4th International Conference
Smart and Sustainable Cities

Invertebrate animals are an integral component of the soil environment and, along with microorganisms, are an important factor in soil formation and maintenance of fertility. Being a food resource for animals of higher trophic levels, soil invertebrates influence changes in their numbers and diversity, and in urban conditions they determine the “appearance” of synanthropic fauna. The close connection with their habitat makes invertebrates informative indicators of various types of natural soils and their anthropogenic transformation and are widely used in zoological diagnostics of disturbed soils and substrates.
During the master class, participants will become familiar with the methods of catching and counting the largest and most mobile soil macrofauna, which unites the main classes of invertebrates: worms, millipedes, arachnids and insects. Participants will be asked to independently remove soil traps pre-installed in urban areas with different anthropogenic loads (lawns, roadside areas, forests), manually analyze the contents of the traps, identify and count captured invertebrates, and statistically process the results. Participants will become familiar with the main representatives of the fauna of urban soils and the features of the structure of their communities, reflecting the state of urban ecosystems with varying degrees of recreational load.

Petroleum hydrocarbons are one of the most common types of soil pollution. These pollutants accumulate in soils due to their high sorption capacity and biochemical stability. Anthropogenic stress reduces the biological activity of urban soils and negatively affects the biological oxidation of hydrocarbons.
In this masterclass, we will learn about the problem of urban soil pollution with petroleum hydrocarbons and the assessing the degree of this pollution. We will consider the common methods for determining the content of hydrocarbons in soil (luminescent, gravimetric, IR spectrometric, fluorimetric and gas chromatographic methods), their advantages and disadvantages. We will visit the analytical laboratory, review the equipment and the main stages of analysis.

During the masterclass, we will immerse themselves in the process of creating a 3D terrain model using terrestrial laser scanning technology. We will study 3D modeling methods and tools, as well as the features of collecting and processing data obtained from scanning. At the beginning of the masterclass, participants are introduced to the equipment and software used for terrestrial laser scanning, learn to scan a selected area and obtain accurate three-dimensional data about its shape and structure. Next, participants will study the processing the received data using specialized software. The main idea of the master class is to show how terrestrial laser scanning technology can be used to create high quality and accurate 3D terrain models. These skills can be useful in various fields such as geographic information systems, architectural design, urban planning, and in the field of virtual reality.