Effective conservation of all levels of biological diversity (from genotypes to ecosystems) is possible only in protected areas. Ukrainian legislation provides for the protection of natural diversity on the scientific basis of protection schemes which should include appropriate plans. Most of the present problems in reserve management stem from the time these protected areas were set up, when the main aim was to protect populations of individual rare species but not the ecosystem as a whole. There in no one management plan suitable for all reserves: different approaches are needed in different areas. The organisms specific to the reserve, their geographical distribution, the type of vegetation, the degree to which the reserve is unspoilt, and the current position of the reserve in ecological succession should all be taken into consideration. The most urgent task is to propose management plans which provide the best protection of species diversity, and community structure and do not damage natural processes (Tkachenko & Didukh, 1991). At present in many steppe reserves some measures are necessary to support the stability of "typical" steppe communities. Such interference in reserve ecosystems is justified, because most of them are in any case at least partially artificial. One of the main aims of management schemes is therefore to imitate the influence of natural agents (Semenova-Tian-Shanskaya, 1977; Osychniuk, 1979; Genov, 1985; Tkachenko, 1991). In devising an optimal conservation plan, it is necessary to view the position of a particular steppe ecosystem in the context of an idealized succession of steppe vegetation (Tkachenko, 1992). From the practical point of view, a wide variety of experiments are needed in steppe reserves. Besides haymaking some restricted tests with grazing and premeditated burning should be made, because these are natural events in steppes (Odum, 1986). A regime of strict conservation on its own will not permit all levels of biodiversity to be conserved.