Bashkiria, viz., Yanaul (1926–2012), Askino (1918–2012), Chishmy (1913–2012), Tukan (1935–2012), Meleuz (1933–2012), Baymak (1949–2012), Zilair (1933–2012). The climate of the analyzed region that is located in the East of the European part of Russia is continental due to the long distance from the Atlantic Ocean and the influence of warm air masses of Central Asia.

The average annual and seasonal temperature records were first smoothed with a 5-year Fourier fi lter in order to exclude temperature anomalies. Next, the smoothed temperature data were treated with regression analysis to compute linear trends. After being treated with the Fourier fi lter, the temperature series showed characteristic fl uctuations for both average annual and seasonal temperature data. Spectral analysis showed temperature cycles with an 11-year period. To establish the genesis of the cycles, a comparison with oscillations of the Wolf numbers was performed. For the majority of the meteorological stations under study, an average annual temperature had decreasing trend from the beginning of observations up to 1969, followed by a subsequent temperature increase trend from 1970 to the present time. Similar trends were computed for seasonal temperatures. Winter and summer temperatures also showed the same increasing trend from 1970 to 2000. However, since 2000, winter and summer temperatures have behaved differently, indicating a drastic decrease in winter and a new increase in summer temperatures. This could be associated with the Bashkiria climate becoming more continental.

The article presents the methodological approaches and results of the assessment of characteristics of modes of stable transition of average daily temperature through 0, 5, 10, 15°C in the south of Western Siberia. Correlations of these characteristics with macrocirculation conditions and with productivity of cereal crops are shown. The estimation of tendencies of variability of the specifi ed characteristics is carried out. Study is important due to evident climate change in the territory, as well as due to lack of available accurate methods of prediction of the consequences of these changes for economy and human activities. Our methods of evaluating climatic conditions (analysis of atmosphere circulation, statistics of transition of air temperature through key bounds) can be applied to weather forecast as well as to estimation of expected crop yields in the region. Early evaluation of weather trends in spring must be used in decision making while developing the agronomic strategy for the growing season.

Problem of genesis of loess as one of the most specific formations of the Quaternary period is object of long-term scientific discussions. These discussions and insufficient study of modern soils on loessial sediments has defined the purpose of the paper – research of features of soil genesis on loessial rocks (a case study of the northern macroslope of the Tsagan-Daban ridge of the Western Transbaikalia). Method of keysites, comparative-geographical method, and profile-genetic method were used. Physical and chemical properties of soils were measured by standard methods. Soil texture was measured by the pipette method. Types of soils were defined according to Classification and diagnostic of soils of Russia and to Field soil indicator. It is revealed, that soddy podzolic soils are formed on a watershed of a south-taiga complex (AZC) on typical loess; dark burozems soils– on the top parts of slopes of subtaiga and foreststeppe AZC on typical loess; grey-humus metamorphic soils – on average parts of slopes of subtaiga and forest-steppe AZC on loessial sediments; dark-humus residual-carbonated and dark agrozems – on deluvial loops of forest-steppe AZC on typical loess; chestnut soils and textural-carbonated agrozems – in the bottoms of hollows of xero-steppe AZC on loessial sediments. In general, for soils on loess sediments the increase in quantity of clay fractions awith the increase of altitude is observed. It indicates the strengthening of processes of weathering on mountains where dominates more humid microclimate. Modern soils on the loessial rocks of the northern macroslope of the Tsagan-Daban ridge of the Western Transbaikalia are singenetic formations of arid pedogenesis.

The article presents a systematic analysis of the conditions, dynamics and consequences of extreme wind-driven surge in the Don River delta in March 2013, which has been documented in detail by the water level observing system created at the Research Station of the Southern Scientifi c Center of Russian Academy of Sciences. Classifi cation of wind-driven surges in the delta of the Don River was performed. The possibility of unfavorable combination of wind surge and increased water discharge from the Tsimlyansk Reservoir was discussed.

Modern pollen samples provide necessary research tool that help to interpret the Holocene fossil pollen record, allow to investigate the relationship between pollen as the proxy and the environmental parameters such as vegetation, land-use, and climate that the pollen proxy represents. The Russian Modern Pollen Database is a new initiative of Russian Palynological Commission to establish a publicly accessible repository of modern (surface sample) pollen data. The Database is freely available online to the scientifi c community (http://pollendata.org) and currently has information on almost 700 pollen samples from territory of European Russia and Western Siberia. The database contains information about the name of the section; its location – coordinates, altitude; the type of the sample for pollen analysis (surface soil, moss, pillows, etc.); area relief (lake basin, fl oodplain, etc); local vegetation; regional vegetation (landscape zone or subzone); climate data, information about researchers and references. The database is constantly updated.

The article analyzes the role of the famous geographer and biologist N.Ya. Dinnik (1847–1917) in study of the nature of the Caucasus, its glaciers, fauna, fl ora and vegetation. Key events in the settling of the Caucasus by ethnic Russian are marked. Dramatic events which hindered and postponed systematic studies of the Caucasus, which began essentially only at the end of the 18th century, are listed. Detailed map of routes and places which Dinnik visited in the almost 40-year period of his research – from Kuban and Dagestan to the Transcaucasia – is given for the fi rst time in the national geographic literature. The assessment of the contribution of the scientist to the fi rst description of glaciers of the Greater Caucasus, the study of the distribution of mammals, the formation of the research on “humanitarian geography”, as well as the analysis of the reasons for transformation of the nature of this mountainous country is presented in the article. Exceptional importance of the works of N.Ya. Dinnik for modern geography and teriology is shown.

Ежегодная совместная сессия Объединенного научного совета по фундаментальным географическим проблемам при Международной ассоциации академий наук (МААН) и Научного совета по фундаментальным географическим проблемам РАН прошла 15–20 сентября 2013 г. в Баку. Тема сессии: “Географические проблемы региона Каспийского моря и изучение путей достижения устойчивого развития территорий”. Важно, что она проходила накануне саммита глав государств Каспийского региона и стала одним из событий, позволивших определить актуальные эколого-географические проблемы и приоритеты развития региона, представленного пятью государствами – Азербайджаном, Ираном, Россией, Казахстаном и Туркменией.

12 января 2015 г., на 91-м году жизни скончался Владимир Павлович Максаковский – замечательный российский экономико-географ и страновед, профессор Московского педагогического государственного университета, доктор географических наук, академик Российской академии образования, Почетный член Русского географического общества, ветеран Великой Отечественной войны, автор серии учебников и многочисленных фундаментальных публикаций по социально-экономической географии мира.