Preface
Authors: Bykov E V , Umanskaya M V 
Published: December 2020

Abstract
Specially protected natural areas have an enduring value; timely and effective resolution of various problems facing protected areas determines the success of their main functions. The conferences “Actual problems of specially protected natural areas” have been held since 2009 with a three-year period in order to combine the creative potential of academics, students and professional environmental researchers, to solve the most urgent problems of preserving the natural and cultural-historical heritage of specially protected natural territories. Environmental researchers from scientific, educational and protected areas institutions from Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, Kazakhstan and some other countries have participated at these events. A fruitful exchange of information on the problems of various protected areas and possible solutions, ways to optimize the use of natural resources in protected areas and the preservation of their unique natural complexes takes place during the conferences.
The 4-th All Russian Conference on Actual Problems of Specially Protected Natural Areas (APSPNA2020) was held on 17-18 September 2020 in Togliatti, Russia. It was successfully organized by the Institute of Ecology of Volga River Basin RAS and National Park “Samarskaya Luka”, and gratefully supported by UNESCO Chair “Study and Conservation of Biodiversity of the Volga Basin Ecosystems” at IEVB RAS, Russian Geographical Society, Russian Botanical Society, Russian Hydrobiological Society and “Parkway” Public Society. Though the conference was held in the form of face-to-face participation, only ∼30 oral presentations of more then 60 submissions were presented due to the impact of COVID-19 and travel restrictions.
During the opening ceremony, Vice Chair of Organizing Committee, Director of the Samara Luka National Park Eugeny Berezkin, and the members of the organizing Committee, corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Sciences Gennady Rosenberg, and Professor Sergey Saxonov addressed the conference participants with welcoming words.
A wide range of issues related to specially protected natural areas were discussed at the Scientific Session of the conference, i.e. anthropogenic impact and methods of it detection and measurement; preservation of unique natural complexes; maintaining of biological diversity and assessing the state of plant and animal populations in the absence of direct anthropogenic impact; short and long-term changes in the species composition and abundance of pro- and eukaryotic organisms; prospects for the development of natural ecosystems under modern conditions.
The issues of organizing scientific research and monitoring in specially protected natural areas, preserving the cultural heritage of protected areas and their staffing were considered in the format of a Round Table. During the discussion, the participants agreed that specially protected natural areas really need personnel qualified under special programs, not only in the field of management, but also in other fields.
This volume of IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science (EES) is a compilation of the selected papers in the 4-th Conference “APSPNA2020”, reflected the main topics of the conference.
On behalf of the organization committee we would like to thank all of the speakers as well as all the authors for sharing their research results. We would also express our gratitude to the IOP Publishing for publishing the proceedings. We hope that all interested readers would benefit scientifically from the proceedings.
Editors of the proceedings
of 4-th Conference on Actual Problems
of Specially Protected Natural Areas (APSPNA2020)
Evgeny V. Bykov, Marina V. Umanskaya,
Samara Federal Research Scientific Center RAS,
Institute of Ecology of Volga river basin RAS, Togljatti, Samara Region, Russia