Department of Botany and Plant Ecology
History
The Department of Botany has existed at the university since its foundation in 1804. The department was established as the Department of Natural History and Botany and has changed its name several times throughout its long history (Department of Botany, Department of Plant Morphology and Systematics, Department of Botany of Lower and Higher Plants). Franz Alexandrovich Delavigne became the first head of the department. From 1829 to 1859, the department was headed by Vasily Matveyevich Chernyaev, who initiated the creation of a unique herbarium collection. Over the years, the department has been headed by scientists with different scientific interests, each of whom made a significant contribution to the development of botanical science: L. S. Tsenkovsky, L. V. Reingardt, V. M. Arnoldi, O. A. Korshikov, L. A. Shkorbatov, O. M. Matvienko, Yu. M. Prokudin, T. V. Dogadina. The concentration of valuable materials by V. M. Chernyaev, M. S. Turchaninov, S. S. Shcheguleev, G. F. Shiryayev, A. M. Krasnov, and other scientists laid the foundation for the creation of a unique world-famous herbarium (CWU), which is now a national treasure of Ukraine.
Kharkiv botanists have established about 100 new genera and described more than 1,000 species of vascular plants new to science in Ukraine; laid the foundations for nature conservation activities in Ukraine; and formed the first algological school in Ukraine. In the post-war years, the department trained over 700 botanists and formed the only cereal herbarium in Ukraine. The department's teachers published (individually and jointly) 30 monographs: flora identifiers, scientific and popular science publications.
Area of specialization
The department trains bachelors and masters in biology. Since 2011, the Department of Botany and Plant Ecology has been training masters (specialists) in biology in a new specialization: Bioecology and Botany, in full-time and part-time forms of study. Graduates of the department (masters and specialists) can work in environmental protection agencies, biological, medical-biological, and pharmaceutical enterprises, biological research institutes, and engage in teaching activities in educational institutions. The most talented graduates have the opportunity to continue their studies in postgraduate programs.
Science
The main areas of scientific research of the department are: floristics, systematics, ecology, geography of algae, lichens, higher plants, bioindication, physiological, biochemical, cytological, and biotechnological studies of algae in culture, development of methods for biological wastewater treatment, study of flora and vegetation in connection with the problem of biodiversity conservation, research on the state and development of the regional ecological network. The topics of research work include floristic and ontogenetic studies in the protected areas of Left-Bank Ukraine; structural and functional organization of phytocenoses as an indicator of the state and stability of the environment; research on the systematic, coenotic, and ecomorphic structure of aquatic and terrestrial plant communities of the Left Bank. Over the past 5 years, faculty members and graduate students have published more than 30 articles in professional journals and about 70 abstracts at scientific conferences. Students actively participate in scientific work. The department hosted the XI Congress of the Ukrainian Botanical Society and the III International Conference “Actual Problems of Modern Algology.”
The department offers full-time and part-time postgraduate programs. Currently, there are four postgraduate students studying at the department.
Academic work
The department provides teaching of the general course “Botany” for students of the Faculty of Biology and Ecology. Faculty majoring in 091 ‘Biology’: “Botany: Lower Plants,” “Botany: Higher Plants,” “Systems Biology,” “Intellectual Property,” and “Factors for Successful Employment in the Profession,” and for specialty 014.05 “Secondary Education (Biology and Human Health)” - “Botany and Mycology” (Section Botany), “Intellectual Property,” “Career Management.”
Special courses are taught for bachelors: “Methods of Field and Laboratory Research,” “Medical Botany,” “General Algology,” “Phytoindication,” “Biogeocenology,” “Fundamentals of Botanical Microtechnology” (elective discipline), and “Molecular Botany” (elective discipline). Special workshops: “Aquaculture and Algal Technology,” “Phytodiversity of Aquatic and Wet Biotopes,” “Phytodiversity of Terrestrial Biotopes,” and “GIS Technologies and Biostatistics.”
Special courses are offered for master's students: “Contemporary Problems in Biology,” “Synecology and Syntaxonomy,” “Lichenology,” “Design and GIS Analysis of Ecosystem Services,” Applied Biology, Botanical Geography, and Landscape Design. Special workshops: Phytosociology and Nature Conservation and Urban Botany.
The Department of Botany and Plant Ecology offers interfaculty elective courses for students from different faculties: Medicinal Plants, Landscape Design, Botanical Diversity of the Region, and Career Management. More than 80% of the courses taught at the department are supported on the Moodle platform for distance learning, and the course “Intellectual Property” is certified.
CWU Herbarium
The herbarium of Kharkiv National University CWU was founded in 1825 by Professor V. M. Chernyayev as a botanical cabinet of the Department of Botany and is one of the oldest herbariums in Ukraine. It is one of the largest herbariums in Ukraine and has almost 300,000 items in its collection. The herbarium has collections of historical and scientific value, including the collections of V. M. Chernyayev, M. S. Turchaninov, S. S. Shchegleyev, A. O. Potebnya, Yu. M. Prokudin, and others. The herbarium includes an algal collection and a collection of living algae cultures. The herbarium also contains a huge collection of ancient mycological and lichenological exsiccatae. In 2009, the CWU herbarium was recognized as a National Treasure of Ukraine.
The curator of the herbarium is Yurii Gamulia, Candidate of Biological Sciences, Associate Professor.