N. I. Kuznetsov’s scientific heritage in vegetation mapping (to the 100th anniversary of the Geobotany Department of the Komarov Botanical Institute)
Authors: Karamysheva Z. V. , Khramtsov V. N. , Volkova E. A. 
Published: June 2022

The development of vegetation mapping as a research branch in geobotany and botanical geography is connected with the history of the Geobotany Department of the Komarov Botanical Institute. The 100th anniversary of the Department will be celebrated in 2022.

Nikolai Ivanovich Kuznetsov — a world-renowned scientist, who had great scientific and organizational experience — was assigned to lead the new department in 1922. In connection with the requests of the practice, the main task of the Department of Geobotany was the development of geobotanical cartography. Despite the difficult period for the country, research in this field of geobotany started.

N. I. Kuznetsov wrote an extensive program of works on vegetation mapping, which he presented already in 1923 at the First All-Union Gosplan [Government plan] Conference on the Study of the Productive Forces of Nature. N. I. Kuznetsov put forward an idea to create four types of maps reflected the complex phenomena of geographical distribution of vegetation. One of these maps is a geobotanical map, which shows the main types of vegetation cover of the country. An important stage of analytical work in botanical geography and cartography is producing a floristic map that shows the boundaries of the main woody, shrubby and herbaceous plants. The distribution of modern types of plant communities should contain a historical map. A map of geobotanical regionalization (zoning) should represent the synthesis of both maps (Kuznetsov, 1924).

N. I. Kuznetsov considered vegetation mapping as a process consisting of several stages: creating detailed maps should be preceded by the making of small-scale survey maps. He compiled the “Vegetation map of the European part of the USSR” in 1 : 4 000 000 scale (Kuznetsov, 1928c), which contained 46 mapped units of zonal and non-zonal plant communities. This map legend was the first one based on the regional-typological approach. The second stage of the work — the compilation of medium-scale (1 : 1 050 000, and then 1 : 1 000 000) maps of the European part of the USSR was also carried out. According to Kuznetsov’s original plan, the map was supposed to consist of 18 sheets. During Kuznetsov’s lifetime, 8 sheets were published (5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 14, 15, 16). They covered the Middle and Lower Volga Region, the Northern Caspian Sea, the forest-steppe and steppe south of the European part of the USSR, the Crimea, as well as the north of the Kola Peninsula and the Vologda Region (Geobotanicheskaya …, 1927–1932). In addition to the sheet 14 titled “Geobotanical map of the European part of the USSR” (Fig. 1а, б) N. I. Kuznetsov and co-authors compiled the “Botanical-geographic map of the European part of the USSR” (Fig. 2а, б).

These maps summed up the data available in the 1930s on the vegetation of the European part of the USSR, and this was their great scientific value. Although they were not very detailed, they had an economic significance. The principles, theoretical concepts and design of these maps were innovative. The principles of vegetation mapping developed by N. I. Kuznetsov have become traditional for the Russian school. These are following: map legends based on the regional-typological principle, maps show modern vegetation as well as restored one as a background, maps reflect the interrelationships of vegetation with the main environmental factors, usage of floristic features of the mapped territory. Kuznetsov’s ideas formed some general theoretical foundations that became characteristic of the Russian botanical-cartographic school.