Department
of Biogeography
Contacts
119991, Russian Federation, Moscow,
GSP-1, Leninskie Gory, 1,
Lomonosov Moscow State University,
Faculty of Geography,
Department of Biogeography
E-mail: info@biogeo.ru
Phones:
+7 495 939 47 17
+7 495 939 26 11 (Herbarium)
History
Department of Biogeography was founded by Academician Vladimir Sukachev at the Faculty of Geography as the Department of Botanical Geography in 1946. In 1952, the Department of Botanical Geography was transformed into the Department of Biogeography. At the suggestion of V.N.Sukachev, the department was headed by Professor Anatoly Voronov, the Honored Scientist of the Russian Federation, Doctor of Biological Sciences. He remained at the head of the department for 35 years from 1953 to 1988. From 1988 to 2004, the department was headed by the Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences Professor Dmitry Krivolutsky. Since 2005, the department has been headed by Professor, Doctor of Geographical Sciences Svetlana Malkhazova. Today, the Department of Biogeography employs specialists in the fields of botanical geography, zoogeography, medical geography, soil biogeography and phylogenetic biogeography, biodiversity assessment, bioindication, and nature conservation.
The results of scientific research of the Department of Biogeography are used in solving a wide range of scientific and practical problems related to geography and the use of biological resources, monitoring of the living surface of the planet, the development and optimization of nature reserves network and other protected areas, the development of various aspects of medical geography and human ecology.
Over several decades, the scientific ecological and biogeographical school of Moscow University was formed in inextricable connection with the development of a complex of geographical sciences, especially landscape science and thematic mapping. The work of the school largely played a decisive role in the recognition of biogeography as a geographical science. At the same time, the opposite process was also taking place - the penetration of the ecological paradigm, the cornerstone of the school, into various sections of geography. Having accumulated achievements in botanical geography, zoogeography and medical geography, the school has become one of the leading educational and scientific centers for the development of biogeography.
The scientists of the Department created a Scientific Reference Herbarium, registered in the international code “Index Herbariorum” (acronym MWG), numbering about 90,000 mounted plant specimens, and a reference educational and scientific reference zoological collection, registered in the Russian Ornithological and Theriological Societies. In terms of the completeness of the exposition of the fauna of the former USSR, the collection has no equal among educational collections in Russia and abroad (more than 700 species of birds - 9500 specimens and more than 220 species of mammals - 3600 specimens).
Education
The department trains undergraduate and graduate students in the educational program “Ecological Biogeography” within the framework of the direction “Ecology and Environmental Management”. Postgraduate studies in scientific specialities 1.6.12 “Physical Geography and Biogeography, Geography of Soils and Geochemistry of Landscapes”, 1.6.21 “Geoecology”.
Research directions
The most relevant and promising areas of scientific research developed at the department.
Botanical geography
Since the beginning of the formation of the department, on the initiative of Academician V.N. Sukachev, botanical geography has taken its permanent place in the research work, based on which the educational process and training of graduates of the department are based. Modern phytogeography studies the patterns of geographical distribution of plants and plant communities on the earth's surface in connection with environmental conditions.
Zoogeography
The central focus of the department’s zoogeographers is the study of animal populations, which is inextricably linked with its mapping. The collaboration at the Department of plant specialists and zoogeographers contributed to their close cooperation: much attention was paid to the biocenotic interaction of animals and plants; Later, the department appeared in the field of zoogeography of soils with an emphasis on coenotic and ecosystem aspects.
Soil biogeography
Soil biogeography is a quite new scientific direction in biogeography, which uses information about soil biota (ecosystems, faunas and microflora) to characterize territories, i.e. that part of the terrestrial biota, which accounts for 85% of the zoomass and 95% of all species of organisms inhabiting the land. At the Department of Biogeography of the Faculty of Geography of Moscow State University, this direction has been developed since 1988 in the form of an educational special course. The founder of the soil biogeography direction at the Department of Biogeography was Prof. D.A. Krivolutsky.
Medical geography
Medical geography is a science that studies the influence of the characteristics of the geographic environment on human health, as well as the patterns of the geographical distribution of diseases and other pathological conditions in humans. The object of medical geography is the “environment - human health” system. The founder of the medical-geographical direction at the Department of Biogeography was Prof. A.G. Voronov.
Phylogenetic biogeography
This new area of research abroad for the department and in general for domestic biogeography is one of the most relevant and dynamically developing. Born “in pain,” but formed quickly (albeit not easily!), phylogenetic biogeography synthesizes data from phylogenetics, evolutionary theory, morphology, systematics, molecular biology, geology, paleontology, ecology and biogeography.
Biogeographical mapping
In biogeography, mapping and the cartographic research method occupy an important place, since a map is an effective tool for studying spatiotemporal phenomena and processes and as an indispensable means of presenting spatially distributed information. Biogeographical mapping has existed at the Department of Biogeography as an independent direction throughout its existence.
Department staff
Head of Department
Malkhazova Svetlana Mikhailovna, Professor, Doctor of Geographical Sciences
Professors
Bobrov Alexey Vladimirovichr, Doctor of Biological Sciences
Romanov Alexey Anatolievich, Doctor of Geographical Sciences
Ogureeva Galina Nikolaevna, Doctor of Geographical Sciences
Associate Professors
Bocharnikov Maxim Viktorovich, Ph.D.
Emelyanova Lyudmila Georgievna, Ph.D.
Leonova Nadezhda Borisovna, Ph.D.
Senior Researchers
Dikareva Tatyana Vladimirovna, Ph.D.
Koroleva Elena Grigorievna, Ph.D.
Mironova Varvara Andreevna, Ph.D.
Orlov Dmitry Sergeevich, Ph.D.
Rumyantsev Vadim Yurievich, Ph.D.
Soldatov Mikhail Stanislavovich, Ph.D.
Researchers
Kadetov Nikita Gennadievich
Junior Researchers
Zdravchev Nikita Sergeevich
Leading Engineers
Miklyaeva Inessa Mikhailovna, Ph.D.
Levik Lilia Yurievna, department manager
Technicians
Ezerova Lyubov Vladimirovna
Kandidov Maksim Valentinovich
Zelikhina Svetlana Vasilievna
