Формування вторинного ареалу інвазійного виду молюсків Arion lusitanicus sensu lato на території Чернівецької області

This article examines the spatio-temporal (historical-geographical) features of holding ethnofestivals in the Chernivtsi region, which are important indicators of its features such as polyethnicity and ethno-contact. Such events not only celebrate the cultural heritage of various ethnic communities living in the region but also serve as significant indicators of the ethno-cultural potential for the development of individual settlements, territorial communities, territories, and the region as a whole. It is also worth emphasizing the importance of holding ethnofestivals in the cross-border region, as it expands the inflow of investments into the region, as well as the possibility of jointly organizing such events between Ukraine, Romania, and Moldova. Many ethnocultural festivals of poetic, ethnographic, artistic, spiritual, gastronomic, and other directions are held in the Chernivtsi region. The largest number of ethnofestivals is held in the regional center – the city of Chernivtsi. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which has been ongoing since March 2020, and immediately after the start of a full-scale war with the Russian Federation, the number of held ethnofestivals has decreased significantly. Festivals such as "Bukovynska Malanka" ("Malanka Fest"), the ethno-spiritual festival "Onova-fest", "International Hutsul Festival", "Colors of Storozhinechchyna", and others were practically not held in those years. However, despite the difficulties, ethnofestivals like the ethno-festival of theatrical art "Golden Applause of Bukovyna", the poetry festival "Meridian Czernowitz", "Tulip Field", "Pumpkin Field", and others are still being held. Each ethnographic festival has its own characteristics of being held both in Ukraine in general and in the region in general, which relate not only to the venue, meaningful content, but also to the peculiarities of the terrain and weather conditions, seasonality of the climate. Another important factor is the number of festivals and the ability of the infrastructure to meet the needs of tourists. It should be noted that each ethnofestival held in the Chernivtsi region is primarily aimed at uniting different ethnic groups of the population of the multi-ethnic region, as well as popularizing the material and spiritual culture, ethno-landscapes of Northern Bukovina, and Northern Bessarabia. Ukrainians, Romanians, and Moldovans, who have compact settlements in the region, are the most active in holding ethnofestivals, which gives reason to call the region an ethno-contact area.

Introduction. Every year industrial development and economic growth make light pollution worsen on a global scale. It is a well-known fact that artificial outdoor lighting causes destruction of wildlife habitat, impacts circadian rhythms of all living beings, disrupts animal behavior and leads to medical disorders of humans. Over the last decade scientists switched their focus from artificial sky glow over large cities to light pollution of rural landscapes, protected areas and roadways. 
 The purpose of this paper consists in assessing night-time light emissions over Chernivtsi Region as well as over city of Chernivtsi using satellite measurements.
 Methods. Measurements of night-time light emissions were obtained with the help of GIS web application Radiance Light Trends and the light trends analysis tool. The application allows examination of changes in light pollution across selected areas since 1992 and performs time-series analysis with fitting an exponential curve into the data set.
 Results. The trend in light emissions observed by satellites for Chernivtsi Region indicated brightening at the rate of 2.45 % per year from 1992 to 2014, and 2.93 % per year from 2014 to 2021. The marked increase in the intensity of atmospheric light pollution over Chernivtsi Region is largely attributable to urban expansion of district centers, national & international routes and resort complexes. At the same time, the spatial pattern of the light environment over city of Chernivtsi indicated a nearly constant level of aggregate annual light radiance for the last 8 years. A large irregularly shaped "light spot" was detected on the territory of the Prut-Siret interfluve. It crosses the region from the northwest to the southeast and covers the regional center with its suburbs and the national highway H-10. The night light radiance constitutes 47.49∙10-9 mW/cm2 sr in the center of the spot and more than 1∙10-9 mW/cm2 sr at its edges. The highest level of light pollution in Chernivtsi Region was registered in January, and the lowest – in March. Night-time light emission over two most illuminated highways remains relatively constant regardless of the season.
 Conclusion. The study highlights that despite low population and low economic activity, rural landscapes demonstrate a trend towards increasing brightness of the night sky. The findings provide a quantitative reference for light pollution management in the region and for further research in the area.

This work contains numerical analysis of tourism infrastructure of Chernivtsi region as a key factor required for smooth functioning of tourism services. Such infrastructure includes roads and transportation, border checkpoints, hotels and lodging, availability of tour operators and travel agents, visitor centers, and tourism information centers. In Chernivtsi region, transportation infrastructure consists of three components: automotive transportation, railways, and aviation. Specific availability of automobile roadways per unit area in the region is higher than average across Ukraine: 373 km of hard surface auto roadways per one thousand square kilometers compared to 272.7 km average for all of Ukraine. The density of railway tracks in the region is 51 km per 1000 km2 whereas it is 37 km / 1000 km2 for all of Ukraine. Even though the auto and railroad networks in the region are relatively dense, they constitute only a small fraction compare to the transportation network of the whole country, just over 2 % of the Ukrainian transportation network by several different measures. Passenger transportations in the region occurs via automotive travel, air travel, rail travel, and local municipal electric-powered vehicle (trolleybus) connections. The total number of distinct passengers serviced by all means of transportation in the region in 2017 as 94.8M persons. This number is 15.2% larger than the corresponding measurement from 2016 but smaller than the numbers for 2014 and 215 by, respectively, 3.1 % and 14.1 %. The total passenger throughput within the transportation system is measured in pass-km, passenger-per-kilometer. In 2017 in Chernivtsi region, this throughput was 885.3M pass-km, a 11.9 % increase since 2017. Along the 225 stretch of Ukrainian-Romanian border within Chernivtsi region there is only one international border checkpoint for automobiles and buses and one railroad checkpoint. Most of border checkpoints in Chernivtsi region are located on the 170 km-long stretch of the between Ukraine and Moldova. There a total of eleven checkpoints, 8 automotive and 3 railway ones. Border crossing by airline passengers is done at the checkpoint created at Chernivtsi International Airport (CWC). During 2017, there were 65 tourist service providers registered in Chernivtsi region (in 2016, there were 66). Of these, 58.5 % were corporate entities and 41.5 % were individual entrepreneurs. Of the total number of tourist services, there were 10 tour operators, 51 travel / tourism agents, and 4 entities focusing solely on tour-guide activities. The largest number of tourist service providers is operating out of the city of Chernivtsi: 52. Of these, nine are tour operators, forty are travel agents, and three provide tour guide services. In 2017, 20.3 thousand persons were the clients of organized tourist services in the region, purchasing 10.3 thousand travel vouchers of different kind for the total of 184.3 million hryvnia. Of these persons, 99.6 % were citizens of Ukraine and 0.4 % reported citizenship in other countries. Children and young adults constituted 20.6 % of the overall number of tourists. The number of clients of officially registered guided tourist routs was 5.6 thousand. In 2017, there were 75 hotels and other tourist lodging facilities in the region, a 5.1 % decrease compared to 2016. These lodging facilities in 2017 offered 1.5K separate rooms and 3.3K individual beds. The number of clients served by Chernivtsi region hotels in 2017 was 117.0 thousand persons, a 10.7 % increase in comparison with 2016. According to the official statistics, during 2017, hotels and tourist lodges of Chernivtsi region hosted 6.8 thousand non-Ukrainian-citizen tourists from 56 foreign countries, a 5.8% fraction of all hotel clients in the region. The total number of nights spent by international tourists in Chernivtsi region in 2017 was 22.7 thousand, 2.0-fold increase over the preceding year. The primary source of international visitors to Chernivtsi region was Romania (1.5 thousand visitors), Belarus (0.9 thousand visitors), Moldova (0.8K visitors), Israel (0.6 thousand), Poland and Turkey (0.4 thousand each), Germany and United States of America (0.3 thousand each). The visitors to the region were served by two visitor information centers, in Chernivtsi and in Vyzhnytsia, and the Information and Communication Center of Development of Historic and Ethnographic Tourism in Bukovina situated in the main building of Chernivtsi National University, a historical landmark, formerly, the seat of Archbishops of Bukovina and Dalmatia of the Orthodox Christian Church. Overall, Chernivtsi region can be positioned as an attractive location for inter-regional and international cooperation in the area of tourism and tourism services. However, a number of problems of availability and quality of key parts of tourism infrastructure required to be solved in order to further develop tourism in the region. Key words: cross-border tourism, cross-border region, tourism infrastructure, visitor flow.

The article analyzes demographic processes and spatial disparities in Chernivtsi district after administrative-territorial reform. Spatial inequality is a critical issue in Ukraine, and the ATU reform intensified regional development challenges. Consolidation of territorial units concentrates population in administrative centers, exacerbating disparities between urban and rural settlements. The administrative-territorial reform of 2020 significantly affected the settlement system in Chernivtsi region of Ukraine. This study addresses the relevance of analyzing the spatial organization of settlement in the newly formed Chernivtsi district, given that the enlargement of districts and creation of united territorial communities alter the balance between urban centers and rural peripheries and may exacerbate demographic disproportions. The purpose of the article is to conduct a socio-geographical analysis of the spatial-demographic characteristics of the settlement system of Chernivtsi district under the conditions of the administrative-territorial reform. The study aims to identify the main trends of transformation and the differences between communities in terms of population size and density, as well as the density of the settlement network. The research methods include analysis of statistical data on community populations over 1979–2021, calculation of population growth rates, comparative geographical analysis of population density and settlement density, and cartographic visualization of territorial disparities. The results show that the population of the district is distributed very unevenly: over half of the inhabitants are concentrated in the central part (the city of Chernivtsi and adjacent communities), whereas a number of peripheral rural communities have low population density and are experiencing depopulation. The highest population increase during 1979–2021 is observed in certain suburban and southern communities (up to +39%), while roughly half of the communities exhibit population decline (up to –32%). It was found that the decentralization reform did not eliminate the existing disparities but rather reinforced them: strong urban centers continue to grow, whereas remote rural communities require additional support. The findings are applicable for balanced regional development planning at the sub-regional level, such as optimizing the network of educational and healthcare facilities and improving transportation accessibility for peripheral settlements. These insights are important for developing effective regional development strategies and addressing demographic disparities at the community level. Keywords: settlement system, administrative-territorial reform, demographic disproportions, territorial community, population resettlement, Chernivtsi district.

The current state of attraction of attractive historical and cultural heritage in the tourism sphere of the region is studied. The paper offers and presents an informative evaluation of the attractiveness of the historical and cultural heritage of the Chernivtsi region as a tourist resource. The dynamics of the development of the main attractions of the region and their presentation in receptive market offers are analyzed. The attractiveness of the territory of Chernivtsi region was determined based on cognitive and receptive characteristics. It should be noted that the historical and cultural tourist resources evaluated by the method of attractiveness provide an opportunity to understand the level of quality of the historical and cultural heritage. This situation suggests that the evaluation results should be used mainly for the development of the cognitive potential of tourism. The volume of visits to the main attraction of the region allows us to assume that the potential of the receptive tourist product today is approximately 100 000 visitors per year. tourists per year. Of course, the combination of the high cognitive value of the historical and cultural heritage with the natural resources of the region strengthens the prospects for the development of all types of tourism. But the limitation in this situation is the low infrastructure provision of the city. Chernivtsi hotels with a capacity of 100 beds or more. Although the number of accommodation facilities is sufficient, their capacity does not allow large groups to be accommodated in one place, which leads tour operators and agencies to search for alternatives. Such a problem is covered by the city. Yaremche and Kamianets-Podilskyi, forming from the city Chernivtsi is a transit tourist destination, and its heritage can be recognized by the residual principle. The lack of large hotels with classic TWIN double rooms deprives the city of large organized groups and corporate tourists, which results in limited receptive offers from tourism enterprises. The potential for adapting the market to a receptive tourist exists within the unique historical and cultural heritage. The city of Chernivtsi is a real reserve of Austrian architecture in Ukraine, which should be attracted to the wider opportunities of the tourist market. Maybe then local tour operators will be able to offer a more durable tourist product based on historical and cultural heritage. Keywords: historical and cultural heritage, tourist resources; receptive tour product, coefficient of cognitive value; market attractiveness.

The localization of epicenters and the intensity of local earthquakes in the Chernivtsi region were studied. It has been established that low-energy earthquakes can create a local dangerous level of shaking in its north-eastern part. The seismic danger of the territory of Chernivtsi region is usually identified with the manifestations of earthquakes in the epicentral zone of the Vrancea Mountains. In this, the most seismically active part of the Carpathians, deep-focus earthquakes with stable localization of foci occur. The Vrancea seismic body can be considered as a zone that is in a constant mode of preparation for a strong earthquake, while the earth's crust above the strip of deep-focus hypocenters is practically seismic. The highest, so far registered, intensity of earthquakes in the Chernivtsi region earthquakes of the Vrancea zone is 7, the predicted maximum is estimated at 8 points on the MSK-64 scale. At the same time, the danger of local earthquakes was considered insignificant, and the study of the peculiarities and intensity of their manifestation was of little relevance. The aim of the study is to analyze the location of epicenters and assess the intensity of local tectonic earthquakes in the Chernivtsi region. Components of seismic hazard of any area are the manifestations of local earthquakes and the impact of seismic shocks, the epicenters of which are outside it. Chernivtsi region is not characterized by high local seismic activity, but so far, several local earthquakes with an intensity in the epicenter of 4-5 points have been registered in its territory. A rather strong earthquake was felt in Chernivtsi on May 10, 1950 at 2 o'clock. 10 min (Greenwich). The duration of his three jolts, which took place in the vertical direction, did not exceed 2-3 seconds. During the earthquake, doors opened, dishes rang in closets, and window glass shattered in some rooms. The intensity of the earthquake GV Brusentsov scored 5 points. The most notable seismic event, the shocks of which were felt in the northwest of Chernivtsi region, was the earthquake that occurred on January 20, 1903 at 3 o'clock. 4 min (Greenwich). Intensity in the epicenter, located near the village. Dobrovlyany (Ternopil region), rated 6 points on the MSK scale. At this intensity, the magnitude of the earthquake, the focus of which was at a depth of 10-15 km, was about 4.5. In the territories of Kelmenetsky and, especially, Sokyryansky districts, earthquakes are felt, the epicenters of which are located in the south of Khmelnytsky and Vinnytsia regions. Several earthquakes were registered in the same area, which were felt in the city of Novodnistrovsk with an intensity of 3-4 points. Their occurrence is associated with disturbance of geodynamic balance in the near-surface part of the earth's crust, caused by filling the bowl of the Dniester reservoir. The epicenters of the earthquakes were located 15-20 km east of the Dniester HPP dam. The magnitude in the case of the strongest shocks was 3.5-3.8, their intensity near the epicenter - 5 points. The estimated depth of the hearth was 5 km. An important feature of these energetically weak earthquakes was the small (2-5 km) depth of the focus. Under such conditions, at magnitudes of 2.8–3.8, a high (5.5–7.3 points) level of shaking was observed in the epicenter, but the intensity decreased rapidly with increasing epicentral distance. Evidence of the possibility of a seismic event of considerable intensity in the northeast of Chernivtsi region may be the presence of paleoseismic dislocations in this area. In particular, such a geological and geomorphological complex located on the Dniester canyon near the village. Mosquitoes, described in the work of B. Ridush and Y. Kalush. The reason for the formation of the Komariv paleoseismic dislocation may be the manifestation of a local tectonic earthquake. The territory of Chernivtsi region is not characterized by high seismic activity. The intensity of local energetically weak (with M≤4.5) earthquakes did not exceed 5-6 points of the MSK scale. When the hypocenters were found at shallow depths within the earth's crust, a marked level of shaking was observed in the epicenters, which rapidly decreased with increasing epicentral distance. The epicenters of the earthquakes were located along the lines of tectonic faults of the south-western edge of the Eastern European platform and the Pre-Carpathian marginal depression. The danger for the regional center of Chernivtsi in 5-6 points can be created by the intensification of Chernivtsi or Storozhynets tectonic faults, the last of which was marked by an earthquake in 1950. More intense (5-7) points may be local manifestations of earthquakes in the south-eastern part of the region, in particular, near the city of Novodnistrovsk. The seismic activity of tectonic processes within the mountainous, north-western part of the region needs to be studied.

In this paper, we are explaining a decade long investigation of historical, sacral and archaeological sites in the Toplica District (Serbia) as one of the significant cultural heritage sites in Europe with more than 226 objects with different time of origin. The survey was carried out for the purpose of better recognizing the archaeological potential. In science like archaeology, static objects, if not dynamized, remain unrecognizable to the general public, regardless of their historical and archaeological importance. Historical changes during the period of more than 7,000 years, with many sites of cultural heritage in this district, were recognized. Ordinary kriging was employed through Quantum Geographical Information System (QGIS) and System for Automated Geoscientific Analysis (SAGA). The positions of historical objects are registered, from the Neolithic period to modern times. With the help of GIS and geo-statistical methods, archaeological and historical layers can be rediscovered and better recognized. GIS algorithm ordinary kriging was used to complete the cultural heritage potential and archaeological valorization of the objects with geo-spatial dispersion. As a final product, we have obtained maps with historical and archaeological locations. For the first time, we used a scientific name for contour lines (archlines) with an equal number of archaeological units per density. In the end, archaeological and historical objects and their features were shown with the support of geographical and GIS methods.

The list of human infectious diseases has recently significantly expanded due to new focal infections that are transmitted by the bite of blood-sucking arthropods. Ixodes ticks borrelioses, including Lyme disease, remain the most common naturally occurring transmissible infection in the United States, Europe, and Ukraine in particular. Material and methods. For the last 10 years in Ukraine there has been a tendency to increase the incidence of Lyme disease with an intensive rate from 0.12 in 2000 to 6.45 in 2016. The incidence of Lyme disease in Chernivtsi region during the period under analysis increased by 30 (with an increase in the intensive rate from 0.11% in 2000 to 3.31% in 2016). The purpose of the work was to investigate the prevalence of Ixodes ticks, including positive findings on Borrelia burgdorferi in Chernivtsi region for the period of 2018-2019. Results and discussion. We used the common division of Chernivtsi region into landscape-geographical zones. According to its relief, the territory of Chernivtsi region is divided into a mountain zone (the Bukovynian Carpathians), foothills (Prut-Sirets interfluve) and plain (Prut-Dniester interfluve, forest-steppe zone). We analyzed indicators of the relative number of Ixodes ticks in landscape-geographical areas and the percentage of Ixodes ticks with positive findings, i.e. those that carry the pathogenic Borrelia burgdorferi. Statistical analysis of the obtained data was performed by the method of determining the confidence interval, the level of probability was taken as p≤0.05. The data comparison obtained in 2018 and 2019 showed that during the study period there was a significant increase in the number of ticks that transmit pathogenic Borrelia, in all regions except the mountain zone, especially prominent in the foothills of the Carpathians. Using statistics data, risk of detection was calculated, which is interpreted as the risk of Lyme disease infection when bitten by a tick. When comparing the zones of the foothills of the Carpathians (19.5%) and the Carpathian Mountains (21%) in 2018 the risk of detection was established at 0.92 [0.63-1.36], and in 2019 – the foothills of the Carpathians (41%) and the Carpathian Mountains (15%), respectively, risk of detection equaled 2.7 [1.66-4.41]. The risk of detection of 1.4 [1.66-4.41] was set for both years. When comparing the foothills of the Carpathians (19.5%) and the Forest-Steppe zone (13.5%) in 2018, the risk of detection was 1.44 [1.01-2.06], and in 2019 - the Foothills of the Carpathians (41%) and the Forest-Steppe zone (24%), respectively, risk of detection – 1.56 [1,17-2,09]. The risk of detection of 1.5 [1.2-1.89] was set for both years. During the next stage of the study, we compared the prevalence of Ixodes ticks, which could cause borreliosis, with bacterial contamination of water in the relevant areas. We found a reliable correlation of medium strength between bacterial contamination of water and the percentage of infected ticks – Cramer coefficient was 0.37. Conclusion. Thus, we found an increase in the number of Ixodes ticks, including Borrelia burgdorferi, in Chernivtsi region over the past two years. The risk of infection with borreliosis from Ixodes ticks had a significant increase and extended from the Forest-Steppe zone to the Foothills and the Carpathian Mountains in the period from 2018 till 2019. A significant correlation was found between bacterial water contamination and the percentage of infected Ixodes ticks in Chernivtsi region

Analysis of the population’s migration activity in the Carpathian region of Ukraine is necessary to determine the spatial basis for the formation and development of territorial communities, development and implementation of demographic and socio-economic policy measures. The level of immigration to the Carpathian region from 2012 to 2020, annually exceeded the level of emigration. During this period, the urban settlements in the region are characterized by a stable migration increase (25 thousand people), while there was a migration reduction of the rural population of the region (by 4 thousand people). The increase is typical for Lviv and Ivano-Frankivsk regions, the negative migration balance is for Zakarpattia and Chernivtsi regions. The share of international migrants in migration flows in the Carpathian region is small, the population of Transcarpathia and Bukovina is more active in this regard. Interregional migration links are close between Lviv and Ivano-Frankivsk, Lviv and Zakarpattia, Ivano-Frankivsk and Chernivtsi regions. There is a noticeable reduction in the difference between the number of arrivals and departures, but in general the Carpathian region continues to be attractive for migration to residents of other country regions. In general, in 2016-2019, the population of the Carpathian region due to migration increased by 4 people per 10,000 population. The population’s migratory activity in the Carpathian region has a suburbanization character, which indicates the suburban areas attractive for living and working. Along with this, there is a significant leaching of human potential from mountainous areas, northern and north-eastern districts in Ivano-Frankivsk and Chernivtsi regions, industrial cities in the Carpathian region. The main threat to the development of the Carpathian region, caused by internal migration, is primarily the depopulation of some villages in the region, which is now manifested in the aging rural population. In the future, the unfavorable demographic situation in rural areas may lead to the decline of the local economy, social infrastructure and a general decline in the quality of life of residents.

The article examines the current state and prospects of religious tourism in the Carpathian region of Ukraine (which includes four regions of Western Ukraine: Lviv, Ivano-Frankivsk, Transcarpathia, and Chernivtsi). The key functions of religious tourism are outlined. The role of sacred objects in religious tourism is defined. The resource base of the region for the development of religious tourism is described. Sacred objects in the context of all regions of the region have been studied and it has been established that religious tourism occupies a worthy place in the Carpathian region. Wooden churches have been found to play an important role in the development of religious tourism in the region. According to research, in the Lviv, Ivano-Frankivsk, Zakarpattia, and Chernivtsi regions of the Carpathian region found about 5,000 monuments of sacred architecture, among which the most numerous are temples. Of particular value among the sacred sites of the Carpathian region are wooden temples, eight of which are inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List. It is established that the Lviv region takes the first place; Significantly fewer sacred objects were found in Ivano-Frankivsk and Zakarpattia oblasts, and Chernivtsi oblast ranks last. The obtained results made it possible to identify promising areas for the development of religious tourism in the Carpathian region. Thus, in the Chernivtsi region, the most sacred monuments of national importance are located in Kitsman, Hertsaiv, Zastavniv districts, and the city of Chernivtsi. In the Transcarpathian region: Velykobereznyansky, Volovets, and Beregovo districts. In Ivano-Frankivsk region: in Kosiv, Verkhovyna and Rohatyn districts. Lviv region ranks first in the Carpathian region in the number of sacred monuments. The largest number of facilities falls in the city of Lviv, as well as: the Drohobych, Starosambir, Zhydachiv, and Turkiv districts. It has been established that most sacred monuments of local and national importance are involved in a number of religious and pilgrimage tours, however, much of the resources are not fully used to promote and develop religious tourism in the Carpathian region.

Purpose: to analyze the features of rural settlement in Zakarpattia and Chernivtsi regions and to identify its influence on the formation and functioning of territorial communities and districts of these regions. Methods. comparative-geographical, statistical, analytical method, structural-functional approach Results: the rural settlement network of the Zakarpattia and Chernivtsi regions was analyzed from a socio-geographic point of view, taking into account the similarity of natural and geographical conditions, historical, ethno-geographical aspects of the formation of settlements and modern socio-spatial processes in the regions. It is noted that the regions have a number of common features of rural settlement, in particular, high density and average population of settlements in the plain part and zones of dispersed settlement in mountainous areas, which must be taken into account in the process of formation of territorial communities. It is noted that according to the results of the ATU reform in the regions, rural communities absolutely prevail. This will contribute to the preservation of the demographic and socio-economic potential of rural settlements - community centers, however, in remote peripheral and depressed areas, rural communities may not be able to cope financially and administratively given the limitations of their own resources. Possible positive and negative consequences of the impact of the reform on changes in inter-settlement relations, functions of settlements, and their further development are identified and summarized. Conclusions: Intra-regional differences in rural settlement are an important factor in administrative-territorial changes and were taken into account in the process of formation of territorial communities and new districts. Most communities in both regions are rural; the settlements that became their centers received broad powers and prospects for development. In today's conditions, most rural communities cannot take advantage of the opportunities of decentralization due to the limited socio-economic potential of settlements. According to indicators of economic activity, these communities are mostly subsidized and require significant investment income. The development of rural areas will contribute to the strengthening of the grassroots link of the administrative-territorial system.

BackgroundOpen access to occurrence records of the most dangerous invasive species in a standardised format have important potential applications for ecological research and management, including the assessment of invasion risks, formulation of preventative and management plans in the context of global climate and land use changes in the short and long perspective. The striped field mouse (Apodemusagrarius Pallas, 1771) is a common species in the temperate latitudes of the Palaearctic. Due to land use and global climate changes, several waves of expansion of the range of this species have been observed or inferred. By intrusion into new regions, the striped field mouse has become an alien species there. Apodemusagrarius causes significant harm to agriculture and is one of the most important pests of grain crops. In tree nurseries, A.agrarius destroys seeds of valuable tree species and gnaws at the bark of saplings of broadleaf species and berry bushes. It is one of the most epidemiologically important rodents, involved in the circulation of the causative agents of haemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS) and many other zoonotic infections. The foregoing allows us to classify the striped field mouse as a dangerous invasive alien species in the expanding part of the range. A lot of data accumulated for this species are of interest from both ecological and applied points of view. The accumulation and aggregation of data on the occurrence records of A.agrarius is relevant for the study of ecology, biogeography and construction of the spatial distribution and ecological niche models in the context of global climate change. We have created a dataset of 1603 occurrence records of this species, collected from 1936 to December 2020 by various zoologists, previously published or original. These records relate to a significant part of the striped field mouse’s range in Russia (1264 records) and neighbouring countries (339 records). The dataset shows the position of the northern and central parts of A.agrarius range, the disjunction of the range in Transbaikalia and isolated populations in the north of the range. The data were obtained in different formats from literature, indicating different degrees of accuracy of geographic coordinates and with several variations of the species' name. In the process of aggregating and fixing errors, we created a set of georeferenced occurrence records, adopted a controlled vocabulary, removed duplicates and standardised the format of records using unified data structure. We examined the dataset for inconsistencies with the taxonomic position of A.agrarius and removed the incorrect records. This paper presents the resulting dataset of A.agrarius occurrence records in the territory of Russia and neighbouring countries in a standardised format.New informationThis is a validated and comprehensive dataset of occurrence records of A.agrarius, including both our own observations and records from literature. This dataset is available for extension by other researchers using a standard format in accordance with Darwin Core standards. In different countries, there are a lot of occurrence records for the striped field mouse, but the overwhelming part of them is presented in separate literary sources, stored in the form of maps and in zoological collections. Prior to this project, such information was not available to a wide range of researchers and did not allow the use of these spatial data for further processing by modern methods of analysis, based on geographic information systems (GIS technologies). The created dataset combines species occurrence records of many Soviet zoologists who studied the distribution of the striped field mouse over a significant part of its recent range, in Russia and neighbouring countries (within the former USSR). The final set of records was created by combining the species occurrence records using a uniform data structure, checking geographic coordinates and removing duplicate and erroneous records. The dataset expands the available information on the spatial and temporal distribution of the dangerous invasive species in Russia and neighbouring countries of the former USSR (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Belarus, Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan).

The article publishes and analyzes the document – a memo on the agency work on exposing and eliminating the underground of the OUN of the Melnykivskyi direction on the territory of Chernivtsi region (May 16, 1947) (Sectoral State Archive of the Security Service of Ukraine, f. 13: a collection of printed editions of the KGB of the USSR, case 372, vol. 62, pp. 253-262), which is an important document both for the history of the confrontation of the Soviet repressive-punitive system with the Ukrainian liberation movement and for the history of the OUN (m). According to the information potential, the published document is quite large. It reveals the peculiarities of the agency work of Soviet law enforcement agencies on the methods of detection and liquidation of the Melnikyvskyi underground in the Chernivtsi region. The document gives a brief history of the formation and operation of the OUN (m) during 1940 – 1946, lists the persons arrested. At the same time, it is noted that to May 16, 1947, 286 were under suspicion of belonging to the OUN (m), and the categories of cases these persons were mentioned (26 agent cases, 4 case forms, 8 preliminary agent developments, 248 list accounting). It also gives a brief overview of the agent cases (“Trizubivtsi”, “Musejnyky”, “Nedobyti”), case forms, preliminary agent developments that are under the jurisdiction of UMDB of Chernivtsi region. The published excerpts from the secretarial cases show the extent of the search work of the Soviet security forces and the complete possession of their information. The information was collected and updated periodically about underground people not only in the USSR but also abroad. The article shows that the Soviet security forces played a central role in work with the agency in the complex of anti-nationalist measures. However, despite the mass pressure, the use of brutal methods of combating the repressive-punitive bodies against the Ukrainian liberation movement, the underground continued to operate in the Carpathian region of the OUN and enjoyed widespread public support. In addition, the development of the OUN (m) was shown as a separate direction for the work of Soviet security agencies. Although the latter did not have a broad network of operating centers in Western Ukraine, its former members were considered potentially dangerous to the Soviet administration, and thus went into development. At the same time, the development and identification of melnykivtsi continued not only in Ukraine but also abroad. Keywords: OUN (m), agency, Chernivtsi region, repressive and punitive bodies.

Invasions of species into ecosystems cause their transformation and, in certain cases, their degradation. The study was carried out to determine the extent of the invasion of Cydalima perspectalis (Walker, 1859). For this purpose, the following aspects were analyzed: distribution of the species in different countries of the worldі, history of invasion of the pest in Ukraine, degree of damage to plantations of different box (Buxus L.) species and colony density in certain areas. The chronology of the distribution of C. perspectalis was studied using literature sources and international databases: Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF), Delivering Alien Invasive Species Inventories for Europe (DAISIE), European and Mediterranean Plant Protection Organization (EPPO). The information on the history of the species' invasion in Ukraine and in particular in the Chernivtsi region was found in the literature, using the database of the National Biodiversity Information Network (UkrBIN), through questionnaires and personal observations using the route method (counting the number of C. perspectalis on a certain route). The degree of damage to Buxus sp. shrubs was determined visually using a scale. The density of C. perspectalis in each area was assessed by total counts and direct counts in situ with a parallel assessment of habitat size. It was found that the expansion of C. perspectalis beyond its native range began in 2006 from southwestern Germany. In 15 years, the species has occupied the territories of about 40 mainland and island countries of the North American and European continents. Since 2014, after the invasion of the Zakarpattia region, C. perspectalis has begun to spread throughout the Ukrainian territories. Currently, the secondary range of the species is represented by 14 regions. The presence of C. perspectalis has been detected in 16 settlements of Chernivtsi region, where the degree of damage to box shrubs is mostly severe. The density of caterpillars on most bushes is up to 100 individuals/m2, which indicates the high damage of the species. Key words: Cydalima perspectalis (Walker, 1859), invasive species, damage, expansion.

An important role in opportunity-building to ensure decent living conditions and to improve the human capacity of any territory is played by development and quality functioning of all elements of a large social complex, but their underdevelopment in contemporary realities could have an impact on decline in key socioeconomic indicators of quality of life and social well-being, and at the same time could be one of the main disincentives of state growth and existence in general. In turn, insufficient study of the influence of social infrastructure on people, their potential on regional level, makes it impossible to build effective integrated development strategies and reflects a low level of awareness of the real issues on the ground. In terms of historical characteristics, geographical location, economic and demographic features of the territory, Chernivtsi region was chosen for the study. The main objectives were to study the dynamics of formation and functioning of certain elements of social infrastructure of the region, their problems and solutions for the region as a whole. The article analyzes the system of indicators characterizing main categories of social infrastructure of the region under study. A number of problems have been identified, the main ones considered to be reduction of the total number of infrastructure and providers of services to the public and significant disparities in social infrastructure development between rural areas and urban settlements. Complex maps have been built, that reflect the state of individual components of social infrastructure and graphs that demonstrate the dynamics of the studied indicators in the region. A number of quick and effective measures to improve the state of social infrastructure in Chernivtsi region are proposed, aimed at overcoming existing problems and providing the harmonious development of people and their potential.