In memoriam: Vladislav Ivanovich Vasilevich (1935–2020)

Abstract

Russian Botanical Society, Komarov Botanical Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and all Russian geobotany have suffered a huge irreparable loss. On May 2 2020 after a serious illness the greatest geobotanist of Russia, Doctor of Biology, Professor Vladislav Ivanovich Vasilevich left us. V. I. Vasilevich was born in 1935 in the town of Vyatskie Polyany, Kirov Region, in the family of a school teacher. After graduating fr om high school, in 1953 he entered the Leningrad State University, wh ere he specialized in the Department of Geobotany under the supervision by Professor A. P. Shennikov. After graduating from the University and post-graduate studies, in 1960 he was enrolled in the Laboratory of Experimental Geobotany of the Komarov Botanical Institute. All his scientific life was completely connected with the Institute. V. I. Vasilevich went from a junior researcher of the Laboratory of Experimental Geobotany to the ­Institute Deputy Director of the for scientific work. He was the Head of the Laboratory of the Forest Zone Vegetation, the Head of the Department of Geobotany, and the Chief Researcher of the Laboratory of Geobo­tany. For many years, he was a member of the Scienti­fic and Dissertation Councils of the Komarov Botanical Institute. He was the organizer and the leader of many geobotanical expeditions. The geography of his field research was truly diverse. Vladislav Ivanovich brilliantly knew not only the vegetation of the North-West of Russia, but also of many other regions of USSR (Kazakhstan, Taymyr, the Middle Urals, the Western Caspian, etc.). In the person of Vladislav Vasilevich, Russian vegetation science has lost an outstanding scientist, the greatest specialist in theoretical phytocoenology, vegetation classification, and the study of biodiversity (Vasilevich, 1971, 1985, 2010, etc.). He proposed the quantitative method of dominant-determinant classification (the “dominant-floristic method”) based on the analysis of the uniformity of distribution of species with similar ecology in a certain groups of plant communities (Vasilevich, 1995). Using this method, V. I. Vasilevich and his colleagues developed a detailed classification of plant communities of the North-West of Russia that has resulted in numerous publications (Vasilevich, 2000; Vasilevich, Bibikova, 2003, 2011; etc.) He had published about 300 scientific papers and two monographs “Statistical methods in geobotany” (Vasilevich, 1969) and “Essays on theoretical phytocoenology” (Vasilevich, 1983), that had a huge impact on the development of vegetation science in Russia. He was an editor of many proceedings of scientific papers and collective monographs. In 1994, he was awarded the title “Honored scientist of the Russian Federation”. He was awarded the medal of the Order “For Merits to the Motherland”. Vladislav Ivanovich greatly contributed to the training of young scientists: 5 doctoral and 15 PhD theses were defended under his supervision. For many years, he gave lectures at the Department of geobotany of Saint Petersburg University in the specialities “Biometrics”, “Vegetation classification”, “Geobotanical subdivision”, “Vegetation of the North-West of Russia”, “Special chapters in geobotany”. He led the course “Phytocoenology” for graduate students of the Komarov Botanical Institute. Numerous students of him work in various regions of Russia and abroad. Vladislav Ivanovich devoted a lot of time and efforts to the work in the Russian Botanical Society (RBO). He was a Scientific Secretary, a Member of the Presidium, and a Vice-President of the RBO, Chairman of the Section of Geobotany of the RBO, a member of the Organizing Committees of the XII International Botanical Congress and Delegates’ Congresses of the RBO. The memory of Vladislav Ivanovich Vasilevich — an outstanding geobotanist, theoretician, teacher, and organizer of science — will always remain in our hearts.