Updated: 10/31/2020
The Department of botany is one of the oldest departments of Kherson State University. Its history began in the autumn of 1917, when a Pedagogical Institute was created in Kherson on the basis of the evacuated Yuryevsky (Tartu) Teachers ' Institute. Here, at the Faculty of Natural Sciences, the Cabinet of Natural Sciences is established, since 1924 it has been renamed the Cabinet of Botany, which, in turn, has grown into a separate department.
Students were trained on rich local material, which was well studied by a well – known world-renowned scientist-I. K. Pachosky. Obviously, it is with the work of Iosif Konradovich and his student, P. Tikhonova, who taught the cycle of botanical disciplines at the institute that the foundation of the Department of Botany as such should be associated. Unfortunately, the fate of both scientists in Kherson did not work out due to the introduction of the Soviet regime – first I. K. Pachoski left for Poland, later P. Tikhonova was repressed. The department is associated with the activities of such well-known scientists as Yu.m. Prokudin, P. E. Sosin, G. M. Sexton-Mordvintseva, V. V. Shapoval and others.
Today, the Department of Botany has the following personnel: Moisienko Ivan Ivanovich-head of the Department, Professor, Doctor of Biological Sciences; Zagorodnyuk Natalia Vladimirovna – deputy head of the Department, candidate of Biological Sciences; Khodosovtsev Alexander Yevgenyevich-Professor, Doctor of Biological Sciences, honored worker of education of Ukraine; Boyko Mikhail Fedosievich – Professor, Doctor of Biological Sciences, honored worker of Science and technology of Ukraine; Melnik Ruslana Petrovna-associate professor, candidate of Biological Sciences; Kartashova Irina Ivanovna – associate professor, candidate of Pedagogical Sciences; Gavrilenko Lyubov Nikolaevna-candidate of Biological Sciences; teachers – Klimenko Vitaly Nikolaevich, Naumovich Anna Alekseevna, Zakharova Marina Yaroslavovna, Daineko Polina Mikhailovna; head of the educational and methodical Office of Botany-Alekseeva Svetlana Anatolyevna; laboratory assistants – Malyuga Natalia Grigoryevna, Ishchenko Victoria Vasilyevna, Borodina Natalia Valeryevna, Kashavar Marina Nikiforovna, Kabanova Antonina Aleksandrovna.
In 1934, at the Department of Botany, on the initiative and project of the teacher of plant taxonomy M. S. Krivoshei, the Botanical Garden (14 hectares) was founded as an educational base for educational and research work of teachers and students of the Faculty of natural geography. Since 1972, the Botanical Garden has been a protected object – a park-monument of landscape art. In 2011, the "checklist of plants and fungi of the Botanical Garden of Kherson State University"was published. The monograph contains information about plants (mosses, gymnosperms, angiosperms) and fungi (including lichens), which grow in the open ground conditions of the KHSU Botanical Garden. In total, the collection of the Agrobiostation – botanical garden includes 16 species of mosses, 24 species of gymnosperms, 555 species of angiosperms, 60 species of fungi and 23 species of lichens.
In 1945, the Department of Botany started creating a herbarium, which now has more than 25,000 herbarium sheets. Since the beginning of the 90s of the twentieth century, the herbarium has been replenished with a significant collection of lichens-11,000 samples (Khodosovtsev O. E.), higher plants – 100,000 herbarium leaves (Moisienko I. I., Melnik R. P., Boyko M. F. and others), mossy - 4,000 samples (Boyko M. F., Zagorodnyuk N. V.). In 1993, the herbarium was included in the International Register "Index Herbariorum"; it was given the international acronym "KHER". The herbarium collection of the department is widely used by students, undergraduates, postgraduates, scientists of Ukraine, Russia, Poland, Belarus, the Czech Republic for writing scientific monographs, term papers and graduation papers. Currently, the herbarium collection is being actively digitalized. Since April 2020, KHSU has been the official publisher of data in GBIF. Now more than 6 thousand herbarium samples are included in the database.
In 1993, the department opened a postgraduate course. The department trained postgraduates in the following specialties: "03.00.05 – "Botany", "03.00.16 – ecology" and "03.00.21 – mycology". Recently, the department started training doctors of philosophy in the field of biology. During its existence at the Department of Botany, the following doctoral theses were prepared and defended: V. A. Surkov (1969), P. Ya.Bilenko (1972), M. F. Boyko (1992), A. E. Khodosovtsev (2004), Moisienko I. I. (2011); PhD theses – S. S. Venger (1974), N. R. Pavlova (1987), G. M. Semashkina (1990), O. E. Khodosovtsev (1997), I. I. Moisienko (1999), R. P. Melnik (2001), Pavlov V. V. (2002), T. B. Chinkina (2003), N. V. Zagorodnyuk (2011), Postoyalkin S. V. (2012), Boyko T. O. (2013), Gavrilenko L. M. (2020). Today, postgraduates of the department are V. M. Ovsienko, V. V. Darmostuk, G. A. Malaya.
In 1998, the department established a scientific laboratory of biodiversity and environmental monitoring (head – A. E. Khodosovtsev), in 2003 – a laboratory of plant ecology, environmental protection and rational use of Natural Resources (Head – Professor I. I. Moisienko). In 2003, the laboratory of biodiversity and environmental monitoring was named after the outstanding Ukrainian scientist I. K. Pachosky. Based on the presentation of the department, one of the streets of the city of Kherson was named after I. K. Pachosky during decommunization.
In the late 90s of the twentieth century, the Kherson Botanical School of Professor M. F. Boyko was formed, which can solve complex scientific and methodological problems.
In 2005, the staff of the Department of botany at Kherson State University launched the publication of the "Black Sea Botanical Journal", which covers a wide range of problems of botanical science. The Journal has an international registration, it is included in the list of scientific publications of Ukraine of Category B, which can publish the results of dissertations for the degree of Doctor and candidate of Sciences.
The Department of Botany performs many international projects in cooperation with scientists from Poland, Sweden, Italy, Hungary, The Netherlands, the Czech Republic, etc. Employees of the Department participated in many scientific expeditions to study the flora of the steppe and forest-steppe zone of Ukraine, also participated in expeditions to other regions of Ukraine and abroad (Austria, Azerbaijan, Italy, Kazakhstan, Morocco, the Netherlands, Germany, Poland, Russia, Slovakia, Turkey, Hungary, Sweden, Switzerland, etc.).
The research results are published in leading journals of Ukraine (Ukrainian Botanical Journal, Black Sea Botanical Journal) and well-known international publications included in the Scopus and WoS nmbd (Lichenoligist, Mycotaxon, Graphis Scripta, Briologist, Bibl. Lichenologica, Mycologia Balcanica, Annales Botanici Fennici, Folia Cryptogamica Estonica, Opuscula Philolichenum, Nova Hedwigia, Flora Mediterranea, Acta Botanica Hungarica, Nordic Journal of Botany, Plants Biosystems, Biodiversity and Conservation, Wulfenia, Contemporary Problems of Ecology, Journal of systems and Evolution, Acta Oecologica, Biology Bulletin, basic and Applied Ecology, Acta Societatis Botanicorum Poloniae, Polish botanical studies, Polish Journal of Ecology, Phytocoenologia, Journal of vegetation Science, etc. and other foreign journals Analles UMSC, Willdenowia, Kitaibellia, Biodiversity Research and Conservation, Bulletin of the European dry Grassland Group (EDGG), Natural Environment Monitoring, Palearctic Grassland, etc.).
Specialists of the department are constantly involved in the preparation of fundamental collective monographs at the state and international level: Red Book of bryophytes of Europe (1994), lichens of Russia and neighboring states (2004), Red Book of Ukraine (2009), lichen flora of Ukraine (2010), EcoFlora of Ukraine (2010), herbariums of Ukraine. Index Herbariorum Ucrainicum (2011), Red Book of the Azov region. Vascular plants (2012), Phyto-diversity of nature reserves and National Nature Parks of Ukraine. Part 1. Biosphere and nature reserves (2012), Phyto-diversity of nature reserves and National Nature Parks of Ukraine. Part 2. National Nature Parks (2012), eco network of the steppe zone of Ukraine (2013), Steppenlebensräume Europas (2013), biotopes of the mountain Crimea (2016), vascular plants of the Emerald network of Ukraine under the protection of the Berne Convention (2017), involvement of the public and scientists in the design of the Emerald network (Emerald network) in Ukraine (2017), the National catalog of biotopes of Ukraine (2018), territories that they are proposed for inclusion in the emerald network of Ukraine (Shadow List, Part 2) (2018) and (Shadow List, Part 3) (2020), biotopes of the steppe zone of Ukraine (2020), etc. Professors of the department prepared such important scientific monographs as: M. F. Boyko –
Analysis of brioflora of the steppe zone of Europe (1999), Moss – like plants in the cenoses of the steppe zone of Europe (1999), checklist of moss – like Plants of Ukraine (2008), Moss-like plants of the steppe zone of Ukraine (2009); O. E. Khodosovtsev-lichens of the Black Sea steppes of Ukraine (1999); I. I. Moisienko (co-authored) - Kurhany na Dzikich Polach: dziedzictwo Kultury I Ostoja Ukraińskiego stepu (2012) and others.
The nature protection achievements of the department are very significant, as evidenced, in particular, by the fact that a significant number of protected objects were created based on the materials of the Department's work, including the National Nature Parks "Nizhnedniprovsky", "Oleshkovsky Sands", "Dzharylgatsky", "Kamenskaya sich". Today, Kherson State University is the scientific curator of these institutions. In 2019, the monograph "ancient forgotten parks of Kherson region" was prepared, which shows the current state of 23 ancient parks and forest parks of Kherson region; in 2020, the monograph "promising protected objects of the Kherson region" was published, in which it is proposed to replenish the protected network of the Kherson region with 125 new objects. Since 2018, the Department has formed a cell of the Ukrainian environmental group (UNCG).
Employees of the department take an active part in public associations of scientists: Ukrainian Botanical Society, IAVS, EVS, EDGG, etc. and conduct active public and organizational activities in the field of Science, in particular, as of 2020: Prof. Moisienko is a member of the Scientific Council of the National Research Foundation of Ukraine, the Expert Group "Biology and healthcare" on State Scientific certification of Western military districts, the Scientific Council of the Ministry of education and science, etc.
A new stage of the Department's work was the recent opening of the interdepartmental Laboratory of Molecular Biology equipped with modern equipment.
Strong human resources, significant teaching, scientific and environmental experience, updating the material and technical base allows the Department of Botany to look to the future with confidence.