Personal 

I was born in Ekaterinburg (Sverldlovsk at that time). The city is the "capital of the Urals" and its citizens always rank it third in Russia (USSR at that time), after Moscow and Petersburg (Leningrad at that time). The influence of Maria Sergeevna Korotaeva, my math teacher and the 'circle' she lead together with the students of mathematics of the Urals State University left me no choice, and I entered USU department of mathematics.

After five great years, devoted to rafting in spring, earning money in summer, spending in autumn, skiing in winter, and studying algebra the rest of the time, I joined the Institute of Plant and Animal Ecology of the Academy of Sciences of the (former) USSR. During the years there, I figured out the charm of ecological modeling, especially of its discrete version, which easily combines algebra and traveling to great places.

My PhD in Mathematical Biophysics is devoted to population genetics - the explanation why some species of lemmings have stable population fraction of fertile XY(!)-females. The problem was stated by Emiliya Gileva, and to help her in experimental studies, I had a great deal of visiting wild places along the shore of the Arctic ocean, Yamal Peninsula, and even Wrangel island.

The other direction of my work was modeling of population dynamics of voles, mice and lemmings, mostly in the Urals this time. Together with my friend Oleg Sadykov we published a book "Small mammals' population dynamics - concepts, hypothesis, models". In the last five years in the Institute of Ecology I dealt a lot with environmental management in the Division of Applied Ecology, headed by Oleg.

From 1991 I am at the Department of Geography and Human Environment of the Tel-Aviv University. My main research field is Geosimulation, while I still love ecological modeling.