Казахстанская орнитология в ХХ и первой четверти XXI века

Abstract

The review is devoted to the development of ornithological science in the territory of present-day Kazakhstan over the last century, namely, from the expeditionary survey of the territory in the first third of the 20th century to systematic scientific research that began after 1932 with the formation of the primary academic center in Kazakhstan (later turned into the National Academy of Sciences). The history of the creation and development of the ornithological school in Kazakhstan («the School of Dolgushin»), the compilation and publication of the 5-volume ornithological summary “Birds of Kazakhstan” (1960–1974) and the subsequent formation of the main directions of ornithological research, faunistic, migratory, autecological, and environmental (foundation of protected areas, conservation of rare and endangered species, publication of Red Data books), are considered. The appearance and development of amateur ornithology and another social aspect of ornithology – the popularization of science and the objects of its study with the promotion of the protection of these objects at the boundary of the 20th and 21st centuries – are described. As weaknesses of ornithological science in Kazakhstan, there is a lack of knowledge on the study of bird communities, including their cartography; poor knowledge of the nutrition and winter ecology of birds; the lack of a general analysis of changes in landscapes of an anthropogenic nature in the second half of the 20th century and the impact of these changes on the composition of the avifauna, the number and distribution of individual bird species. Attention is drawn to the problems with the training of ornithological personnel in connection with the liquidation of the departments of zoology in the universities of the country.