Day 2.

The main event of the Olympiad’s second day was the practical round. In the morning, the teams set off for one of the most picturesque trails of the Rosa Khutor resort — the lake traverse, where the field stage of the round took place.

Here the teams faced a whole set of tasks. One of the key tasks was a geobotanical description of the territory: in several areas, the participants had to compile the area ‘passport'- a list of plant species with their abundance and projective cover, while also indicating such habitat characteristics as relief, soil features, traces of anthropogenic impact, and other significant factors. This approach does not only make it possible to record the current state of the flora, but also to compare different areas, tracing how the composition of vegetation is linked to the environmental conditions.

The next stage was the collection of soil and water samples in order to examine them later in laboratories.

"Today we’ve had a very interesting stage — the field, practical one. Of course, what I remember most is the atmosphere itself, the mountains, the clouds, the views. I think we’ve been walking at least four kilometers, so we are exhausted! We collected three bottles of water and about a kilogram of soil for our laboratory work.
I’d never taken part in such field research before. For me, this is a new level and important experience," Öcek Şahin from Turkey said.

"For me, the Olympiad is not just a competition, but a way of life that allows you to merge with nature, learn to understand it, and simply live closer to it. I am passionate about zoology, and this Olympiad will help me learn more about ecology. The climate here is fantastic — cool, but not freezing. So the Olympiad shows that zoology and ecology as sciences are quite close and go hand in hand. It allowed me to better understand all this interconnection," Rastogi Nimit from India shared his impressions.

After the field stage, the researchers moved to the laboratories. There they had to carry out a full-fledged ecological analysis — not to just record indicators, but to analyze the overall picture of the state the areas are in.

Having carefully prepared the water and soil samples, the students proceeded to a comprehensive analysis. The work began with an assessment of organoleptic properties — the students recorded colour, turbidity, and odour in both the water samples and the aqueous soil extracts. The young researchers then carried out a chemical analysis, determining pH, mineralization, concentrations of nitrates, phosphates, and iron, as well as total water hardness. The students compared the data obtained with current standards in order to assess the ecological condition of the territory.

The final step was the filtrate, both for soil extracts and for water samples. The purity of the sample was the key to accurate results. When analyzing the obtained samples, organoleptic properties were assessed first: colour, turbidity, and smell. Then the young researchers conducted a chemical analysis: they determined pH, mineralization, concentrations of nitrates, phosphates, iron, total water hardness, and a number of other indicators, and then compared the obtained data with the standards.

At the final stage of the research, the participants did not just record numbers, but looked for interconnections: how soil affects water, and how these factors are reflected in vegetation. They had to identify the healthiest and the most stressed areas, suggest the causes of the differences, and propose at least three measures to improve the situation. The tasks of the practical round are not abstract, but topical scientific questions that are the cutting edge of today’s ecology. Aspiring ecologists get the opportunity to become acquainted with them, master real research methods, and see in practice how scientific knowledge helps solve important environmental problems.

"The goal was to show it to the participants and give them the opportunity to work in real field conditions — the way real scientists do. The ecosystems of these territories are a good model object for studying anthropogenic impact. Large-scale transformations here began during the construction of the Olympic venues and tracks, and later continued in connection with the development of mountain resorts. That is why such ecosystems are especially valuable for assessing human impact on nature. The interest of the site also lies in the fact that natural ecosystems (in particular, the territory of the Caucasus Biosphere Reserve) coexist here with the slopes substantially altered as a result of economic activity," Nikita Shevchenko, a research laboratory assistant at the International Research Center for Ecology and Climate Change at the Sirius University of Science and Technology, a member of the Olympiad Jury, and one of the task creators, noted.